Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-07-31
SUPERSTITION AND BELIEF.

with what difficulty and how many
years It has been practically subdued.
For its subsection has been only partial
after all, In spite Of the prosaic ten
dency Of science and education. and
although we shall never return to the
gross and crude beliefs of former days.
yet evidence is not wanting that. un-
der modern culture and modern learn
ing, there still lies a vein of superst:-
ton ready TO manifest itself upon occa-
sion or course, there are many who
are entirely proof against what they
call the folly of bygOne ages; but, per
maps, these are the exceptions which
prove the rule, while We must remem-
Der that the free-thinkerS like Emp ror
Frederick III. were not uncommon even
IN the most unenlightened and super
stltious days.
That man is naturally a superstitiOus
animal the records of biography and
history show plainly enough; and, in
our day, will any one deny that omens
and preseutiments, for example, have
not still their believers? Do we not
constantly hear ''authenticated" stories
OF haunted houses? Do not spirit
manifestations and eccentricities startle
US now and again, even in this com
monplace century,
Mems minds are not yet ruled abso-
lutely by the laws Of exact science
May that cast-iron despotism be still
far distantl But, in truth, it is diff
cult for the student to say where ra-
tiOnal belief ends and superstition be-
gins Until science has unfolded every
secret OF the universe, until every law
which governs not only the physical
but the mental world has been clearly
enunciated, until we can explain the
reason of every apparent deviation
from what appears a normal state of
matters, there will still be room Ior the
imagination TO wander amidst the re-
gious OF the occult.
Why, we may ask, should II be nat
uTal to believe in an existence after
death, and superstition to believe in
the possibility of apparitlons and sim
liar phenomena? Or, why may it be
natural TO believe in the existence of
powers OF evil, and superstitiOus to be
lieye that there may be cOmmunica-
tions between them and human beingsI
These questions seem difficult of SOlu-
lon, and, indeed, no one viii accuse
OF credulIty, DIR. Won Hartman, admits
that 1t IS impossible 10 set aside the
evidence for the truth of such phe-
nomena as those of pTeSeutimentS,
wraiths, and apparItions. and ac-
knOwledges that their existence is in
perfect harmony with his advanced
philosophy. The truth Is, that it re-
quiTed long experience TO decide what
may be true in regard TO the super
natural, and what is undoubtedly false
-an experience which the close obser-
walton and the fatal method of reason
fTffr 1anf in,
capable of using. For even If We were
to admit that all things may he pos /
ole, it does not follow necessarily that
all things actually happeL, or even
likely to happen.
Forgetfuluess of this simple rule be-
tTayed our forefathers into paroXysms
of terror, which result in the most afro
ciOus cruelties. Thus, even il were
possible for misguided woman 10 take
Midnight excursions on brOomstick III
order TO be present at cOnyenticles OF a
somewhat unorthodoN Ia. ure, yet it
would require a considerable amount
of evidence 10 persuade rational beings,
who did not themselves possess that
power, or had not actually seen it eX-
ercised, that human beings had actu-
ally done Sc. The best eXculpatory
evidence would have been that at the
time the accused We're supposed TO
have been absent on their unlawful ell
rand they were actually where they
should have been, IN bed 10y the side Ot
theia lawful husbands But this WAS
not sufficient for the sIplent Judges OF
medieval times. They were perfectly
certain that the accused Were at the
witches Sabbath-there could lie no
doubt of that, for torture had wTung
that confession out OF them or tn II
accOmplices- the thing to be ac-
counted for was their apparent pres
ence at home. This was easily done;
il was explained that an Obligng de-
mon assumed the appearance and took
the place OF the absent wife in order
10 prevent suspicion falling upon her.
Another thing which, III less preju-
diced minds than those of medI9yal &C.
cl, si.lstics and judges, might have
awakened suspicion as to the reality of
the witches power, was the curious fact
that they never used these powers to
escape from their prosecutors, or TO
bring vengeance upon them This,
however, was easily explained. So far
from proving, or suggesting, that
witches never had been anything else
but harmless, this fact was rather evi-
dence against them. For Satan was
unable to resist lawfully constituted
authority according to the popular
theory; and, therefore, the accused
must needs be the servants of Satan,
seeing that they were incapable of de-
Tending themselves. There was one
case on record, however, of a witch
who, when she was actually tied to the
stake, breathed in her executioner'S
face, with terrible course; the result of
which was hideus leprosy broke out
upon the unhappy man, and he expired
a few days later. Slight inconsistent
cies like this did not, however, Is a
rule, trouble the minds Of that enlight-
ened age.
Culture and education did very little
10 emancipate mems minds from the
degrading superstltions regarding
witchcraft. 1t was at the dawn OF
modern culture that this belief reached
Its higher development 1t required,
as before mentioned, an enlightened
experience, along with 4 capacity for
reading that experience Alright, to de-
stroy so hideous a faith which lay like
a nightmare on Europe. Leo y was
cultured and earned pontif, not over
cr,tIulous on religious mat ers, and
..rieyously suspected by historians of
latent paganism, yet he was ruthless in
orIering the eextirpatiOn and persecu-
ton of witches, and even issued a bull
To that effect. While on the other
hand. what Is most curious OF all, an
Irish synod, in the ninth century, con-
demned those who believed In the pos
sibIlity OF soreery and wItchcrsft, and
r.fuseI to admit such to communion
until they had recanted their error.
Although a belief in sorcery has ex-
fsted more or less in all periods Of &C.