CHAPTER VII. THE reader will not fail to notice, that the personage known by the name of the Devil, Satan, &c., is treated of more fully than any other recorded in the Old or New Testament. The reason is, because his influence exceeds that of all the prophets, and even of the Saviour himself. So destructive has been his supposed reign, throughout the earth, that hundreds of volumes could be written, and still the half would remain untold. In the conclusion of this chapter, an account will be given of witchcraft in Sweden, which far exceeds any thing on record. The bare recital fills the mind with horror, pity, and indignation. Before giving the dreadful tale, it will not be amiss to indulge in a few thoughts on the probable origin of the existence of a Being who has been a terror to all nations, both learned and ignorant. As the writer is convinced that every thing pertaining to theology is of man’s creation, it may be useful to express his opinions how it has happened that all religions have been based on two beings who have ever been opposed to each other, namely, a God and a Devil. Their opposition to each other is the ground-work of every system, whether it be of saint or savage. To attempt to go back to the origin of theology, as to when or where it first assumed the form of religious worship, is to begin at the beginning of the human race. Religion may be compared to a chain, the first link of which is hidden in the darkness of past ages. The curtain is continually dropping; and the most that we can do is, to peep behind one of its comers. We find ourselves connected with that link which we call Christianity. How many preceding links there may have been, we know not, nor have we any means of knowing. All, therefore, is but conjecture. But carrying our ideas back to a time we know not when, to the beginning of that theology, the basis of which is a God and Devil opposing each other, the following memories are presented:—Before human beings were acquainted with the laws of nature, the universe must have presented to them appearances which surprised and alarmed them. Receiving no ideas but through the medium of the senses, the first idea which must strike them would be, the great contrast between a mighty power and their own weakness. They would discover from what they saw around them, a mighty power which no prudence could guard against, and which no strength, which they had, could oppose. They would see, that, if by accident, they fell into water, it would destroy life; if, by any means, their dwellings took fire, it would consume them; that thunder was calculated to alarm them, and that death, often followed the storm; and also, that the slightest accident often caused severe pain, and sickness followed, without their being acquainted with the original cause of all these evils. The first men, then, must have been astonished with the mighty power which every where surrounded them, when compared with their own weakness.