Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/200

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  • ent times," said her brother, sadly. "But

you seem to have reasoned upon these matters a great deal. Will you tell me what conclusion you have come to?"

"I am but an ignorant woman, Jonathan—wholly unskilled in all these subtle questions. I never, indeed, thought of these things before; but I can not shut my eyes or close my mind to the terrible realities that are going on around me. I have suffered deeply, and thought much, and of course I have formed my own conclusions."

"And will you not let me have the benefit of them?"

"You put me to the blush, brother. You are a magistrate, and I know nothing of the law."

"But I think the instincts of a pure and earnest, healthful mind are the voice of a higher law—the voice of God. Tell me, then—surely you believe in the existence of the devil?"

"Of course I do. I must. The Bible affirms it, and our Lord Jesus Christ his words do so instruct us. I do believe in persons being bedeviled; but that does not,