Their own imaginations they deceive.


There are some opinions in which a man should stand neuter, without
engaging his assent to one side or the other. Such a hovering faith as
this, which refuses to settle upon any determination, is absolutely
necessary in a mind that is careful to avoid errors and prepossessions.
When the arguments press equally on both sides in matters that are
indifferent to us, the safest method is to give up ourselves to neither.

It is with this temper of mind that I consider the subject of
witchcraft. When I hear the relations that are made from all parts of
the world, not only from _Norway_ and _Lapland_, from the
_East_ and _West Indies_, but from every particular nation in
_Europe_, I cannot forbear thinking that there is such an
intercourse and commerce with evil spirits, as that which we express by
the name of witchcraft. But when I consider that the ignorant and
credulous parts of the world abound most in these relations, and that
the persons among us, who are supposed to engage in such an infernal
commerce, are people of a weak understanding and crazed imagination, and
at the same time reflect upon the many impostures and delusions of this
nature that have been detected in all ages, I endeavour to suspend my
belief till I hear more certain accounts than any which have yet come to
my knowledge. In short, when I consider the question whether there are
such persons in the world as those we call witches, my mind is divided
between the two opposite opinions; or rather, (to speak my thoughts
freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as
witchcraft; but, at the same time, can give no credit to any particular
instance of it.