A Little Death & Damnation: The Devil

We’re into the -ber months now. Happy Autumn! The mug of pumpkin spice coffee on the desk beside me declares it so.Soon the days will shorten; the sun will set by 3pm. While many people abhor this change, I revel in it. I have always loved this time of year. For me, it symbolizes that the darkness is nothing to fear. There can be comfort in getting cozy on the sofa or in bed with soft blankets, hands curled around a mug of something yummy as we read a good book or watch a favorite movie with the lights low. Some people put up decorative lights so that they can turn the regular ones off, and bask in the glow. 

But they didn’t have fun lights in the 17th Century. And when the days got shorter, darkness brought with it something we have largely forgotten: the very real possibility of what could be lurking beyond the light. Outside the glow of candlelight might be any number of things, some natural, some imagined, and some they believed were very real indeed.

Make no mistake, Puritans believed in the devil. To them, he was very real, as was his influence. This may sound silly to us, but the powers of darkness, though ultimately subject to the power of God, were something they were taught from an early age to remain ever vigilant against.  

My home is in Salem, Massachusetts, a city synonymous with the Puritans. But let’s separate what Hollywood tells you from what Puritans really believed about the devil. 

During the Salem examinations, the devil appeared sometimes in a surprisingly human form. Several accused people described encounters with a mysterious Tawny Man, a man dressed in black with dark skin. In some accounts, this man presented a book for the person to sign.

Think about how frightening that would have been were we there. The Devil didn’t need horns and a pitchfork to be dangerous. He could look like a man standing in front of you, offering you a book and promising to protect you in a troubled world and give you riches.

In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather writes of Satan: “There is a Busy Devil, who is by way of Eminency called, The Tempter.” And he further asks, “What are those Usual Methods of Temptation, with which the Powers of Darkness do assault the Children of Men?”

Samuel Willard, in The Christians Exercise by Satans Temptations, makes it clear that the devil was not merely a monster. He was an adversary who wanted to corrupt human beings. Willard described Stan as an adversary whose temptations Christians must actively resist.

And Increase Mather went a step further, warning that the devil could deceive by “Personating Men,” appearing in human form. In Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, he is explicitly concerned with evil spirits “Personating Men” and determining whether supposed supernatural activity was actually genuine.

For Puritans, the Devil’s greatest danger wasn’t necessarily what he looked like. It was that he could deceive. And perhaps that is what made darkness so frightening. You couldn’t always see what was coming.Until next time, keep questioning the past. It normally has receipts.

Notes & Sources 1. Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World, 1693. University of Virginia.

2. Samuel Willard, The Christians Exercise by Satans Temptations, 1701.

3. Increase Mather, Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, 1693. University of Virginia.