Beza was especially severe against those who
believed insanity to be a natural malady, and declared, "Such
persons are refuted both by sacred and profane history."
Under the influence, then, of such infallible teachings, in
the older Church and in the new, this superstition was developed
more and more into cruelty; and as the biblical texts,
popularized in the sculptures and windows and mural decorations
of the great medieval cathedrals, had done much to develop it
among the people, so Luther's translation of the Bible,
especially in the numerous editions of it illustrated with
engravings, wrought with enormous power to spread and deepen it.
In every peasant's cottage some one could spell out the story of
the devil bearing Christ through the air and placing him upon the
pinnacle of the Temple--of the woman with seven devils--of the
devils cast into the swine. Every peasant's child could be made
to understand the quaint pictures in the family Bible or the
catechism which illustrated vividly all those texts.
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