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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
a state of ignorance persons are liable to numerous
impositions ; they are easily imposed- on by rumours
IbSj
ar* reports which they have not the power of investid
pat'nS> and still more easily imposed on by their own
iMCiMiSSffi impressions or notions. Of all the impositions which
have vexed the ignorant, a belief in the reality of spectral appear
ances has been one of the most ridiculous, yet one of the longest
and most zealously supported. This belief was once current even
among men reputed for their learning—that is, a kind of learning, not
founded on a correct knowledge of nature—but, by the progress of
inquiry, it has gradually been abandoned by persons of education,
and now is maintained only by those whose minds have not been
instructed on the subject. Considering that this belief, like every
other error, is injurious to happiness, and that, in a particular
manner, the young require to be put on their guard against it, we
propose, in the present paper, to explain the theory of spectral
illusions—how they originate in the mind, and are in no respect
supernatural in their character.
To obtain right ideas of this curious, and, to many, mysterious
subject, it is necessary to understand, in the first place, what kind
of a thing the human mind is, and how it operates in connection
with the senses, or at least two of them—seeing and hearing. The
seat of the mind is in the brain ; in other words, the brain is the
organ or mdss of organs by which the thinking faculties act. Like
No. 159.
,
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
an instrument finely tuned, the brain, when in a sound state of
health, performs its part in our economy with fidelity. Shut up in
the skull, however, it has no communication with external nature
except through the medium of the senses. The senses are the
channels of intelligence to the brain. When the eye receives the
impression or picture of a thing presented to it, that impression iscarried by a nerve to the brain, where the consciousness or mind
recognises it; and the same thing occurs with the ear in the trans
mission of sound. The ordinary notion, therefore, that the eye sees,
is scarcely correct. It is the mind, through the operation of the
brain, the optic nerve, and the eye, which sees. The eye is only an
instrument of vision and recognition. Such is the ordinary process
of seeing, and of having a consciousness of what is presented to the
eye ; and we perceive that the outer organ of vision performs but an
inferior part in the operation. There is, indeed, a consciousness of
seeing objects, without using the eyes. With these organs shut, we
can exert our imagination so far as to recall the image of objects
which we formerly have seen. Thus, when in an imperfect state of
sleep, with the imagination less or more active, we think that we
see objects, and mingle in strange scenes ; and this is called dream
ing. Dreams, therefore, arise principally from a condition of partial
wakefulness, in which the unregulated imagination leads to all kinds
of visionary conceptions. In a state of entire wakefulness, and with
the eyes open, unreal conceptions of objects seemingly present may
also be formed; but this occurs only when the system is disordered
by disease.
We are now brought to an understanding of the cause of those
illusions which, under the name of ghosts, apparitions, or spectres,
have in all ages disturbed the minds of the credulous. The disorder
which leads to the formation of these baseless visions may be
organic or functional, or a combination of both. Organic disorder
of the body is that condition in which one or more organs are
altered in structure by disease. Functional disorder is less serious
in character : it is that condition of things where the healthy action
of the organ or organs, in part or whole, is impeded, without the
existence of any disease of structure. Lunacy, if not arising from
organic disorder, hovers between it and functional derangement, in
either case producing unreal conceptions in the mind. Functional
disorder may arise in various ways, and be of different kinds. It
may be said that violent excitement of the imagination or passions
constitutes functional mental disorder : ‘ Anger is a short madness/
said the Romans wisely. As for functional bodily disorder, tem
porary affections of the digestive organs may be pointed to as
common causes of such cases of physical derangement. All these
disorders, and kinds of disorders, may appear in a complicated
form; and, what is of most importance to our present argument,
the nervous system, on which depend the action of the senses, the
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powers of the will, and the operation of all the involuntary functions
(such as the circulation of the blood, and digestion), is, and must
necessarily be, involved more or less deeply in all cases of constitu
tional disorder, organic or functional. These powers of the nerves,
which form, as we have seen, the sole medium by which mind and
body act and react on each other, are clearly, then, connected with
the production of every kind of illusory impression.
In lunacy, from organic derangement, these impressions are
usually the most vivid. Every lunatic tells you he sees spectres, or
unreal persons ; and no doubt they are seemingly present to his
diseased perceptions. The same cause, simple insanity, partial or
otherwise, and existing either with or without structural brain disease,
has been, we truly believe, at the foundation of many more apparition
cases than any other cause. By far the greatest number of such
cases ever put on record, have been connected with fanaticism in
religious matters ; and can there be a doubt that the majority of the
poor creatures, men and women, who habitually subjected themselves,
in the early centuries of the church, to macerations and lacerations,
and saw signs and visions, were simply persons of partially deranged
intellect ? St Theresa, who lay entranced for whole days, and who,
in the fervour of devotion, imagined that she was frequently addressed
by the voice of God, and that St Peter and St Paul would often in
person visit her solitude, is an example of this order of monomaniacs.
That this individual, and others like her, should have been perfectly
sensible on all other points, is a phenomenon in the pathology of
mind too common to cause any wonder. We would ascribe, we
repeat, a large class of apparition-cases, including these devotional
ones, to simple mental derangement. The eye in such instances
may take in a correct impression of external objects, but this is not
all that is wanting. A correct perception by the mind is essential to
healthy and natural vision, and this perception the deranged intellect
cannot effect.
We should go further than this for a complete elucidation of
spectral illusions. At the time the spectre makes its appearance,
the mind may be neither altogether diseased nor altogether health
ful ; the perceptive powers may recognise through the eye all
surrounding objects exactly as they appear, but, almost in the same
instant of time, the mind may mix up an unreal object with them.
How, then, is the unreal object introduced into the scene ? There
is the strongest ground for believing that the unreal object—the
spectre—is an idea of the mind acting on the optic nerve, and
impressing a picture on the retina, just as effectually as if the object
were external to the person. The mind, as it were, daguerreotypes
the idea—the flash of thought—on the retina, or mirror of the eye,
where it is recognised by the powers of perception. That spectres
are mental pictures, is forcibly stated as follows by Sir David
Brewster : ‘ I propose to shew that the “ mind’s eye ” is actually the
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
Tody’s eye, and that the retina is the common tablet on which both
classes of impressions are painted, and by means of which they
receive their visual existence according to the same optical laws.
Nor is this true merely in the case of spectral illusions. It holds
good of all ideas recalled by the memory, or created by the imagina
tion, and may be regarded as a fundamental law in the science of
pneumatology.
‘ In the healthy state of the mind and body, the relative intensity
•of these two classes of impressions on the retina are nicely adjusted.
The mental pictures are transient, and comparatively feeble, and in
ordinary temperaments are never capable of disturbing or effacing
'the direct images of visible objects. The affairs of life could not be
• carried on if the memop' were to intrude bright representations of
‘•the past into the domestic scene, or scatter them over the external
{-landscape. The two opposite impressions, indeed, could not co
exist. The same nervous fibre which is carrying from the brain to
the retina the figures of memory, could not at the same instant be
carrying back the impressions of external objects from the retina to
the brain. The mind cannot perform two different functions at the
same instant, and the direction of its attention to one of the two
classes of impressions necessarily produces the extinction of the other.
But so rapid is the exercise of mental power, that the alternate
appearance and disappearance of the two contending impressions is
710 more recognised than the successive observations of external
objects during the twinkling of the eyelids.’ *
With these general observations, we proceed to an analysis of the
-different kinds of spectre-seeing, beginning with a short explanation
of dreaming and somnambulism, with which apparitional illusions
are intimately associated.
DREAMS—SOMNAMBULISM.
Dreaming is a modification of disordered mental action, arising
usually from some kind of functional derangement. In sound sleep,
■The functions of digestion, the circulation of the blood, and all others,
may be said to be duly in action, and the mind is accordingly not
•disturbed. If, however, any of the bodily functions be in a state of
derangement ; if, in particular, the digestion be incommoded, which
it ordinarily is in an artificial mode of life, the senses, the nerves,
"the mind, will also be probably affected, and an imperfect sleep,
with an imperfect consciousness, is the result. According to the
Test writers on the subject, it has been ascertained that, in beginning
To sleep, the senses do not unitedly fall into a state of slumber, but
drop off one after the other. The sight ceases, in consequence of
The protection of the eyelids, to receive impressions first, while all
* Letters on Natural Magic.
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�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
the other senses preserve their sensibility entire. The sense of tasteis the next which loses its susceptibility of impressions, and then the
sense of smelling. The hearing is next in order ; and, last of all,,
comes the sense of touch. Furthermore, the senses are thought to
sleep with different degrees of profoundness. The sense of touch
sleeps the most lightly, and is the most easily awakened; the next
easiest is the hearing ; the next is the sight ; and the taste and
smelling awake the last. Another remarkable circumstance deserves
notice ; certain muscles and parts of the body begin to sleep before
others. Sleep commences at the extremities, beginning with the feet
and legs, and creeping towards the centre of nervous action. The
necessity for keeping the feet warm and perfectly still, as a prelimi
nary of sleep, is well known. From these explanations, it will not
appear surprising that, with one or more of the senses, and perhaps
also one or more parts of the body imperfectly asleep, there should
be at the same time an imperfect kind of mental action, which pro
duces the phenomenon of dreaming.
A dream, then, is an imperfectly formed thought. Much of the
imperfection and incoherency of such thoughts is from having no
immediate consciousness of surrounding objects. The imagination
revels unchecked by actual circumstances, and is not under the
control of the will. Ungoverned by any ordinary standards of
reason, we, in dreaming, have the impression that the ideas which.,
chase each other through the mind are actual occurrences: a mereill-formed thought is imagined to be an action. As thought is veryrapid, it thus happens that events which would take whole days or
a longer time in performance, are dreamed in a few moments. Sowonderful is this compression of a multitude of transactions into the
very shortest period, that when we are accidentally ‘ awakened from
a profound slumber by a loud knock at, or by the rapid opening of,
the door, a train of actions which it would take hours, or days, or
even weeks to accomplish, sometimes passes through the mind.
Time, in fact, seems to be in a great measure annihilated. An
extensive period is reduced, as it were, to a single point, or rather a
single point is made to embrace an extensive period. In one
instant we pass through many adventures, see many strange sights,,
and hear many strange sounds. If we are awaked by a loud knock
,
*
we have perhaps the idea of a tumult passing before us, and knowall the characters engaged in it—their aspects, and even their very
names. If the door open violently, the flood-gates of a canal mayappear to be expanding, and we may see the individuals employed,
in the process, and hear their conversation, which may seem an
hour in length ; if a light be brought into the room, the notion of
the house being in flames invades us, and we are witnesses to the
whole conflagration from its commencement till it be finally extin
guished. The thoughts which arise in such situations are endless,,
and assume an infinite variety of aspects.
5.
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
' ‘ One of the most remarkable phenomena attendant upon dream
ing, is the almost universal absence of surprise. Scarcely any event,
however incredible, impossible, or absurd, gives rise to this emotion.
We see circumstances at utter variance with the laws of nature, and
yet their discordancy, impracticability, and oddness never strike us
as at all out of the usual course of things. This is one of the
strongest proofs that can be alleged in support of the dormant
Condition of the reflecting faculties. Had these powers been awake
and in full activity, they would have pointed out the erroneous
nature of the impressions conjured into existence by fancy, and
shewn us truly that the visions passing before our eyes were merely
the chimeras of an excited imagination—the airy phantoms of
imperfect sleep.’*
Dreams are in general connected with snatches of waking recol
lections, and assume a character from the dreamer’s ordinary'
pursuits and feelings. Shakspeare has admirably described the
effects of dreams of different classes of persons; and the subject
has been also well illustrated by Stepney in the following lines :
‘ At dead of night imperial reason sleeps,
And Fancy with her train her revels keeps.
Then airy phantoms a mixed scene display,
Of what we heard, or saw, or wished by day;
For memory those images retains
Which passion formed, and still the strongest reigns.
Huntsmen renew the chase they lately run,
And generals fight again their battles won.
Spectres and fairies haunt the murderer’s dreams;
Grants and disgraces are the courtier’s themes.
The miser spies a thief, or a new hoard ;
The cit’s a knight; the sycophant a lord.
Thus Fancy’s in the wild distraction lost,
With what we most abhor, or covet most.
Honours and state before this phantom fall;
For sleep, like death, its image, equals all.’
Chaucer’s description, versified by Dryden, is also worthy of being
quoted :
.
‘ Dreams are but interludes which Fancy makes ;
When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes;
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
A court of cobblers, and a mob of kings :
Light fumes are merry, grosser fumes are sad:
Both are the reasonable soul run mad ;
And many monstrous forms in sleep we see,
That neither were, or are, or e’er can be.
* Macnish’s Philosophy of Sleep.
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
Sometimes forgotten things, long cast behind,
Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind.
The nurse’s legends are for truth received,
And the man dreams but what the boy believed;
Sometimes we but rehearse a former play,
The night restores our actions done by day;
As hounds in sleep will open for their prey.
In short, the farce of dreams is of a piece
In chimeras all; and more absurd or less.’
In ordinary dreaming, the powers of voluntary motion are often
exercised to a slight extent. A dreamer, under the impression • that
he is engaged in an active battle, will frequently give a bed-fellow
a smart belabouring. Often also, in cases of common dreaming,
the muscles on which the production of the voice depends are set
in action, through the instrumentality of that portion of the brain
which is not in a quiescent state, and the dreamer mutters, or talks,
or cries aloud. Sometimes nearly all the senses, along with the
muscles of motion, are in activity, while part of the cerebral organs
are dormant, and in this condition the dreamer becomes a somnam
bulist, or sleep-walker. ‘ If we dream,’ says Mr Macnish, 1 that we
are walking, and the vision possesses such a degree of vividness
and exciting energy as to arouse the muscles of locomotion, we
naturally get up and walk. Should we dream that we hear or see,
and the impression be so vivid as to stimulate the eyes and ears,
or more properly speaking, those parts of the brain which take
cognizance of sights and sounds, then we both see any objects, or
hear any sounds, which may occur, just as if we were awake. In
some cases the muscles only are excited, and then we simply walk,
without hearing or seeing.’ In other cases we both walk and see,
and in a third variety we at once walk, see, and hear. In the same
way the vocal organs alone may be stimulated, and a person may
merely be a sleep-talker; or, under a conjunction of impulses, he
may talk, walk, see, and hear.
Cases of persons in a state of somnambulism rising from bed and
walking to a distant part of the house, or of looking for some object
of which they were dreaming, and so forth, are exceedingly common,
and the seeming marvel is explained by the fact already noticed—
only certain senses and portions of brain are asleep while others are
waking. The boy who, according to the common story, rose in his
sleep and took a nest of young eagles from a dangerous precipice,
must have received the most accurate accounts of external objects
from his visual organs, and must have been able to some extent to
reason upon them, else he could never have overcome the difficulties
of the ascent. He dreamed of taking away the nest, and to his great
surprise found it beneath his bed in the morning in the spot where
he only thought himself to have put it in imagination. The follow
ing case, mentioned by Mr Macnish, is scarcely less wonderful. It
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occurred near one of the towns on the Irish coast. ‘About two
o’clock in the morning, the watchmen on the Revenue Quay were
much surprised at descrying a man disporting himself in the water,
about a hundred yards from the shore. Intimation having been
given to the Revenue boat’s crew, they pushed off, and succeeded in
picking him up ; but, strange to say, he had no idea whatever of his
perilous situation, and it was with the utmost difficulty they could
persuade him he was not still in bed. But the most singular part
of this novel adventure was, that the man had left his house at
twelve o’clock that night, and walked through a difficult and to him
dangerous road, a distance of nearly two miles, and had actually
swum one mile and a half when he was fortunately discovered and
picked up.’ The state of madness gives us, by analogy, the best
explanation of the condition of these climbers and swimmers. With
one or more organs or portions of his brain diseased, and the
rest sound, the insane person has the perfect use of his external
senses, yet may form imperfect conclusions regarding many things
around him. The somnambulist, with one or more of his senses in
activity, but with some of his cerebral organs in a torpid state, is
in much the same position as regards his power of forming right
judgments on all that he hears or sees.
A respectable person, captain of a merchant-vessel, told Sir
Walter Scott the following story, in illustration of illusion from
somnambulism. While lying in the Tagus, a man belonging to his
ship was murdered by a Portuguese, and a report soon spread that
the spirit of the deceased haunted the vessel. The captain found,
on making inquiry, that one of his own mates, an honest, sensible
Irishman, was the chief evidence respecting the ghost. The mate
affirmed that the spectre took him from bed every night, led him
about the ship, and, in short, worried his life out. The captain knew
not what to think of this, but he privately resolved to watch the mate
by night. He did so, and, at the hour of twelve, saw the man start
up with ghastly looks, and light a candle ; after which he went to
the galley, where he stood staring wildly for a time, as if on some
horrible object. He then lifted a can filled with water, sprinkled some
of it about, and, appearing much relieved, went quietly back to his
bed. Next morning, on being asked if he had been annoyed in the
night, he said : ‘Yes; I was led by the ghost to the galley ; but I
got hold, in some way or other, of a jar of holy-water, and freed my
self, by sprinkling it about, from the presence of the horrible phantom.’
The captain now told the truth, as observed ; and the mate, though
much surprised, believed it. He was never visited by the ghost
again, the deception of his own dreaming fancy being thus discovered.
Had the mate burned his hand with the candle, and, by the same
mode of reasoning which led him to believe in the banishment of
the ghost by holy-water, formed the conclusion that the spectre had
touched his hand to imprint on it a perpetual mark, what would
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have been said of the matter by his comrades and himself in the
morning, supposing no watching to have taken place? They would
assuredly have held the scar as an indubitable proof of the super
natural visitation, and the story would have remained as darkly
mysterious as could be desired.
The condition of nightmare, in which the sufferer is under the
feeling of some terrible oppression, is one of the most afflicting kinds
of dreaming. In the more simple order of cases of nightmare, the
dreamer is only labouring under the influence of indigestion; but in
the more severe, the cause is ascribed to cerebral disorder. A
gentleman in Edinburgh was afflicted for years with a night
mare which rendered existence almost unsupportable. On falling
asleep, he dreamed that he was chased by a bull; and frequently, in
terror of being tossed by the horns of the infuriated animal, he leaped
from the bed to the opposite side of the room, on one occasion doing
himself a serious injury. At the death of this unhappy gentleman,
his head was opened, and a portion of his brain found to be affected
with a deep-seated ulcer. In cases of this kind, the spectral
illusions of the dreamer are usually most vivid, and on awakening,
it requires a strong effort of reason to be convinced that the appear
ances were nothing more than airy phantoms of the disordered brain.
With these explanations on the subject of dreaming, we are pre
pared for a consideration of those unreal impressions made on the
mind while in a wakeful condition.
ILLUSIONS FROM CONGESTION OF THE BLOOD-VESSELS.
One of the more simple kinds of functional disorder producing
false impressions on the mind, is an overfulness of blood in the
circulatory vessels. Persons who have followed the discommendable
practice of blood-letting periodically, and have neglected it for more
than the usual length of time, are the most liable to this species of
illusion. Upwards of seventy years ago, Nicolai, a celebrated book
seller in Berlin, experienced the feeling of seeing spectres from this
cause. According to an interesting account he has given on the
subject, it appears that he was a man of a vivid imagination and
excitable temperament, who, some years previous to the occurrences
he relates, was troubled with violent vertigo, which he relieved by
periodical bleeding with leeches. It became with him a custom to
be bled twice in the year; but at length having on one occasion
neglected this means of relieving the system, his mind became
depressed, and apparitions began to be seemingly present to his eyes.
The following is his narration of this painful condition :
‘ My wife and another person came into my apartment in the
morning in order to console me, but I was too much agitated by a
series of incidents, which had most powerfully affected my moral
feeling, to be capable of attending to them. On a sudden I perceived,
159
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at about the distance of ten steps, a form like that of a deceased
person. I pointed at it, asking my wife if she did not see it. It was
but natural that she should not see anything; my question, therefore,
alarmed her very much, and she immediately sent for a physician.
The phantom continued about eight minutes. I grew at length more
calm, and being extremely exhausted, fell into a restless sleep, which
lasted about half an hour. The physician ascribed the apparition to
a violent mental emotion, and hoped there would be no return; but
the violent agitation of my mind had in some way disordered my
nerves, and produced further consequences which deserve a more
minute description.
‘At four in the afternoon, the form which I had seen in the
morning reappeared. I wp.s by myself when this happened, and, •
being rather uneasy at the incident, went to my wife’s apartment,
but there likewise I was persecuted by the apparition, which, how
ever, at intervals disappeared, and always presented itself in a
standing posture. About six o’clock there appeared also several
walking figures, which had no connection with the first. After the
first day the form of the deceased person no more appeared, but its
place was supplied with many other phantasms, sometimes repre
senting acquaintances, but mostly strangers ; those whom I knew
were composed of living and deceased persons, but the number of
the latt'er was comparatively small. I observed the persons with
whom I daily conversed did not appear as phantasms, these repre
senting chiefly persons who lived at some distance from me.
‘ These phantasms seemed equally clear and distinct at all times
and under all circumstances, both when I was by myself and when
I was in company, as well in the day as at night, and in my own
house as well as abroad; they were, however, less frequent when I
was in the house of a friend, and rarely appeared to me in the street.
When I shut my eyes, these phantasms would sometimes vanish
entirely, though there were instances when I beheld them with my
eyes closed; yet when they disappeared on such occasions, they
generally returned when I opened my eyes. I conversed sometimes
with my physician and my wife of the phantasms which at the
moment surrounded me; they appeared more frequently walking
than at rest; nor were they constantly present. They frequently
did not come for some time, but always reappeared for a longer or
shorter period, either singly or in company; the latter, however,
being most frequently the case. I generally saw human forms of
both sexes ; but they usually seemed not to take the smallest notice
of each other, moving as in a market-place, where all are eager to
press through the crowd; at times, however, they seemed to be
transacting business with each other. I also saw several times
people on horseback, dogs, and birds.
‘ All these phantasms appeared to me in their natural size, and as
distinct as if alive, exhibiting different shades of carnation in the
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uncovered parts, as well as different colours and fashions in their
dresses, though the colours seemed somewhat paler than in real
nature. None of the figures appeared particularly terrible, comical,
or disgusting, most of them being of an indifferent shape, and some
presenting a pleasing aspect. The longer these phantasms continued
to visit me, the more frequently did they return, while at the same
time they increased in number about four weeks after they had first
appeared. I also began to hear them talk: these phantoms sometimes
conversed among themselves, but more frequently addressed their
discourse to me ; their speeches were commonly short, and never of
an unpleasant turn. At different times there appeared to me both
dear and sensible friends of both sexes, whose addresses tended to
appease my grief, which had not yet wholly subsided : their consolatory speeches were in general addressed to me when I was alone.
Sometimes, however, I was accosted by these consoling friends while
I was engaged in company, and not unfrequently while real persons
were speaking to me. These consolatory addresses consisted some
times of abrupt phrases, and at other times they were regularly
executed.’
Having thus suffered for some time, it occurred to him that the
mental disorder might arise from a superabundance of blood, and he
again had "recourse to leeching. When the leeches were applied, no
person was with him besides the surgeon ; but during the operation
his apartment was crowded with human phantasms of all descriptions.
In the course of a few hours, however, they moved around the
chamber more slowly; their colour began to fade; until, growing
more and more obscure, they at last dissolved into air, and he ceased
to be troubled with them afterwards.
ILLUSIONS FROM DERANGEMENT IN DIGESTION.
Any derangement of the digestive powers acts on the brain; when
the derangement is excessive, and the health otherwise impaired,
the mind becomes affected, so as to deceive the senses and to produce
spectral illusions. Sir David Brewster, in his Letters on Natural
Magic, narrates the case of a lady of high character and intelligence,
but of vivid imagination, who was so affected from only simple
derangement of the .stomach. The facts were communicated by
the husband of the lady, a man of learning and science, and are as
follow:
‘ I. The first illusion to which Mrs A. was subject was one which
affected only the ear. On the 26th of December 1830, about half
past four in the afternoon, she was standing near the fire in the hall,
and on the point of going up stairs to dress, when she heard, as she
supposed, her husband’s voice calling her by name : “------------ J
come here! come to me 1” She imagined that he was calling at
the door to have it opened; but upon going there and opening the
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door, she was surprised to find no person there. Upon returning to
the fire, she again heard the same voice calling out very distinctly
and loudly: “----- , come; come here!” She then opened two
other doors of the same room, and upon seeing no person, she
returned to the fireplace. After a few moments, she heard the same
voice still calling: “------------ , come to me! come! come away!”
in a loud, plaintive, and somewhat impatient tone. She answered
as loudly: “Where are you? I don’t know where you are;” still
imagining that he was somewhere in search of her : but receiving no
answer, she shortly after went up stairs. On Mr A.’s return to the
house, about half an hour afterwards, she inquired why he called to
her so often, and where he was ; and she was of course greatly sur
prised to learn that he had not been near the house at the time.
‘2. The next illusion which occurred to Mrs A. was of a more
alarming character. On the 30th of December, about four o’clock
in the afternoon, Mrs A. came down stairs into the drawing-room,
which she had quitted only a few minutes before, and on entering
the room she saw her husband, as she supposed, standing with his
back to the fire. As he had gone out to take a walk about half an
hour before, she was surprised to see him there, and asked him why
'he had returned so soon. The figure looked fixedly at her with a
serious and thoughtful expression of countenance, but did not speak.
Supposing that his mind was absorbed in thought, she sat down in
an arm-chair hear the fire, and within two feet at most of the figure,1
which she still saw standing before her. As its eyes, however, still
continued to be fixed upon her, she said, after the lapse of a few
minutes: “Why don’t you speak,----- ?” The figure immediately
moved off towards the window at the farther end of the room, with
its eyes still gazing on her, and it passed so very close to her in
doing so, that she was struck by the circumstance of hearing no step
nor sound, nor feeling her clothes brushed against, nor even any
agitation in the air. Although she was now convinced that the figure
was not her husband, yet she never for a moment supposed that it
was anything supernatural, and was soon convinced that it was a
spectral illusion. The appearance was seen in bright daylight, and
lasted four or five minutes. When the figure stood close to her, it
•concealed the real objects behind it, and the apparition was fully as
vivid as the reality.
‘ 3. On these two occasions Mrs A. was alone, but when the next
phantasm appeared her husband was present. This took place on
the 4th of January 1831. About ten o’clock at night, when Mr and
Mrs A. were sitting in the drawing-room, Mr A. took up the poker
to stir the fire, and when he was in the act of doing this, Mrs A.
exclaimed : “Why, there’s the cat in the room !” “ Where?” asked
Mr A. “ There, close to you,” she replied. “ Where ?” he repeated.
“ Why, on the rug to be sure, between yourself and the coal-scuttle.”
Mr A., who had still the poker in his hand, pushed it in the direction
'
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
y
mentioned. “Take care,” cried Mrs A.; “take care, you are hitting
her with the poker.” Mr A. again asked her to point out exactly
where she saw the cat. She replied : “Why, sitting up there close
to your feet on the rug : she is looking at me. It is Kitty—come
here, Kitty ?” There were two cats in the house, one of which went
by this name, and they were rarely if ever in the drawing-room. At
this time Mrs A. had no idea that the sight of the cat was an illusion.
When she was asked to touch it, she got up for the purpose, and
seemed as if she were pursuing something which moved away. She
followed a few steps, and then said : “ It has gone under the chair.”
Mr A. assured her it was an illusion, but she would not believe it.
He then lifted up the chair, and Mrs A. saw nothing more of it..
The room was then searched all over, and nothing found in it. There was a dog lying on the hearth, which would have betrayed great
uneasiness if a cat had been in the room, but he lay perfectly quiet.
In order to be quite certain, Mr A. rung the bell, and sent for the
two cats, both of which were found in the housekeeper’s room.
‘ 4. About a month after this occurrence, Mrs A., who had taken
a somewhat fatiguing drive during the day, was preparing to go
to bed about eleven o’clock at night, and, sitting before the dressing
glass, was occupied in arranging her hair. She was in a listless
and drowsy state of mind, but fully awake. When her fingers were
in active motion among the papillotes, she was suddenly startled
by seeing in the mirror the figure of a near relation, who was then
in Scotland, and in perfect health. The apparition appeared over
her left shoulder, and its eyes met hers in the glass. After a few
minutes, she turned round to look for the reality of the form over
her shoulder; but it was not visible, and it had also disappeared
from the glass when she looked again in that direction.’
Passing over from the fifth to the ninth cases, we come to the
tenth. ‘ On the 26th of October, about two P.M., Mrs A. was sitting
in a chair by the window in the same room with her husband. He
heard her exclaim : ‘ What have I seen ! ’ And on looking at her,
he observed a strange expression in her eyes and countenance.
A carriage and four had appeared to her to be driving up the
entrance road to the house. As it approached, she felt inclined
to go up stairs to prepare to receive company, but, as if spell-bound,
she was unable to move or speak. The carriage approached, and
as it arrived within a few yards of the window, she saw the figures
of the postilions and the persons inside take the ghastly appearanceof skeletons and other hideous figures. The whole then vanished
entirely, when she uttered the above-mentioned exclamation.
‘11. On the morning of the 30th October, when Mrs A. was
sitting in her own room with a favourite dog in her lap, she distinctly
saw the same dog moving about the room during the space of about
a minute or rather more.
‘12. On the 3d December, about nine P.M., when Mr and Mrs
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A. were sitting near each other in the drawing-room, occupied in.
reading, Mr A. felt a pressure on his foot. On looking up, he
observed Mrs A.’s eyes fixed with a strong and unnatural stare on
a chair about nine or ten feet distant. Upon asking her what she
saw, the expression of her countenance changed, and upon recover
ing herself, she told Mr A. that she had seen his brother, who was
alive and well at the moment in London, seated in the opposite chair,
but dressed in grave-clothes, and with a ghastly countenance, as
if scarcely alive 1
‘ From the very commencement of the spectral illusions,’ observes
Sir David in conclusion, ‘ both Mrs A. and her husband were well
aware of their nature and origin, and both of them paid the most
minute attention to the circumstances which accompanied them,
not only with the view of throwing light upon so curious a subject,
but for the purpose of ascertaining their connection with the state
of health under which they appeared.’
ILLUSIONS
FROM
DELIRIUM
TREMENS.
A bodily disorder, which in itself ought to afford a solution of
nearly all apparitions, is that called delirium tremens, or vulgarly
blue devils. This is most commonly induced, in otherwise healthy
subjects, by continued intemperance in intoxicating liquors. It is a
disorder intimately connected with a derangement of the digestive
functions. So long as the drinker can take food, he is comparatively
secure against the disease, but when his stomach rejects (jommon
nourishmept, and he persists in taking stimulants, the effects are
for the most part speedily visible, at least in peculiarly nervous
constitutions. The first symptom is commonly a slight impairment
of the healthy powers of the senses of hearing and seeing. A ringing
in the ears probably takes place; then any common noise, such
as the rattle of a cart on the street, assumes to the hearing a
particular sound, and arranges itself into a certain tune perhaps,
or certain words, which haunt the sufferer, and are by and by rung
into his ears on the recurrence of every noise. The proverb, ‘ As
the fool thinks, so the bell tinks,’ becomes very applicable in his
case. His sense of seeing, in the meanwhile, begins to shew equal
disorder; figures float before him perpetually when his eyes are
closed at night. By day also, objects seem to move before him
that are really stationary. The senses of touch, taste, and sfnell
are also involved in confusion. In this way the disturbance of
the senses goes on, increasing always with the disorder of the
alimentary function, until the unhappy drinker is at last visited,
most probably in the twilight, by visionary figures as distinct in
outline as living beings, and which seem to speak to him with the
voice of life. At first he mistakes them for realities; but, soon
discovering his error, is thrown into the deepest alarm. If he
14
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
has the courage to approach and examine any one of the illusory
figures, he probably finds that some fold of drapery, or some shadow,
has been the object converted by his diseased sense into the appari
tion, and he may also find that the voice was but- some simple house
hold sound, converted by his disordered ear into strange speech:
for the senses, at least in the milder cases of this sort, rather convert
than create, though the metamorphosed may differ widely from the
real substance. The visitations and sufferings of the party may
go on increasing, till he takes courage to speak to the physician,
who, by great care, restores his alimentary organs to a state of
health, and, in consequence, the visions slowly leave him. If, how
ever, remedies are not applied in time, the party will probably sink
under the influence of his disorder. The spectral figures and voices
being solely and entirely the creation of his own fancy, will seem
to do or say anything that may be uppermost in that fancy at
the moment, and will encourage him to self-murder by every possible
argument—all emanating, of course, from his own brain. The whole
consists merely of his own fancies, bodied forth to him visibly and
audibly in his seeing and hearing organs. His own poor head is
the seat of all; there is nothing apart from him—nothing but
vacancy.
Dr Alderson, a respectable physician, mentions his being called
to a keeper of a public-house, who was in a state of great terror, and
who described himself as having been haunted for some time with
spectres. He had first noticed something to be wrong with him on
being laughed at by a little girl for desiring her to lift some oyster
shells from the floor. He himself stooped, but found none. Sooh
after, in the twilight, he saw a soldier enter the house, and, not
liking his manner, desired him to go away; but receiving no answer,
he sprang forward to seize the intruder, and to his horror found the
shape to be but a phantom ! The visitations increased by night and
by day, till he could not distinguish real customers from imaginary
ones, so definite and distinct were the latter in outline. Sometimes
they took the forms of living friends, and sometimes of people long
dead. Dr Alderson resorted to a course of treatment which restored
the strength of the digestive organs, and gradually banished the
spectres.
,
ILLUSIONS FROM SEVERE DISORDERS.
Among the other varieties of bodily ailments affecting either
structure or function, which have been found to produce spectral
illusions, fevers, inflammatory affections, epileptic attacks, hysteria,
and disorders of the nerves generally, are among the most pro
minent. As regards fevers and inflammatory affections, particularly
those of the brain, it is well known to almost every mother or
member of a large family, that scarcely any severe case can occur
l5
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
without illusions of the sight to a greater or less extent. In hysteric
and epileptic cases also, where fits or partial trances occur, the same
phenomena are frequently observed. But we shall not enlarge on
the effects produced by the influence of severe and obviously exist
ing maladies, as it is in those cases only where the spectre-seer has
exhibited apparent sanity of mind and body that special wonder has
been excited. It is so far of great importance, however, to notice
that these diseases do produce the illusions, as in most cases it will
be found, on inquiry, that the party subject to them, however sound
to appearance at the time, afterwards displayed some of these
complaints in full force; and we may then rationally explain the
whole matter by supposing the seeds of the ailments to have early
existed in a latent state. A German lady, of excellent talents and
high character, published an account some years back of successive
visions with which she had been honoured, as she believed, by
Divine favour. The case of this lady throws so much light on
delusions arising from deranged temperament and kindred maladies,
that we take the liberty of extracting it from the interesting work of
Dr Hibbert.
‘The illusions which the lady experienced first came on in the
fourth year of her age, while she was sitting with her little doll upon
her knees; and, for the greater convenience of dressing and
undressing it, resting her feet upon a large folio Bible. “ I had
scarcely taken my place,” she observes, “ above a minute, when I
heard a voice at my ear say: ‘Put the book where you found it;’
but as I did not see any person, I did not do so. The voice, how
ever repeated the mandate, that I should do it immediately; and,
at the same time, I thought somebody took hold of my face. ' I
instantly obeyed with fear and trembling; but not being able to
lift the book upon the table, I called the servant-maid to come
quickly and assist me. When she came, and saw that I was alone
and terrified, she scolded me, as nobody was there.” It may be
remarked of this part of the account, that the voice which the
narrator heard can only be regarded as a renovated feeling of the
mind, resulting from some prior remonstrances that she might have
incurred from her protectors, whenever she treated with unbecoming
irreverence the holy volume ; while the impression of a person
taking hold of her face, may be referred to some morbid sensation
of touch, incidental to many nervous affections, which would easily
associate itself with the imaginary rebuke of her mysterious monitor,
so as to impart to the whole of the illusion a certain degree of
connection and consistency. The patient (for such I shall call her)
next describes the extreme diligence and the peculiar delight with
which, as she grew up in years, she read twice over, from the
beginning to the end, the pages of the Scriptures ; and she likewise
dwells upon her constant endeavour to render the Bible more
intelligible, by often hearing sermons and reading religious books.
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�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
It is certainly of importance to know the subject of her incessant
and anxious studies, as it is well calculated to explain the nature of
her visions, which, as we might expect, were generally of a religious
description. We are, in the next place, told by the lady, that after
she had reached her seventh year, she saw, when playing, a clear
flame which seemed to enter through the chamber door, while in
the middle of it was a long bright light about the size of a child of
six years old. The phantasm remained stationary for half an hour
near the stove of the room, and then went out again by the room
door ; the white light first, and the flame following it. After this
vision, we hear of no other until the lady is married, when, unfor
tunately, her husband made her life so bitter to her, that she could
think only of death. Hence must have necessarily arisen the
combining influence of strong mental emotions, which could not
but act as powerful exciting agents upon a frame the mental feelings
of which, from constitutional causes, were of the most intense kind.
Spectral illusions would of course become very frequent. Thus, on
one occasion, when she had received some ill-treatment from her
husband, she made a resolution to desist from prayer, thinking the
Lord had forsaken her; but, upon further consideration, she
repented of this purpose, and, after returning thanks to Heaven,
went to bed. She awakened towards the morning, and then, to her
astonishment, found that it was broad daylight, and that at her bed
side was seated a heavenly figure in the shape of a man about sixty
years of age, dressed in a bluish robe, with bright hair, and a
countenance shining like the clearest red and white crystal. He
looked at her with tenderness, saying nothing more than ‘■'■Proceed,
proceed, proceed!” These words were unintelligible to her, until
they were solved by another phantasm, young and beautiful as an
angel, who appeared on the opposite side of the bed, and more
explicitly added : “ Proceed in prayer, proceed in faith, proceed in
trials” After this incident, a strange light appeared, when she
immediately felt herself pulled by the hairs of her head, and pinched
and tormented in various ways. The cause of this affliction she
soon discovered to be the devil himself, who made his debut in
the usual hideous form under which he is personated, until at length
the angel interfered and pushed away the foul fiend with his elbow.
“Afterwards,” as the lady added, “the light came again, and both
persons looked mournfully at it. The young one then said : ‘ Lord,
this is sufficientand he uttered these words three times. Whilst
he repeated them, I looked at him, and beheld two large white
wings on his shoulders, and therefore I knew him to be an angel
of God. The light immediately disappeared, the two figures
vanished, and the day was suddenly converted into night. My
heart was again restored to its right place, the pain ceased, and I
arose.” ’
Dr Crichton, author of an able work on insanity, found that this
17
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
unfortunate lady was always affected with the aura epileptica during
the prevalence of the illusions ; or, in other words, that she was
labouring under slight attacks of epilepsy. Thus simply was
explained a series of phenomena which, from the high character
for veracity of the subject of them, astonished a great part of
Germany.
ILLUSIONS OF THE IMAGINATION.
Persons in a desponding or gloomy state of mind are exceedingly
liable to be deceived by their fancies. The morbid imagination
catches at every seemingly mysterious appearance, and transforms
it into a spectre, or warning of approaching dissolution. ‘ A man
who is thoroughly frightened,’ observes a popular American writer,
*
* can imagine almost anything. The whistling of the wind sounds
in his ears like the cry of dying men. As he walks along trembling
in the dark, the friendly guide-post is a giant; the tree gently waving
in the wind is a ghost; and every cow he chances to meet is some
fearful apparition from the land of hobgoblins. Who is there that
•cannot testify, from personal experience, of some such freaks of
imagination? How often does one wake up in the night and find the
clothes upon the chair, or some article of furniture in the room,
assuming a distinctly defined form, altogether different from that
which it in reality possesses!
‘ There is in imagination a potency far exceeding the fabled power
of Aladdin’s lamp. How often does one sit in wintry evening
musings, and trace in the glowing embers the features of an absent
friend! Imagination, with its magic wand, will there build the
city with its countless spires—or marshal contending armies
—or drive the tempest-shattered ship upon the ocean. The
following story, relate.d by Scott, affords a good illustration of
this principle :
‘ “ Not long after the death of a late illustrious poet, who had filled,
while living, a great station in the eye of the public, a literary friend,
to whom the deceased had been well known, was engaged, during
the darkening twilight of an autumn evening, in perusing one of the
publications which professed to detail the habits and opinions of the
distinguished individual who was now no more. As the reader had
enjoyed the intimacy of the deceased to a considerable degree, he
was deeply interested in the publication, which contained some
particulars relating to himself and other friends. A visitor was
sitting in the apartment, who was also engaged in reading. Their
sitting-room opened into an entrance-hall, rather fantastically fitted
up with articles of armour, skins of wild animals, and the like. It
was when laying down his book, and passing into this hall, through
• Scientific Tracts (Boston, 1832).
18
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
which the moon was beginning to shine, that the individual of whom
I speak saw right before him, in a standing posture, the exact repre
sentation of his departed friend, whose recollection had been so
strongly brought to his imagination. He stopped for a single
moment, so as to notice the wonderful accuracy with which fancy
had impressed upon the bodily eye the peculiarities of dress and
position of the illustrious poet. Sensible, however, of the delusion,
he felt no sentiment save that of wonder at the extraordinary accuracy
of the resemblance, and stepped onward towards the figure, which
resolved itself, as he approached, into the various materials of which
it was composed. These were merely a screen occupied by great
coats, shawls, plaids, and such other articles as are usually found in
a country entrance-hall. The spectator returned to the spot from
which he had seen the illusion, and endeavoured with all his power
to recall the image which had been so singularly vivid. But this he
was unable to do. And the person who had witnessed the appari
tion, or, more properly, whose excited state had been the means of
raising it, had only to return into the apartment, and tell his
young friend under what a striking hallucination he had for a
moment laboured.”
‘Most persons under such circumstances would have declared
unhesitatingly that the ghost of the departed had appeared to them,
and they would have found great multitudes who would have believed
it. When the imagination has such power to recall the images of
the absent, is it at all wonderful that many persons should attribute
such appearances to supernatural visitations? Had the poet himself
been in the place of the screen, he probably would not have been
more vividly present. How many, then, of the causes of vulgar fear
are to be attributed to the effect of imagination 1 A lady was once
passing through a wood, in the darkening twilight of a stormy
evening, to visit a friend who was watching over a dying child. The
clouds were thick—the rain beginning to fall; darkness was increas
ing ; the wind was moaning mournfully through the trees. The
lady’s heart almost failed her as she saw that she had a mile to walk
through the woods in the gathering gloom. But the reflection of
the situation of her friend forbade her turning back. Excited and
trembling, she called to her aid a nervous resolution, and pressed
onward. She had not proceeded far, when she beheld in the path
before her the movement of some very indistinct object. It appeared
to keep a little distance in advance of her, and as she made efforts
to get nearer to see what it was, it seemed proportionably to recede.
The lady began to feel rather unpleasantly. There was some pale
white object certainly discernible before her, and it appeared
mysteriously to float along at a regular distance, without any effort
at motion. Notwithstanding the lady’s good sense and unusual
resolution, a cold chill began to come over her. She made every
effort to resist her fears, and soon succeeded in drawing nearer the
19
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
mysterious object, when she was appalled at beholding the features
of her friend’s child, cold in death, wrapped in its shroud. She
gazed earnestly, and there it remained distinct and clear before her
eyes. She considered it a monition that her friend’s child was dead,
and that she must hasten on to her aid. But there was the apparition
directly in her path. She must pass it. Taking up a little stick,
she forced herself along to the object, and behold, some little animal
scampered away. It was this that her excited imagination had
transformed into the corpse of an infant in its winding-sheet. The
vision before her eyes was undoubtedly as clear as the reality could
have been. Such is the power of imagination. If this lady, when
she saw the corpse, had turned in terror and fled home, what
reasoning could ever have satisfied her that she had not seen some
thing supernatural? When it is known that the imagination has
such a power as this, can we longer wonder at any accounts which
are given of unearthly appearances ?’
The numerous stories told of ghosts, or the spirits of persons who
are dead, will in most instances be found to have originated in
diseased imagination, aggravated by some abnormal defect of mind.
We may mention a remarkable case in point; it is told by the com
piler of Les Causes Celebres. Two young noblemen, the Marquises
De Rambouillet and De Precy, belonging to two of the first families
of France, made an agreement, in the warmth of their friendship,
that the one who died first should return to the other with tidings of
the world to come. Soon afterwards, De Rambouillet went to the
wars in Flanders, while De Precy remained at Paris, stricken by a
fever. Lying alone in bed, and severely ill, De Precy one day heard
a rustling of his bed-curtains, and turning round, saw his friend De
Rambouillet in full military attire. The sick man sprung over the
bed to welcome his friend, but the other receded, and said that he
had come to fulfil his promise, having been killed on that very day.
He further said that it behoved De Precy to think more of the after
world, as all that was said of it was true, and as he himself would
die in his first battle. De Precy was then left by the phantom ; and
it was afterwards found that De Rambouillet had fallen on that day.
De Precy recovered, went to the wars, and died in his first combat.
Here, a'fter a compact—the very conception of which argues credu
lousness or weakness of mind—we not only have one of the parties
left in anxiety about the other, but left in a violent fever, and aware
that his friend was engaged in a bloody war. That a spectral illusion
should occur in such a case, is a thing not at all to be wondered at, as
little as the direction and shape that the sick man’s wanderings took.
The fulfilment of the prophecy is the point of interest; and regard
ing it we would simply use the words of Dr Hibbert, in referring to
the story of Lord Balcarras and Viscount Dundee. Lord Balcarras
was confined as a Jacobite in the castle of Edinburgh, while Dundee
was fighting for the same cause ; and on one occasion the apparition
20
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
of the latter came to the bedside of Balcarras, looked at him stead
fastly, leaned for some time on the mantel-piece, and then walked
away. It afterwards appeared that Dundee fell just about the time
at Killiecrankie. ‘ With regard to this point,’ says Dr Hibbert, ‘ it
must be considered that, agreeably to the well-known doctrine of
chances, the event [of Dundee’s death] might as well occur then as
at any other time ; while afar greater proportion of other apparitions,
less fortunate in such a supposed confirmation of their supernatural
origin, are allowed quietly to sink into oblivion? This observation
applies equally as well to the case of De Precy as to that of Balcarras,
each of whom knew that his friend was then hotly campaigning, and
could most probably even guess, from the latest bulletins, on what
day the hostile armies would decisively meet. We are not told
whether or not Balcarras, like De Precy, was in ill health, but the
Scottish lord was confined on a charge of high treason, and on
Dundee’s life or death, victory or defeat, the fate of the prisoner
must have been felt by himself to rest. This was enough to give his
lordship a vivid dream, and even to give him a waking portraiture of
Dundee, after the fashion of the bust of Curran case.
But though explanations may thus be given of the common run
of apparition cases, it may seem to some that there are particular
cases not to be so accounted for. Of this nature, such readers
may say, is the well-warranted story of the Irish lady of rank, who,
having married a second time, was visited in the night-time by the
spirit of her first husband, from whom she received a notification of
the appointed period of her own death. The lady was at first
terrified, but regained her courage. ‘ How shall I know to-morrow
mom,’ said she boldly to the spectre, ‘ that this is not a delusion of
the senses—that I indeed am visited by a spirit ?’ ‘ Let this be a
token to thee for life,’ said the visitant, and, grasping the arm of the
lady for an instant, disappeared. In the morning a dark mark, as
if of a fresh burn, was seen on the wrist, and the lady kept the scar
covered over while she lived. She died at the time prophesied.
This story is told with great unction by some memoir writers,
and the circumstances are said to have been long kept secret by
the lady’s family. For argument’s sake let us admit the most striking
points of the case to be true. As for the circumstance of her death
at the time foretold, it is well known how powerful imagination is in
causing fulfilment in these cases ; and at all events, one instance of
such a fulfilment is no great marvel amid hundreds of failures.
But the black mark—what of it ? We confess to the reader, that if
we had actually seen the scar upon the wrist of the lady, we should
not have been one step nearer to the admission of supernatural
agency. Supposing, however, that the mark actually existed, could it
not have been explained by somnambulism ? The lady may readily
have risen in her sleep, burnt her hand against the bedroom grate,
and, conscious of an unpleasing sensation, though not awakened by
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it, her fancy may have formed the whole story of the preternatural
visitation, precisely as the Irish mate of the merchant vessel in
vented the circumstances connected with the holy-water. When
we find that such an explanation of the matter is accordant with
observed and unquestionable facts, it would be irrational to over
look it, and seek a solution in a supposed breach of the laws of
nature.
In some instances, it may be difficult to decide whether spectral
appearances and spectral noises proceed from functional derange
ment or from an overwrought state of mind. Want of exercise and
amusement may also be a prevailing cause. A friend mentions to
us the following case. An acquaintance of his, a merchant in London,
who had for years paid a very close attention to business, was one
day, while alone in his counting-house, very much surprised to hear,
as he imagined, persons outside the door talking freely about him.
Thinking it was some acquaintances who were playing off a trick, he
opened the door to request them to come in, when, to his amazement,
nobody was there. He again sat down at his desk, and in a few
minutes the same dialogue recommenced. The language employed
was now very alarming. One voice seemed to say : ‘ We have the
scoundrel safe in his counting-house ; let us go in and seize him.’
‘ Certainly,’ replied the other voice ; ‘ it is right to take him ; he has
been guilty of a great crime, and ought to be brought to condign
punishment.’ Alarmed at these threats, the bewildered merchant
rushed to the door; and there again no person was to be seen. He
now locked his door and went home ; but the voices, as he thought,
followed him through the crowd, and he arrived at his house in a
most unenviable state of mind. Inclined to ascribe the voices to
derangement in mind, he sent for a medical attendant, and told his
case ; and a certain kind of treatment was prescribed. This, how
ever, failed: the voices menacing him with punishment for purely
imaginary crimes continued, and he was reduced to the brink of
despair. At length a friend prescribed entire relaxation from business,
and a daily game of cricket; which, to his great relief, proved an
effectual remedy. The exercise banished the phantom voices, and
they were no more heard.
In bygone times, when any kind of nonsense was believed without
investigation, the Lowland Scotch, as they alleged, occasionally saw
wraiths, or spectral appearances of persons who were soon to quit
this mortal scene ; the Irish were also accustomed to the spectacle
offetches; and the Highlanders had their second-sight; the whole,
be it observed, being but a variety of mental disease or some
kind of delusion. In some instances the appearances were a
result of atmospheric refraction, but generally they were nothing
more than the phantoms of a morbid and overexcited fancy. The
progress of education and intelligence has almost everywhere
banished such delusions.
28
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
ILLUSIONS
FROM
DERANGEMENT
OF
THE
EYES.
In our preliminary observations, it was shewn that spectral appear
ances produced by mental disorder were really formed or daguerreotyped on the eye; but an unsound state of the eye itself may
also cause these phantoms. Dr Abercrombie mentions two cases
strikingly illustrative of this fact. In one of these, a gentleman of
high mental endowments, and of the age of eighty, enjoying unin
terrupted health, and very temperate in his habits, was the person
subject to the illusions. For twelve years this gentleman had
daily visitations of spectral figures, attired often in foreign dresses,
such as Roman, Turkish, and Grecian, and presenting all varieties
of the human countenance, in its gradations from childhood to old
age. Sometimes faces only were visible, and the countenance of
the gentleman himself not unfrequently appeared among them.
One old and arch-looking lady was the most constant visitor, and
she always wore a tartan plaid of an antique cut. These illusory
appearances were rather amusing than otherwise, being for the most
part of a pleasing character. The second case mentioned by Dr
Abercrombie was one even more remarkable than the preceding.
‘ A gentleman of sound mind, in good health, and engaged in active
business, has all his life been the sport of spectral illusions, tosuch an extent that, in meeting a friend on the street, he has first
to appeal to the sense of touch before he can determine whether
or not the appearance is real. He can call up figures at will by
a steady process of mental conception, and the figures may either
be something real, or the composition of his own fancy? Another
member of the family was subject to the same delusive impressions.
These very curious cases indicate, we think, a defective condition,
of the retina, which may be held as one distinct and specific source
of spectral deceptions. That defective condition seems to consist
in an unusual sensitiveness, rendering the organ liable to have
figures called up upon it by the stimulus of the fancy, as if impressed
by actual external objects. In ordinary circumstances, on a friend
being vividly called to one’s remembrance, one can mentally form
a complete conception of his face and figure in their minutest
lineaments. ‘ My father ! ’ says Hamlet; ‘ methinks I see him now !’’
‘Where, my lord?’ ‘In my mind's eye, Horatio? In Hamlet’s
case, an apparition is described as having followed this delineation
by the memory, and so may a vivid impression of any figure or
object be transferred from the mind to the retina, where the latter
organ is permanently or temporarily in a weak or peculiarly sensitive
state. In this way the spectral illusions seem to have been
habitually caused in the two cases described. There the defect in
the retina was the fundamental or ultimate cause of their existence,
and the fancy of the individual the power which regulated their
23 •
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
frequency and character. Slighter cases of this nature are of com
paratively common occurrence—cases in which the retina is for a
short time so affected as to give the impression of an apparition.
Every one is aware that a peculiarly bright or shining object, if long
gazed upon, does not leave the retina as soon as the eye is with
drawn from it. It remains upon the nerve for a considerable time
afterwards, at least in outline, as may be observed by closing the
eyelids on such occasions. This retentive power, when aided by
the imagination, and perhaps by a little bodily derangement with
which the senses sympathise, may be carried so far as to produce
an actual and forcible spectral illusion. A gentleman, who had
gazed long and earnestly on a small and beautiful portrait of the
Virgin and Child, was startled, immediately on turning his eye
from the picture, by seeing a woman and infant at the other end
of his chamber of the full size of life. A particular circumstance,
however, disclosed in a moment the source of the appearance.
The picture was a three-parts length, and the apparitional figures
also wanted the lower fourth of the body, thus shewing that the
figures had merely been retained on the tablet of the eye. But
the retina may retain an impression much longer than in this case;
or rather may recall, after a considerable time, an impression that
has been very vividly made at the first. A celebrated oculist in
London mentioned to us that he had been waited on by a gentle
man who laboured under an annoying spectral impression in his
eye. He stated that, having looked steadfastly on a copy of the
Lord’s Prayer, printed in minute characters within a circle the size
of a sixpence, he had ever since had the impression of the Lord’s
Prayer in his eye. On whatever object he turned his organs of
vision, there was the small round copy of the Lord’s Prayer present,
and partly covering it.
It appears, then, from the cases described, that the eye, through
defectiveness of its parts, or through the power of the retina in
retaining or recalling vivid impressions, may itself be the main
agent in producing spectral illusions. From one particular circum
stance, we may generally tell at once whether or not the eye is the
organ in fault on such occasions. In Dr Abercrombie’s cases,
the spectral figures never spoke. This is equivalent to a positive
indication that the sense of hearing was not involved in the derange
ment ; in short, that the eye, and not the whole of the senses, or
general system, constituted the seat of the defect.
ILLUSIONS EXPLAINED BY PHRENOLOGY.
In previous sections, it has been stated that maladies of various
kinds are capable of producing spectral illusions by their effects on
the brain and nervous system. In some cases, it was stated that the
brain is directly diseased; in other cases, that the perceptions made
24
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
by that organ are only indirectly deranged by sympathy with some
bodily malady. Madness, for example, having its origin in diseased
cerebral structure, may be attended with spectral illusions ; and
disorder of the alimentary organs, caused by dissipation, may be an
indirect source of them; the senses, and the brain which forms per
ceptions through their reports, being functionally disordered from
sympathy. That a peculiar temperament of body, and, in part, a
particular mental constitution, are requisite to give a predisposition
to the affection, there can be little doubt. Some mental philosophers
go a great way further. The phrenologists hold that it is chiefly on
a particular development of one portion of the brain, which they
describe as the seat of the sentiment of Wonder, that the tendency
to see visions depends. It is observed by them that this ‘sentiment,
when in a state of extreme exaltation (great development and high
excitement), may stimulate the perceptive faculties to perceive objects
fitted to gratify it; and that spectres, apparitions, spirits, &c. are
the kind of ideas suited to please an inordinate Wonder.’ They
class pretenders to supernatural messages and missions, the seers of
visions and dreamers of dreams, and workers of miracles, among
such patients. Separating the remark just quoted from its reference
to the organology of the phrenological science, we may hold it to
signify that the sentiment of wonder, when predominant in an
individual’s mind, will stimulate those faculties which take cognizance
of the forms, colours, sizes, &c. of material existences, to such a
pitch of activity, that illusory perceptions of objects, characterised by
qualities fitted to gratify wonder, will be formed in the brain. The
following case, contributed by Mr Simpson to the Phrenological
Journal, No. 6, affords an interesting example of the manner in
which spectral illusions are accounted for by the strict rules of this
science.
‘Miss S. L., a young lady under twenty years of age, of good
family, well educated, free from any superstitious fears, and in perfect
general health of body and soundness of mind, has, nevertheless,
been for some years occasionally troubled, both in the night and in
the day, with visions of persons and inanimate objects, in numerous
modes and forms. She was early subject to such illusions occasion
ally, and the first she remembers was that of a carpet spread out in
the air, which descended near her, and vanished away.
‘ After an interval of some years, she began to see human figures
in her room as she lay wide awake in bed, even in the daylight of
the morning. These figures were whitish, or rather gray, and trans
parent like cobweb, and generally above the size of life. At this
time she had acute headaches, very singularly confined to one small
spot of the head. On being asked to point out the spot, the utmost
care being taken not to lead her to the answer, our readers may
judge of our feelings as phrenologists when she touched with her
forefinger and thumb each side of the root of the nose, the com
as
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
mencement of the eyebrows, and the spot immediately over the top
of the nose—the ascertained seats of the organs of Form, Size, and
Individuality! Here, particularly on each side of the robt of the
nose, she said the sensation could only be compared to that of
running sharp knives into the part. The pain increased when she
held her head down, and was much relieved by holding'her face
upwards. Miss S. L., on being asked if the pain was confined to
that spot, answered, that ‘ some time afterwards the pain extended
to right and left along the eyebrows, and a little above them, and
completely round the eyes, which felt often as if they would have
burst from their sockets.’ When this happened, her visions were
varied precisely as the phrenologist would have anticipated, and she
detailed the progress without a single leading question. Weight,
Colouring, Order, Number, Locality, all became affected-; and let us
■observe what happened. The whitish or cobweb spectres assumed
the natural colour of the objects, but they continued often to present
themselves, though not always, above th'e size of life. She saw a
beggar one day out of doors, natural in size and colour, who
vanished as she came up to the spot. Colouring being overexcited,
began to occasion its specific and fantastical illusions. Bright spots,
like stars on a black ground, filled the room in the dark, and even in
daylight; and sudden and sometimes gradual illumination of the
room during the night seemed to take place. Innumerable balls of
fire seemed one day to pour like a torrentjjout of one of the rooms
of the house down the staircase. On onefbccasion the pain between
the eyes, and along the lower ridge of l^te brow, struck her suddenly
with great violence—when instantly thfe room filled with stars and
bright spots. On attempting on that occasion to go to bed, she said
she was conscious of an inability to balance herself, as if she had
been tipsy; and she fell, having made repeated efforts to seize the
bedpost, which, in the most unaccountable manner, eluded her
grasp, by shifting its place, and also by presenting her with a number
of bedposts instead of one. If the organ of Weight, situated between
Size and Colouring, be the organ of the instinct to preserve, and
power of preserving equilibrium, it must be the necessary consequence
of the derangement of that organ to overset the balance of the person.
Overexcited Number we should expect to produce multiplication of
objects, and the first experience she had of this illusion was the
multiplication of the bedposts, and subsequently of any inanimate
object she looked at, that object being in itself real and single : a
book, a footstool, a work-box, would increase to twenty, or fifty,
sometimes without order or arrangement, and at other times piled
regularly one above another. Such objects deluded her in another
way, by increasing in size, as she looked at them, to the most
amazing excess—again resuming their natural size—less than which
they never seemed to become—and again swelling out Locality,
overexcited, gave her the illusion of objects, which she had been
26
1
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
accustomed to regard as fixed, being out of their places; and she
thinks, but is not sure, that on one occasion a door and window in
one apartment seemed to have changed places; but, as she added,
she might have been deceived by a mirror. This qualification gave
us the more confidence in her accuracy, when, as she did with regard
to all her other illusions, she spoke more positively. She had not
hitherto observed a great and painful confusion in the visions which
visited her, so as to entitle us to infer the derangement of Order.
Individuality, Form, Size, Weight, Colouring, Locality, and Number
only seemed hitherto affected.
. ‘For nearly two years Miss S. L. was free from her frontal head
aches, and—mark the coincidence—untroubled by visions or any
other illusive perceptions. Some months ago, however, all her
distressing symptoms returned in great aggravation, when she was
conscious of a want of health. The pain was more acute than before
along the frontal bone, and round and in the eyeballs; and all the
organs there situated recommenced their game of illusion. Single
figures of absent and deceased friends were terribly real to her, both
in the day and the night, sometimes cobweb, but generally coloured.
She sometimes saw friends on the street, who proved phantoms
when she approached to speak to them; and instances occurred
where, from not having thus satisfied herself of the illusion, she
affirmed to such friends that she had seen them in certain places,
at certain times, when they proved to her the clearest alibi. The
confusion of her spectral forms now distressed her. (Order affected.)
The oppression and perplexity was intolerable when figures presented
themselves before her in inextricable disorder, and still more when
they changed—as with Nicolai—from whole figures to parts of
figures, faces and half faces, and limbs—sometimes of inordinate
size and dreadful deformity. One instance of illusive disorder which
she mentioned is curious, and has the further effect of exhibiting
what cannot be put in terms, except those of the derangement of the
just perception of gravitation or equilibrium. (Weight.) One night,
as she sat in her bedroom, and was about to go to bed, a stream of
spectres, persons’ faces, and limbs, in the most shocking confusion,
seemed to her to pour into her room from the window, in the manner
of a cascade ! Although the cascade continued apparently in rapid
descending motion, there was no accumulation of figures in the room,
the supply unaccountably vanishing after having formed the cascade.
Colossal figures are her frequent visitors. (Size.)
‘Real but inanimate objects have assumed to her the form of
animals ; and she has often attempted to lift articles from the
ground, which, like the oysters in the pothouse cellar, eluded her
grasp.
‘ More recently, she has experienced a great aggravation of her
alarms ; for, like Nicolai, she began to hear her spectral visitors
speak! (The organs of Language and Tune, or Sound, affected.)
87
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
At first her crowds kept up a buzzing and indescribable gibbering,
and occasionally joined in a loud and terribly disagreeable laugh,
which she could only impute to fiends. These unwelcome sounds
were generally followed by a rapid and always alarming advance of
the figures, which often on those occasions presented very large and
fearful faces, with insufferable glaring eyes close to her own. All
self-possession then failed her, and the cold sweat of terror stood
on her brow. Her single figures of the deceased and absent then
began to gibber, and soon more distinctly to address her ; but terror
has hitherto prevented her from understanding what they said.
‘ She went, not very wisely, to see that banquet of demonology,.
Der Freischutz ; and of course, for some time afterwards, the dram
atis persona of that edifying piece, not excepting his Satanic
majesty in person, were her nightly visitors. Some particular
figures are persevering in their visits to her. A Moor, with a turban,
frequently looks over her shoulder, very impertinently, when she uses
a mirror.
‘ Of the other illusive perceptions of Miss S. L., we may mention
the sensation of being lifted up, and of sinking down and falling
forward, with the puzzling perception of objects off their perpendic
ular ; for example, the room, floor, and all, sloping to one side.
(Weight affected.)
‘ Colours in her work, or otherwise, long looked at, are slow to
quit her sight. She has noises in her head, and a sensation of heat
all over it; and, last of all, when asked if she ever experienced acute
pain elsewhere about the head than in the lower range of the fore
head, she answered that three several times she was suddenly affected
with such excruciating throbbing pain on the top of the head, that
she had almost fainted; and when asked to put her finger on the
spot, she put the points of each forefinger precisely on the organ of
Wonder, on each side of the coronal surface I’
In the same paper Mr Simpson adduces the singular illusive
perceptions suffered occasionally by Mr John Hunter, the great
anatomist, several of which are identical with Miss S. L.’s. In the
eighteenth and other numbers of the Phrenological Journal, other
cases of spectral illusions are mentioned, several with local pain,
which are held to corroborate the inferences drawn from that of Miss
S. L. But the case of that lady seems to us the most comprehensive
on the subject.
In a subsequent paper by Mr Simpson (in No. 7), the most brief
and satisfactory explanation of the illusions of the English OpiumEater is given. The forms and faces that persecuted him in millions
(Form diseased)—the expansion of a night into a hundred years
(Time)—his insufferable lights and splendours (Colour)—his descent
for millions of miles without finding a bottom (Weight or Resistance,
giving the feeling of support, diseased)—all described by him with
an eloquence that startled the public—are only aggravated illusions,
28
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
•due to his irregularities. It is extremely probable that the intoxi
cating gas affects the same organs.
ILLUSIONS FROM ARTIFICE.
Illusions from the use of phantasmagoria, magic lanterns, mirrors,
and other means of deception connected with professed jugglery,
need not here be more than alluded to. Illusions arising from the
alleged appearance of, and intercourse with, spirits, are of a different
kind, and a regular notice of such would form a dark chapter in the
history of our popular superstitions. In all ages, there have been
persons who lived by imposing on the vulgar, and pretending to
possess supernatural powers. Others, either through heedlessness or
a wanton spirit of mischief, have inflicted scarcely less injury on
society by terrifying children and weak-minded persons with tales of
ghosts and other spectral appearances. It is little more than a cen
tury since the metropolis was thrown into a state of extraordinary
excitement by the Cock Lane ghost; and as the history of this affair
will best illustrate the absurdity of this class of illusions, we may be
allowed to add it to our list of apparition anecdotes.
About the year 1759, Mr Kempe, a gentleman from the county of
Norfolk, came to reside with the sister of his deceased wife, in the
house of a Mr Parsons in Cock Lane, near Smithfield. The lady, it
appears, slept with a girl, the daughter of Parsons, and complained
of being disturbed with very unaccountable noises. From this or
some other cause, Mr Kempe and his sister-in-law removed to
another lodging in Bartlett Street. Here, unfortunately, the lady,
who passed by the name of Mrs Kempe, was attacked with small-pox,
and died ; and on the 2d of February 1760, her body was interred in
a vault in St John’s Church, Clerkenwell.
From this event two years elapsed, when a report was propagated
that a great knocking and scratching had been heard in the night at
the house of Parsons, to the great terror of all the family ; all methods
employed to discover the cause of it being ineffectual. This noise
was always heard under the bed in which lay two children, the
eldest of whom had slept with Mrs Kempe, as already mentioned,
during her residence in this house. To find out whence it proceeded,
Mr Parsons ordered the wainscot to be taken down ; but the knocking
and scratching, instead of ceasing, became more violent than ever.
The children were then removed into the two pair of stairs room,
whither they were followed by the same noise, which sometimes
continued during the whole night.
From these circumstances, it was apprehended that the house was
haunted ; and the elder child declared that she had, some time
before, seen the apparition of a woman, surrounded, as it were, by a
blazing light. But the girl was not the only person who was favoured
with a sight of this luminous lady. A publican in the neighbour29
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
hood, bringing a pot of beer into the house, about eleven o’clock at
night, was so terrified that he let the beer fall, upon seeing on the
stairs, as he was looking up, the bright shining figure of a woman,
which cast such a light that he could see the dial in the charityschool, through a window in that building. The figure passed by him,
and beckoned him to follow ; but he was too much terrified to obey
its directions, ran home as fast as possible, and was taken very ill.
About an hour after this Mr Parsons himself, having occasion to go
into another room, saw the same apparition.
As the knocking and scratching only followed the children, the
girl who had seen the supposed apparition was interrogated what
she thought it was like. She declared it was Mrs Kempe, who about
two years before had lodged in the house. On this information,
the circumstances attending Mrs Kempe’s death were recollected,
and were pronounced by those who heard them to be of a dark and
disagreeable nature. Suspicions were whispered about, tending to
inculpate Mr Kempe ; fresh circumstances were brought to light, and
it was hinted that the deceased had not died a natural death ; that,
in fact, she had been poisoned.
The knocking and scratching now began to be more violent; they
seemed to proceed from underneath the bedstead of the child, who
was sometimes thrown into violent fits and agitations. In a word,
Parsons gave out that the spirit of Mrs Kempe had taken possession
of the girl. The noises increased in violence, and several gentle
men were requested to sit up all night in the child’s room. On the
13th of January, between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, a
respectable clergyman was sent for, who, addressing himself to the
supposed spirit, desired that, if any injury had been done to the
person who had lived in that house, he might be answered in the
affirmative, by one single knock ; if the contrary, by two knocks.
This was immediately answered by one knock. He then asked
several questions, which were all very rationally answered in the
same way. Crowds now went to hear the ghost; among others, Dr
Johnson, ‘the Colossus of British literature,’ who was imposed on like
the rest. Many persons, however, would not be duped. Suspecting
a trick, with the sanction of the lord mayor, they set themselves
carefully to watch the movements of the girl. The supposed ghost
having announced that it would attend any gentleman into the vault
under St John’s Church, in which the body of Mrs Kempe was
entombed, and point out the coffin by knocking on the lid, several
persons proceeded to the vault accordingly, there to await the result.
On entering this gloomy receptacle at midnight, the party waited
for some time in silence for the spirit to perform its promise, but
nothing ensued. . The person accused by the ghost then went down,
with several others, into the vault, but no effect was perceived.
Returning to the bedroom of the girl, the party examined her closely,
but could draw no confession from her; on their departure, however,
30
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
towards morning, they arrived at the conviction that the girl possessed
the art of counterfeiting noises. Further examinations took place, and
ultimately it was discovered that she was a finished impostor. They
found that she had been in the habit of taking with her to bed a thin
and sonorous piece of wood, on which she produced the noises that
had deceived such crowds of credulous individuals. Parsons, who had
been privy to the plot for injuring the reputation of Mr Kempe, with
his daughter and several accomplices, were now taken into custody;
and after a trial before Lord Mansfield, were condemned to variousterms of imprisonment; Parsons being, in addition, ordered to stand,
in the pillory. Such was the termination of an affair which not
only found partisans among the weak and credulous, but' even stag
gered many men reputed for possessing sound understandings. A
worthy clergyman, whose faith was stronger than his reason, and
who had warmly interested himself in behalf of the reality of the
spirit, was so overwhelmed with grief and chagrin, that he did not
long survive the detection of the imposture.
CONCLUSION.
A word of advice may now be given in conclusion to those whoare subject to illusions of a spectral kind. If hysteria, epilepsy,
or any well-marked bodily affection be an accompaniment of these
illusions, of course remedial measures should be used which have
a reference to these maladies, and the physician is the party to be
applied to. If, however, no well-defined bodily ailment exists, a
word of counsel may be useful from ourselves. We believe that,
in general, spectral illusions are caused by disorders originating
in the alimentary system, and that the continued use of stimulating
liquors is to be most commonly blamed for the visitation. If the
patient is conscious that this- is the case, his path to relief lies open
before him. The removal of the cause will almost always remove
the effect. At the same time, the process of cure may be slow.
The imagination becomes morbidly active in such cases, and many
maintain the illusions after the digestive system is restored to order.
But this will not be the case long, for the morbidity of the imagina
tion does not usually survive, for any length of time, the restoration
of the sanity of the body. To effect a cure of the fundamental
derangement of the alimentary system, aperient medicines may be
used in the first instance, and afterwards tonics—nourishing food,
in small quantities, at the outset—and gentle but frequent exercise
in the open air. Last, but not least, for the cure of the sufferer
from spectral illusions, the indulgence in cheerful society is to be
recommended. Solitude infallibly nurses the morbidity of the
imagination. The notion that the use of ardent spirits should only
be dropped by degrees, is found to be a mistake. Even in instances
of the most inveterate drunkards, no harm follows from instantaneous
31
�SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.
abstinence. Therefore, as a little too often leads to much in the
matter of drinking, those who would break off the practice should
not be over-indulgent to themselves, through fear of the consequences
•of change. If opium have been the cause of the illusions, a gradual
cessation from its use may be advisable.
Should the sufferer from spectral illusions be conscious of no error
as regards the use of stimulants or narcotics, some affection of
the brain may be suspected, and headaches will corroborate this
suspicion. . Local or general blood-letting will prove in most cases
the best remedy. Leeches or cupping may be tried in the first place,
and, if tried ineffectively, the lancet may then be employed.
With rdspect to the demonstrable truthfulness of stories of appari
tions, we consider that the whole may be referred to natural causes.
Let us think of the apparent reasons for the majority of spectral
communications, supposing them to be supernatural. Can we deem
it accordant with the dignity of that great Power which orders
the universe, that a spirit should be sent to warn a libertine of
his death ? Or that a spiritual messenger should be commissioned
to walk about an old manor-house, dressed in a white sheet, and
dragging clanking chains, for no better purpose than to frighten
old women and servant-girls, as said to be done in all hauntedchamber cases? Or that a supernatural being should be charged
with the notable task of tapping on bed-heads, pulling down plates,
and making a clatter among tea-cups, as in the case of the Stockwell ghost, and a thousand others ? The supposition is monstrous.
If to any one inhabitant of this earth—a petty atom, occupying a
speck of a place on a ball which is itself an insignificant unit among
millions of spheres—if .to such a one a supernatural communication
was deigned, certainly it would be for some purpose worthy, of the
all-wise Communicator, and fraught with importance to the recipient
of the message, as well, perhaps, as to his whole race.
32
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Spectral illusions
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Place of publication: [s.l.]
Collation: 32 p. : ill. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Approximate date from LC record. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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[s.n.]
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[ca. 1880?]
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N619
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Spiritualism
Science
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Spectral illusions), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
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English
Apparitions
Hallucinations and illusions
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY;
OB, THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
SPIRITUALISM AND MODERN THOUGHT.
Br
GEORGE BARLOW.
“Have faith in God.”—Jesus Christ.
LONDON:
JAMES BURNS, 15 SOUTHAMPTON ROW, IIOLBORN, W.C.
1876.
��THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY;
OR, THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
SPIRITUALISM AND MODERN THOUGHT.
*
“Hava faith in God."—Jesüs Christ.
Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism. By William Crookes, F.R.S.
On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism.
Three Essays. By Alfred Russel
Wallace.
Thoughts in Aid of Faith. By Sara S. Hennell.
Present Religion: as a Faith owning Fellowship with Thought. By Sara S.
Hennell.
The Essence of Christianity. By Ludwig Feuerbach.
The Gospel of the Resurrection: Thoughts on its Relation to Reason and History.
By Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge.
A General View of Positivism. By Auguste Comte.
Literature and Dogma: an Essay towards a Better Apprehension of the Bible.
By Matthew Arnold.
The Old Faith and the New. By Friedrich Strauss.
The Arcana of Nature. By Hudson Tuttle.
The Arcana of Spiritualism. By Hudson Tuttle.
The Great Harmonia. By Andrew Jackson Davis.
At last man wakes from his dream of centuries.
He looks back
through the receding vistas of the ages, and he understands, by
the help of science, how it is that he was made—how the slow,
unconscious, creative power toiled upward through lower forms,
tiU it emerged in man, and became, in man, for the first lime
clearly conscious-of itself, and (now) of its own origin. He sees
how intellect gradually appeared—how reason supplanted in
stinct—how the dim germ of the moral sense first glimmered,
glow-worm like, along primeval plains and banks of thought—
how, when the moral sense had fairly established itself, the con
* This article attempts to deal with the theoretical and doctrinal sides of the
subject—which are hardly yet sufficiently discerned by the public—as Mr.
Wallace, in his articles in the Fortnightly Review, dealt with the experimental
and practical.
�4
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
ception of a God, like unto man, only larger and nobler, was not
long in following as its resultant—how that idea has gradually
become less and less anthropomorphic, till now, at last, man,
fully conscious of himself, takes back those attributes of his
own which he first, with childish eagerness, transferred to God,
and stands forth grand in the simple riches of his own divinity;
crowned with the crown of that God whom he first created, and
then detected and dethroned; bright with the product of his
own fiery, insatiable thought. Man now sees that all the motley
crowd of deities who have thronged the past, and made the ways
rich with their flashing sceptres and brilliant diadems—the
strange gods of India and the East—the Jewish stern Jehovah
—the pale, blood-stained Christ of Calvary—the lovely, golden
haired goddesses of Greece, who ruled the hills and watched the
streams of that immortal land—the weird divinities of the rough
Scandinavian thought—he sees that all these were but the crea
tions of his own fertile brain; that he himself is greater than all
these; that they find their fulfilment, as they first had their
origin, in man.
Now, if this be true; if, as many most able thinkers are now
pointing out, the word God is a symbol used by man to express
all of the highest and widest and noblest that he can conceive,
but having no objective significance; if man is, and has always
been, the creator of his own deities, and has fashioned them
according to his will—that is, according to the measure of
insight into what is really true and noble which he has pos
sessed in every age ; if the eternal essence or basis of things is,
as pointed out by Strauss and others, and hinted at by Mill in
his last work, itself unconscious, yet able to evolve conscious
ness (which then reacts upon its own originally unconscious
substance, producing further changes and improvements un
limited in extent); if a personal God is a (necessary) fiction of
the human brain, and the eternal power in which “ we live and
move and have our being” is an impersonal power, which yet,
by its upward struggles, blossoms into a consciousness of pure
and endless personality at last (a doctrine which the researches
of science daily render more probable); if the force which has
had no beginning is not a conscious force endowed with will,
but an unconscious force possessing attributes, what we call
personality and will being not causes but caused—-ultimate re
sults of the action and interaction of those inherent attributes
carried on through countless ages; if—to sum the whole matter
up briefly, and co set forth clearly the new point of view—the
first cause, or rather the perpetual cause, is an unconscious,
inevitable producer of consciousness, and that consciousness (our
own—upon this planet), again by the inevitable law of things,
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
O
turns round, as it were, upon itself, and, naturally ascribing its
own origin to a power in all things similar to itself, only greater,
exclaims—“ I am personal—I have a will and a moral sense—
all the elaborate works of human art that I see round me are
works of design—therefore I was created, and the world was
created, by the authoritative fiat of a beneficent, intelligent, per
sonal God”*—arranging, in so arguing, its inferences, as it is
now becoming plain to us, in a most inconsequent way;—if all
this, in very truth, be so, what is to be said about our personal
immortality ? Is that too, as Strauss thought, as Feuerbach
seems to indicate, a mere symbol—a mere outward expression of
our own intense longing for it ? Will our own proper person
ality be torn away from us along with the personality of God ?-|Must we acquiesce calmly in ideas of mere impersonal expan
sion along the tides and breezes of things—a mere unconscious
mingling with that unconscious universe whence we proceeded ?
First of all I would point out that those who believe (Feuer
bach, Strauss, S. Hennell, &c.) that God is a mere symbol—the
mere creation of our personality—ascribe a tremendous force to
that personality. I take, for the present, their view; I take it
boldly, uncompromisingly; I say that God does not exist at all
—never has existed save in our thought of him—save only in
the innermost recesses of those creative hearts of ours which
first originated the superb symbol, and then breathed upon it
and gave it a glorious life and a glorious kingdom to rule over,
even the entire universe—and gave it the sceptre of endlessness
and the crown of purity—of our purity generously transferred
to the symbol, even to the imaginary God. This view I take
and rejoice in—rejoicing in the exaltation that it confers upon
man, who thus becomes, verily, “ the master of things”—creat
ing, not created; bestowing, not gifted; the proud giver and
maker, and not the poor, humble, depraved, pitiful receiver of
life. 1 rejoice to restore his dignity to man, and the worth of
his attributes maligned and maltreated for ages.
But then,
doing and feeling all this quite as acutely as the scientific
atheists or humanitarians, I go on to ask—Why should we limit
the results of the human personality, confessedly in itself so
proud and supreme, to this life ? Why not extend the line of
its majestic continuity beyond the horizon of this life—beyond
“ the red vast void of sunset hailed from far, the equal waters of
* The Moral and Intelligent Governor of the Universe, at the popular concep
tion of whom Matthew Arnold has launched so many of his keen sarcastic arrows
in “ Literature and Dogma.”
f I am assuming in this article, for the sake of bringing my point of view
about Spiritualism clearly to bear, the truth of the modern notion as to the im
personal nature of the absolute essence.
�G
THE GOSPEL OF HUMAN II Y.
the dead ? ” If we have, indeed, from the depths of our inner
consciousness, lifted, with travail and strong effort, as it were,
the conception of an external anthropomorphic God, and are now
just discovering that this conception was our own, originated
from within, not imposed upon us from without, and not neces
sarily answering to any external reality;—if, so seeing, so know
ing, we are now taking back, resuming, with laughter and lordly
triumph, that crown and that sceptre of imperial rule which we
first bestowed upon God—or rather upon our conception of him—
how shall not all other things be ours as well, by virtue of our
own inherent attributes or those of the universe (the same
thing)—even immortality with all its sweetness, and endless
love with all its flowers ? If man could originate the giant con
ception of One God (as on the showing of Feuerbach and
Hennell he has done), besides creating the countless swarm of
smaller flame-winged deities who hovered on innumerable pinions
over Greece, over Borne, and the misty recesses of the remote
East—if man can do this, he can do something far greater—he
can take back from the symbol of God the crown of his own
divinity, and pass on in the strength of calm inherent immor
tality to meet death, which shall be to him as the golden gate
of life.
Understand, reader, clearly what I am arguing for. I am
arguing for inherent immortality—for immortality naturally in
herent in man, potentially present in the germ, waiting to be
evolved. Just as, according to Professor Tyndall, all our present
gifts and capacities were potentially latent in that wide-spread
“ fiery cloud ” whence our visible universe sprang, so, I say, is im
mortality potentially latent in man. Now, the difference between
my point of view and the orthodox point of view is just this—
that I look upon immortality as natural and inherent; they look
upon it as something inseparably connected with the Incarnation
and the Trinity—or even with certain ideas about the Incarna
tion and the Trinity—as something mercifully given to us by
God (and perhaps given only to a few)-—something w/w'cA we
might miss—which indeed we are all in great danger of missing
*
—something given by the Eternal King of Heaven as a boon/f
*
for which we have to be ceaselessly and laboriously grateful,
lifting up our praises with loud voices and urgent hearts to the
Lord for the riches of his goodness—something of which we
might have been deprived ; nay, were justly deprived by the sin
of Adam or our own, but which has been restored to us in the
* See Calvinistic and Evangelical views, passim.
+ “According to his mercy he saved us . .
that, being justified by
his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
(Titns iii. 5, 6, 7.) And in numberless other passages of the New Testament.
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
7
person of Jesus Christ, and for ever securely sealed to us in
him—something which the Son of God came to bring and to
bestow. From my point of view on the contrary—a point of
view which, I maintain, is strictly in accordance with the most
advanced scientific views of evolution and natural development
—immortality is not a matter of chance or divine gift at all,
but a matter of positive certainty. IVe cannot licl/p having it.
God cannot either bestow it or take it away from us It is wrapped
*
* Mr Buchanan has reached this idea by poetic intuition, though he has
probably never reasoned much about it. In one of his fine “ Coruisken
Sonnets,” he says : —
‘ ‘ All things that live are deathless—I and ye.
The Father could not slay us if he would;
The Elements in all their multitude
Will rise against their Master terribly,
If but one hair upon a human head
Should perish! ”
And in another: —
“ I heard a Whirlwind on the mountain peak
Pause for a space its furious flight and cry—
‘ There is no Death! ’ loudly it seemed to shriek;
‘ Nothing that is, beneath the sun, shall die.’
The frail sick Vapours echoed, drifting by—
‘ There is no Death, but change early and late ;
•
Powerless were God's right Hand, full arm'd with fate,
To slay the meanest thing beneath the sky. ’ ”
Surely such lines as those which I have italicised indicate a great change of
view now passing over the minds of the thoughtful upon these subjects. We
may compare also, in reference to the notion of the inherent inextinguishable
immortality of man, several very striking passages in Walt Whitman’s poems.
Take the following, for example, from “ To Think of Time”-—
“ You are not thrown to the winds—you gather certainly and safely
around yourself;
Yourself ! Yourself ! Yourself, for ever and ever!
It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—
it is to identify you ;
It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;
Something long preparing and formless is arrived and form’d in you,
You are henceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.”
And, from the same poem:—
“ I swear I think now that everything without exception has an eternal
Soul!
The trees have, rooted in the ground ! the weeds of the sea have! the
animals!
“ I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and
the cohering is for it;
And all preparation is for it! and identity is for it! and life and
materials are altogether for it! ”
And if any one should say, as it is likely that those of the scientific and
sceptical turn of mind may, that in both these cases the poets are speaking
with a flue poetic frenzy, which has little real weight when brought to bear
upon objects with which the understanding pure and simple should properly
�8
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
up, sweetly enfolded, among the nobler necessities of our beings
it is as natural, in its place and time, as the visible life. It i;
evolved at a certain point by necessary law, just as the germs
of the lower forms of life were evolved from forms still lower by
their abiding impulse of upward progress. To make my meaning
*
quite clear, I may here quote a passage in Professor Westcott’s
“ Gospel of the Besurrection,” in which the view that I am op
posing is well stated. He says:—“The Apostles do not teach a
redemption to be wrought out by each man for himself, after the
example of Christ, but of redemption wrought for each by Christ,
and placed within their reach. . . . They do not teach an
immortality of the soul as a consequence flowing from any con
ceptions of man’s essential nature, but a resurrection of the body
. not only historically established in the rising again of Christ,
but given to us through Him who is ‘the Besurrection and the
Life,’” To which I reply generally, reserving for the present
what I have to say as to how the details of the resurrection are
affected by Spiritualism;—Why is “given to us” better than
“ a consequence flowing ” ? Surely our tenure of immortality
would be exactly the same in both cases—rather more secure as
a natural consequence I should think, being then safe from all
personal caprice of the giver. The hell of the churches could
never have been a natural consequence of man’s nature ; so subtle
a torture-chamber requires a personal giver and supporter.
Briefly, Why is it better to receive immortality than to take it,
or win it or earn it or (best of all) grow into it by certain steps,
grounded on inherent power ?
So far as regards the possibility of an inherent immortality—
“ the power of an endless life”—latent in man, without regard
deal—I reply that in this question of our immortality the fine poetic intuition,
whether expressed on its religious side by a Christ, or a Paul, or an A’Kempis,
or on its more strictly imaginative side by a Tennyson, or a Buchanan, or a
Whitman, is just the very thing we need—the very golden guiding-thread
whereby we may traverse those obscure cavernous recesses of our nature,
wherein the wished-for answer lies, but which the understanding, unassisted,
cannot reach.
* The able authors of “ The Unseen Universe” hold some view as to the
“ spiritual body,” closely akin to this I believe; only they go on (with strange
perverseness!) to deduce the theological Trinity, etc., from their physical
and scientific conclusions. It is curious that, while condemning the Spirit
ualistic manifestations of modern times as having “ no objective signifi
cance,” they should have failed to observe how exactly their own theory of
the “ spiritual body” corresponds to that of the more thoughtful among the
Spiritualists. Miss Cobbe, in the same way, in her last work, “ The Hopes of
the Human Race,” started a theory about the germ of the spiritual body being
resident in man and gradually blossoming, as if it were an original one—not
aware, apparently, that the Spiritualists, and indeed the Christians, had long
entertained and promulgated the very same notion. But these are only
instances of how we are all treading over the same ground just now; eagerly,
so that we run up against one another.
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
9
to capricious external divine beneficence of any kind. I now
come to the place at which Modern Spiritualism (as a theory,
for I am not here concerned with tire truth of this or that phe
nomenon) comes in to supplement and clinch my argument. As
a question of fact it must be investigated further, and the results
at present attained must be scientifically tabulated and arranged;
but as a theory or doctrine—as a system of belief, the uprising
of which was to be expected and predicted just at this precise
epoch of human development—the thing is perfect. I)r. West
cott, on page 50 of “The Gospel of the Resurrection,” says, in
reference to Spiritualism, “ Exactly when material views of the
universe seem to be gaining an absolute ascendancy, popular in
stinct finds expression now in this form of extravagant credulity,
and now in that. Arrogant physicism is met by superstitious
spiritualism; and there is right on both sides.”
Just so; but what Dr. Westcott does not appear to see is just
the very point which I want to bring out in this article, and in
which any originality of view that it may claim consists—viz.,
how beautifully Spiritualism supplements and completes the
positive Antichristian scientific teachings of modern times by
offering positive, tangible evidence of another world such as
science may lay hold of and investigate. We may say that the
“five hundred” nameless witnesses to Christ’s Resurrection,
whom science has so often longed to have in the witness-box,
are really present with us now, only tenfold in number, among
the Spiritualists. Let science examine them, and make what it
can of them, and let us know the results. I look upon Spiritu
alism, taken in its healthy and general sense, apart from the'
impostures and the nightmares of cliques, and rightly understood,
as the other world side of modern positivism—as positivism, in
fact, carried across death’s purely factitious boundary. Of
course, as Dr. Westcott (who has, I believe, some affinities with
the Spiritualists) would no doubt say, Spiritualism, if proved to
be true, would in one sense greatly strengthen the hands of the
Christians. It would show that the miracles, and notably that
of the Itesurrection, are possible. If they happen now, they
might have happened then; and the presumption would in such
case be that they, or many of them, did happen then. But
Spiritualism does far more than this, with its strong, free thought,
and its habit of pushing things to extremes. It goes further.
In its essence it is pitilessly hostile (as the clergy have instinc
tively recognised) to things orthodox, and is likeiy, if once fairly
established in England or in Europe, to do even more towards over
throwing the State Creeds than the modern advances of science.
It overcomes Christianity, in especial in this way—by outflank
*
ing it. If Christianity had miracles, Spiritualism has ten times
�10
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
as many. If Christianity revealed the other world to us, Spirit
ualism does so far more clearly and nearly—without a hopeless
gulf of eighteen centuries between. It is a mistake to suppose
that Spiritualism is merely a réchauffé of old supernatural
doctrines. It is something more. While, as Mr. Wallace
pointed out in the Fortnightly, it professes to clear away super
stitions by explaining the real rationale of former miracles,
demoniac possessions, and so forth, it extends a hand to modern
positive thought, and asks that that method may be applied to
miracles, and extended not only to hitherto unreached portions
of this world, but to the whole domain of the unseen. Miracles
happen, it says ; they have happened occasionally throughout
history, but never capriciously, always bylaw strict and unvary
ing enough to satisfy the most fastidious positivist or scien
tist. Immortality will turn out to be a thing natural enough ;
the Resurrection of Christ was perfectly simple and natural. We
hope in time to be able to supply science with the means of in
vestigating its method, and finally establishing it—perhaps even
reproducing it. This is the creed of the most intelligent among
the Spiritualists, and I do think that the general reasonableness
of their system, and its amenableness to the requirements of
positive or experiential thought ought to be more widely known
and understood. It is not too much to say that that unknown
quantity—that residue of fact which we have most of us felt
still remains in the early records of Christianity after the utmost
efforts of the sceptical school—those occurrences which Strauss
and Renan have failed to explain away—may yet be explained
(having been accepted as actual facts) by Spiritualism. Another
Life of Jesus may yet be written, neither on the orthodox nor
the infidel basis, but upon the Spiritualistic ; and it may come
more nearly than any previous life to the actual truth.
I think I may here be forgiven for quoting a portion of a
letter which I wrote to a friend when I first began to study care
fully the Spiritualistic literature, expressing the conclusions
which I formed at the time.
*
I see no reason now (the letter
was written towards the close of December, 1873—some months
before, Mr. Wallaces article appeared) materially to differ from
them, except that I should not now' call myself a Theist. The
extract will show still more clearly what I conceive to be the
relation of modern Spiritualism to that gospel of humanity (as
opposed to the gospel of the Resurrection of Christ) which I
touched upon at the beginning of this article—that gospel which
is being preached, or has been preached, with more or less of
* The contents of the letter have all the freshness and force of first impressions,
and I cannot state, my case better.
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
II
variety, and with more or less of success, by Goethe, Swinburne,
M. Arnold, Theodore Parker, Miss Cobbe, Miss Hennell, Emerson,
Greg, Mazzini, Feuerbach, Strauss, J. S. Mill, A. J. Davis, F.
Newman, H. G. Atkinson, Hudson Tuttle, Walt Whitman, Fiske,
Herbert Spencer, Huxley, Tyndall, Darwin, Comte, and others.
*
“ I am now going to talk a little about Spiritualism, upon which
subject I have been bringing my mind to bear lately. I think
a few observations may interest you, as you have not yet turned
the light of your mind-lantern in that direction. The subject is
one which all men of intelligence at the present day ought to
spend a certain amount of time (no£ »too much) in investigating
and coming to an opinion upon.
“ I have come to the conclusion that there is truth at the
bottom of it, and that (amidst a mass of jugglery, folly, and im
posture) many of the facts to Which it bears witness will have
to be accepted, and added to the sum of human knowledge. I
shall give up calling myself a Theist, and call myself a Spirit
ualist, by which I do not mean an adherent of table-rapping
and all that sort of thing, but simply (as opposed to a Materi
alist) a believer in an unseen and supra-sensual world, and a
believer in the creed which holds that this unseen world has acted
upon the visible world in certain exceptional cases, and at certain
exceptional epochs, in an abnormal, though not unnatural, fashion.
That is what I mean by Spiritualism; and I shall use the word
henceforward (and the word Spiritualist) in this significance,
distinguishing the creed of mere table-rapping and its adherents
by the words Spiritism and Spiritists. Do you do the same, and
then we shall have no misunderstanding.
“ Now Spiritualism is an advance upon Theism, and is in
excess of it just so far as this—that (while accepting with
Theism the results of modern criticism and of modern science to
a very large extent) it allirms where Positivism denies, and
where Theism (your position, if I understand you rightly) re
fuses either to affirm or deny. Positivism (perhaps I had better
say Materialism, as they are not exactly the same thing) denies
altogether the existence of the unseen world, and (of course) its
influence on ours; Theism affirms the unseen world, but denies
that it impinges upon ours in any way (or refuses to predicate
anything with certainty concerning this—there is a slight vari
* I have purposely thrown a large number of powerful names together, as it is
interesting to see how extraordinary is the real strength of the new thought of
the age, when its forces are combined. Those teachers whom I have mentioned
differ, of course, greatly in doctrine ; but they all unite in one thing—in pro
phesying great and speedy changes to the religion of the civilised world, and in
pointing towards new conceptions of man as man, and a new vision of the glory
and potential holiness of collective humanity, as the means whereby these mighty
and inevitable changes are to be finally achieved.
�12
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
ance among Theistic prophets at this point); Spiritualism affirms
positive law and positive criticism (with Materialism, Science,
and Theism), affirms the unseen world (with Theism), and (its
differentia) asserts that in rare instances and at rare seasons it
does impinge upon ours. I think it probable that the Resurrec
tion was one of these instances, and a cardinal one. I think it
probable that Westcott was right (so far) in his book. I do not
see any other way of reconciling the three marked books of
my this year’s reading—Westcott’s ‘ Gospel of the Resurrection,’
Comte’s ‘ General View of the Positive Philosophy,’ M. Arnold’s
‘ Literature and Dogma’—each of which has had a very strong
influence upon me, and in each of which I think I discern
several weak points—also noble truth in each. I do not see
any other way of combining these books than by affirming that
the Spiritual world has impinged upon ours at given points
(Westcott); that all worlds are under the dominion of positive
law (Comte); and, thirdly, that the critical spirit must be ap
plied to Christianity, that the day for metaphysical dogmas has
gone by, and that all religion must primarily repose upon the
Intuition (M. Arnold).
“ What do you think of the above generalisation ? Ido not
think it is a small one. It is the result of much thought, and
seems to me to contain and sum up a good deal, and to throw
great light upon many hitherto obscure subjects. To me some
of these new thoughts have been like a flood of light.
“ I have long felt that the weak point of Theism lies in the
fact that it affirms a Spiritual world, and yet denies the possi
bility of any intercourse between the inhabitants of that world
and ours. This is the point that even popular Christian writers
see so clearly, and make so much of. I think there is sound
sense in what they say. That is why I asked you why, if we
hoped to see our dead friends some day, we should not see them
occasionally now—asking if it was logical (believing in another
world) to attempt to draw a hard line of demarcation between
that world and this—pointing out what I thought the inconsis
tency of Mazzini’s addressing the brothers Bandiera in prayer,
if at the same time he held positive views about the action of
one world upon another, and their Spirits upon his. Perhaps
you remember what I said. The truth is, that if you once admit
a Spiritual world (as you do, and Mazzini and Parker did), you
cannot, without giving a larger encouragement to Materialism
than any of you three would care to do, get out of the possibility
of that world’s sometimes trenching upon ours. . . .
“ I want now to clear your mind of the misconceptions which
probably fill it (as they filled mine up till very lately) on the
subject of Spiritualism.
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
13
“You no doubt thought (judging from ‘Sludge the Medium’
and representations of that sort) that Spiritualism was a mere
mass of charlatanism, imposture, ignorance, and vulgarity. Now,
I find on examination that it is not so. Simply not so. I was
very much startled by discovering that there is a clear scientific
tone about a good deal of Spiritualistic writing, and that some
Spiritualistic oratory is not unworthy of Parker. There is a Mrs.
Cora Tappan in particular, an American Spiritualistic oratoress,
who is possessed of real genius, and whose addresses are in every
way remarkable.
*
Some time I will send you out some Spirit
ualistic papers, and you shall judge for yourself. I was sur
prised and pleased to find a great deal of sound criticism and
healthy thought in their work. I think at present that (for me)
Spiritualism supplies the wanting factor—the unknown quan
tity ; it seems to fill the gap of which I have long been conscious
in Theism, and which has driven me back to Christianity, only
to be expelled again by the want of reason in its advocates.
But Spiritualism professes to work upon scientific bases. I
thought it was a modern reproduction of the superstitious side
of Christianity. I dare say you are thinking the same. It is
not so. I find that it is, on the contrary, a genuine product of
the age in which we live—that Spiritualists profess advanced
philosophical opinions (not unlike those of Parker)—that they
consider the Christian dogma of the Trinity as a worn-out fable,
and worship Parker’s Father and Mother of the Universe. Some
of Mrs. Tappan’s prayers are quite as beautiful as those of Parker,
and very much in the same style. All this was new and sur
prising to me, and, I think, will be new to you. It is encour
aging and reassuring, for I had fancied that Spiritualism went
in for patching and bolstering up Christianity. I find, for
instance, that Spiritualists talk about the superstitions of Chris
tianity, and that, far from shunning, they court scientific and
honest investigation.
“ I do not place much reliance upon séances or casual pheno
mena ; my main argument is, as usual, an a priori one, and lies
higher up. The more I think and read, the more firmly am I
convinced that there are only two great divisions of opinion in
the world, which have struggled together (like Shelley’s snake
and eagle in ‘ The Revolt of Islam’) through all time, and have
taken ever-varying forms and phases—the Materialistic and the
Spiritualistic. Between these two the empires of time and
* This was written, as above stated, in 1873. I regret to have to add that
further experience of Mrs. Tappan teaches me that she sometimes talks and
writes the most egregious nonsense. Nevertheless, she is a remarkable woman,
and her principal book of poems, “Hesperia,” has true genius in it, though
mixed and overlaid with much that is tawdry, weak, and superficial.
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
thought are divided. Christianity and Theism, and Spiritism
and Comtism and Spinozism, and so forth, are only minor forms
of these enormous Creeds—chips torn from the parent rocks.
They can always be classified (like stones and fossils in the
hand of an experienced geologist) as having originally belonged
to one or the other rock-stratum. Theism has hitherto been
giving her right hand to Materialism, and all I want to do is to
spin the good lady round and give her right hand to Spiritual
ism, and bestow upon Materialism only the graces of her left.
“ Questions like that of Christ’s Resurrection are really utterly
unimportant by the side of the question—Is there a Spiritual
World at all ? Are we to believe in anything besides matter ?
And the only way to answer this question is to fall back upon
the intuition. It cannot be answered (on the one hand) by
scientific induction—nor can it be proved (on the other) by his
torical evidence, though it may be very largely confirmed by
this. To this point, I think, men of all creeds and opinions are
coming very fast. I find the same feeling among Theists—among
Spiritualists—among the modern Christian apologists. They all,
with hardly an exception, are falling back upon the intuition,
and preaching that Christianity ought to be approached by the
intuitional or a priori route. To this basis some of them add
miracles, and some do not. Once grant the intuition, and this
becomes quite a secondary question, and it is coming to be con
sidered so on all sides. But, as a secondary question, it is of
great importance. I find that the abler Spiritualists themselves
are not for pressing the more marvellous appliances of their
trade—they, too, preach immortality and the existence of God
from the intuition, and only appeal to their modern miracles in
confirmation of an intuition and a faith previously existent in
the mind. (In some instances, no doubt, it may be—and always
has been—the other way; startling external occurrences may
awake a spirit of enquiry and produce conviction ; but the ulti
mate appeal must always be to the intuition residing in each
one’s consciousness ; else how are you to “ try the spirits,”
according to the New Testament ?) Herein they are in perfect
union with the Zeit-Geist, and move in harmonious ranks with
the other advocates of progressive thought. The truth is, that
though we are “ under the dawn,” we are very far from being
under the noonday, and for a good deal we shall have to wait.
I doubt whether either of us will see in our lifetime a complete
‘System of Science’ or a complete ‘ System of Religion’—and
the utmost that our modern aspiring philosophico-artistic writers
can really hope to do is to lay (perhaps) the stones of a few steps
which shall ultimately form a basis for a complete ‘ System of
Art.’ Now, this fact of our being so far from the noonday bears
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
15
upon the question of miracles in this way—that we have not
yet got to the end of our destructive criticism, and therefore it is
impossible to tell what will be left when that criticism has com
pleted its work and done its duty—namely, its worst. If I may
venture to prophesy, I think that the result will be somewhat as
follows. A large portion of the results of the destructive criti
cism will have to be accepted; the mythical theory will account
for many of the Biblical legends quite satisfactorily (perhaps, for
Christ’s being born of a Virgin, among others ; a prominent Eng
lish clergyman told me, not long since, that he would be glad
not to believe this, and that he thought the time, had come for a
frank consideration of the question); the naturalistic theoiy will
account for others ; but will they account for all ? I do not feel
sure that they will; and I think it likely that a residue of nar
ratives will be left, both in our Bible and the Bibles of other re
ligions, which will never be rightly understood except by
admitting the interposition in these rare instances for rare
reasons of supernatural (but perfectly harmonious—perfectly
positive) agency. I really think that the ultimate choice lies
between this and sheer Materialism. The Resurrection may be
one such instance; the Conversion of Paul may be another; but
I would never press this upon any one as a matter of faith—-it
is Aberglaube. But where I do not agree with M. Arnold is,
that I think the tenets of Aberglaube may sometimes be founded
on facts. But I do agree with him in feeling that Aberglaube
is not of equal force with the Intuition; and this G. MacDonald
saw long ago.
“ As an example of what I call the Theistic inconsistency, I
will quote the following. M. Arnold, talking about the stoning
of Stephen, implies that the passage about Stephen’s seeing the
Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of God is not to be taken
literally. It is to be interpreted, rather, upon the principles of
what is called Ideology. Stephen did not behold at that supreme
juncture an objective Christ; but he underwent a transfiguration
of soul, which he expressed (or which has been expressed for
him, by what M. Arnold calls ‘reporters’) in those words. Now
I am not concerned to prove that Stephen did see an objective
Christ—that is a question of importance, but not of primary im
portance ; but what I do say—and I think that I have not only
true logical argument, but sound English common sense on my
side in saying it—is this, that such an objective vision would
not be one whit more wonderful than the realisation of the
issues which are implied in M. Arnold’s own affirmation ; for he
does (practically) affirm immortality—he affirms “ the power of
an endless life;” if the feeling of this eternal life never rises in
us to a sense of its being inextinguishable, it is, he says, proba
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
bly because we fall so very far short of Christ’s moral standard
that our intuitions are weak, and we feel that we dare not trust
them and cast our whole souls upon them as Christ did. The
affirmation of the human intuition at all supreme moments is
There is no death. This affirmation forms the appropriate text
and motto of Spiritualism, and stands in precise contraposition
to the text engraved upon the banner of Materialism—Nothing
exists but matter. Now, all that M. Arnold has shown is, that
this broad human intuition, which reached its personal height (we
may say) in Christ of Nazareth, is the ultimate thing to be
relied upon—the primary basis, the ultimate test—and that we
are never safe in basing any religion upon miracles. He has not
shown more than this ; he has hardly attempted to show more;
and I think that, as far as he has gone, he is on safe ground, and
right. His weak point would be, if he ever attempted to deny
that the intuition which he affirms may sometimes be confirmed
and established (for previous believers in it) by supernatural
proofs ; at this point you will find (I expect), if you ever read
any reviews of his book, that his opponents will get hold of him.
They will say (with reason), you affirm a life which transcends
this visible life of ours; you assert that Christ possessed in a
surpassing degree the intuition of that life, and that we all
possess it in our measure, and that it may be largely increased
by faithfulness to light or (in your own words) by a rigid
attention to conduct — why, therefore, should the Resurrec
tion not be a manifestation—one, probably, among many other
manifestations, but the chief one of hitherto accomplished human
history—why should it not be a manifestation of that life in
which you say that you believe ? * Why believe in the life if
it is never to manifest itself ? Why believe in immortality if
you are never to be clothed with it ? The immortal life must
have a beginning. (Turn those four words—must have a begin
ning—over in your mind carefully; I cannot tell you what a
force they have to me.) If the immortal life is to begin, it is
only a subtle form of Materialism to endeavour to lay down the
law as to when it shall first manifest itself (that is the weak
point of Parker and what is called pure Theism). This seems
to me unspeakably important. You will find if you take the
assertion of pure Theism that there was no Resurrection,^ and
that the eternal life never impinges upon ours, but that this life
necessarily begins at the given point of death, and not till then,
* See an article in the Edinburgh Review for October, 1873, in which this
point is well brought out.
+ See for a confirmation of my statement that this is the creed of pure
Theism—the view as to the Resurrection held by the most advanced Theists
—Miss Cobbe’s “Hopes of the Human Race,” about “Jewish ghost-stories.”
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
17
you will find, if you patiently follow this thought to its. ultimate
analysis and proceed to disintegrate it, that you have in reality
left no scope for that eternal lite or its manifestation at all.
« The real difficulty is not to conceive of a spiritual or eternal
life manifesting itself in surprising and unusual ways, which to
the material eye appear abnormal and monstrous; the real diffi
culty is to believe in such a lite at all. Those who have no
spiritual vision by nature, or who have lost it for a time through
wrong-doing, cannot believe in a supra-mundane life ; once be
lieve in such a life as a matter of absolute truth, and endeavour
to live up to the faith in it, and special convictions as to the
truth of the assertions concerning certain ways in which that
life is said to have manifested itself upon the earth may well be
left to come of themselves—gradually. Here we begin to under
stand the meaning of ‘ the natural man understandeth not the
things of the spirit—they are foolishness unto him—because
they°are spiritually discerned,’ and the whole mass of evangelical
metaphor about the carnal man being like a man who is blind
fold in the midst of a bright room, and similar expressions
venerated by the seers and sages of all religions through all
time.”
And again, in another letter written in March, 1874:—“The
literature of Spiritualism (of which I have read a. great deal
lately) abounds with well-attested instances of revelations which
you would call ‘special’ and ‘inharmonious.’ It makes mir
acles common, and explains them. This brings me round to the
view of Spiritualism which I took at Brighton (when I thought
the matter out pretty ultimately); I do not know whether it will
be my final view. I was attracted towards the subject by my
own curious experience; I found that Spiritualists, far from
mocking and laughing at such things like the vulgar herd,
believed fully in them; nay, dealt almost exclusively in the
obscurer phenomena of mind and spirit. I found narratives of
experiences not unlike my own. Thus I was led to look further
into the subject.
‘‘Next I found accounts of intelligent disembodied agency
(you confuse the argument by talking about ‘ spirit’ and ‘ matter’
in that rigid way; we do not know what spirit and matter are;
what we call spirit may be some exceedingly attenuated form of
matter; or, spirits may be clothed in some exceedingly thin
tissue of matter—we do not know) ; I found accounts of intelli
gent agency acting upon mortals from the outside. I found
these accounts confirmed by hosts of able and honest witnesses.
So I was led to ask myself what would be the effect of this new
belief {if I found myself compelled to believe it) upon my faith
in Christianity.
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
“ Now we have got to an interesting point. I saw two ways of
regarding Spiritualism (assvm ing its essential truth) in Connec
tion with Christianity. The first way was to regard the creed of
modern miracles as confirming the old creed. Miracles are per
formed now ; therefore they were performed then. Christ, the
incarnate Logos, performed in that capacity the greatest miracles
of all—those of raising the dead. This is one view; and it is
the view of a large body of men in England and America who
call themselves Christian Spiritualists. A medium called Harris
may perhaps be regarded as their leader.
“ This view did not satisfy me, as I then should have had to
give up my Theism, with all its attendant liberty and beauty of
thought, and regard Christ as an exceptional person, with all the
ugliness and bondage of thought attendant upon that conception.
Therefore, I sought for another method of reconciling Spiritualism
with Christianity. I came to the conclusion that Spiritualism
—(I always mean ‘modern Spiritualism’ when I use the word
in this letter—the modern Science of the Miraculous, dating
from Hydesville, in the State of New York, where the rappings
began in the Fox family in 1848 ; I cannot further maintain in
writing the distinction between ‘Spiritism’ and ‘Spiritualism’)
—that°Spiritualism must be regarded simply as an expansion of
Theism—simply as its magnetic or thaumaturgic side. It seemed
to me to fill up a gap which Parker and Mazzini had left un
closed. I do not think Parker and Renan ever fairly explained
the origin of Christianity; nor do I think that Arnold has done
so in ‘Literature and Dogma.’ Something more is needed ; and
that ‘unknown quantity’ is supplied oy modern Spiritualism,
which takes up the work where Parker relinquished it. The
miracles of Christ and of the apostolic era have never become
really plain in the light of modern criticism. It is this fact
which has given their strength to Westcott and the defenders of
Christianity. As long as they brought strong evidence to show
that certain wonderful works were wrought at that time which
are not performed now, and have never been performed at
any other era, it was impossible to dislodge them from their
earth-works; but once show that such miracles are common
things of almost daily occurrence, that every religion has had
them, and that they are going on now, and the whole strength
of Christianity, as gained from its exclusiveness, totters and
stumbles to the ground. This is the true significance of modern
Spiritualism, and this is the view which I finally took of it at
Brighton. It is the one thing which was wanting to make the
fortresses of Theism impregnable. It is the one thing which
*
* It should be understood that, throughout this article, I use the word
“Theism” in the sense of the advanced Theism professed and proclaimed by
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
19
was needed to make the gateways of the new creed secure. It
is the missing factor which I have been looking foi so long,
which explains the Resurrection, and all books based, like
Westcott's, upon the Resurrection. Christ did rise; he appeared
to his friends; he made his spirit-form visible to them (as many
other spirit-forms have been visible in history); but he was not
the Son of God in any exclusive sense for all that (here Spirit
ualistic Theism triumphs over Westcott, and. maintains the
integrity of mem, while admitting his facts; it is at this point
that I claim some originality of conception). Other risen spirits
have made themselves manifest to their friends; they are doing
so now; they are doing so in London!
“ If they are doing so in London, why. should one man not
have done so at Jerusalem ? and if they are doing so in London,
why should the solitary man who did so at Jerusalem be dubbed
the Incarnate Word and the Visible Jehovah for so doing ? [I
cannot resist the conclusion that many of our higher poets, in
those most exalted moments of which they have left to us a
record—(as, for example, Byron during the thunderstorm on the
Jura mountains, his feelings on which occasion he describes so
wonderfully in the famous passage in Childe Harold; and
Tennvson on the night when, as he says—
‘ Word by word, and line by line,
The dead man touch’d me from the past,
And all at once it seem’d at last
His living soul was Hash’d on mine,
‘ And mine in his was wound, and whirl’d
About empyreal heights of thought,
And came on that which is, and caught
The deep pulsations of the world ’ * —
)
knew something of what the resurrection-life meant.
No
theories of a swift resurrection and reappearance of Christ could
have seemed strange or far-fetched to Byron, after his wonderful
experience of the passion of eternal life, as excited and roused
into conscious, active being within him in that instance by the
marvels of the mountains and the storm; nor to Tennyson, after
Parker in America, by Mazzini in Italy and on the Continent generally, and by
writers like Miss Cobbe and Francis Newman in England. But my own faith
has to some extent, veered round lately towards that Religion of Humanity
sketched out at the beginning and conclusion of this paper. When I wrote the
above letters, “Theism” expressed tn me an advanced reasonable creed which
should gather into itself all the fruits of the past, and all the young springing
blossoms of present thought as well. I now doubt whether “Theism” is a fit
name for such a creed. But 1 thought it best to retain, in the letters, the old
expression, while indicating elsewhere the qualifications which I now perceive to
be necessary.
* In Memoriam, p. 140. I have been informed, upon good authority, that
the brother, and also the sister, of the Laureate are Spiritualists.
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
his wondrous sense of sudden spiritual union -with his dead
friend Arthur Hallam upon that memorable night; nor to others
who have felt, in their measure, similar hints and intuitions of
immortality. I myself had, in early youth, a strange spiritual
experience, after which the faith in an immortal life can never
seem to me anything absurd or unreal—rather the most natural
and obvious thing in the world. The truth is that the Resurrec
tion is not an isolated fact at all. It is confirmed and led up to
by multitudes of spiritual experiences in all ages, felt and
enounced by those ‘magnetic men’ of whom Mr. Haweis speaks
in his recent volume.
]
*
“I am as jealous to define and defend the boundaries of our
beloved Theism as ever Athanasius or Origen or Clement were to
guard their Christian creeds. Therefore, I say that a man shall
not be called the Living God because he happens, casually, to
have risen from the dead, or has had any other abnormal Spiritual
experience ;. and here I encounter Westcott with mutual shock
of inwoven breastplates, face from face. But I differ from
Comte and Arnold in that I accept the chief of Westcott’s pre
misses. Only that I deduce from those premisses very different
conclusions. I only establish Theism on a firmer basis, and
overthrow Westcott more profoundly, in that I am able to accept
his Christian Resurrection and add twenty Theistic Resurrec
tions to it. “ Let those laugh who win.” The great love wins
in the issue, and so does the broad thought. Theism has now
finally conquered Christianity; its final victory was to inaugu
rate a code of miracles of its own, grander and more human
than any which preceded it.
Andrew Jackson Davis, the
Poughkeepsie Seer, is the prophet of this new revelation of
unchristian, superchristian miracles; he is your ‘ coming man,’
and he comes from America, as you predicted. Of his works
and thoughts more anon.
“ I argue as to Christ’s Resurrection from my own experience,
from the experience of others, from well-attested facts of history
and of modern Spiritualism. It certainly seems to me a grand
idea that Theism should have its miracles as well as Christianity.
If the light that be in Christianity turns out to be darkness,
truly ‘ great is that darkness.’ Gerald Massey, ‘ the people’s
poet,’ is a devoted and uncompromising Spiritualist. They say
that Tennyson and Walt Whitman are Spiritualists, and Tenny
son certainly ought to be, judging from his intercourse with the
spirit of Arthur Hallam, in ‘In Memoriam.’ He must have
been very near to the spirit of his dead friend at one point in
the poem. If Theism can perform even the wonders of Chris
“ Speech in Season.”
Reviewed at length in the Westminster for July
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
tianity (its inferior material phenomena) better than the Chris
tians themselves, it is truly a sign that the power of God has
passed over to the New Creed, and that the Ark is no longe^ in
the Churches. It adds the colour that was wanting to Moncure
Conway’s buok, and wrings the last lingering supernatural dyes
*
out of the Christian flag.
“ The great movement of the age (as you have yourself said)
is towards decentralisation; towards republicanism of thought.
Now, modern Spiritualism is simply the most republican creed
in its tendency that can possibly be found; for it refuses to
recognise any excess of personality—any imperialism of religion
—affirming that nascent Mediumship exists in nearly every one,
and that each, in his measure, can hold intercourse with the
Spiritual world. In all this it is at one with the age. And in
all this it is at deadly feud with the orthodox Churches and with
Christianity, because it takes even the golden handle of their
esoteric thaumaturgic weapon out of their grasp. Therefore,
the Churches hate this new movement even more than the
simple Theistic movement (which is of a more abstract and
philosophical character), and accuse its preachers of holding
communion with evil spirits, and being instigated by Satan, and
so on—the old story. But some Christians, like Mr. Haweis,
have had the sense to see that they cannot maintain their own
series of miracles intact, and exclude these modern miracles, and
all others,—and they recognise, and even preach, Spiritualism.
“ In communications alleged to be from spirits, great stress is
laid upon the fact that no one person is to be the centre of this
movement. This was the mistake the spirits made—so they
say—in inaugurating and furthering the Christian movement;
and that mistake must not be made twice. Now when one finds
thoughts of this kind emanating from the obscure brains of
illiterate American Mediums, it makes one pause—and think.
There is nothing more remarkable in the history of this move
ment than the way in which the foremost thoughts of the fore
most thinkers of the age have been repeated by ignorant and
uneducated men under alleged spirit-influence. It certainly
looks as if the Zeit-Gcist of Matthew Arnold were something
more than a mere abstraction. Thoughts are in the air, we all
know. But the idea that they are not only in the air, but in
the hearts and minds of devoted, earnest, disembodied spirits,
intent upon educating us upon earth, and inaugurating era after
era, is one of the loveliest announcements of modern Spiritualism,
and it is quite as philosophical as the conception of an abstract
Zeit-Geist. Of course, the idea, in its essence, is as old as the
* “ The Earthward Pilgrimage.” London: J. C. Hotten.
1870.
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THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY-.
hills ; Paul had it (compare his ‘ Cloud of Witnesses ’); Sweden
borg ’had it; Christ had it; but some of its developments are new.
“"i have now made plain the second view which may be taken
of Spiritualism when regarded in close connection with Chris
tianity. It may be called Theistic or advanced' or progressive
Spiritualism. I thought this view out for myself at Brighton,
and, subsequently, upon an examination of the best Spiritualistic
literature, could not but be gratified to discover that a similar
solution had presented itself to the most advanced among the
Spiritualists. There are two parties in their ranks as everywhere
else: the negative and the positive party; the obstructive and
the progressive; the conservative and the liberal. The acknow
ledged leader of the Liberal Spiritualistic party is the extraor
dinary man I spoke of above—Andrew Jackson Davis. He is the
author of a vast number of philosophical and metaphysical
works, some of which I have been reading lately. He is a man
of very real and massive genius—a sort of intuitive Spiritual
Comte of the west—and it is an astonishing thing to find this
American shoemaker’s apprentice (for such he was, I believe),
propounding intuitively even in his early days the very same
critical Theistic truths, which it has taken M. Arnold a life’s
perusal of ‘ the best that has been thought and written in the
world’ to reach. This, I say, is extremely astonishing; and it
is a phenomenon which one encounters constantly in examin
ing the records of Spiritualism.”
I have now shown what I conceive to be the relation between
Spiritualism, assuming that some of its phenomena shall even
tually be proved to be genuine, and modern thought. In con
clusion I will briefly recur to the other main purpose of this
article, which is to show that if the belief in a personal loving
God, constructed after the sanguine fashion of the Christian
Church, has to be abandoned, we need not therefore necessarily
give up our faith in a personal immortality.
The things, though they may at first sight (naturally) seem
similar, yet are in fact totally dissimilar, and have a totally dis
similar bearing. They are based upon different grounds. If it
is probable, as maintained at the commencement of this article,
that we have ourselves thrown the conception of a giant god
made in man’s image upon the vacant sky of our own thought;
if we have evolved from our own experience of love and tender
ness, and the overmastering conviction which we, as a race, have
now reached that unselfishness is the one thing superior to all
things else —the one thing passionately to strive after—the one
*
* Dean Stanley, in a recent remarkable speech delivered at the distribution of
prizes to the students of St. Thomas’s Hospital, said:—“Whatever course
physical science might take, nothing could ever destroy r shake in the least de-
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
23
thing wholly divine;—if, from this intense conviction (Mr.
Arnold’s “ Intuition”}, we have evolved the further belief (Mr.
Arnold’s “ Abcrglaube”') in a righteous God who inspires us with
the love of righteousness—who wishes to make us like himself,
“ pure even as he is pure ”—and who has sent his Son into the
world to redeem us from our sins and to prepare us for the
heavenly kingdom—if all this be Abcrglaube, and only the con
viction—the conviction that “ righteousness makes for happi
ness ”—based upon experience the one thing sure :—if all this
be so, our hope of immortality, based upon that inextinguishable
sense of life and eternal permanency which the practice of
righteousness invariably gives, remains much as. it was before.
It°is not really shaken in the least. It cannot be shaken. And
if Spiritualism can indeed help to explain the Resurrection of
Christ upon sober scientific grounds—grounds other than that
he was the Eternal Son, the only-begotten of the Father, and
therefore could not “see corruption,” nor be “holden of death,”
on account of his aboriginal kingly quality—if Spiritualism can
lift us out of the difficulty and clear up, without having recourse
to all this Abcrglaube, the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection in a
simple human way—as I have through a great part of this
article been attempting to show that there is strong hope of its
doing—if this, with all its valuable concomitants, shall turn out
to be the truth, our hope of immortality will approach an experi
mental certainty, and we shall be greatly indebted to the muchdespised much-calumniated Spiritualism !
In this connexion it is well to say that we do not really know,
much as has been made of it in priestly argument, that Jesus
Christ believed in a personal God at all. Poor Jesus! Centuries
of councils and boisterous churches have put so many words into
his mouth—so many strange opinions into his heart—that it
is becoming a matter of almost hopeless difficulty to know
what he really did believe or feel. But this much we may say
without fear— that his God was a very different Being from that
complex Divinity of the Churches whose body passes into con
secrated wafers, and who sustains the lurid dominions of hell
with his red right hand!
Christ believed in God as Father—he addressed him as Father,
and thought of him as Father, we are told; and it is likely that
in this particular we are informed correctly, as the unusual man
ner of loving and trustful utterance would have rivetted itself in
gree the glory of goodness, the excellence of purity, charity, courage—the im
mense prominence of the moral nature of man above everything else in the world.
. . . The moral being of man and the moral excellence which exists in man
are beyond everything else.’’ With this I heartily agree, maintaining as I do
that our moral intuitions are the causes and creators of our creeds, instead of our
creeds creating and nourishing them (sec Lit. and Dogma, pp. 290, 291).
�24
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY-.
the minds of the hearers, and probably have been reported accu
rately—without additions or misapprehensions of their own.
But even then it remains to inquire, what did Jesus mean by
Father—did he use the word as we speak of God the Father, the
First Person of the Holy Trinity—did he use the word as the
Churches have used it, and are using it—or as Mil ton used it—
or as John Knox,—did he use it out of consideration for popular
ignorance and superstition (much the same in all ages), as likely
to convey the truest idea to the popular mind—did he not, in his
inmost heart, mean by it something very like that impersonal
absolute power which modern science presents to us as at the.
root of all things, and which we may call father, or brother, or
mother, not because it is indeed as a conscious father, or brother,
or mother, but because it (by the final results of the working of
its originally unconscious attributes) produces fatherhood and
motherhood, and all the tender grace of brotherliness—produces
and sustains these in us, so that we naturally call this power
father, though it heeds not nor hearkens to our voice ? Was
not (to take a very excellent instance) all that loving-kindness
and unceasing pity and tenderness which the late Frederick
Maurice used to speak about as residing in the Godhead, and
eternally manifested to us by God the Son—was not that prin
ciple of eternal, boundless, endless love, which he was never
tired of expatiating upon, really resident in the man himself,
Frederick Maurice1 and did he not unconsciously cast his own
?
grand shadow on the sky, and hear his own true voice calling
unto him as if from the fairest heights of heaven—more voluble
now, being as the fancied tongue of God ?
These questions are not intended to be irreverent. They are
being reverently, but bravely and persistently, asked on all sides
now—they will be asked more persistently and much less
reverently as time goes on, if mankind is to be drugged in reply
with superstitious fallacies, and put off with petulant half
answers. Meantime, pending the full discovery in the depths of
man’s own nature of the answers to these and similar questions,
let us remember, in removal, or at least in mitigation of that
principal dread which overwhelms him just now—lest in losing
the personal God of his own creation, he has also parted with
his own immortality—that all the analogy of nature goes to
show that from lesser to greater, from simple to increasingly
complex, is her constant plan of procedure—and that there is
really little reason to fear that that mingling with the eternal
elements, of which all the poets speak in such rapturous terms,
means anything like what we can only express as the loss of
individuality or of personality. We are not likely to return,
unconscious, to that unconscious universe from which, by ages
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
25
of upward agony, we have slowly emerged. We are, or have
become, immeasurably greater than our prolific mother, and we
have no desire to return to the unconscious folds of her embrace.
Devoted Pantheists, when they talk about mingling with the
universe, continually forget how much greater that thought and
moral sense which have been slowly evolved are than the forces
which evolved and produced them; they continually, without
knowing or noticing it, advocate an immense retrogression—a
vast passing from the greater to the less great, from the hetero
geneous to the homogeneous—when they preach their belief in
the annihilation of man’s conscious personality—the very thing
which all the strenuous ages have been struggling triumphantly
to produce. Do not fear, we shall not lose this. Far more
likely is it that further evolution, as yet unseen and unex
perienced, will increase and intensify it. The powers of air
and earth and ocean shall be ours; but we shall not be theirs.
We shall rejoice with the winds and the happy tumult of the
breezes; but they shall not exult and triumph over us. We
shall hold lordship over them—they shall pass into us and
become a part of us—we shall not passively pass into them; the
universe may be absorbed, in some strange, sweet fashion, into
the human spirit, as it has already in some measure been
absorbed into the souls of poets like Shelley and Keats—but it
will, must,, re-issue thence in the victorious utterance of human
personality, made greater, not smaller, by the electric human
touch. It will not absorb us, but we shall, in the end, enclose
and absorb all the blossoms of its manifold and enigmatic beauty.
We shall pass onward to become greater and more complex in
our powers of thought and love and ecstasy; we shall not flee
backward into Pantheistic viewless breezes, or Pantheistic fiery
star-dust. We have been these things—yea, all of them, or
latent in all of them—but we shall be these no more. We have
climbed above them to the conscious, glorious height of man;
and our superb self-consciousness shall only widen and deepen
and increase; it shall become world-consciousness, and even
*
the sense of many worlds, without the loss of the central govern
ing self—the central human spirit.
G e;*’’er powers of love in especial shall be ours—strange
1
lcvely xorms of passion unseen and undreamed of as yet—but
* “ I do not doubt but the majesty and beauty of the world are latent in any
iota of the world;
I do not doubt I am limitless, and that the universes are limitless—in
vain I try to think how limitless;
I do not doubt that the orbs, and the systems of orbs, play their swift sports
through the air on gmrpose—and that I shall one day be eligible to do as
much as they, and more than they.”
Walt Whitman—“ Whispers of Heavenly Death.”
�26
THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
no loss of passion; no absorption into passionless nature; no
eternal mingling with the serene but loveless stars. We pass
upward. We win nature; we are not won and conquered of
her. It may be that the passions of all planets, or experienced
on all planets, shall unite in us, but it will be only to increase
and sweetly amplify, as with the sound of many voices, or the
scent of many flowers, or the breath of many and lordly moun
tain winds,the fragrant central yearning and the pure innate desire
of each. We shall gain everything by expansion—nothing is to be
gained by lingering within the dusty precincts of ourselves. By
widening out we gain the universe, but we lose no jot nor tittle
of our true eternal selves thereby. These true endless selves
abide alway, and they shall not be diminished. Death cannot
narrow them; they are unchangeable for all the shocks and per
turbations of creeds. The forces of nature must in the end
become our servants; they are never (had not Ezekiel the vision
of a man upon the central throne ?) to be our masters and lords.
The sea and thunder will not win us, but we may win the
passion and the pleasure of thunder, and stars, and sea. When
Byron said—
“ And this is in the night:—Most glorious night!
Thou wcrt not sent for slumber! let me be
A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,—
A portion of the tempest and of thee ! ”
he had a vision of a great ecstatic joy—a voluptuous spiritual
rapture in which, too, all the quivering and throbbing senses took
*
part —beyond the reach of words; and as what he had (and all
true poets have had) a prophetic foreglimpse of was not the loss
of consciousness, but the splendid presence of a consciousness
which, while it grew (and even in proportion as it grew) wider
and less embodied, became also more personal and more intense,
so shall the loss of life bring to each soul in the end a deeper
and wider life ; more pregnant with sweet and masterly issues;
more safely and nobly lifted above all ultimate arrows of adverse
fate>
George Barlow.
NOTE.
Since the above was written, an article on “Theism” has appeared in
the Westminster Review, from which the following is an extract:—
“ Religions are not made; they grow. Their progress is not from the
enlightened to the vulgar, but from the vulgar to the enlightened. They are
not'products of the intellect, but manifest themselves .as physical forces too.
The religion of the future is in our midst already, working like potent yeast in
the minds of the people. It is in our midst to-day with signs^and wonders
uprising like a swollen tide, and scorning the barriers of Nature’s laws. But
however irresistible its effects they are not declared on the surface. It comes
* See Swinburne’s “Essay on Byron.”
�THE GOSPEL OF HUMANITY.
27
veiling its destined splendours beneath an exterior that invites contempt. Hidden
from the prudent, its truths are revealed to babes. Once more the weak will
confound the mighty, the foolish the wise, and base things and things despised, it
may be even things that are not, bring to nought things that are, for it seems
certain that whether truly or whether falsely Spiritualism will re-establish, on
what professes to be ground of positive evidence, the fading belief in a future liie
—not such a future as is dear to the reigning theology, but a future developed
from the present, a continuation under improved conditions of the scheme of
things around us. Further than this it is impossible to predict the precise
development which Spiritualism may take in the future, just as it would have
been impossible at the birth of Christianity to have predicted its actual subsequent
development: but from the unexampled power possessed by this new
religious force of fusing with other creeds, it seems likely in the end to bring
about a greater uniformity of belief than has ever yet been known.”—West
minster lieview, Oct., 1875.
It will be seen that the writer is here pursuing a new line of thought,
which runs curiously parallel to that indicated in my own treatise.—Gr. B..
Oct. 23, 1875.
In preparation, by the same Author,
WALT WHITMAN;
OR,
THE RELIGION OF ART.
The Religion of Art will redeem the world, not by producing
world-wide pangs of remorse and repentance (this is the mission of
Morality or the Moral Law; whose giver is Jesus)—not by expounding
the external truths of natural things (this is the mission of Science;
whose prophets are the patient experimentalists of all ages)—but by
exhibiting the world as it is. The prophets and preachers of this,
the final and only successful Religion, are the poets and artists of
every age: they are higher than Love, higher than Pity, higher than
Purity, higher than Repentance, higher than Truth : they pursue the
absolute Beauty of things, and this they announce and sing. Their
pitiless pitifid beautiful Song will redeem the world.
�POEMS AND SONNETS.
By GEORGE BARLOW.
7n Three Parts, price 7s. 67. each.
Crown 8ro., cloth.
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 74 and 75 Piccadilly.
1871.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Part I.—11 Mr. George Barlow’s ‘ Sonnets ’ is, in several respects, a
clever and remarkable book. . . . Mr. Barlow has a peculiar gift for
quaint and captivating titles. The ‘ Ecstasy of the Hair,’ ‘ My Own
Dart,’ ‘'Blue Weather,’ ‘Death’s Lips and Palms,’ ‘To have Beheld,’
are felicitous and suggestive fancies. . . . This would scarcely have
been remarked, did it arise from lack of power to perfect. From the
evidence of his better work, we are convinced that the author has
all that is needful of such power, to make of the many eidola of good
things that sprinkle his volume, real embodiments of genius. Such
evidences are not rare. . . . Mr. Barlow has, however, sterling
qualities that compensate even these crudities; and if we have been
particular in the enumeration of his faults, it is that these qualities
are great enough to merit care in their culture—care in their libera
tion from the occasional clumsiness that obscures them. If Mr.
Barlow be a young man, his career is, to a great measure, in his own
hanus.”—Blanchard Jerrold, in Lloyd's News, Feb. 26, 1871.
“ To the Rossetti subdivision, we think, the volume before us
belongs. It has the loving yearning after loveliness which charac
terises the writers referred to, but it has no obscurity, and it has a
fine human sentiment of its own. There is, also, a sympathy with
nature which evidently is not assumed, not accepted at second-hand,
but which bursts forth from the inner personality of the writer. The
verse, if not great, is uniformly sweet, and (which is a virtue) we can
all follow its meaning.”—Weekly Dispatch, March 26, 1871.
“ A new singer to us is Mr. Barlow, but one who unquestionably
fingers the chords of his harp with a delicate, reverential, and, withal,
somewhat masterly touch. His theme is love, with variations : and
charmingly and archly he discourses upon that ancient but ever new
topic, owning apparently inexhaustible resources within himself of
heart-melody. His laudations of beauty have nothing in them that
is sickening or sensual; on the contrary, they are moderate and
graceful. His sentiment is not less tender than true and pure; his
thoughts of beauty are refining and elevating. He has less mannerism
than most of the young writers in the present day, and shows a
generous appreciation of others, which is, to a certain extent, some
proof of merit in himself.”—Public Opinion, April 1, 1871.
�OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
“ The author expresses his admiration of American Society for
being free from the ‘ pruning of Convention’s hand,’ but it is much to
be regretted that he has forborne to apply more of such pruning to
his own work......................... There are grace and melody in the pieces
entitled, ‘ Reminiscence ’ and ‘ The Discovery of Love,’ and another
called ‘ The Waking of Beauty ’ shows a genuine worship, which
ought some time to bear worthier fruit.”—Spectator, April 8, 1871.
“ This is the first part only of a collection which, thus far, reveals
so many graces that a reader of taste may well wait impatiently for
the second.”—Illustrated London News, April 22, 1871.
Speaking of Part III., The Westminster Review, for April, 1874,
says:—
“ Mr- Barlow has probably, without knowing it, been influenced
by the feeling of the day. And a man may resemble another in his
style without having read him. Influences are, as it were, in the air.
The series of poems ‘ Under the Gaslight,’ appears to us to represent
much of the spirit of the rising generation of poets. Mr. Barlow
writes not merely fluently, but with a command of both language
and thought. His ideas are thoroughly under his control. Again,
the series of poems ‘ Christ is not Risen,’ well represent much of the
spiritual unrest—for we. have no better title—of the day. It would
be utterly impossible, judging by the present volume, to say what
Mr. Barlow may do. His verse is full of promise.”
“ The quality of Mr. Barlow’s work is by no means out of propor
tion to the quantity. He has not only a fluent pen, but an indubi
table gift of beautiful and harmonious, if not commonly powerful,
expression. He is no careless workman, trusting to the force of
genius alone, and neglecting the strictness of method and the grace of
form. Indeed, grace and finish are the conspicuous and prevailing
qualities of his poetry, and the number of awkward lines and words
put in to save the credit of a rhyme is so small as to be almost
unnoticeable.”—Literary World, June 19, 1874.
Parts I., II., III.—“Mr. Barlow is a poet of no mean capacity,
whose muse is specially devoted to the somewhat unthankful task of
producing sonnets..................... In Part II. Mr. Barlow is at his
best, and his success in poems of less strict metre than is required
for the sonnet is such as to induce us to wish he had avoided the
more laborious task. As one of many excellent short pieces we may
instance £A Dream of Roses.’ .... We have read Mr.
Barlow’s three volumes with interest and pleasure, which is more
than can be said of much of the poetry of the day.”—Weekly Dis
patch, Aug. 17, 1873.
“ Mr. Barlow has read poetry, and it is probable that he under
stands it. There is no evidence in his more serious work of mis
directed energies or ill-chosen subjects..................... His sonnets are
of a subject and intention which does not forbid comparison with
Petrarch himself.”—Illustrated Review, Aug. 28, 1873.
�Ey the same Author.
A LIFE’S LOVE.
Square 8ro., cloth, price 6s.
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 74 and 75 Piccadilly.
1873.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
“ ‘ A Life’s Love’ is a volume of short poems from the pen of one
who evidently derives much of his inspiration from Mr. Swinburne.
As far as we have glanced at them, the poems are the reverse of
ci.mmonplace.”—Examiner, July 26, 1873.
“ Mr. Barlow’s muse has much original power and culture, but it
is a little too exuberant in the power of imitation......................... His
chief excellence is the way in which he weaves the world of nature
external to him with the fancies of imagination and the feelings of
the human heart; hence it is that his poetry, which we can cordially
commend to all lovers of the muse, is full of similes drawn from the
world of external nature.”—Standard, July 31, 1873.
“ Mr. Barlow’s book of sonnets, entitled ‘ A Life’s Love,’ reveals
earnestness of feeling, refinement of taste, and some aspiration. . . .
The endeavour after an elevated artistic ideal is apparent, but the
poems are less remarkable for what they are in themselves than
suggestive of what their author, with his idealistic tendency and
tenderness, and charm of sentiment, may one day produce.
Much of the mystic element is perceptible in Mr. Barlow’s verse.
. . . It is impossible not to wish well to a young poet whose faults
are evidently those of youth and inexperience. When the early
subjectiveness of intellect and feeling have progressed into a more
objective stage, these slight inartistic blemishes will doubtless dis
appear. . . Time is the test to show what real creative power may
be behind the downy shoots of the first growth. We shall, how
ever, look forward to Mr. Barlow’s further efforts in the hope that
his role of poet may not have been undertaken lightly to be aban
doned.”—Antiquary, Auj. 23, 1873.
“ The perfect English Sonneteer has not yet presented himself to
the public. Mr. George Barlow has, perhaps, more than any other
modern writer devoted himself to the making of sonnets.....................
From the quantity of sonnets he has written, we should say that he
lias faith in the style he has adopted, and in himself as the exponent
of the style. Whether, however, he is the long-expected perfect
sonneteer we doubt, although some of the stanzas in ‘ A Life’s Love’
contain some of the most charming and delightful poetry we have
read for some time. Mr. Barlow is Petrarchan in manner. We have
Petrarchan subtleties and Petrarchan conceits. Petrarch’s sonnets
immortalise his love for Laura; George Barlow’s ‘Life’s Love’ is
not mentioned by name, but the love is evidently genuine and the
lady human. . . . The sonnet entitled ‘ The Pearl Necklace’ is,
in our opinion, the brightest and most valuable gem in Mr. Barlow’s
rich collection. If it be not true poetry we are greatly deceived.”—
Civil Service Review, Sept. 13, 1873.
�By the same Author.
UNDER THE DAWN.
Crown 8ro., cloth extra, price 7s. 6d.
CHATTO & WINDUS, 74 and 75 Piccadilly.
1875.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
“Mr. Barlow’s former works—‘Poemsand Sonnets’ and a Life’s
Love’—attracted some attention. If they did not show him to be a
great poet, they certainly afforded ample proof that he is a fearless
thinker, and possesses a facility—we had almost said a dangerous
facility—for versification.................... The main object of the author
of ‘ Under the Dawn’ is at once political and religious. In harmony
with the prevailing spirit of our age, he hates everything in the shape
of creeds with an utter hatred, and longs to see his mind set free
from the galling bondage in which they hold their slaves. Also in
unison with the time in its desire and determination—despite tempo
rary reactions—to effect great and necessary political reforms, our
poet was as indignant in expressing the wrongs from which men
suffer, and at times eloquent in the assertion of man’s inalienable
rights. Mr. Barlow, indeed, is both republican and free-thinker.
. . . . The wearers of strait jackets of orthodoxy, therefore, had
better—indeed, they are certain, to give ‘Under the Dawn’ a wide
berth.—Birmingham Morning News, Dec. 22, 1874.
“ ‘ Christ’s Sermon in the City’ is the most brilliant and most
original of a series of poems which point Mr. Barlow out as a singer
of the most choice gifts and graces of minstrelsy.”—Evening Standard,
Dec. 24, 1874.
“ The ‘ Dedication’ is a singularly beautiful one..............................
In reading these last-named poems, we have regretted that Mr.
Barlow has not given us more of a similar description, for they show
that he is a careful observer of nature, and that he is able to stand alone
onground of his own choosing.”—Civil Service Gazette, Dec. 26, 1874.
“ The writer has a very fei-tile fancy. His powei- of illustrating
an apparently barren subject is really surprising. He has a great
mastery over verse, and his diction is rich and artistic.........................
‘ Under the Dawn’ is in many respects so meritorious as an intellec
tual production as to make us regret deeply that the author is so
widely separated from the religious feeling of his country and gene
ration.”—Irish Times, Dec. 26, 1874.
“ The opening poem of this book is liable to the charge of being
too highly coloured, but it is withal a daring and vigorous effort.
When time has a little dimmed the over bright flame of Mr.
Barlow’s fancy, and chastened the fervour of his style, we may
expect from his pen poems which will leave more than a mere passing
mark upon the poetic literature of the age.”—Newcastle Chronicle,
Jan. 2, 1875.
“ Should command a large circle of renders.”—Perthshire Adver
tiser, Jan. 4, 1875.
�OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
“Mr. Barlow lias a great deal of ideality, and also a very definite
mode of thinking; so that he is clear even in his impassioned pieces,
and delicate in his most masculine.”—Ncotewian, Jan. 5, 1875.
“ Mr. Barlow has been charged with being a copyist—an echo of
Swinburne; but we must say, after a careful perusual of his poems,
that the charge is not to be sustained.”—London Sun, Jan. 30, 1875.
“ The present work will extend the poet’s reputation; anything
more daring has not been printed since Shelley’s day.”—Sussex Daily
News, March 4, 1875.
“ Mr. Barlow, being asked by his admirers, of whom he has not a
few, to write a poem worthy of his undoubted powers, has .given
them a long preface, in which he defends himself against various
foolish charges. Some time ago, when noticing his ‘ Poems and
Sonnets,’ we made some remarks on the general style and tendency of
Mr. Barlow’s poetry. We thought, and we still think, that it repro
duces, in a very remarkable way, many of the thoughts and per
plexities which are agitating the minds of the younger generation.
To accuse Mr. Barlow of plagiarism is the height of folly. We think
that it would have been far better for Mr. Barlow to have left his
critics unanswered. Time will decide between him and them. His
duty is to be true to his Muse, and not to engage in controversy.”—
Westminster Review, April, 1875.
“ Mr. Barlow has considerable command of language, a lively
fancy, and vigorous thought ■ but we commend to him the study of
loftier masters, and a selection of purer models. His verbal harmony
should express elevated ideas and wholesome morality, and many of
his poems attest his full capacity as a poetic teacher well worthy of
an audience.”—Morning Post, May 19, 1875.
“ Under the Dawn’ is decidedly not the echo of ‘ Songs before
Sunrise,’ a few have decried it as ; but neither is it a revolt against
the pantheistic creed. Rather, it may be termed, the offspring of a
union between Theism and the worship of Nature—the production of
a mind wherein materialistic and purely spiritual ideas are blended-—
perhaps in a manner not far divergent from the truth.........................
Looking at the sonnet called ‘ Italy to England,’ and similar composi
tions, we should say that Mr. Barlow is better calculated to succeed
in the lyric than the epic.................... We like the whole tone of the
‘ Ode to Mazzini Triumphant ’—a composition which we think dis
putes with ‘ Christ’s Sermon in the City’ the praise of being the
finest poem in the volume.—Human Nature, Sept., 1875.
“ I am happy to see that we have a new ‘ birth of time’ and spark
of Promethian fire in another poet of most excellent promise, and
very considerable performance—Mr. George Barlow, who names his
volume of poems ‘ Under the Dawn,’ and whose charming verse
conveys much sound philosophy, and most beautiful and varied senti
ment, with a wholesome scorn for worn-out follies and superstitions.”
—National Reformer, Oct. 3, 1875.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The gospel of humanity; or, the connection between spiritualism and modern thought
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Barlow, George [1847-1913 or 1914.]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 27, [5] p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Inscription on front cover: 'With the Author's Compliments'. Printed by H. Nisbet, Glasgow. Includes bibliographical references. Extracts from reviews of works by the same author listed on unnumbered pages at the end.
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James Burns
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1876
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G5333
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Spiritualism
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English
Conway Tracts
Spiritualism
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SPIRITUALISM
By the Rev. R. H. Benson
It is becoming every day increasingly impossible
for any educated man to dismiss the subject of
Spiritualism with mere contempt. A matter which
is engaging the earnest attention of men like Professor
Barrett, Professor Oliver Lodge, and women like Mrs
Henry Sidgwick; a branch of inquiry which absorbs
Professor Richet, which has changed Professor Lombroso from a convinced materialist into a believer in
the spiritual world; a religion which numbers hun
dreds of thousands of adherents throughout the
civilized globe, including many professors at foreign
universities, and has produced societies in every
European country, which can trace back its spiritual
descent in every civilization practically as far as
ordinary theistic religion itself; which claims, unlike
other religions, to produce evidential phenomena
practically at will, and to bring spiritual existences
before the bar of the senses—all this can no longer be
ignored or simply laughed at. A generation or two
ago it was possible to take up such an attitude ; it
appeared then, at least to men of average education,
as if the matter had become finally discredited ; the
thing lurked about among ill-informed people in
slightly disreputable and dingy surroundings; its
professors, when they engaged public attention at all,
were frequently detected in fraud ; there was scarcely
one adherent to its philosophy—scarcely even one
who thought it worth investigation—whose name was
known beyond his own immediate circle. But all
this has changed. The affair has come out into the
light of day; its phenomena are in process of being
36
1
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The History of Religions
136
respectfully judged by scientists as well as by theo
logians ; and it must take its place at last among the
recognized religions of the world.
I 0)
Its history is, as has been said, as old as the history
of civilization, and even older, since, under the form
of Necromancy, it is said to be traceable among vari
ous nations in almost every part of the world, and it
survives to-day among peoples so far removed from
one another as the Esquimaux and the Hindus. It
is also one of its characteristics that it usually under
goes strong revivals at periods when established
creeds are beginning to lose their hold, and that it is
one of the most common signs of decadence in re-,
ligious thought. It is mentioned, with decided con
demnation, in book after book of the Old Testament.1Yet it is difficult to determine its creed, since this
appears to take its colouring to a large extent from
the religious thought of the respective countries in
which it flourishes.2 It is by its phenomena, and its
startling claims to bring the spiritual world within
the range of the senses, rather than by its dogmas,
that it may be identified as one religion rather than
many.
It would be impossible therefore to give a coherent
or exhaustive account of Spiritualism considered as a
world-religion. All that is possible is to describe it
as it appears in the world to-day, to state its claims,
and to examine its credentials. In its present form,
especially under the aspect of communication through
1 Lev. xx. 6. “The soul that shall go aside after magicians and
soothsayers ... I will set my face against that soul.’; xix. 31 ;
1 Kings xxviii. 3 • 4 Kings xxi. 6 ; etc.
2 Spiritistic practices have been traced amongst nations so far removed
from one another as the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, the Jews, the
North American Indians. (Cf. Lapponi, Hypnotism and Spiritism,
pp. 20 ff.)
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Spiritualism
3
rapping on tables, it first appeared in America in
the year 1848, whence it spread quickly all over
Europe.1
(ii)
Briefly speaking, the spiritualist claims that the
“ other world ” is directly accessible to this, not merely
by one revelation made once for all and preserved in
its integrity, not merely by sacraments or the recep
tion of supersensual grace, not merely by exceptional
and abnormal apparitions very occasionally granted
by direct Divine permission; but by constant com
munications from the spirits of the departed, through
which men can be assured of the survival of human
souls, and can receive a kind of progressive revelation
of the supreme laws of the universe.
These communications are made (it is said) in a
variety of ways; but for all of them there is required
what is known as the mediumistic faculty on the part
of at least.one of the inquirers. The medium in fact
is a person living in this world who, through his
peculiar constitution, is enabled to act as a channel
between'the two worlds, and to be so used by the
discarnate personalities who desire to communicate
with human beings. For those communications to
take place it is usually necessary for the medium to
pass into a state of trance, such as was that into
which the priests and priestesses of the old oracles
were accustomed to pass. The usual method of
procedure at spiritualistic meetings then, though not
the invariable method, is as follows:—
The inquirers themselves sit round a table and
endeavour to put themselves into a sympathetic
attitude of mind, placing their hands upon the table
in order to establish the “ circle ”—that is, a kind of
psychical ring, connected perhaps with some unknown
1 Its revival at the present day is no doubt largely due to the Pro
testant disregard of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints.
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The History of Religions
[36
laws of magnetism—through which the communica
tions may be more easily made. The “spiritual
atmosphere” is often helped by the singing of hymns,
the playing of soft music, or the offering of prayer.
The medium, according to circumstances, sits either
with the inquirers or in a cabinet apart by himself.
Precautions are usually taken intended to guard against
possible fraud, conscious or unconscious.
After a certain period has passed it is claimed that
phenomena frequently take place that put it beyond
a doubt that discarnate and intelligent spirits are
present and are beginning to communicate. These are
generally of one or more of the following kinds :—
(a) Movements of inanimate objects.—The table at
which the inquirers are seated begins to tremble, to
move, to emit rapping sounds, to rise from the floor
in such a manner as cannot be explained by human
agency. Objects in the room are seen (in the twilight,
in which the seances are usually held) to move through
the air ; or, in darkness, are felt by the sitters to touch
therrf. Objects are brought through closed doors and
placed upon the table. Other objects are actually
“ materialized,” that is, are brought into existence in
a manner to be discussed later. Lights of a peculiar
nature are formed in the air and move about fast or
slowly. A pencil placed upon a sheet of paper or
within locked slates is heard to move upon the paper,
and messages are found later written upon the paper
or slates.1
1 Extract from “Report on a Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palla
dino,” reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research, part lix,, vol. xxiii. pp. 404, 431, 498. By the Hon.
Everard Feilding, W. W. Baggally, and Hereward Carrington:—
(<z) “ 12.5 a.m. Complete levitation of the table.
C. I hold both her ankles with my two hands.
F. I was holding her right hand in the middle of the table.
Prof. G. I was holding her left hand on the rim of the table.
I1. Prof. G.’s left hand was on my right hand (across the table).
Note by M. Large movements of the table; I can just see the
table up in the air. ...”
(Extract from shorthand report taken at the time.)
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Spiritualism
5
(jo) Messages delivered through the mouth of the
medium.—These consist in sentences spoken by the
medium, generally in a voice alien to himself, pur
porting to come from one or more discarnate spirits
present in the room, known either personally or by
repute while they lived in the body to one or more
of the inquirers. It is claimed that these messages
often concern private matters utterly unknown to the
medium, known only to the inquirer and to the
departed soul who is present. Sometimes these
messages are of a private nature, sometimes of public
interest, and concern spiritual and religious truths.
(c) Messages delivered through inanimate objects.—
These come sometimes, as has been said, by means of
a pencil placed on paper or within locked slates,
sometimes by means of raps upon the table or the
walls of a room, interpreted by a code agreed upon
by the sitters. Three raps usually are taken to stand
for “yes,” one rap for “ no.”1
“ 11.26 p.m. The small table is levitated right on to the seance
table, through the curtains between B. and the medium.
It rose to a height of two and a half feet from the floor,
and is now resting on the seance table. ...”
“ 12.5° a. m. F. She taps with her right hand on mine, and the
tambourine shakes synchronously within the cabinet.
C. The bell rings, and has been brought on the top of the
medium’s head from the cabinet, and remains there.
F. I was holding her right hand on the top of the table. I saw
the bell arrive on her head. ...”
(5) “F. A light flashed out about a foot behind and above the
medium’s head. It was of a brilliant bluish-green colour.
(It was a steady light, and lasted about two seconds.)
11.37 p.m. F. Now another light has come out, this time on
the medium’s lap.
B. Both C. and F, saw a brilliant light inside the cabinet,
about two and a half feet from the medium, inside the
right-hand curtain. ...”
It must be noted that these seances were conducted by trained
observers under stringent test-conditions. The extracts are given from
this report as containing, on the whole, descriptions of the most
accurate and scientific observations made in recent times.
1 “Report,’’etc., pp. 470, 475.
“ 11.1 p.m. Four nods of her head are followed by four thumps on
the table. She did not touch the table with her head.
II.54 p.m. Table tilts four times, meaning ‘ talk.’”
36
I*
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The History of Religions
[36
(d) Automatic handwriting.—For this two methods
are employed, (i) Some person, usually the medium,
holding a pencil passively in his fingers, begins after
a little preliminary scribbling to write, sometimes at
a superhuman speed, sometimes with a superhuman
minuteness, sometimes in a handwriting closely re
sembling that used by the person whose spirit is said
to be present, messages and sentences concerning
private matters known to none present except the
one to whom the message is directed. (2) The same
results are obtained by the use of an instrument
called planchette—that is, a little heart-shaped board
running on three castors, pierced by a pencil whose
point just touches a paper placed beneath. The
medium’s fingers are placed lightly upon the board,
and the pencil moves apparently without the medium’s
volition. It must be noted that both these methods
of communication are frequently employed by in
quirers quite apart from any seance, and results are
often equally well obtained.
(e) Materialization.—This is considered the triumph
of spiritualism, and consists in its full form in the
actual appearance, before the senses of sight, hearing,
and touch, of a discarnate soul that has clothed
itself with a body for the occasion. The phenomenon
takes place in a variety of ways. It will be enough
to describe the more usual.
The medium seats himself, generally partly in view
of the sitters, or, if not, tightly secured by cords,
within the cabinet, and passes into the state of trance.
After a certain period, often of apparent distress to
the medium, a certain disturbance makes itself felt:
sounds are heard, or movements perceived, or a
sensation of cold. There appear then, sometimes in
the full sight of the sitters, a luminous cloud that
gradually takes shape and existence, and is ultimately
recognized by some one present as possessing the
form and features of a dead friend. The degree of
“ materialization ” varies with the amount of “ power ”
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Spiritualism
7
that is present. Sometimes it is little more than a
faint vaporous intangible model, generally swathed
in drapery; sometimes, it is said, the power is great
enough to produce a figure that can be handled and
touched, and is, apparently, in all respects like a
human body, with powers of free speech and move
ment. Further claims are made with regard to the
effect of this appearance upon the photographic lens.
Photographs are shown, declared to be taken under
test-conditions, representing such figures which were
at the time invisible to the human eye; in such cases
it is said that the “ materialization ” took place, but
not with sufficient power to manifest itself to a less
delicate instrument than the camera. The disappear
ance of the apparition takes place in various manners.
Sometimes it passes back into the body of the medium
from which it has been seen to emerge ; sometimes
it retires behind a curtain; sometimes it disintegrates
visibly before the eyes of the sitters into a small in
coherent mist, which presently itself disappears.1
(iii)
The spiritualist theory as to the manner of these
phenomena is commonly as follows:—There is said
to be resident in the human body a certain force or
matter called “ astral ”; and a medium is a person
from whom this substance can be easily detached.
This “ astral ” substance is situated on the border line
between matter and spirit, and is the means by which
discarnate spirits can communicate.2
1 “ Report,” etc., pp. 448, 449, 453, 463
“ B, A hand comes out from behind the curtain and presses me tightly
on my shoulder. I feel the thumb and the four fingers, which are
now pressing downwards with very considerable force. ...”
* ‘At 11.38 there appeared one of these strange objects seen from
time to time at Eusapia’s seances, to which, for want of a better
name, the word ‘head’ is applied. ...”
“ C. I saw a head come out from the curtains slowly, and within
six inches from my head, and it stayed out about two seconds
and then went back.”
2 The word “astral” would seem to have been imported into
Spiritualism from the East through Theosophy.
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The History of Religions
[36
For example:—In the case of the sounds and
movements mentioned above, it is believed that it is
through this “astral force” that the relations with
matter are set up. In the case of “ materialization ”
it is this “ astral substance ” that is drawn off in great
quantities, not only from the medium but even from
the persons of the sitters, and moulded by the will
of the communicating soul into the aspect of that
body which it inhabited on earth. To the loss of
this “astral substance” is attributed the state of
nervous exhaustion in which mediums are so often
found after emerging from trance; and to its vital
relations with the medium is attributed the violent
shock caused to the medium if the “materialized”
figure is in any way interfered with. Opinions differ
as to the extent in which the substance is reabsorbed
by the person from whom it was taken after the close
of the phenomena.
With regard to the explanation of the phenomena
of automatic handwriting, it is held by spiritualists
that the communicating spirit, through means of the
astral power with which the writer is charged, controls
his hand and his brain; with regard to the com
munications made through the mouth of the medium,
it is his voice that is so used. It is freely conceded
by spiritualists that certain well-defined dangers to
the nervous centres of the medium usually accompany
all attempts (especially by means of “materializa
tion ”) to communicate with the spiritual world ; that
deceiving spirits occasionally seek to play tricks upon
the inquirers, and even to impersonate their dead
relatives; but it is claimed that those perils are
reduced to a minimum by the methods used, and
that the gain to spiritual knowledge is incalculably
greater than the loss to health or serenity.
(iv)
The Spiritualist Creed, as has been said, is exceed
ingly difficult of definition, since professed spiritual
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Spiritualism
■-
9
teachings, when brought together, are frequently found
to be mutually exclusive. Yet, on the whole (at
least at the present day in European countries), spirit
ualist dogmas seem to be emerging into some kind
of coherent form.
The existence of God is usually acknowledged ;
indeed, Sunday schools and churches organized for
purposes of worship as well as of instruction, and for
the training of children as mediums, have been in
existence in England for many years. Beyond this
it is taught that the actions of life here have a
corresponding effect upon the state of existence
hereafter, though the doctrine of eternal punishment
is, practically always, explicitly denied. The con
dition of life in the next world is said to be one of
progressive purification, rising, it would seem, up to
some kind of absorption into the Supreme Spirit,
to whom the name of God is given. All distinctively
Christian doctrines are usually denied, although it
is said of Jesus Christ that as a spiritual teacher
He has had few equals and no superiors. It is
claimed that He Himself was an adept medium, and
that His appearances after the Resurrection were in
stances of “ materialization.” His Divinity is practi
cally always explicitly denied.
It is exceedingly difficult to say more than this
of the Spiritualistic creed, since, besides the diverg
ences in various countries already mentioned, there
is occasionally a further divergence even in teaching
given to the same inquirer as he advances in know
ledge. The disciple is at first told to practise his
religion; but later on is informed that Christian
worship and doctrine are only embryonic stages of
the truth, and that the initiate will find all that he
needs in the teaching given him by the spirits.
The dogmatic system of the Spiritualists, therefore,
is best described as a vague kind of Theism, at times
closely resembling Pantheism.
�IO
The History of Religions
[36
II
It will be seen plainly from the foregoing pages
that it will be impossible within the limits of a
pamphlet to do more than sketch very lightly the
criticisms that may be passed upon Spiritualism,
and the reasons why the Catholic Church (and in
deed all the historical religions of the world) has
condemned and rejected it, and forbidden it to her
children, both in its present form and under its old
presentment in Necromancy. The Jewish Church
herself always regarded it with horror, and inflicted
the severest penalties upon all her people who meddled
with it.
Very briefly, however, the reasons and criticisms
are as follows :—
(i)
First, it is necessary to remember the enormous
amount of fraud that has always accompanied the
practice of Spiritualism—fraud that is acknowledged
and deplored, to be frank, by Spiritualists themselves.
While, therefore, fraud on the part of the professors
of a religion is not enough to discredit entirely the
religion itself (for in that case hardly any creed would
be immune), it is yet, in this instance, of sufficient
gravity to cause us to doubt very seriously the reck
less assertions occasionally made by Spiritualists, and
to demand very searching tests indeed before any of
the more startling phenomena are accepted as facts.
In addition to the instances of this deliberate and
conscious fraud—instances known to all who have
studied the history of the movement (as, for example,
in the case of the famous William Eglinton)—there
must also be added unconscious fraud, exaggeration
and doubtful testimony, due on the one side to the
almost irresistible desire of the medium to produce evi
dence, and on the other to the very fierce state of
nervous excitment of most inquirers under the cir-
�36]
Spiritualism
11
cumstances described above.1 Large deductions,
therefore, must be made with regard to the whole
body of evidence that is circulated generally among
the public.
(ii)
There remains, however, when all such deductions
have been made, a residuum (and of a very startling
nature) which it is impossible to disregard ; evidence,
too, that fits in in a remarkable manner with much
that has always been believed by Catholics ; though
these, as will be shown presently, give a very different
explanation of it from that offered by Spiritualists.2
But even this, however, must be sifted further before
anything even resembling a Spiritualistic theory can
be deduced from it.
It is now an established fact among psychologists
that ideas, or sense-images, can be transmitted from
the brain of one living person to that of another, and
that the transmission takes place with increased ease
if the mind of the recipient or the agent is in a
1 The most recent opinion of competent judges in the case of Eusapia
Palladino is that the medium in question, while possessing und ubted
“ powers,” supplements them by fraud, both conscious and unconscious.
2 From “Report of Sittings with Eusapia Palladino,” etc., p. 463 :—
“ B., who is evidently passing through the same stages as I did in my
earlier seances, toys with the suggestion of an apparatus, by way of
easing his mind. It would be an interesting problem to set before a
manufacturer of conjuring machines to devise an apparatus capable of
producing alternatively a black, flat, profile face, a square face on
a long neck, and a ’cello-like face on a warty, wobbly body two feet
long ; also a white hand with movable fingers, a yellowish hand, and
a hand invisible altogether—all these for use outside the curtain.
Further, for use within, a hand with practicable living thumb and
fingers having nails. . . . Our manufacturer must so construct the
apparatus that it can be actuated unseen by a somewhat stout and
elderly lady, clad in a tight plain gown, who sits outside the curtain,
held visibly by hand and foot, in such a way as to escape the obser
vation of the practical conjurers clinging about her, and on the look-cut
for its operation. It must further be of such dimensions as to be con
cealed about the lady while parading herself for inspection upon a
chair, clad in her stays and a short flannel petticoat.—E. F., Dec. 6,
1908.”
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The History of Religions
[36
passive condition.1 We are bound, therefore, in
approaching the subject from the purely scientific
side, to allow that a great number at least of the
alleged messages from the dead, whether given by
the voice or the hand of the medium, may be nothing
more than the result of this transmission of thought,
or telepathy. It is of no evidential value to say that
the inquirer in this or that instance has been re
minded through such a message of a fact he had
forgotten : the very fact that he recognized it as true
shows that the thought somewhere resided in his
brain.
(iii)
There remain the physical phenomena—all such
things as sounds, lights, the movement of objects
and “materializations”—the physical phenomena that
remain, that is to say, after due deductions have been
made for fraud, conscious or unconscious. There
remains further to be discussed the Spiritualistic
philosophy concerning them.
First, then, it must be said in fairness that, at any
rate until recently, many eminent scientists who have
gravely examined the physical phenomena are dis
satisfied with the evidence presented in their favour.
They deny, in fact, the assertion that the things in
question prove the presence of discarnate spirits.
Fraud and imagination, they say, are sufficient to
account for all. To this, again in fairness, it must
be answered that, as a rule, these inquirers approach
the question in a state of convinced scepticism, and
1 It is impossible, in view of recent researches, to deny any longer
that Telepathy is an established conclusion of science. It need not be
concluded, however, that what St. Thomas appears to teach as to the
impossibility of purely mental communications is at all assailed by this
discovery. For, curiously enough, some of the characteristics of tele
pathy are markedly in accordance with the philosophy of St. Thomas.
For example, communications by telepathy are nearly always conveyed
by faint visualized pictures. The idea is not communicated direct.
This seems to correspond remarkably with what St. Thomas implies, at
least, with regard to sense-images.
�36]
Spiritualism
13
that convinced scepticism is exactly that condition of
mind that prevents the best manifestations. Certainly
it is an unfortunate dilemma, but a perfectly legitimate
one. It is the dilemma in which both Huxley and his
Christian adversaries were placed when the former
proposed testing the efficacy of prayer by the ex
pedient of praying for the recovery of the patients in
one selected ward of a hospital, and of comparing
results with those of the other wards. Faith, or at
least passivity of mind, it is claimed by Spiritualists,
is a condition necessary to manifestations.
To Catholics,however,and indeed to most Christians,
the evidence must naturally be of a very different value
from that which it has to those who are not satisfied
that a spiritual world exists at all. Catholics are
persuaded that it does exist, that it does manifest
itself (as in the lives of the saints) to the dwellers in
this. They are bound, therefore, to be predisposed to
accept good evidence to the effect that in this or that
instance it has manifested itself; and the only questions
that remain to be settled are, firstly, do these phe
nomena take place among spiritualists? secondly, how
are they to be interpreted ?
To this first question, no adequate answer can, of
course, be given. A Catholic is perfectly free to deny
that such things happen if he has examined the
evidence and found it insufficient. He is not free,
however—if he claims to be an intelligent man—to
deny its possibility. Allowing, then, that the evidence
has been found sufficient to show that at seances
phenomena take place—of the kind described above—
in sufficient number to be considerable, and of such
a nature that they cannot be attributed to human
agency1—what further criticisms can be passed upon
them, and what conclusions can be drawn ?
1 It would occupy too much space to discuss adequately the theory put
forward tentatively by some observers to the effect that the ‘ ‘ subconscious
self” {i.e. the range of these powers and faculties, such as the power of
thought-transference, unconscious cerebration, etc., lying beneath the
ordinary faculties of man) is capable of producing actual physical phe-
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The History of Religions
[36
These criticisms are of various kinds—founded
respectively upon observation, and on the principles
of theology.
A. Criticisms founded on observation.
(a) First it cannot but be remarked that the phe
nomena are extremely frequently of a very trifling
nature at the best. Foolish tricks are continually
played upon the sitters; mocking answers given, or
evasions, to their questions.1 These are explained by
spiritualists as being the work of low-caste or earthbound spirits who intrude themselves into the circle.
Yet the very possibility of this—and it is not denied
that this phenomenon is fairly common—throws a
very great doubt upon the genuineness of the other
communications. If it is found impossible for in
quirers, even with the best intentions, to protect
themselves against these annoyances, how can it be
possible for them to be sure that even the graver
nomena such as some of those described in these pages. It is, of course,
a possible explanation—(possible, at least, in the sense that such an
assertion cannot possibly be disproved, since it attributes to an almost
wholly unknown part of human nature forces completely unanalogous to
any others possessed by man)—but so also might it be attributed to
electricity or ether, or some completely unknown but natural agency.
To those, however, who believe at all in the existence of a spiritual world,
it will seem a far more tenable hypothesis to suppose that it is from this
spiritual world that the force is generated ; and therefore, so far as the
evidence goes, a more scientific hypothesis.
1 (a) “ I was suddenly startled by a noise like that of hammering, and
of occasional footsteps, clearly emanating from the bedroom occupied by
my friend. . . . The strange noises, which appeared to have ceased at
the moment of my entrance, recommenced almost immediately with the
utmost vigour, and I became the witness of a scene such as I have
never witnessed before. ... A hundred hands seemed to be hammering
away on walls and doors and table and bed, and every now and then
there was the sound of feet tramping along the floor. ... As morning
dawned the noises gradually ceased.”—{Dangers of Spiritualism, pp.
45> 46.)
.
.
, ,
(5) “The moment the door is opened, it may be by the presence of
persons of like inclinations, of ignorant or credulous mediums . . . or
men of immoral or intemperate habits, troops of so-called ‘dark’ spirits
rush in, and indulge these propensities to silly tricks, lying deception,
and temptation to evil.”—(Letter from a spiritualist of twenty years’
standing, quoted in Dangers oj Spiritualism, p. 125.)
�36]
Spiritualism
15 •
messages come from those personalities that profess
to send them ?
(p) This doubt is further enhanced by the extra
ordinary meagreness even of the most solemn
“spiritual teachings.” If the spiritualistic theory
were true, if it were a fact that some of the greatest
thinkers and scientists in the world’s history, con_ sumed by a desire to illuminate their brethren still living
on earth, returned to give them that teaching, how is
it that no historical mystery has ever yet been solved
by this means, no scientific problem answered, no
ascetical doctrine superior to that already given by
teachers on earth ever yet bestowed ? The collections
of “ spiritual teachings ” circulated from time to time
among the public seldom surpass in intelligence or
knowledge the average works of writers even still
incarnate; much less do they approximate in know
ledge or spirituality to the teachings of the greatest
spiritual Leaders of the past.
(f) It is a matter of regret among spiritualists them
selves that occasionally, after the most poignant
scenes, when the presence of some departed friend
has been recognized by one of the inquirers, further
investigation has shown that the communicating
personality has broken down in some perfectly simple
test of identity.1 This seems to lead to the inevitable
conclusion that in some cases at least the discarnate
spirit that has manifested itself has been deliberately
1 “The absolute futility of any attempt at identifying spirits is another
discouraging or unsatisfactory circumstance. It is no proof that the
spirit communicating is A. B. if he tells me of words or circumstances
(supposed to be) known only to A. B. and myself. . . . The alleged
‘ friend ’ of a few years ago (while he was writing through me, and
turning my ideas upside down through his extraordinary ‘ counsel ’ and
hypocrisy) certainly was possessed of knowledge of my present history
unknown to anybody else. . . . Now if one’s diary of thoughts and acts
is an open book for one spirit and another to read at his convenience,
nothing that he may resurrect to one’s mind is any proof that he is trust
worthy .... any more than would be the case if a shoeblack read over
one’s shoulder what one had written . . . . and claimed by virtue of his
knowledge that he was one’s father or mother.”—(Extract from a
letter quoted in Dangers of Spiritualism, pp. 115, 116.)
�16
The History of Religions
[36
impersonating another in a most heartless manner.
Grave suspicion then is bound to remain even in cases
where fraud of this kind has not been detected.
(<7) It is a matter of common knowledge among
spiritualists that the nervous exhaustion which so often
comes upon the medium during or after a seance has
led in many cases to a complete breakdown of the
mental and moral powers. This is not, of course, in
any sense a conclusive argument; religious mania is
known in every creed; but the fact becomes more
significant when it is remembered that, on the other
side, Spiritualism has not produced characters of any
extraordinary sanctity or eminence. Except in the
cases where materialists have been convinced through
means of Spiritualism of the existence of another
world, it is impossible to point to any spiritual or
mental gain to balance the extremely numerous losses
on the other side.
(e) Further, it is exceedingly easy to adduce testi
mony after testimony from those who, once spiritualists,
have relinquished the life because of the loss not only
of mental but also moral virtues. An extremely un
pleasant symptom in the case of inquirers too much
absorbed in such practices as those of planchette or
ordinary automatic handwriting is the appearance of
the obscene and blasphemous element in the communi
cations received. Of course such results as those, as
well as others less terrible (such as loss of will-power,
morbidity, etc.) may very well arise from the mere
passivity of mind necessary for success in such experi
ments, and from the consequent uprush of those
realms of human consciousness not directly controlled
by the will (as in the case of delirium). Yet, even
with all allowances made for such possibilities, there
would seem to remain a certain malignancy of delib
erate purpose, a certain design followed in the process,
certainly not intended by the inquirer, that would
argue strongly in favour of another personality being
at work. At any rate, in such cases, there is an inten-
�36]
Spiritualism
17
tion of communicating with the spiritual world; and if
this means of communication were according to the
Divine will—if even it were true that the communi
cating personalities were those which they professed
to be—it would be difficult to account for the per
sistence of this phenomenon.
The following extract from a letter to the author of
The Dangers of Spiritualism is given at length, as
containing an excellent analysis of the state of brain
and nerves—to say the least—brought on by the
continued practice of automatic handwriting.
“ But now comes the worst part of the whole story.
My whole being had manifestly undergone a change ;
I seemed to have received another nature—gross, vile,
sensual, originating the most vile and abominable
ideas, such as had never formerly entered into my
mental life. My old self was still there, thank God !
I have never quite lost that. But, although rebellious
and disgusted, it nevertheless seemed powerless against
the stronger, evil influence which was dominating it.
It was as if some unclean spirit had taken possession
of me, had driven out my old self, and was using my
mind and body for its own vile purposes. At first, I
fought and struggled against it, and tried to rouse
myself; but it was all to no purpose. All the day
long my body was tired, weighed down by a heavy,
languid, care-for-nothing feeling. I had no desire but
to lie down and to let my thoughts go wandering. I
lost interest in everything I used to delight in in
former times. I dropped my studies; my hobbies
had no longer any charm for me; everything seemed
an effort and a trouble. I have read of the mental
and physical condition of opium-smokers, and it
certainly seemed to me as if I was overpowered by
a kind of moral opium which simply rendered me
powerless to make any more effort. Only when
evening came I seemed capable of moving. I then
began to grow restless. If I went to bed I could not
sleep, but simply lay a.wake, my brain all activity,
�18
The History of Religions
[36
imagining, picturing the most wretched abominations.
Dreading, therefore, to go to bed, I used to go out.
Invariably I would find myself proceeding to some
low public-house, not to drink, but just to be in the
company of, and to hobnob with, any dirty, low
fellow I would find there. And, strange to say, such
would receive me just as one of themselves, while I
felt perfectly at home with them—I, who had never
been in the habit of frequenting the bar of even the
most respectable public-house. I had no desire what
ever to go among decent people of my own station
of life; on the contrary, I liked the company I met
with in these places; I liked the low, foul conversation;
I revelled in the filthy talk! I would treat my com
panions to drink, and positively enjoyed seeing them
drunk. The smell of the stale beer, of the rank
tobacco, their crude familiarities, were like tonics to
me. The weariness would go; I would sing and
laugh with the loudest of them, thinking it a fine
thing to be called a ‘jolly good chap.’ I could never
get drunk myself; a single pint of beer would make
me sick. When morning came I would get up,
haggard, tired, ashamed, disgusted, afraid to meet
any person of my acquaintance. I can’t describe all
the horrible things I went through, some of them
veritable orgies. Time passed, things gradually got
worse; I dropped my old friends, or they dropped
me. I became unsettled and miserable in my work;
I felt that I could not remain in my place, that I must
get away. With new scenes and new faces I might
get the better of this thing. So I sent in my resig
nation and left the town. ... At present I am
living an idle, aimless life, just existing on the
payment I obtain for a few hours’ private teaching
a week, and a few shillings picked up playing the
piano in public-houses. I am without hopes, pros
pects, or friends. What is there to live for ?
“ And now let me draw attention to one or two
curious points in my history. It is very difficult to
�36]
Spiritualism
19
explain exactly the relationship between the two
natures inhabiting my body. I shall make myself
better understood if I use the word ego to signify my
own mental identity, and alter that of the other. By
I and me I mean my physical self (common to both).
Both of them are I \ but the two are never ‘ in residence ’
at the same time. There is now no struggle for
mastery. The change is imperceptible. I may now
be ego, then I suddenly find myself alter. This latter,
without warning, comes and takes possession, drives
out ego, or paralyses him, does what he likes, and just
as suddenly goes. He just ignores, never remembers
or thinks of ego. Ego, on the contrary, has a vivid
recollection of alter, is disgusted with him, loathes
him, fears him, looks upon him as a vile, sensual thief,
who has robbed him (ego) of all that made life worth
living. When I am alter I am strong, active in mind
and body, full of devilry, daring anything, imagining
and enjoying all evil. When alter goes, poor, pitiful
ego just creeps back into a weak, exhausted body,
weary, tired of life, full of remorse, making good
resolutions, yet having no power to carry them out.
There is one other point. If I can manage to get off
into a good sleep, alter seems to be powerless. My
dreams are always pleasant, mostly of people and
places of the good old times, never of anything bad.
It is only when I am awake, and when my mind is
unemployed, that alter catches me. My worst time
is at night. If I go to bed without being able to
sleep, alter is in full possession, running riot with my
imagination till the morning.
“There may have been no connection between my
dabbling in telepathy and this other thing, but, rightly
or wrongly, I believe that on that night some unclean
spirit attached itself to me, gradually gaining influence
over my nature, and in the end making me his mere
slave. For very shame I have been obliged to keep
the whole matter to myself. People sometimes marvel
(and well they might) at the change which has come
�20
The History of Religions
[36
over me. My sense of fairness will not permit me to
put the whole blame upon telepathy ; there may have
been some unconscious error on my part, or some
circumstance unknown to me may have caused this
alteration in my life. The fact itself remains ; I know
what I was before that evening, and I know what I
have been since.
“ I have only succeeded in writing this by fits and
starts when I am ego; alter nearly threw it all into the
fire last evening, calling it a d----- d lot of rubbish.”
So much, then, for criticisms founded on observation.
We pass on to—
B. Criticisms founded on theology.
It must first be remarked that the following criti
cisms will have no weight with those who approach
the subject of Spiritualism as pure agnostics—beyond
the weight of the fact that historical religion has
always recognized the existence of Spiritualism or
Necromancy, and, up to a certain point at least, the
objectivity of its phenomena.
For it is not only the Catholic Church that has
condemned Spiritualism, the Protestant bodies have
usually done so as well, and the Jewish Church
punished the adherents of Necromancy with death.
Spiritualism, or Necromancy, or the dealing with
“familiar spirits,” has always been regarded by the
other great world-religions as a bastard, rather than
a competitor with a dignity comparable to their own.
This fact is at least significant.
(a) First, then, it is sufficient for the Catholic to
recognize that Spiritualism is, dogmatically, an ad
versary, and not an ally of his own creed. It is
claimed sometimes that Spiritualism and Christianity
are compatible, and, theoretically, it may be so; but,
practically, their dogmatic systems are mutually
exclusive, and Christians who practise Spiritualism
are bound in the long-run to choose between that
faith and their own. So far as Spiritualism has
produced a coherent creed at all, it directly traverses
�36]
Spiritualism
21
even such fundamental doctrines as that of the Incar
nation.
(p) Catholic theology teaches in detail that the
destiny of all men at death takes them elsewhere in the
spiritual world. It is entirely incompatible with
Catholic belief to believe that the souls of the departed
are allowed, except under very peculiar and unusual
circumstances, to revisit this earth with the intention
of communicating with those still living upon it. To
believe that those souls are so far at the mercy of
mediums as to be compelled, practically, in instance
after instance, to manifest themselves here—parti
cularly under such circumstances as usually accompany
spiritualistic seances—is utterly antagonistic both to
the letter and the spirit of Catholic teaching.
For these two main reasons, then, as well as for
others mentioned above, the Catholic Church con
demns Spiritualism without reserve. She acknowledges
the fact that the spiritual world is accessible to this,
and this to that; but she lays down most stringently
the only modes in which such communication may
be sought, and denounces the rest as methods contrary
to the Divine Will.
(r) What, then, is the view of Catholic theologians
as regards the phenomena claimed by Spiritualists?
First it must be noted that Catholics do not pledge
themselves, as a matter of faith, even to the objectivity
of the phenomena. This or that piece of evidence
must be judged, as all other evidence, even in support
of alleged Catholic miracles, simply on its own weight.
At the same time it is undoubtedly true that Catholic
theologians as a whole are disposed to accept much
of the evidence offered by Spiritualists as a sufficient
proof that phenomena do take place at stances and
elsewhere which cannot be accounted for on natural
grounds. The explanation given, then, is as follows :—
(1) Christians are aware from quite other reasons
than those given by Spiritualists that the spiritual
world is a fact, that it is inhabited by innumerable
�22
The History of Religions
[36
personalities, good and bad, and that to many of
these personalities—that is, to spirits that have never
been incarnate—this world is perfectly accessible.
On the one side are the unfallen angels of God, on
the other the fallen; and this earth is to a large
extent the battle-ground between these opposing
forces. The object of the angels of light is to draw
men nearer to God, to protect them from spiritual
and even bodily dangers, and to help them towards
heaven ;■ the object of the angels of darkness is ex
actly the opposite.
Now the precise range of powers permitted to the
evil angels has not been revealed to men; we know
only that they are considerable, though limited; and
we may at least conjecture that as it has been per
mitted in the past to the angels of light to assume
a human appearance, so it is at any rate quite possible
that the same power maybe allowed to their adversaries.
We know also as a positive fact that the evil angels
are permitted under certain circumstances to obtain
such a hold over men who yield to them as actually
to obsess or possess^ their powers and their will.
(2) Turning once more to the phenomena of Spirit
ualism, it is to be noticed that the Christian faith is
continually assailed by those professed “ benefactors ”
of man ; that the mental powers or the morality of
those who practise Spiritualism are extremely liable to
decay; and further, that the process employed is one
calculated to undermine almost imperceptibly the
faith and morals of even those who approach the
investigation with good intentions. In a word, it
would seem that—if the alleged experiences are
facts—they are designed with considerable skill to
the carrying out of that very object which Catholics
believe to be the aim of the spiritual enemies of man.
Inquirers are met on their most tender side, the
1 “ Obsession ” means the persecution of the human will or imagina-.
tion ; ‘ ‘ possession,” its more or less complete control by a discarnate
spirit.
�36]
Spiritualisin
23
appeal is made to their highest human affections;
they are led on by apparent proof after apparent
proof to believe that they are actually in communi
cation with those they once loved on earth. It would
appear almost inevitable, then, that such inquirers
should ultimately accept such teaching as they re
ceive—and we have seen of what character that teach
ing is—as undeniable truth. For every man that is
converted by Spiritualism to believe in the immortality
of his soul, there are probably a hundred who are
led by it to relinquish the beliefs and practices of
Clmstianity.
urther evidence in support of the Catholic theory
is found in the facts related above under the heading
Criticisms founded on observation. The large propor
tion of fraud, both on the part of mediums and of the
personalities that claim to communicate, the trifling
and often mischievous tricks and evasions with which
serious inquiry is so often met, the solemnity of the
claim to shed light from the spiritual world upon the
problems of this world, coupled with the extraordinary
futility of the “ revelations ” so made, as well as the
continual injuries inflicted upon the bodily and
mental health of the mediums and the inquirers—all
those considerations support very strongly the Cath
olic contention that the phenomena, if genuine, must
be the work of the avowed spiritual enemies of the
human race. Theologians emphasize this the more
from the fact that in extreme cases of nervous or
mental breakdown following upon the practices of
Spiritualism, symptoms make their appearance iden
tical with, or at least closely resembling, those which
accompany undoubted cases of “ possession ”; and
“ possession,” it must be remembered, has been familiar
to Catholics for many centuries; its treatment finds a
regular place in the Ritual and Exorcisms of the
Church, and the fact of it is vouched for explicitly in
the New Testament.
As regards the exact mode by which the genuine
�'24
The History of Religions
[36
phenomena—if they exist—are produced, Catholic
theology offers no definite opinion. All that can be
said is that an acceptance of the “ astral ” theory
is not condemned. It is conceivable that there may
be some such force or substance in the human con
stitution, but of this Catholic theology has no
cognizance. It is a matter of psychical, or even
physical science, rather than of theology or philosophy.
This, then, is the attitude of the Catholic Church
towards Spiritualism:—
(1) She does not in any way commit herself to
the acceptance of the phenomena. Yet she does not
deny them, and allows fully for their possibility.
Each claim stands or falls on its own proper evidence.
(2) So far as the alleged phenomena are genuine,
the Catholic Church accounts for them by the action
of evil discarnate spirits—called “ fallen angels.” She
utterly rejects, therefore, their testimony, and warns
her children against accepting it.
(3) She condemns in the gravest manner any
attempt to communicate in this manner with the
spiritual world, as contrary to the Divine Will.
(4) She leaves open—granted the genuineness of
the phenomena—the mode in which such phenomena
are accomplished.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED.
Modern Spiritism. By J. Godfrey Raupert. Kegan Paul, 1907.
The Dangers of Spiritualism. By J. Godfrey Raupert. Kegan
Paul, 1906.
Sermons on Modern Spiritualism.
By Rev. A. V. Miller.
Kegan Paul, 1908.
Hypnotism and spiritism. By Lapponi. Chapman & Hall,
1906.
The Unseen World. By Lepicier. Kegan Paul, 1906.
�
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Benson, Robert Hugh [1871-1914]
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Spiritualism
Supernatural
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ILLUSION AND DELUSION;
OK,
MODERN
PANTHEISM
versus
SPIRITUALISM.'
“The burden of the mystery of all this unintelligible world."—Wordsworth:.
CHARLES BRAY,
AUTHOR OF UTHE PHILOSOPHY OF NECESSITY,” “ A MANUAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY.” ETC.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO. 11, THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
Price Sixpence.
��ILLUSION AND DELUSION, ETC.
N Mathematics we can all agree ■ in Physics we have
at least learned to call things by the same name;
we understand what we are talking about so far as to
have certain definite admitted facts in common; but in
Psychology every one at present appears to use words
in a different sense, and we talk of Body and Soul,
Matter and Mind, Spirit and Spirits, Knowledge and
Ideas, Matter andMotion and Borce,without any common
ground of assent, or even knowing whether such things,
in the sense in which we use the terms, have any real
existence or not. In this unfenced, hazy, uncultivated
ground superstition still rides supreme. But is it not
possible, and if so, will it not be desirable, to divest
ourselves of the preconceptions time and authority
have attached to these names, and to see how far known
facts will carry us in the knowledge of such things, as
in others in which we are all agreed 1 Accuracy in
Mental Science is the more important, as all sects and
denominations take advantage of the want of it, and of
the darkness that exists to introduce all sorts of ground
less assumptions, and to reason upon them as established
truths. The differences between metaphysicians, and
much misconception and error at present arise, from
their confounding motion and the thing moving ; force
■with that of which it is the force; passive force, which
I
�4
Illusion and Delusion.
they call matter, with active force, which they call
spirit. The question is, have we knowledge enough
to enable us to substitute such very vague conceptions
on these and similar fundamental principles for the
more accurate ones which science requires? I think
we have.
“ All our conceptions,” says James Hinton, in 1 Man
and his Dwelling-Place,’ “ are based on the implied pos
tulate that the world is as it appears. . . . The
advance of knowledge consists in the substitution of
accurate conceptions for natural ones.” This implies
that our natural conceptions are not accurate ones, and
such will be found to be universally the case. In no
single instance is the world what it appears to be tothe common sense or to the vulgar eye. It is a com
plete illusion to all, and delusion to those who believe
in its real existence as it appears to us. The delusion
is not more complete in those who believe that Heaven
is above, in a world that turns round every twenty-four
hours, and in which therefore there can be no above
and below, than it is with respect to the existence of
the earth itself. Let us take a single illustration of the
common belief, and examine it thoroughly by the light
of science. The world, as it appears to the common
sense, is based on the conception that colour is some
thing that belongs to bodies outside ourselves, and the
world without colour would lose all its beauty. And
yet what we call colour is a nervous sensibility, an
idea, a feeling within ourselves. The vulgar idea is
that the green is in the grass, whereas the green is in
ourselves. Equally it will be found that all the other
attributes or qualities ascribed to matter are attributes
of mind and not of matter, and that the world itself is
but an illusion and delusion—a great ghost or mental
spectre. All that is known of matter is its capability
of creating within us these Illusions. Professor Tyn
dall says, “ The atoms of luminous bodies vibrating,
communicate their vibrations to the ether in which they
�Illusion and Delusion.
5
swing, being propagated through it in waves ; these
waves enter the pupil, cross the ball, and impinge upon
the retina, at the back of the eye. The motion of the
ether then communicated to the retina is transmitted
thence along the optic nerve of the brain, and there
announces itself to consciousness as light;.” It would
take, he tells us, 699 million of millions of such waves
to enter the eye in a single second to produce the im
pression we call violet in the brain. We are not
required to count these waves, because that would take
some little time, but as 57,000 of such waves fill an
inch, and light travels at the rate of 192,000 miles in a
.second, we have only to bring the miles into inches
and then multiply one by the other to get the million
■of millions required. It takes 477 millions of millions
of such waves to produce the colour we call red, and
577 millions of millions to produce green. Now let
us examine these facts. The effect produced by this
wonderful motion from without is a nervous impression,
a sensation of light, an idea of colour. Our perception
of colour, it is now known, is dependent upon a parti
cular part of the brain, for if that part of the brain is
not there, or deficient in quantity, people have no
*
perception of colour, i.e., are colour blind, or can only
partially distinguish colours. How, then, can colour
be in the object ? or what possible resemblance or sim* Sir David Brewster says that as many as one person in
twenty-eight cannot distinguish some colours from.others, and
that about one in ninety are colour blind, that is, cannot see
colours at all. Any one, in such cases, may easily satisfy
himself that it is the brain that is deficient; for if he puts his
thumb on the centre of the eye-bsow he will find an indenta
tion enabling him to touch the eye—his thumb will rest upon
the eye-ball. People are equally blind, in about the same
proportion, in other mental faculties. They may be fluent in
speech, full of facts, well read in history, with a generally
good memory, so as to be able to make a great display, and
yet be blind in the reasoning power ; and people are seldom
conscious of their own mental deficiencies, even in colour,
unless they are quite colour blind.
�6
Illusion and Delusion.
ilitude can there be between our feeling or idea and the
object which we say is coloured? The immediate
antecedent of our idea of colour is the motion of the
brain; this motion is communicated, through the eye
and retina, by the ether, and the ether is set in motion
by the reflex action of what we erroneously call the
coloured body. What this particular action is that
produces this effect upon the ether we have no means
whatever of knowing; we only know that it has tn
produce 122 millions of millions of knocks on the eye
less per second from the ether waves to produce the
green colour than the violet, and 100 millions of mil
lions less to produce the red than the green. Then
what is colour ? An idea or feeling within ourselves,
requiring all these links in the chain, and all their
wonderfully varied modes of motion, to produce it. If
any link in the chain is absent—if the brain, or the
retina, or the eye-ball, or the waves of ether, or the
reflex action on the ether, are not there, the effect is
not produced. ' It has probably taken millions of years
to perfect this relationship—to create this faculty of
mind which entirely depends upon this continuous
adjustment of internal relations to external ones. Tyn
dall says, “ We have rays of too high and too low a
pitch to be visible, that is, they are incapable of excit
ing any sensation, or creating within us any idea of
colour.'” Where, then, is the colour? Very nearly the
same motions go on outside of us without creating any
idea of colour or consciousness on our part. The
same, he -says, “ may be said of sound, and probably
sounds are heard by injects, which entirely escape our
perceptions ; and both as regards light and sound, our
organs of -sight and hearing embrace a certain practical
range, beyond which, on both sides, though the ob
jective cause exists, our nerves cease to be influenced
by it.” Metaphysicians used to divide the qualities or
properties of matter into primary and secondary; the
primary—extension, &c., were supposed to belong to
�Illusion and Delusion.
7
things themselves : the secondary—colour, &c., to our
selves ; but observation has shown that there is no
ground for this distinction, no difference between
primary and secondary, that all are equally dependent
upon the action of the brain. Extension, that is, form
and size, as well as weight, order, relative position, &c.,
are all formed in the mind like colour by the action of
forces from without, which set the brain in motion. It
is an illusion and delusion to suppose that there is
anything without ourselves resembling these percep
tions. Our perceptions are all we know or are con
scious of, and how can a perception be like an object,
or anything but itself ? There are no coloured forms
without us ; coloured forms are perceptions. All that
we know of without us are certain powers or forces,
producing certain motions which produce within us
these perceptions, the aggregate of which perceptions
we call the mind, and we are under the delusion that
they really exist out of our own minds, constituting
the external world. The world, however, as we con
ceive it, is created by the peculiar constitution of the
nervous system, which nervous system has been grad
ually increasing in size and complexity since the first
appearance of life on this earth, supposed to be some
100 millions of years ago. Each creature’s ideas, or
forms of thought, depend upon its nervous system, and
vary as that system varies, so that each animal creates
its own world, and carries it about in its own head, that
world varying as the size and Rapacity of that head
varies.
There is not one world, then, but thousands of
worlds, as each creature creates its own, and all made
out of the same stuff, which is not matter, but mind.
What we call matter is an illusion and delusion.
What there may be in reality we do not know, we only
know of something that affects us in a certain way, for
“ we know nothing of- objects, but the sensations we
have from them.” Locke says (book ii., chap. 23, § 29),
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Illusion and Delusion.
“ The simple ideas we receive from sensation and reflec
tion are the boundaries of our thoughts, beyond which
the mind, whatever effort it would make, is not able to
advance one jot.” David Hume only puts this a little
more emphatically. He says, “We may observe that
it is universally allowed by philosophers, and is besides
pretty obvious of itself, that nothing is ever present with
the mind but its perceptions or impressions and ideas,
and that external objects become
k
*nown
to us only by
the perceptions they occasion. Now, since nothing is
ever present to the mind but perceptions, and since all
ideas are derived from something antecedent to the
mind, it follows that it is impossible for us so much as to
conceive or form an idea of anyth ing specifically different
from ideas and impressions. Let us fix our ideas out
of ourselves as much as possible; let us chase our
imaginations to the heavens, or to the utmost limit of
the universe; we never really advance a step beyond
ourselves, nor can perceive any kind of existence but
those perceptions which have appeared in that narrow
compass.” That is, no creature can advance a single
step beyond the little world its own brain has created.
He knows nothing of matter, but only of his idea of
matter ; nor of spirit, but of his idea of it; and what
relation these ideas bear to the real truth, and whether
there is any real difference between matter and spirit
he has no means of knowing. .Knowing and perceiving
are to us the same thing. We know or are conscious of
our own perceptions, and what those perceptions are in
themselves we do not know. We know nothing of the
real or essential nature of anything. Any supposed
difference, then, between matter and spirit or between
mind and matter, may be, as far as we know, and pro
bably is, as we shall see, a delusion. All dogmatizing
about such supposed differences proceeds from ignorance,
and all theories based upon them must fall to the
ground, for if we do not know what matter is or what
spirit is, only their different modes of motion or mani
�Illusion and Delusion.
9
festation, how can we know that they differ from each
other, except in such manifestations ?
The brain, and the nervous system that travels to and
from this great nervous centre, have been of> very slow
growth. The brain of a fish bears about the average
proportion to the spinal cord of 2 to 1 ; of the reptile,
of 2 J to 1 ; the bird, 3 to 1; the animal, 4 to 1; and,
lastly, man averages 23 to 1. Sensibility or power of
feeling, which in man we call mental energy, increases
as we thus rise in the scale of being, and always in
proportion to the enlargement and complexity of the
brain and nervous system ; from the creature who is all
stomach to a London Aiderman, who is sometimes
supposed to possess feelings and faculties beyond.
The faculties, both of feeling and intellect, have been
gradually formed during countless ages by the continu
ous adjustment of internal relations to external neces
sities. First, we have exercise, then habit, attended
with increase of structure, this structure is transmitted
to offspring with its functions, and we have then spon
taneous action or instinct as it is called. All our faculties
are instincts,-—organized experience or habits that have
become structure transmitted from parent to offspring,
through innumerable generations, from variety to
variety. It is a most complicated relationship this be
tween external forces and our perceptions, as we have
seen in the faculty which enables us to perceive colour,
and has been doubtless countless ages forming, so that
the whole body upon which it and our other faculties
depend is the most wonderful contrivance of creative
skill with which we are acquainted or can conceive.
The way in which this body and mind have been built
up, part added to part, and function to function, through
the chain of being, since life first appeared on this earth,
probably 100 million years ago, is the great marvel,
and yet we hear endless talk of spirits that possess all
these attributes without this previous probation, and of
souls to whom this wonderful body is only a clog and
�io
Illusion and Delusion.
hindrance to its naturally more perfect action; but
there is not a single fact on record from which we can
infer that there is or can be anywhere such a thing as a
disembodied spirit, and as to this soul, whatever that
may be, we know its action is determined entirely by
the body.
First, we have the monad, the simplest of all organisms,,
of which seven species are at present known. These
do not present any division of functions or of organs.
One of these species, discovered by Huxley, inhabits
the sea at great depths, covering the ground with a sort
of network, and is so homogeneous in its construction
that its spontaneous generation is not thought improb
able. This monad becomes a cell, the original starting
point of all plants and animals. Man at the out
set of his existence, like every other animal, is only an
egg, a simple cell, of almost invisible proportions. This
egg after fecundation becomes an embryo. The female
supplies the egg, the male the fecundation, and there
is considerable dispute as to which performs the most
important part in the production of the new being. It
is asked, “ Does the mother merely supply, as it were,
by the ovum a cradle for the incipient man, and after
wards feed and nurse it until birth; or is it that the
germ is in the ovum of the mother, to which nothing
more than vital action stimulating it to growth is
imparted by the father1?” We know that, however
important a part the woman may play in influencing
through her own nervous system the nervous organiza
tion of the child, yet that the man supplies the germ, and
often thus transmits to his offspring his colour of hair, or
other bodily features, tendencies to disease, and other
characteristics, and also his mental aptitudes, habits, and
idiosyncracies,—some peculiar habits that belonged to the
father not manifesting themselves till late in life. So
early is the soul under the influence of structure and
organisation, that is, of the body. It is significant that the
grades through which man passes in his passage through
�Illusion and Delusion.
[i
the womb are the same in order as the history of the
earth- shows us the different forms of animals have
been, viz., fishes, amphibia, reptiles, birds, and mam
mals, so that we have not only the evolution of the
ages, but the same thing repeated at the gestation
of every superior animal, and this development of the
individual from his cell is, if anything, more difficult to
explain than that of the species, inasmuch as it is ac
complished in so comparatively short a time. There is
nothing more wonderful than the hatching of a bird’s
egg, unless it is the hatching of a man. The different
classes in the earliest stages of their embryonic develop
ment cannot be distinguished from each other, and later
man and the dog are almost identical, and when develop
ment in man is arrested, as in the idiot, no higher
functions are manifested than in some of the lowest
animals, and vastly inferior to the dog. “ Mr Marshall
has recently examined and described the brains of two
idiots of European descent. He found the convolutions
to be fewer in number, individually less complex,
broader, and smoother than in the apes.” “ In this
respect,” he says, “the idiot’s brains are even more
simple than that of the gibbon, and approach that of
the baboon.” The proportion of the weight of brain
to that of body was extraordinarily diminished. We
learn, then, that when man is born with a brain no
higher —— indeed lower —- than that of an ape, he
may have the convolutions fewer in number, and
individually less complex than they are in the brain of
a chimpanzee and an orang; the human brain may
revert to, or fall below that type of development from
which, if the theory of Darwin be true, it has gradually
ascended by evolution through the ages.” * “ The
native Australian, who is one of the lowest existing
savages, has no words in his language to express such
exalted ideas as justice, love, virtue, mercy; he has no
such ideas in his mind, and cannot comprehend them.
* Body and Mind, p. 46. By Dr Henry Maudsley.
�12
‘
Illusion and Delusion.
The vesicular neurine, which should embody them in
its constitution and manifest them in its functions, has
not been developed in his convolutions ; he is as incap
able, therefore, of the higher mental displays of abstract
reasoning and moral feeling as an idiot is, and for a
like reason.” * M. Taine, speaking of the Bearn
peasants, says, “ Here men are thin and pale ; their
bones protrude, and their features are large and severe,
like their mountains. An eternal struggle with the soil
has made-women stunted as well as plants ; it has left
in their eyes a vague expression of melancholy and
reflection. . . . The impressions of the soul and
body modify in the long run the body and the soul;
the race moulds the individual, and the country moulds
the race. A degree of heat in the atmosphere and of
inclination in the soil is the primary cause of our
faculties and passions. . . . The productions of
the human mind, as well as those of organic life, are
only to be explained by the atmosphere in which they
thrive.” On the other side, when the climatic influences
are not too depressing, the necessity which is the
mother of invention, gives increased activity to the
brain, and with it increased size. Centuries of skinning
flints have bred the finest race in Scotland that there is
in the world, and the Scotch brain is the largest in the
world.
These are now well known and acknowledged facts.
The mind depends upon the brain, and the brain upon
the body of which it is part, and the body, not upon
the soul, but upon Life. “ Our thoughts,” says Huxley,
“ are the expression of molecular changes in that matter
of life which is the source of our other vital phenomena.”
Those molecular changes depend upon the perfect action
of every other part of the body, and “ it behoves us
clearly to realize the broad fact, which has most wide
reaching consequence in mental physiology and pathol°gy, that all parts of the body, the highest and the
* Body and Mind, p. 56.
�Illusion and Delusion.
13
lowest, have a sympathy with one another more intel
ligent than conscious intelligence can yet or perhaps
ever will, conceive ; that there is not an organic motion
visible or invisible ministrant to the noblest or to the
most humble purposes, which does not work its appointed
effect in the complex recesses of mind ; that the mind
as the crowning achievement of organization, and the
. consummation and outcome of all its energies, really
comprehends the bodily life. . . . Lower the
supply of blood to the brain below a certain level, and
the power of thinking is abolished ; the brain will then
no more do mental work than a water-wheel will move
the machinery of the mill when the water is lowered
so as not to touch it.” *
The Spiritists, 'or Spiritualists, as they improperly
call themselves, disregard or altogether ignore this close
and necessary connection between mind and body,—
this nice adaptation of one to the other. They think
they have observed a class of phenomena which prove
that mind can exist separately from body ; that spirits
and souls have new faculties adapted to their new
*
sphere of action, without having any idea, however, of
how such faculties are formed. The mental faculties
with which we are acquainted are a nice adaptation of'
internal to external requirements—necessitating certain
movements—which have taken ages to form. But the
Spiritualists, by a sort of hocus-pocus or thimble-rigging
with the words body, mind, soul, have created a sys
tem which, in my opinion, falls to pieces immediately
we know definitely what is meant by such terms.
I think we have sufficient knowledge now to show
definitely what there is that really corresponds to these
words.
We have seen what a perfect piece of mechanism the
body is, “fearfully and wonderfully made
the ques
tion is, what is the power that works it ? It is pre
cisely the same as works the steam-engine, and it re* Body and Mind, p. 102.
Dr Maudsley.
�14
Illusion and Delusion.
quires stoking very much in the same way, and if it is
not stoked or fed regularly it will not go. The source
of this power, as at present traced by us, is the sun;
sun-power divorces the carbon.from the oxygen in
plants, and when the carbon and oxygen come to
gether again this power is restored, whether in the fire
of a steam-engine or in the slower combustion of the
human body. The force of heat is generated, known
to us by its mode of motion. This heat, this peculiar
mode of motion, is correlated or transformed in its
passage through the body into various other modes of
motion, and which we call the functions of different
organs, until it causes the molecular motion of the
brain, on which it resumes consciousness or becomes
sensibility. A function is a force indicating a specific
mode of action. Force seems to intensify as it passes
through the body, one equivalent of chemical force
corresponding to several equivalents of heat or inferior
force, and brain or mental force is the most concen
trated of all. Mind is the highest development of Force.
But what is Force ? We know that it is persistent,
or that it cannot be made to cease to exist, and therefore ■
it is an entity. This admitted, and it cannot now be
disputed, and we have the gist of the whole matter.
It explains numberless difficulties both in psychology
and physics, and here will be found, in my opinion, the
explanation of the phenomena which now so perplex
sincere Spiritualists. Force is not a function of matter,
although it must be the force of something—of some
entity; matter only conditions it, that is, changes its
modes of manifestation ; it is not motion, but the
cause of motion. It is known to us only in its modes
of motion, and hitherto it has been confounded with
motion, and hereby we have lost the secret of much
that has appeared mysterious. Force, as it has been
known to us only by its manifestations, is what we
have been accustomed to call a spiritual entity. If I
turn the handle of a grindstone, force passes from me
�Illusion and Delusion.
*5
into the grindstone, and does its work; as soon as that
force has passed’ out, causing motion elsewhere, the
motion I caused in the grindstone ceases. If I wind
np a watch, force passes from me into the watch com
pressing the spring ; as it passes out, setting the whole
machine in regulated motion, it tells the time. Force
is the active principle in nature, causing motion every
where ; this motion acts in a certain order for a given
purpose, that is, it acts intelligently, and if you add in
telligence to force we have what we call mind or will.
Mind acts both consciously and unconsciously, or what
is called automatically, and what we call physical force
is probably automatic mind.
Now, what happens in the creation of what we call
mind ? The force we take in with the food, after un
dergoing various transformations in the body, is worked
up °into sensibility or consciousness, by . inducing a
peculiar motion in the brain, which we call its molecular
action, so that, as Dr Huxley tells us, “ Consciousness
and molecular action are capable of being expressed by
one another, just as heat and mechanical action are
capable of being expressed in terms of one another.
Consciousness requires so much force to produce it, and
the intensity of an idea or feeling is in proportion to the
amount consumed, and that is generally in proportion to
the size of the nervous centre, or organ, or specialized part
of the brain through which it passes. Thus conscious
ness, like heat, has also its mechanical equivalents.. The
brain, already in motion, is acted upon from without
through the medium of the senses, and the union of
the specific force within with the specific force without
produces an idea which we call a perception. We
have seen how our perception of colour is produced,
and the extraordinary complicated action that is re
quired. If any link in this long chain of outward
sequences is wanting, the idea is not produced ; and if
the food, or internal force is not supplied, or the mole
cular action of the brain is interfered with, by pressure
�i6
Illusion and Delusion.
upon it, there is no consciousness—no ideas or feelings
—and millions of millions of ether wave motions with
out are required to give a simple perception of colour.
Other ideas are formed in the same way, by the union
of force within with force without. We have ideas of
form, size, weight, which together give us our ideas of
extension and solidity, and which are no more solid
and extended than music and colour are. The popular
notion of these things is a belief in that which in fact
does not exist. Forces act upon us from without and
give us what we call perceptions, these are taken up by
other parts of the brain, by what we call our faculties
of relative perception, comparison, causality, &c., and
in this way the external world is created. But it is
only our idea of an external world, which must vary as
the specific structure of the brain varies upon which
that idea depends. But although the world, as we
conceive of it, exists only in our ideas, something exists,
which is real independent of our thoughts, something
that we call force, or a system of forces. Light and
sound, the mental states, might cease to exist, but their
vibratory causes without us would not, and they might
affect other beings'differently organized in quite a dif
ferent way; that which produced light m us might pro
duce sound, or other sensations or ideas, in them, and
vice versa. Perception is the direct action of force
without; Conception is the internal action of the brain
only, producing the same ideas but less vivid; Memory
is a repetition of this action in a given form; Imagina
tion is the re-combination in the brain itself of these
ideas, strong in proportion to the great or less activity
of the brain; and Judgment is either a reference of a
simple perception to its external source, or, as more
generally understood, the action of one class of faculties
upon the others, inducing, among other things, what is
called self-consciousness and reason. These are not
primitive or innate faculties of mind—they have no
organs, they are only modes of action of all the faculties.
�17
Illusion and Delusion.
To be conscious and to know, or consciousness and
knowing, are to us the same things. Consciousness
and sensibility are also the same things—and sensi
bility we divide into ideas and feelings. Knowing a
thing and our idea of it are the same, and an idea
cannot be like anything but itself. We cannot in our
knowledge get beyond or even behind that idea, and it
tells us nothing of itself, still less of anything but itself.
When, then, we speak of matter and spirit, of body,
mind, and soul, as different in themselves, we speak of
what we can and do know nothing about; we speak of
only our ideas of such things, and those ideas do not
differ in themselves, but are the same. The differences
we think we see are differences in modes of action only.
Almost all the controversies on these subjects are
based upon the supposed essential differences in these
objects, of which differences, if any such exist, we
know really nothing. When we talk of the material
man, we mean our idea of him, but that idea is what
has been called spirit.
Having stated facts as they are at present known to
us, let us now give a few definitions based upon them.
Matter is the unknown cause of states of con
sciousness. It produces different sensations in us
by its different modes of motion, and Science is the
mere registration of these different modes of motion.
Men of science give fine names to these motions, and
having named them, assume that they know all about
them, when in fact they know nothing but of these
modes of motion.
‘ ‘ Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to he:
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And thou, 0 Lord, art more than they.”
—Tennyson.
The consciousness, idea, or perception of matter is
the union of the force within, prepared by the molecu
lar action of the brain, and the force without. We
B
�18
Illusion and Delusion.
have matter, motion, and force. Motion, which by
physicists is almost always confounded with its cause,
is nothing, it is a mere change of place, and is of course
inseparable from the thing moving. Force is the
active cause of all motion, and passive force, which is
what we call matter, is the cause of the peculiar and
specific direction which the force takes, its correlation
or transformation. It is force only that acts upon us,
that is upon our bodies or structures, and those struc
tures, when examined, resolve themselves into centres
of force. The more we examine the more the convic
tion is forced upon us that there is but one stuff out of
which all things are made, and that is force, or rather
the unknown of which force is the force. Huxley says,
“ Every form is force visible ; a form of rest is a bal
ance of forces; a form undergoing change is the pre
dominance of one over others.'"’ Matter and mind are
probably the same in essence ; I say probably, for we
know nothing of essences, and we do not know there
fore that there is any difference. Dr Carpenter says,
matter possesses extension, or occupies space, while
mind has no such property; but surely if individual
mind exists, and one mind exists separate and apart
from another, there must be somewhere where it exists,
and that somewhere is what we call space. But if ex
tension is only a form of thought, and there is only
force or mind, then space, like extension, is a form of
thought, or purely subjective, and the universe, with
its supposed enormous distances from star to star, must
be something very different to what we conceive
of it.
Spirit is only sublimated or etherialised matter.
Spirits and souls are, with most people, the same things.
Huxley tells us “ that the alchemists called the volatile
liquid which they obtained from wine, ‘spirits’ of
wine, and as the ‘ spiritus ’ or breath of a man was
thought to be the most refined or subtle part of him,
the intelligent essence of man was also conceived as a
�Illusion and Delusion.
19
sort of breath or spirit; and by analogy, the most re
fined essence of anything was called ‘spirit.’ And
thus it has come about that we use the same word for
soul of man and for a glass of gin.”
Mind.—Sensibility, as distinguished from insensi
bility, or consciousness, as distinguished from uncon
sciousness, is what we call mind. As protoplasm is the
physical base of life, so sensibility is the spiritual base
of mind, the specific form it takes depending on organ
isation. There is no idea or feeling but is connected
with the action of brain or nervous system. The spe
cific action of certain parts of the brain we call forms
of thought, the specific action of other parts we call
feelings, which we divide into propensities and senti
ments. We receive a number of separate impressions
from without, a form of thought gives them unity and
individuality, which unity we call matter, body, or
substance; we have a succession of separate and inde
pendent thoughts and feelings, the same faculty of
mind, or form of thought, gives unity to them also, and
we call them our mind, although it is clear that all the
unity they possess is. given them by a form of thought,
and that each separate thought and feeling is a distinct
entity. The mind is one whole, we are told—and much
is based upon the assumption—and yet it is evident
the idea of individual mind as a whole is a creation
of the mind, in the same way as colour is ; or rather it
is a whole only in the same sense as the body is, which
is composed of many parts, and is always changing
them, so the mind is composed of many ideas and feel
ings constantly changing.
The unity of mind is an illusion, there are individual
thoughts and feelings, and that is all. The unity of
any mind but the one Great Supreme, is a delusion.
Faith, hope, resignation, and all the soul’s highest
aspirations, exist only from their connection, like colour
and music, with organisation; they are feelings spe
cialised by the peculiar structure of certain nervous
�20
Illusion and Delusion.
centres, and if that organisation is not there, like colour,
they do not and cannot exist.
But there must be a substratum of consciousness, a
something that is conscious. What is that? Mind,
says one, soul, says another, brain or matter, says a third,
but none of these are right. The force within, it is,
that under brain action becomes conscious, and the
quantity of this force consumed is always proportionate
to the vividness of the idea or the amount of feeling.
Mental activity and nerve force are the same; mental
force is the strongest of all forces, and being persistent,
it passes from the state we call consciousness into all
the motions of the body, and probably into all the
extraordinary phenomena of so-called spiritual manifes
tations. We are told that “ the nerve and brain organism
is the immediate substratum which has the conscious
ness.” This is a mistake; it is the “ force” that be
comes consciousness, which the brain does not originate,
but only conditions. Again, “the nervous organism,
which is the conscious agent, reacts through the muscles
upon the external world.” Here, also, it is not the
organism, but the force that is the conscious agent, and
reacts, &c. Consciousness is said to be immaterial,
but consciousness tells us nothing of its own nature,
nothing of either material or immaterial.
The Soul.—It is this substratum of consciousness
that is usually called the soul, but in this sense it is
the active principle, conscious or unconscious, of all
things. Man, however, is supposed to have a special
soul of his own. I must confess, however, that I have
not been able to find it, or any use for it. If there is
a special soul, where does it come from? when and how
does it enter into him ? In the germ in which lie
folded up many of the mental attributes of the future
man ? or during what period of gestation, at what period
of animal evolution ? or at birth? No ; the poet says,
“ there lives and moves a soul in all things, and that
�Illusion and Delusion.
21
soul is God ■, ” arid the poet, I think, will prove to be
right.
The Self, the Ego.—Intimately connected with
this soul is the self or ego ; but this also is an illusion
and delusion. The “ ego” is a mere form of thought—
that is, self-consciousness is formed by the brain. Thus
we say “ I think,” when all we are warranted in saying
is, that “ thinking is.” The “ I” comprises both body
and mind, hut the body does not think, it only “con
ditions ” or gives the “form” to thought, therefore “I
think” is wrong. There is a succession of thoughts,
and that is all that we find in the analysis of conscious
ness. The “ I ” of consciousness is an intuition, but
intuitions are not always truths, although they are
generally accepted' as such. Intuitions or instincts
are specialised actions of the brain, hereditarily trans
mitted, to answer definite purposes. The body is con
stantly changing, and the mind is only a change of
thought corresponding; neither body nor mind are iden
tical or the same for any two seconds together, but are
part of, and in constant flux with, all the forces around ;
nevertheless, a part of the brain, whose function it is,
produces the “ ego,” or the sense of individuality, and
personal identity. This part of the brain is sometimes
diseased, and then the “I” or sense of identity is lost,
as is well known in some cases of insanity, and of
double consciousness. This ego has about the same
reality as the external world; there must be something
that produces the feeling, and that is all. It is charac
teristic of living organisms to replace the new material
precisely in the place of the old. A mark on the body
continues through life, the same on the brain, the new
material is placed round the old impressions, so that the
forms of thought and feeling turned out by it are very
nearly, if not precisely, the same. It is the trans
mitted experience of this result that has produced the
intuitional “ I,” or the feeling of identity. Memory is
the result of impressions on the brain, deep and vivid
�22
Illusion and Delusion.
in proportion to our youth and susceptibility. In old
age, when our animal vigour is exhausted, and less
force passes through the brain, and the brain itself be
comes less susceptible of impression, the old, or rather
the early impressions resume their sway, and we return
to our habits of feeling and thinking, and our early
memories. “If,” says Bishop Butler, in his “Analogy,”
“ the old man on the verge of the grave is the same as
the child within the womb, if the mutilated soldier is
conscious that no part of himself is, if to the very edge
of that change which we call death we have watched
the force of mind and soul continued in all its keen
ness, then the belief that what each man calls himself
will be destroyed when the material surroundings which
have been often changed without affecting him are dis
solved, is not justified by anything we see in the world
around us.” But material surroundings never do
change without affecting him, and close observation
show's that a change of mind always accompanies a
change of body.
The Will is generally regarded as our commander,
and free. This is another delusion. It is entirely a
servant, and necessarily obeys cither the last dictate of
the understanding or some strong impulse or feeling.
No doubt the will has a local habitation in the brain,
in a position in which it can best execute these com
mands. The intellect or feeling having determined
what to do, with a power proportioned to the size of
the organs from which the determination proceeds, the
will, like a trigger to the mind, lets off this force in the
direction of the purpose aimed at. Under the very
top of the head, where firmness lies, is the part of the
brain connected with the Ego, and again under this, in
the base of the brain, above the medulla oblongata, is
most probably the part connected wdth the will. This
specialises the control over different muscles. We say
“ I will,” and a bundle of isolated nerve-threads, com
municating with particular portions of the central
�Illusion and Delusion.
23
nervous system, can set to work any set of muscles
through the aid of the vaso-motor nerves, which close
or liberate the flow of blood to any particular part of
the central system.
Truth.—If, then, in the process of substituting
accurate conceptions for “ common sense ” ones we are
obliged to come to the conviction that the latter, or the
ordinary ideas of matter, mind, soul, the I, and the
free will are illusions and delusions, how is it that we
believe in them ? As these ideas result from the natu
ral exercise of our faculties—that is, as it is the func
tion of the brain to produce these illusions, so there is
-a part of the brain whose function it is to produce be
lief in them, or to give the sense of their reality. Each
faculty has its function, and it is natural to us to be
lieve in the result of its activity, but that may have no
relation to the real truth about any tiling. What, then,
is truth ? Truth, to us, is the record of the succession
-of our own consciousness, and of how that is affected
by the infinitely varied modes of motion without us.
But how distinguish the internal workings of our own
mind or brain, our active imaginings, from that which
takes .place without us, and which ought to be the
same to all beings similarly organised ? Observation
•and experience is the test of truth. Different and in
dependent individuals question nature, and if they
invariably get the same answer—that is, the same im
pressions,—that we call the truth. But this is merely
how we are impressed; it tells us nothing more, and
that impression can be like nothing but itself; still it
is all we can know, which is merely affirming what all
philosophers now admit, that our knowledge is only
relative, and not absolute. However it may affect our
•self-conceit, this relative knowledge is all we have, or
probably can have, and it is all that can be of any use
to us. To know what things are in themselves is pro
bably impossible to finite creatures, and how such
things affect other intelligences is of comparatively little
�24
Illusion and Delusion.
consequence to us. The object of nature does not
appear to be to give us any real knowledge, only to in
duce that kind of action in us that shall harmonise
with the things without us, and produce and perpetuate
the largest amount of enjoyment. All opinions may
be erroneous, but all are thus made salutory ; for “ it
is manifest,” as Bishop Butler observes, “ that nothing
can be of consequence to mankind, or any creature, but
happiness.” In this department alone has man any
real knowledge, all else is illusion and delusion. The
knowledge of pains and pleasures is alone absolute
knowledge, and to increase the sum of the pleasures,
the aggregate of which constitutes happiness, has this
wonderful phantasmagoria of a world been produced.
Man is “ the heir of all the ages,” and it has taken
ages to put him together in his present form. The
lowest forms of animal life appeared first, and arenecessary steps to the evolution of the highest. He
has passed through all grades, as is now illustrated in
his passage through the womb. We trace the gradual
evolution and specialisation of nerve centres from the
first appearance of nerve tissue in the lowest animals to
the complex structure of the nervous system of man.
What is rudimentary in savage man becomes more fully
developed as civilisation advances, and this “ progres
sive evolution of the human brain is a proof that wedo inherit, as a natural endowment, the laboured ac
quisitions of our ancestors. The added structure repre
sents, as it were, the embodied experience and memories
of the race..”* And this embodied experience or instinct
represents 30 per cent, of the added structure, which
is the difference in weight between the brains of savage
and civilised man. I know it is customary to speak of
the body, of the material man, in terms of depreciation
and reproach, as merely the instrument by which the
mind communicates with the world without, &c., but
* “Body and Mind,” p. 59, by Dr H. Maudsley.
�Illusion and Delusion.'
25
there is not the slightest evidence to show that mind, asknown to us-—that is, as specialised for special pur
poses here, can act separately or independently from
the body. Body and the succession of thought and
feeling which we call mind, are one and indivisible.
“ Life,” says Schelling, “ is the tendency to individua
tion.” The forces of nature are confined within definite
limits, and work towards a given object. The evolu
tion of the brain depends upon life ; and mind, as it is
specialised in human ideas and feelings, is the result of
brain action. The soul—that is, force, may exist as an
independent essence, but faith, hope, charity, and all
its other supposed attributes exist only from their con
nection, like colour, with organisation. These senti
ments, and the moral feelings generally, have been spe
cialised for a special purpose connected with the rela
tion of man to his fellows. Milton, among our great
and unprejudiced minds, and quite independent of
recent discoveries in cerebral physiology, perceived this
oneness of body and mind. He says, in his “ Treatise
on Christian Doctrine,” “ That man is a living being,
intrinsically and properly one and individual, not com
pound or separable, not, according' to the common
opinion, made up and framed of two distinct and differ
ent natures, as of soul and body—but the whole man
is soul, and the soul man; that is to say, a body, or'
substance, individual, animated, sensitive, and rational.”
This unity of body and mind is now generally ad
mitted by physiologists and scientific men generally,
and those who hold the unity only without, further
investigation into what has been called matter are
called Materialists, which is considered to be a term of
reproach. The Spiritualists think that they have dis
covered a class of phenomena which prove that man is
“ compound or separable,” and that these manifesta
tions appear at the present time as a sort of special
revelation to counteract the above materialistic tendency
�2,6
Illusion and Delusion.
of the age. The late hard-headed mathematician Au
gustus de Morgan, speaking of these phenomena, many
•of which he had himself witnessed, says, “When it
-comes to what is the cause of these phenomena, I find
I cannot adopt any explanation which has yet been
suggested. If I were bound to choose among things
that I can conceive, I should say that there is some
sort of action, of some combination of will, intellect,
and physical power, which is not that of any of the
human beings present. But thinking it very likely
that the universe may- contain a few agencies, say half
■a million, about which no man knows anything, I can
not but suspect that a-small proportion of these agen
cies, say five thousand, may be severally competent to
the production of all the phenomena, or may be quite
up to the task among them. The physical explana
tions which I have seen are easy, but miserably insuffi
cient ; the spiritual hypothesis is sufficient, but ponder. ously difficult.” In the early ages of the world, in the
prevalent ignorance of physics, spirits were the supposed
agents in all those unknown causes which we now
trace to natural law. Psychology is at the present
time where physics was in those early ages, and again
we have recourse to spirits to help us out of our diffi
culties, and supplement our ignorance. And more
than that, these spirits are called up to neutralise and
make of no avail the knowledge we have acquired.
But I would ask the Spiritualists, “Would it not be
better to pause, with Professor de Morgan, until we
■know more, rather than commit ourselves to a ‘ future
state’ so little desirable?” for, as the Professor says, ‘ if
these things be spirits, they show that pretenders, cox
combs, and liars are to Le found on the other side of
the grave as well as this,’ and all seem to have retro
graded, both in mind and feeling, since they were in
the body. Surely we had better satisfy ourselves with
nature’s course, and be content to pass on our powers
•of body and mind, in endless progress, to coming gene-
�Illusion and Delusion.
1”]
rations, than continue our own individual existence
under such conditions.
This idea of ghosts and apparitions and a future state
does not ever appear to have been a comfortable one
all the world over. Among savages, when a chief died
his wives and horses and dogs were slain at his tomb,
that he might have the use of them in the happy hunt
ing grounds where he had gone. Hindoo widows were
burnt (burnt themselves, it was said) on the funeral
pile in the same spirit, and at the present time, although
widows are not burnt, their life is one of continual
penance. A Hindoo widow obtains her husband’s pro
perty, that she may devote it to oblations and cere
monies for the good of her husband’s soul. Should
the lady marry again, the husband is supposed to have
a very bad time of it below, and the daring couple be■corne literally outcasts from all society, and all that
makes life enjoyable. In China this fear of ghosts is
the great barrier to all progress. It is not the living,
but the dead that rule. There can be no railroads, lest
in laying them down the bodies of the dead should be
disturbed, and relations should be haunted by their
-spirits. In this and other Christian countries a future
state is looked upon as a sort of necessary aid to the
policeman, and children are asked if they know where
they will “go to” if they steal or tell a lie. We are
also told by Mr Thomas Wright, the journeyman
■engineer, “ that it is well for society that the masses
have this hope and belief, or they would not endure
the present so patiently as they have done and do.”
Their belief is that the condition of rich and poor will
be reversed in another world, if they do not even rejoice
a little over the fate of Dives. But this kind of con
solation does not appear to be confined altogether to
the working classes. Thus we are told in “ Random
Recollections of the Midland Circuit,” by Robert Wal
ton, a book lately published, that “ a man of the
name of Harrington was tried at Warwick for bias-
�i8
Illusion and Delusion.
phemy. Old Clarke, Q.C., was the leading prosecuting
counsel. Clarke, in the general reply he claimed on
the part of the Crown, inveighed in no measured terms
upon the evil tendency of the man’s writing, especially
those parts which denied the existence of his Satanic
majesty and his various attributes, the doctrine of
future rewards and punishments, &c. Warming him
self as he went on, as he of course would, from the
very nature of his subject, he exclaimed, ‘ Gentlemen, if
there be any truth in what the prisoner asserts, where
are we?’ (A favourite expression of his.) ‘ If there
be no devil and no hell, what is to become of us?
Gentlemen, it is men like those who would deprive us
of all hope here and comfort hereafter.’”
Neither can a “ future state” be altogether a “ gospel
of glad tidings,” even to the orthodox Christian, who
professes to believe that “ Whosoever will be saved,
before all things, it is necessary that he hold the
Catholic Faith,” and that, without doubt, he shall
perish everlastingly,—go into everlasting fire, if he do
not. This Creed includes the belief that Christ “de
scended into Hell,” and that men shall live again with
their bodies, to give account for their own works. We
are told that “ Strait is the gate and narrow the way
that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” and
“ that many are called, but few are chosenand truly
this must be, so, if such faith is required. The Scotch
man’s creed, based on the Westminster Confession of
Faith, contains similar consolation. He holds that
God hath appointed the Elect only unto glory, and
that the rest of mankind he was pleased to pass by,
and to ordain them to dishonour, and wrath for their
sin, to the praise of his glorious justice / However
certain a man may be in his self-conceit and selfcomplacency of his own salvation, he must be extra
ordinarily constituted, if such a belief in a Future state
can supply him with any consolation. For myself, I
would rather, a thousand times, give up all hopes of an
�Illusion and Delusion.
29
“ individual ” hereafter, and go back to where I was
before I was born, when, if I was not happy, at least I
did not suffer, rather than that one being should be
reserved to everlasting suffering.
Continued existence does not necessarily imply Im
mortality, fortunately, as all the Spiritualists assume,
for think of the gift of Immortality being considered a
blessing, when, possibly it might be one of endless misery!
Even the poor “ wandering Jew” would rest when this
world came to an end. I cannot imagine how such
devilish conceptions ever got into people’s heads, or how,
having got them there, they can live and even be happy !
Dr Carpenter says: “ I look upon the root of this
Spiritualism to lie in that which is very natural, and in
some respects a wholesome disposition of the kind'—a
desire to connect ourselves, in thought, with those
whom we have loved, and who have gone before us.
Nothing is more admirable, more beautiful, in our
nature, than this longing for the continuance of inter
course with those whom we have loved on earth. . . .
But this manifestation of it, is one which those who
experience this feeling, in its greatest purity, and its
greatest intensity, feel to be absurd and contrary to
common sense.” How much better is the Poet’s
expression of this feeling :—
“ Forgive my grief for one removed,
Thy creature whom I found so fair,
I trust he Ilves in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.”—Tennyson.
We who believe in God,— and not in a being
who exacts an impossible belief, or who elects a few
to glory, and passes the rest by, when he might either
have not created, or have elected all,—as regards a
Future state, hold the faith, that if it is better, all
things considered, that we should, as individuals, con
tinue to exist, we shall be sure to do so; if it is
not better we ought not, and do not, desire to do so.
Surely this is the least selfish faith. I, for one, am
�3°
Illusion and Delusion.
prepared to leave myself for the future, in infinite
confidence in God’s hands.
But are the physical explanations of these so-called
spiritual phenomena so miserably insufficient as De
Morgan represents •them ? I think not; at least they
appear to me to point unmistakeably to the direction
in which the explanation will be found. In the first
place, as we have seen, to know and to be conscious
are with us the same things, and consciousness is what
we call mental, and we know of nothing beyond—that
is, the difference between physical and mental is only
in their modes of manifestation; we know of no essen
tial difference between them. The more we know, the
more it seems probable that all is of one stuff, and that
all is mind, not matter. If so, we must confess that
we know at present but very little of its natural modes
of manifestation, that what little we do know is at pre
sent “practically interpretable only through the methods
and formulae of physics,” and through the language or
terms of physics. Thus an immense amount of what we
call physical force passes through the body, estimated
at 14 millions of foot pounds per day, which, when
subjected to the molecular action of the brain becomes
mind or consciousness, that is, thoughts and feelings.
This force, on leaving the brain again appears to lose its
consciousness, and to revert to physical force, and at
present we know very imperfectly what becomes of it,
or what its real condition is after leaving the brain.
The investigation which Sergeant Cox proposes to make
in his second Vol. of “ What ami?” into Sleep and
Dream, Insanity, Hallucination, Unconscious Cerebra
tion, Trance, Delirium, Psychic Force and Natural and
Artificial Somnambulism, will no doubt throw consider
able light on this subject, and be proportionally inter
esting. Dr C. Darwin’s book on “Expression of the
Emotions in Men and Animals,” is a valuable contribu
tion in this direction ; so also is “ Mysteries of the
Vital Element,” by Dr Eobt. Collyer. Mr Herbert
�Illusion and Delusion.
31
Spencer insists on the general law, that feeling passing
a certain pitch, habitually vents itself in bodily action,
and that an overplus of nervous forces, undirected by
any motive, will manifestly take first- the most
habitual routes ; and if these do not suffice, will next
overflow into the less habitual ones. But Mr Spencer,,
although an able exponent of the persistence of Force,,
has not yet attempted to trace nervous force, beyond
the body, in its action upon other organizations,
neither, as far as I know, does he believe in it. My
own personal experience has been very slight. I have
seen will force acting beyond the body, that is, without
the aid of the muscles, and producing various effects,
both in contact and without, both near and at some
distance. I have witnessed many cures from what
appeared to be the action of the nervous force of one
body upon another, and also one mind as completely
under the control of another, as if they were one, in
what is called Electro-biology. I have satisfied myself
beyond a doubt, that thought reading is a possibility,
having on one occasion seen a mesmerised child tell
the number of three watches, consecutively, each
number consisting of five figures each. These figures
could only have been known to the mesmeriser, who,,
with some difficulty, madti them out by the aid of a
strong light. I have also satisfied myself of the truthof phreno-mesmerism, and that it is not necessarily
connected with thought reading. I have also seen, in
Spiritualist circles, a great deal of humbug and pious
fraud, as well as self-deception.
I have, however, seen quite enough to satisfy me that
the senses, the ordinary inlets to the mind, are not the
only means by which the brain is acted upon from
without. The brain faculties specialize the action of
-mind for special purposes, and the senses direct the
action and limit the quantity of force from without
but these barriers to the more general and universal
action of mind can be partially removed. We are part
�32
Illusion and Delusion.
of all the forces around, and in direct and immediate
connection with them, and but partially individualized.
As star can act on star, at immeasurable distances, so can
one mind upon another within more limited bounds,
when such minds are en-rapport. In thought-reading
we have probably synchronism of vibration between
patient and mesmeriser. We can charge a table with
brain or nervous force, and our volition can act or pro
duce motion through that medium without the aid of
the motor-nerves and muscular contact. In electro
biology the same thing takes place, one brain becomes
charged with nervous force from another, and the whole
of this force is under the direction of one will. We
are surrounded by an atmosphere, the result of cerebra
tion, its character depending upon the nervous centres
or mental faculties from which it emanates. We all
have felt the effect, more or less, of coming into each
other’s atmospheres. There are mental attractions and
repulsions, likes and antipathies among individuals,
varying as they do in chemistry. The amount of force
that goes to the brain may -be artificially increased by
Alcohol, Opium, Haschisch, etc., not only inducing
greatly increased mental activity, but many extra
ordinary phenomena besides. We have nerve force
from mental energy, and mental energy from nerve
force in constant correlation. In trance we have the
same thing, the force being withdrawn from the vital
functions, gives us mind under new conditions, with
increased and additional and abnormal powers. As
force from the sun impinging upon body, produces 699
millions of millions of waves in ether (probably the raw
material of mind) inducing in us the sensation we call
violet colour, so brain force may be carried through the
same ether inducing consciousness, and carrying ideas
in all sorts of ways, at present unknown to us. At
any rate we should hesitate before we call in the aid of
the Spirits, the infallible resort, from the beginning of
time, of ignorance. We ought to be modest and
�Illusion and Delusion.
33
cautious when we reflect that we know only our own
consciousness, and everything else only as it is reflected
there, and that it tells us nothing of its own nature, or
of the nature of anything without its boundaries.
I have to apologize for this digression upon Spirit
ualism, which originally formed no part of my subject,
and .which shortens the space at my command, which
before was too little.
The Moral World.
If the physical world has been created by our forms of
thought connected with the intellect, so has the moral
world been created within us by our feelings ; as a few
simple perceptions have been worked up by the mental
faculties to form the world without, so our simple
pains and pleasures have been worked up by our moral
faculties to make our moral world. To suppose that
there is anything outside ourselves corresponding is as
pure an illusion and delusion in one case as the other.
We are said to be responsible for freedom of will, that is,
we are supposed to’be a sort of first cause in a small way
capable of spontaneous action ; an exception to every
thing else in the universe, to be capable of originating
motion; but this is a contradiction to the now estab
lished doctrine of the persistence of force.
This
doctrine of the conservation of energy furnishes the
modern proof of the truth of what has been hitherto
called Philosophical Necessity. Thus as Oerstead says,
“ everything that exists depends upon the past, prepares
the future, and is related to the whole.” This is the
principle of evolution : “ each manifestation of force
can be interpreted only as the affect of some antecedent
force, no matter whether it be an inorganic action, an
animal movement, a thought or feeling.”* “ Con
sequently, as I have said elsewhere (Manual of
* Herbert Spencer.
c
�34
Illusion and Delusion.
Anthropology, p. 309) “ all actions being equally
necessary—all equally the effect of some antecedent
force, there can be no intrinsic difference between them,
the only difference being one of arrangement. Good
and evil are purely subjective, that is dependent upon
the way in which our sensibility is affected by things
■without. Where we have pleasure it is called good ;
where we have pain evil. Pleasurable sensation
attends the legitimate action of all our faculties, whereas
pain or suffering is not the legitimate object of any
, part of our organization. Praise and blame, reward and
punishment are not a recognition of any intrinsic
difference in actions themselves, but of our wish to
produce one class of actions rather than another as more
agreeable to ourselves. They are intended merely as
motives to action.
Responsibility consists in our
having to bear the natural and necessary consequences
of our actions. The supposition that our responsibility
• consists in our liability to so much suffering for so much
sin or error, if not in this world then in another—that
jut, 'ice requires that if we sin we must suffer—however
ancient, is an altogether groundless notion. The object
of pain or suffering is reformation, and any pain or
punishment that has not that object, any suffering in
excess of that, would be objectless and mere revenge.
Every sin contains its own atonement in the pain or
penalty attached to the natural consequences that
follow it. . . . That retribution would not be just which
included more punishment than was sufficient to correct
the offence and was therefore good for the offender.”
“ If,” as Quetelet says, “ society prepares crime, and the
guilty are only the instruments by which it is executed,”
the strict demands of justice would require that the
sinner, not the saint, should be made happy in another
world, because the sinner having been made to dis
honour in this world, has been the most unhappy here,
and requires compensation.” We hear much of the
“ self-determining will of man, on which his moral
�Illusion and Delusion.
35
responsibility essentially depends.” But what does this
mean but that he may be moved by motives and his
liability to suffer the consequences if he does not ?
'Conscience tells him he must do right, and not do what
is wrong, and it is these consequences that tell him
what is right and wrong. A sense of pain and pleasure,
is the revelation God has given to all mankind, not to be
disregarded or misinterpreted. And what does self
determining mean but that a man must necessarily act
in accordance with the laws of his own nature? A
selfish man acts selfishly and takes the consequences,
and he could not do otherwise in either case, whether
his actions were free or necessary. Fire burns and
water drowns whether we get into them voluntarily or
by accident. Self-determining in this sense applies to
everything organic or inorganic,—everything acts in
.accordance with the laws of its own nature, from an
atom to a monad, and from a monad to God. It is the
power to do this without external constraint that con
stitutes freedom, and it is this experience, organized in
the long ages, that is the source of the instinct or intui
tion that is generally stronger than reason, even in the
best informed. I know that my will is free ; I feel that
I can do as I please, that is the language of intuition but
it is not the less an illusion and delusion. What we
please to do depends upon persistent force passing through
•our organization, the strongest force or feeling always
prevailing, or governing the will. It is our conscious
ness that deceives us in this case, as in so many others,
from it insufficiency ; the fact being that this governing
power or force, does not appear in consciousness, but
only‘its correlation. “Human liberty, of which all
boast,” says Spinoza, “ consists solely in this, that man
is conscious of his will, and unconscious of the causes by
which it is determined.” “ Arrest one of the viscera,
■ and the vital actions quickly cease; prevent a limb
from moving, and the ability to meet surrounding
circumstances is seriously interfered with; destroy a
�36
Illusion and Delusion.
sense organ, paralyze a perceptive power, derange the
reason, and there comes more or less failure in that
adjustment of conduct to circumstances by which life
is preserved.” * It is of such kind of impediments to
free action only of which man is conscious, and it is this
power of adjustment of conduct to circumstances that
constitutes his freedom, and this is a freedom that can
be exercised only in accordance with natural law.
There can be no mental science or social science, or
indeed “ science ” at all where these principles are not
admitted; and the sooner this dire chimera of man’s
freedom of will, which has caused and still causes so
much suffering, is banished the better. The science of
man must be placed on the same foundation as all the
other sciences, and not left to chance as this freedom
implies ; on the contrary we shall take care that the
will is never free but always under the governance of
the cultivated intellect and highest feeling. We shall
then begin to discover that the laws which regulate
men’s birth are quite as important as those by which we
improve our horses, short-horns, sheep, and dogs ; and
our inquiries will be directed, not so much as to where
he is going to, as to where he comes from. Our .gaols
will undergo the change, that, with much labour, we
have effected in our Lunatic Asylums^ and we shall
learn that civilization does not consist in the increase of
wealth, but in the increase of brain, upon which all
thought and feeling depend. When Morality becomes
a Science we shall cultivate brain, as its special organ
ization and harmonious development are essential to
warmth of sentiment, to the sense of the beautiful, and
to religious emotion ; and education in the future will
consist in the developing and perfecting of all the
faculties which make a complete man. Tf the organ-ization is deficient or defective, we can no more feel the
higher emotions than wre can see without eyes. To*•
*• Principles of Psychology, vol. 2, p. 627, by Herbert Spencer-
�Illusion and Delusion.
37
-ensure this development of a healthy and well-formed
brain, “ preaching ” goes but a very little way ; it must
be placed in conditions favourable to its healthy growth.
The increase of wealth is essential, as we cannot engraft
virtue on physical misery, and we must be happy
ourselves to wish to make others happy. As I have
said elsewhere (Education of the Feelings'), 11 To grow
the organization upon which moral action habitually
depends is the work of time, and we must be content
' to wait.”
We may pause here for a brief summary before we
enter a field of thought into which scientific men may
not feel equally disposed to follow me, and which,
with our limited knowledge, necessarily partakes of
much speculation.
Matter is known to us only from its capacity of
creating within us certain sensations which we call
ideas and feelings. “ The conception we have of matter,”
says Herbert Spencer, “ is one which unites independ
ence, permanence, and force.”
Mind is the aggregate of these ideas and feelings,
their character or speciality depending upon the brain.
The World, therefore, is created within us, and
although there is something without us, the world, as
we conceive of it, exists only in our conception. But
although the world is the world of our ideas, and exists
only in thought, it is not the less worthy or wonderful
on that account. It is our wmrld.
The Soul is the force or active power which causes
these ideas, or creates this world ; and more, this force,
■or that which it is the force of, is the stuff out of
which this world is made.
The Will is the subject of “law” like everything
else.
Morality regulates the laws of man’s well-being,
and as it is the “ law ” of his nature to seek his well
being, the interests of morality are sufficiently assured,
whatever may be his opinions on the subject.
�38
Illusion and Delusion.
The Body consists of forces of nature individualized
and acting together for a special purpose. Their action
depends upon the nice balance established between
external and internal relations. It has taken ages tobring together and establish this relationship, and it
is the unity of these powers and their united action
that constitutes the Identity or the Ego. The forces
which compose the body are all capable of acting
separately and are indestructible, but when this unity
of body is destroyed, whether the identity is destroyed
with it, is a question I leave every one to answer for
himself, as it is usually made a question of feeling and
not of reasoning.
Thus Matter, Mind, the World, the Will, in thecommon conception, are illusions, and to many delusions.
What is the Reality underlying them? For myself,
I believe in what natural philosophers call Pre
existent and Persistent Force and its Correlates, and
which to me is the Supreme and Universal Spirit and itsmanifestations. All the phenomena in the universe
consist but in changes of form or transformation of
energy. Matter wrhen closely examined resolves itself
into centres of force, and mind is force or energy,
representing a concentration of all the forces. All
forces readily pass from one into the other, according
to the structure through which they pass. We have
a right, therefore, to infer that there is but one force.
And what is this ? As there cannot be motion without
something moved, so force or power must be the force
of something; and that something to me is the Great
Unknown, its modes of action or manifestations alone
are known to us. But as everything shows the unity
of force, and as all force or power tends to a given
purpose or design, that force must be intelligent, and,
if intelligent, conscious, and the conscious action of
power is will. All power, therefore, is will power,,
and as W. R. Grove, says, “ Causation is the will,
creation the act of God.” The will which originally
�Illusion and Delusion.
39
required a distinct conscious volition has passed, in the
ages, into the unconscious or automatic, constituting
the fixed laws and order of nature.
Here Materialism and Absolute Idealism meet.
Physical force is automatic mind, and this uncon
scious force passing through the brain and subjected
to its molecular action resumes its consciousness consti
tuting that succession of “forms of thought ” and feeling
which man calls his mind. Thus our bodies :—
‘ ‘ Are but organic harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o’er them sweeps,
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the soul of each, and God of all.”
Coleridge.
Giordano Bruno taught that “Nature is but a
shadow, a phantom, the mirror in which the Infinite
images himself. The basis of all things is mind, not
matter. It is mind that pervades all. We ourselves
are mind, and what we meet in creation is a corre
sponding mind. Creation does not present mere
traces or footprints of the Deity, but the Deity him
self in his own presence.” For this belief in the 13th
century he was burnt. The world is wiser now, for
there are many who believe with St. Paul “ that God is
all in all,—that of him and through him, and unto him
are all things.” That God is the universe, and the
universe is God; and that, in no poetical, but in a
truly literal sense, “ In him we live and move and
have our being.” “ It is true there are diversities of
operation, but the same God worketh all in all.”
“ God is everything or nothing.” * “ But nature,
which is the time-vesture of God, and reveals him to
the wise, hides him from the foolish.”^
It is as difficult for most people to accept this conclu
sion as it is to believe that the world does not exist
outside of them as it appears to them to do. God the
Victor Cousin.
t T. Carlyle.
�40
Illusion and Delusion.
author of all things is accepted only in theory and in
a very limited and secondary sense, for what then
becomes of sin and evil if it were so, is he the author
of them? The answer is, good and evil are purely
subjective—relative pains and pleasures, the creation
of our own minds; beyond is only good. What we
call the soul’s highest and sweetest emotions are parts
only of the great whole that equally includes the
little, the low, the poor and the helpless, and what to
us are the worthless and the bad.
This Pantheism is as old as the world, the highest
minds in very early ages have attained to it. “ The
earliest known origin,” says E. W. Newman, “ of
Pantheism was in India; where it was taught that
the eternal infinite Being creates by self-evolution,
whereby he becomes, and is, all existence ; that he
alternately expands, and as it were, contracts himself,
reabsorbing into himself the things created. Thus the
universe, matter, and its laws, are all modes of divine
existence. Each living thing is a part of God, each
soul is a drop out of the divine ocean; and, as Virgil
has it, the soul of a bee is a ‘ divinse particula aura?.’ ”
The question is, has modern thought or science added
any thing that helps to make the conception clearer?
I think it has, in the knowledge we now have of the
existence of persistent intelligent force and its unity.
But as we cannot know things in themselves, we can
only judge by analogy, or show how one thing resem
bles another. The human body is a perfect cosmos,
an epitome of the action of the forces of the whole
world. Every action of the body—the heart, the
liver, the lungs, &c.,—that is now performed uncon
sciously or automatically were originally performed vol
untarily ; the spinal cord, on its first appearance, in the
lower animal scale, governed the body consciously and
intelligently, as the brain does at present; it now
governs the body intelligently, Dt not consciously,
u
*
and it does its work quite as well. This is a most
�Illusion and Delusion,
4i
important distinction, as it seems to be universal.
Mind itself may perhaps be truly said to be inseparable
from consciousness, but it acts equally well uncon
sciously, and we have the action of “unconscious
intelligence.” We can only know things through
their manifestations, and this appears to be the nature
of mind. A conscious mental act frequently volun
tarily performed, passes with such frequent repetition
into the involuntary or automatic state, where the
same action is performed equally well unconsciously.
This it appears to do by the aid of structure (whatever
that is in itself) and as far as we know, mind is never
separated from structure or body. That
“ All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul,”
is probably as true as it is poetical. “Thought and
extension,” says Spinoza, “are the internal and external
elements of Being.” In speaking of mind, therefore, we
must regard it, in its modes of manifestation at least,
as both conscious and automatic. Continuing then the
analogy between ourselves and the universe; as many of
the functions of the body are now performed, uncon
sciously but intelligently, and as many of our originally
voluntary acts during our lifetime, such as walking,
talking, &c., have passed into the automatic, so in the
world without the Laws of Nature appear to act
intelligently but unconsciously. All power is Will
power, but the will which originally required a distinct
conscious volition has passed, in the ages, into the
unconscious or automatic, thus constituting the
fixed laws and order of nature. If this view be
accepted the bridge over the gap between nerve
elements and consciousness has been discovered; the
gulf hitherto supposed to exist between matter and
mind is filled up, and such questions as,—Can mere
matter think ? How can mere physical force pass into
consciousness? In the world is mind developed first
�42
Illusion and Delusion.
or last? &c., are answered, and all we have to explain
are the conditions under which automatic mind or
unconscious intelligence resumes its consciousness.
Again, as our body has a centre of volition and intelli
gence so may the universe have. Our earth moves
round the sun, and all power comes to us from thence ;
but the sun moves round some other centre, and that
probably round another, until we approach the great
centre of all, where possibly God’s power may be more
directly exercised, and he may consciously govern all;
here, in the extremities, much of it seems to have passed
into the automatic. And here, as regards this centre,
we have another analogy most important. As the
world to us is the world only of our ideas, so the
universe may exist only in the mind of God. We
know nothing but consciousness, space is a mere mode
or form of thought, and if there is nothing but mind,,
things without ourselves must be very different indeed
As Bishop
to what we intuitively regard them.
Berkeley says, “All permanent existence is in the
Divine Mind,” and, as Hegel considers he has demon
strated, the essence of the world and all things in it is
thought, and Schopenhauer also holds that Will alone
is the dinge an sich, the essence of the world.
What then are we ? Schelling, like Spinoza and our
greatest thinkers, allow only a phenomenal existence
to the object and subject, admitting only one reality,
the Absolute. The individual ego is phenomenal, the
universal ego only is noumenal. This may be made
intelligible by the kaleidoscope : with each turn we
have a different form, this form is the phenomenon, and
passes away, that of which it was composed is the
noumenon, and is persistent. The world is a great
kaleidoscope, 'it is ever on the turn, producing its
infinitely varied forms in ever-increasing brilliancy and
beauty, and ever-increasing pleasurable sensibility.
That which persists or exists is not these forms but
that which is the nexus, or which underlies these ever
�Illusion and Delusion.
43
varying appearances. Thus “There is no death in the
concrete, what passes away passes away into its own self,
only the passing away passes away.”* We continue for
ever to exist as part of the Great Whole, in never-ending
changes of form. The sun sets in all his splendour, it is
equally beautiful on the following day, although the
splendour is not the same; the song of the lark each
returning spring is quite as sweet, although no one asks
or cares if it is the same lark; the night comes to us,
and a new day rises to some new comer, with no loss
of enjoyment, but only increased freshness. Is this for
us an ignoble position ?
Are we so perfect, any
of us, that we would for ever remain as we are?
Is the recollection of our present grub state so
very desirable? We are immortal, for we are part
of God himself, do we wish always to remain in
the childhood of our present individual existence ? To
be thus for ever fellow-workers with God is surely
honourable, by whatever names we may be called.
Through the countless ages, one universal plan prevails
for the elaboration and organisation of a nervous system,
by which unconscious mind shall again become conscious
in all the varied forms of animal life. Each creature has
its own world created in its own head, specially fitting
it to take its appointed place at the common feast.
And here we have the last and most striking analogy
of the human body to the great cosmos. As each of
the countless cells in the human body has a separate
life, and yet constituting the fife of the whole, making
one body, so the aggregate of individual creatures
makes one great nervous system, every beat or change
in which produces intense enjoyment, so great, indeed,
that the necessary pain which we call evil disappearsand is lost.
* Hegel.
TURNBULL AND SUIJARS, I'RtNTKKS, EDINBURGH
�
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Illusion and delusion; or, modern pantheism versus spiritualism
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Bray, Charles
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Thomas Scott
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[1873]
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Pantheism
Spiritualism
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Spiritualism
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Text
THE SPIRIT WORLD1
By^the BishopSof Salford
I
The Church of Christ—established by her Divine
Founder for the purpose of teaching mankind those
truths in both the intellectual and the moral order
which are to lead them to the fulfilment of the end
for which they were created and to their eternal
happiness hereafter—has never ceased on the one
hand to propound full and satisfying systems of truth
on all questions concerning man’s relation to his
Maker and all that affects his own destiny; and on
the other to reprobate and condemn 'those many
false systems, religious, ethical, or social, which have
arisen in all ages from the very days of the Apostles
to our own. Many of these systems have contained,
indeed, a certain admixture of truths, or at least half
truths, which have rendered them the more insidious
and the more dangerous, as even earnest believers
may be the more easily led away into false systems
by the elements of good which appear therein, so
that they may deceive, as Christ warned us, “ even the
Elect.”2
Not unfrequently systems of this character have
been denominated by names ending in “ ism,” and
there are cases where such an ending, attached to a
term which in itself may be unobjectionable; acts as a
kind of danger signal that the complex of teachings
1 A Pastoral Letter, 1912.
2 Mark xiii. 22.
�2
The Spirit World
which it involves may contain errors of a dangerous and
a pernicious character. Thus whilst the Church may
approve and even maintain certain of the teachings
appropriated by such systems; yet. as she is bound
by her very nature to condemn the errors which are
mixed up with them, so is it her duty to reprobate
these systems as a whole and to warn her children
from attaching themselves to them and becoming
disciples or partisans of the schools which teach
them.
Modern Errors
A few recent examples will make our meaning
clear. It is well known to all, that within recent
years our present Holy Father, Pope Pius X., has
condemned with no uncertain voice and with
Apostolic severity that religious system known as
“Modernism.” Now, we are fully aware that so far
from reprobating or discouraging modern progress of
any kind, whether intellectual, political, or social, the
Church in all ages has blessed and fostered all true
progress and development. Thus she took under her
fostering wing the advancement of literature and the
fine arts in the Middle Ages. The theological and
philosophical syntheses of Thomas Aquinas, so novel
to his contemporaries1; the mighty creations of
Dante, of Raphael, and Michelangelo; the heroic
discoveries of Christopher Columbus, received the
fulness of her patronage and blessing. Similarly, at
the close of the Middle Ages, the Church fostered and
encouraged the then modern revival of ancient
classical learning, known as the Renascence, whilst at
the same time severely condemning and checking the
1 “To his contemporaries the novelty of his work was its character
istic. His first early biographer, William de Tocco, speaks of his
‘new and clear method of deciding questions’; of his ‘new
opinions,’ ‘new projects,’ ‘new ideas.’”—W. Ward, Life of Cardinal
Newman, vol. i. p. 435.
�The Spirit World
3
pernicious neopaganism, the outcome of the excess to
which that revival led, and which vitiated so much of
its action on the mind and morals of Europe.1 Yet
more strikingly did she hail that art, so thoroughly
Catholic in its inception, the art of printing, whose
earliest beginnings she blessed and even enriched
with copious indulgences.2 In our own days, she has
incorporated into her Ritual special blessings for
such modern inventions as the railway, textile
machinery, the telegraph, the motor, and even
the aeroplane. Thus the Church bestows her
approval and benediction on all that is good and
useful in modern progress and enlightenment, whilst
she condemns—-as she is obliged to do—those
dangerous philosophical and theological errors which
have been mixed up with so much of modern
criticism and methods, and are collectively known
under the title of “ Modernism.” It is not, therefore,
what is “ modern ” as such that falls under her ban,
but what is “ modernistic.”
The system known as “ Socialism ” is another
example of what we mean. So far from the Church
being opposed to social reform, it is she who from
her beginning has been the pioneer in all the social
improvements of mankind’s lot. The very adjective
“social” implies “society,” and society itself, as
indicating the brotherhood of mankind under the
fatherhood of God and the equality before God of
all men, “whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or
free,” 3 is the direct creation of the teachings of our
Lord and His Apostles, and most conspicuously of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul.4 The first
result of this entire revolution in the conception of
mankind was the gradual but sure extinction of
ancient slavery and of later serfdom, brought about
1 See Pastor, History of the Popes.
2 See The Catholic Church and the Printing Press, C.T. S., Jd.
3 i Cor. xii. 13.
4 See his Epistle to Philemon.
*
�4
7'he Spirit World
by the constant pressure of the Church, and especially
of the Holy See, from the days of the Apostles to the
final emancipation of the slaves of Brazil during the
reign and at the solicitation of Leo XIII. The
mention of the name of this great Pontiff cannot but
recall those magnificent Encyclicals1 on the rights of
labour, on the conditions of the working classes, and
on all the burning social questions of the day, forming
a perfect and coherent code of sound teaching, based
upon the principles of Christian doctrine, which will
be found eventually to supply the only true and real
basis for a constructive sociology capable of obviating
and curing the manifold evils and miseries of present
social conditions. But that system which has arro
gated to itself the title of “ Socialism,” based as it is
on principles quite other than those of Christ and His
Church—having for its final goal exclusively man’s
temporal instead of his eternal welfare, and thus
radically subordinating what is primary to what is
secondary—is as such condemned by the Church,
even whilst it advocates a number of practical reforms
which merit her approval and blessing. And the
Church’s wisdom in this discrimination is, alas, only
too emphatically proved by the sad fact, to which
our parochial clergy bear abundant witness, that
our young men, especially among the working classes,
who are beguiled into joining the Socialistic ranks,
invariably end by abandoning the Church and even
giving up Christianity. Here, again, the Church
disapproves not of what is “ social,” but of what is
“ socialistic.”
Spiritualism
The third case to which we would refer, and con
cerning which we shall speak at more length, is the
movement known as “Spiritualism” or “Spiritism.”
The Catholic Church at all times is chiefly concerned
1 See The Pope and the People, C.T.S.
�The Spirit World
5
with the spiritual side of man and his destiny, with
the future life beyond the grave, and with the
existence and operation of spiritual beings, whether
good or bad. Hence we might justly say that the
Catholic Church beyond all other religious systems
is a “Spiritualist” organization. But, as in the case
of Modernism and Socialism, an otherwise unobjec
tionable or even desirable epithet has been appro
priated by an entirely different and even hostile
system of teaching and practice, which is nowadays
familiar to everybody under the above-quoted titles.
The history of this remarkable movement is in
teresting. The scepticism engendered by the French
philosophers and encyclopaedists at the close of the
eighteenth century, followed by the hasty generaliza
tions and arrogant assertions of so many students of
physical science in the early part of the nineteenth,
led to the growth and wide diffusion of what is known
as “ Materialism,” which long held sway in both scien
tific and popular literature, as well as in many of
the universities. Because the anatomist and ' the
biologist in dissecting the animal body, or in studyi°g germs beneath the microscope, were unable to
find any trace of an immaterial or spiritual sub
stance ; because the astronomer, the physicist, and
the chemist, in investigating the regions of space or
analysing matter into its component elements, found
no trace of anything outside of matter to respond
to their tests ; because the philosopher, the historian,
the economist considered that the whole story of the
evolution of the universe allowed no place for the
action , of a spiritual First Cause or the agency of
subordinate and secondary spiritual beings; so the
existence of human souls, of pure spiritual beings,
of a God as the Supreme Spirit, were either roundly
denied, or at best declared to be, in the “ Agnostic ”
teaching, unknown and unknowable. There was a
time when Materialism seemed to threaten to absorb
�6
The Spirit World
the world of science and thought. But the reaction
inevitably came. Pure Materialism is so essentially
contrary to the profoundest instincts of the human
race and to the most venerable and persistent tradi
tional beliefs of every age and race, that the convic
tion of the existence and power of spiritual agencies
forced its way back into men’s minds. An old Latin
poet declared, in the form of a homely proverb, “ You
may drive out nature with a pitchfork, but she will
always return.”1 And so human nature reasserted
its innate and traditional belief in the supersensible
or spiritual by a strong and even violent reaction.
For as all reactions are apt to be violent and to
swing to extremes, so have we experienced of late
years an anti-materialist reaction in the form of an
elaborate and extravagant Spiritualism, permeating
all classes and exercising an ever-growing and, as we
believe, pernicious influence. It is not certain indi
vidual truths, which Spiritualism teaches quite in
accordance with Christian doctrine—such as the
existence of the human soul, its life after death, the
agency of disembodied spirits, the possibility of their
communicating with us—but, as in the cases of
.Modernism and Socialism, the system as a whole,
with all its concomitant errors and abuses, that the
Catholic Church reprobates. Once again we may
say the Church disapproves, not what is “ spiritual,”
but what is “spiritualistic.” And again it must be
plainly stated that Catholics who give themselves up
to spiritualistic beliefs and practices invariably make
shipwreck of their faith, unless they are happily rescued
in time and taught to see the danger of their position.
There is the less excuse for Catholics falling into
the power of Spiritism, inasmuch as the teachings
of their own faith supply them with the most perfect,
the most complete, the most logical, and the most
satisfying system of doctrine with reference to the
1 “ Naturam expellas furca tamen usque recurret.”—Horace.
�The Spirit World
7
world of Spirit and all that it implies in itself and in
its relation to man’s life and destiny.
II
The Teaching
of the
Church
What then is the Catholic doctrine on these
momentous topics? We shall endeavour as briefly
as possible to set forth this teaching.
God the Supreme Being, existing of Himself and
necessarily existing from all eternity, Himself pure
and absolute Spirit, is by His own infinite power and
freewill the Creator of all that exists, whether spiritual
or material. His creation is thus of a double nature,
the one consisting of the material universe, vast
beyond human conception in its magnitude and
extent, the other essentially and purely spiritual.
The Doctors of the Church teach that this spiritual
creation, although strictly speaking it has no direct
relation to space, is of itself immeasurably greater, of
more excellent nature and powers, more wonderful
and more splendid than the whole material universe,
as well as prior to it by creation. The first and
principal portion of this vast. creation consists of
those highly gifted spiritual beings, endowed with
pre-eminent attributes of intelligence and free will,
whom we designate by the generic term of the
Angels, of whom God says in the Book of Job, “The
morning stars praise Me together, and all the sons of
God make a joyful melody.”1 These so highlyendowed pure spirits were destined for a supernatural
end of eternal happiness, but this they had to merit
by the action of their free will; thus, though their
nature was by God endowed with grace from the
beginning, still they had to undergo a form of pro
bation, the nature of which has not been made known
to us, although the Fathers and theologians of the
1 Job xxxiii. 7.
�8
The Spirit World
Church have speculated much on the subject. What
is certain is that a large proportion of those spirits,
under the leadership of one, the most highly endowed
and the most resplendent of all, by an abuse of their
free will and a refusal to obey Almighty God, fell
away from their primitive state of grace, became
reprobate, and were cast by the terrible judgement of
their Creator into eternal punishment. “ God spared
not the angels that sinned, but delivered them ....
to the lower hell unto torments.”1 “ And the angels
who kept not their principality but forsook their
own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in
everlasting chains.”2 And our Lord Himself tells us
of the “ everlasting fire which was prepared for the
devil and his angels.”3 Thus, henceforth there exist
two vast opposing armies of spiritual beings, respec
tively the servants and the enemies of God, actively
engaged in mutual opposition and hostility.
But this does not exhaust the spirit world. There
is a wondrous creature of God, who stands midway
between the spiritual world and the material world.
This creature is Man. Man is most justly defined as
a spirit or soul endowed with a material body ; and
the complete man consists of the two in intimate and
necessary union. By his soul man belongs to the
spirit world, and like the spirits is endowed with the
supreme gifts of intelligence and free will. By his
body man belongs to the material world, of which his
frame forms a portion physically, chemically, and
biologically. At the very moment of his conception,
man’s soul is created by God, and joined in the
mysterious union with the material germ that is to
evolve into his body; and this union is so intimate
and so necessary that it is destined to subsist for
eternity. Nevertheless, by a wonderful disposition of
Divine Providence there is in the life history of each
human being an epoch during which the spirit and
1 2 Peter ii. 4.
2 Jude 6.
3 Matthew xxv. 41.
�The Spirit World
9
the flesh are temporarily disunited ; and whilst the
one goes on living apart, the other is, perhaps for
cycles of time, resolved into its component material
elements. This epoch is the space which extends
from the moment of the man’s death on earth to the
last Judgement Day. During this space, which may,
indeed, subsist for aeons of time, but which neverthe
less must come to an end, the disembodied soul
subsists in one of three states—either united to God
in the eternal felicity of heaven, or suffering in the
eternal prison of hell, or detained for a time in the
temporary place of banishment called purgatory, but
in this latter case infallibly destined after a certain
lapse of time to pass on through the gates of heaven.
At the great Accounting Day this temporary and, so
to speak, unnatural state of separation will in all cases
come to an end, and disembodied spirits will once
again resume for eternity their bodily or material
parts.
The Activity
of
Spirits
Such is a conspectus of the Christian teaching
regarding the existence of immaterial beings, or
spirits, of all orders. But the Church teaches us, not
only of their existence, but also of their manifold
activities, and of their practical relations to and inter
course with ourselves during our mortal lives. In
the first place, there is no doubt that Almighty God
makes use of the vast hosts of those blessed and
happy spirits who share the felicity of heaven as His
agents and messengers in the government of creation.
Hence they are properly called “ Angels,” a Greek
word signifying “messengers”; hence the Psalmist
Says “ Who maketh His Angels spirits.”1 Some of the
Fathers, indeed, hold that God makes use of the agency
of His Angels even in the physical ordering of the
powers of nature and the phenomena of the physical
1 Psalm ciii, 4.
�io
The Spirit World
world.1 Be this as it may, we know from Holy Scripture
how greatly God uses the ministry of these spirits in
His dealings with mankind.2 The Angel who kept
our first parents out of Paradise,3 the Angels who at
different times appeared to Abraham,4 to Jacob;5
Gabriel in the history of Daniel,6 Raphael in that
of Tobias, are all familiar instances in the Old
Testament; whilst the New, from the Annunciation
of Gabriel to Mary to the delivery of Peter by an
Angel, is full of examples of angelic intervention.
Over and above this the Church teaches the beautiful
and consoling doctrine of our Guardian Angels ; that
is to say, that every individual human soul that is
born into the world, has assigned to it by God one of
His angelic spirits, charged to watch over and
protect it from both spiritual and material evils and
aid it on its way to salvation. “ He hath given His
Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy
ways.”7 The task of the Angels is also represented
as that of carrying up our prayers before the throne
of God; and the whole of this angelic activity
between God and man is symbolically represented by
Jacob’s wonderful vision of the ladder between heaven
and earth : “ the Angels of God ascending and
descending by it.”8
On the other hand, there is no doubt that, according
to the mystery of God’s Providence, the lost spirits,
Lucifer and his host of fallen angels, whom we call
the devils or demons, are allowed to exercise no incon
siderable influence in the creation—perhaps, according
to some of the Fathers, even over phenomena of nature,
1 “ Omnia corporalia reguntur per Angelos.” S. Augustin., iii. de
Trinitate, c. 4 (quoted by S. Th. Aq., I. q. no, a. I. o.).
2 “Sunt igitur Angeli universales executores divinse providential”
S. Th. Aq., op. xiv., de Szibstantiis separatism c. 14.
3 Gen. iii. 24.
4 Gen. xix., xxii.
5 Gen. xxviii.
6 Daniel viii., ix.
7 Psalm xc. n.
8 Gen. xxviii. 12. On the whole of this subject, see Lanzoni, Gli
Angeli nelle Divine Scritture, Torino, 1891.
�The Spirit World
11
but certainly in the spiritual, and sometimes even
the physical, life of men.1 Part of our probation in
this life consists in the suggestions and temptations to
sin which these evil spirits are allowed to make
directly or indirectly to our mind and will. “ Our
wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but . . .
against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.”2
Nay, we know, from both the history of the New
Testament and the lives of the Saints in all ages, that
God sometimes allows these terrible spirits even
physically to attack and persecute man’s body. No
more awful phenomena are recorded than those cases
of possession or obsession which are familiar in the
New Testament, and have been known in every age
of the Church even to our own days. For, although
modern science may be able to explain by physical
and psychological forces many cases that our fore
fathers recorded as preternatural, still it must be
admitted that there is a residuum, even in modern
times, of phenomena which can only be regarded as
diabolical in origin.
This teaching has been unchanging in the tradition
of the Church from the Gospel narrative of the
temptation of Christ our Lord in the wilderness by
Satan even down to the well-authenticated cases of
the attacks of the evil spirits on the Blesssed Cure
of Ars in our own days. And although we believe
that since the death of Christ “ the old serpent, which
is the devil” has been bound 3—that is to say that
his power, both spiritual and physical, is very greatly
limited — nevertheless the Church has always held
that he and his wicked hosts exercise a very dreadful
degree of pernicious power, and that more especially
in pagan lands and where the influence of the Church
is less powerful.
1 “ Immissiones per cmgelos malos,” Psalm lxxvii. 49.
2 Eph, vi. 12.
s Apoc. xx. 2.
�The Spirit World
12
Mankind
and the
World of Spirits
Turning now from the activities of these vast
kingdoms of spirits, good and evil, we may ask what
are our relations with that other great and evergrowing multitude of disembodied spirits—that is to
say, the souls of all those who have departed this life,
whether in grace or in sin. Concerning these, the
Church teaches us that God allows the blessed souls
in heaven to know what passes on earth, and to be
interested in the fate of those living. And this is
not a mere benevolent interest, but one of immense
utility and practical value, inasmuch as charity leads
them to be our earnest and unwearying advocates
with the Divine Majesty, so that their prayers are
continually pleading for both our temporal and
spiritual welfare, particularly of those amongst us
who are bound to them by the ties of kinship or
devotion.
Likewise the holy souls, who are
temporarily detained in purgatory most probably are
similarly endowed with this knowledge of what passes
here below, and with the vicissitudes of their fellow
creatures, and more particularly of their kinsfolk and
friends ; and though these souls can no longer pray
or merit for themselves, it is held by great theologians
that they are allowed to exercise some degree of
intercession on our behalf.
The manifold good offices which living men are
constantly receiving from the world of. holy spirits,
whether the angelic hosts or the disembodied spirits
of the just, require from us in return corresponding
offices.
Towards the holy Angels and the Saints and Blessed
in heaven, we have a tribute to pay of homage,
veneration, and devotion, expressed either in the
public liturgy of the Church, so much of which is
occupied by praise and prayers addressed to them, or
by our own individual prayers and devotions. By
�The Spirit World
i3
these means the accidental glory of all the blessed
inhabitants of heaven is greatly increased, whilst the
Church and her individual members receive in return
a great accretion of help and patronage.
Towards the souls in purgatory our position is
reversed, and we living here on earth are, by God’s
generous mercy, allowed very greatly to assist them
and to shorten the weary time of their purgation by
offering up for them our prayers and good works of
every kind. In this great work of charity the blessed
spirits in heaven are also engaged. And thus it is that,
by these mutual offices, the whole of God’s kingdom
is for ever vivified by a golden stream of divine
charity which permeates every part:
“ For so the whole round world is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”1
The constant communion between the spirit world
and mankind, above described at some length, is
normally a purely spiritual or intellectual, i.e. a non
material one. Yet there are undoubtedly rare cases
where God allows spiritual beings, whether good or
bad, to make their presence known and even to
communicate with living men by impressions on the
senses of sight, hearing, or touch. Such phenomena,
when spirits thus communicate in some sensible form,
assuming even bodily appearances, are called
“ apparitions.” Not, indeed, that these spirits,
whether angelic or human, do assume real material
bodies, but, by some process which we cannot under
stand, they are allowed temporarily to exercise some
influence on our senses as if they were really embodied
material beings. The Holy Scriptures, the history of
the Church, and the lives of the Saints are full of
instances of these extraordinary phenomena, which
Gods sees fit to allow either for the consolation and
direction, or for the warning and correction, of His
1 Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
�14
The Spirit World
children. They are phenomena which men must
humbly endure for their spiritual good, but which we
must not desire or seek for, according to our own will
and judgement. Such a practice was reprobated in
the Old Testament in the case of Saul and his
evocation of the spirit of Samuel.1 And it is as
unlawful now as it was in the days of Saul.
Ill
The Pernicious Element of Spiritism
Now the essential and most pernicious element of
modern Spiritism is precisely this unlawful trafficking
with, or seeking to traffic with, spirits, whether good or
bad, whether human, angelic, or diabolical in their
nature. It is begotten of a morbid and fearfully
dangerous curiosity, like that of our first parents, to
know those hidden things which God does not see fit
to make known to us, and therefore to seek such
knowledge is to act contrary to and to sin against the
Divine Will. The Church in all ages has sternly
reprobated and forbidden all such unlawful commerce
with the unseen world, and has reckoned it as a grave
form of that sin which is known as superstition.
But it is not only the sinfulness of these practices
that makes them to deserve the warnings and con
demnation of Holy Church. There is no doubt that
the pursuit of spiritistic practices has a deplorable
effect upon the minds and even the bodies of its
votaries. The most appalling of these effects is the
weakening of the will power. This weakening is pro
gressive and alarmingly inevitable in its developments.
Like the taste for alcohol, but in a still more fatal
manner, it gradually grows in the soul until it absorbs
the energies of the free will and reduces its victim to
almost hopeless helplessness. Now, the loss of the
1 I Kings xxviii.
�The Spirit World
i5
free will, by which man has to co-operate in his
eternal salvation, is the greatest loss that can befall
a rational being. It leads to a slavery of the worst
kind and too often ends in the loss of mental control,
in other words in lunacy and despair. Not theo
logians only, but many experienced scientific and
medical authorities are agreed upon these sad facts.
Lest this should seem an exaggerated estimate,
listen to this pathetic outcry of a distressed soul—
one whose personality is well known to several—in a
letter in the columns of a Catholic newspaper only a
few months ago :—
“ I am a trance medium, and I might say an un
willing clairvoyante. Of course, I know Holy Church
forbids all such dangerous and pernicious practices ;
but from actual 'experience I find that the Church
does not fully appreciate their gravity. In my own
case I constantly receive absolution. But how can
I get away from the deadly fascinations of spirit
dealing, which is, as I have proved for myself, nothing
less than direct communication with the devil ? I
know and also feel the inevitable result—a lunatic
asylum. Could others only take warning ! could they
only for one frightful moment see the horrors which
it has fallen to my lot to view whilst in the trance
state! It is too ludicrous for words to imagine for a
moment that departed (passed-over) spirits reappear
at seances; yet many are willing to credit this.
Could they but realize in what close proximity they
are in reality to ‘ the prince of the powers of dark
ness,’ viz. Satan, they would in dread and horror turn
and fly before the magic powers of fascination had
succeeded in weaving that most deadly of all spells.
I have had many and varied experiences that would
take me many hours to relate; but this one thing I
must say, that for those who allow themselves to be
influenced by what they please to term departed
spirits, and who persist, in spite of the warning of
�16
The Spirit World
conscience, etc., there is but one end—damnation.
I know and feel this even at this moment; but what
hope is there now ? It is too late.”1
And in introducing the writer to the press, the
well-known authority on Spiritism, Mr. Godfrey
Raupert, writes:—
“ Although it is typical of the kind of letters which
I am constantly receiving, it puts the matter in an
exceptionally direct and uncompromising form. It
is difficult for me to describe the keen distress
which these letters cause to my mind, and how
deeply they make me realize my isolation and help
lessness in the face of this gigantic evil. It is of a
most subtle and pernicious character, and is not
merely threatening, but is steadily invading human
life, and is ruining countless souls. There is, alas !
abundant evidence that the Catholic sphere is being
increasingly affected. I am daily asking myself:
What is to be done? A letter such as this must
in any case free one from a charge of exaggera
tion, or of over-emphasizing the importance of a
subject of which one happens to have made a special
study.”
We are quite aware that a considerable part of
this modern Spiritism, with its mediums, seances, clair
voyance, evocation of spirits, etc., is demonstrably
made up of chicanery and fraud. But such an admix
ture of mere charlatanism does not preclude the
really preternatural, or even diabolical, character of
some of the phenomena of more advanced Spiritism.
And whatever explanation, whether natural or preter
natural, be given of such phenomena, there is no
doubt that the crucial evil, the specific danger, of
spiritualistic practices is the eventual subjection of
the will power to what is denominated “external
control,” be that control diabolical or merely human.
This control, this surrender of the keys of the free
1 The Tablet, 22nd July 1911.
�The Spirit World
if
will, is the true source of the frightful evils to which
Spiritualism inevitably leads.1
You may ask with some surprise why we should
have chosen such a subject as the present upon
which to address our flock in a Lenten Pastoral.
The reason is that it has been borne in upon us
by testimony from many sides that the pernicious
cult of Spiritism is spreading to an alarming extent
in all classes of the population, and even making
headway among Catholics. We have been credibly
informed that the evil is specially showing itself in
certain parts of our diocese, and that in North-East
Lancashire it is undoubtedly spreading among the
factory operatives, so many of whom belong to our
flock. It has thus appeared to us a solemn duty
to utter a timely and most serious warning against
the dangers, spiritual and even material, which the
adoption of spiritualistic beliefs and practices involves.
And this all the more so, because all the beginnings
are small and apparently harmless. A little dabbling,
perhaps for amusement, in some slight forms of
occultism, leads to deeper interest and an ever-grow
ing craving to know more and see more, until the
victim becomes a full adept and a slave of the cult,
like the writer of the pathetic letter quoted above.
We,-therefore, in the name of Almighty God and of
His Church, most earnestly warn, in the charity of
Jesus Christ, all members of our flock who shall hear
or read our words, to take heed and resist the seduc
tions of any and every form of Spiritism and super
stition of all kind, no matter how mild; and we
warmly exhort our Clergy both by public instruction
1 Full information on the dangers of Spiritism, which we can but
briefly summarize, is to be found in several recent Catholic writers,
e-f ,^auPert> Dangers of Spiritism (Kegan Paul & Co.), Modern
Spiritism (Sands & Co.), The Supreme Problem (Washbourne); F.
Lepicier, O.S.M., The Unseen World(Kegan Paul & Co.); Lapponi,
Hypnotism and Spiritism (Chapman & Hall); F. Miller, O.S.C.,
Sermons on Modern Spiritualism (Kegan Paul & Co.).
�The. Spirit World
and by guidance in the confessional, to preserve souls
committed to their care from these temptations, and
to endeavour to release such as may be already en
meshed in the evil influences.
“ Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of
battle ; be our safeguard against the wickedness and
snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly
pray : and do thou, Prince of the heavenly hosts, by
the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and
all wicked spirits who wander through the world
for the ruin of souls.” (Prayer of Leo XIII., said
after Mass.)
APPENDIX
The following is an extract from the report of a
theologian upon the Conference cases of the Diocese
of Salford, 1911-12, concerning Spiritism :—
“ Amongst a multitude of letters which have reached
me is one from a non-Catholic lady, telling me that
she, with a sister and two brothers, had had very
strange experiences, of which she sent me the record
she had made. I wish I could divulge the name,
because then it would be seen that the word of the
elder brother was unimpeachable. All I am allowed
to say is that this elder brother was a man who stood
in the first rank of English biologists.
“ These four determined to see whether they could
get communication with the spirits of the dead, as
they thought. In their own drawing-room, without
cabinet or medium, or lowering of lights, they com
menced operations, sitting round a table with their
hands upon it. At once there were signs of the
presence of spirits. To begin with the communica
tions were very trivial, but after a few sittings the
spirit declared that he was the spirit of Bellew.
Bellew, a c.onverted Anglican clergyman, was a great
�The Spirit World
19
friend of this family. They were pleased to think
that they were in communication with the spirit of
their old friend, and some questions were put and
answered. One evening the elder brother asked:
‘ Is your present religion similar in the main to that
which you accepted in this life ? ’ Answer: ‘Yes.’
‘ Are there any material differences between your
present religion and your past religion ? ’ Answer :
‘ Yes.’ ‘ Have you any reason to modify your views
with respect to the doctrine of atonement, which
during your earthly life you fully accepted?’ ‘Yes.’
‘To what extent? to complete negation?’ ‘Yes.’
‘ In that case I presume that you no longer believe
Christ to have been the Son of God in any special
sense?’ ‘No.’ ‘Nor that as the Messiah He was
and is the Saviour of mankind ? ’ ‘ No.’
“ These answers of the spirit perplexed and troubled
the sitters very much, for they were ardent believers
in the divinity of Christ, and in Christ as Saviour.
They began to doubt whether they were really com
municating with the spirit of Bellew, and earnestly
prayed to God that they might not be deceived by
lying spirits. A very extraordinary answer to their
prayer was displayed at the next seance. The spirit
speedily manifested his presence and seemed willing
to answer, but yet 1 like a chained animal seemed
unable to do anything.’ The younger brother was
ordered out of the room by the spirit, and he ‘went
into the country for an hour’s walk, all the time
requesting God to cause the truth to appear, and to
defend His people from deception.’ The elder brother
asked: ‘Why can you not communicate with us
to-night? Is there anything wrong on our side?’
‘No.’ ‘ Are you willing to communicate?’ ‘Yes.’
‘ Are you able to communicate ? ’ ‘ No.’ ‘ Are you
controlled?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘By whom? good spirits?’
‘Yes.’ ‘Then are you the spirit of Bellew?’ ‘No.’
‘Were you deceiving us last night and to-night?’
�20
The Spirit World
‘Yes.’ ‘ Why do you undeceive us now ? Is it because
you are compelled?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you retract all
you said about the doctrine of Christianity being
false?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What is the nature of. the control
you are under ? ’ (Answer) ‘ God defends you.’
‘ Then what are you—are you the spirit of a human
being?’ ‘No.’ ‘You were never in the body?’
‘No.’ ‘Then you are one of the Devil’s own?’
‘ Yes.’ ‘ Do the spirits of departed persons ever visit
this earth?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then all the spirits which have
communicated with all believers .in spiritism have
always been evil?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘ What motive have you
in communicating with human beings?’ ‘Hatred.’
‘Hatred of mankind?’ ‘No.’ ‘Hatred to God?’
‘ Yes.’ ‘ You mean us to understand that your hatred
to God leads you to wish to seduce mankind (whom
He loves) from faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ? ’ ‘ Yes.’
‘ In order that they may be ruined and lost? ’ 1 Yes.’
‘ Do the spirits of wicked men ever return to attempt
to deceive their brethren?’ ‘No, none are so bad.’
‘ That appalling depth of malice is reserved for Devils
only?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Now, we know you are a lying
spirit, will you communicate with us any more ? ’
‘No.’
“ From that day, though they made a few attempts,
these four never succeeded in establishing communica
tion. It is of interest to know that these questions of
the elder brother were put mentally, without sound or
sign being made. These quotations, from a long record,
are a strange confirmation of the Church’s teaching ;
and therefore I was tempted to put them forward.
This is by no means the only instance on record of
the evil spirit being compelled, greatly against his
own wish, to declare the truth of his own discom
fiture.” (Sjtz. Saif. xxxi. pp. 106, 107.)
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, LONDON.
N.—July 1912.
�
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The spirit world
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Casartelli, Louis Charles
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Spiritualism
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gbbenx Snrmg.
Had someone stood under the crystal dome of the first great Exhibition,
and foretold that in a quarter of a century after that inauguration of the
millennium of common sense, England would incur the denunciations of
the Hebrew prophets on a land of wizards and necromancers, and of
those who “ seek after familiar spirits,” how merrily should we have
laughed the absurd prediction to scorn ! Not much more attention
should we have paid to it even had we known that just three years before
(in 1848) Miss Kate Fox, of Hydesville, State of New York, at the mature
age of nine, had received monitions from the spirit world in the form of a
hail-storm of raps on the walls and floors of her abode. It seemed,
indeed, scarcely more likely that the juvenile “ medium” should open a
new dispensation for Europe and America, than that her contemporary little
visionaries (or naughty little impostors, as the case may be) of La Salette
should send half France on pious pilgrimage to the spot where they saw,
or did not see, the Virgin. The lesson that great events may spring from
small causes, and that the foolish things of the world not seldom confound
the wise, is, however, by no means a new one for mankind, and we have
now very plainly to reckon with Spiritualism as one of the prominent
facts of the age. We will not take upon ourselves to guess how many
disciples it may boast in America before these sheets pass to the press ;
a few millions, more or less, seem to count for little in the statements of its
triumphant advocates ; but here, in England, there are evidences enough
of its flourishing condition. In nearly every company may be met at least
one lady or gentleman who looks grave and uncomfortable when the
subject is treated with levity ; confesses to a conviction that there is
“ something in it; ” and challenges disproof of miracles which she or he
has actually beheld, heard, and handled. Not seldom are to be seen
persons in a later stage of faith, easily recognisable by wild and vision
seeking eyes, and hands and feet in perpetual nervous agitation, who
take no interest in other conversation, but eagerly pour out narratives,
arguments, and appeals concerning Spiritualism whenever they can make
an opportunity introducing the subject. Even the pulpit is no longer free
from spiritualistic interpretations of religious mysteries ; and the periodical
press, which long confined itself to such attacks and refutations as those
by Lord Amberley, in the Fortnightly Review, by an anonymous writer in
the New Quarterly Magazine, and by a well-known physiologist in the
Quarterly Review (October, 1871), has now opened its columns to two
very remarkable papers in its defence, by Dr. Alfred Wallace (Fortnightly
�MODERN SORCERY.
37
Review, May and June, 1874). This double essay, indeed, by the dis
tinguished traveller and fellow-originator with Dr. Darwin of the
“Doctrine of Natural Selection,” may be justly said to mark an epoch in
the progress of the movement, and we can scarcely do wrong in taking it
as the first serious challenge to us from competent authority, to give to
the marvels of Spiritualism a fair and full investigation.
To many readers, indeed, we believe it has not unsuccessfully so ap
pealed ; causing them to hesitate as to whether they were justified in
holding back any longer from enquiry, even while the process remains
to them eminently distasteful. In view of such a dilemma it may be
not inopportune to discuss briefly, not the Evidences of Spiritualism, but
the preliminary question—Whether we are intellectually or morally bound
to examine and weigh those evidences ? Spiritualists, to do them justice,
very candidly warn us that the task is no trivial one to be performed in a
hurry. They scoff indignantly at the notion that five unsuccessful
séances (in one of which Di Vernon appeared as an historical character,
and, in another, Socrates with a straight nose and a disinclination to
speak Greek) were sufficient to warrant Lord Amberley in pronouncing
Spiritualism an imposition ; and they bid us admire men who, like Dr.
Sexton, are prepared to spend fifteen years in inquiry before the
“ needful evidence ” to convince them is vouchsafed/' To sift and
collate the mass of evidence already produced ; to cross-examine the
witnesses, and weigh the value of their individual testimony ; finally,
to institute the requisite actual experiments at séances innumerable,
would be to exceed the labours of Hercules, and repeat the weariness
of the Tichborne trial. It is not too much to insist that excellent
reason should be shown for the devotion of so much time and toil to such
an end ; nor need we be alarmed at the adoption by Spiritualists of the
tone of high moral indignation against indolent non-inquirers, natural to
all persons who think they are advocating some important discovery.
Few amongst us who have reached middle life regret that we did not
obey the solicitations of early friends to devote the years of our prime to
investigations of the “ discoveries ” of St. John Long, Spurzheim, and
Reichenbach,—to testing the therapeutic agencies of tar-water, “ tracttors,” and brandy and salt ; or nicely studying the successive solutions
triumphantly propounded of the problem of human flight and of perpetual
motion. We have borne with tolerable equanimity to be called hasty
and prejudiced in these matters ; and we may now endure the taunt of
Spiritualists that we display indifference to truths possibly indefinitely
valuable to the human race. Some limits there must needs be to the
duty of inquiring into everything proposed to us as a subject of inves
tigation ; and those limits we may perhaps in the present case find in the
nature of the subject, the methods of the investigation to be pursued,
and the results which follow in the contingency of such inquiries proving
successful.
Quarterly Review, May 1874, p, 651.
�38
MODERN SORCERY.
The propensity which ethnologists attribute, especially to Touranian
races, to seek after intercourse with inferior grades of spiritual existence, or
(to give it the old name) the passion for Sorcery, is one which seems to
flourish like the olive, the Phoenix of trees. Cut down, or burnt down,
in one land or age, it springs up and branches forth afresh in the next;
and while the main tendency of human thought seems constantly towards
a stricter monotheism, a counter eddy of the current for ever fills and
re-fills the invisible world with legions of imps, ghosts, and lying spirits,
meaner and more puerile than human nature in its basest condition.
Fifty years ago such delusions seemed to have ebbed out, and the few
writers who dealt with them, spoke of them as things of the past; and
assured us that, save in some Tartar tent in the East, or Gipsy one in
the West, magic and incantations would be heard no more. The future
historian of the England of to-day may truly relate that such incantations
were more common in London in 1874 than they were in Palestine when
the witch of Endor deluded Saul; or in Byzantium, when Santabaren
restored his long lost son to the arms of the Emperor Basil the Mace
*
donian.
What is the origin of this widespread and seemingly ineradicable
propensity ? Of course the answer which first suggests itself is, that it
is the result of a most natural and blameless curiosity to learn the
mysteries of that life into which we ourselves expect to pass through
the gates of the tomb, and wherein it is our hope that the beloved
ones who have left us have already entered. That in some cases this
is the real spring of the desire, we will not question. But it is certain
that the passion for Sorcery has far other springs beside, and that those
who addict themselves to it most completely have neither ardent long
ings for immortality on their own account, nor common reverence for
the dead. The special characteristic of the propensity, and of the
practices to which it gives rise, is the absence of all the more delicate
sentiments or spiritual aspirations of true human love, or true religion;
and the presence, in their stead, of a brutal familiarity and irreverence
as regards the dead, and of a gross materialism touching the experiences
of communion, divine or human.
In this respect superstitious Sacerdotalism and Sorcery have in all ages
borne some strong features of resemblance, even while mutually denouncing
one another. Each of them disregards really spiritual gifts as needful
to qualify Priest or Medium for intercourse with the unseen world; and
relies upon rites and incantations, rather than upon such liftings-up of
the human soul in longing and prayer, as should draw (if anything
might draw) the Divine aid from heaven and human love back from
the grave. The Sacerdotalist forgets the truth that, not by the help of
* This latter marvel is vouched for by Leo Grammaticus in vita Basilii Imp., § 20.
It was obviously accomplished by phantasmagoria and a magic lanthorn. See, for a
most valuable explanation of a multitude of such wonders,Eusebe Salverte’s Sciences
Occultes.
�MODERN SORCERY.
39
ecclesiastical machinery, but by spiritual worship, must the Father of
Spirits be approached ; and the Spiritualist forgets that not by his
machinery of raps and alphabets, but indeed “spiritually,” must “ spiritual
things” (such as immortality), be discerned. It was well said of late
by a profound thinker, that “if our belief in a future life could be
verified by the senses, Heaven would cease to be a part of our religion, and
become a branch of our geography.” “ Spiritualism ” is indeed a singular
misnomer, or, rather, it is a case of lucus a non lucendo, for there is no
“ spirituality ” in the system at all. It is materialism, pure and simple,
applied to a spiritual truth.
No one who entertains natural reverence and awe for the dead
can contemplate the practices of spiritualists in their séances without
pain and indignation, and only the example of unfeeling mediums and
excited friends can have prompted many tender natures to sanction or
endure them. In the midnight silence and stillness of our chambers,
or in some calm evening solitude of hills and woods, it might be pos
sible to bear the overwhelming emotions of awe ; the rush of unspeak
able tenderness, which must come upon us with the genuine convic
tion that the one who was “ soul of our soul ” has actually returned from
the grave, and is near us once more, conveying to us (as his presence even
in silence would surely do) the ineffable sense of love triumphant over
death ; and ready to receive from us the passionate assurances of neverforgotten regret and affection. Such a meeting of the spirits of the dead
and the living would be among all life’s solemn and affecting incidents the
most profound and touching ; the one which would move us to the very
foundations of our being, and leave us evermore other men than we had been.
Nay, we may further conceive that, bending over the dying, and speak
ing to them of the world into which they are about to enter, and where it
is at least not impossible they may meet our long lost friend or parent,
we might with faltering lips charge them to bear for us to the dead the
message of unchanged fidelity. Such as these are forms of communion
with the departed which involve no shock to our reverence, no sin against
the holiness of buried affection. But what shall we say for the travesty
and mockery thereof which goes on at every spiritualistic séance, amid
the circumstances with which we are all too well acquainted; and as
an alternate evening diversion to music, cards, or tea ? In a drawing
room with gas raised or extinguished a score of times to suit the require
ments of the medium, amid a circle of pleasantly excited ladies and gentle
men dabbling with alphabets, and slates, and planchettes, and ready'to
catch up every straw of “ evidence ” to be published or gossiped about on
the morrow ; in such a scene as this, and with the aid of a psychagogue,
who can scarcely pronounce three common-place sentences without betray
ing his ignorance or his vulgarity, we are told that wives ask to com
*
* Charles Sumner has just been brought back from the grave, and proves to have
very quickly acquired that disregard of adverbs which is common among the weaker
�40
MODERN SORCERY.
municate with their dead husbands ; parents are made to “feel” a lost
child in their arms; and sons listen to words professedly spoken to
them by their mother’s souls. We do not need to be told that the com
munications thus made are utterly unworthy of the majesty of death, and
are patently calculated rather to convince and entertain the audience by
verifiable allusions to names and places, than to convey what—if it were
truly the departed soul which had returned—would inevitably be the heartwrung utterances of supreme love. Strange is it indeed that persons not
otherwise devoid of tender and reverent feeling, when caught by the passion
for this sorcery, permit themselves and the company they may happen to
join ; to find the entertainment of an evening in practice so revolting.
Shall we give to it the name which it deserves, and say that the act of
evoking the dead in such a manner, and for such a purpose, is seta ileye ?
We have spoken of the objects and method of spiritualistic inquiry.
Its results even more emphatically exonerate any man of sound and re
verent mind from engaging in the task of its investigation. Dr. Wallace
asks us to “ look rather at the results produced by the evidence, than
to the evidence itself,” and we are thankful to accept his challenge.
Never, we venture to say, may the principle of judging a tree by its fruits
be more fairly applied. The grand and obvious result of Spiritualism is
to afford us one more (real or fictitious) revelation of the state of de
parted souls, added to those which we possessed before. Let us consider
it a little carefully, and observe what it really reveals.
The pictures of a future world which men have drawn in different
lands and ages, all possess at least one claim to our interest. They afford
us not indeed the faintest outlines of that Undiscovered Country beyond
the bourne of death, but they reveal with unimpeachable, because un
intentional sincerity, the innermost desires and fears of living men. On
that “cloud” which receives every departing soul out of our sight, the
magic-lantern of fancy casts its bright or gloomy imagery, and we need
but watch the phantasms as they pass to know the hidden slides of the
brain which produced them. The luscious gardens and Houris anticipated
by the Moslem; the eternal repose of Nirvana sighed for by the Budd
hist; the alternate warfare and wassail of Walhalla, for which the Norse
man longed as the climax of glory and felicity, convey to us at a glance
a livelier conception of the sensuality, the indolence, and the fierceness,
of the respective races than could be acquired by elaborate studies of
their manners and morality. In a similar way other characteristics are
revealed by the terrors of Future Punishment,—which the lively Greek
imagined to himself as the endless hopeless labours of an Ixion or a
Sisyphus ; the dignified Egyptian, as degradation to a bestial form; and
the grim-souled Teuton of the Dark Ages, as eternal torture in a fiery
brethren, in America—and also, perhaps, among American mediums. He is repotted
to have said, “ Oh, my friends, that you would ponder well that sacred injunction from
spirit life, * Lay up treasures in Heaven. Yhu need not be told how to do this, you
must act unselfish.'1'
�41
MODERN SORCERY.
cave. Whatever has constituted man’s highest pleasure on earth, that
he has hoped to find again in heaven, and whatever he has most dreaded,
that he has imagined as forming the retribution of guilt hereafter. From
this point of view the Christian idea of a serene empyrean, wherein saints
and archangels for ever cast their crowns before the great White Throne,
and worship the thrice Holy One who sitteth thereon—affords singular
evidence of the spiritual altitude to which those souls had attained to
whom 'such an Apocalypse opened the supremest vision of beatitude.
The attitude of Adoration—of sublime ecstatic rapture in the presence
of perfect Holiness and Goodness, is assuredly the loftiest of which we
have any conception, and to desire to enjoy and prolong it for ever can
only genuinely pertain to a soul in which the love of Divine goodness is
already the ruling passion. Wider thought and calmer reflection may
teach that not alone on such mountain peaks of emotion, but on the plains
of sacred service, should the faithful son of God desire to spend his
immortality. But the modern American poet who has taken on himself
to sneer at the notion of angels “ loafing about the Throne,” has given
curious evidence of his incompetence to understand what sublime passion
it was which inspired that wondrous vision of Patmos.
Accepting then the Heaven and Hell of each creed as a natural test
of the characteristic sentiments of its disciples, we turn somewhat in
quisitively to discover what sort of a future existence the new faith of
Spiritualism proposes to give us. Of course it affords every facility for
such an inquiry ; for, while other religions teach primarily concerning God,
and secondly, and with much more reserve, about the life after death ;
Spiritualism teaches first, and at great length, about the future life, and
frankly confesses that it has no light to throw on the problems of
theology. What then, we ask, has Spiritualism told us respecting the
state of the dead, or rather (as a sceptic mustinwardly pose the question)__
What do its narratives betray concerning the ideals of existence which
Spiritualists have created out of the depth of their own consciousness ? Do
they prove an advance upon those of earlier creeds; or, on the contrary, do
they mark a singular and deplorable retrogression towards the material
istic, the carnal, and the vulgar ? Of course such an enquiry would be
met at the outset by a Spiritualist with the vehement assertion that it was
not he who devised what the spirits say of themselves, but the spirits
who have lifted the veil of their own existence, for whose ignoble details
he is in no way responsible. As, however, every Pagan and Buddhist
Mahometan and Parsee would say as much on his own behalf, and main
tain that Elysium and Nirvana, Paradise and Gorotman, had each been
revealed by such “mediums” as Orpheus and Buddha, Mahomet and
Zoroaster, we must be content to pass by this argument and treat the
phase of immortality discovered (or invented) by Mr. Hume and his friends
as no less significant of the moral ideals of Spiritualists and the general
level of their aspirations.
Let it be granted cordially that there is nothing in the spiritualistic
3—5
�42
MODERN SORCERY.
Hades akin to the “ Hell of the Red Hot Iron,” the “ Hell of the Little
Child,” the “ Hell of the Burning Bonnet,” and the “ Hell of the
Boiling Kettle ” set forth with such ghastly circumstantiality in these
latter days in Dr. Furness’ Books for the Young, and in older times by
numberless Calvinistic and Catholic divines. Theodore Parker went,
indeed, so far as to say that “ there was, at all events, one good service
which the Spiritualists had done, they had, knocked the bottom out of Hell.”
Considering that the peculiarity of that terrible Pit has been generally
understood to be that it is “bottomless,” the achievement would seem
rather difficult; but in any case we may candidly agree that on this side
no exception need be taken against the spiritualist doctrine, save that
perchance it fails to afford indication of any sense of how profound must
be the mental anguish through which it is possible for a soul, stained
with vice and cruelty, to recover its purity and peace.
Spiritualist
remorse seems almost as colourless as spiritualist beatitude is vulgar
and inane.
On the other hand, when we ask to be informed (beyond the testimony
of sweet smiles and assurances of felicity), of the nature of the happiness
of virtuous departed souls, we are confronted with narratives much more
nearly realizing our notion of humiliating penance and helplessness than of
glory and freedom ; of Purgatory rather than of Paradise. The dead, it
seems, according to Spiritualism, have not (even after vast intervals of time)
advanced one step nearer to the knowledge of those diviner truths for
which the soul of man hungers, than they possessed while on earth. The
Hope of Immortality is bound up, in religious minds, with the faith that
though no actual vision can ever be vouchsafed of the all-pervading Spirit,
yet that some sense beyond any which earthly life affords, of the presence
and love of the Father will come to the soul when it has gone “ home to
God,” and that Doubt will surely be left behind among the cerements of
the grave. But Spiritualists cheerfully tell us such hopes are quite as
delusive as those of the material crowns and harps of the New Jerusalem.
“ Nothing,” says Dr. Wallace, “ is more common than for religious people
at seances to ask questions about God and Christ. In reply they never
get more than opinions, or more frequently the statement that they, the
spirits, have no more actual knowledge than they had on earth ” (p. 805.)
There are indeed, Dr. Wallace assures us, Catholic and Protestant,
Mahommedan and Hindoo spirits, proving that the “mind with its
myriad beliefs is not suddenly changed at death,” nor, seemingly, for ages
afterwards. Thus from our estimate of the Spiritualist state of future
felicity, we are called on to make, at starting, the enormous deduction of
everything resembling religious progress. The Spiritualist is perfectly
content with an ideal Heaven wherein he will remain in just as much doubt
or error as he happens to have entertained upon earth.
Further, as regards his personal and social affections, Does he at least
image to himself that he will be nearer and more able to protect and
bless his dear ones after death ? Or that he will pass freely hither
�MODERN SORCERY.
43
and thither, doing service like a guardian angel to mankind, strengthening
the weak, comforting the mourner, and awakening the conscience of the
wicked? There is (so far as we have followed the literature of Spiritualism)
no warrant for such a picture of bénéficient activity. Good spirits, as well
as bad—the souls of Plato and Fénélon, as well as those of the silliest
and wickedest “twaddler” (as Dr. Wallace honestly describes many
spirits Zmôàiiés of séances)—have seemingly spent all the centuries since
their demise humbly waiting to be called up by some, woman, or child
precisely, as if they were lackeys ready to answer the downstairs’ bell.
In many cases we are led to infer that the dead have been striving for
years and ages to make themselves known, and now for the last quarter
of a century have very clumsily and imperfectly succeeded in doing so.
Let us conceive for' a moment a grand and loving soul—a Shakespeare,
or Jeremy Taylor, or Shelley, who once spoke to mankind in free and
noble speech, a man among men, fumbling about the legs of tables,
scratching like a dog at a door, and eagerly flying to obtain the services
of an interpreter like Miss Fox, Mr. Hume, or Mrs.Guppy,—and we have
surely invented a punishment and humiliation exceeding those of any
purgatory hitherto invented. If Virtue itself has nothing better to hope
for hereafter than such a destiny, we may well wish that the grave should
prove indeed, after all, the last home of “ earth’s mighty nation.”
Where Oblivion’s pall shall darkly fall
On the dreamless sleep of annihilation.
In conclusion, Is it too much now to ask that we may be exonerated,
once for all, from the charge of unreasonable prejudice, if we refuse to
undertake the laborious inquiry into the marvels of Spiritualism which its
advocates challenge,— an inquiry pursued by methods bordering upon the
sacrilegious, and terminating, either in the exposure of a miserable delu
sion, or else in the stultification and abortion of man’s immortal Hope ?
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Modern sorcery
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Cobbe, Frances Power [1832-1907.]
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Place of publication: [London]
Collation: [36]-43 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From the Cornhill Magazine 30 (July, 1874). Attribution of author, the magazine title, and date from Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. The top of the first page has been cut out, no text is missing.
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Spiritualism
Witchcraft
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Conway Tracts
Spiritualism
Witchcraft
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
“Enter Ghost.”
Hamlet.—“ Thou com’st in such a questionable shape.”—
Shakesteabe.
Questionable !—ay; so very questionable, in my opinion, is the fact of their
coming at all, that I am now going to question whether they ever did, or
can come. This opinion I know is opposed to a very general, a long-esta
blished, and with some a deeply-rooted belief in supernatural appearances,
and is opposed to what may be almost considered as well-authenticated facts,
which neither the repeated exposure of very many “ ghost tricks,” and
clearly-proved imposture, nor sound philosophical arguments, have been able
to set aside altogether. Most persons, therefore, will no doubt consider that
the task of “laying” all the ghosts that have appeared, and putting U stop
to any others ever making an appearance, is a most difficult task. This is
granted; and although I do not believe, like Owen Griendower, that I can
“ call the spirits from the vasty deep,” but on the contrary agree in this
respect with Hotspur, if I did call that they would not come, I nevertheless,
B
�2
A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
although no conjuror, do conjure up for the occasion hosts of ghosts which
I see I have to contend against. Yes, I do see before me, “ in my mind’s
eye
A. vast army, composed of ghost, goblin, and sprite !
With them .eyes full of fire, all gleaming with spite !
All lurking about in the “ dead of the night ”
With them faces so pale and their shrouds all so white I
Or hiding about in dark holes and corners,
To fright grown-up folk, or little “ Jack Horners.”
But though they all stand in this fierce grim array,
Armed with pen and with pencil, “ I’ll drive them away.”
It is not only, however, against these horrible and ghastly-looking cloud
of flimsy foes that one has to deal with in a question like this, but there are
numbers of respectable and respected authors, and highly respectable wit
nesses, on the side of the ghosts ; and it must be admitted that it is no easy
matter to .put aside the testimony of all these respectable persons. They
may have thought, and some may still think, that they have done, and are
doing, good, by supporting this belief; but I know on the contrary that they
have done, and are doing, great harm ; and I, therefore, stand forth in the ■
hope of “laying” all the ghosts, and settling this long-disputed question
for ever.
The belief in ghost, or apparition, is of course of very early date, originating
in what are called the “ dark ages,” and dark indeed those ages were ! as a
reference to the early history of the world will show ; and although we have
in these days a large diffusion of the blessed light of intelligence, nevertheless
there is still existing, even amongst civilized people, a fearful amount of
ignorance upon the subject of Ghosts, Witchcraft, Fortune-telling, and
“ Ruling the Stars,” besides a vast amount of this sort of imaginary and
mischievous nonsense. Now it will be as well here to inquire what good
has ever resulted from this belief in what is commonly understood to be a
ghost? None that I have ever heard of, and I have been familiar with all
the popular ghost stories from boyhood, and have of late waded through
almost all the works produced in support of this spiritual visiting theory,
but in no one instance have I discovered where any beneficial result has
followed from the supernatural or rather unnatural supposed appearances;
whereas, on the other hand, we do find unfortunately a large and serious
amount of suffering and injury arising from this belief in ghosts, and which
I shall have occasion to refer to further on; but I will now proceed to bring
forward some of the evidences which have been adduced from time to time,
all pretty much in the same style, in support of the probability and truth of
the appearance of ghosts—first, in fact, to call up the ghosts, in order that I
may put them down.
All the ghost story tellers, or writers upon this subject, seem to consider
that one most important point in the appearance of apparitions is, that the
ghost should be a most perfect and EXACT RESEMBLANCE, in every
respect, to the deceased person—the spirit of whom they are supposed to
be. Their faces appear the same, except in some cases where it is described
as being rather paler than when they were alive, and the general expression
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
n
¿>
is described as “more in sorrow than in anger,” but this varies in some
instances according to circumstances; but in all these appearances the coun
tenances are so precisely similar, so minutely so, that in one case mentioned
by Mrs. Crowe in her “ Kight-side of Nature,” the very “ pock-pits ” or
“pock-marks” on the face were
visible. The narrators also all
agree that the spirits appear in similar, or the same dresses which they
were accustomed to wear during their lifetime (please to observe that this
is very important), so exactly alike that the ghost-seer could not possibly
be mistaken as to the identity of the individual, in face, figure, manner, and
dress ; and on the same authority in some cases the same spirit has appeared
at the same moment to different persons in different places, although perhaps
15,000 miles apart, in precisely the same dress.
In referring to the play of “Hamlet,” it will be found that Shakespeare
has been most particular in describing the general appearance of the Ghost
of Hamlet’s father, who was
“Doomed for a certain time to walk by night.”
Dor instance, when Marcellus says to Horatio,
“ Is it not like the king ?”
Horatio replies—
“ As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on,
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown’d he once, when, in angry parle,
He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.”
Horatio also, in describing the Ghost to Hamlet, says—•
“ A figure like your father,
MmeiZ at all points, exactly, cap-d-pe.”
And, in further explanation, it,is stated that the Ghost was armed “from
top to toe,” “from head to foot,” that “he wore his beaver up,” with
“ a countenance more in sorrow than in anger,” and was “ very pale.” Then,
again, when Hamlet sees his father’s spirit, he exclaims—
“ What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisit’st thus the glimpses of the moon.”
So also in the play of “Macbeth,” when the Ghost of Banquo rises, and
takes a seat at the table, Macbeth says to the apparition—
“ Never shake
Thy gory locks at me.”
And further on he says—“ Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with !”
Daniel de Foe also insists upon, and goes into the most minute details as to
the person and dress of a Ghost; and in a work which he published upon
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
apparitions,* we may see how careful and circumstantial the author is in
his descriptions of apparitions, whose appearance he vouches for in his
peculiar narrative and matter-of-fact style. One of these ghost stories is
of some robbers who broke into a mansion in the country, and whilst ran
sacking one of the chambers, they saw, sitting in a chair, “ a grave, ancient
man, with a long full-bottomed wig and a rich brocaded gown,” etc. One
of the robbers threatened to tear off his “rich brocaded gown;” another
hit at him with a fuzee, and was instantly alarmed at finding it passed
through air; and then the old gentleman “ changed into the most horrible
monster that ever was seen, with eyes like two fiery daggers red hot.”
They then rushed into another room, and found the same “ grave, ancient
man” seated there,! and so also in another chamber; and he was seen by
different robbers in three different rooms nt the same moment ! Just at this
time the servants, who were at the top of the house, threw some “ hand
grenades” down the chimneys of these rooms. The result altogether was
that some of the thieves were badly wounded, the others driven away, and
the mansion saved from being plundered. What a capital thing it would be
surely, if the police could attach some of these spirits to their force !
Another case, a clergyman (the Rev. Dr. Scot) was seated in his library,
with the door closed, when he suddenly saw “ an ancient, grave gentleman, in
a black velvet gown”—very particular, you observe, as to the material—“ and
a long wig.” This ghost was an entire stranger to Dr. Scot, and came to
ask the doctor to do him a favour—asking a favour under such circum
stances of course amounts to a command—which was to go to another part
of the country, to a house where the ghost’s son resided, and point out to
the son the place where an important family document was deposited.
Dr. Scot complied with this request, and the family property was secured
to the son of the ghost in the “black velvet gown and the long wig.”
Now one naturally asks here, why did not this old ghost go and point
the place out to his son himself ? And so also with the well-authenticated,
story of the ghost of Sir George Villars, who wanted to give a warning to
his son, the Duke of Buckingham; which warning, if properly delivered
and properly acted upon, might have saved the duke’s life; but instead of
warning his son himself (take notice), he appeared to one of the duke s
domestics, 11 in the very clothes he used to wear,” and commissioned him to
deliver the message. After all, this warning was of no use, so this ghost
might have saved himself the trouble of coming; but spirits are indeed
strange things, and of course act in strange ways.
About the year 1700, a translation from a Drench book was brought out
in London, entitled “ Drelincourt on Death and after it had been published
for some time, Daniel Defoe, at the request of Mr. Midwinter, the publisher,
wrote a preface to the 'work, and therein introduced a short story about
the ghost of a lady appearing to her friend. It was headed thus : “ A true
Relation of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal, next day after her death, to one
* “ An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions; being an account of what they
are and what they are not, when they come and when they come not; as also how we may
distinguish between Apparitions of Good and Evil Spirits, and how we ought to behave to
them; with a variety of surprising and diverting examples never published before.
London, 1727.
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5
Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, on the 8th of September, 1705 ; which
Apparition recommends the perusal of Drelincourt’s book of Consolation
against the Fears of Death. (Thirteenth edition.)”
Mrs. Veal and Mrs. Bargrave, it appears, were intimate friends. One day
at twelve o’clock at noon, when Mrs. B. was sitting alone, Mrs. Veal entered
the room, dressed in a “riding habit,” hat, etc., as if going a journey. Mrs.
Bargrave advanced to welcome her friend, and was going to salute her, and
their lips almost touched, but Mrs. V. held back her head and passing her
hand before her face, said, “ I am not very well to-dayand avoided the
salute. In the course of a long talk which they had, Mrs. Veal strongly
recommends Drelincourt’s Book on Death to Mrs. Bargrave, and occasionally
“ claps her hand upon her knee, in great earnestness.” Mrs. Veal had been
subject to fits, and she asks if Mrs. Bargrave does not think she is “ mightily
impaired by her fits ?” Mrs. B.’s reply was, “ No! I think you look as well
as ever I knew you;” and during the conversation she took hold of Mrs. Veal’s
gown several times, and commended it. Mrs. V. told her it was a “ scoured
silk” and newly made up. Mrs. Veal at length took her departure, but
stood at the street door some short time, in the face of the beast market;
this was Saturday the market-day. She then went from Mrs. B., who saw
her walk in her view, till a turning interrupted the sight of her; this was
three quarters after one o’clock. Mrs. Veal had died that very day at noon ! ! !
at Dover, which is about twenty miles from Canterbury.
Some surprise was expressed to. Mrs. Bargrave, about the fact of her
feeling the gown, but she said she was quite sure that she felt the gown. It
was a striped silk, and Mrs. Veal had never been seen in such a dress; but
such a one was found in her wardrobe after her decease.
This story made a great sensation at the time it was published; and
“ Drelincourt on Death,” with the Preface and Defoe’s tale, became exceed
ingly popular.*
The absurdities and impossibilities of the foregoing narrative of this
apparition of Mrs. Veal need not be pointed out; but the story is introduced
here for two reasons; one of which will be explained further on, and the
* The introduction runs thus :—“This relation is a matter of fact, and attended with such
circumstances as may induce any reasonable man to believe it. It was sent by a gentleman,
a justice of peace, in Maidstone in Kent, and a very intelligent person, to his friend in
London, as it is here worded; which discourse is attested by a sober and understanding
gentlewoman, a kinswoman of the said gentleman’s, who fives at Canterbury within a few
doors of the house in which the within-named Mrs. Bargrave lives; who believes his kins
woman to be of so discerning a spirit as not to be put upon by fallacy, and who positively
assured him that the whole matter as related and laid down is really true; and what she
herself had in the same words (as near as may be) from Mrs. Bargrave’s own mouth ; who
she knows had no reason to invent and publish such a story; or design to forge and tell a lie,
being a woman of much honesty and virtue, and her whole life a course as it were of piety.
The use which we ought to make of it is, that there is a life to come after this, and a just
GOD, who will retribute to every one according to the deeds done in the body, and therefore
to reflect upon our past course of life we have lead in the world—that our time is short and
uncertain; if we would escape the punishment of the ungodly and receive the reward of
the righteous, which is the laying hold of eternal life, we ought for the time to come to
turn to GOD, by a speedy repentance, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well, to seek
after GOD early, if haply he may be found of us, and lead such lives for the future as may
be well pleasing in his sight.”
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS,
other is to show how the public have been imposed upon with these short
stories.
It has all along been known to the literary world that this “ true
Relation” was a falsehood, and brought forward under the following cir
cumstances :—
Mr. Midwinter, who published the translation of “ Drelincourt on Death,”
finding that the work did not sell, complained of this to Defoe, and asked him
if he could not write some preface or introduction to the work for the purpose
of calling the attention of the public to this rather uninviting subject.
Defoe undertook to do so, and produced this story about the ghost of Mrs.
Veal. The gullibility of the public was much greater at that time than now,
and they would then swallow anything in the shape of a ghost; a great
sensation was created, and the publisher’s purpose was answered, as the
work had an extraordinary sale ; but one cannot help expressing a very
deep regret that the author of “ Robinson Crusoe” should have so degraded
his talent, by thus deliberately foisting upon the public a gross and mis
chievous falsehood as a veritable truth; and, worse than this, guilty of
bringing in the most sacred names upon one of the most solemn subjects
which the mind of man can contemplate, for the purpose of supporting and
propagating a falsehood for a mercenary purpose.
As the belief in ghosts has long been popular, and considered as an
established fact, it may be quite allowable for an author to introduce a ghost
into his romance; and it may be argued that authors have thus been enabled
“ to point a moral” as well as to “ adorn a tale,” by using this poetical license,
or spiritual medium ; but in these cases the tales or poems were given out to
the world as inventions of the author to amuse the public, or to convey a
moral lesson, and were accepted by the public as such.
We find in these foregoing examples that apparitions do appear sometimes
to strangers, and sometimes in the dresses in which they had not been seen
when alive; but these dresses have been afterwards discovered or accounted
for, and it has also been discovered who these strange spirits repre
sented. But it will be seen by the cases cited, and others which are to follow,
that this exact appearance, this Vraisemblance is essential, nay, Indispensable,
in order that there shall be “ no mistake for should mistakes be made, it
would, in some cases, be perhaps a very serious matter. I fully assent to all
this, and to show that I wish to do battle in all fairness, that it shall be a
“fair fight and no favour,” I am willing even to illustrate my opponents’
statements in these particulars, and to do this I here introduce don’t start,
reader ! not a ghost, but a figure of Napoleon the Birst, but without a head ;
not that I mean to imply thereby that this military hero had no head. No,
no ! quite the contrary, but I have omitted this head and the head of the
ghost of Hamlet’s father for an especial purpose, as will be explained further
on, when I shall have occasion to touch upon these heads again. But if this
cut is held at a distance, by any one at all familiar with the portraits or
statues of “ Napoleon le Grand” in this costume, they will at once recognize
who the figure is intended to represent.
Let us now turn to “ The Night-side of Nature,” and through the dismal
gloom which surrounds these apparitions, call up some more spirits, who,
according to Mrs. Crowe, and, indeed, on the authority of all other
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7
authors who support the ghost doctrine, 44 generally come in their habits as
they livedand it appears that there is no difference in this respect between
the beggar and the king, for they come
44 Some-in rags, and some in jags, and some in silken gowns.”
At page 289 of this exceedingly cleverly written but most ghastly
collection of ghost stories, it is related that the ghost of a beggar-man
appeared at the same time in two different apartments (all in his dirty
rags, of course), to a young man and a young woman who had allowed
this beggar to sleep in their master’s barn (unbeknown to their master),
where he died in the night, but could not rest after his death until some
money of his was found by these young people, who had both suffered
in their health in consequence of these visits of the beggar’s ghost. They
at length consulted and explained all this to a priest, who advised them
to distribute the money they had found under the straw (where the beggar
had slept and died) between three churches, which advice was accordingly
acted upon, and this settled the business, for the dirty ragged ghost never
troubled them again.
In contrast to this we have the story of the ghost of a lady of title, who
had been in her lifetime Princess Anna of Saxony. She came decked out
in 44 silks and satins,” gold lace, embroidery, and jewels, all so grand, and
appeared to one of the descendants of her family, Duke Christian of Saxe
Eisenburg, requesting him to be so kind as to try and 44 make it up ” be
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
tween her and her ghost hnsband, who, it seems, was a bad-tempered man,
had quarrelled with her, and had died without being reconciled.
Duke Christian consented to do this. She had walked into the duke’s
presence, although all the doors were shut, and one day after their first
interview she brought her husband to their relative in the same uncere
monious manner. Her ghost husband, who had been the Duke Casimer,
appeared dressed in his royal robes. They each told their story (these, you
will observe were talking ghosts as well as stalking ghosts). Duke Christian
most gallantly decided in favour of the lady, and the ghost duke very
properly acquiesced in the justice of the decision. Duke Christian then
took the “icy cold hand ” of the ghost-duke and placed it in the hand of the
ghost-wife, whose hand felt of a “ natural heat.” It appears to be the opinion
of the advocates of apparitions that naughty ghosts have cold hands. In this
case the husband was the offending party, and was very naughty, and there
fore his hands were very cold. It seems strange that his hands should
have been cold, for, being naughty, one would suppose he would come from
the same place that Hamlet’s father did; and from what he said we should
conclude that there was a roaring fire there, where the duke might have
warmed his cold hands. It further appears that these parties all “ prayed and
sung together!” after which the now happy ghosts disappeared sans ceremonie, without troubling the servants to open the doors, or allowing Duke
Christian to “ show them out.” One remarkable fact in connection with
this story is, that, upon referring to the portraits of these ghosts which hung
in the castle, was, that they had appeared in exactly the same dresses which
they had on, when these portraits were painted—one hundred years before
this time.
Duke Christian died two years after the ghosts’ visits, and by his own
orders was buried in “ quicklime,” to prevent, it is supposed, his ghost from
walking the earth ! He must indeed have been a poor ignorant creature,
although a duke, to suppose that “ quicklime,” or “ slow lime,” or any other
kind of lime, or anything else that would destroy the body, could make any
difference with respect to the appearance of the spirit.
The next case, then, is of the ghost of a soldier’s wife, who appeared to a
“ Corporal Q----- ” who was lying ill in bed, and also to a comrade who was
an invalid lying in the next bed. This was in the night, but the cor
poral could see that she was dressed in a “ flannel gown, edged with a black
ribbon,” exactly like the grave-clothes which he had helped to put on her
twelve months before. It appears, however, that he could see through her,
'flannel gown and all. This female ghost came to the bed-side of the sick man
to ask him to write to her husband, who was in Ireland, to communicate
something to him which was to be kept a “profound secret.”
This is certainly a strange story, but is it not still more strange that this
ghost did not go to her husband and tell him the important secret herself,
instead of trusting a stranger to do so ? It will be observed that there are
different classes of ghosts, as there are of living people—the princely, the
aristocratic, the genteel, and the common. The vulgar classes delight to
haunt in graveyards, dreary lanes, ruins, and all sorts of dirty dark holes
and corners, and in cellars. Yes, dark cellars seem to be a favourite abode
of these common ghosts? This fact raises the question whether the lower
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
9
class of spirits are obliged to keep to the Zower parts of the house—to the
u low® regions ’’—and are not allowed to go into the parlours or the drawing
rooms, and not allowed to mix with the higher order of ghosts! Can this
be a law or regulation amongst the ghosts ? If so, is it not most extraordi
nary that these spirits should not be allowed to choose their own place of
residence, and take to the most comfortable apartments, instead of grovelling
amongst the rats and mice, the slugs, the crickets, and the blackbeetles ?
’Tis strange, ’tis passing strange ; but so it appears to be. By the by, some few
of these poor spirits of the humble class of ghosts do sometimes, it appears,
mount np to the bed-rooms, in the hope, I suppose, of getting occasionally
now and then a “ comfortable lodging ” and a ££ good night s rest.
At page 810 of this same work we have an account of a haunted cellar in a
gentleman’s house, out of town, in which were heard “ loud knockings,” il a
voice crying,” “ heavy feet walking,” etc. The old butler, with his “ acolytes,”
descended to the cellar (wine cellar) armed with sword, blunderbuss, and
Other offensive weapons, but the ghosts put them all to flight, and they
“ turned tail ” in a fright. Yes, they all ran up-stairs again, followed by the
a Hound of feet ” and ££ a visible shadow !” This, of course, is a fact; and it so
happens that I know another fact about a haunted wine-cellar, which, how
ever, had quite a different result to the foregoing.
In a wine-cellar of a gentleman’s house, somewhere near Blackheath, it
was found that strange noises were sometimes heard in the evenings and in
the night time, in this “ wine vault,” similar to those described above, such
as 'knocking, groaning, footsteps, etc., so that the servants were afraid to go into
the Cellar, particularly at a late hour. The master at length determined to
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A RISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS,
“lay” this ghost, if possible, and one evening when these noises had been
heard, arming himself with a sword, and the servants with a fowling-piece
and a poker, they cantionsly descended into the cellar (with lighted candles,
of course). Nothing was to be seen there, and all was quiet except a strange,
smothered kind of sound, like the hard breathing of an animal, something
like snoring, that seemed to proceed out of the earth in one of the dark
corners of the vault, when,, lo and behold! in turning their lights in the
direction from which the sounds came, and advancing carefully, they dis
covered—what do you think ? Don’t be alarmed. Why, the ghost lying on
the ground, dead—drunk ! Yes, the ghost had laid himself, not with “ Bell,
Book, and Candle,” but by swallowing the spirit of alcohol, the spirit of
wine, beer, and brandy. Most disgraceful; in fact, this ghost had taken a
“ drop too much.”
Upon looking a little closer, they found that this ghost was one Tom
Brown, an under-gardener; and it was discovered that he had tunnelled a
hole from tjie “ tool-house” through the wall into the cellar. This spirit was
so over-charged with spirit, that he was unable to walk, so was doomed to be
carried in a cart to the “ cage ” and all the people living round about came
next morning to look at the ghost that had been haunting the squire’s wine
cellar. Oh! what a fortune it would be to any one who copld catch a ghost
—a real, right down, “ ’arnest” ghost, and put him in a cage tg show him
round the country ! I wish I had ope.* If yppuld cost little pr nothing to
keep such a thing ; only the lodging, as he <puld pequjrp neither food, pre,
clothing, nor washing!
At page 118, we find an account of an apparition, appearing to a gentleman,
who was staying at a friend’s house at Sarratt, jn Hertfordshire^ and was
awoke in the middle of the night by a pressure qn his feet, and, lopkigg PP,
saw, by the light thpt was burning in the fire-place, a “ well-dressed gentle
man,” in a “
coaf an^ bright gilt buttons,” leaning 011 fhe foot of tho hed,
witfyut a head1 It appears that this was reported tp he tpp ghost of a poor
geutleqian pf that neighbourhood who had been murdered, ppd whose head
had peen opt off! and could therefore only bp ppppgni^gd liy his “ blue coat
and bright gilt buttons.”
Under any real circumstance this would indeed be too horrible and too
serious a subject to turn into ridicule • but in this case, such an evident false
hood, it is surely allowable to “ lay” such a ghost as this, such a senseless ghost,
in any possible way ; in fact, to laugh such a ghost out of countenance—
I, therefore, with my rod of double H. blacklead,
Hold up to scorn this well-dressed ghost without a head.
Any one looking at this figure will clearly see that he does not belong to
this world, and has therefore no business here; for, although there may be
some persons in this world who, perhaps, go about with a very small allowance
of brain, yet every body here must have some sort of a head upon his shoulders,
* Some few years back, a ghost was said to have been seen frequently in the neighbour
hood of some Roman Catholic institution near Leicester, and upon one occasion had nearly
frightened a young woman to death. I was staying with a friend at Leicester at the time,
and offered £100 reward to any one who would show me the ghost, as I wanted very much
to make a sketch of it, but I could not get a sight of it for love nor money.
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
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no matter how handsome, or queer-looking it may be. Now I am sorry to
be rude to any “ well-dressed gentleman,” or, indeed, to any body or soul ; but
as it appears (from the story) that this ghost had really no real business upon
earth, what “on earth” does he come here for? Why, for no other object,
it appears, but to “ show himself offso, in my opinion, the sooner he “ walks
off” the better. By the by, perhaps we ought not to be too severe upon the
poor fellow, for, upon consideration, he is placed in rather an awkward
position, as his head may be on the look out for the body, and know where it
is, but having no legs it cannot get to the body. On the other hand, although
the body has legs and could walk to the head, yet, having no eyes, cannot see
where the head is; so some excuse may be made upon this head, particularly
if he is not a talking ghost.
There is a story, somewhere in the Roman Catholic chronicles, of a
martyr, who, after being beheaded, picked up his head, and walked away
with it under his arm; but our ghost here, in the “ blue coat and bright gilt
buttons,” is not allowed to do this sort of thing, and the question naturally
arises, what has become of, or where is the spirit of this unfortunate
gentleman’s head ? Can the believers in ghosts tell us that ? and surely we
shall all feel obliged if they can inform us whether the apparitions of all
decapitated persons appear without their heads ; and, if not, what becomes of
their heads ? and, further, whether the mutilation of the body can in any way
affect the spirit—the soul 7
I shall not in this case “ pause for a reply,” because I know I shall have
a very long time to wait for an answer; but in proceeding to bring to the light
of day some more facts about ghosts from the dark side of nature, I feel as if
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
some inquisitive spirit was irresistibly compelling me to put questions as I
go on writing; and therefore, under these circumstances, present my com
pliments to those persons who know about ghosts, and the various authors
who support this belief, and I shall feel greatly obliged if they will answer
my queries at their earliest convenience.—N.B. Shall be glad to hear the
replies from the ghosts themselves, provided they pay the postage.
In the first place, then, from the authority quoted above, it appears that a
widow lady had, strange to say, married a second time! and that the ghost
of her first husband paid her “constant visits.” Query, What did the ghost
come for, and was the second husband at all jealous of his coming? With
respect to a celebrated actor, who had married a second wife, we find that the
apparition of his first wife appeared to him, and which appearance unfortunately
threw him into a fit, and at the same moment this ghost appeared to the
second wife, although they were several hundred miles apart at the time. I
can understand why the ghost of his first wife came to visit him who once
was hers, that is, because he was such a great actor, and such a good fellow ;
but why did it appear to the second wife ? and how is it that the same spirit
can appear in several places at the same instant ? I should like to know that.
At page 274 we find a DOG frightened at the ghost of a soldier ! But this is not
the only “unlucky dog” that has been terrified by apparitions; several
instances are given in different works. Query, How do the “poor dogs”
know a ghost is a ghost when they see one, particularly as they appear in the
same dresses which they had on when “in the flesh;” and even, suppose they
know that they are in the presence of a ghost, what makes them “ turn tail ?”
Yes, why should a tZoy, especially if he is a spirited dog, do so ? for almost in
the same page we are told of a horse who recognized his old master, who
appeared in the same dress he wore when alive, a “ sky-blue coat.” This
horse did not “turn tail.” No! but followed the phantom of his dear old
master, who was walking about the farm, and no doubt wanted to give him
a ride. Query, If a horse is not frightened at a ghost, why should dogs be
frightened at the sight of them ? And also, if a goose would be frightened if
it saw a ghost ? Asses, we know, are sometimes frightened at nothing, and
as a ghost is “next to nothing,” they must of course be frightened at ghosts.
At page 459 we are told of the ghost of a “ horse and cart,” and also of the
“ ghosts of sheep.” If this be so, doubtless there must likewise be the
ghosts of dogs (what “ droll dogs ” they must be), also of puppies, and asses.
What an interesting subject of inquiry is this for the zoologist!
We find, as we dive into the dark mysteries of apparitions, that there
are ghosts of all sorts and sizes, and that there are even lame ghosts, as is
proved by the following true tale of the apparition of an officer in India,
as related by several of his brother officers, whose words dare not be
doubted:—One Major R----- , who was presumed to be of about fifty or
sixty years of age, was with some young officers, proceeding up a river
in a barge ; and as they came to a considerable bend in the river, the
major and the other officers went ashore, in order to cross the neck of
land, taking their fowling-pieces and powder and shot with them, in the
hopes of meeting some game ; and they also took something to refresh
themselves on the road. At one part of their journey they took their
“ tiffing,” and after this they had to jump across a ditch, which the young
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13
officers cleared, but the major “ jumped short.” He told his companions to
march on, and he would follow after he had dried and put himself a little
in marching order. They saw him lay down his fowling-piece and his hat,
and they moved on. After marching some time, they came in sight of the
barge, and were wondering why the major did not follow, when, on a sudden,
they were surprised to see him (the major) at some distance from them
making towards the barge, “ without his hat or gun,” limping hastily along
in his top boots, and he did not appear to observe them. When they arrived
at the barge, he was not there. They returned to the spot where they had
left him, and found his hat and his fowling-piece, and with the assistance of
Some natives they discovered the body of the major in a pit dug for trapping
wild animals!
I defer asking any questions upon the foregoing for the present, for a
reason, but as the next case related is that of the ghost of a young man who
had been drowned, and the poor old mother saw her son “ dripping with
water,” we may surely inquire here if there is or can be such a wonderful
sight as an apparition of “dripping water!” or ghosts of tears! for we
find at page 387 an account of a weeping ghost, who let his tears fall on the
face of a female, who “ often felt the tears on her cheek, icy cold, but burn
afterwards, and leave a blue mark !” And on the same authority we find that
there is the ghost of dirt, for the ghost of the old beggar-man was “ dirty.”
And then if the ghost of a chimney-sweep were to
appear—and why not the spirit of a sweep as well as
anybody else ? But if he came, he must also appear
“ in his habits as he lived.” In that case there must
be the ghost of soot! Thus there are not only the
apparitions cfifluids, and dust and dirt, but also of hard
substances, as in the case of a ghost who was seen in a
garden with the ghost of a “ spade in his hand!”
And not only have we, then, ghosts of all these
matters, but also a ghost of the “ rustling of silk,”
“ creaking of shoes,” and “ sounds of footsteps,” many
instances of which will be found in “Footfalls on
the Boundary of another World,” by Robert Dale
Owen, a work most elaborately compiled, and sin
cerely do I wish that such talent and such research
had been engaged and directed to illustrate and assist
with light, instead of darkness, the present progressive
state of society, instead of striving and endeavouring,
as .it does, to drive us back into the “ outer darkness”
of the ignorance of the “ dark ages,” to endeavour to support and to bring
back the mind of man to a belief in the visits of ghosts, of necromancy,
bewitching, and all the “ black arts ” all of which it was hoped, in the
progress of time, would ultimately be swept away from the face of the earth,
by pure and sound Christian religion, education and science, all of which go
clearly to prove that “ black arts” are matters contrary to the natural laws
of the creation and the laws of God.
In one of the tales brought forward by this author is an account of the
haunting of an old manor-house near Leigh, in Kent, called Ramhurst, where
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
there was heard “knockings and sounds of footsteps,” more especially voices
which could not be accounted for, usually in an unoccupied room; “ some
times as if talking in a loud tone, sometimes as if reading aloud, occasionally
screaming.” The servants never saw anything, but the cook told her
mistress that on one occasion, in broad daylight, hearing the rustling of a
silk dress behind her, and which seemed to touch her, she turned suddenly
round, supposing it to be her mistress, but to her great surprise and terror
could not see anybody.
Mr. Owen is so thoroughly master of this spirit subject that he must be
able to tell us all about this “ rustling” of the “silk dresses” of ghosts, and
surely every one will be curious to learn the secret of such a curious fact.
The lady of the house, a Mrs. R----- , drove over one day to the railway
station at Tunbridge to fetch a young lady friend who was coming to stay
with her for some weeks. This was a Miss S----- , who “had been in the
habit of seeing apparitions from early childhood,” and when, upon their
return, they drove up to the entrance of the manor-house, Miss S----perceived on the threshold the appearance of two figures, apparently an
elderly couple, habited to the costume of the time of Queen Anne. They appeared
as if standing on the ground. Miss S----- saw the same apparition several
times after this, and held conversations with them, and they told her that
they were husband and wife, and that them name was “ Children
and she
informed the lady of the house, Mrs. R----- , of what she had seen and heard;
and as Mbs. R----- was dressing hurriedly one day for dinner, “ and not dream
ing of anything spiritual, as she hastily turned to leave her bed-chamber, there,
in the doorway, stood the same female figure Miss S----- had described!
identiöal in appearance and costume—even to the old ‘ point-lace ’ on her
1 brocaded silk dress ’—while beside her, on the left, but less distinctly
visible, Was the figure of the old squire, her husband; they uttered no sound,
but above the figure of the lady, as if written in phosphoric light in the
dusk atmosphere that surrounded her, were the words, ‘ Dame Children,’
together with some other words intimating that having never aspired beyond
the joys aild sorrows of this world, she had remained ‘ earth bound.’’ These
last, however, Mrs. R----- scarcely paused to decipher, as her brother (who
was vöry hungry) called out to know if they were ‘going to have any
dinner fnht day F ’ ” There was no time for hesitation; “ she closed her eyes,
rushed through the apparition and into the dining-room, throwing up her
hands, fifid öxclaiming to Miss S----- , ‘ Oh, my dear, I’ve walked through
Mrs. Children!’” Only think of that, “gentle reader!” Only think of
Mrs. R----- walking right through 11 Dame Children ”—“ old point-lace,
brocaded silk dress,” and all—and as old “Squire Children” was standing
by the side of his “ dame,” Mrs. R----- must either have upset the old
ghost or have walked through him also.
Although this story looks very much like as if it were intended as an
additional chapter to “ Joe Miller’s Jest-book,” the reader will please to
observe that Mr. Owen does not relate this as a joke, but, on the contrary,
expects that it will be received as a solemn serious fact; there was a cause for
the haunting of this old manor-house, with the talking, screaming, and rustling
of silk, and the appearance of the old-fashioned ghosts; there was a secret
which these ghosts wished to impart to the persons in the house at that
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
15
time, and if the gentleman reader will brace up his nerves, and the lady
reader will get her “ smelling-bottle ” ready, I’ll let them into the secret.
Now, pray, dear madam, don’t be terrified! Squire Children had formerly
been proprietor of the mansion, and he and his “ dame ” had taken great
delight and interest in the house—when alive—and they were very sorry to
find that the property had gone out of the family, and he and his dame had
come on purpose to let Mrs. R----- and her friend know all this ! There
now, there’s a secret for you—what do you think of that ?
In the year 1854, a baron (of the rather funny name of Mdenstubbe)
was residing alone in apartments in the Rue St. Lazare, Paris, and one night
there appeared to him in his bed-room the ghost of a stout old gentleman.
It seems that he saw a column of “light grayish vapour,” or sort of “bluish
light,” out of which there gradually grew into sight, within it, the figure of
a “tall, portly old man, with a fresh colour, blue eyes,* snow white hair,
thin white whiskers, but without beard or moustache, and dressed with care.
He seemed to wear a white cravat and long white waistcoat, high stiff shirt
collar, and long black frock coat thrown back from his chest as is wont of
corpulent people like him in hot weather. He appeared to lean on a heavy
white 'cane.” After the baron had seen this portly ghost, he went to bed
and to sleep, and in a dream the same figure appeared to him again, and he
thought he heard it say, “ Hitherto you have not believed in the reality of
apparitions, considering them only as the recallings of memory ; now, since
you have seen a stranger, you cannot consider it the reproduction of former
ideas.”
Every one will acknowledge that this was exceedingly kind on the part
of the ghost, as he had no doubt to come a long way for the express purpose
of setting the baron’s mind right upon this point; and had also come from
a very warm place, as his frock coat “ was thrown from his chest, as is wont
with corpulent people in hot weather.”
This polite, good-natured, “blue’’-eyed apparition, who was “dressed
with care,” had been the proprietor of the maison—a Monsieur Caron—
who had dropped down in an apoplectic fit; and, oh, horror of horrors, had
actually “ died in the very bed now occupied by the baron !’.....
When the daughter heard of the ghost of her papa, appearing thus upon
one or two occasions, “ she caused masses to be said for the soul of her father,
and it is “ alleged that the apparition has not been seen in any of the apart
ments since or, to use a vulgarism, we might say here, that this ghost had
“ cut his stick.”
Mr. Robert Dale Owen had this narrative from the baron himself in.
Paris, on the 11th of May, 1859, and he is of opinion that this ‘ story
derives much of its value from the calm and dispassionate manner in which
the witness appears to have observed the succession of phenomena, and the
exact details which, in consequence, he has been enabled to furnish. It is
remarkable also, as well for the electrical influences which preceded the
appearance, as on account of the correspondence between the apparition to
the baron in his waking state, and that subsequently seen in his dream ; the
first cognizable by one sense only—that of sight—the second appealing
* The baron must have had good eyes to have seen the precise colour’ of the ghost’s eyes
under such circumstances.
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
(though in vision of the sight only) to the hearing also. The coincidences
as to personal peculiarities and details of dress are too numerous and minutely
exact to be fortuitous, let us adopt what theory we may.”
As this baron is no doubt a most respectable and well-conducted gentle
man, in every respect, I will not say—
That Monsieur the Baron de Guldenstubbc
Had taken too much out of a bottle or tub,
but this I will say, that his account seems to be nothing more or less than a
very exact description of some “ dissolving view ” trick played off upon the
baron and others by some clever French neighbour; and as to his dream, it
is surely hardly worth while to notice such nonsense, as dreams are now well
understood to be only the imperfect operations of the organs of thought, in a
semi-dormant state, “half asleep and half awake,” and are the effect some
times of agreeable sensations or painful emotions, during the waking hours,
and may be produced to any disagreeable amount by eating a very hearty
supper of underdone “ pork pies,” and going to sleep on the back instead of
reclining on the side. We cannot dream of anything of which we have not
seen or had something of a similar kind before, nor can we form either
awake or in a dream any form whatever—animate or inanimate, which does
not partake or form some part of nature’s general objects; and in fact we
cannot invent an animal form without combining the parts of existing animals
either of man or beast. I trust that this fact will be a sufficient answer
for Monsieur Caron. And then, as to the “laying” of this ghost, it does
seem to me to be extraordinary, that any person possessed of common under
standing in these days, let their religion be what it may, should believe that
the Almighty GtOd would not let a departed spirit rest, until “ masses” had
been said for the soul of such person ; until some money had been paid to a
priest to mumble over a few set forms of prayer. Paid for prayers—prayers
at a certain market price! Then, as to the “white cravat,” “white
waistcoat,” “high stiff shirt collar,” and “ black frock coat,” and more par
ticularly the “heavy white cane,” is it to be understood that these said
“masses ” put all these materials to rest, as well as the soul or spirit of the
body ? If not, where did they go to ? Had they to return to purgatory by
themselves—had the heavy white walking-stick to walk off without its
owner ?
In the frame of mind in which this story is written, it is not at all sur
prising that the author should have taken so much trouble to put these facts
together, and that he should evidently be altogether so satisfied with the
couclusion which he arrives at. But ghost stories, like many other matters, •
where a foundation is once laid and established in falsehood or nonsense,
such builders may go on, adding any amount of the same materials, upon this
false basis. They may go on, working in the dark—piling up one story upon
another, until the structure assumes the appearance in the dusk of a wellestablished and substantial edifice, and looking as if it would stand firm for
ever ; but undermine this apparently stronghold, with that which is always
considered as a great bore, when used in working under the foundations of
long-established error or prejudice, namely, Truth, guided by true Religion,
and when thus armed and prepared, “ spring the mine ” with a good “ blow
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
17
up ” of common sense, to lei in the light of Heaven and Christian civilized
intelligence, and the whole mass of ignorance and superstition is blown and
scattered to the winds, “like the baseless fabric of a vision.”
It may be said that the truth of this ghost story rests mainly on a stick—
leans upon a “ heavy white cane.” Take away the cane and down comes
the ghost! “white waistcoat,” “ high stiff shirt collar,” “ black coat,” “ blue
eyes,” and all!
The author of “ Footfalls on the Boundary of another World ” is evidently
a religious man, and had he but thought as deeply upon these matters as I
have done, I am sure he would never have been guilty of the impiety of
bringing forward such questions as to the spirituality of walking-sticks.
But I am well pleased that this “ heavy white cane ” has been introduced
here, because it affords me a handle to cane or to knock down and drive
away entirely these hideous and unnatural myths; and also because it enables
me to stick to the text, and to introduce here to the public an old friend, as
another illustration bearing upon the stick question. This is the apparition
of one Tom Straitshank, drawn, as you will see, by your humble servant.
This was a jolly bold daring spirit, and was seen when on board the
Victory at the battle of Trafalgar to emerge, like Monsieur Caron, out of some
light bluish vapour, very much like the smoke of gunpowder; and in that
battle it appears, like one of the heroes in “ Chevy Chase,” his “ legs were
smitten off!” but, unlike that warrior, he found that Tie could not fight
“upon his stumps,” so he had a pair of wooden legs made, and having
bought two stout walking-sticks, was thus enabled to hobble about on his
“timber toes.” He almost always appeared in various different parts of
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
“ Greenwich. Hospital,” and very often surrounded by, and sometimes
emerging from, a vapour very like the smoke of tobacco. I feel here that I
ought to have given Tom his pipe, but the drawing of this tar was done
many years since, and until I read Mrs. Crowe’s book lately, I was not
aware that ghosts smoked their pipes, but it actually appears that they do
smoke, for at page 210 of “ The Hight-side of Mature,” a ghost is introduced
with a “short pipe,” and it was found out that the reason of his “walking
by night ” was, that he owed “ a small debt for tobacco !”
And when this little bacca-bill was paid,
This ghost, with his little bacca-pipe, was “laid;”
and we may suppose the spirit laid down his pipe. This ghost of a tobaccopipe raises the question of what these spiritual pipes are made—of what clay,
or if the Meer Schum are only mere shams; what sort of tobacco-leaves
their cigars are made of, and if there are any spiritual “cabbage-leaves”
mixed up with them.
Yes, we’d just like to know, what weed ’tis they burns,
Whether “ Shortcut,” “ Shag,” “Bird’s eye,” or “Returns.”
As the gents here, light their pipes &nd cigars with a kind of Lucifer
match, we may be pretty sure that they will continue to do so elsewhere;
but one would like to know also if ghosts chaw tobacco, if they take a quid
of “pig-tail,” and if the smokers ilSe spittoons—faugh !—and further, as
ghosts do smoke, if they take a pikch bf snuff, if there is such a thing as
spiritual snuff, if there be such things OS th© spirit of “Irish blaguard ”
and “ Scotch rappee ?”
Some of these “ sensationb wlodrama'S, or rather farces, might vie in
the number of nights in which tile performances took place, with some of
the “ sensation ” or popular thbUtrical piece© Of the present day. Here is
one entitled, “ The Drummed bf Te ¿Worth” (What a capital heading for a
“ play bill!”), in which the ghb&t or evil spirit of a drummer, or the ghost
of a drum (for it does not appear clearly which of the two it was), performed
the principal part in thi§ drama, with slight intervals, for “ two entire
years.”
Oh I this drutiimer, oh! this drummer,
I’ll tbll you what he used to do,
He used to heat upon his drum,
The “ Old Gentleman’s tattoo.”
The “ plot ” runs thus:—In March, 1661, Mr. Mompesson, a magistrate,
caused a vagrant drummer to be arrested, who had been annoying the
country by noisy demands for charity, and had ordered his drum, “ oh that
drum!” to be taken from him, and left in the bailiff’s hands. About the
middle of April following (that is in 1661), when Mr. Mompesson was pre
paring for a journey to London, the bailiff sent the drum to his house.
Upon his return home he was informed that noises had been heard, and then
he heard the noises himself, which were a “ thumping and drumming,” accom
panied by “ a strange noise and hollow sound.” The sign of it when it
came, was like a hurling in the air, over the house, and at its going off, the
beating of a drum, like that at the “ breaking up of a guard.”
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19
“ After a month’s disturbance outside the house (‘ which was most of it
of board’) it came into the room where the drum lay.” “ For an hour together
it would beat ‘Roundheads and cockolds,’ the ‘tattoo,’ and several other
points of war, as well as any drummer.” Upon one occasion, “ when many
were present, a gentleman said, ‘ Satan, if the drummer set thee to work, give
three knocks, ’ which it did very distinctly and no more. ” And for further trial,
he bid it for confirmation, if it were the drummer, to give five knocks and no
more that night, which it did, and left the house quiet all the night after.”
All this seems very strange, about this drummer and his drum,
But for myself, I really think this drumming ghost was “ all a hum.”
But strange as it certainly was, is it not still more strange, that educated
gentlemen, and even clergymen, as in this case also, should believe that the
Almighty would suffer an evil spirit to disturb and affright a whole innocent
family, because the head of that family had, in his capacity as magistrate,
thought it his duty to take away a drum, from no doubt a drunken drummer,
who by his noisy conduct had become a nuisance and an annoyance to the
neighbourhood ?
The next case of supposed spiritual antics was not the drumming of a
drum, but a tune upon a warming-pan, the “ clatter ” of “ a warming-pan,”
and a vast variety of other earthly sounds, which it was proved to have been
heard at the Rev. Samuel Wesley’s, who was the father of the celebrated
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, at a place called Epworth, in
Lincolnshire. These sounds consisted of “ knockings,” and “ groanings,” of
“footsteps,” and “rustling of silk trailing along” (the “rustling of silk”
seems to be a favourite air with the ghosts), “ clattering ” of the “ iron case
ment,” and “clattering” of the “warming-pan,” and then as if a “vessel full
of silver was poured upon Mrs. Wesley’s breast and ran jingling down to
her feetand all sorts of frightful noises, not only enough to “ frighten
anybody,” but which frightened even a big dog !—a large mastiff, who used
at first, when he heard the noises, “ to bark and leap and snap on one side
and the other, and that frequently before any person in the room heard the
noises at all; but after two or three days, he used to tremble and creep
away before the noise began. And by this, the family knew it was at hand ■
nor did the observation ever fail.” Poor bow woo ! what cruel ghosts to be
sure, to go and frighten a poor dog in this way.
Mrs. Wesley at one time thought it was “rats, and sent for a horn to
blow them away;” but blowing the horn did not blow the ghosts away.
No ; for at first it only came at night, but after the horn was blown it came
in the daytime as well.
There were many opinions offered as to the cause of these disturbances,
by different persons at different times. Dr. Coleridge “ considered it to be a
contagious nervous disease, the acme or intensest form of which is cata
lepsy.” Mr. Owen here asks if the mastiff was cataleptic also ? It is rather
curious that a cat is mentioned in this narrative. Now supposing the dog
could not have been cataleptic, the cat might perhaps have been so.
Some of the Wesley family believed it to be supernatural hauntings, and
give the following reason for it:—It appears that at morning and evening
family prayers, “ when the Rev. Samuel "Wesley, the father, commenced the
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A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
prayer for the king, a knocking began all round the room, and a thundering
knock attended the Amen.” Mr. Wesley observed that his wife did not say
amen to the prayer for the king. She said she could not, for she did not
believe that the Prince of Orange was king. Mr. Wesley vowed he could
not live with her until she did. He took his horse and rode away, and she
heard nothing of him for a twelvemonth. He then came back and lived
with her, as before, and although he did so, they add, that they fear this
vow was not forgotten before God.
If any religious persons were asked whether they thought that any law,
natural or divine, could be suspended or set aside without the permission or
sanction of the Creator, their answer would be, nay, must be, certainly not.
Yes, this would be their answer. Then is it not extraordinary that the
members of this pious clergyman’s family, and from whence sprang the
founder of such a large and respectable religious sect, should have such a
mean idea of the Supreme Being, as to suppose that He would allow the
regular laws of the universe to be suspended or set aside, and whole families
(including unoffending innocent children) to be disturbed, terrified, and some
times seriously injured, for such contemptible, ridiculous, and senseless reasons,
or purposes, such as those assigned in the various cases already alluded to.
It is indeed to me surprising that any one possessing an atom of sound Chris
tian religion, can suppose and maintain for one moment that these silly, sup
posed supernatural sounds and appearances can be, as they say, “ of God.”
We may defy the supporters of this apparition doctrine to bring forward
one circumstance in connection with these ghosts, which corresponds in any
way with the real character of the Creator, where any real benefit has been
known to result from such sounds and such appearances—none, none, none;
whereas we know that there has been a large amount of human suffering,
illness, folly, and mischief, and in former times, we know, to a large and
serious extent, but even now, in this “ age of intellect,” when we come
to investigate the causes of some of the most painful diseases amongst
children and young persons, particularly young females, we find, on the
authority of the first medical men, that they are occasioned by being
frightened by mischievous, thoughtless, or cruel persons, mainly in conse
quence of being taught in their childhood to loelieve in ghosts. I know a young
lady who, when a child, was placed in a dark closet by her nurse, and so
terrified in this way that the poor little girl lost her speech, and has been
dumb ever since. Dr. Elliotson, in one of his reports of the Mesmeric
Hospital, cites several most distressing and painful cases of “ chorea,” or
St. Vitus’s dance, and dreadful fits, brought on through fright; and
Dr. Wood, physician to St. Luke’s Hospital (for lunatics), assures me that
many cases of insanity are produced by terror from these causes ; but even
supposing that there are not very many cases of positive insanity brought
on in this way, still the unnatural excitement thus acting on the brain, or
the mind dwelling upon such matters, must have an unhealthy tendency.
If all rational and religious persons will give this subject the attention
which it demands, they will, I feel confident, see, that this belief in ghosts
should not only be discountenanced, but put an end to altogether, if
possible, as such notions not only have an injurious effect upon the health
and comfort of many persons, particularly those of tender age, but it
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21
also debases the proper ideas which man ought to have of the Creator ;
and not only so, but it also interferes with and trenches upon that mys
terious and sacred question, the immortality of the soul; that it disturbs
that belief wliich, with a firm trust and reliance upon the goodness and
mercy of God, is the only consolation the afflicted mind can have, when
mourning for the loss of those they have loved dearer than themselves.
These hauntings of drumming and knocking, and thumping and bumping,
with thundering noises, almost shaking the houses down, accompanied
by the delicate rustlings of silk and trailing of gowns, etc., were at the time
suspected of being tricks; and by the perusal of the following cases the
reader will see that such tricks can and have been played, and such im
posture carried on so successfully as to deceive clergymen and others; and
but for the severe natural tests brought to bear upon the supposed super
natural actors, would no doubt have been quoted by Mr. Owen and others
as well-attested, well-established, veritable spiritual performances.
At the corner of a street which runs from Snow Hill into Smithfield,
stands whatZ consider a public nuisance, commonly called a “ public-house,”
the sign of “ The Cock,” and that which is now a street was formerly a
rustic lane, and took its name from the sign of that house, and therefore
called to this day “ Cock Lane,” which locality, in about the years 1754 to
1756, became one of the most celebrated places in London, in consequence,
as it was believed, of one of the houses therein being taken possession of by
a female ghost, who was designated “the Cock Lane ghost.”
A man of the name of Parsons kept the house, and in which lodged a
gentleman and his wife of the name of Kempe. This lady died at this
house, and after her death it was given out by Parsons that his daughter,
then eleven years of age (who used to sleep with Mrs. Kempe when her
husband was out of town), was “ possessed” with the spirit of the deceased
lady, and that the spirit had informed the little girl that she had been
murdered by her husband—that she had been “poisoned !” A vast number
of respectable ladies and gentlemen, including clergymen, were “ taken in”—•
but happily for themselves not “ done for”—by this ghost; audit is said that
even the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson was cowmced of the spirituality of
the “ knocks” which the ghost gave in answer to questions, for it kept up
conversations in precisely the same manner—that is, by “ knocks” or “ raps”
—as the “ spirit-rappers” do at the present day. The “ scratchings” and
“knocks” were only heard when Parson’s little daughter was in bed.
After this sort of thing had gone on for a considerable time, and a post
mortem examination of the body of the supposed murdered lady, which had
been deposited in the vaults of St. John’s, Clerkenwell Close, Mr. Kempe
found it necessary to take steps to defend his character. The child was
removed to the house of a highly-respectable lady, where “ not a sound was
heard,” no “scratchings” or “knocks,” for several nights; but the girl
Parsons, who was now a year or two older, upon going to bed one night
informed the watchers that the ghost would pay a visit the following
morning; but the servants of the house informed the watchers that the
young lady had taken a bit of wood, six inches long by four inches broad,
into bed with her, which she had concealed in her stays. This bit of
wood was used to “ stand the kettle on.” The imposture was discovered,
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and the poor girl confessed to the wicked trickery which her parents had
tanght her to practise !
Mr. Kempe indicted Parsons and others for conspiracy against his life
and character, the case was tried before Lord Mansfield at Guildhall, July
10th, 1756, and all the parties convicted. The Rev. Mr. More and a printer,
with others, were heavily fined. Parsons was set in the pillory three times
in one month and imprisoned for two years, his wife for one year, and Mary
Eraser, the “Medium,” for six months in Bridewell, and kept to hard
labour. It came out in the course of investigation that Master Parsons had
borrowed some money of Mr. Kempe, and it was rather suspected that he
did not want to pay it back again.
Another celebrated spiritual farce was enacted in 1810, entitled “ The Sampford Ghost.” This is a village near Tiverton, in Devonshire, and the following
striking performances were “ attested by affidavit of the Rev. C. Cotton,” who,
by the by, was of opinion that “ a belief in ghosts is favourable to virtue.”
Imprimis, “ stamping on the boards answered by similar sounds under
neath the flooring, and these sounds followed the persons through the upper
apartments and answered the stamping of the feet. The servant women
were beaten in bed ‘ with a fist,’ a candlestick thrown at the master’s head but
did not hit him, heard footsteps, no one could be seen walking round, candles
were alight but could see no one, but steps were heard ‘ like a man’s foot in
a slipper,’ with rapping at the doors, etc. etc. After this the servants were
slapped, pushed, and buffeted. The bed was more than once stuck full of pins,
loud repeated knockings were heard in all the upper rooms, the house shook,
the windows rattled in their casements, and all the horrors of the most horrible
of romances were accumulated in this devoted habitation.” Amongst other
things it was declared by a man, of the rather suspicious name of “ Dodge,”
that the prentice boy had seen “ an old woman descend through the coiling.”
The house was tenanted by a man of the name of Chave, a huckster.
The landlord was a Mr. Tully, who determined to investigate this matter
himself, and went to sleep, or rather to pass the night, at the house for this
purpose. The account says that “ he took with him a reasonable degree
of scepticism, a considerable share of common senseand I believe a
good thick stick, which is, in my opinion, a much more powerful instru
ment in laying these kinds of ghosts than the old-fashioned remedy of
“ bell, book, and candle.”
When Mr. Tully went to the house he saw “ Dodge” speaking to Mrs,
Chave in the shop, and also saw him leave the house; but when he went up
stairs by himself who should he see but this same “ Dodge,” who had got up
stairs by a private entrance, but who could not dodge out of Mr. Tully’s
way. So Mr. Tully pounced upon him and locked him in the room, where
he also found a mopstick “ battered at the end into splinters and covered
with whitewash,” and this was the ghost that answered the stamping on the
floors. Mr. Tully went to bed, and as no ghosts thumped he went to sleep
and had a good night’s rest; and upon examining the house the next day,
found the ceilings below in “ a state of mutilation,” from the ghostly thumps
it had received.
The cause of the house being haunted was a conspiracy on the part of
Chave and his friends to get the house at a very low rent, as he would
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
23
not mind living on the premises, but other persons would not, of course, be
likely to take a “ haunted house.”
A drunken mob one day met and assaulted Chave after this trick was
exposed, and he took refuge in his “ haunted house,” from whence he fired a
pistol and shot one man dead. Another man was also killed at the same
time, thus two lives were sacrificed to this “ Sampford ghost.
The Rev.
C. Cotton died shortly after this ghost was discovered to be a flam, or sham
ghost; it was supposed of chagrin and vexation at being made a butt of by
the vulgar for his simplicity and credulity.
Another sensation farce was “ The Stockwell Grhost, which performed
its tricks very cleverly and successfully at a farm-house in that place in the
year 1772. It broke nearly every bit of glass, china, and crockery in the
house, and no discovery was made at the time of the how, the why, or the
wherefore. But in “ The Every Day Book,” edited and published by W.
Hone, the whole matter is explained in the confession of a woman who lived
at the house as servant girl at the time, and who played the part of the ghost
so well, that she escaped detection, and came off, only suspected by a few.
The inutility of attempting to do away entirely with this popular belief
in ghosts by arguments, however well founded on reason and science, has
already been hinted at; but it will be only fair that scn&fioo should just put a
word in, as it can do no harm and may do good.
Tn “ Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparition, or an Attempt to Trace
such Illusions to their Physical Causes, by Samuel Hibbert, M.D., E.R.S.E.,”
the author states his opinion to be that “ Apparitions are nothing more than
ideas or recollected images of the mind, which have been rendered more vivid
than actual impressions,” perhaps by morbid affections. It is also pointed out
that “ in ghost stories of a supposed supernatural character which by disease
are rendered so unduly intense as to induce spectral illusions, may be traced
to such fantastical objects of prior belief as are incorporated in the various
systems of superstition which for ages have possessed the minds of the vulgar. ’
“ Spectral illusions arise from a highly excited state of the nervous irrita
bility acting generally upon the system, or from inflammation of the brain.
“ The effect induced on the brain by intoxication from ardent spirits,
which have a strong tendency to inflame this organ, is attended with very
remarkable effects. These have lately been described as symptoms of
1 delirium tremens.’ Many cases are recorded which show the liability of the
patient to long-continued spectral impressions.”
Sir David Brewster represents these phenomena as images projected on
the retina—from the brain, and seen with the eyes open or shut.
Of the many causes assigned for spectral illusions the following may be
enumerated:—Holy ecstasies, various diseases of the brain, diseases of the
eye, extreme sensibility or nervous excitement from fright, various degrees
of fever, effects of opium, delirium tremens, ignorance and superstition, cata
lepsy, and confused, indistinct, or uncomprehended natural causes. Row all
persons who suppose they see ghosts are at liberty to select any of the fore
going causes for their being so deluded, for delusion it is, as I hope presently
to prove; but they may rest assured that these supposed spectres are always
produced either by disease or by over-excited imagination, which in some
cases it may be said amounts to disease.
�24
A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
However, to return to the ghosts. A vei’y common, or rather the common,
idea of a ghost is generally a very thin and scraggy figure; but if there are
such things there must be fat ghosts as well as thin ghosts; fat or thin
people are equally eligible “ to put in an appearance ” of this sort if they.
can; and to carry out this idea and make it quite clear, I here introduce an
old acquaintance of the public, Mr. Daniel ^Lambert, as he appeared to my
WTO-excited imagination whilst engaged on this work. How if Daniel came
as an apparition, he must, according to the authorities in these matters, not
only “ come in his habits as he lived,” that is, in the clothes he wore, but
must also come in his/«^ or he would not be recognized as the fattest man
“ and the heaviest man that ever lived,” and although he weighed “ 52 stone
11 pounds” (141b. to the stone) in the flesh, in the spirit, he would, of
course, be “ as light as a feather,” or rather an “ air bubbleand as he
could not dance and jump about when alive, I thought if I brought him in as
a ghost, I’d give him a bit of a treat, and let him dance upon the “ tight rope.”
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
25
Most persons will remember a story tolcl by “Pliny the younger ” of the
apparition of “ an old ” man appearing to Athenadorous, a Greek scholar.
This ghost was “lean, haggard, and dirty,” with “dishevelled hair and a
long beard.” He had “ chains on,” and came “shaking his'chains” at the
Greek scholar, who heeded him not, bnt went on with his studies. The old
o-host. however, “ came close to him and shook his chains over his head as
O''
he sat at the table,” whereupon Athenadorous arose and followed the dirty
old man in his chains, who went into the courtyard and “ stamped his foot
upon a stone about the centre of it, and—disappeared.” The Greek scholar
marked the spot, and next day had the place dug up, when, lo and behold,
they found there the skeleton of a human being.”
Going back to the days of “ Pliny the younger” is going back far enough
into early history for my purpose, which is to show that the notions about
apparitions which prevailed at that period are the same as those of the
present day, that is, of their appearing in the dresses they icore in their life
time, in every mi/nute particular, as to form, colour, and condition, new or old,
as the case might be ; but to prevent any mistake upon this head, I will just
add some few words from that reliable authority, Defoe, who, you will have
already remarked, is exceedingly particular as to the exactness of every article
of dress ; but in what follows he goes far beyond any other writer on this sub
ject, for instance he says, “We see them dressed in the very clothes which
we have cut to pieces, and given away, some to one body, some to another,
or applied to this or that use, so that we can give an account of every rag of them.
We can hear them speaking with the same voice and sound, though the organ
which formed their former speech we are sure is perished and gone.”
From the various instances of the appearance of apparitions which have
been brought before the reader, it will, I presume, be admitted that abundant
and sufficient proof has been given that the writers about ghosts, and all
those who have professed to have seen ghosts, declare that they appear in the
dresses ivhich they wore in their lifetime ; but from all I have been able to
learn, it does not appear that from the days'of Pliny the younger down to the
days of Shakespeare, and from thence down to the present time, THAT ANY
ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT OF THE GROSS ABSURDITY, AND
IMPOSSIBILITY, OF THERE BEING SUCH THINGS AS GHOSTS
OP WEARING APPAREL, IRON ARMOUR, WALKING STICKS, AND
SHOVELS! NO, NOT ONE, except myself, and this I claim as my
DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS, and that therefore it follows, as a
matter of course, that as ghosts cannot, must not, dare not, for decency’s sake,
appear WITHOUT CLOTHES; and as there can be no such things AS
GHOSTS OR SPIRITS OF CLOTHES, why, then, it appears that GHOSTS
NEVER DID APPEAR, AND NEVER CAN APPEAR, at any rate not in
the way in which they have been hitherto supposed to appear.
And now let us glance at the material question, or question of materialism.
In the year 1828, a work was published, entitled “ Past Feelings Reno
vated ; or, Ideas occasioned by the perusal of Dr. Hibbert’s Philosophy of
Apparitions,” which the author says were “ written with the view of coun
teracting any sentiments approaching materialism, which that work, however
unintentional on the part of the author, may have a tendency to produce.”
The author of “ Past Feelings Renovated ” is a firm believer in apparitions,
who generally “ come in their habits as they lived; ” and in his preface he says,
�26
A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
“The general tendency of Dr. Hibbert’s work, and evident fallacy of many of the
arguments in support of opinions too nearly approaching4materialism,’ induced
me togive the subject that serious consideration which it imperatively demands.”
This author, it will be perceived, is very much opposed to anything like
materialism in relation to this question, and is strongly in favour of
spiritualism,” but will he be so good as to tell us what “ a pair of Buckskins”
are made of? and what A pair of Top-boots are made of? and whether these
materials are spmfiiafecZ by any process, or whether THE CLOTHES WE
WEAR OX OUR BODIES BECOME A PART AND PARCEL
OF OUR SOULS ? And as it is clearly impossible for spirits to wear
dresses made of the materials of the earth, we should like to know if
there are spiritual-outfitting shops for the clothing of ghosts who pay
visits on earth, and if empty, haunted houses are used for this purpose,
in the same way as the establishments, and after the manner of 44 Moses
and Son,” or 44 Hyam Brothers,” or such like houses of business, or if so,
then there must be also the spirit of woollen cloth, the spirit of leather, the
spirit of a coat, the spirit of boots and shoes. There must also be the spirit
of trousers, spirits of gaiters, waistcoats, neckties, spirits of buckles, for
shoes and knees; spirit of buttons, 44 bright gilt buttonsspirits of hats,
caps, bonnets, gowns, and petticoats; spirits of hoops and crinoline, and
ghost’s stockings. Yes ; only think of the ghosts of stockings, but if the
ghost of a lady had to make her appearance here, she could not present her
self before company without her shoes and stockings, so there must be
GHOSTS OF STOCKINGS.
in
�A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
27
Most persons will surely feel some hesitation in accepting the assertions
made by Defoe, that ghosts appear in clothes that have been cut up, or
distributed in different places, or destroyed, or that they come in the same
garments that are being worn at the same moment by living persons, or
which are at the time of appearing, in wardrobes or old clothes shops ; or,
perhaps, thousands of miles away from the spot where the ghost pays his
unwelcome visit, or worn or torn into rags, and stuck upon a broomstick
“to frighten away the crows.” No, no, I think we may rest assured that
ghosts could not appear in these dresses, or shreds and patches; in fact,
that they could not show themselves in any dress made of the materials of
the earth as already suggested; and, therefore, if they did wear any dresses
they must have been composed of a spiritual material, if it be possible to
unite, in any way, two such opposites. Then comes the question, from
whence is this spiritual material obtained, and also if there are spirit manu
factories, spirit weavers and spinners, and spirit tanners and “tan pits ?”
If this be so, then there must, of course, be ghost tailors, working with
ghosts of needles (how sharp they must be !), and ghosts of threads (and how
fine they must be !), and the ghost of a “ sleeve board,” and the ghost of the
iron, which the tailors use to flatten the seams, called a “ goose ” (only think
of the ghost of a tailor’s “goose!”) Then there must be the ghost of a
“bootmaker,” with the ghost of a “lapstone,” and a “last,” and the spirit
of “ cobbler’s wax!” Ghost of “ button makers,” “ wig makers,” and
“hatters;” and, indeed, of every trade necessary to fit out a ghost, either
lady or gentleman, in order to make it appear that they really did appear
“ in their habits as they lived.”
There are, I know, many respectable worthy persons even at the present
day who believe they sometimes see apparitions, and I would here take the
liberty to advise such persons to ponder a little upon the above remarks
relative to the clothing of spirits, and, when again they think they see a
GHOST, recollect that with the exception of the face and a little bit of the
neck perhaps, and also the hands, if without gloves, that all the other parts are
CLOTHES. And I would also take the liberty to suggest that he should ask
the ghost these questions:—“ Who’s your tailor ?” and “ Who’s your hatter ?”
Whatever the belief of the “Bard of Avon” might have been with
respect to ghosts, it is quite clear that [in these cases he was merely exer
cising his great poetical talent to work out the several points of popular belief
in apparitions, for the purpose of producing a striking “ stage effectbut
all that he brings forward, goes to prove the long-established faith in these
aerial beings, and the general and almost universal requisites of character
and costume. But it probably never entered the great mind of this great
poet that there could be no such thing as a ghost of iron, for if it had, he
would, no doubt, have dressed up the ghost of Hamlet’s father in some sort
of suit rather more aerial than a suit of steel armour. There may be
“ more things ’twixt heaven and earth” than were dreamt of in Horatio’s
philosophy; but the ghost of Iron armour could not be one of these
things, be included in the list, and on reverting to this ghost, the reader
will observe that I have given no figure in that suit of armour, and no head
to the figure of Napoleon the Eirst, and for this reason, the art of drawing,
you will please to observe, is a severe critical test in matters of this sort.
For suppose an artist is employed to make a drawing of this ghost of
�28
A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.
Hamlet’s father, he will begin, or ought to begin, first to sketch out, very
lightly, the size and attitude of the figure required; then suppose he makes
out the face, and then begins to work on the helmet, but here he stops—■
why ? because if he has any thought, he will say this is not spirit, this is
manufactured iron ! And so with the other parts of the figure, all except
the face is material; and then to my old enemy in one sense, and friend in
another—Napoleon, for I volunteered, and armed myself to assist to keep him
from coming over here before I was twenty years of age; and as a carica
turist, what by turning him, sometimes into ridicule, and sometimes, in fact
very often I may say, killing him with my sharp etching needle, “little
Boney ” used very frequently to give me a good solid bit of meat, and make
my “pot boil.” But with respect to this headless figure, if the artist is
requested to make a drawing of the spirit of this great general, he would,
after making out the face, begin with the collar of the coat, and then stop—
and why ? Because the coat is no part of a spirit, and if the whole of the
figure were finished with the face in, what would that be but the spirit of the
face of Napoleon ; all the rest would consist of a cocked-hat, with tricolored
cockade; a military coat, with buttons; a waistcoat, a sword and sash,
leather gloves, and leather pantaloons, jack-boots, and spurs! Are, or can
these things be spiritual ? If the end of the finger is placed over the space
which is left for the face of Napoleon, the figure will be recognized as his
without the head; and so with Hamlet’s father, place the end of the finger
in front of the helmet, and the armour will pass for the ghost; and do the like
with the figure of Daniel Lambert, put the head out of sight, all the rest is
neck-handkerchief, a bit of shirt, a coat, a waistcoast, a pair of gloves, small
clothes (not very small by the by), an immense pair of stockings, and the points
of a pair of shoes; and as to the headless ghost of the gentleman in the blue
coat and gilt buttons, that is also NOTHING BUT A SUIT OF CLOTHES.
The reader will recollect that Daniel Defoe, Mrs. Crowe, and Mr. Owen,
and other authors have all introduced GHOSTS OF WIGS amongst their
facts, in support of spiritual apparitions, so if there are ghosts of “ wigs,”
there must also be GHOSTS OF “ PIGTAILS,” because they were some
times a part of a wig; and in taking leave of the reader, I take the liberty
of introducing a ghost of a wig and pigtail, who will make a polite bow
for the humble author and artist of this “DISCOVERY CONCERNING
�ADDENDA.
Just as I depicted the ghost of the wig and pigtail to bow out all the oldfashioned ghosts, methought I heard a voice say, “Well, sir, suppose it
granted that you have shown the utter impossibility of there being such
things as GHOSTS of hats, coats, sticks, and umbrellas ; admitting that yon
really have “laid” all these ghosts of the old style, what say you to the
“ spirit manifestations” of the present day ?
Well, this does certainly seem to be putting rather a “ Home question
a “ Home thrust,” if you please ; but sharp as the question may be, and
difficult as it may seem to answer, I am not going to shirk the question.
In the first place, this inquiring spirit must please to recollect that these
“spirit-rappers” of the present day are almost an entirely new-fashioned
spirit, a different sort of ghost altogether, or ghosts in “piecemeal;” only
bits of spirits, who never come of their own accord, and have to be squeezed
out of a table bit by bit, when they do hold up a hand, or tap or touch
people’s legs under the table with their hand, or a bit of one. But never
having attended a “séance,” I cannot give the
spirit any information
about these spirits from my own personal knowledge. If the inquirer wishes
to know “ all about” these spirits, he had better apply to Mr. D. D. Home,
who is quite “ at home” with these spirits, upon the most “ familiar” terms !
in fact, “hand and glove” with them ; and they feel so much at home with
Mr. Home, that they are constantly putting their hands and arms, if not
their legs, “ under his mahogany.” I therefore take the liberty of referring
“ Inquirer” to this Home medium, or any other medium, Home or foreign,
for a “full, true, and particular account” of the character and conduct of
these new-fashioned, New-found-ZancZ ghosts or spiritual gentlefolk, for it does
not appear that there are any of the “ working-class” amongst them.
It has been asserted by Mr. Home, that he has seen “ full length”
ghosts. These I shall put to the test a little further on.
As I intend putting a few gwsi/ows myself to these “ mediums,” or
through this medium, to the spirits, I have to hope that these questions of
mine will be taken by the inquiring spirits who question me as an answer to
their question upon what may be at present considered upon the whole as
almost, if not entirely, wzunsweraSZe, at least with the ordinary natural
organs of thought and judgment, and therefore it must be left to these
tabular spirits or their mediums to explain (that is, if they can) that which,
to the “ outsiders,” as the affair stands at this moment, is an inexplicable
puzzle.
In bringing forward my questions, I will take the liberty of making an
extract from the “ Times,” of the 9th of April last, where Mr. D. D. Home’s
book of “ Incidents in my Life,” is reviewed with considerable acumen and
�30
ADDENDA.
ability; and wherein the writer states that a Dr. Wilkinson was desirous of
obtaining some information and explanations respecting the “ways and
means” of these spirits. The Doctor asked Mr. Home why the effects
(that is, the manifestations) “ took place under the table and not upon it.”
Mr. Home said, that “ in habituated circles the results were easily obtained
above board, visibly to all, but that at the first sitting it was not so ; that
scepticism was almost universal in men’s intellects, and marred the forces
at work ; that the spirits accomplish what they do through our life sphere,
or atmosphere, which was permeated at our wills, and if the will was contrary,
the sphere was unfit for being operated upon.” Moreover, allowance must
be made for a certain indisposition on the part of the spirits (as we infer a
sort of spiritual bashfulness), “which deters them from exhibiting their
members m a state of imperfect formation.” When some had merely a single
finger put upon their knees, “ Mr. Home said that the presenting spirits
could often make one finger where they could not make two, and two where
they could not form an entire hand, just as they could form a hand where
they could not realize a whole human figure” (for there seems never to
have been life sphere at a séance adequate to the exhibition of an entire
figure, though Mr. Home has frequently seen spirits in their full
PROPORTIONS WHEN ALONE5’).
And now for one of my questions, which question is not only my question
but a public question, and one which Mr. Home is bound to answer, if he
can. I therefore publicly call upon that gentleman to inform the public if
these spirits, which he saw in their “ full proportions,” were in a state of
nudity, or if they had clothes on ? and if clothed, of what those clothes
were made ? If he does not know these particulars of his own knowledge,
as he has the ear of these spirits, their entire confidence, and as they have
his ear, let him call upon them to let him into the secret of the manufacture
of their garments, or how the spirits procure them ; and until Mr. Home
explains this satisfactorily to the public, we have a right to suspect that
either he has been himself deceived, or that he----- Perhaps I 'had better
not finish the sentence.
The “ inquiring spirit” will see that the clothes are the test, and this test
stands good here, as well as with the old fashioned ghosts, and this, I
presume, will be allowed as rather a “ Home question ” to Mr. Home ; a
Home thrust which he can only parry by giving the information asked ;
which, if he does not, I will not say “ Britons, strike Home,” but unless he
or the spirits “ rap” out a satisfactory answer, he may rely upon it that
he will feel the weight of public opinion, which will weigh rather heavily
upon him. But I give him a first-rate chance of becoming exceedingly
popular, for the mass, the millions, are ready to believe anything in the
shape of a fact, and I am confident that the whole world would be delighted
to get hold of such a secret as this. It would be, perhaps, extreme cruelty
to put this gentleman quite “ out of spirits but unless he tells us what
the clothes of spirits are made of, I should say that he will stand in rather
an awkward position before the bar of public opinion.
Another question here I’ll put, about this spirit “ D D outfit,”
Which I fear that the spirits won’t answer, just as yet—
�ADDENDA.
31
It is a question, I grant, that looks rather queer,
Which is—are their 11 togs ” made out of our atmosphere ?”
If the cloth is made out of stuff “permeated by our wills”—
And further, if these ghosts are honest, and pay their tailors’ bills ?
And then, as to the handy craft and crafty hands—
Oh tell us if warm hands, and cold—
So cold ! so cold ! oh dear !-—
Are made in any kind of mould,
Or how they trick ’em out of our “ life sphere ?”
Now supposing, nay even admitting, that the hands of spirits are exhi
bited at these séances, does it not really seem to be impossible to believe
that they are made out of the air that surrounds the persons who surround
the table ! ! !
Making fingers and hands out of our “ life-sphere ” or “ atmosphere !”
“ permeated by our wills !” Well, I was going to say, “ after that comes in
a horse to be shaved,” but really I hardly know what to say ; for whilst
reading the accounts of these spirits, I feel almost bewildered, and as the
mediums say that there is what they call“ spirit-writing,” and that spirits
seize the person’s wrist, and make them write just what they wist, I suspect
that the spirit of botheration has got hold of my hand, and is making me
write what it pleases ; and I therefore hope the “ gentle reader ” will excuse
me if I write down here ‘‘Handy pandy, Jack a dandy,” or any other
childish nonsense ; for as this table lifting and turning seems to alter and
set aside altogether the law of gravitation and all the universal laws of the
universe, that used to be thought by simple people as fixed and unalterable,
so likewise these “ spirit hands ” and “ spirit rapping ” seem to put reason
and rationality entirely out of the field. Therefore, as common sense cannot
be used in any sense on this question, as it is utterly useless in the present
state of affairs to attempt to “ chop logic ” with “ raps,” and their mediums
upon such tables as these, it will be here quite in place to talk a little non
sense. The reader will therefore, I am sure, bear with me if I make two or
three silly suggestions upon this phenomena of moving tables.
Under ordinary circumstances, when persons who are not “ habituated ”
have any natural substance to deal with—say, for instance, a deal table—the
mind naturally endeavours to account in a natural way for such apiece of fur
niture moving or being moved without any assignable natural cause. Common
sense in this case being “ put out of court,” and the scientific world having
seemingly “ given it up,” there is no other source left but to deal with the
spirits or their mediums in this matter ; and I would here ask if these tables,
heavy or light, are moved by this “ life-sphere ” or “ atmosphere ” which is
“permeated by our wills or if the hands made out of this airy n othin g -m ove
and lift the furniture ? As they can give an answer to the query, we shall
all surely be very much obliged to them if they will do so ; and whilst they
are preparing their answer, I will go on with a little more nonsense, and
make a most ridiculous suggestion upon the table lifting, quite as ridiculous
perhaps as anything that has emanated from the spirits òr their mediums.
It may seem absurd to bring “Dame Nature ” into this “ circle,” but never
�32
ADDENDA.
theless it does seem true that animals who are associated with man seem to
partake, to a very large extent, of man’s intelligence. Dogs particularly so,
cats pretty well, and even pigs have been known, when domesticated, to be
cleanly and polite, and of course we have all heard of the “learned pig.”
Dear little birds, and even asses and geese, have been known to share in
this “life sphere” or “atmosphere” of man’s brain. I knew a man who
was educating and training a goose, to come out before the public as a per
former as a learned goose, which intention was unfortunately not carried out,
in consequence of an accident which happened to the poor bird about
“ Michaelmas ” time. It appears that he got placed so near a large fire that
he was very soon “ done brown,” and upon a “ post mortem ” examination it
was discovered that he was stuffed full of sage and onion.
We are so accustomed to have intelligent animals about us, that we do
not look upon it as anything very extraordinary. Nevertheless, the pheno
mena is not the less wonderful for all that. Now I lay this question on the
table, for the spirits to rap out an answer—viz., as tables and chairs are
associated with man (and woman, of course), can, or is the vital spark, or
life principle, conveyed from the body into the wood, which is porous, and
can it make these otherwise inanimate objects “ all alive alive 0 ?” The
reader must excuse me for asking such a silly question, and will please to
recollect that I am not putting the question to him, but to the silly spirits
and their mediums, for these spirits, it is stated, are sometimes quite as silly
as any body can be. I therefore ask again whether the vital principle or
force is conveyed into the tables whilst the parties or “ circle ” are pressing
their hands upon it; and if not, please to tell us what it is, for the “ outer ”
world are very anxious and waiting to know. It must be observed that the
tables only move under this pressure, and whilst the “ circle ” is thus acting
and using its atmospheric influence, otherwise the tables might or would be
always jumping about the room; and if the tables are not thus moved by
animal heat, how would the animal man be able to get his meals ? And it
follows as a natural—beg pardon, spiritual—consequence, that if this be not
the case, or the cause, then are the spirits a very thoughtful and wellbehaved society, to be thus careful not to rattle or roll the table about and
jump it up and down when the dinner is spread; or perhaps these spirits
partake of the “ good things of this life,” as very poor Drench emigrants
used to do, namely, by merely smelling the viands at a cook’s shop “ sniff,
sniff, ah ! dat is nice a roast a bcf—sniff, sniff, ah ! dat nice piece de veal
ah ! sniff, sniff, dat a nice piece a de pork-—ah ! ah! sniff, sniff” but if they
don’t eat it appears they drink; for in an article by R. H. Hatton, in the
“ Victoria Magazine,”* entitled “ The Unspiritual World of Spirits, it states
that Mr. Howitt “ believes in a modern German ghost that drank beer,
which called forth the words (with a horrible exclamation), “ it swallows!
and at a “ seance ” held at a chateau near Paris, three years back, a gentle
man asked for some brandy and water, which when brought was “ snatched
out of his hold by a spirit-hand which carried it beneath the table,” and “ the
glass came back empty.” We are told that the spirits have difficulty in
making a finger; if so, they must have a greater difficulty in “ making
* Published by Emily Faithful. And I take this opportunity of wishing success to the
“ Victoria Magazine,” as a part of the good work in which that lady is engaged.
j
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•mouths;” but suppose they do make a mouth, and the spirits drink the
beer and spirits, where is the liquid to go to, if they have made no stomach
out of the atmosphere of the ladies and gentlemen forming the “ circle ”
round the table? This does not look as if it were “all fair and above
board;” but, on the contrary, very much as if there were some clever rascally
little bodies playing their pranks and taking the “ spirits ” under the table ;
however, if it be the real spirits who drank the beer and spirits, I as a teeto
taler must express my disgust at such conduct, and, for one, will have nothing
to do with such spirits ; indeed, I am quite shocked to find, contrary to all
former ideas of spiritual life, that even these “
spirits ” have still a taste
for the spirit of alcohol. I really begin to fear that these drinking, if not
drunken spirits, do haunt the “ spirit-vaults.” The beer they drink is, I
presume, “ Home-brewed.”
But to turn again to the “ table-turning.” One way that I would sug
gest this question, to test, as to whether it be the life principle that gives a
sort of life to these wooden Zqys, and drawers, and body, and flaps, from
which the spirits send out their “ raps,” would be, to substitute an iron table,
a good heavy iron table, and as it is said they can lift any weight, let ’em
lift that; and if not iron, then try a good large marble slab. If the iron will
not “ enter into their soul,” let them try if their soul will enter into the iron,
or if the stone will be moved by the “ atmosphere ” of their flesh and their
bone.
Wonders, it is said, will never cease, and most assuredly some of the
tales told of these “ seancesf and some of the reported spirit exhibitions are
so wonderful, so astounding, that one does not know how to believe them;
and there are certain circumstances in some parts of the performance that
1 look so like trickery, that it is impossible to accept the whole relation as
fact, however much-we might feel disposed to receive a part thereof. Some
of these performances are performed in the dark, in the “ pitch dark,” so dark
that the company cannot see each other ; and it is in this state of “ inner ”
and “ utter” darkness that the spirits prefer to lift Mr. Home, andyZoai him
up to the ceiling* so that the spirits who lift him are “invisible spirits,” and
Mr. Home is invisible also. And this makes me think that these spirits are
without clothing, and being so, are ashamed to show themselves. I put
this as a question to Mr. Home, and also, as they only make hands and
shake hands, if they are not “ ashamed to show their faces,” why don’t
they make faces ? (I don’t mean grimaces). But I should not only like to
know why they don’t make some “atmospheric” “life-sphere” faces, but
should also very much like to sketch their likenesses, or “take them off,” as
people say.
Touching upon these faces reminds me that a new feature has been
introduced in this new world, that is, taking up this new fashion of the old
world by having “ carte de visiles.” A Mr. AZkm-ler, of Boston, U.S., dis
covered that these spirits have a taste for art as well as music, and that they
have a little vanity like ourselves; and it has since been discovered that /raziiZ
has been discovered., of photographers—“palming off as spirit likeness—pic
tures of persons now alive!” But here comes the clothes test again, these
* I should like to ask a question here—
Is Home by spirits lifted, or by “ atmosphere ?”
D
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spirited portraits have all got their clothes on. Apparitions of suits of clothes,
spirits of coats, boots, and ladies' dresses 1!!
This test of the clothing is very severe, for without having clothes the
ghost can’t appear; for even that extraordinary clever invention of Professor
Pepper’s, the “ patent” ghost, which he exhibited at the Polytechnic Insti
tution, and which is introduced into a piece called “The Haunted Man and
the Ghost’s Bargain,” now performing at the Adelphi Theatre, and which
ghost, I am sorry to say, I have not yet had time to see, but this “ patent
ghost,” of course, has CLOTHES on. In fact, apparitions cannot appear
without clothes, and apparitions of clothes cannot appear; and so—but
really I had quite forgotten that I had left Mr. Home sticking up against
the ceiling, upon which it appears he makes his marZ>—all in the dark
as a kind of“ skylark.” “ Seeing is believing,” but as his friends could
not see him, he was obliged to do some thing of this sort, suspecting, I sup
pose, that his friends would not take his word. When a light was thrown
upon this scene, Mr. Home was discovered lying upon his back upon the
table ! It may be rude to say that all this was all a trick, but pardonable,
perhaps, to say it looks very like trickery.
Talking of “ skylarking,” reminds me, that in conversation with a friend
of mine, who is a believer in Mr. Home, and expressing a doubt about the
possibility of Mr. H. kicking his heels up in the air in this way, and
asking if it were not imaginary, my friend assured me that it was no “ flight
of fancy,” that it was quite true, and that it was not at all improbable but
that some day, in daylight, we might “ see Mr. Home floating across the
metropolis!” I suggested that Mr. H. had better mind what he was
about, as there was danger in such a flight, for some short-sighted sports
man, or if not short-sighted, he might be in such a state of fuddle as
not “to know a hawk from a hand saw,” and might mistake him for some
gigantic, monstrous blackbird,” or some “ rara avis,” and bring him down
with his gun, though in this case he would not want to “ bag his game.”
To prevent such a hit as this, or rather such a mischance, I would suggest
that due notice should be given to the public when Mr. Home intends
appearing up above the chimney-pots; and that in addition to his floating,
that the spirits should run him along the “ electric telegraph” wires. That
would be something worth seeing, and much better than the stupid, silly,
nonsensical tricks they now play either on the table or under the table.
There used formerly, even in my time—I don’t go back so far as the
reign of the Charles’s, but to the days of the “ charlies,” as the old
watchmen were called, and before the “new police” were introduced to
the public,—in those days ghost tricks were played in various parts of
London ; one favourite spot was in front of St. Giles’s churchyard, near unto
a “ spirit vault.” It used to be reported that there was a ghost every night
in this churchyard, but it was an invisible ghost, for it never was seen,
though there was a mob of people gaping and straining their eyes to get
a peep at it; but during this time, some low cunning spirits used to creep
out of the adjoining spirit vaults, mix amongst the crowd, and having very
fingers, used, instead of tapping the people-on the knees, as the spirits
do at the “seances,” they dipped their hands into the “atmosphere” of
respectable people’s pockets, and “ spirited away” their watches, handker
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chiefs, pocket-books, or anything else that came in their way, and then bolt
into the vaults again.
N.B.—These spirits conld swallow spirits, like those described in the
preceding pages.
Spirits of the old style used to delight in the darkness of night, but
sometimes they’d show their pale faces by moonlight. A “ seance” is de
scribed that took place by moonlight. I don’t mean to assert that it was
all “moonshine.” A table was placed in front of a window between the
curtains ; the “ circle” round the table and the space between the curtains
was the stage where the performance took place. Query : How did the
•mediums know, when they placed this table, that the spirits who “ lent a
hand” in the performance would act their play at that part of the table ?
By the by, the table plays an important part m these spirited pieces ; the
spirits surely would not be able to get on at all without a table ! At
each side of this stage, lit by the moon, and close to the window curtains,
which formed as it were the “ proscenium,” stood a gentleman, one on each
side, like two “prompters,” one of whom was Mr. Home; and when one
particular hand was thrust up above the rim of the table, and which hand
had a glove on, Mr. H. cried out, “ Oh ! keep me from that hand ! it is so
cold; do not let it touch me.” Query : How did Mr. H. know that this
hand was so cold? and had it put the glove on because it felt itself so
cold? And out of whose “atmosphere,” or “life sphere” had the spirit
made this hand ? if it were so cold, it must have got the stuff through
some very cold-hearted “medium.” Then comes my clothes test again, where
did the hand get the glove ? Suppose it was a spirit hand,, the hand of a soul
that once did live on earth, could it be the spirit of a glove ? Whilst waiting
for an answer to these queries, I would suggest to these “ mediums,” that if
they see this “ hand and glove” again, they should ask, “ Who’s your glover ?”
Yes, it would be important to obtain the name and address of such a glover,
as such gloves, we may suppose, would not wear out, nor require cleaning.
An old and valued friend of mine attended a séance in 1860, of
which he wrote a short account, and which he keeps (in manuscript) to
lend to his friends for their information and amusement, upon this subject ;
and although he confesses that, as a novice, he was rather startled upon one
or two occasions during the evening, that the extraordinary proceeding of
the séance had something of a supernatural tinge about it ; nevertheless,
upon mature reflection he came to the conclusion that the whole was a very
cleverly-managed piece of trickery and imposture. As I am permitted to
quote from this manuscript, I will here give a short extract to show the
reader how an American medium—a Dr. Dash—assisted by two other
“mediums,” also Americans, managed the spirits upon that occasion. A
party of eight were seated round a table :—
“ Shortly and anon, a change came o’er the spirit of the Doctor. He
jumped up and said, ‘ Hush! I hear a spirit rapping at the door.’
*******
11 The Doctor told us there was a spirit which wished to join our seance
the door was opened, a chair was most politely placed at the table, and
there the spirit sat, but, like ‘ Banquo’s ’ GhoBt, invisible to the company.”
In the Waterloo Road there resided—next door to each other—some
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years back, two paperhangers, who vied with each other in doing “ sten
cilling ”—that is, rnbbing colour on walls through a cut out pattern ; there
was great opposition between them, and one of them (No. 1) wrote on the
front of-his house in large letters, “ The Acme of Stencilling,” upon which
No. 2, determined not to be outdone in this style, wrote upon the front of his
house in letters cZowSZe the size of his neighbour’s, 11 The Heigth of the
Acme of Stencilling. ’ how, I do not know whether this pretended intro
duction of an invisible spirit, and putting a chair for this worse than nothing
to sit in, when he had nothing to sit down upon, may be considered as the
heigth of the acme of unprincipled, impudent imposture ; but it goes far
enough to show that trickery can be and is carried on, and carried on even as
a trade or “ calling ’ in this “ spirit-rapping ” business, for I have seen a
printed card where a y>ro/esswraaZ “medium” gives his name and address, and
has on it, “ Circles for Spiritual Manifestation—hours from 12 to 3 and
5 to 10 p.m. to which is added, “ Private Parties and Families visited.”
If such a card as this had been introduced in “ The Broad Grin Jest
Book,” some years back, it would have been quite in place, but to think that
such a card as this should be circulated in this “age of intellect,” as a
business card the card of a “ Maître de Ceremonie,” who undertakes to intro
duce invisible spirits, into parties and private families, is something more
than I ever expected to see, on the outside of Bethlem, or in the list of
impostures at a police station.
As this Dr. Fash pretended that spirits were “mixed up ” with this party
were indeed surrounding the “ circle,” and who had come into the room
without hnocking, and were not accommodated with chairs, why should this
gnost of nothing kriocK at the door, and how did the Dr. know that he
wished to join the séance, and why should this invisible Mr. Nobody have
a chair, and the other spirits be obliged to stand ? And then was this spirit
dressed in his best ? for as it was an evening party, he ought to have been
“ dressed with care.”
The calling up of one spirit seems to call up or raise another spirit, and
as Dr. Fash introduced a dumb and invisible spirit who was supposed to
take his seat at a table, I take this opportunity of introducing a spirit of a
very different character—one of the old fashioned spirits—one that could
both be seen and heard, and who was seen to take his seat at the table, and
enter into conversation with his friends. An extract from the “ Registry of
Brisley Church in 1706,” runs thus :—A Mr. Grose went to see a Mr. Shaw,
and whilst these gentlemen were quietly smoking their pipes, in comes
(without “rapping”) the ghost of their friend Mr. Naylor. They asked him
to sit down, which he did, and they conversed together for about two hours ;
he was asked how it fared ■with him, he replied, “Very well,” and when he
seemed about to move, they asked him if he could not stay a little longer,
he replied that he “ could not do so, for he had only three days’ leave of
absence, and had other business to attend to.”*
Now this is something like a ghost, whose visit you observe is recorded
As, according to Mrs. Crowe, ghosts can smoke, and upon equally good authority,
spirits can swallow spirits, no doubt this ghost of Mr. Naylor, who did not come without
tne help of his tailor, took a pipe with his friends, and took something to drink with them
also, for you may rely upon it, that the ghost’s friends were not smoking a (< cry pipe.”
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in the registry of a parish church, and as the party I believe were all clergy
men, of course the Rev. Mr. Naylor came in his clerical li habits as he lived,”
no doubt “ dressed with care.” Yes, this you see was a respectable sort of
ghost—one that you could see and listen to, not such a poor “ dummy ”
as Dr. Dash’s poor spiritless spirit, Mr. Nothing Nobody, Esq.,
Who could neither be seen nor heard,
Which even to name, seems quite absurd.
The reason for thus suddenly pretending to introduce a spirit, was to
produce an effect—a sensation—upon the nerves of the party assembled (par
ticularly the novices), for it is only under excited nervous feelings that any
thing like success can attend the operations of such “mediums.”
The Creator has so formed us that our nerves are more excitable in dark
ness than in the light, and our senses thus excited, are for our safety and pro
tection, when moving about in the dark, either in-doors or out, as we feel and
know, that there is a chance of our being seriously injured by running against
or fading over something, or that there might be evil spirits in the shape of
robbers lurking about, against whom it would be necessary to be ready to
defend ourselves, or to avoid. Our faculties being thus put on the “ qui
vive,” is natural, healthy, and proper; but when the mind has been imbued
from childhood with a belief in ghosts, and the individual should happen to
be in a dark and lonely place, and should hear or see indistinctly something
which the mind on the instant is not able to account for, naturally, or com
prehend rationally, then under such circumstances, to use a common expres
sion, “we are not ourselves,” and in giving way to imaginary fears, under the
impression of supernatural appearances, the stoutest hearts and the strongest
men, have been known “ to quiver and to quail,” to be confused and to feel
that thrilling sensation, that cold trickling down the back from head to heel,
which is produced from fright, and nothing but the rallying of their mental
and physical forces, and rousing up a determined resolution, has enabled
such men to overcome this coward-like fear, and to discover that they have
been scared by some natural sound, or some imperfectly-seen natural object,
that it was all “ a false alarm,” or perhaps a made up ghost, by some fool
or rogue, or both, who was playing his “ tricks upon travellers.”
But with weak and nervous persons, ' who believe in supernatural
appearances, the effects of fright, under such circumstances, produce the
most painful feelings, total prostration of the faculties, and sometimes
fatal consequences. Here is an instance where all the faculties were
prostrated by fright in consequence of seeing a supposed apparition, followed
by the death of an innocent person :—
In the year 1804, the inhabitants of Hammersmith, a village situated on
the west side of the metropolis, but now forming part of it, were much
terrified by the appearance of, as it was said, a spectre clothed in a winding
sheet. This apparition made its appearance in the dark evenings in the
churchyard, and in several avenues about the place. I well remember “ the
Hammersmith ghost,” as it was called, being the “ Town Talk ” of that day,
and not only in Hammersmith, but even in town, many persons were afraid
to leave their homes after dusk. Besides a man of the name of John
Graham, who was detected, and I believe imprisoned, there were several
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actors in this ghostly farce, which was however brought to an end in a
tragical manner—that is, by a young man of the name of Thomas Millwood,
a plasterer, being shot dead by one Francis Smith, an exciseman, who at the
time (as the narrator states) was rather “ warm over his liquor ”—that is
about half drunk ; and in this state he was allowed at the “ White Hart ”
public house to load a gun with shot, and go out for the purpose of dis
covering the ghost, and he no sooner saw a figure in a light dress (which
was the poor plasterer in his working dress, on his road to fetch his wife
home, who had been at work all day at a house in the neighbourhood of
“ Black Lion Lane,” where this murder was committed) than he lost the use
of his faculties, and was in such a state of fright that, as he said in his
defence, he “ did not know what he was about,” and unfortunately, under
these circumstances, killed an innocent man, which he never would have
done had he not been a believer in apparitions and ghosts.
In p. 46, of the “ Victoria Magazine,” the writer, in speaking of an
interview which Mr. Home had with the spirit of the Count Cagli ostro,
states that the said spirit diffused and wafted over his friend Mr. H. the most
“ delicious perfumes,” and that they “appeared to have been a part of the
Count’s personal resources and argues for various reasons that these spirits
are “ sensitive to sweet smells,” and that the spirits are “ adepts in per
fumery,” “ are fond of it,” and surround themselves and their medium
“ with exquisite odours.” And as Mr. Home is such a great favourite
with these “ spirits,” his “ life sphere ” and “ atmosphere ” must be
very highly scented and perfumed with smells, and this accounts at once
for the spirits playing “ Home, sweet Home ” upon the accordian, when he
holds it under the table with one hand, and they play upon it, I suppose,
with “ their hands of atmosphere I” Be this as it may, however “ sweet upon
themselves ” they may be, these spirits are at this moment in very “ bad
odour ” with a large body of the press, as also with the large body of the
public, and it therefore rests with the “ mediums” to bring these “spirits of
darkness ” into light, and that these supposed spirits, their mediums, and their friends should place themselves in a right position before the public.
“ Come out in the road ” (as the low folk say when they are going to fight).
By the by, there surely must be (as they are all spirited fellows) some
“prizefighters” amongst these “rapping” spirits, and if so, I would suggest
that mediums, as “backers” and “bottle-holders” (provided they don’t
have any “spirits” in their bottle), should get up a “prizefight” as a
public exhibition, between such spirits as Jem Belcher and Tom Crib, or any
of those celebrated deceased popular heroes; and there would be this advantage
in such contests, that the “sporting world ” would have all their favourite
sport, and be able to bet upon their favourites in these “ sham-fights ” with
out the attendant horrible and disgusting brutalities of the real fights ; for
although they would, of course, “ rap ” each other, their fists being only made
of “ atmosphere,” they could not hurt or disfigure each other as they do in
the earthly boxing. And if these aerial boxers did “ knock the wind out ”
of each other, it would be of no consequence, for as they would be sur
rounded with lots of their own kind of “life sphere,” or “ atmosphere,” they
could soon “ make themselves up ” again, if even they did not “ make it up ”
with each other. But I see some difficulties in carrying out these “sports,”
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which did not occur to me at first ; for instance, if they cannot make their
own thick heads out of the “ atmosphere ” of the heads about them, having
no heads then, how can they be “ set by the ears ?” Besides, they could
not hear when “time” was called, and then, again, the patrons of the
“ Prize ring ” would not be satisfied unless they could see these spirited
ghosts “ knock each other’s heads half off.”
If these spirits cannot “ make head,” and keep up with the intellectual pro
gress of the spirit of the times, and with the spirit of the world. If they cannot
be a “ body politic,” or a body of spirits, or any other body, let the mediums
set their hands to work, “All hands, ahoy !” Let them lend a hand to any
“ handiwork“ hand-looms,” “ or hand about the tea and bread and butter
at parties, or make themselves “ handy ” in any way, even if they were made
to use “hand-brooms.” Yes ; let them put their hands to any honest call
ing rather than keep their hands in idleness, for they should recollect what
Dr. Watts asserts—
“ That Satan finds some mischief still
Por idle hands to do.”
And if these “ spirit hands ” are too flimsy and delicate to work—to
do hard work—then let them play musical instruments, get up popular con
certs, and as they can make perfumes, or are themselves perfumers, they
could thus whilst playing gratify their audiences with sweet sounds and sweet
scents at the same time.
However absurd this asserted fact of tables being moved by spirits may
appear, and to many persons appearing not worth a “ second thought,”
yet it is natural that we should endeavour to account for such a movement
in a natural way, one cause assigned is natural heat, the other involuntary
muscular action, etc., etc. In this state of uncertainty a little “guess work”
about the table movement, may perhaps be excused, even if it be as absurd
as “table lifting” itself. We know that the common air, dry or moist,
affects all earthly materials, and that
The water and the air,
Are everywhere,
Changing, the flower and the stone,
The flesh and the bone.
And we also know that wood, being a very porous material, is powerfully
affected by the “broad and general casing air,” that it expands or contracts
according to the condition of the atmosphere, and thus we find when there
is any considerable change in the temperature, that all the book-cases, ward
robes, chests of drawers, clothes presses, tables, or “ what-nots,” in different
parts of the house, will indicate this change by a creaking, cracking noise.
I have in my studio an oaken cabinet, which acts under the influence of the
change of air, like a talking thermometer, and with which I sometimes hold a
sort of a “ cabinet council” upon the subject of the change of weather.
When seated in my room, with doors, and windows, and shutters shut, if it
has been dry weather for any length of time, and my cabinet begins creaking,
I know by this sound from the wood, that the warm moist air, which has been
wafted with the warm gulf stream from the West Indies, is diffusing itself
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around the room, and producing an effect upon me and my furniture, even
to the fire-irons and fender, and so, on the contrary, after wet or moist
weather, if the creaking is heard again, I know pretty well “ which way the
wind blows,” and that it is a dry wind, without looking out at the weather vane.
If it merely goes creak, creak, crack, and stops there, the change will not be
great, but when it goes cre-ak, cre-ak, creak, crack, crack, crack—rumble,
rumble, rumble, creak, crack ! then do I know, and find, that the charge will
be considerable, and can spell out, change—rain—rain—rain, much rain.
Many persons who have given any thought to this question, are of opinion
that electric currents passing from the human body is the cause of this “ table
moving,” and I introduce my “weather wise ” cabinet to the public here to
show, that if a little damp air, or a little dry air will move, and make a large
heavy cabinet talk in this way, how much more likely it is that a table should
be moved, and particularly if these “ electric currents ” fly “ like lightning”
through the passages or spiracles of this popular, but at present mysterious
piece of furniture.
No wonder then if the “ life sphere ” and “ the atmosphere ” of the “ light
headed,” “light-heeled,” who “permeate their wills” into this otherwise
inanimate object, should all of a sudden “ set the table in a roar,” and “rap
out their rappartees,” and that “ the head of the table ” should bob up and
down, so as to make the people stare, either standing around or stuck in a
chair, and that the legs all so clumsy, should caper and dance and kick up in
the air, to the tune of “ Well did you ever!” and “ Well I declare !” ! ! !
This cabinet of mine is filled with the spirited works of departed spirits,
including some of my dear father’s humorous works, also of the great Hogarth,
the great Gilray, and other masters, ancient and modern; the mediums
would, I suppose, say—
That when this cabinet begins a “ crack
or creaking,
It is these sprites of art, who thus to me are speaking.
And as one of the panels was split some years back, the mediums would
perhaps suggest that these “droll spirits” made the cabinet “split its
sides with laughter,” but I know it was the hot air of a hot summer, a,nd
certainly not done by a drum or a drummer—that this “splitting” or
“ flying,” only shows the force of the common air, and I hope adds to the
force of my argument in this respect, and further, of this I feel assured, that
if I were to “ clear the decks for action,” bring this cabinet out into the
middle of my studio, and could induce some of the lady and gentlemen
“mediums” to come and form a “circle,” and clap their hands on and
around this piece of furniture, that, although Monsieur Cabinet has no “ light
fantastic toe,” that he would nevertheless join in the merry dance, and cut
some curious capers on his castors, and even “beat time ” perhaps with his
curious creaks and cracks. By the by, glass being a non-conductor, a table
made of glass, would at once settle this question, as to whether the tables are
moved by electric currents or not.
I am now about to suggest what I feel assured every one will admit to be
a grand idea, and which would be to make these spirits useful in a way that
would be highly appreciated and patronized by the public, and put all the
* Scotch for talking.
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41
“fortune-tellers” and “rulers of the stars ” out of the field altogether, and
perhaps even damage the “ electric wires ” a little. It is to establish a com
pany, to be entitled, “ The Human Question and Spirit Answer Company !”
The principal “ capital" to work upon, would be the overpowering principle of
curiosity; in this case, instead of having a “cWr-man,” they would, I
suppose, have a ¡fuWe-man ; if so, then Homo would be the man, and of this
company it never could be said, that they had not a rap at their bankers.
“ Limited,” of course, but the business would be 'O'^-limited, with profits,
corresponding ; branch question and answer offices, branching out all
over the globe, with “letter-boxes” and “chatter-boxes”. If the busi
ness of such offices were worked and carried out in a “ proper spirit," it
would assuredly be “ a success.” I am supposing, of course, that these
spirits will be able to “ tell us something we don’t know,” for up to the
present time it does not appear that they have told anything to us that we
could not have told them, and in a more common sense and grammatical
style than most of the communications which they have “ rapped out,” but
if there are any reaZ, great, and good spirits amongst these gammocking
table-turners, they must, one would suppose, know all about everything and
everybody, and everybody would be asking questions, and if so, “ Oh, my !”
what a lot of funny questions there would be ! and what a lot of funny
answers ! {all 11 private and confidential," of course) as nobody would be sure
not to tell nobody any secrets that nobody wanted anybody to know.
Under ordinary circumstances I am not at all what might be called a
curious person, but although I should (like other people) like to know how
certain matters might turn out, and although I should never* think of asking
a “ fortune-teller” or of consulting the gentry who profess to “ rule the
stars,” yet if such a company as this were started, I feel that I should be
compelled to start off to the first office I could get to, for the purpose of
putting two or three questions, to which I want immediate answers if it
were possible, and should not mind paying something extra for favourable
answers. I will here just give a specimen of some of these questions.
Some literary gentleman and others belonging to the “ Urban Club,”
and also some members of the “ Dramatic Authors’ ” Society, have formed
themselves in a committee (upon which they have done me the honour to
place my name), for the purpose of setting on foot and assisting to raise a
fund, if possible, to erect a monument in honour of William Shakspeare,
as the 23rd of April, 1864, will be the ter-centenary of that poet’s birth
day. Another committee for the same purpose is also in formation, and
the two committees will either amalgamate or work together. I have
suggested to the first committee that in order to assist the funds for the
above-mentioned purpose, that a notice be sent out
the public to this
effect—that all persons having any works of art, either paintings, drawings,
or sculpture, should be invited and respectfully requested to lend such works
to a committee of artists, to form a gallery or national collection illustrating
this author’s works, to be called “ The Shakspeare Exhibition,” and in
which designs for the said monument could also be exhibited. The ques
tion, therefore, I would put to the spirits through the proper medium would
bo this, viz.—If such invitations were sent out, would the holders of such
works lend them for the purpose of thus being placed before the public ?
�42
ADDENDA.
And further—If the Government were applied to, would they “ lend the
loan” of a proper and fitting building to exhibit the various works in ? Anri
a little further, and “ though last not least,” would the nobility and gentry,
and the public at large, patronize such an exhibition largely, and what the
receipts would amount to ? I should like to have all this answered, and
that at an early day. But as it may be a long clay, before such a company
could get into working order, and as the members of the public press are
a good-natured, shrewd class of spirits—if the idea is worth anything, they
would most likely take it up, and I should be as much pleased to get an
answer through that medium as any other that I know of.
There are several other questions which I should put to this “ Spirit
Answer Company” if it were started, and which I feel that I could not well
put to any one else, as I do not think that any body would give themselves
the trouble to give me an answer; and it is not every body who coulcl give
me satisfactory answers, however much they might feel disposed to do so. I
enumerate two or three.
Firstly—After a dreadful railway accident which occurred the other
day, Lord Brougham in the House of Lords suggested, I believe, that an
act of Parliament should be passed compelling the public to travel at a
rational speed; and as civil engineers declare that if the public would be
content to do so, that it would decrease the risk of life to about 999 per
cent., I want to know if the public are ever likely to adopt the moderate
speed, or sort of safe and sure, mode of travelling by rail, instead of flying
along at such a risk of life and limb, as they do now, occasionally coming to
a dreadflcl smash, with an awful unnecessary sacrifice of life, picking up
the bodies or the pieces thereof, crying out “All right, go a-head,” and
dashing off at the same irrational speed with the probability of the like
accidents again ?
Secondly—If it is at all likely that “ lovely woman” will ever leave off
wearing dresses which constantly expose her to the risk of being burnt
to death ?
Upon looking, however, at some of the other questions, they appear so
frivolous and ridiculous, that I do not think I would put them even to these
spirits. For instance, one was, that supposing I took a part in one of
Shakspeare’s plays, for the purpose of assisting this proposed Shakspearian
fund, and for some other purposes, if, as I can draw a little, should I, under
such circumstances, draw a full house ?
There is a common saying amongst schoolboys, that “ If all //i; were liacls,
and all 7zad.$‘ were Shads, we never should be in want of fish for supper.”
How the if, in this spirit question, is an important if. for if ad be true, that is
asserted by the “medmms” of the marvels which they publish, then are those
marvels some of the most marvellous and astounding wonders that have
ever been known or heard of in the authentic history of the world. And
from the extent to which this belief has spread, and is still spreading, and
also from the injurious effects it has already produced, and is likely still
further to produce, on the mental and physical condition of a large number
of the people, it now becomes rather, indeed, I may say, a very serious ques
tion. Some of the effects produced by attending the soirees of these “ good,
bad, and indifferent” spirits, will be seen from the reasons stated by a staunch
�ADDENDA.
43
supporter of these supernatural, pastimes for giving up—in fact, being com
pelled to give up—seances,li because, in the first place (he states), it was too
exhausting to the vital fluids of the medium. (They “ took too long a pull,
or swallowed too much of his atmosphere.”') And also “ because the
necessity of keeping the mind elevated to a higher state of contemplation,
while we were repeating the alphabet and receiving messages letter by letter,
was too great a strain upon our faculties ; and because the undeveloped and
earth-bound spirits throng about the mediums, and struggle to enter into
parley with them, apparently with the purpose of getting possession of their
natures, or exchanging' natures; and I have heard of sittings terminating
from this cause in cases of paralysis or demonaical possession.”
In such a state, no doubt the poor creatures imagine that they see
apparitions. I had an old friend who was affected with paralysis of the
brain, but not from this cause, as he was a total and decided disbeliever in
apparitions ; but from the diseased condition of his brain he had the appear
ance of a person or ghost constantly by his side for a considerable time, at
which he used to laugh, and which I wanted him to introduce to me; but to
me it was always invisible. One day at dinner he stood up, and said to those
present, “ Don’t you see I’m going ?” and fell down—dead !
Although there is much to laugh at with respect to these modern spirits,
although some of the scenes at the seances are perfectly ridiculous—and
would have afforded capital subjects for the powerful pen of my dear deceased
friend, “ Thomas Ingoldsby”—the “raps” rapped out sometimes are positive
nonsense and sometimes positive falsehood; and “ evil communications,”
which all who have been to school know, “ corrupt good manners,” yet, on
the other hand, there are serious symptoms sometimes attended with serious
consequences.
The mediums tell us that these spiritual manifestations are permitted by
the “ Omnipotent ;” that Jesus Christ sanctions some of these spiritual
communications, and are indeed given us as if proceeding from Himself;
and yet we find that some persons who attend these “seances”- have their
nervous system so shaken as to distort them limbs, in fact, lose the use of
their limbs altogether, or are “ driven raving mad !”
In “ The Light in the Valley,” a work which I consider ought to be
entitled “ Darkness in the Valley,” but which I must do the author the
justice to say is written and edited in what is evidently intended as a pro
found, proper, and religious spirit, and with a good intent; but however
sincere and honest those pious feelings may be, they are nevertheless distorted
religious opinions, containing symbolical ideas as dark as any symbolical
emanations ever given forth in the darkest ages.
In this work specimens are given of “ spirit writing” and 11 spirit drawing
The “ spirit writing” consists of unmeaning, unintelligible scribbling scrawls,
and very rarely containing any letters or words. These productions are
ascribed to a “ spirit hand ” seizing and guiding the medium’s hand, but which
is nothing more than involuntary action of the muscles under an excited
and unnatural state of the nervous system; and the spirit drawings are
executed under similar conditions. The drawings profess to be designed
and conjointly executed in this way, by holy spirits or angels, and are given
as sacred guidances to man. These are the medium’s opinions and belief;
�44
ADDENDA.
but, unfortunately, too many of these sort of drawings may be seen in
certain asylums. But if I know anything of religion, which I have been
looking at carefully and critically for half a century; also if I know anything
of designing and drawing, in which profession I have been working in my
humble way for more than that time, I pronounce these spirit drawings
(in the language of art) to be “out of drawing,” and contrary to all healthy
emanations of thought as design and composition; and instead of repre
senting subjects or figures which would convey a proper and great idea of
Divine attributes, are, in fact, caricatures of such sacred subjects.
I shall here give a few extracts from the communication of these false
spirits, and spiritual explanations of these spirit scrawls and scratches ; but
some which I had intended to insert, upon reflection, I refrain from giving,
believing that they would not only be offensive to sensible religious persons,
but injurious to youthful minds. Some of the illustrations given in this book
are furnished by a “ drawing medium,” under the titles of “ Christ without
Hands,” “ the Bearded Christ,” “Christ among the Sphere,” “the Woman
Crucified,” etc., etc. In the first of these something like a figure is scribbled
in, and surrounded with scratches, called spirit writing; the “ Bearded Christ”
is merely a bust, very badly drawn, and produced in the same unnatural way,
and surrounded by the same sort of scribbling. The shape of the beard and
the atmosphere of the beard are, it appears, most important matters; and
the author, in speaking of this, says, in describing Him, “ In ‘ the Bearded
Christ’ the atmosphere of the beard, as well as the beard itself, is repre
sented ; and I am acquainted with a ‘seeing medium,’ who has seen the
beard-atmosphere, not only when the beard is worn, but about the shaven
chin, with sufficient precision to decide of what shape the beard would be
were it allowed to grow” !!! !!! !!! !!! !!!
The subject professing to represent “ Christ among the Spheres” is a
better and more finished drawing; but, according to all the laws and rules
of proportion, the figure of Christ, by the side of our globe, would be
30,000 miles in height, and a lily which he holds in his hand 15,000 miles
long ! All these gross absurdities show, that the real spirit has nothing
whatever to do with such absurd doctrines or productions. This “ drawing
medium” gives an account of the trials and sufferings, bodily and mental,
which she went through before she became an accomplished and complete
medium ; and, according to her own statement, she must have gone through
a most fearful and horrible schooling. In one part it is stated she went
through “ several months of most painful bewilderment and extreme distress of
mind; ’ and in another part she says that the intensest antagonism between
truth and falsehood, between light and darkness, encounters the astounded
and unprepared pilgrim upon his first entrance into the realm of spirit.
“ I felt frequently as if enveloped in an atmosphere which sent through
my whole frame warm streams of electricity in waving spirals from the
crown of my head to the soles of my feet; and occasionally, generally at
midnight, I was seized with twitchings and convulsive movements of my
whole body, which were distressing beyond words. All these symptoms at
length came to a crisis in a frightful trance.” And this drawing medium
signs herself “ Comfort !” and further states that—
“Waking in the night, the strange drawing process instantly commenced,
�ADDENDA.
45
and I felt and saw within me the figure of an angel, whose countenance
resembled that of Christ, descending from a morning sky towards me, and
bearing upon his shoulders a large cross, whilst from his lips proceeded these
words—‘ Love, mercy, peace, but not till after death.’ Again my soul
trembled with anguish, for that strange portentous word, ‘ death,'' was ever
written within me or without. This peculiar stage of development soon
produced a singular affection of my throat, an affection of the mucous
membrane, which caused several times a day, and especially when rising in
the morning, the most distressing sensations. After suffering thus for several
days, the mysterious writing informed me that I must take a certain quantity
of port wine every day, and then the sensation would leave me.” And she
adds, “I followed the spiritual direction, and found almost immediate relief.”
The spirit doctor, in fact, after the dreadful suffering the scholar had
gone through, prescribed a “ drop of comfort,” a drop of the spirit of
Alcohol, which spirit is very much like these rapping spirits, deceitful and
dangerous, and this, we may presume, is the reason why the medicine adopted
the name of “ comfort.” Well, some people will say that some little comfort
was needed after so much discomfort and suffering—but why, all this suffer
ing ? Cannot these spirit drawing-masters instruct their pupils in this poor,
wretched, miserable style of drawing, without all this misery and punishment?
If not, I should think that very few ladies or gentlemen would like to take
lessons in drawing, or, indeed, in any other art, under such painful circum
stances. A spirit drawing-master’s card would, I presume, be something
like the following:—
TOM PAIN,
MEDIUM SPIRIT DRAWING- TAUGHT, UNDER EXTREME TORTURE,
«
IN TWENTX-FOUR LESSONS, AT SO MUCH ILL-HEALTH
AND SUFFERING PER LESSON.
N.JB.—Private Residence, under the Table.
V All the Drawing and Writing Materials to be provided by the
Pupils. The lashing supplied by the Spirit, and the Medical Advice Gratis ;
but the Pupils to find the “ drop of spirit comfort” themselves.
In taking one more extract from “ Comfort,” I hope that I am not giving
any discomfort to that “medium,” who, from my mmost heart I hope and
trust, is now enjoying that rational and natural comfort which all well-wishers
to their fellow-creatures wish strangers to feel, as well as their friends. The
medium proceeds to say:—“Ignorance of their real nature and of their
alternate purposes in the progress of civilization and development of mind,
has already caused immense misery in many directions, and will cause more
and more, even infinitely worse, until the time arrives that the medical
world will follow the example of Dr. Garth Wilkinson in his valuable
pamphlet on the treatment of lunacy through spiritualism, and calmly regard
this growing development not as insanity, but as a key whereby to unlock
insanity ” !!!
I have not the slightest notion of what this pamphlet contains, but from
the above very -uncomfortable opinion expressed by “ Comfort” upon this
�46
>
ADDENDA.
matter, it seems to me that a sufficient 11 key” is here given to unlock, if not
all, at all events, the greater part of the mysteries of this spirit drawing and
spirit writing, and, indeed, the whole of this spirit movement.
I would here call the attention of the medical world to the way in which
the spirits are acting towards that body. I presume that they are the spirits
of deceased members of the profession; and if so they are acting in a
most unbrotherly, underhanded manner, in fact, undermining the pro
fession altogether by “rapping” out prescriptions from under the table, for
which they do not take a “rap” as a fee. Yes, “ advice gratis” for nothing.
I entreat medical men not to smile at my remarks, for they may be
assured that there is a dark conspiracy—I cannot say “ afoot,” because
spirits have no feet—but I may say in hand; and as matters stand at present,
it looks as if “ The D. without the M., and Da. Faustus” had entered into a
partnership to destroy all medical doctors by introducing a system which
they could not only not practise, but, as far as I am able to judge, could
never understand, and which, though it is given in the “ Light in the Valley,”
II read” they may, and “mark” they may, “Zetrm” they cannot, and “in
wardly digest” they never will.
In the concluding pages of the “ Light in the Valley,” a letter is intro
duced, which is evidently written by a highly-educated person, in support of
“ an occult law,” and from all that is stated in this letter the writer
might as well have said at once, I believe in witchcraft, or that craft
which enables an ignorant old woman, who is called a “witch,” to
make contracts with the Evil One, for the purpose of torturing, or
making miserable for life, or destroying unto death, her neighbours, their
children, or their cattle ; and that an ignorant old man, under the name of a
“wizard,” may do the same; also, in astrology, or “ruling the stars,” to
predict coming events, or the future fate of individuals born at particular
periods of the year, according to the position of the stars at that time; or in
“ fortune-telling,” performed either by “ crossing the hand” with a piece of
money, got out of some simpleton’s pocket for that purpose, but which never
gets back there again; or by bits of paper, called “ cardsto which also may
be added, as a matter of course, I believe in ghosts, hobgoblins, and in every
thing of a supernatural character.
We can readily understand why the ignorant and uneducated believe in
all these matters; the cause is traced and known; but it seems almost
impossible to believe that educated persons, even with a small amount
of reflection, can put their faith in such superstitious delusions ; and if the
question is put to such persons, as “ show us any good” resulting in the
existence of an “ occult law,” we may safely defy any one to show one
instance, where any good has ever resulted from such a belief in what they
term the deep “ arcana of Nature’s book,” or rather unnatural nonsense.
Whereas, on the othei' hand, the amount of evil arising from this source
has been fearfully great, and the murders many ; dragging poor old creatures
through ponds, and hanging them, and even torturing them to death in a way
too disgusting to describe. Our own records are, unfortunately, too massive
of such ignorant and savage atrocities ; but not only were such deeds enacted
in this (at that time) so misnamed Christian land, but also in other countries
denominated Christian; but which title their brutal acts gave them, like our
�ADDENDA,
47
selves, no right to assume ; not only in Europe, but also in America. In that
country, about the year 1642, many poor old women were persecuted to
death. One woman was hung at Salem for bewitching four children, and
the eldest daughter afterwards confessed to the tricks that she and her
sisters had played in pretending to be “ bewitched.”
But in our own time we find that this belief in the power of foretelling
events leads to much mischief and misery, and from certain facts we may be
assured that there is a larger amount of evil from this cause than is made
known to the public. The “ occult law” leads to many breaches of the law
of the land, and to serious crime; it opens the door to gross imposture,
swindling, and robbery, misleading the minds of simple people, and turning
their conduct and ways from their proper and natural course, and the
strange unaccountable conduct of some persons might be easily accounted for,
when traced to this “ fortune-telling” foolery. The happiness of one family
was destroyed only the other day by a deaf and dumb “ruler of the stars,”
who is now in penal servitude, and who would have been executed had the
offence been committed some years back. Several such “ rulers of the
stars,” or “fortune-tellers,” have been hung for similar crimes, in my time,
one I remember was a black man, hung at the Old Bailey.
The clothes test cannot be brought to bear upon the predicting of events,
but there is a test, which maybe brought with equal force upon this question,
which is, that although these prophets profess to tell what is going to
happen to others, they cannot foretell what is going to happen to them
selves, for if they could, they would have, of course, avoided the punish
ments which the law has, and is constantly inflicting upon them for their
offences. And Mr. “ Zadkiel,” for instance, would not have brought his
action against Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, if he could have foreseen the
result; after which, no doubt, he cried out, “ Oh ! my stars !—if I had known
as much as I know now, I never would have gone into court!”
A “Bow Street officer” (as a branch of the old police were styled) told
me that he had a warrant to take up a female fortune-teller, who was pluck
ing the geese to a large amount. Her principal dupes were females, and he
being a gander had some difficulty in managing to get an introduction (for
this tribe of swindlers use as much caution as they can). He however
succeeded in getting the wise woman to tell him his fortune, for which he
professed himself much obliged, and told her that as he had a little faculty
in that way himself, he would in return, tell her, her fortune, which was,
that she was that morning going before the magistrate at Bow Street,
who had some power in this way also, and he would likewise tell her her
fortune. She smiled at first and would not believe in what he said, but he
showed her the warrant, and all came true that he had told her; but
nothing came true of what she had told him.
Erom the high and pure character of many persons well known to me,
who are mixed up in these seances, it is almost impossible not to believe
their statements of these wonders, the truth of which wonders they so
positively assert. If true, they are indeed wonderful; but if tricks, then do
they surpass all other tricks, ever performed by all the “ sleight of hand”
gentry put together, who ever bamboozled poor credulous, simple creatures,
oi’ astonished and puzzled a delighted audience.
�48
ADDENDA.
There can be but two sides to a question, true or false; and, as already
hinted, it remains for the mediums to prove their case, and to place the
matter in a. better light than it stands at present, which is indeed a very dim
and uncertain sort of “ night light;” but as, up to this time, their assertions
are at variance with what has hitherto been considered as sound sense and
understanding, those outside the “ circle” have not only a right, to be cautious
of stepping into such a circle, but, until some more reasonable reasons are
given—even putting aside the cwi bono for the present—unless some rational
natural cause can be assigned, they have a right to suspect the whole, either
as a Delusion or a Disease.
But even if this party prove, that these “ thing-em bobs” are recd spirits,
they appear to be so dreadful and dangerous, and there really is such a
“ strong family likeness” between some of them, and a certain “ Old Gentle
man,” that I would say “the less they have to do with them the better;”
but even supposing they are not “ so black as they are painted ” (by their
mediums), if even they are a sort of “ half-and-half,” nevertheless, I
would say—
“ Rest, rest, perturbed spirits rest;”
For if not for you, for us ’twill be the best.
There may be, as already observed, more things between heaven and
earth than were dreamt of in the philosophy of Horatio ; but let the
“inquiring spirit” rest assured that amongst these “ things” there could not
be included the Ghost of Iron Armour; and though ’tis said “there’s
nothing like leather,” yet none of these said “ things” could have been the
leather of “ Top-boots”—no, not even the leather of the “ tops” nor the
leather of the “ soles” thereof.
In concluding, I will just add to this Addenda, that,—
Although I have seen, (in the “ mirage,” in the sky)
A ship “ upside down,” the great hull and big sails,
No one, has ever yet seen, such things, as the Gliosis,
Of Hats or Wigs, or of short, or long Pig—tails.
And this is the “long and the. short” of my
DISCOVERT CONCERNING GHOSTS,
with
A RAP AT THE RAPPERS.
THE END.
UiBBILD, PBIHTBB, LOX LOX.
��
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A discovery concerning ghosts. with a rap at the rappers
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Cruikshank, George [1792-1878]
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Collation: 48 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Marrild, London. Tentative date of publication from KVK.
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Spiritualism
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Conway Tracts
Ghosts
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Text
NEW TESTAMENT “MIRACLES,”
AND
MODERN “MIRACLES.”
THE COMPARATIVE AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE FOR EACH.
THE NATURE OF BOTH.
TESTIMONY OF A HUNDRED WITNESSES.
AN ESSAY,
READ BEFORE THE MIDDLE AND SENIOR CLASSES IN CAMBRIDGE
DIVINITY SCHOOL,
BY
J.
“ Ye
H. FOWLER.
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY BELA MARSH, 15 FRANKLIN STREET.
NEW YORK : PARTRIDGE & BRITTAN, 300 BROADWAY.
PHILADELPHIA : B. PEBCIVAL, 89 SOUTH SIXTH ST.
18 54.
�Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
J. n. FOWLER,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED BY
HOBART & ROBBINS,
NEW ENGLAND Ti'rE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY,
BOSTON.
I
�■
�WITNESSES TO MODERN MIRACLES.
[See Testimony.]
CASE I.
No. 1.
“
“
“
“
“
“
No. 2.
“
“
No. 3.
“
“
“
“
“
No. 4.
«.
“
“
No. 5.
“
Z. P. Kibbee, M. D.
Rufus Elmer.
Nelson Elmer.
Theodore M. Smith.
George E. Haskell.
Z. Rogers.
Moses Babcock.
W. S. Courtney.
Milo A. Townsend.
William McDonald.
Mrs. John Lord.
Mrs. R. Elmer.
Mrs. S. A. Richie.
Miss Mary M. Harris.
F. C. Andreu.
Marshall Elmer.
William Bryant.
B. K. Bliss.
William Edwards.
David A. Wells.
S. F. Cheney.
Rev. Herman Snow.
case n.
No. 1. B. S. Benson.
“ W. W. Laning.
No. 2. Joseph Brydle.
CASE III.
No. 2.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
Harvey Chase.
Marcus C. Wilcox.
Mrs. M. C. Wilcox.
Emery S. Scott.
Ellis Cook.
Benj. Ray.
Meltiah Knowlton
Daniel Knowlton.
CASE IV.
No. 1. J. F. Lanning.
No. 2. Goorge R. Raymond.
case v.
No. 1. Joseph R. Buchanan.
No. 2. J. B. Wolf.
CASE VI.
No. 1. Dr. Smith.
No. 2. Mr. Waters.
CASE VII.
No. 1.
No. 2.
No. 3.
No. 4.
No. 5.
“
"
“
No. 6.
D. W. Scott.
H. H. Hunt.
Cyrus Tyrrell.
Sarah Herron.
S. C. Hewitt.
John M. Spear.
Philander Shaw.
Seth Hunt.
Benj. A. Rhodes.
No. 7.
“
“
“
“
“
No. 8.
“
“
“
Silas Mosman.
M. S. Pease.
George Staples.
Eliza C. Leeds.
Joseph Haight.
William Dibble.
Charles C. York.
Pamelia A. Nichols.
William Nichols.
Mrs. Harriet Nelson.
CASE VIII.
No. 1. William Lloyd Garrison.
No. 2. Adin Ballou.
No. 3. William Bugbee.
CASE IX.
No. 1. Mrs. D. C. Kendall.
“ Mary E. Kendall.
No. 2. B. McFarland.
No. 3. Rev. D. F. Goddard.
No. 4. D. Hasteller.
“ A. P. Pierce.
“ II. F. Partridge.
“ Lewis Dugdale.
“ Charles C. Stillman.
No. 5. Mary H. Ide.
“ Amos Cummings.
“ George Clapp.
“ Miss Susan Bagley.
No. 6. E. P. Fowler.
“ John Gray.
“ John F. Gray, M. D.
“ S. T. Fowler.
“ F. F. Cory.
“ Mrs. Charlotte F. Wells.
“ Robert T. Shannon.
“ Daniel Minthorn.
“ Charles Partridge.
“ William J. Baner.
“ Mrs. Almira L. Fowler.
“ Mrs. S. A. Partridge.
“ Almon Roff.
“ Ward Cheney.
“ R. T. Hallock, M. D.
“ Mrs. Martha H. F. Baner.
“ J. T. Warner, M. D.
« A. G. Hull, M. D.
“ Samuel T. Fowler.
“ Prof. Bush.
case x.
No. 1. George T. Dexter, M. D.
No. 2. Judge Edmonds.
No. 3. Governor Tallmadge.
CASE XI.
A. E. Newton.
S. J. Newton.
J. H. Fowler.
�WITNESSES FOR NEW TESTAMENT MIRACLES.
Saul of Tarsus (otherwise called Paul).
’ Peter, a fisherman of G alilee.
Luke, Paul’s secretary.
Supposed to be <{ Mark, Peter’s secretary.
Matthew, a tax-gatherer of Jerusalem.
John, a fisherman of Galilee.
1*
�____________________________________________________________________________________
�PREFACE.
It has been customary among all people to divide the facts of
history into two distinct classes; namely, Natural or Profane, and
Miraculous or Sacred. In the former class they have included all
those events which they are able to explain by known principles,
or which have become so common as to excite no surprise. In
the latter they have included all those facts which are remark
ably wonderful, from the fact of their unfrequent occurrence, or of
their not being accounted for by principles already known.
Now, to show that this distinction is purely subjective, and has
no ground in the facts themselves, it is only necessary to state
that no two persons draw the line through the same points ; and
each individual is constantly changing the line of division, as his
own experience and knowledge of the powers of nature increase.
The line has been drawn through every possible point, and is
found to apply nowhere. Hence, at the present day, many have
rejected it altogether.
Scientific men reject it, not because they are able to explain all
¿he facts of history on scientific principles which they already
know; but, because they have implicit confidence in what they call
the “ immutable laws of naturef they reject all the evidence
for that class of facts which seemingly contradict, or cannot be ex
plained by, laws already known; presuming that there are no
higher laws in God’s universe. And when they have rejected one
whole class of facts, they have no need of the line of distinction.
To show the stupidity of this course, we need only refer to their
means of judging the powers of nature. They judge these powers,
or laws, by the phenomena produced. They accept the phenomena
�4
on the direct evidence of their own senses, and on the testimony
of others as to the evidence of their senses. If sufficient evidence
to establish any class of phenomena is thus presented, they at once
conclude that there are powers in nature capable of producing
such phenomena; they then name those powers, and designate the
class of phenomena by appropriate terms.
Now, sjiould they pursue this course, of testing the powers of
nature by the facts produced, to a certain extent, and then ex
clude or reject, at once, all her facts, simply on the ground of
nature’s inability to produce them, would they not act foolishly,
and most unscientifically ?
How do they know that nature is able to produce any class of
facts ? By the facts themselves. Hence, should they reject the
facts beforehand, on the ground of nature’s inability to produce
them, they would certainly be stupid. But they do this very
thing. They reject a whole class of facts which appear in all
history as well substantiated — and often better — as many other
facts which they receive with implicit confidence; facts which are
testified to, not orfly by all history, but by the most reliable wit
nesses of our own time. They reject these facts, not for the want
of testimony in their favor, but because they presume, beforehand,
that nature has no power to produce them. Thus they reverse
the true order of scientific inquiry, which is, first to substantiate
the facts; which being done, it must be taken for granted that
there is somewhere in nature a power adequate to their pro
duction.
The course pursued by religionists is generally more inconsistent
than the above. They select, out of the “ miracles ” of a past age,
such as favor their own peculiar systems of religion, and reject
all others, though those rejected rest on testimony equally
reliable with that which substantiates those received. After they
have once accepted ‘ ‘ miracles ’ ’ enough to prove to their own
minds the divine origin of their peculiar system of religion, they
then take the course of the scientifics, and deny the possibility of
similar facts occurring in their own age, however much testimony
may be produced in their favor. With them,
“ ’T is distance lends enchantment to the view.”
�Another class, among whom are nearly all the “ spiritualists ”
of the present day, take what appears to me the only truly scien
tific and religious ground ; namely, we can judge of the powers of
nature — or, rather, of the ability of Deity to operate in nature —
only by what nature does, just as we judge the powers of man
by what man does ; hence, whenever any fact or phenomenon of
nature is clearly established by reliable testimony, we arg bound
to believe that nature has performed it, and therefore has the
ability to do it, and may do it, again, under similar circumstances.
This, we say, is more scientific than either to reject the fact, or
refer it to supernatural and miraculous agency.
Hence, while we receive all the well-attested facts of the
present age, and of all past ages, we do not accept the eccle
siastical theory of 11 miracles " to account for any of them.
We say, if spirits who have left the earthly body produce
sounds, or move physical objects, or manifest themselves in any
way, they do it just as much in harmony with the principles of
nature, as they did the ordinary acts while in the earthly body.
They are no more supernatural now than while living on earth ;
and their action is no more “miraculous.” They are the same
identical beings ; though some of them probably have arisen to
higher degrees of goodness and truth, many remain on nearly the
same plane, and some may, for a time, even sink to a lower plane.
Still, we believe all will progress to higher degrees of life. We
judge of their character as we judge of persons on earth, by the
things which they do. And we deny that any man, whether in the
church or out, can judge them by any other standard. We do not
admit the high or low character of the manifestations as evidence
either for or against the spiritual theory, because we say no man
can know thé character of spirits unless he admit the possibility of
*
theii communicating. If he deny that spirits communicate, he
has no right to object on the ground of the '■'•low character'"
of the communications ; for he has no possible means of judging
what the character of spirits is. It is all assumption with him, and
assumption is worth nothing against fact. If he admit that spirits
ever have communicated, and afforded us an opportunity of judg
ing their character, then we are perfectly agreed. For we do
not. more than he, presume that everything purporting to
�6
be done by spirits is really done by them. Nor do I know of any
“spiritualist” who takes it for granted that all the communica
tions signed by “ great names ” are given by the persons whose
names they bear. Though I believe very many are still disposed
to put too much confidence in these names, especially when they
are given through their own hand, I think they are as much influ
enced to do this by their own vanity, as the spirits are induced to
assume them by the same cause.
Some mediums seem to think it a greater honor to be the
amanuenses of Matthew, or Luther, or Baeon, oi’ Franklin, or
Webster, than of one of their own humble friends: and some per
sons who ask for communications seem to think they can derive
power by being noticed by these same persons, and call for them
in preference to their dearest friends. They seldom fail to get
what they most desire ; for it appears there are spirits as ready to
deceive and play the fool, as mortals are ready to be deceived and
befool themselves.
However, we do not expect all men to be entirely free from
folly in this world, nor immediately after going to the next. We
did not at first presume that spirits, or anything else, caused the
phenomena. We, at first, denied the facts themselves, and
demanded proof • this we have received, sufficient to compel our
assent to them. Next we sought, from the character of the facts
themselves, to ascertain their cause. The same cause that produced
them always affirmed itself to be spirits. But we did not believe
this; we proved them, and, by an overwhelming amount of evidence,
became convinced that they are what they have from the first pur
ported to be.
It is a principle of philosophy, which cannot be neglected in any
truly scientific inquiry, that the cause assigned to any class
of phenomena must be adequate to the production of every
individual phenomenon in that class.
Now, it is certain that every other theory which has been
manufactured to account for these modern “spirit manifestations ”
is insufficient to account for very many of the phenomena; and
the authors of those theories are obliged to deny many facts for
which the testimony is equally good with that for the facts they
receive. The Grimes school of Mesmerists, Biologists, Psychol
�7
ogists, Humbugs and Eclipse-makers, not only deny many of the
best-attested facts, but they declare, boldly, that thousands of un
suspected men, women, children, and even infants (for there are
many such mediums), are capable of practising deceptions which
they, after an experience of twenty years in the art, cannot accom
plish. The Rogers school of Od-forces also deny the fact of an
independent directing intelligence, and many other established
facts. But they do this in such an od way, that no one can tell
what they are driving at.
The Beecher school of Devilites arc also compelled to ignore
all the good connected with the phenomena.
Lastly, Dods — [I know not whether fe has yet made a single
disciple, though he has “ known all about this matter for twenty
years ” !] •— Dods, who, as we all know, is more thorough in his in
vestigations, knows more about the subject, and states himself
more candidly and modestly, than anybody else,—even Dods
denies all these well-known facts, which his Back-Brain-Instinct
theory cannot account for.
But the Spiritual theory, which can stand all tests, is not only
adequate to account for all the phenomena, but it gathers
strength from every principle assumed in all the other theories;
from Mesmerism, Od, Back-Brain, and the Devil.
��INTRODUCTION.
From the jeering manner in which every allusion to
the subject has been repulsed, even while we have been
gravely considering the time-honored records of similar
phenomena, I am induced to apologize for making it the
subject of my present essay, and inviting your serious
attention to it for the space of a whole hour.
I assure you I would not make this attempt, had I not,
after devoting to it a considerable portion of my time for
the last four years, and having personally witnessed many
of the phenomena, become fully satisfied as to their truth
and importance.
Even this conviction would not be sufficient induce
ment for me to bring the subject before you in this
manner, were I not fully persuaded that my sense of
duty to the cause were greater than your combined re
pulsion.
Whether it be, or be not, a fit subject for the serious
consideration of a “ divinity class,” it will soon make an
irresistible demand upon every theologian and religious
teacher.
It is already claiming the attention of all classes of
people, in every part of the civilized world, as no other
subject ever did. It is making the most alarming inroads
upon all the creeds and churches of Christendom. It is
commencing a revolution in the intellectual, moral, re2
�10
ligious and social world, to which history furnishes no
parallel.
It does not depend merely upon human agency for its
success; but, spite of all opposition, it goeth where it
listeth, and people of every class, and in every place, are
compelled to hear the sound thereof, though they may
not be able to tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.
No family circle is too private for it. The sceptical
father and prudent mother may forbid their sons and
daughters witnessing the manifestations at their neighbors’
houses, but soon the most wonderful and convincing phe
nomena appear in their own, and both father and mother
arc eager to hear “what the spirits wish to communicate
to them.” No church is too sacred for their presence.
Ministers pronounce it “the work of the devil,” and,
from the pulpit, warn their congregation against it; but,
before the sermon is ended, the well-known but unsolic
ited sound is heard in various parts of the house ; the
most faithful church-members become mediums, the
deacons are entranced, and soon minister and all become
a congregation of “spiritualists.”
Though these modern “spirit-manifestations” com
menced but five years since, and, at first, only attracted
the attention of two little girls by some slight tappings
in their presence, there are now from twenty to thirty
modes of manifestation, some of them of the most astound
ing character.
It has been stated that there are a hundred thousand
mediums, and two and a half millions of believers, in this
country alone, to say nothing of the many thousands in
Europe.
The attention of the British Parliament has been called
to it; the French Academy of Science has long been
�considering it; and a memorial, signed by thirteen thou
sand persons, has been presented to the Congress of the
United States, asking for a special committee to consider
the subject.
There are in the United States some twenty newspa
pers and periodicals principally devoted to it, and upwards
of one hundred different publications on the subject.
“It numbers among its advocates many men of the
highest standing and talent, in every profession and sphere.
Doctors, lawyers, clergymen, a Protestant bishop, pro
fessors, and a reverend president of a college, foreign
ambassadors and ex-members of the national senate.”
The rapid progress of belief in the reality of the phe
nomena does not depend so much upon the testimony of
others, however reliable, as upon the personal observation
and experience which probably every believer has had.
Thousands of living witnesses testify, on the very day of
their occurrence, that they have seen, felt and heard the
phenomena, and are compelled to believe in their reality,
spite of their obstinate prejudices against them.
There is no question about the authenticity of the tes
timony, the character and competency of those who testify,
or the time and place. The names of all the parties, and
all the circumstances of the events, are given, and the
witnesses are now before you, ready to be questioned ;
none of which things can be said of the New Testament
“ miracles.”
Besides my own living testimony, being an eye-wit
ness, I hold in my hands the direct, unequivocal and
most reliable testimony of men in your very midst, to the
number of ten to one, that events precisely similar to
those recorded in the New Testament have, within the
last five years, occurred in their presence. And I am
�12
able now, in three days, not only to bring personally before
you this superior number of witnesses, but, with your
consent, to make every one of you a witness that such
facts do really occur.
THE COMPARATIVE AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE.
The testimony which I have collected, though not a
tithe of what has come under my observation, and, in
many respects, — owing principally to the necessity for
brevity, — not so complete and convincing as much which
I have rejected, is still sufficient to establish the facts, as
far as human testimony can do it. The facts must either
be admitted, or the testimony of the human senses, how
ever multiplied, pronounced unreliable. If the latter
alternative be accepted, then, of course, it applies as well
to past ages as to the present, and the New Testament
testimony is worth nothing. So all a priori objections
to the occurrence of any fact, or class of facts, at the
present day, would apply with equal force to those of
any past age. And all arguments from the wants of
mankind, previous prophecies, and arguments of what
ever kind which have been made to render the New
Testament accounts probable, will apply with equal force
to those of the present day; so that, aside from the
amount of testimony, the ancient “miracles” have no
advantage.
Let us, then, compare the testimony in favor of each.
To facilitate this, we will classify the so-called miracles
of the New Testament in the following manner :
1st. The counteraction of the law of gravitation in the
movement of physical objects ; the rolling away the stone
at the door of the sepulchre of Christ, the opening of
the prison-doors to Peter, Christ walking on the water, etc.
�13
2d. Luminous appearances accompanying the manifest
ations of physical power, and the seeing of spirits; as in
the case of Peter’s release from prison, the transfigura
tion of Christ on the mount, the conversion of Paul on
the day of Pentecost.
3d. Spirits are seen, recognized and conversed with ;
as, Moses and Elias, Christ after his death, and others.
4th. Voices are heard as at Paul’s conversion, at the
baptism of Christ, etc.
5th. Speaking in unknown tongues.
6th. Jesus is taught to read.
7th. A remarkable healing power is exhibited.
8th. Cursing the fig-tree.
9th. Turning water into wine.
10th. Feeding a multitude on less than nothing.
11th. Raising a person from the dead.
12th. Child born with no natural father.
These twelve classes, I believe, comprise all the pre
tended miracles of the New Testament.
We will first present our testimony to facts precisely
similar to, or involving the same principles as, those of
the first seven classes, and then consider the other five
particular ones. The reader should now turn to the testi
mony, and read the cases as they are referred to.
*
2
�14
CLASS I.
We have produced, as will be seen by turning to the
testimony, in case I., twenty-three witnesses; in case II.,
two ; in case III., one ; case V., one ; case VIII., two ;
case X., eleven; making in all forty witnesses, who, in the
most unequivocal manner, testify to cases precisely simi
lar to those “miracles” of the New Testament comingunder the first class. These witnesses are many of them
well known as men of the first character and standing in
community; men who would be the least liable to be
deceived in matters of this kind. They state what they
have seen. They state the time, place and circumstances,
and then appeal to others ; and are now ready to be con
fronted upon the subject.
What, now, is the New Testament testimony ? The
writer of Matthew’s gospel says, “The angel of the Lord
(if he did not mean a spirit, what did he mean ?) descended
from heaven and rolled back the stone,” Matt. 18 : 2.
The writer of Mark (16 : 4) says, “And when they looked
they saw that the stone was rolled away.” The writer
of Luke (24: 2) says, “They found the stone rolled
away.” So, according to the two last, they did not see
the thing done. The first seems to have taken it for
granted, or, perchance, “ he got a communication,” that
a spirit did it. Now, we will suppose (even the doctors
admit its uncertainty) that Matthew — Matthew some
body— gave this testimony. Then, as the best critics
say, Paul told his secretary Luke the story, and he wrote
the second statement. And Peter (who, on one occasion,
certainly lied) told Mark somebody, and he gave the
third statement. So much for the New Testament testi
mony to this fact.
�15
The other instance, coming under class first, recorded
in the gospels, is Jesus walking on the sea, Matt. 14 :
25, 26 ; Mark 6 : 48—50 ; John 6 : 19—21. Accord
ing to the two, first, when the disciples saw Jesus walking
on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a SPIRIT.”
How could they have said this, had they not believed
spirits could manifest themselves to mortals ? The next
case is recorded by the writer of Acts (supposed to be
that same Luke above referred to), though it is not likely
he saw it, Acts 5 : 19, 20. But the angel of the Lord
(another spirit,—who else could it be ?) by night opened
the prison doors and brought them forth, and said, “ Go,
stand up in the temple, and speak all the words of this life,”
—very like what the spirits of the present day often say.
Another case is recorded in chapter 12 : 1—11. I would
ask the hearer to turn to this and read it, and, if possible,
make anything out of it but a spirit-manifestation. Trans
late it into modern language, and see if it is not just
like some things which now take place, — the luminous
appearance, the keepers entranced and Peter likewise
(see 11th verse), the gates and doors opened, etc.
It could be none other than a spirit (here called angel
of the Lord}. And this fact will explain what is meant
by angel of the Lord in the other cases. The last case,
Acts 17 : 26, — “And suddenly there was a great earth
quake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken;
and immediately all the doors were opened, and every
one’s bands were loosed.” This “ manifestation ” should
be compared with case II., number one. I think these
comprise all the phenomena, related in the New Testa
ment, which come under the first class.
We have, then, for these, the testimony of only four
persons, — and who doubts them ? But we have given the
�16
testimony of ten times this number of personal witnesses,
— who can doubt them ? I insist upon this case, and chal
lenge any person to show wherein any one of our forty
witnesses’ testimony is not as good, to say the least, as
that of any one of the four New Testament witnesses.
Till this is done, and our witnesses are reduced to less
than four, let no man, who pretends to believe the New
Testament accounts, be so inconsistent as to deny that
similar facts now occur.
z
Having made so strong a case respecting this first class,
and, as we very justly conclude, convinced every believer
in the New Testament “miracles” that the modern
“miracles” are also true, we shall not be expected to
produce so much testimony in favor of the facts of the
following classes, neither shall we be so particular in re
gard to the New Testament statements.
CLASS II.
We have, in cases I., II. and X., the testimony of ten to
facts coming under this class. Suppose, then, we have in
the New Testament five witnesses equally good, who testify
to precisely similar luminous appearances in cases of
spirit-manifestation which then occurred, — and certainly
that was a spirit-manifestation when Moses and Elias,
who had been so long in the spirit-world, appeared and
talked with Christ, — we have then produced two wit
nesses for the modern, to one for the New Testament
manifestations of this class.
CLASS ni.---- SPIRITS SEEN, ETC.
We have in cases II., III., IV. and X., the testimony
of five. I think the New Testament does not produce more
�17
than this number of witnesses to this class of facts. Truly,
it says the spirit of Christ (and if Christ was not then a
spirit, how could he get into the room when “the doors
were shut ” ?) appeared to twelve, and then to five thou
sand ; but who those were it does not say, nor does any
one of them give his testimony. Such witnesses we could
find in abundance; but we do not count any one who has
not given his own personal signature, or authorized us to
give it. This case, then, stands as good in favor of mod
ern, as New Testament “miracles.”
CLASS IV.---- VOICES HEARD.
In cases IV. and X., we have the testimony of three,
though we might have given many more; but the New
Testament testimony is so vague and equivocal upon this
point that we deem these cases sufficient to balance them.
Four cases occur in the New Testament records,—
Matt. 3:17; 17: 5; John 12: 28; Acts 9: 7. In regard
to the first, Mark (1: 10, 11) agrees with Matthew, and
says he (John or Jesus) saw the spirit descending, etc.
Luke does not contradict this. John says nothing about
the voice, but implies that only John saw the spirit
descend : “ and he (John) bare record that this is the Son
of God.” — See John 1 : 33—35. It would appear, by
comparing John 1: 34 with the others above referred to,
that, if anything of this kind did occur, — and we are not
disposed to doubt it, — when John saw the spirit descend
upon Christ, he said, “ This is the beloved Son of God”
or something like this. For he says (John 1: 34), “And
I saw (the spirit) and bore record that this is the Son of
God.” If the multitudes saw and heard all this, and the
voice from heaven, as is commonly supposed, what need
�18
would there be of John “ bearing record,” and why were
they not all at once converted to a belief in Christ ?
The second case of the voice from the cloud, on the
mount, is pretty well substantiated by the three first
gospels, and in 2 Peter 3 : 17 ; but, it appears by Luke
9 : 32, and Matt. 17 : 7, that the disciples were in a
trance, or what we should call 11 under spiritual influence.”
Now, to such cases we could bring the testimony of
hundreds.
The next case (John 12 : 28) seems to have been an
audible voice heard by the people who stood by. The
other case, in Acts 9 : 7, is contradicted in chapter 22,
verse 9.
CLASS V. — SPEAKING IN UNKNOWN TONGUES.
We have, in cases V., VIII. and X., the testimony of
nineteen, that persons under the modern spiritual influence
do speak in tongues wholly unknown to them. This tes
timony is as direct and explicit as testimony can be.
There is no statement, I think, in either of the four
gospels, that any one did speak with tongues, though
Christ is made to promise it to those who believe; hence
we may infer that some did so speak. In Acts 2, an
account is given, at considerable length, of speaking with
unknown tongues. I will translate this account into the
language of modern spiritualists, to show its close resem
blance to what now happens; and I would ask any person
to show wherein I change a single idea or fact. When
the day for the great festival of the Jews, called the
Pentecost, arrived, all disciples of Jesus (spiritualists)
met in one place, and, being in perfect harmony, or,
“forming an harmonious circle,” all at once they heard
a sound over their heads, apparently from the clouds, re-
�19
sembling a very violent blast of wind, which filled the
whole house in which they had their “ sitting.” And there
appeared to them a divided flame, resembling fire, resting
upon each one in the circle; and they were all under the
spiritual influence, and began to speak in other languages
as the “spirit” influenced them, or enabled them to
speak. At that time there were residing in Jerusalem
Jews and religious men from all nations, who had come
to this festival; so, when this manifestation was known
among them, a large number came in to witness it, and
were completely confounded, for every man heard these
ignorant spiritualists speak in his own language. And
they all were greatly astonished, for they (the learned
priests of all religions) could not account for it that these
Galileans should speak in so many foreign languages.
And they asked one another what it meant; and some
said, “ These men are drunk,”—a reply nearly as stupid
as some religious men now make, when asked what these
same manifestations mean. But one of the twelve (see
verse 14) who composed the circle replied to them very
eloquently (probably under the influence). He took them
on their own ground, quoted from their own scripture,
showing that the thing had been spoken of a long time
before, and that it should continue through all time (see
verses 16 to 18). “ Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and
your old men shall dream dreams. And I will show
wonders in the heavens above, and signs in the earth
beneath ; blood and fire and vapor of smoke.” (These
very things are now seen.) “Repent and receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit (the spiritual influence); for the
PROMISE IS UNTO YOU, AND TO YOUR CHILDREN, AND TO ALL
�20
THAT ARE AFAR OFF, EVEN AS MANY AS THE LORD YOUR GOD
SHALL CALL.”
The promise of Christ, in Mark 16 : 16,17, is so like
this, that we will here quote it. “ He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not
shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that
believe ; in my name shall they cast out devils (evil spirits);
they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up
serpents, and, if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
shall recover.”
So, then, all “ believers ” are spiritual
ists ; nay, more, they are mediums.
Speaking in unknown languages is several times referred
to in the writings of Paul. Hence we have the direct
testimony of two in the New Testament to this class of
phenomena, for which we have adduced the testimony of
nineteen.
CLASS VI.---- TEACHING TO READ.
For facts under this head, we furnish the testimony of
four witnesses,— cases V., VI. and X. John 7 : 15,1
believe, is the only statement in the New Testament of
any fact of this kind, — and yet who doubts that Jesus
was learned spiritually ?
CLASS VII.---- HEALING.
To facts of this kind we have given, in case VII., the
testimony of seventeen witnesses, who state all the par
ticulars, and give the names of the persons healed. We
have also selected some of the most malignant cases of
almost every kind of disease ; and now we challenge any
believer in the New Testament miracles of this and the
�21
six previous classes to show wherein we have not pro
duced a far superior amount of evidence that the same
“ miracles ” are wrought now.
Whereas, no one of the six New Testament witnesses
would be allowed in our courts, — for there is no certainty
about the authenticity of either of them, or the time of
their testifying, — at least thirty of our witnesses would
be allowed, and their testimony accepted, in any court in
the United States; for we not only know as to their per
sonal identity, the time, and all the circumstances of the
events to which they testify, but we could bring into
court the identical living witnesses, and with them a
thousand more from every large city in the United States.
And not only this, but we can produce witnesses on the
spot, and make the judges themselves testify to the facts,
which they shall be made to witness with their own eyes,
ears and hands.
3
V
�22
As to the five remaining cases, it no more follows that we should
believe them because we accept other accounts in the same book,
than that we should believe all the reports of modern spiritualists
because we know many of them to be true; or that we should
accept all which any historian may record, because we receive his
testimony as to some things. A narrator may be truthful and
wise in many things; and, in those, impartially relate the facts.
But his opinions, his zeal, or want of knowledge in respect to
other things, may wholly disqualify him to judge truly concern
ing them.
Many spiritualists, at the present day, being very zealous to
advance the cause, sometimes think they see what they do not;
nnd, from a small beginning, often get up a marvellous story, and
this, too, in perfect sincerity.
So the early Christians did; hence it is reasonable to suppose
the writers of the gospel histories, whoever they were, might be
influenced in the same manner. But it is said these writings are
an exception; their authors are inspired, and could not err. How
do we know this? The writers themselves nowhere claim it;
they do not even tell us who they are. Tradition is the only
authority we have for their inspiration; and that tradition came
through the Catholic church, else it originated since the Reforma
tion, and is worth nothing.
But the facts themselves contradict the idea of infallible inspir
ation ; for we find that in many places they make wrong assertions,
reason falsely, and positively contradict each other.
In giving the genealogies of Christ from Joseph to David,
Matthew gives twenty-eight, Luke forty-three generations. Mat
thew says the father of Jesus was the son of Jacob, Luke says he
was the son of Heli; —thus they differ, nor do they again agree
till they come to David.
The object in giving this genealogy evidently was to prove that
Jesus was the son of David. But what a foolish course, by trac
ing his descent through Joseph, who, according to both these
writers, was no more the father of Jesus than of John the Bap
tist ! It is said this discrepancy and blunder is of no consequence.
�23
This reply implies one of two things. These authors were in
spired to write on a subject 11 of no consequence,” and to make a
very stupid blunder, or they were not inspired at all. Accept
either alternative, and their writings are worth no more than those
of others. This one error is sufficient to overthrow every theory
of infallible inspiration.
But we will refer to a few of the many others. Matt. 1: 22,
23 is a very false application of Isaiah 17: 14, as will be readily
seen by reading the context. Such errors are very frequent with
these writers, as one cannot fail to see, by reading the chapters
of the Old Testament whence they are taken.
Again, Matt. 2 : 16, the story of Herod slaying all the male
children, through fear of an infant, is not only not mentioned in
any other history, and plainly contradicted by these writers them
selves, in the fact that John, then about six months old, was not
slain, but it is absurd in itself.
Now, pass to the death of Jesus. John says the trial and con
demnation took place before the Passover (17 : 28, 39: 19 : 14,
31). The other three make it come after the Passover (Matt.
26 : 17 ; Mark 14 : 12; Luke 22 : 7—15). Mark says he was
crucified at the third hour (15: 25) ; John, at the sixth hour (19:
14). They differ, too, in giving the superscription on the cross;
also, concerning the resurrection, who came to the sepulchre, the
time of their coming, whom they saw there, the number of an
gels (spirits), and the position in which they first saw them.
It is common among many to pass over these as trifling errors:
but, if these incidents are worth relating at all, they are worth
relating truly, and the errors should guard us against greater ones
contained in these writings.
But, suppose these five cases did occur as they are related,— so
far from disproving the modern “ spirit manifestations,” they cor
roborate them. They prove, at least, the possibility of spirit
intercourse.
In case XII. (the birth of Jesus) are given several accounts of
spirit manifestations,— spirits are seen, conversed with, and the
communications are reported (Matt. 1; 20, 21; 2 : 19, 20; Luke
1: 11—20, 26—32; 2: 9—14). The modern phenomena, being
�24
proved, prepare the way for belief in these eases; but they do
not furnish any evidence that either of these particular cases did
then occur. To prove this, would require testimony of the same
character and amount as to prove a similar fact at the present day.
CLASS VIII.—CURSING A FIG-TREE.
One can scarcely tell which is the more ridiculous, the act
itself, or the telling of the story as a fact in the history of that
meek and lowly person, Jesus. And yet it is reported, with all
the gravity of “ inspired penmen” in the two first gospels !! !
Matt. 21: 19,—££ And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he
came to it, and, finding nothing thereon, but leaves only, he said
to it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And pres
ently the fig-tree withered away ! ! And when the disciples saw
it they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig-tree withered
away.’' Mark 11: 20, 21,— ££And the next morning, when
they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots !!
And Peter calling to remembrance, saith unto him, 11 Master,
behold, the fig-tree which thou cursedst is withered
away”! !! Jesus, who said, bless, and curse not, is here
made so foolish at to curse a poor fig-tree, because he was
disappointed in not finding figs thereon ! ! ! 0 shame ! ye who can
not better understand your Master than to think to do him service
by telling such foolish stories about him ! And ye who think it
wrong to doubt these stories, which would disgrace a loafer at the
present day ; think ye that one cannot truly appreciate the char
acter of Jesus unless he makes himself think he believes this
silly thing which somebody told about him ? It reminds us of
the ten thousand other stories which were told of him and im
plicitly believed by his early disciples. (See the £ 1 Apocryphal
New Testament.”) We will give a specimen of these. (First gos
pel of Thomas, concerning the infancy of Jesus * 19 : 16—21.)
££ Again, on another day, the Lord Jesus was with some boys
by a river, and they drew water out of the river by little chan
nels, and made little fish-pools. But the Lord Jesus made
* This Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ was believed by the Gnostics, a
sect of Christians, in the second century ; and several of the fathers, Eusebius,
Athanasius, Epiplianius, Chrysostom, and others, quoted from it.
�25
twelve sparrows, and placed them about his pool, on each side
three. Now, it was the Sabbath-day ; and the son of Hanani, a
Jew, came by, and, seeing them making these things, said, Do
ye thus make figures of clay on the Sabbath ? And, running to
them, he broke down their fish-pools. But when the Lord Jesus
had clapped his hands over the sparrows which he had made, they
fled away chirping ! At length the son of Hanani coming to the
fish-pool of Jesus to destroy it, the water vanished away, and the
Lord Jesus said to him, In like manner as this water has
vanished, so shall thy life vanish; and presently the boy died.”
Second gospel according to Thomas, 2: 1, 3,—“ Moreover,
the son of Anna he scribe was standing there with Joseph, and,
taking a bough ol a willow, scattered the waters which Jesus had
gathered into lakes. But the boy Jesus, seeing what he had
done, became angry, and said unto him, Thou fool, what harm
x did the lakes unto thee, that thou shouldst scatter the water ?
Behold now, thou slialt wither as a tree, and shalt bring forth
neither leaves, nor branches, nor fruit. And immediately he
became withered all over ! ”
But some will say this miracle of cursing the fig-tree was per
formed that the disciples might believe ; that the following verses
prove this, Matthew 21: 21,—“Jesus answered and said unto
them, Verily, I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye
shall not only do what is done unto the fig-tree, but also, if ye shall
say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and cast into the sea ;
it shall be done.” —Wonder if any of the disciples ever believed
this ! How would one of the modern disciples, who has not faith
enough to move a table, and does not believe any one can. however
great his faith,— how would such a disciple make up liis mouth to
say to a mountain, “Be thou removed and cast into the sea."
It appears, then, that Jesus did not succeed in this effort to in
crease the disciples’ faith, if this were his object, by cursing the
fig-tree.
People can talk about faith; but, test their faith by requesting
them to put it in practice, or to believe what another has really
done in their own age, near home, and they are found as sceptical
as the boldest atheist,— frequently more so.
*
3
�26
CLASS IX. — TURNING WATER INTO WINE.
This is frequently done at the present day, though we believe
most men prefer taking the wine clear. We do not mean by this
remark any disrespect for Jesus; we say it for all wine-makers,
and for them in the true spirit of wine, which is anything but
stupid gravity. If any believe Jesus to belong to the class of
wine-makers which they would not be among, we may offend them •
but. foi ourselves, we do not believe it, and we will here give the
reasons.
1st. We think the people at the wedding had already drunk
wine enough, having drained all their bottles; and for Jesus to
make six water-pots full more (at least thirty gallons) would
border on extravagance, if not intemperance.
2d. The only account of this is given in John 2 : 1—10, which
account is rendered impossible by circumstances related in the other
three gospels. Compare Matt. 3: 16, 17; 4 : 1—13 ; Mark 1:
10—13; Luke 4 : 12. John 2 : 1, “And the third day there was
a marriage in Cana of Galilee.” By the previous chapter, verses
28, 29 and 43, it is evident that this was the third day after the
baptism of Jesus by John. By the above references to the other
three gospels, it will be seen that 11 immediately (after the bap
tism) the spirit driveth him into the wilderness, and he was there
in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with wild
beasts, and the angels (spirits) ministered unto him,” which clearly
proves an alibi by three witnesses; therefore, the testimony of
John is good for nothing.
It will be observed that I reject the miracle wholly on the
ground of evidence, there being a decided balance against it; one
witness testifying that, in a certain place, on a certain time, Jesus
performed a certain act, while three witnesses testify that Jesus
was not there within forty days of that time, — that he was off in
the wilderness with the devil.
As to the fact of water being changed into wine, or something
resembling it, I think it could be easily explained by spirit agency.
I will briefly state two facts involving the same principles.
1st. By request of spirits, distilled water was hermetically
�27
sealed in a glass bottle. In this condition it twice changed its
color; then, being analyzed, was found to contain several mineral
substances of medicinal qualities.
2d. A lady medium being sick, by the request of spirits, put
several empty bottles into a room, and, while no person could enter,
these were taken off the mantel, placed in the centre of the floor,
and filled with medicine, which she used according to the direc
tions of the spirits, and was restored to health.
I could produce several witnesses who would testify to the above
facts, though I am sure many who believe, on the testimony of one,
that Jcsus made thirty gallons of wine at a wedding feast, would
ridicule the fact of spirits making a few quarts of medicine for a
poor sick woman, though it were testified to by twenty witnesses.
But I would say to those who may think it “ a sign of mental
defect,” that, while we accept many of the facts of modern spiritu
alism, we reject some of the reports of similar facts ages since,—
and to those spiritualists who think it wisdom to swallow down
all reports of ancient and modern wonders, however great, simply
because they know some to be true, — the fact that a thing is proved
possible by our knowledge of things involving the same principles,
by no means proves that the same thing happened on any partic
ular occasion. We still require testimony, or evidence of some
kind, in proportion to the infrequency of the event, and equal to
all the probabilities against it occurring in the particular case
under consideration.
I would also reply to one class above named, if you consider me
ilin some way mentally defective” for rejecting a part of the
New Testament “miracles,” while I have subsequently believed
some of the modern “ miracles,” can I think your mind perfectly
sound, when you, having previously believed all the New Testa
ment “miracles,” reject all the modern “miracles,” notwithstand
ing the balance of testimony in favor of the latter is as ten to one.
CLASS X.
Feeding “ five thousand men, besides women and children,
On FIVE BARLEY LOAVES AND TWO SMALL FISHES,” and then
taking up “twelve baskets-full of the fragments that re
�28
mained after they did all eat and were filled” ! ! !! ten times
the amount they had before eating ! This is truly a miracle! I
confess it goes far beyond anything related by modern spiritualists.
Nothing like it has occurred in these times, nor can I believe
anything like it will occur. We have four accounts of it given
in the New Testament, as we suppose, by four different persons,
though we do not know that either of these persons were present
on the occasion, or how they got their information, oi’ when they
made the statement.
But, if ten most reliable men in any community, at the present
day, should state that they were present on such an occasion, and
give all the particular circumstances of the case, I could not
believe the fact occurred; and I think, if an hundred, nay, the
whole five thousand, should testify to it, very few Christians would
believe it. I should say they were deceived,— bread and fishes,
in abundance, might be brought into the midst of such a multi
tude, and they know nothing about the means of bringing. Hence,
the inference is plain that I do not believe the fact above related:
and may I not infer the same in the case of others, whatever their
professions ? I can conceive an explanation of the fact (if it be a
fact) which, to many spiritualists, will be perfectly rational.
It has been asserted by thousands that spirits have moved mate
rial substances, and conveyed them to a greater or less distance
through the air. I have presented testimony to this effect in this
essay. But the most remarkable facts of this kind I have not
mentioned, for I know they would be rejected, however much
testimony I might produce in their favor. I have been told, by
the parties themselves, that spirits have conveyed letters from them
to the distance of several hundred miles, and brought back answers,
of which they gave me, in all gravity, the fullest particulars. Re
liable persons have stated that when they have been in want of
certain articles (specifying the articles), those very things have
been placed before them by spirits. The last spiritualist paper I
read gave an account of a ribbon and a knife being conveyed by
spirits across the Atlantic ocean. The case of the knife being
taken from under the table and again replaced, as stated by Mr.
Garrison, involves the same principle.
�29
This fact — the ability of spirits to convey material objects
through the air — being established, as it is, in connection with the
fact that angels or spirits ministered unto Jesus, Mark 4:11,
and what he said on one occasion, “ Thinkest thou that I cannot
now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels (spirits)?” [Matt. 26: 53], suggests a
plausible explanation of the above miracle. Spirits, perhaps,
“more than twelve legions ” of them, were employed in bringing
bread and fishes from the neighboring towns and villages. But
this explanation, plausible as it is, and no doubt acceptable to
many spiritualists, appears to me really ludicrous. Why ? Simply
because it would be more natural and easy for Jesus to dismiss the
multitude, in accordance with the suggestions of his disciples, and
permit them to go home and get their supper, than to employ so
many angels to take each a loaf of bread and a fish under his
wing, and bring them into the desert, and, after they had there
eaten, immediately dismiss them to their homes. The object
secured by all this angelic parade “would not pay.” But how
much more would it not pay for the Almighty Ruler of a million
worlds, the infinite and unchangeable God, to suspend or counter
act any of the “ immutable laws ” by which he governs all nature,
or create new laws, to accomplish this simple object! The idea
of spirits doing it is ludicrous, but the idea of the Deity doing it
is a solemn absurdity. And any person whose mind is so consti
tuted that he cannot accept the wonderful facts of modern spirit
ualism, which we have given on the testimony of forty witnesses,
cannot believe this far more wonderful fact on the testimony of
four witnesses.
CLASS II. — RAISING A PERSON FROM THE DEAD.
There is only one case of this kind in the New Testament,
that of Lazarus. — In the other cases there is no certainty that
the persons were really deaf as any one will readily see by
referring to the accounts themselves. Persons are very frequently
supposed to be dead, and sometimes buried, when they are only in
a swoon. But I think, in the case of Lazarus, this could not be.
It is not at all probable that he could lie in this state four days,
�30
and in the tomb. I am aware that this account is given more in
detail than that of any other miracle in the New Testament. But
I will ask any candid person, who professedly believes this narrative
given in the writings of only one man, and those of doubtful au
thorship, but who finds it too great a stretch of credulity to believe
“modern miracles” on the testimony of a thousand living wit
nesses, — I will ask such a person, Could you believe a fact similar
to that related in the gospel of John, if ten most reliable men
should declare they saw it performed 2 If not, then may I not
infer that you, with me, do not believe this account? I think
the other gospel writers did not believe it, or they would have re
corded it. For, if it took place, they must have known it, as Jesus
was a particular friend in this family of Lazarus. It is a greater
miracle than they have mentioned; and I can account for their
silence only on the ground that they never heard the story,
or did not believe it. I know not why a big story could not grow
up from a small matter in that age, as well as in the present age.
All, who have read any considerable portion of the church fathers
know that the greater story they could tell, the better ; and who
can say how early they began to fabricate them, or when the
gospel of John was written?
The silence of the other three histories, as to this greatest of all
the miracles, looks rather suspicious. It can be accounted for
only in one of three ways : either the writers did not hear of the
miracle, or they did not believe it, or they did not think it of
sufficient importance to be recorded.
The last supposition cannot be accepted; for they all three, with
John, record several miracles, which we all know, and which they
must have known, were far less important than this.
Either of the others amounts to the same thing. For, had such
a miracle as this occurred in the presence of so “many Jews”
(John 11: 45 and 46), it would have been not only extensively
known, but well attested. This, and the fact that Lazarus, with his
family, were particular friends of Jesus and his disciples (John
11: 11), makes it certain that they all would have known the fact,
had it really occurred as related in the fourth gospel. So, if they
heard but did not believe the story, having the same means of
�91
Ol
knowing the facts, we must conclude that it was false. The
Jews, who did not believe in Jesus, might hear of this or any
other work of Jesus, and not believe it; or they might witness
facts, and think it a deception or an imposture, as many at the
present day, who disbelieve “spirit manifestations,” reject any
particular fact, though they may have been eye-witnesses to it.
But this could not be the case with the disciples of Jesus. They
would both have known and believed the fact, had Jesus raised
Lazarus to life, after he had been dead (11 : 13, 14) four days in
the tomb. Since, then, we are compelled to accept one of those
alternatives, — namely, that they did not know, or did not believe,
— we must conclude that the fact did not occur as related.
This reasoning proceeds on the supposition that the three first
gospels were written by the immediate disciples of Jesus; but, if
they were written by those of a later period, the reasoning, with
a slight alteration, will apply with equal force.
CLASS XII. — CHILD BORN WITH NO NATURAL FATHER.
How do we know ? Somebody said so. Who said so ? Sup
posed to be Matthew and Luke ! Who told them ? Suppose
Paul told Luke, and somebody told Matthew and Paul; for
neither of these persons knew anything about the child or its
mother till thirty years after he was born. Suppose, then,
the mother of the child told this story, for it must come to this at
last. Joseph’s dream cannot be credited among a people who do
not believe in dreams and visions; nor can any of the spiritual
communications to Mary, or any of the parties, be relied upon by
those who do not believe it possible for spirits to communicate to
mortals. We then have the story reported to us at second-hand,
at least.
Now, where is the court, in any country, which could accept
such second-handed testimony as this, for the most natural event ?
And could the most credulous Christian judge, upon any bench,
but smile with pity upon the unfortunate female who should per
sonally give oath before him that her child had no natural father,
or that an angel, or a spirit, had begotten him; and would he not
�32
be the more surprised, should she solemnly declare that no less a
spirit than God himself had done this ? Why, this goes beyond all
the spirit intercourse of modern times ; though there were many
similar stories told, and believed, in those ancient times. The
people then did not think it at all strange for the gods to have
intercourse with women; and it appears, by the Old Testament,
that Jews could credit such stories, as well as the heathens,—
Gen. 4 : 2 and 4.
I am fully aware that those who professedly believe these stories
do not receive them on the flimsy testimony which is given in
their support, but through their theories of ££ the fallf and ££ the
plan of redemption ; ” else they accept them from tradition and
habit, as they do many others, without the disposition or courage
to question them. But, should we not be cautious how we build
theories upon facts so poorly substantiated ? Theories to support
the facts — then make the facts support the theories ! and this
when both the theories and the facts are, in themselves, so mon
strous and absurd, if not blasphemous, that human nature revolts
at them 1
�TESTIMONY.
Case I.
No. 1. Testimony of seven to class 1., taken from a statement published
in “ The Spirit World," Feb. 1, 1851.
>
We, the undersigned, having witnessed this day, at the house of
La Roy Sunderland (No. 28 Elliot-st., Boston), the following phenom
ena, deem it proper, in this way, to make mention of them.
We asked the spirits if they would give us some physical manifesta
tions, and we were promptly answered by raps in the affirmative.
The table was then immediately moved in various directions, from
one to two feet, - and, at our request, was quite a number of times
turned over into the laps of those surrounding it. In two instances
it was raised entirely from the floor, and we are positive that no human
instrumentality was employed in producing these results.
Upon the evening of the same day we met again, with the addition
of two to our circle. The circle was formed in Mr. Sunderland’s back
parlor, as before, when the following, among other phenomena, were
produced.
On holding each other’s hands, so that no one was at liberty in the
room, a centre-table around which we were sitting was raised up from
the floor five times, and let down with considerable force, so as to shake
the floor. Once or twice the raps were made, not on the table, but *
with it, the table being used by the spirit, as we were assured, to rap
on the floor.
Five times the table was upset and turned over, so that it fell sidewise upon the floor, with violence. A small bell, which stood upon the
table, was moved without human hands from the table, four times. It
*
was thrown upon the floor, thrown into the lap of Dr. Kibbee,. and
4
�finally it was removed by the spirit, and they spelled out, “ Find the
bell, which was the first we knew of its absence. Search was made
by one of the company, while the others remained in the circle, holding
each other s hands. After the search had been continued for some
minutes, the bell was accidentally discovered in Mrs. Cooper’s lap, as it
fell out from the folds of her apron ! During the whole of this tinw,
Mrs. Cooper’s hands had been held in the hands of two of the company,
standing or sitting, by her side. We can only say, that we have been
profoundly impressed with the conviction that no human agency what
ever was used in the production of the phenomena we have described.
Signed,
7i. P. Kibbee, M. D., Springfield, Mass.
Rufus Elmer,
«
«
Nelson L. Elmer,
“
«
Theodore M. Smith, Boston,
«
George E. Haskell,
“
“
Z. Rogers, Charlestown,
“
Moses Babcock, “
«
Boston, Jan. 22d, 1851.
No. 2. Testimony of three to class I., taken from a statement which
appeared in “ The Pittsburg Despatch:'
On the evening of Friday, March 21st (1851), our circle met at
the house of Mr. Courtney. After mentioning some conversation with
what they supposed an ignorant spirit, and some very violent physical
phenomena, to remove the ground for suspicion, we then formed a com
plete circle of all in the room, around the table, joining hands; Mary
and Mrs. Bushnell (mediums) included. A case-knife was then thrown
from the mantel into the middle of the floor, a distance of several
yards. Another book was thrown from the stand against the opposite
wall; and various other articles were tossed about in a strange mann®r
all the while a loud and muffled knocking being kept up,' caus
ing the house to shake, and the table to jar and tremble. There is not
in this case the slightest ground for suspicion of fraud and collusion, as
our two media were in the circle during the last scene, with their hands
tightly held. We will not, for a moment, suppose that the charge of
imposition will be alleged against any- of the others present, as they are
all well known in this community, with the exception of Mr. Joseph
Ketler, of New Castle, Pa., whose character can be sworn to be unex• ceptionable.
The following persons were present: W. S. Courtney, William II.
�35
Williams (broker), Milo A. Townsend, William McDonald, Joseph
Ketler, Mrs. Courtney, Mrs. Bushnell and Mary and Caroline Cronk,
all of whom are willing to testify to the facts above related.
Signed,
W. S. Courtney.
Milo A. Townsend.
William McDonald.
No. 3. Testimony of eight to class I.
To the Editors of the Republican : As many of our citizens
are of opinion that the wonders of Spiritualism, so called, have been
explained away by Prof. Grimes, as being a manifestation of the mes
meric power, and as the professor asserted that the manifestations
would cease from that time forth in this community, I am induced to
offer you the following facts, which I, in company with several other
persons, witnessed at the house of Rufus Elmer, in this city, on the
evening of the 28th of February, 1854. The circle, consisting of nine
persons besides the medium, were seated around a common cherry
table, when the following phenomena occurred. The table commenced
a trembling, vibratory motion ; sounds were heard on the floor and table,
some of which were very loud. Then the table was rocked with great
force; then raised nearly, if not quite, two feet from the floor, and was
held supported in mid air with a waving motion, as if floating on the
agitated waters of the sea, for considerable time. This operation was
repeated a number of times. Then, by the tipping, we were directed
to place the dinner-bell (weighing one pound one ounce) under the
table, on the floor, where it was rung with great violence many times;
questions answered by the raps upon it, and with it each individual in
the circle was touched in such a manner that there could be no mistake
about it. We then requested the spirits to pass the bell from the floor,
and place it into our hands, which was done to each individual sepa
rately ; and again, at our request, it was taken from our hands, and
carefully deposited upon the floor. Again, while we sung the hymn,
“ While shepherds watched,” the bell was raised from the floor and rung
in perfect time with the measure of the tune sung (Old Coronation),
after which another tune was drummed out with the bell against the
under side of the table, the sound resembling the roll of drumsticks in
the hands of a skilful performer upon a tenor drum. This was con
tinued for several minutes.
•
All the above I know was performed without human agency; the
�36
hands of each person present, during the whole performance above
described, being on the top of the table, with the room well lighted,
and in the full view of every person present; and this was also the
case during the whole sitting. During the whole time of the various
performances with the bell, as well as before and after it, our garments
were pulled almost constantly; two handkerchiefs were firmly knotted
together, while laying in the laps of the owners; our persons were
many times touched more or less forcibly, producing a peculiar and
indescribable sensation; some of us had our limbs grasped with con
siderable force, and distinctly felt the form of the spirit hand — a soft,
delicate, elastic yet powerful touch, which cannot be described, but
must be felt to be appreciated. The reader will bear in mind that the
hands of every person present were in plain view on the top of the
table.
“ The name of the medium is withheld, he being, like many others in
our city, unwilling to face the bitter contempt, scorn and sneers, which
must be borne by all who have the moral courage to honestly and fear
lessly advocate and defend the claims of the modern manifestations to
a spiritual origin.
Yours, in the cause of truth,
H. F. Gardner.
Springfield, March 1, 1854.
We, the other members of the circle above referred to, most sol
emnly and emphatically declare the foregoing statement, subscribed by
Dr. Gardner, to be strictly and literally true; and that we were sever
ally in our normal condition, both of mind and body, were fully con
scious of all that transpired, and know, as well as we are capable of
knowing any fact, that the manifestations above related were produced
by some invisible intelligence entirely independent of ourselves or of
the medium.
Mrs. John Lord,
F. C. Andreu,
Mrs. R. Elmer,
Rufus Elmer,
Mrs. S. A. Richie,
Marshall Elmer,
Miss Mary M. Harris.
Springfield, March 1, 1854.
[Springfield Republican.
No. 4. Testimony of four to class I. Extract from a statement pub
lished in “ The Springfield Republican ” of 1853.
“ The undersigned, from a sense of justice to the parties referred to,
very cordially bear testimony to the occurrence of the following facts,
�37
which we severally witnessed at the house of Rufus Elmer, in Spring
field, on the evening of the 5th inst.
The table was moved in every possible direction, and with great
force, when we could not perceive any cause of motion.
Mr. Wells seated himself on the table, which was rocked for some time
with great violence; and at length it poised itself upon two legs, and
remained in this position for some thirty seconds, when no other person
was in contact with the table.
Three persons, Messrs. Wells, Bliss and Edwards, assumed positions
on the table at the same time, and while thus seated the table was
moved in various directions.
Occasionally we were made conscious of a powerful shock, which
produced a vibratory motion on the floor of the apartment in which
we were seated. It seemed like the motion occasioned by distant
thunder, or the firing of ordnance far away; causing the tables, chairs
and other inanimate objects, and all of us, to tremble in such a manner
that the effects were both seen and felt. In the whole exhibition we were
constrained to admit that there was almost constant manifestation of
intelligence, which seemed at least independent of the circle. During
these occurrences the room was well lighted, and every possible oppor
tunity was afforded us for the closest inspection; and we submit this,
our emphatic declaration.
We know we were not imposed upon nor deceived.
Wm. Bryant,
Wm. Edwards,
B. K. Bliss,
David A. Wells.
Note.— These four witnesses are, as I have been informed, well
known in this community, and are of undoubted veracity. Mr. Wells
is Professor of Chemistry in this University.
No. 5. Testimony of 1 to class I. Case of lifting a person into the
air, taken from Rev. Herman Snow's book on “ Spirit Intercourse,”
p. 64.
In the month of March, 1852, being at the house of Rev. J. J.
Locke, in the town of Barre, Mass., one evening, as we were seated in
a circle around a table, — I should say about a dozen persons present,
several of whom were strangers to us, — all listening to some messages
that were being spelled out by raps on the table (which stood inde
pendent from the touch of any), by the use of the alphabet; all was
*
4
�38
still and peaceful, the room well lighted, and no one expecting any
thing unusual, that I was aware of, when Mrs. Cheney’s right hand began
to rise very gradually and steadily — up, up — higher and higher —
till it seemed to raise her from the chaii’; still upward she was raised,
until she swung in the open atmosphere between the floor and ceiling,
and positively not coming in contact with any visible thing whatever.
Such are the facts in relation to the case, as near as I can state them.
If any should doubt the above statement, I am happy to say that I am
able to substantiate any part of it by reliable evidence.
'
Yours, in the faith,
Athol Depot, April 26, 1853.
S. F. Cheney.
Note.— Mr. Snow states that Mr. and Mrs. Cheney are personal
acquaintances of his; that they are of excellent moral character, and
members of Rev. Mr. Clark’s church, in Athol; and may be referred
to for the fact, should any one question it.
Case II.
No. 1. Testimony of 2 to classes I and II.
Messrs. Partridge and Brittan.
Dear Sirs : We have some very strong spiritual manifestations here
in Baltimore. Our citizens are waking up to investigate the beautiful
phenomena, and we have a large number of mediums being developed.
We have also an association for investigating the subject, and over two
hundred private circles. The following is a brief description of the
phenomena which occurred at one of our private circles:
The circle met at 8 o’clock in the evening, at B. S. Benson’s house
— five ladies and four gentlemen being present. The circle was formed,
the lights were removed, and, after singing, Miss L., Miss H., Mrs. A.
P. P., mediums present, were perceived to be in the interior state, by
their description of things then transpiring in the room. It was said,
“ There is Franklin; there are three others with him; they have boxes
under their arms; they place them under the table ; they are going to
make raps ; they say something is wrong; they have gone over in the
corner of the room, and are talking together and pointing to the table;
they now bring two more boxes ; they say they are going to break the
table.” The raps, or rather pounding, commenced, and were as if made
by a muffled mall, of many pounds’ weight, suspended under the table,
at first striking so lightly as not to raise the table, but increasing by
�39
degrees, until the table was raised from the floor some ten or twelve
inches, all four legs of the table being off the floor at once. The table
was heard to drop, as if it had fallen some distance, with a tremendous
crash. There were no material means used to produce the raps, nor did
there exist a possibility of deception, there being no one in the room
but those joined in the circle, hand in hand, around the table, not one
of whom touched the table at the time. The table was at one time
thrown on the lap of a lady present, and thrown off by the same
unseen power. All present, at times, saw lights in different directions
around the room, as well as over the table. After some tremendous
poundings, which made some of those present fear they would be struck
with pieces of the table, it was then spoken by one of the mediums,
“ Nothing more to-night.”
Yours, truly,
B. S. Benson,
W. W. Laning.
No. 2. Testimony of 1 to classes II. and III. Experience of a Clergy
man. From “ Spiritual Telegraph," April 15, 1854.
Having been a Methodist local preacher, in England and America,
for about twenty years, I had many difficulties to contend with ; yet I
considered that if Spiritualism was what it purported to be, it would
be worth everything to me.
I have twelve children, and a number of them are writing, speaking
and seeing mediums; therefore I have had a good opportunity to inves
tigate. I did that which many professors do not do. I did not try to
prove the spirits good or bad spirits by my old opinions, but permitted
them to write whatever they thought proper. My wife has given me
all the evidence I could wish for. * * * *
From the time of her death up to the present time, I have received
evidence enough to satisfy any reasonable man. * * * * I have
also constantly received communications from relations and friends.
They told me I was to be a seeing medium, and so it proved.
The first I saw was (as they call it) the spirits in open daylight
(not in the body). They are always with me. * * * *
They light me to bed with a bright cloud, and I can see them by
candle-light moving around the room in colors of crimson and blue;
and now of late I am enabled to see my father, mother, sister and
brother-in-law; but none as plainly, or so long at a time, as my wife.
�40
I have been able to examine her features and dress. She looks
about thirty years of age. * * * *
Joseph Brydle.
Kellogsville, Ashtabula Co., Ohio.
Case III.
No. 1. Testimony ofl to class III.
While at High Rock, Katy professed to see the spirit of the wife
of J esse Hutchinson, who left the form before she came to this country.
On being shown a number of daguerreotype likenesses, one of which
was that of Mrs. H., without any intimation as to the object, she imme
diately exclaimed, “ 0, there’s Mrs. Hutchinson ; ” and, the company
refusing to acknowledge the fact, and apparently denying it, only made
her the more earnestly declare that it was the countenance she had
seen in the spirit world! She never had seen the likeness of Mrs. H.
before.
Rufus Elmer.
Nov. 6, 1852.
No. 2. Testimony of (1) Mr. Chase and seven others, to classes 1 and
III. Taken from Adin Ballou's “ Spirit Manifestations."
About the last of October, 1851, I was at the house of Marcus C.
Wilcox, of Blackstone. What purported to be his wife, Sybil Chase
spelled out through the raps, in answer to the question if it would ever
be possible for her to take his hand; “ I cannot shake hands with you
here, but, if you will go to the house of Meltiah Knowlton, in Green
ville, R. I., and sit with Daniel Knowlton, I will take hold of your
hand.” At the same time my father and George Knowlton, who pur
ported to be present, said they would take hold of my hand, if I
would go to Greenville and sit with Daniel.
Soon after this, in company with Mr. C. Wilcox he went to the
house of Mr. Knowlton, in Greenville. He says, I then held out
my hand in open space, where it was not possible to be reached
by any one present without altering their position, — which they did
not, as I must have seen them, — I felt a hand as perfect as that
of a living person; the touch and separation of th.e fingers were
plainly perceptible. It purported to be the hand of my former
wife. One of her hands was deformed by being badly burnt when a
child. Two of her fingers were bent inwards toward the palm, and
the nail on one of the fingers was very short and thick. I then asked
�41
her to put her deformed hand into mine, which she immediately did ;
and then passed her fingers with the thick nail, over the palm of my
hand, as if to convince me of her identity. Afterward, my father and
George Knowlton (or what purported to be them) put their hands into
mine.
Much more was done at the time; one particular of which I will
relate. I held in my hand two pieces of money, which were taken out
and passed into the hand of Mrs. Knowlton at a distance of about six
feet, by an invisible hand.
Blackstone, June 30, 1852.
(The above is given in the words of Mr. Chase.)
If the believers in the New Testament accounts object to the reality
of the above phenomena, on account that the physical deformity of a
hand could not be continued in the spirit world, or represented by a
spirit, we would refer them to the case mentioned in the twentieth chap
ter of John, where a spirit (“the doors being shut”) appeared in the
midst of a company, and exhibited to the touch of one present, the
wounds inflicted upon his physical body but few days before. It seems
the two cases are very similar; and certainly the testimony in favor of
the case we present is as reliable as that in favor of the case here
referred to; for we have in the one case the words of the very person
who witnessed the fact, while in the other we do not; nor does the
writer say he was present on the occasion, or tell us how he obtained
his information. If it be asserted that, in the case of Thomas, an
object was accomplished, we will give the very words of Mr. Chase, to
show that precisely the same object was accomplished in his case.
“ For more than twenty years,” says he, “ I was a confirmed sceptic, or
infidel, as the people called me. I did not believe man had an immor
tal soul, or any existence after the death of the body; but, in witness
ing the incident related hereafter, relative to the defective hand of
Sybil Chase, my former wife, feeling the bent and stiffened fingers, the
short and thick nails, my scepticism departed, and I believed that man
possessed an immortal part.” I will further quote from Mr. Ballou in
reference to Mr. Scott and Mr. Wilcox, both being present with Mr.
Chase on the occasion above named. Mr. Wilcox affirms that this
(feeling the pressure of spirit hands) has taken place, to his knowl
edge, more than one hundred times. The grasp is generally sensible,
firm and cordial. Mr. Wilcox says he has frequently been permitted
to feel of the hand, wrist, and part of the arm, as deliberately as he
�42
ever did one of flesh and blood. The spirits represent that they have
power, under certain circumstances, to assume forms proper to manifest
themselves to the senses of mortals, either to touch or sight. Mr.
Ballou states that Emery Scott, Ellis Cook, Marcus Wilcox and his
wife Eliza, distinctly saw a spirit hand and arm, on several occasions,
both separately and together; and states the particulars which render
it impossible that they should be deceived. At the close of the chap
ter, he says, “ The persons referred to in the foregoing narrative
(Harvey Chase, Mr. and Mrs. Marcus C. Wilcox, Mr. Emery Scott,
Elis Cook, Benj. Ray, of Blackstone, Meltiah Knowlton and Daniel
Knowlton, of Greenville, R. I.) have authorized me to refer any
doubter or inquirer to them, as witnesses of the facts set forth, and of
numerous similar facts. Messrs. Emery Scott, Marcus C. Wilcox
and Harvey Chase, are not only willing, but desirous, that I should
state to the public their conversion to a firm and happy belief in the
immortality of all human souls. Scott was for many years an intelli
gent but inveterate materialist. He says he desired to believe in
man’s future existence, but could find no proof of it adequate to a
rational conviction. He ridiculed the very idea of spirits communicat
ing with mortals, and for some time stubbornly refused to witness what
was going on at the house of Mr. Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox was brought
up an Atheist, and says he ‘ hated the very sight of the Bible from
childhood.’ ”
Here we have an equivalent to the testimony of eight persons, vouched
for by Adin Ballou (of Hopedale, Mass.), whose veracity and whose
candor are above suspicion. Besides, the persons are ready to be
referred so by those who doubt, — their names and residences being
given ; the parties, some of them at least, more sceptical and not at
all inclined to favor the spiritual side of nature. They had no preju
dices in favor, but all against, the idea of communications from spirits
out of the body. To reject such testimony, without a thorough
inquiry, by referring to the witnesses themselves, and making personal
experiments with the same, or other mediums, in whose presence such
facts are said to occur, is not only unscientific- and irrational, but the
most stupid bigotry, which none save those whose whole minds are made
up of traditions taken in with their mother’s milk, and with as little
thought, will be guilty of.
�43
Case IV.
JVo. 1. Testimony oflto class IV.
Mr. J. F. Lanning, says: “ In the month of August, 1851, I first
became sensibly influenced by some invisible power moving my hand to
write without the aid of my will, and in a short time very rapidly.
* * * * I have also often heard whisperings^ as distinctly as if
some one was at my side in conversation with me."
No. 2. Testimony of 1 to classes III. and TV. Taken from a state
ment published in the first “ Spiritual Telegraph."
* * * * That same day I received another word or words
sealed up as the first, from the hands of a gentleman, who is now, and
has been for several years, the proprietor of a city paper, with a
request similar to the first. I was sitting alone in my chamber at my
residence, a short distance from the city, at about eleven o’clock on the
night of the 8th of April, when * * * * I saw the form of my
wife standing within arm’s-length of my chair, and near the table. It
is utterly impossible for me to describe her appearance, further than
that she was, so far as features were concerned, just as she appeared in
life; but there was a bright, almost dazzling radiance about her, which
defies description.
After standing for, perhaps, ten seconds, with her eyes all the time
fixed on me, she took up from the table the sealed envelope, held it in
her fingers, and smiled as I had seen her a thousand times when living.
I am as well satisfied that I saw the words in the envelope quite as
plainly as I do these which I am now writing, as I am of my own
existence. I took up my pen, and wrote two names; whereupon the
“ presence,” or whatever it was, laid down the envelope with the most
meaning smile of satisfaction I ever beheld, and almost immediately
took up a pencil, and — I did not see her write, or lay down the pencil;
but I did see the pencil laying on the paper, and there, too, I saw the
following sentence, written in Spanish, and the exact chirography of
my wife when alive : “ God has called a mighty army for my hus
band.” Thirty seconds might have passed, during which time I sat
and gazed at the “ form,” as free from agitation as I ever was in my
life; when she spoke, —and I should have recognized that voice in an
instant among ten thousand, even had I not seen her. “ I must go
now, but I will come again, some time; ” and the next moment I was
�44
conscious of being alone, although I have no knowledge how the pres
ence disappeared. On the succeeding night I saw her in my room
three several times after I was in bed; and, if ever I heard words audi
bly spoken in my life, it was that “ form,” saying, “ Husband, I have
been to bless our little Inez.” (Our child, now nearly three years old,
at Grenada, in Spain.) On the following Monday, I gave the words
which I had written, together with the sealed envelope, to the gentle
man from whom I had received it, and who, after satisfying himself
that no efforts had been made to get at its contents, declared the names
to be correct; then, opening the envelope, in presence of witnesses who
had seen it sealed, proved, by comparing them, that they were correct
in every particular. * * * *
George R. Raymond.
Case V.
No. 1. Testimony of 1 to class V. Taken from a statement of Dr.
Joseph R. Buchanan, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; published in the
“ Journal of Man,” for May, 1852.
Spirits not only rap out the messages in languages foreign to the
medium, but, by impressing the mind of a suitable medium, enable him
to speak in a language to him entirely unknown.
Dr. Buchanan goes on to relate the particulars of a female speaking
French. She stated in that language, wholly unknown to her, that a
bloody war would soon break out, and overwhelm the continent of
Europe.
He also says of Mr. F.: “ This young gentleman, a school-teacher
by profession, having no knowledge of any foreign language, except a
slight smattering of Latin, has fallen under the influence of spirits
belonging to other nations, and speaks their language familiarly, with
out knowing the meaning of what he is uttering. * * * * Under
the influence of the Indian chief, Red Jacket, he delivers Indian
speeches, sings Indian songs, and performs the Indian dances. * * * *
Two of the company present, who were acquainted with the Indian
languages, spoke of his speech with approbation, as a genuine Indian
harangue, and a fine specimen of oratory. Mr. F. also declaims in a
language supposed to be Chinese, as he writes, under the control of the
same spirit, characters which resemble Chinese writing. I have sev
eral specimens of his writing in the character of a medium, some of
which resemble the Chinese, others the Arabic, and others the Hebrew.
�45
No. 2. Testimony of one to classes I., V. and VI. From a private
letter to the Ed. “ Spiritual Telegraphy
Wheeling, Va., July 1, 1852.
In the same vicinity [Lloydsville, Bel. Co., Ohio] is a child who is
made to speak Dutch, though she is of Irish descent. Another, who
never wrote a word, never tried to learn, and yet she has written a
legible hand while under spirit influence.
In Harrison Co., Ohio, at the house of Mr. Steel, almost every
article of furniture is moved. A stand placed in the centre of the
room moves about when no person is in the house !
J. B. Wolf.
Case VI.
No. 1. Testimony of one to class VI.
N. Y. Conference,— Weekly Report, — Friday, Aug. 6th, 1854.—
Meeting large. Dr. Smith mentioned the case of a child, some seven
or eight years of age, — the family of an acquaintance of his.
She appears to be a medium of considerable powers ; but, what is
more singular, the child, without having been taught, as far as is known
to any of the family, has recently and most unexpectedly been able to
read ! The child’s Own simple statement of the matter is, that her
mother in heaven has come to her, and taught her to read.
R. T. Hallock, Seely.
No. 2. Testimony of one to class VI.
New York Conference, Friday Evening, March Ath, 1853.—Mr.
Waters, among many other interesting facts, stated that, in West Troy,
a child four years old had been developed as a medium. The child
cannot write, yet communications are made through her in writing, and
with fac-similes of the hand-writing of deceased persons.
R. T. Hallock, SeCy.
Note. — This case, though not precisely the same as being taught
to read, involves the same principles, and is equally remarkable.
Case VII.
No. 1. Testimony of one to class VII.
The following interesting letter we take from the Practical Christian,
5
�46
of which Adin Ballou is the principal editor. A. A. Ballou, the
communicating spirit, is the son of Adin, and departed from the earth
life some two years ago.
Cuba, N. Y.
Dear Adin: On the 21st of Jan. last, 1854, Augustus took
control of Cora, and commenced influencing a sick lady who was very
low with the asthma. After operating upon the patient a few moments,
Cora was caused to lay her hands upon Miss Lucina Folsom, another
medium. Miss F. was immediately entranced, and resumed the busi
ness of operating upon the sick lady.
[The spirit here gives to the medium a description of the disease.]
About one-third of one lobe of the lungs was consumed, and the
surrounding parts appeared in a decaying condition. The bronchial
tubes on that side were obstructed by a thick glutinous substance,
which prevented the natural circulation.
lie raid the disease could be arrested where it was, and the lungs
healed over; but the organs could not be created anew where they
were gone. Cora was. again entranced, and wrote : “ If Lucina will
come here, we will operate on the sick lady, and she will receive great
benefit. Come about once a week.” This was a desperate case, of
many years’ standing. The patient was reduced to a mere skeleton,
and had not lain down in bed for some six months, on account of suf
focation. I have lately received a letter from her father, stating that
she now does her housework, shows no signs of her disease, is gaining
flesh fast, and has laid in bed without difficulty from the time above
mentioned. This was the first case, and unexpected to us all; the sub
ject not having been introduced or anticipated.
Another circumstance. One evening, Augustus delivered a lecture
through Cora, in our circle at Lake Mills, concerning heaven and hell
as being a state or condition of the mind, the spirit-land a place, &c.
&c. After closing the discourse, he said he must leave immediately,
and go to Waterloo, — that there was a gathering there, and a medium
from Sun Prairie, through whom he could speak. This was about
forty-five minutes past 7. We ascertained, the next day, that at about
that moment Mr. Budlong, of Sun Prairie, was entranced, and the
spirit announced his name to be A. A. Ballou, who spoke a communi
cation concerning heaven and hell as being a state or condition of the
mind, the spirit-land a place, &c. &c.; the identical subject, word for
word, that was delivered to us a few minutes before. The distance
between the two places is eight miles, and we had no knowledge of
their meeting, nor they of ours.
�47
I will not attempt to relate any more circumstances relative to this
subject. Were I present with you, I could tell you similar and more
“ astounding facts,” till my speech had become mute with hoarseness.
I am here with Cora, making an “ uproar among the people.” Through
Cora, a lecture has been delivered and questions answered before an
assembly of some five hundred people. The spirit-doctor has taken all
the cases of the worst character, — such as total blindness, consump
tion in the last stages, hereditary infirmities, &c., where all earthly
hopes are gone, — if the patients are willing and desirous of submitting
themselves to spirit influence. In such cases, the disease is arrested,
and the patient begins to recover from “ that very hour.” The Lord
knows what will become of us, or where we shall end — I don’t. This,
however, I do know, “ we enter into rest,” and are at peace with all
men — desiring the truth.
D. W. Scott.
No. 2. Testimony of one to class VII. Three cases of healing. H. H.
Hunt, Clergyman, Medium, from “ Spiritual Telegraph," Jan. 8,
1853.
Addison, Sept. 13, 1852.
In September, 1851, while in Indiana, I went to hear the rappings,
when I became convinced that there must be a spiritual agency in
volved in the matter. But by my position as a preacher of the Gospel
x being restrained from giving my sentiments to the public, I remained
silent, until January of 1852, when two of my daughters became
media for the sounds. After investigating the matter, and still finding
no other solution than the spiritual theory, I imputed it to the devil,
who, appearing as an angel of light, stood ready to deceive the very
elect. Indeed, I was angry at the sounds; but, as they would not
stop, I made this request, — that the unseen powers would not make my
children victims of hell, but spare them and try me.
After retiring the same night, the spirits paralyzed both my arms,
keeping them in continual motion until six o’clock in the morning, when
the circular alphabet was handed me ; and then I learned my duty
from good authority. As soon as this was made clear, I commenced
holding meetings in public, and up to this date my time has been spent
lecturing on the subject. * * * Ata circle held at Adrian, the first
Sunday in July, the spirits wrote, “ Seek the lame, the halt and the
infirm, and they shall be healed.” I then remarked to Mr. J. Rey
nolds, “ It cannot be done; if that is read, away go the spirits, and
converse to others, for some one will be presented and not cured.”
�48
Nevertheless the call was read by my colleague, when Mr. Lyons
presented himself, stating that his leg had been drawn up by rhenmatism four years, and was under acute pain at the time.’ Without
exercise of my own volition, I was thrown into the spiritual state, and
placed before him. I was also made to speak by the power of the
spirit. Like doubting Thomas of old, I put my hand on him, and he
was made whole. He dropped his cane, and went away rejoicing, fleet
as a boy of sixteen.
Cure of Fits.
2. After this, a child, son of D. C. Smith, was very sick. The
physician having given the most powerful medicine for stopping the
fits without effect, the father called me in. I seated myself by the boy,
and was put in communication with him by an unseen agency. Soon
the patient showed too clearly that another fit was coming on; but,
instead of his suffering from the attack, the whole power of the malady
fell on me. The agonizing distress, the clenched fist and contracted
muscle, gave me alarm for my own safety; but the second thought,
that I was in the hand of spirits, quieted me, and I threw off the attack.
The boy had no more fits, but got well.
3. Last July, I was called to visit Mrs. Brownell, near Adrian. She
had been sick with a weak back and continual pain in the side. Her
doctor said her liver was decayed, and she could never regain her
health.
I was moved by the power of spirits to lay my hand on her back
and head, when she said, “ I feel strange and dizzy.” I told her to
trust in God, for he was able to restore her to health. She now is well,
doing the work of her family, which she had not done before for two
years.
There are other cases which I might give, if time would permit.
Yours, in spiritual affinity,
H. H. Hunt.
No. 3. Testimony of one to class VII. “ Spirit Telegraph,” Sept. 1853.
Bridgeport, Jan. 13, 1853.
Six weeks ago last Thursday evening, Mrs. Phebe Jane Wooster, of
this place, was developed as a spiritual medium. The spirits say that
her mission, at present, is to heal the sick and wounded, the lame, the
halt and the blind. Previous to her development as a medium, she
was rather opposed to Spiritualism, but was willing to investigate the
subject. She was never an enthusiast, but submitted all subjects to the
�49
test of reason, and would never assent to anything until sufficient evi
dence was given to convince her of its truth. She was always modest
and unassuming in her deportment, and hence is compelled to do and
say many things, when acted on by spirits, in opposition to her own
views and feelings, even in the normal state. When this part of her
mission was first announced by the spirits, I must confess I was some
what sceptical about it. But my scepticism was soon removed, for, the
third day after she was developed, her predicted powers were put to
the test, and found competent to remove even a putrid disease.
The case to which I allude is as follows: Mrs. Julia Dunn, a near
neighbor, had a putrid sore throat. Large lumps or kernels had gath
ered in it, to such a size that she said she could neither swallow, speak
nor breathe, without suffering the severest pain. She told Mrs. W.
that she wished her to cure her, if possible; to which Mrs. W. replied,
that she knew nothing about it herself, but that the spirits said she could
be cured in less than twenty-four hours.
The spirits immediately took possession of the medium, and caused
her to make passes over the head, throat and stomach, of Mrs. Dunn,
for the space of thirty minutes, after which she turned to the patient
and said, “ To-morrow morning you will be well! ”
The next morning Mrs. Dunn’s complaint had entirely disappeared,
and she was as well as usual.
On the evening of the 24th of December, as we were all engaged in
conversation, my little daughter was taken with a fit, caused, the spirits
said, by sleeping with a cat; and I have every reason to believe that,
if Mrs. W. had not been there at the time, she would not have lived
fifteen minutes. What was most remarkable about it was, that none of
us knew anything was the matter with the child, until the medium was
acted on, got up out of her chair, and went to the child, who was sit
ting directly behind her, and exclaimed, “What is the matter with
Lydia Ann ? ”
I immediately went to the child, and found she was quite cold, and
had stopped breathing; but the medium took her in hand, and, after
making a few passes over her, she revived. . The child said she knew
when Mrs. W. first took hold of her, but that she could neither speak,
breathe, nor stir; that a sort of numbness came over her, and she
experienced no pain.
Case of Asthma cured.
The next day or two after, Mrs. W. was called on to go and see
*
5
�50
one of our neighbors, who had an attack of the asthma. I went in
company with her.
She had not been in the house long before she was acted on, and
spoke as follows:
“You think you are better than you were yesterday, because you
can breathe easier; but the fact is, you are not as well. True, your
asthma is not as bad, but a more deadly disease is eating at your vitals,
which, if not arrested, will terminate in physical death. But fear not;
have confidence in God, and you shall shortly be healed.”
She then commenced operations by placing one hand in his bosom,
and making passes over his system with the other. In about five
minutes’ time, the hand she placed in his bosom was as red as a piece
of scarlet, from the tip of her fingers to the elbow. She changed hands
alternately, and continued to work over him about an hour; after which
she declared he would be well on the morrow, with the exception of a
weakness, from which it would take him two or three days to recover.
Now, it is well to remark that no one suspected the person of having
any fever, more than generally results from a cold; but the medium
had not worked over him longer than ten minutes, before the room was
so filled with fever, it became sickening, and they were obliged to
throw open the door, and let in fresh air, notwithstanding it was a very
cold day, and there was but very little fire in the room at the time.
The spirits said the disease was typhus fever, and those present at the
time believed it.
Cyrus Tyrrell.
No. 4. Testimony oflto class VII.
Morris, Ostego Co., N. Y., Oct. 1852.
I know that I have conversed with the spirits of my departed friends,
as well as I know that I exist, and by the same kind of evidence. I
know by the aid of my natural senses and reason that I exist, and by
the same evidence I know that I communicate with departed spirits.
* * * * For the last six years of my life, my health has been
extremely poor, until I became a medium for spirit communications;
and, by the direction of the spirits, I am now restored to comfortable
health, and, what is better still, I am confirmed in the faith that man is
immortal.
Sarah Herron.
G. T., Dec. 11, 1852.
�No. 5. Testimony of 2 to class VII. S. C. Hewitt and John M. Spear,
“ The Prisoner's Friend."
I select the three following from the many remarkable cures which
have been performed through Mr. Spear, as specimens of the others. I
have heard the first from 'Mr. Spear himself (as I have heard him
relate many more). There can be no doubt as to Mr. Spear’s perfect
sincerity in this whole matter, and the circumstances are such as to
preclude the possibility of his being the dupe of any hallucination.
On the 21st of March, 1852, Mr. Spear’s hand, moving with no con
scious volition, took the pen and wrote, “ You must go to Abington (a
town twenty miles distant), to-morrow night — you will be wanted
there — call on David Vining.” * * * *
Never having had any experience in cases of this kind, and not
knowing anything about Mr. Vining, or what was wanted, Mr. Spear
was very sceptical, and hesitated to obey this request, till it was
urgently pressed several times, and many promises of good results had
been made.
He finally consented to go, as the unseen power directed. He re
ceived several special and encouraging communications in the course of
his journey. Among others was a perfectly satisfactory explanation of
why he was directed to go to Abington, instead of the adjoining town
of Weymouth, where Mr. Vining lived, it being important that he
should go to Abington. From Abington he took with him Mr. Phi
lander Shaw, by spirit direction, and went to Mr. Vining’s house in
W eymouth.
Mr. Spear had never heard of Mr. Vining before, and knew nothing
of the purpose of his being sent to him, till he arrived and found Mr.
Vining very sick with neuralgia.
He had been in the most extreme pain for ten days, and during all
this time had not slept. Mr. Spear immediately felt moved to sit by
his side; which being done, Mr. Spear’s hand began involuntarily to
move, and rested itself on the head of Mr. Vining, near the ear. The
latter in a moment caught up his foot, saying, “ What are you doing
to my leg ? ”
“ I am not doing anything to your leg,” was the reply.
“Well,” said Mr. Vining, “the pain is all gone.”
*
Mr. Vining being then requested to take his bed, replied that he
was afraid to do so while Mr. Spear was present; but, being reassured,
he consented, and, after a refreshing sleep, which had continued for
�52
some time, he remarked an angel had visited him in his sleep, and done
him good.
Mr. Vining soon went about his business, as usual. This he contin
ued till, in consequence of great exposure, he took a severe cold, which
was followed by neuralgia, of which, in about fifty days from the first
cure, he died; Mr. Spear being prevented, by his doubting friends,
again visiting him.
If, from the fact of his subsequent death, it be considered that his
•first cure was not real, we might urge the same objections to every
case of Christ; — for I presume none will doubt that all he cured have
since died,— how soon after the cure by him is not known.
That the cure of Mr. Vining was real and complete, has been fully
confirmed by many witnesses. Should any one doubt, I would refer
him to Mr. Philander Shaw, of Abington, Mass., and Mr. Seth Hunt,
of Weymouth, both of whom testify to the facts.
Again, Mr. Spear was directed, by what purported to be Swedenborg,
to go to Georgetown. He went, not knowing for what purpose. Then
Benjamin Franklin told him he must go and see a woman who had
been struck by lightning. He found the person, by the superior direc
tion. * * * * His hand was placed upon hers by the same
power. She then remarked to her husband, “ I can breathe easier.”
and she was very soon relieved from all pain.
But in this case, as not unfrequently occurs with others, Mr. Spear
took the pain himself, which continued about two hours. As further
testimony to the above case, Mrs. Tenny, of Georgetown, Mass., may
be referred to.
On another occasion, Mr. S. C. Hewitt, as he writes and has person
ally confirmed, called, with Rev. Mr. W., to see some remarkable dia
grams, which Mr. Spear’s hand, by the same involuntary power,
executed.
They were then introduced to each other, and seated near together.
While they were in conversation, Mr. Spear’s hand rose, as he sup
posed, to take that of Mr. W.; but his forefinger was placed on Mr.
W.’s head, where it remained several minutes. During the time, the
question was asked, “ What name do phrenologists give that part of the
brain ?”
Answer. “ Ideality.”
To which Mr. W. replied, “ That is the leading element of my mind.
The love of the ideal and the beautiful.”
This remark led the company to suppose the movement was meant
�53
simply to signify that fact; but, when the finger was removed, Mr. W.
remarked that when he came in he had a severe pain in both sides of
the head, in precisely the region where the finger rested. Mr. Spear
then asked,
“How does your head feel now?”
“ The pain is all gone," was the reply.”
In this instance, Mr. Spear’s hand had taken the pain, which, how
ever, passed away in a few minutes.
[For the full detail of these and other cases, see Murray’s “Mes
sages. By S. C. Hewitt.”]
Now, the fact of relieving the pain might be accounted for on what
are called mesmeric principles; but that will not account for the intel
ligent directing power, which, in these, as in all other cases, is entirely
foreign to Mr. Spear.
No. 6.
Testimony oflto class VII. x Cure of Mrs. Rhodes, of Lynn,
Mass. The following was given to me personally:
My wife had been confined to her bed nine months — had been
under the care of two physicians, Dr. J. U. Nye four months, and Dr.
Eastman two months, but continued to grow worse. She had lost the
use of her limbs, the muscles of her arms being so contracted as to draw
her hands up nearly to her face. Her legs were drawn up in a similar
manner, and her hips drawn out of their socket-joints. The lower ver
tebra had been split and displaced in child-birth. She had the spine
complaint, was dropsical, and greatly afflicted with darting neuralgic
pains in all parts of her system. She only prayed for death to relieve
her sufferings. The neighbors all thought she could live but a short
time.
This was her situation when Mr. John M. Spear was called to see
her by me (she having no faith in him, or in spiritualism). Mr. Spear
described her disease, and told her what to do. She obeyed him, and,
though she has taken no medicine, she is better now than she has
before been for ten years, being able to do all her work, and walk two
miles without difficulty. A few days after Mr. Spear came to see her,
on Sunday night, her arms were drawn down; she was taken from the
bed to a chair with her bed-clothes about her; she used her arms very
freely, dressed herself, and walked about the room — the family all
being present, and called in the neighbors (Mr. George Summers,
Mr. E. A. Summers and wife, and ten others). The vertebra above
referred to was replaced by the unseen agency, and likewise her hip
�54
joints by the same. During these three surgical operations (each of
which was performed at different times) she distinctly felt the impres.
sion of unseen hands about the parts operated upon.
Boston, April 25th, 1854.
Benjamin A. Rhodes.
No. 7. Testimony of 6 to class VII. Mrs. Semantha Mettler, of Hart
ford, Conn.
Testimony of Deacon Silas Mosman, of Cabotville. — Be it
known that my daughter Mary, now twenty-two years old, has, for
about three years past, been mostly confined to her bed, and unable to
walk alone. About the middle of July last, she lost all power of the
organs of speech, and a few days after was deprived of her eye-sight,
becoming entirely blind, with no power even to raise her eyelids. All
possible means have been used for her relief; she has been attended by
twelve or thirteen physicians, some of them being of the highest order
and skill. She continued in about the same condition, changing only
for the worse; and was finally told that she could never be any better.
By this time we had almost despaired of any relief; but, through a
kind providence, we noticed a letter in one of the Springfield papers
respecting the claims and powers of Mrs. Mettler, the clairvoyant, in
healing and restoring the sick. We immediately applied to her, and,
after several attempts, we were fortunate in getting her to make us a
visit. On the evening of the above date she called, made a clairvoyant
examination of Marv’s case, and prescribed for her. The next day,
Mrs. M. called again, and by manipulations quieted her a good deal.
On the next Wednesdav she called a third time to see her, and in
about half an hour, with nothing but her own hands, she succeeded, to
the joy of all, in opening her eyes, and restoring her sight and
SPEECH! The next day Mrs. Mettler called again, and, to our
astonishment, she triumphantly put the case beyond all question, by
making my daughter walk entirely alone, which she had not done for
three years. Such are the facts in this most remarkable case. Mary
continues to see, talk and walk; and, for all we know, she must be
restored to her former good health.
Silas Mosman.
Cabotville, Jan. 9, 1850.
Testimony of Mr. S. Pease.
This is to certify that I have been suffering from an extreme weak
ness of the lungs and chest; a great shortness of breath, produced
�55
from what one physician termed adhesion of the lungs, though others
were not able to determine what the real difficulty was. Although
under medical skill and treatment, my difficulties seemed to increase;
my case continued to grow alarming, as I had already been suffering
for over two years, and unable to do scarcely anything, or get any re
lief. At this stage of my difficulties, I made up my mind that there
was no help for me; this was also the opinion of the physician. [Here
he mentions the circumstances of calling on Mrs. Mettler, and says:]
Without the least faith, I ventured to have her, in her clairvoyant
state, explore my then hopeless condition, which she did with the most
perfect accuracy, pointing out facts almost impossible to believe without
a previous knowledge of them. *
*
* She then succeeded in
affecting me psychologically, and in a few moments caused me to
breathe as free as any one. My lungs felt strong and easy; hope
revived. I then commenced taking her prescriptions, and following her
directions. Soon after I commenced her treatment, I took the worst
and most prostrating cold that man could ever be afflicted with; yet,
under her treatment, with the cold upon my lungs, I felt better and
stronger than before, though all the neighbors thought it impossible for
me to live.
But here I am, in less than four months, under her treatment,
restored. I am now able to do any kind of work, and can walk as far
in a day as any other person.
I know a great many, in this and other neighborhoods, that have
been under her treatment. Cases that seemed to baffle all ordinary skill
by the regular physicians have been restored by this lady’s wonderful
and mysterious power.
N. B. This testimony is given of my own free will, unsolicited on
her part. I give it as a duty I owe Mrs. Mettler, as well as to the
public.
M. S. Pease.
Granby, Mass., October, 1850.
Taken from a Statement published in the “Hartford Times."
My daughter, some three years since, became afflicted with inflamma
tion in her eyes, produced at first, as we suppose, by getting a piece of
time in one of them. This inflammation continued to increase until both
eyes became greatly inflamed, depriving her almost entirely of her sight.
She then took cold, and this increased the inflammation, with renewed
distress and sufferings. [Here follows a statement of the case under
�56
the hands of three successive physicians, one for three months, the
others for “ some time,” the case growing worse all the while. He says:]
During the attendance of these physicians, there was a spot or felon
upon the eye, which was continually increasing; and the inflammation
became so extreme that it was with great difficulty that she could
distinguish one person from another. She could scarcely open her
eyelids, and that only in the dark. Of course, now, all hope for her
restoration was at an end, and thus she remained suffering intensely.
Finally, through the persuasion of a kind friend, as a last resort, we
took her to Mrs. Mettler, on the 21st of May last. Mrs. Mettler, while
in the clairvoyant state, gave a perfect and minute detail of the causes
of her complaint, and then prescribed for her; and, to our utter
astonishment, after the application of her prescription, in less than two
weeks she could see quite well, improving almost as if by miracle; and
in less than four weeks she could see to read, and has continued so
ever since.
The cry of humbug is a miserable substitute for facts, especially
when facts are daily multiplying in our own city, to say nothing of
what is occurring all over the wide world.
Almost daily I hear of some poor sufferer relieved or restored by
this lady’s powers. She seems to have all the worst cases to attend,
after they have passed through the physicians’ hands.
Hartford, Dec. 13, 1852.
George Staples.
Bridgeport, April, 1852.
I hereby certify that I had been troubled for several years with
ulcerations in my throat, caused at first by slight colds, inducing a
disease which is generally called quinsy. * * At length it became
a seated bronchial affection, and continued in a constant state of ulcer
ation for several months, baffling all the skill of the physicians, and
almost the last power of endurance in the sufferer. * * Finally, as
a last resort, by the desire of my friends I was persuaded to consult
Mrs. Mettler. I soon obtained relief from her prescription, and my
throat has never ulcerated once since the first application of the
remedies proposed by her. I am now happy in declaring myself in the
full enjoyment of physical health and mental harmony, with the fullest
assurance that the weak things of the earth do sometimes confound
the wise. May the life of this good woman long be preserved, as her
work is an exemplification of the angels’ mission to suffering humanity.
Eliza C. Leeds.
�57
Cure of Joseph Haight.
It is well known to my friends that I am subject to a disease which
may properly be termed an inflammatory action of the heart. Those
attacks have been so severe that many times I have longed for that
release of soul, which is commonly termed death. All applications of
medical skill have only seemed to aggravate the difficulty; and, for sev
eral years past, my disease has bid defiance to all strictly professional
means of relief. After having sunk so low as to be almost beyond the
reach of hope, I applied to Mrs. Mettler, whose powers and sympathies
are so widely known, and obtained from her the relief I had long
despaired of. * * * * A more wonderful event than this, per
haps, is not recorded in the annals of medicine. * * * * The
relief from my intense suffering appeared truly miraculous.
Bridgeport, April 2, 1853.
Joseph Haight.
The following is a very severe case of a child being burned.
writer says:
The
We had two physicians in attendance, but without much effect. The
case had become one of long standing; and his sufferings were
approaching a fearful crisis. * * * * We are grateful to Mrs,
Mettler for her kindness in restoring our little boy; for we know that
she has been the instrument of saving his life.
William Dibble.
Darien, Ct., May, 1852.
These cases are taken from the “ Biograghy of Mrs. Semantha Met
tler,” by Frances H. Green. They are by no means the most remark
able, but we selected them on account of the directness of the testimony,
and the brevity with which they could be stated. In all these cases,
Mrs. Mettler has given prescriptions; but there are many cases of
her direct and immediate cure of very malignant diseases, simply by
“ laying on the hands.”
It may be asked What has all this to do with spirits ? Truly, I have
not related that part of these or other experiences which put it beyond
a doubt that she, as she firmly believes, is assisted by spirits. But, if
any one will take the trouble to make himself acquainted with the
facts, he will have no doubt upon the subject. I cannot forbear to
quote the following words, spoken by Mr. Spear under the spirit influ
ence :
6
�58
On the 29th of January, 1853, Mr. Spear was requested by a spirit
communication to go to Hartford. He set off immediately ; arrived in
Hartford at half-past eight, when he was distinctly impressed to go to
the house of Mrs. Mettler. There he, in the superior condition, gave a
very beautiful and impressive address to Mrs. Mettler, relative to her
mission, &c. This address closed by saying :
“ This medium has been commissioned to wisely instruct this woman
for a high purpose. There is to open before this woman a new and
beautiful labor. At ten o’clock, to-morrow, the purpose of his mission
to this place will be unfolded. Let this woman be in the region of the
Tranquillities at that hour.”
At the appointed time, Mr. Spear made the following address :
“ Father of fathers, and Deity of deities, thy wills be done on the
earths as they are done in the Heaven of heavens.
“ This fondly loved one shall be consecrated to the Charities. Thou,
Lcuceforth, shalt be called Charity. That shall be thy denomination.
“ Thou shalt say to the sufferer on his couch, Arise, and it shall be
so; thou shalt say to the maimed, Be thou whole, and it shall be so;
thou shalt say to the blind, Open thou thy closed eyes, and this also
shall be; thou shalt say to the dead, Arise, and it shall come to pass.
Thou shalt pass through the humble vale, over the lofty^nountains, over
rivers and seas, and the elements shall be at thy command. Naught
shall disturb thy sweet placidity. No want shalt thou know.
“ This open hand shall bless others; and thou shalt thyself be blest.
This foot shall go and come. Thou shalt mount up like a bird of the lofti
est flight, and thou shalt never be wearied. Thou shalt ‘ go and come,
nor ever fear to die, till thou art called home.’ Happy shall they be
who behold thy sweet countenance. Blessed are they on whom thy
hand rests. Receive now this blessed power.
“ This hand shall be unfolded to dispense blessings far and wide.
Blessings shall descend upon thee. In blessing others, thou thyself
shalt be blest. Thou shalt go on in a mysterious way, dispensing
blessings. It is done.”
No. 8. Testimony oflto class VII.
From the “New Era”
Rutland, Vt., April 18, 1853.
Last summer a lady in New Hampshire was severely afflicted with
a cancer on the face. She had been in the habit of applying a great
variety of things with a view to its cure, but she grew worse continu
ally. [Here follows the direction of the spirits, and the manner of
�59
getting it, which was entirely unsolicited:] Soon after this, says the
writer, I visited the lady, and gave her the above information. She
very readily consented to a trial, and in less than three months, to the
surprise of all, she was thoroughly cured.
Charles C. York.
I hereby certify that I have been afflicted with poor health for three
years. The last year, I have been confined for weeks, in such a con
dition that I could not be turned in my bed for two weeks at a time.
My doctor said I had a tumor in my side. It appeared to grow daily,
causing great pain, — so much so, that, for the last year, I could not
walk or ride a mile without making myself sick. My doctor would do
something to relieve me' for a few days, but said I was liable to die
any day. Last February, C. C. York, a healing or clairvoyant medium,
of Claremont, N. H., came to this place, by spirit direction. I called
on him, at the suggestion of my husband, but without faith. The
said medium was immediately put into the unconscious state without
any visible agency, and described the feelings I had experienced for
many years, and told the cause of the difficulty, and said that I could
be cured. He then prescribed for me, and I made a trial. The tumor
disappeared in less than two weeks. In one week I walked five miles
in a day without pain. In ten days I rode in a carriage fifteen miles
and back in one day without inconvenience or distress, and am now in
good health.
There are others also who are receiving the same blessings here,
through this medium. I most cheerfully recommend him to the
afflicted.
Pamelia A. Nichols.
Reading, Mass., March 30, 1854.
I hereby certify that the within statement of my wife, Pamelia A.
Nichols, is true.
William Nichols.
Reading, Mass., March 30, 1854.
Another Cure. — I hereby certify, that my health has been very poor
for some years, with a general weakness, nervousness, neuralgia and
weak stomach; and all the remedies I tried only made me worse.
Since last December, I have been unable to sit up all day. The first
of this month, seeing Mrs. P. A. Nichols restored to health, I sent for
Doctor York. He called, and soon went into the clairvoyant state.
He described my feelings, told the cause of my difficulty, and said I
could be cured. I followed his directions, and I now can Sleep as
�60
usual. My food does not distress rue. I ean sit up and labor all day
without being nervous or in pain. I cheerfully recommend Doctor
York to the afflicted.
Mbs. Harriet Nelson.
Reading, Mass., March 30, 1854.
Case VIII.
No. 1. Testimony of Mr. Garrison.
However much any one may differ in opinion from Mr. Garrison,
all must admit his candor and unimpeachable veracity.
[From the Liberator of March 3, 1854.]
We are often privately asked, what we think of the “Spiritual
Manifestations,” so called, and whether we have had any opportunities
to investigate them.
When we first heard of the “Rochester knockings,” we supposed
(not personally knowing the persons implicated) that there might be
some collusion in that particular case, or, if not, that the phenomena
would ere long elicit a satisfactory solution, independent of all spiritual
agency. As the manifestations have spread from house to house, from
city to city, from one part of the country to the other, across the
Atlantic into Europe, till now the civilized world is compelled to
acknowledge their reality, however diverse in accounting for them, —
as these manifestations continue to increase in variety and power, so
that all suspicion of trick or imposture becomes simply absurd and
preposterous, — and as every attempt to find a solution for them in
some physical theory relating to electricity, the odic force, clairvoyance,
and the like, has thus far proved abortive, — it becomes. every intelli
gent mind to enter into an investigation of them with candor and fair
ness, as opportunity may offer, and to bear such testimony in regard to
them as the facts may warrant, no matter what ridicule it may excite
on the part of the uninformed or sceptical.
As for ourselves, most assuredly we have been in no haste to jump
to a conclusion in regard to phenomena so universally diffused, and of
so extraordinary a character. For the last three years, we have kept
pace with nearly all that has been published on the subject; and we
have witnessed, at various times, many surprising “ manifestations; ”
and our conviction is, that they cannot be accounted for on any other
theory than that of spiritual agency. This theory, however, is not
unattended with discrepancies, difficulties and trials. It is certain
that, if it be true, there are many deceptive spirits, and that the apos-
�61
tolic injunction to “believe not every spirit,” but to try them in every
possible way, is specially to be regarded, or the consequences may prove
very disastrous.
We might write a pretty long essay on what we have seen and heard,
touching this matter; but this we reserve for some other occasion.
We shall now merely describe some of the phenomena which we wit
nessed in New York, during our recent visit to that city.
The medium, in this instance, was Mrs. Brown, formerly Miss Fish,
of Rochester. The circle was composed of six gentlemen and four
ladies. The table was of ample dimensions, so as to accommodate the
party without inconvenience. We sat around it in the usual manner
(the hands of each individual resting upon the table), and engaged in
social chit-chat. While waiting for some demonstrations from the
invisible world, we had our right foot patted as by a human hand, and
the right leg of our pantaloons strongly pulled, by some unseen agency.
This was done repeatedly, though we said nothing at the time ; but,
thinking it might be possible that the foot of some one of the company
might undesignedly be in contact with our own, we cautiously felt
around to ascertain if this were the case, but there was nothing tangi
ble ; and the moment we put our foot down, the same familiar tappings
and jerks followed. Still, we made no disclosure. Raps were then
distinctly heard, and the alphabet was called for. Letter by letter, it
was rapped out that the medium must put her feet in the custody of
one of the party, and then we were told to wait for demonstrations.
This was evidently done to convince every one present that the medium
had nothing to do with the phenomena, by way of fraud or collusion;
and, during the entire sitting (a protracted one), before any remarka
ble feat was performed, the medium was invariably ordered to take
such a position as to render it clearly impossible for her to be privy to
it. The presence of several spirits was indicated during the evening,
and satisfactory tests were made; but the most communicative and
efficient one purported to be that of “ Jesse Hutchinson.” It was he
who had been playing bo-peep with us under the table ; and, now that
the medium was secured, to the satisfaction of all present, he renewed
his salutations, not only to us personally, but to nearly every one of
the circle. The ladies had their dresses, and the gentlemen their panta
loons, pulled, and their feet patted, in the most emphatic manner.
Heavy raps were now made on the floor; and, on being requested to
that effect, “Jesse” beat a march, — it seemed to us Washington’s
march, — in admirable time, and in the most spirited manner; no
*
6
�62
drummer could have done it more skilfully. He was then asked to
beat time, while the company joined in singing several tunes, — “The
Old Granite State,” among others, — which he did to perfection. He
then spelt out the following communications by the alphabet: “ I am
most happy, dear friends, to be able to give you such tangible evidence
of my presence. The good time has truly come. The gates of the
New Jerusalem are open, and the good spirits, made more pure by the
change of spheres, are knocking at the door of your souls.”
Isaac T. Hopper now indicated his presence to his daughter, who
was at the table, and made some physical demonstrations. His message,
as rapped out, was as follows : “ I am truly happy to echo back joy
and gladness from my happy home. Truth is bearing its way on glori
ously, and the subject of spiritualism will work miracles in the cause
of reform. My friends, the rock of prejudice begins to yield to the
hammer of truth; and, now, with the aid of good spirits, you can blast
it without the use of powder.” And he subsequently added, “I want
you to see that spirits have power to move matter.”
It was next rapped out, “ Put the bell under the table.” We, accord
ingly, took the bell (an ordinary table-bell), and put it down at our
feet. In a few moments, it was smartly rung by an unseen power, and
then fell to the floor. This was done again and again,— the bell mak
ing the circuit of the table, and ringing so loudly that the servant-girl,
in an adjacent room, supposing she was needed, came in to inquire what
was wanted.
Next, a cane with a hooked handle was laid on the carpet, under the
table. Immediately, it struck the table violently, and rubbed along
the under surface its entire length. It then fell to the floor, and
traversed over and under the feet of several of the party, like a living
;Snake, — in one or two instances, the foot being involuntarily lifted to
enable it to pass under. Its movements were exceedingly curious. At
one -time, we caught hold of the handle as it protruded itself by our
side, and .endeavored to pull it from under the table ; but the resist
ance was as strong as though another hand was grasping it at the
opposite end.
We were now directed to put several things under the table, observe
how they were placed, and wait for results. When told to look, we
found that a penknife was missing, nor could it be discovered by the
most careful search. On again resuming our seats, we were told to
take another look; and, behold! there was the penknife, precisely
where it had been originally placed !
�63
Next, we were directed to lay some writing-paper, with, a pencil upon
it, under the table. This was done ; and, in a few moments, on being
told to look, we found the word “Jesse” written upon it in a scrawling
hand, as though made with great difficulty. The same experiment was
again made, and “ Isaac T. H.” (Hopper), was written very legibly, and
in a different hand. A third time this was done, and “ Mary Jane ”
was recorded, — the name of a young lady who had been communi
cating with a gentleman present. The first two autographs we have
in our possession.
We now made two requests of “ Jesse,” to convince us yet more
strongly of his presence. The first was, to press our right foot firmly
to the floor, and to make loud raps directly under it. This was quickly
done, the foot being grasped as by a mortal hand, and vibrating to the
raps thus strangely made. The second was, if possible, to take us by
the right hand with his own, so as to make the touch palpable beyond
a doubt. Keeping the hand carefully in custody between our knees as
we sat, — the hands of all the company, including those of the medium,
being on the table, — we, in a few moments, had it patted, first on one
side, then on the other, briskly, and repeatedly, as if by another hand,
having a negative feeling, as though there was no warmth in it, but
natural in every other respect. For the general gratification, the same
thing was done to others of the party.
How shall demonstrations like these be accounted for, except on the
hypothesis of spirit-agency ? If we cannot positively affirm that Isaac
T. Hopper and Jesse Hutchinson were present on that occasion, we are,
at least, prepared to declare, as our own conviction, as well as that of
the entire company, we believe, that invisible spirits, not of this mun
dane sphere, performed the phenomena we have thus briefly narrated to
our readers.
Note. — I, with a sceptical friend, took particular pains to call on
Mr. Garrison, in reference to his experience, when he stated so many
particulars, and other important facts, as to dispel every possible
doubt.
No. 2. Testimony oflto classes I and V. Statement of Adin Ballou.
Extracted from his “ Spirit Manifestations.'"
“ I have heard the time and metre of tunes beaten out with the utmost
accuracy, and by several rappers in unison, not only while the tune was
being played or sung, but afterwards, without accompaniment; and I
�64
am as certain that these sounds were not made by any conscious mortal
agency as I am of the best authenticated facts in the common transac
tions of life.
“ I have seen tables and light-stands move about in the most astonish
ing manner, by what purported to be the same invisible agency, with
only the gentle and passive resting of the hands or fingers of the
medium upon the table. Also, many distinct movings of such objects
by request, without the touch of the medium at all.
“ I have known these invisibles, by request, to write their names with
a common plumbago-pencil on a clean sheet of paper, half a dozen of
them, each in a different hand. [He states the circumstances of 'their
writing, holding the pen themselves, and concludes it with] This (writing
without hands) was repeatedly tested with the same results, under cir
cumstances putting all suspicion of fraud and jugglery entirely at rest.”
■ [There are several other more convincing things which he states he
has seen, but they are of such a nature as to require too much room
for a place here.]
No. 3. Testimony of 1 to class I. Statement of Mr. William
1
Bugbee.
[I give the following statement as a specimen of many which I could
present from the most reliable persons. Mr. Bugbee lives in Roxbury,
and, so far as I can learn, is a man of irreproachable reputation. I
give his statement as I took it down at the time, and to which he
authorized me to attach his name.]
I have seen tables move, beat time to tunes, move contrary to my
request, when I know no person was touching them.
Mrs. Newton [whose testimony I have given] described my son, who
had been long at sea ; told every particular about him, all which were
true. She said, among other things, “he is cross-eyed;” which is true.
She said, “ he has a sore on his leg,” which she also described. This
we knew nothing of till a long time after, when he came home ; then
he confirmed the whole by showing the scar. He was greatly aston
ished that we could know anything about it. Mrs. Newton could have
no means of knowing that we had a son.
My daughter, who became a medium, said in the spiritual state, on the
19th of March, “ I see the ship in which is my brother crossing the
line.” This also proved true.
William Bugbee.
Harmony Hall, Boston, May 11, 1854.
�65
Case IX.
No. 1.
A Test.
About the first of January, 1854, the spirit of Laura F. Stevens
spelled out by raps, “ Your friend, Ellen Cronan, is dead.” When
did she die? “Jan. 1st, 1854.” What was her disease and age?
“ Her disease was lung fever; her age, fifteen years the 17th of March.”
Where did she reside at the time of her death ? “ In Lawrence, Mass.,
at No. 53 Linwell-st.” Do you know her father’s name ? “ It is Sam,
uel W. Cronan. His business is brick-making.”
Mary E. Kendall (the medium) had for a few weeks attended school
with Ellen Cronan in South Boston, six years since. Mary was then
eight years of age. This was all we ever knew of Ellen Cronan, or
any of her folks, and did not know where they lived.
But we directed the following letter in accordance with the directions
above given:
“ Sir : I have learned that your daughter Ellen is dead. Will you
please give me the particulars concerning her death, and direct to D.
C. Kendall, No. 1 India Wharf. I am very anxious to know all about
it.
“ Boston.”
A few weeks after, a reply was received, as follows :
“ Lawrence, Mass., Jan. 25, 1854.
“ Miss Kendall : You will excuse me for not answering your letter
before. We are preparing to remove from this place, and are very
busy at present. Your very singular request, for me to give you the
whole particulars of my daughter’s death, immediately led me to sup
pose that you were what is termed a ‘ spirit rapper.’ But I will give
them to you, as you wish it. She died New-Year’s night, aged fifteen
years. Her birthday would have been on March 17; disease, lung
fever. My business is brick-making; but, as it has not been very
pressing lately, and was not, especially when your letter arrived, I
began searching for a medium. I found one, and the following words
were spelled out: ‘ Dear Father, I requested a spirit to send to you
for the particulars of my death, through the mediumship of Mary E.
Kendall, in South Boston, to convince you, and to give her a test.
Direct your letter to her, and this wiH be a test for you.’ I shall
have to become a believer in this, which I have so unmercifully con
�G6
demned and ridiculed the idea of, if this test be true ; for this reason,
I have not directed as you desired me to. Most respectfully,
“ 53 Linwell-st.
Samuel AV. Cronan.”
Note. — Mrs. Kendall and her daughter both testify to the above,
and have the letter received from Mr. Cronan, which I have seen.
J. H. Fowler.
Last Tuesday afternoon, immediately after I had taken my seat in
the school-room, my hand was moved, and wrote, “ You have lost your
bracelet; you will find it in the lower hall, broken in pieces.” This
was the first I knew of its being gone. I immediately went below, and
found it as was stated.
Mary E. Kendall.
South Boston, May 18th, 1854.
Note. — I received the above statement from Miss Kendall, and
saw the pieces of the bracelet referred to.
J. H. Fowler.
No. 2. Spirit delivers a Message. From “ Spiritual Telegraph,” March
12, 1853.
S. B. Brittan.—Dear Sir: On the evening of Feb. 2d, 1852,
while a circle was convened at our residence in Lowell, my wife
inquired if Louisa (our deceased daughter) was with us, and was
answered in the affirmative. In reply to the question, “Are you often
with Susan ” (our only surviving daughter, who was then travelling
with her friends in Georgia), the spirit answered that she was. My
wife then requested the spirit to “ go and stay with Susan, and keep
her from all harm while she was away.” To which Louisa replied by
rapping that she would. This, it should be remembered, was on the
evening of Feb. 2d. In about one week from that time, we received
a letter from Susan, dated Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 3d, 1852, in which the
following fact was stated. “ Last night we had a sitting, and Louisa
came and rapped for the alphabet, and spelled out to me this sentence,
namely, ‘ Mother wants me to come and stay with you, and keep you
from all harm while away from home.'
Louisa.”
Thus you see that some invisible agent, claiming to be my daughter,
received the communication in Lowell, Mass., and delivered it, word
for word, in the town of Atlanta, Georgia, and all within the space of
an hour.
B. McFarland.
�67
jVo. 3. Testimony of Rev. D. F. Goddard, Boston.
This is to certify that, during a long investigation of the modern
phenomena which are now attracting attention in our own country and
in the old, I have repeatedly seen my own table, in my own room, to
which I know there is no nice machinery affixed for purposes of decep
tion, without any contact whatever of earthly kind, raised, tipped,
moved about the room, as if a strong man was there at work. Also,
a pianoforte played upon in the same way, without mortal, contact, pro
ducing most beautiful music, — an ocean piece, in which a storm was
represented succeeded by a calm. These phenomena occurred in the
presence of several other individuals of both sexes, all of whom saw,
and all of whom are ready to testify. I have also received from a
medium, who never saw me before, and knew nothing of my family,
the fact of my father’s death, his name, and a perfect fac-simile of his
hand-writing; and this when I was not expecting such hand-writing,
and could not have possibly imitated it, without a copy, in the labor
of a three months.
D. F. Goddard.
Boston, May 21, 1854.
No. 4. From the “New Era."
New Orleans, March 31, 1854.
Brother Hewitt. — Dear Sir : It is with much pleasure that I
take this opportunity to give you a description of the manifestations as
witnessed by myself and twenty-four others, at Jonathan Koon’s spirit
room, in Athens County, Ohio, on the evenings of the 17th, 18th and
19th of February last, in order that you may publish the statement
in your paper, if you wish, with the use of some of our names, as you
may think proper.
On the following evening, we had another sitting, when they beat a
march on the drum, and then carried the tambourine all around over
our heads, playing on it the while. They then dropped it on the table.
Then they took the triangle from the wall, and carried it all around, as
they did the other instruments, for some time. We could only hear
the dull sound of the steel; then would peal forth the full ring of the
instrument. They let this fall on the table also. After this, they
spoke through the trumpet to all, stating that they were glad to see
them. Then they went to a gentleman who was playing on the violin,
and took it out of his hand up into the air, all around, thrumming the
�68
strings, and playing as well as mortals can do, sounding very sweetly.
They soon returned it to its owner again, and then they brought the
accordeon out, and put it on the other table, and played on it; but, one
key being out of order, they took up the trumpet, and said they did
not like bad instruments to play upon. They now played most sweetly
on the trumpet; then took the harp, and brought both into tune, and
played on both instruments, and at the same time sung with some four
voices, sounding like female voices, and which, indeed, made the room
swell with melody.
After this, they made their hands visible again, and took paper, and
brought it out on the other table, and commenced writing slowly, when
one of the visitors asked them if they could not write faster; the hand
then moved so fast we could hardly see it go, but all could hear the
pencil move over the paper for some five minutes or so. When it was
done, the spirit took up the trumpet and spoke, saying the communica
tion was for friend Pierce; and at the same time the hand came up to
him, and gave the paper into his hand. Now the spirit said, if friend
Pierce would put his hand on the table, they would shake hands with
him for a testimony to the world, as he could do much good with such
a fact while on his spiritual mission. He then put his hand on the
table by their request, and the hand came up to him, and took hold of
his fingers, and shook them. Then it went away, but soon came back
again, and patted his hand some minutes, then left again. Now it
came back the third time, and, taking his whole hand for some five
minutes, he examined it all over, and found it as natural as a human
hand, even to the nails on the fingers. He traced the hand up as far
as the wrist, and found nothing any further than that point. The hand
did not feel as warm as a human hand, but it did not feel of a chilly
coldness. It remained with him until he was satisfied. Then it shook
him heartily by the full hand, and disappeared some ten minutes.
After the hand had gone, he felt a very queer sensation on the back
of his hand, where the thumb of the spirit-hand had been.
On the same evening, two spirits spoke through Mr. Pierce — one
on the first of the evening, and another the last part — to some fifty
persons.
You are at liberty to make such use of our names, private or public,
as you may think proper. Yours, truly,
D. Hasteller, Pittsburg.
Lewis Dugdale, Farmer, Ohio.
A. P. Pierce, Philadelphia. Chas. C. Stillman, Marion, Ohio.
H. F. Partridge, Wheeling, Va.
�69
No. 5. Testimony of 1 to class I.
I hereby certify that, in the month of January last, while in the
office of Mr. Cummings (No. 40 State-st., Boston), I was lifted, by
what I believe spirit agency, from the floor, and placed on a table.
Amos Cummings and wife, George Clapp, and Miss Susan Bayly, all
of Boston, each of whom were present on the occasion, are ready to
certify to the above fact.
I further certify, that, soon after this, while in the house of Mr.
Andrew J. Page, in Danvers, I was again lifted from the floor to the
table, by the same power. On this occasion were present Mr. Cum
mings and wife, and Mr. Clapp and William D. Emerson, Mr. Page
and wife, James Page, of Lowell, and many others.
Boston, May 2, 1854.
Mary H. Ide, East Boston.
Edward P. Fowler, N. Y.
No. 6. Testimony of 1 to classes III. and, IV; of 10 to class V; of
8 to classes I. and II.
The experience of Mr. Fowler is given at length in the Telegraph,
and in Judge Edmonds’ “ Spiritualism,” from which we take the follow
ing testimony:
The phenomena are so remarkable that it requires much direct testi
mony to substantiate them. This we shall present. Mr. Fowler says:
“ On this night (Nov. 21, 1851), after extinguishing my light, and
before getting in bed, I noticed a bright light over my bed, which I
should judge was a foot in diameter. At this I was not surprised,
because I had been accustomed to see such lights, with the exception
that this was brighter than usual. I proceeded to bed, where I had
lain, probably, five minutes, when I heard footsteps in the room.
“ My face was, at that time, turned towards the wall. I looked
around toward the window, and beheld a form, apparently that of a
man forty years old, and a little more than six feet high, walking
from the centre of the room toward window No. 1 ” [as given in the
diagram], “ where he met another man, not so tall, who seemed to have
come through that window. I did not see him come through, but first
saw him when one or two feet from the window, on the inside. They
stopped near the window, and spoke with each other for a few minutes,
and then came to my bed-side, and the taller one said to me, ‘ Arise and.
take thy pen, for I will dictate.’ ”
7
�70
Mr. Fowler did not arise, but states that these two spirits went to
the table, where they were joined by a third and a fourth, coming in at
the window, as the others. The fourth he believes to be Franklin.
He continues : “ After the four had consulted together for the space
of half an hour, the first and second one came to my bed-side, and
talked with me twenty-five or thirty minutes. I, at the time, fully un
derstood what was said. The two again went to the table, and con
versed with the other two. I could hear them talk, but could not
understand their language.
o
O
“ After staying three hours, from twelve till three, they left, appar
ently going out of the same window at which they came in. They
seemed to disappear from my sight when about a foot from the window,
inside.
“ That I really had possession of my natural senses, I infer from the
following circumstances:
First, I had not been asleep when the scene commenced.
“ Second, The Brooklyn fire-bells, which were tolling for fire when I
went to bed, I could still hear; and, in the course of half an hour, the
City Hall bell, of New York, gave the alarm of fire, which the church
bells repeated. I heard the ‘ Rutgers Hose ’ go by the house, and the
adjacent church-bell toll the four hours, as I lay awake, namely, 12, 1,
2, 3 and 4 o’clock.”
At other interviews of this kind, Mr. Fowler states that the spirits
have written with apparatus of their own ; he has seen them writing,
and produced the manuscripts.
The most remarkable of these is copied into Vol. i. No. 9, of the
Spiritual Telegraph.
It was this motto, Peace, but not without Freedom, signed by
upwards of fifty distinguished names, in fac-similes of their writing
while on the earth.
*
* In the Telegraph, with the copy of this autographical manuscript, is the follow
ing statement, with the signatures, as here given.
We, the undersigned, believing that these are the signatures of the spirits them
selves, and fully concurring in the sentiment expressed, hereunto affix our names,
this twenty-fifth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
John Gray,
Edward P. Fowler,
John F. Gray, M. D.,
William J. Baneb,
S. T. Fowler,
Mrs. Almira L. Fowler,
F. F. Cary,
Mrs. S. A. Partridge,
Mrs. Charlotte F. Wells,
Almon Roff,
Rorert T. Shannon,
Ward Cheney,
Daniel Minthorn,
Dr. R. T. Hallock,
Charles Partridge,
Mrs. Martha H. F. Baneb.
*
�71
In reference to this, Mr. Fowler says : « The original paper, contain
ing the autographs, I found upon my table, about three o’clock one
afternoon, on my return from business; the paper used being a sheet
of drawing-paper, which was incidentally left on my table, and which
I am sure was blank when I left my room in the forenoon. The suc
ceeding autographical manuscript, a representation of which was pub
lished, was executed in my room, on a piece of parchment, left on my
table, by direction of spirits, for that purpose. This was written on
during the night, while I was in my room asleep. I would add, that
many of the signatures on the parchment were entirely strange, having
never seen them before. I have also had several specimens of various
oriental languages, written in my room, on paper which I could identify
as my own, though the languages were unknown to me. These have
been written on, both when I have been in my room and when I have
been absent. Several of the languages referred to I had never seen,
prior to my acquaintance with them through these mystical manu
scripts ; and, of course, did not know what they were, until I had sub
mitted them to a linguist, who read them with facility.
“ The first one which I received was, as I am informed through the
kindness of Prof. Bush, a quotation from the Old Testament, written
in Hebrew. The execution of this occurred about three o’clock in the
afternoon, soon after I had returned from business. I was alone in my
room, when, through the sounds which then occurred in my presence,
I was requested to leave the room for the space of five minutes, during
which interval they (the spirits) promised an attempt to write.
“ I obeyed their request, and went into a room below, where sat my
sister. I told her what had transpired, and, at the expiration of five
minutes, we both ascended to my room. Instead of finding, as we con
jectured we should, some directions written in English, we discovered
this Hebrew quotation, the ink on the paper being still unabsorbed,
although after experiments proved that the ink of a hand heavier than
that in which the Hebrew was written would, on the same kind o?
paper, invariably dry in from two to three minutes.
“ That these writings have not been imposed upon me, I know, because
I had seen some of them written. I have seen them written in day
time, as well as in the night; and that I was in no ‘ abnormal mag
netic state’ I infer from the fact that my consciousness of the circum
stances of outward life remained unimpaired. The ringing of fire-bells,
moving of engines, the tolling of the bells at the ferry, the paddling
�72
of the boat, wheels, and various other noises, common to the city,
were no less distinctly heard than at other times.
That these writings were not perpetrated by myself, I have the
strongest proofs. First, I had never seen any specimens of the lan
guages in which most of the manuscripts were written, and, even to^he
present date, I have seen no other specimens of one or two of the lan
guages used. Second, that power which has communicated to us in our
circle, through the rappings and lifting of tables, professes to have per
formed this writing also.
E. P. Fowler.
New York, August, 1852.
As collateral testimonies to the above facts, and to the veracity of
E. P. Fowler, we submit the following extracts, omitting many par
ticular statements which tend to confirm the whole. First, statement
of facts by Mrs. Charles Partridge, taken from the minutes of the New
York circle.
Persons at the circle have been unexpectedly turned round in the
chairs in which they were sitting, and moved to and from the table.
Chairs and sofas have suddenly started from their positions against the
wall, and moved forward to the centre of the room, when they were
required in the formation of the circle. The persons in the circle have
each successively lifted his own side of the table, and the invisible
power has raised the opposite side correspondingly. Occasionally the
spirits have raised the table entirely, and sustained it in air, at a
distance of from one to three feet from the floor, so that all could
satisfy themselves that no person in the flesh was touching it. Lights
of various colors have been produced in dark rooms. A man has been
suspended in, and conveyed through, the air, a distance of fifty feet, or
more. The communications have been given in various ways, but
chiefly in writing, and by the rappings through the ordinary alphabet
ical mode.
At the close of the session held on the 17th of Nov., 1851, the
spirits, through the alphabet, and in their usual manner, said, “ We
wish to give you a sentence for you to find out and rememberwhen
the following was communicated: “ Debemos amar a todo el mundo aun
a nuestros enemigos." No person present on that occasion understood
a word of this language, but we were subsequently informed that it
was Spanish.
During the session on the 19th of January, 1852, the spirits signi
fied their desire to make a communication in Hebrew. Mr. Partridge
�73
asked who should call the alphabet, and received for answer, “ The
only person present who understands it, — George Bush.” Professor
Bush thereupon proceeded to repeat the Hebrew alphabet, and a com
munication in that language was received.
Many additional facts might be given to show that spirits communi
cate in various languages through E. P. Fowler, but the above will
suffice for the purposes of this statement.
We cannot allow the present occasion to pass without an expression
of the entire confidence and unqualified esteem with which Mr. Fowler
is regarded by the members of the New York circle, and by those who
know him generally. We have had an intimate personal acquaintance
with him for two years past, — some of us for a much longer period, —
and we have only known him as a high-minded and honorable young
man. From the beginning, he has steadily refused to accept the
slightest compensation for his time and services while employed in the
capacity of a medium; and we deem it but an act of simple justice
to Mr. F. to record the fact that, on all occasions, we have found him
entirely unassuming in his deportment, and eminently truthful in his
life. Signed,
K. T. Hallock, M. D.,
W. J. Baner,
J. T. Warner, M. D.,
John F. Gray, M. D.,
Almira L. Fowler,
Samuel T. Fowler.,
A. G. Hull, M. D.,
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Partridge.
Prof. Bush's Testimony. Extract from a letter to Mr. Brittan, dated,
New York, March 27, 1852.
Mr. Brittan : In compliance with your request, I.willingly make
a statement respecting the several communications in Hebrew, Arabic,
Bengalee, &c., which have been submitted to my inspection. Altogether,
the specimens are of an extraordinary character, such as I cannot well
convey by any verbal description.
Mr. E. P. Fowler, since I have become acquainted with him, does
not at all impress me as one who would knowingly practise deception
upon others, however he might possibly be imposed upon himself. He
certainly has no knowledge of the above languages, nor do I think it
likely that he is leagued in collusion with any one who has. A man who
is versed in these ancient and Oriental tongues would be, I think, but
little prone to lend himself as a party to a pitiful scheme of imposture.
It must, indeed, be admitted to be possible that Mr. Fowler may him
self have copied the extracts from printed books; but I can only say
*
7
�74
for myself taat, from the internal evidence, and from a multitude of
collateral circumstances, I am perfectly satisfied that he never did it.
In like manner I am equally confident that he, though the medium on
the occasion, had, consciously, nothing to do with a Hebrew communi
cation which was spelled out to me, in presence of a circle of very
respectable gentlemen, not one of whom, beside myself, had any knowl
edge of that language.
Signed,
Gr. Bush.
[In regard to these writings by E. P. Fowler, Prof. Bush says, in
another letter, published in Spiritual Telegraph, No. 45 :]
Your readers, Mr. Editor, will have seen that I assume no special
patronage of the present or any similar assorted phenomena. It is of
no consequence to me what verdict, in the end, may be pronounced
upon them. * * I accept, on the whole, what is termed the spiritual
theory of these phenomena. But I stop short with this concession.
When we come to the details, — to the identification of persons, to
the subject-matter of what is communicated from this source, — I
acknowledge, with all frankness, that I make precious little of it. For
the most part, it directly contradicts,what I believe to be true, on
evidence to which my calmest and clearest reason assigns a vastly
higher authority ; and therefore, while others will have every confidence
in making these responses oracular, with me they are “ mere leather and
prunella.”
[In this letter he reaffirms his former testimony, using this lan
guage :]
I only know that here are remarkable specimens of writing in dif
ferent tongues, of which young Fowler is ignorant in his ordinary
state, and in the penning of which I, for one, am satisfied that he had no
conscious agency.
QEOt Bush.
Note. — The languages in which the spirits have communicated,
through the mediumship of E. P. Fowler, are Sanscrit, Arabic, Hebrew.
Bengalee, Persian, French, Spanish, Malay and Chinese. I have given
this testimony to a very great length, because the phenomena are of
such a remarkable nature as to seem to justify it. If any one still
doubts the spiritual cause, they have only to examine the whole amount
of testimony given in the Spiritual Telegraph, in the Shekinah, in
Judge Edmonds’ work on Spiritualism, and in various other works on
the subject, in which an overwhelming amount of testimony in regard
to this case may be found, — testimony to which nothing in the New
Testament can compare.
�75
Statement of Martha H. Baner.
Mr. Brittan. — Dear Sir : In relation to the writing in various
languages, made in E. P. Fowler’s room, and said to have been pro
duced by spirits, I am free to say that I have been cognizant of the
execution of some of said manuscripts under circumstances physically
precluding the possibility of their having been done by any human
agency. * *
For the last three years, he has lived in the same house with my
self, and spent much time in the same room; thus giving me an almost
unlimited opportunity to discover any deception, had he been disposed
to attempt anything of the kind, or to detect any hallucination, had any
existed. His moral character I consider to be in every respect unim
peachable.
Signed,
Martha H. Baner.
Statement of Almira L. Fowler.
* * He (Mr. E. P. Fowler) has hitherto sustained an unblemished
reputation for honesty and veracity, and enjoyed the confidence of all
acquainted with him. * * I have evidence sufficient to my own mind
that he had no agency in the writing of the different languages executed
in his room, and purporting to be the products of spirits.
Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1852.
Signed,
Almira L. Fowler.
�76
Case X.
No. 1. Testimony of 1 to classes I. and V. Testimony of Dr. G. T.
Dexter, New York, taken from his Introduction to “ Spiritualism^
It is now nearly two years since “ spirit rappings ” first attracted
my notice. My unbelief was so great, that I was ready to denounce
the whole subject as one of the greatest humbugs of the day. * * *
I made arrangements with a friend to invite to my house a medium of
considerable powers, and thus to have an opportunity of careful inves
tigation, where I knew there could be no collusion, and the chances for
deception were very few. Previous to this time, about the 10th of
Sept., 1851,1 had never witnessed any spiritual manifestations, neither
had any member of my family been present at a circle; both they and
myself were entirely ignorant of the whole subject.
[He then states that a circle, composed of the persons above referred
to, was formed at his house, with the results of which he was not satis
fied, and invited the medium to stop another day. While at breakfast,
the next morning, they heard raps about the table, &c.]
Immediately after breakfast, we formed a circle, at which were pres
ent myself and all the members of my family, the friend I have before
mentioned, and another friend, who could not be present on the eve
ning previous. The two gentlemen friends and myself were positive
unbelievers, and the others — Mrs. D. and my two daughters — were
in the same catalogue. One of my daughters was about fourteen years
of age, and the other was not yet nine years old. They had no idea
of the modus operandi of spirit on the medium, either by hearing or
by sight.
*
*
*
After we had remained sitting, with the raps heard in every direc
tion, * * * it was written out by the medium, “ Let Mr. G. go into
the other room.” Mr. Gr. went as directed. Now, my youngest
daughter (not being interested) appeared somewhat tired of the affair
before this direction was given ; but, as soon as he left the room, she
became visibly agitated all over, — her countenance changed, and she
was evidently resisting, with considerable effort, what I supposed a
slight attack of illness from being so long shut up in one room. I
asked her if she was sick. She replied, “No, but I cannot keep either
my body or my hands still. I am trembling all over.” As soon as she
�77
uttered these words, her hands and arms were violently shaken.
* * * * She became very much alarmed, and, running to her
mother, who was also deeply moved at this unlooked-for manifestation,
she said, while her voice trembled with fear, “ 0, mother, take me
away ! — take me away ! ” But her arms were forcibly wrested, as it
were, from her mother’s neck, and thrown violently up and down.
* * * * When, having soothed the frightened child, we in
duced her to remain in the circle some twenty minutes longer, her hand
was made to write legibly, and in bold, large letters,— not in the least
resembling her ordinary hand-writing,— answers to all our questions,
both mental and oral; and, what was yet more remarkable, she wrote
rapidly and easily; and the style of composition and the spelling far
excelled what we knew was the character of her original attempts at
composition, and her spelling previous to this time. Being fatigued,
about one o’clock, she was ordered, by the spirits, to leave the circle ;
and, not immediately complying with this direction, her chair was drawn
from under her by some invisible agency, and she fell to the floor. She
arose to go into the next room, and, as she was passing a sofa, she was
taken up bodily by some unseen force, and deposited upon it as gently
as if lain there by her parents.
At this sitting there were many correct answers given to questions,
and of such a character as to satisfy some individuals that the spirits
of their friends were really there. I could not bring myself to believe
that spirits had anything to do with the matter. * . * * *
I did not doubt that everything I witnessed took place without the
intervention of any individual present, and I knew that those present
could not have tricked me. In my own child I had that confidence which
a life of truthfulness has inspired. Yet the idea that the spirits of
our deceased friends could hold communication with ourselves on
earth, &c., was so strange, wonderful, and so incompatible with my edu
cation, and so opposed to my preconceived opinions and religious belief,
that what I had seen at this circle completely bewildered me. I could
not understand — I did not believe. * * * *
About this time (Oct. 1851) I was engaged in business which re
quired my absence for the day from home. The spirit of a friend had
intimated to my wife that he would apprise her of the time when I
would conclude this affair; and, on the day mentioned, just at the hour
when I had consummated the matter, he wrote out, through my daugh
ter’s hand, “ The doctor has settled his business.” She asked him how
�78
he knew; and he replied, “ I have just left him — it was six o’clock
when he finished.”
As soon as I returned home Mrs. D. immediately accosted me and
said, “ So you have arranged your affair.”
I was surprised, and asked her how she knew. She mentioned her
authority, and I then recalled to mind that just as the final arrange
ments were made the clock in the room struck six. I did not attempt
to explain this circumstance even to myself, and was yet an unbeliever.
* * * * There was no kind of evidence but what was pre
sented. The secret thoughts of my heart were read as if they had
been written on my face. Secrets, known only to the dead and my
self, were revealed to me, when there were none present but the
medium. Events, occurring even at the distance of a thousand miles,
were told to me while they were taking place, and afterwards were cor
roborated, to the letter, by the individuals who were active agents in
the transactions.
Facts relating to my own actions were predicted months before they
took place. I have listened to the most elevated thoughts, couched in
language far beyond her comprehension, describing facts in science, and
circumstances in the daily life of the spirits after death, which were
corroborated, fact by fact, idea by idea, by other mediums, with whom
she was entirely unacquainted, uttered by a little girl scarce nine years
*
old!
I have heard an illiterate mechanic repeat Greek, Latin, Hebrew and
Chaldaic. I have been present when a medium answered my ques
tions in the Italian language, of which she was ignorant, aod also
uttered several sentences in the same language, and gave the name of
the Italian gentleman, of whom she had never heard, but who was,
when living, the friend of one of the party at the circle. * * * *
It was not till after I had become a writing medium, against my will
and determined efforts to the contrary, that I yielded an implicit faith
in the truth of spiritual intercourse with men. After the concerted and
continued attempt to impress me had passed over, I refrained from
visiting circles, and thought, by staying away, I might be free from
any impression. On the contrary, my own arm would be moved while
I was asleep, and awake me by its motion.
During the time I abstained from sitting in any circle, I was twice
lifted bodily from my bed, mooed off its edge, and thus suspended in the
* It will be remembered Jesus “ was about twelve years old. ”
�79
air / # * * # Heretofore my arm had been the organ to which
their efforts had been chiefly directed; now, my whole body was sub
jected to their influence, against my will and desire, and all my strug
gles and efforts to resist them. * * * *
Often when I am alone in my office, my hand will be moved, and I
am obliged to abandon every other purpose till the spirits have con
cluded their communication. An incident of this kind happened some
months since. After I had retired to bed, I was awakened from sleep
by the rapid and violent motion of my hand. It was midnight. I
could assign no cause for this manifestation, and essayed to throw off
the influence, by all possible means, but in vain.
I was compelled to rise, procure pencil and paper, and a long com
munication was written before they would again permit me to sleep.
Another instance of their presence, when I was alone in my office,
took place a few weeks since. * * * * I was scarcely seated,
when my right hand began to move, In this hand was a small gold
pencil, which I had just been using. I was somewhat impatient at
this display of their presence, for I did not know how long I might be
detained, and I could spare them but very little time. I therefore
exclaimed, pettishly, “ Don’t detain me to write now, but show me
something new.” As if to gratify my request, the fingers and thumb
were brought together at the ends, leaving the pencil resting on the
ball of the thumb, and the fingers closed, forming a roof over it. In
this shape the arm was placed firmly on the arm of the chair, so I could
not move it. The pencil was then turned round several times, drawn
out from the hand, and lifted up toward the palm, without even a
movement of the fingers or hand during the whole operation. At this
moment a lady, resident in my house, who was an unbeliever, happened
to come into the office. I asked her to watch the pencil in my hand,
and see if it stirred. I also charged her to watch my hand, and see if
it moved in the least. I then asked the spirits to move the pencil as
before. The same process again took place, in every particular corre
sponding with the first. Whether this satisfied her or not of the pres
ence of the action of spirits, I am unable to say.
I have her corroboration of the fact as it occurred; that it was
impossible for the pencil to become so agitated by any effort of my
own.
It should be noticed, in this connection, that when I am alone, as
also when in a circle, the manifestation, whether by writing or any
�80
physical display, is entirely free from any participation with my own
mind, either in the subject taught or in the effect produced on my body.
I reiterate this statement, that it may be understood that the teach
ings revealed by my instrumentality, in this book, contain thoughts,
sentiments and statements, differing in toto from what were my own
views when they were communicated.
I have now given a brief history of some of the causes which have
induced in me the belief of Spirit-intercourse, and it is not a tithe, not
a hundredth part, of what I have witnessed.
George T. Dexter.
No. 2. Testimony of 1 to classes I, V. and VI. Judge Edmonds'
Statement, New York, Aug. 1 and Sept. 1, 1853. See Introduc
tion to “ Spiritualism."
It was in January, 1851, that my attention was first called to the
subject of “ spiritual intercourse.” I had, in the course of my life,
read and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and conflicting
doctrines on the subject (of man’s future existence) that I hardly knew
what to believe.
For about four months I devoted at least two evenings in a week,
and sometimes more, to witnessing the phenomena in all its phases. I
kept careful records of all I witnessed, and, from time to time, com
pared them with each other, to detect inconsistencies and contradic
tions. I read all I could lay my hands upon, on the subject, and
especially all the professed “ exposures of the humbug.” In fine, I
availed myself of every opportunity that was afforded, thoroughly to
sift the matter to the bottom. I was all this time an unbeliever. At
length the evidence came, and in such a force that no sane man could
withhold his faith.
To detail what I witnessed, for those four months, and recorded,
would fill, at least, one hundred and thirty closely-written pages. I
will, however, mention a few things, which will give a general idea of
that which characterized interviews now numbering several hundred.
Most of them have occurred in the presence of others. I have pre
served their names in my records. * * * * These considera
tions grow out of this fact:
First, That I have thus very many witnesses whom I can invoke to
establish the truth of my statements.
Second, That if I have been deluded, and have not seen and heard
what I think I have, my delusion has been shared by many as shrewd, as
�81
intelligent, as honest and as enlightened people, as are to be found any
where among us.
My attention was first drawn to the intercourse by the rappings, then
the most common, but now the most inconsiderable mode of communing.
Of course, I was on the look out for deception, and at first relied upon
my senses, and the conclusions which my reason might draw from their
evidence. * * *
.
After depending upon my senses as to these various phases of the
phenomenon, I invoked the aid of science, and, with the assistance of an
accomplished electrician and his machinery, and of eight or ten intelli
gent, educated, and shrewd persons, examined the matter. We pursued
our inquiries many days, and established, to our satisfaction, two
things: first, that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any
person present or near us; and, secondly, that they were not forth
coming at our will and pleasure. In the mean time, another feature
attracted my attention, and that was “ physical manifestations,” as they
are termed. Thus, I have known a pine table, with four legs, lifted
up bodily from the floor, in the centre of a circle of six or eight per
sons, turned upside down, and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted
up over our heads, and put leaning against the back of the sofa on
which we sat. * * * * I have seen a mahogany centre-table,
having only a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from
the floor, at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and
shaken backward and forward, as one would shake a goblet in his
band. * * * *
I have known a dinner-bell, taken from a shelf in a closet, rung over
the heads of four or five persons in that closet, then rung around the
room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlor,
and then borne through the folding-doors to the further end of the
front parlor, and then dropped on the floor.
I have known persons pulled about, with a force which it was impos
sible for them to resist; and once, when all my strength was added, in
vain, to that of one thus affected.
I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side, and moved
swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room
where there were, at least, a dozen people sitting. Yet no one was
touched, and it was repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when
it was coming with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken
my legs.
This is not a tithe, nay, not an hundredth part, of what I have seen,
8
�82
of the same character. At the same time, I have heard from others,
whose testimony would be credited in any human transaction, and
which I could not permit myself to disregard, accounts of still more
extraordinary transactions; for I have been, by no means, so much
favored in this respect as some.
Intelligence was a remarkable feature of the phenomenon. Thus, I
have frequently known mental questions answered, — that is, questions
merely framed in the mind of the interrogator, and not revealed by him
or known to others. Preparatory to meeting a circle, I have sat down
alone in my room, and carefully prepared a series of questions to be
propounded ; and I have been surprised to find my questions answered,
and in the precise order in which I wrote them, without my even tak
ing my memorandum out of my pocket, and when I knew that no per
son present knew that I had prepared questions, much less what they
were.
2Iy most secret thoughts — those which I never uttered to mortal
man or woman — have been freely spoken, as if I had uttered them.
I have known Latin, French, and Spanish words spelled out through
the rappings; and I have heard mediums, who knew no language but
their own, speak in those languages, and in Italian, German and Greek,
and in other languages unknown to me, but which were represented to
be Arabic, Chinese and Indian, and all done with the ease and rapid
ity of a native.
I have seen a person who knew nothing of music, except a little that
he had learned at a country singing-school, go to the piano and play in
perfect keeping, as to time and concord, the several parts of an over
ture to an opera.
When I was absent, last winter, in Central America, my friends, in
town, heard of my whereabouts, and of the state of my health, seven
times; and, on my return, by comparing their information with the
entries in my journal, it was found to be invariably correct.
I went into the investigation originally thinking it a deception, and
intending to make public my exposure of it. Having, from my
researches, come to a different conclusion, I feel that the obligation to
make known the result is just as strong. Therefore it is, mainly, that
I give the result to the world.
J. W. Edmonds.
The following statement of Governor Tallmadge, relative to the char
acter of Judge Edmonds, may be interesting to those who do not
already know his character. The statement is extracted from a letter
�83
to Hon. James F. Simmons, of Rhode Island, who had formerly been
in the United States Senate with Governor Tallmadge; Mr. Simmons
also being a firm believer in the spiritual manifestations.
“I had known Judge Edmonds for thirty years; had practised law in
the same courts, had served in the Senate of New York, with him, had
been associated with him also as a member of the Court for the Correc
tion of Errors, — the highest court in the state ; had known him, since
that time, as a justice of the Supreme Court, and, more recently, a
judge of the Court of Appeals, where he holds a deservedly high rank
among his brethren, the able judges of that court of last resort in the
State of New York.
“ I also knew him as a gentleman of finished classical education, and
as a lawyer of an acute mind, and a decided talent for investigation.
And, above all, I knew him to be a man of unimpeachable integrity.”
No. 3. Testimony of 1 to classes I. and VI.
Tallmadge.
Statement of Governor
During the above communication of Calhoun, the table moved occa
sionally, perhaps a foot, first one way and then the other. After the
communication closed, we all moved back from the table from two to
four feet, so that no one touched it. Suddenly it moved from the posi
tion it occupied some three or four feet, — rested a few moments, and
then moved back again to its original position. Then it again moved
as far the other way, and returned to the place it started from.
One side of it was then raised, and stood for a few moments at an
angle of about thirty-five degrees, and then again rested on the floor as
usual. The table was a large, heavy, round one, at which ten or a
dozen persons might be seated at dinner. During all these movements
no person touched it, nor was any one near it. After this the follow
ing conversation ensued: Q. Can you raise the table entirely from
the floor? A. Yes. Q. Will you raise me with it ? A. Yes; get
me the square table.
The square table was of cherry, with four legs, — a large-sized tea
table. It was brought out, and substituted for the round one. The
leaves being raised, I took my seat on the centre; the three ladies sat
at the sides and end, their hands and arms resting upon it. Two legs
of it were then raised about six inches from the floor, and then the
other two legs were raised to a level with the first, so that the whole
�84
table was suspended in the air about six inches from the floor. While
thus seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibratory motion, as if floating
in the atmosphere. After being thus suspended in the air for a few
moments, the table was gently let down again to the floor.
At a subsequent meeting, Calhoun directed me to bring three bells
and a guitar; I brought them accordingly. The bells were of different
sizes — the largest like a small-sized dinner-bell. He directed a drawer
to be put under the square table. I put under a bureau-drawer, bottom
side up. He directed the bells to be placed on the drawer. The three
ladies and myself were seated at the table, with our hands and arms
resting on it. The bells commenced ringing in a sort of chime. Nu
merous raps were made, as if beating time to a march. The bells con
tinued to ring, and to chime in with the beating of time. The time of
the march was slow and solemn. It was beautiful and perfect. The
most fastidious ear could not detect any discrepancy in it.
The raps then ceased, and the bells rang violently for several
minutes. A bell was then pressed on my foot, my ankle, and knee.
This was at different times; repeated knocks were made most vehe
mently against the underside of the table, so that a large tin candle
stick was, by every blow, raised completely from ,the table by the con
cussion. I afterward examined the underside of the table (which, it
will be recollected, was of cherry), and found indentations in the wood,
made by the end of the handle of the bell, which was tipped with
brass. Here the ringing of the bells ceased, and then I felt sensibly
and distinctly the impression of a hand on my foot, ankle, and knee.
These manifestations were several times repeated.
I was then requested to put the guitar on the drawer. We were all
seated as before, our hands and arms resting on the table. The guitar
was touched softly and gently, and gave forth sweet and delicious sounds,
like the accompaniment to a beautiful and exquisite piece of music.
It then played a sort of symphony, in much louder and bolder tones.
* * * I am utterly incapable of giving any adequate idea of the
beauty and harmony of this music. I have heard the guitar touched
by the most delicate and scientific hands, and heard from it, under such
guidance, the most splendid performances. But never did I hear any
thing that fastened upon the very soul like these prophetic strains,
drawn out by an invisible hand from the spirit world. After the
music had ceased, the following communication was received. “ This
is my hand that touches you and the guitar.
John C. Calhoun.”
I was present, by Calhoun’s appointment, with the Misses Fox and
�85
their mother. We were seated at the table as heretofore, our hands
and arms resting upon it. I was directed to put paper and pencil on
the drawer. I placed several sheets of unruled paper, together with a
wood pencil, on it. I soon heard the sound of the pencil on the paper.
It was then rapped out — Get the pencil and sharpen it. I looked
under the table, but did not see the pencil. At length, I found it
lying diagonally from me, three or four feet from the table; the lead
was broken off within the wood; I sharpened it, and again put it on the
drawer. Again, I heard the sound of the pencil on the paper. On
being directed to look at the paper, I discovered pencil-marks on each
side of the outer sheet, but no writing. Then was received the fol
lowing communication : “The power is not enough to write a sentence.
This will show you that I can write. If you meet on Friday, precisely
at seven, I will write a short sentence.
John C. Calhoun.”
We met pursuant to appointment; took our seats at the table, our hands
and arms resting on it as usual. I placed the paper, with my silvercased pencil, on the drawer, and said : “My friend, I wish the sentence to
be in your hand-writing, so that your friends will recognize it.” He
replied : “Yau will know the writing. Have your minds on the spirit
of John C. Calhoun.” I soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil on
the paper, and a rustling of the paper, together with a movement of
the drawer. I was then directed to look under the drawer. I found the
pencil outside of the drawer near my feet, but found no paper on the
drawer where I had placed it. On raising up the drawer, I discovered
the paper under it. The sheets were a little deranged, and, on examin
ing, I found on the outside sheet these words : “ Ifci with you still.”
I afterwards showed the “sentence” to Gen. James Hamilton, former
Governor of South Carolina; Gen. Waddy Thompson, former minister
to Mexico ; Gen. Robert B. Campbell, late consul at Havana ; together
with other intimate friends of Calhoun, and also to one of his sons, all
of whom are as well acquainted with his hand-writing as with their
own, and they all pronounced it to be a perfect fac-simile of the hand
writing of John C. Calhoun. Gen. Hamiltop says that Calhoun was
in the habit of writing “I’m” for “I am.” Mrs. Gen. Macomb has
stated the same fact to me.
How significant, then, does this fact become! We have not only the
most unequivocal testimony to the hand-writing itself, but, lest any
sceptic should suggest the possibility of an imitation, or a counterfeit,
this abbreviation, peculiar to himself, and known only to his most inti-
*
8
�86
mate friend?, and which no imitator or counterfeiter could know, is
introduced by way of putting such a suggestion to flight forever.
[This statement is extracted from a letter to Mrs. Sarah H. Whit
*
man, Providence, R. I., dated Washington, Jan. 10, 1853.] Signed,
N. P. Tallmadge.
The following is taken from a letter of Gov. Tallmadge to Judge
Edmonds. See “Spiritualism,” page 38:
“ My youngest daughter, aged thirteen, plays the piano by the in
struction of spirits, like an experienced performer. She knows nothing
of notes or music, and never played the piano before in her life.” *
Case XI. — Candor.
Mr. and Mrs. Newton's Testimony.
[Extracted from “ The Ministry of Angels Realized. A Letter to the
Edwards Congregational Church, Boston,” of which they were mem
bers.]
The results, however, of this first investigation, at the time, were
(for reasons not then apparent, but which have since been made plain
to us) far from satisfactory. Though we witnessed some striking
evidences of invisible intelligent agency, there was nothing by which
this agency could be positively identified; and the conclusion seemed
most in accordance with our previous opinions, that, if any agency
beyond that of human beings was concerned, it was that of evil and
seducing spirits. Some months subsequently to this, we were led to
attempt- the investigation under circumstances more favorable to
arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. * * * The results of this
interview were of the most surprising, yea, astounding character. An
intelligence, claiming to be that of a venerated parent, who had long
since passed within the vail, manifested its presence, and addressed to
one of us a communication glowing with parental affection, and
breathing the very spirit of the upper realm. This was accompanied
by the statement of a number of facts, pertaining to his earthly life,
none of which, we were fully satisfied, could have been known to any
person, bodily present, except the inquirer, and some of them unknown
even to him. Although the investigation had been approached with
* This case of playing the piano involves the same principles as being taught to
read. It is not more remarkable than the playing without human hands, which is
frequently done.
�87
minds on the alert and perceptions sharpened to detect collusion, im
posture, deception, or diabolism, in any of its forms, no trace of them
could be perceived; all was conducted with evident frankness and
candor, on the part of those concerned; and no solution of the
mystery was then arrived at, and no adequate one has since been
offered, which does not recognize the agency of intelligent beings. A
trumpet-blast from the clouds could scarcely have been more startling
to our prejudices and unbelief than was that message from the hidden
world. * * * As may be well supposed, the interest awakened
by this occurrence was sufficient to lead to a further investigation.
But a truth so novel and startling could not at once be received,
however demonstrative and convincing the evidence on which it rested.
Nor was it until evidence had accumulated upon evidence, and proof
become piled upon proof,— not until manifestations of the most mar
vellous character had been repeatedly witnessed, under a great variety
of circumstances, and notwithstanding the application of every con
ceivable test, — that we could consent to acknowledge, even to ourselves,
a belief in the agency of spiritual beings. That belief, however, in
spite of prejudice and scepticism, in spite of the general cry of “ hum
bug ” and “ imposture,” in spite of all attempts of scientific men to
explain the marvels on the basis of materialism (which explanations we
found in every case to be wholly inadequate to account for what we wit
nessed), that belief became at length forced upon our minds by irre
sistible evidence.
But the question still pressed upon us, who were these invisible
beings ? and what their character and designs ? They claimed to be
the spirits of departed human beings. Some of them insisted that they
were our relatives and friends, and they furnished most startling and
inexplicable proofs of their identity. They professed to be thus mani
festing themselves to our outward senses, for the purest and holiest of
purposes. * * *
The most favorable of opportunities were offered us for making this
investigation ; and they were carefully and prayerfully improved.
For several successive months did we continue to apply to what was
transpiring under our notice, through the mediumship of others, the
keenest powers of observation, and the highest exercise of moral per
ception, which have been granted us; ever seeking light and aid from
Him who has said, “ Ask, and ye shall receive.”
At length, these intelligences from another sphere began to manifest
themselves to us in a manner most unlooked-for and diverse from
�88
anything we had elsewhere witnessed, in the quietness and seclusion of
our own home, and without the intervention of any other person. From
small and gentle beginnings, they have gone forward as we were able to
bear the increasing light, to give greater, and higher, and clearer proofs
of the reality of their presence, their identity, and their heavenly mis
sion; until, through a period of six or seven months, we have been
permitted, as we believe, the almost daily enjoyment of the sweetest
and most intimate communion with the spirits of “just ones made per
fect above.”
Signed,
A. E. Newton,
S. J. Newton.
Such is a very brief statement of the experience of two persons in
this community, whose reputation is above suspicion, and whose candor
is made sufficiently evident by the character of the statement. Several
things should be noticed in this testimony.
First, They have been personal witnesses to the facts.
Second, These facts have been such as to convince them that they are
of a certain origin, and tend to produce certain results.
Third, They were prejudiced against these facts by previous experi
ence and religious belief.
Fourth, They took every possible precaution not to be deceived;
were not convinced till after a long and thorough investigation; finally,
the facts occurring in an unexpected manner in their own house, af
forded them the most ample opportunities for investigation, at the same
time precluding all possibility of imposition, unless they imposed upon
themselves, which, in consideration of their known integrity, their prej
udices and many other circumstances, it is absurd to suppose.
Fifth, As to their conclusion concerning the origin or cause, the
nature or character, the tendency or object, of these facts, they have
arrived at it by no preconceived notions. It is altogether contrary to
all their prejudices. They were compelled to relinquish every position
they had assumed, and this by no subtlety of logic, but by what they
saw and heard of the facts themselves; — and in this same manner, by
the facts, not by a process of reasoning, they were driven to their
conclusion.
Now, this experience, and these conclusions forced upon the mind
by it, do not belong alone to two persons, nor to a hundred, but thou
sands have had the same experience, and come to the same conclu
sions, concerning the origin, nature and tendency, of the phenomena. In
�89
view of these facts, I ask if it can be possible that all these people are
deceived ?
The idea of “ deception,” “ collusion,” “ humbug,” is absurd; a fool’s
reply, who judges a matter before he knows anything about it.
The assertion of “ physical impossibility ” is the bigot’s reply, who
judges all creation, and all powers of creation, by what he has seen in
his father’s door-yard, though he cannot even tell how the grass grows
thereon. The cry of “ diabolism,” raised by many divines, is a pla
giarism. Their brethren raised it eighteen hundred years ago, for the
same cause. They were obliged to admit the facts to save their own
reputation and influence ; they raised this foolish cry to bring the whole
thing into disrepute. But these are a thousand times more stupid; for
the facts which they thus admit will not only doom them to the fate of
their ancient brethren, but completely blast and totally annihilate the
chief corner-stone on which their order rests, their very shield and
defence against this as well as all other truths of nature which are not
first discovered and proclaimed within their own dismal edifice. Yes,
they are pitifully stupid to raise this cry of “ diabolism ” against that
which has not only laid a giant hand upon, but has already began to
strangle Diabolos himself; — that which has the power and the will
to completely finish the old fellow.
Can they not see the force of the reply to them, “ If Satan be
divided against Satan, how shall his kingdom stand ” ?
Again, the assertion of “physical cause" raised by some men of
science, is most unscientific of all that calls itself science. They are
not only obliged to exclude a whole class of important facts, which
rest upon just as good evidence as those which they accept, but they
are obliged to exclude from the majority of the facts they do admit
one important element, namely, a directing personal intelligence; they
are not only compelled to admit the physico-spiritual existence of a
new physical agent, or rather physical spiritual agent, which they
have never before known to exist, and the powers and properties
of which they theoretically and most dogmatically frame for every
occasion; but they are also compelled to renounce all their old the
ories of Psychology (the science of mind), and to attribute to the human
mind, in the body, more wonderful power than is claimed for it out
of the body.
If any one doubt this assertion, we refer him to “ The Philosophy
of Mysterious Rappings,” by Dr. Rogers, of Boston.
In this book he will find all we have stated fully illustrated. The
�90
work reminds us of a certain brilliant attempt once made, in the pres
ence of two honest country farmers, as they were hastily preparing
their dry hay for an approaching shower. A shaft of lightning, accom
panied by a sharp thunder-clap, descended upon a majestic pine, which
had for a century proudly defied all blasts of this kind. The fierce
bolt, no doubt, intended to demolish the noble tree at once; but, being
obliged to take a scientific course and follow the grain, it began to
wind itself around the trunk, more and more directly as it descended,
apparently becoming more angry, but making less headway, till finally
it spread itself over the whole surface of the tree, and fell harmless at
its roots; whereupon one of the farmers very coolly said, “ I swear !
that is the first time I ever saw lightning get its match.”
So we think science, if it attempt to explain this spirit manifestation
on “ material ” principles, will, for the first time, find its match.
The following, which we have taken from a daily paper, expresses
the conclusion to which every honest scientific inquirer must soon
come:
“ Prof. Hare, formerly Professor of Chemistry in the University of
Pennsylvania, avows that, after having tested the spiritual rappings by
electrical apparatus, and every other mode capable of detecting the
presence and influence of electricity as to their cause, he has come to
the conclusion that there is an intelligent independent invisible agency,
entirely aside from the medium, concerned in producing the various
phenomena, and further affirms that the theory of the spiritualists is
the only intelligible solution yet presented.”
It is well known among spiritualists and their opponents that this
aged professor had formerly endorsed the theory of Faraday, and that
he wrote several lengthy articles in favor of that theory.
�THE NATURE OF THE PHENOMENA.
We now take it for granted, that he who still adheres
to the “ miracles” of the New Testament, will accept, on
the far greater evidence, the modern “miracles.” We
think the superiority of the evidence will more than bal
ance the enchantment of distance. We have presupposed
that the resemblance between each of the first seven
classes in the New Testament, and those we have pre
sented under the same heads, would be sufficiently obvious
to justify this connection. They resemble each other as
much as any two cases at the present day. It would be
wholly gratuitous to point out the close resemblance be
tween the laying on of the dpostles’ hands and the con
sequent recovery of the sick, and the laying on of the
“mediums’” hands, followed by the same results. So
with speaking in tongues, the luminous appearances
attending spirit manifestations, and with all the other
classes ; the only difference seems to consist in some in
cidental circumstances attending the modern phenomena,
which have not been related as connected with those
of the New Testament. If they had some kinds of man
ifestations which we have not, we also have some of which
they give us no account, — such as spelling sentences by
raps or tips, or pointing to the letters ; writing by spirits
alone, and singing and playing music. But these kinds
of manifestations are produced by the same causes as
other kinds which we now have; they are all of the same
nature; and, should the development of new kinds
of manifestation continue to any extent, no one would
�92
think of assigning any new cause from that fact. Hence
we conclude that these different kinds of manifestation,
which are peculiar to each, will lead no one to suppose
that the modern phenomena are of a different nature from
the ancient, or that they can be assignable to a wholly
different cause. It is not philosophical to assign different
causes to phenomena so closely resembling each other,
simply because they occur in different ages of the world,
any more than it would be to say that those which now
occur in America are of a different nature, and are pro
duced by a different cause, from those in Europe. No
one would be in danger of this last mistake, though the
phenomena in the two countries differ as widely as those
in the two ages.
This principle, essential to science, has been insisted
upon by all who have attempted to account for these
phenomena; but they have made an exception in the
case of the Christian miracles, — an exception which, if
insisted upon, destroys the principle, and renders science
impossible.
So, when it is once decided that a number of phenomena
belong to the same class, according to a principle already
asserted, it is unphilosophical to assign a cause to the
whole from the consideration of a part only, whether
the part considered be the highest or lowest. The cause
must be adequate to the production of both the high and
the low. Hence we conclude that, whatever may have
been the moving cause in the early Christian manifesta
tions, the same cause is now operating to produce similar
phenomena.
Mr. Rogers, in his “ Philosophy of Mysterious Rap
pings,” judges the cause by physical manifestations of
the lowest character, in which no distinct marks of an
�93
independent directing intelligence are apparent; and
then, adhering to the principle above laid down, assigns
the same cause to the similar phenomena in which such
an intelligence is too apparent to be denied, without
denying many of the facts themselves. The cause he
assigns cannot produce the higher manifestations ; but
the cause assigned by spiritualists can produce both the
lower and the higher.
Mr. Dods, in his “ Spirit Manifestations Examined and
Explained” by the “Back-Brain,” says, “ On these in
voluntary powers (in the back-brain) presentiments are
often impressed ; and through these the Creator has held,
in the early ages of the world, mysterious converse with
holy men, and through these He has poured the streams
of prophetic truth and divine inspiration from the fountain
of His being, and through these He has reached the
reason, thought, understanding and will of His creatures ”
(p. 104). “It (the back-brain instinct, or involuntary
power) is the living oracle through which God has spoken
to His servants in dreams, in visions, in silent and passive
meditation. It is the living oracle, through which Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, consulted the Eternal;
and through which, as His inspired servants, they heard
His voice speaking, in the cool stillness of the day, in
silent and passive meditation” (p. 69). But Mr. Dods
pretends that it is almost blasphemy to suppose ‘‘ impres
sions” are now made upon these same involuntary powers
of the will by spirits, or that God now “speaks in dreams
and visions ” through this “ living oracle.” This is the
way he expresses it, in his own peculiar style : “Ladies
and gentlemen, I will only say that electro-psychology and
mesmerism, as matters of science, should be kept in their own appropriate domain, to detect and describe disease,
9
�94
and apply the healing remedy; but let them not pre
sume through these agents, by supposed spirit mani
festations, clairvoyance, or any other mode, to make a
revelation superior to the prophets, and Jesus Christ and
the apostles. And deeply do I regret that Mr. Davis has
attempted this!! ” (page 108). On the same page he says,
“ I say all somnambulists write, and, if I may so speak,
reason and move by the involuntary power of mind and
nerves. And so do all mesmeric clairvoyants, and those
in a state of catalepsy.” Now, he has just said, as we
have quoted, “ Through this involuntary power the Cre
ator has held, in the early ages of the world, mysterious
converse with holy men. It is the living oracle through
which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and David, consulted the
Eternal, and through which, as His inspired servants, they
heard His voice.” Why, then, Mr. Dods, may not these
men, who you say possess the same “living oracle” as
“the prophets, and Jesus Christ and the apostles,” also
“ consult the Eternal ” through it, and, “ as His inspired
servants, hear His voice ” ? The prophets came before
Jesus Christ and his apostles; but Mr. Dods himself thinks
that the latter, “ through these agents,” did “ presume
to make a revelation superior to the prophets,” and that
' they succeeded.
Now, if Mr. Davis and others at the present day, who
have, according to Mr. Dods, presumed “ through these
agents to work a revelation superior to the prophets, and
Jesus Christ and the apostles,” should really succeed,
though Mr. Dods may “marvel and wonder,” “I hope
he will not wonder and perish” ! I have no fears that
he will; for, in the same chapter (p. 103), to save himself,
he has built a bridge in large capitals, on which he may
walk right over the invisible chasm from his theory into
�95
Spiritualism.
This is it: “Now,
convince me that the
SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS ARE TRUE, AND MY PHILOSOPHY IS
STILL CORRECT.
In
SUCH A CASE IT WOULD BE NECESSARY
FOR ME TO MOVE MY POSITION ONE STEP FURTHER BACK, AND
SAY THAT DEPARTED SPIRITS INFLUENCED THE INVOLUNTARY
POWERS OF THE MIND IN THE BACK-BRAIN, AND MOVED INTO
ACTION THE INSTINCTIVE ENERGIES OF OUR.BEING.”*
If the New Testament records were accepted on the
same ground that we accept other records, and the accounts
of similar phenomena at the present day, it would be
readily seen that to reject the fact of spirit communica
tion would reject a large portion of the New Testament
itself, and make much of the remainder sheer nonsense ;
for that book begins and ends with, and all the way through
contains, reports of these communications, or allusions to
them. In the first and second chapters of Matthew sev
eral verbatim reports of these are professedly given, and
the whole book of Revelations is made up of what “ the
spirit,” who was John’s “fellow-servant, and of the
prophets,”’communicated to him while “ in the spirit,”
or, what we should say, “under the spiritual influence.”
The modern manifestations resemble those of the New
Testament, not only in their nature and quality, but in
the effect they produce on those who believe them.
“While reading Mr. Dods’ lectures, one feels that he already knows that he
cannot much longer maintain his present position, — that the facts will drive him
back, upon his own theory, into Spiritualism. He says, on the ninety-third page,
“ Let the mediums step into a room, not touch the table at all, and then cause it to
be tipped, raised or moved, and their work is done. For one, I am a convert,
and will unflinchinglyface a sneering and scoffing world.” Now, if Mr. Dods
is the candid man he professes to be, he will take the true method to satisfy him
self of this fact,— for it frequently occurs, — then he will “ unflinchingly come out,
and face a sneering and scoffing world.’’ We expect soon to see this additional
title attached to the second edition of his book : “ With my position moved one.
STEP FURTHER BACK.”
�96
Christ and his disciples, according to the accounts, be
came the most zealous philanthropists. So enthusiastic
were they, that they believed the kingdom of heaven
was really coming on the earth, and they in good earnest
set about to bring it. They met together and formed
communities (Acts 2 : 44, 45; 4 : 32, 37); and de
sired to live in harmony.
Now, the modern manifestations have precisely this
tendency; and in this consists their chief value.
The two following communications — the first purport
ing to come from John C. Calhoun, the second from W. E.
Channing — express the object the spirits professedly have
in view in these communications. They are given in
answer to this question: “ It is to draio mankind together
into harmony, and convince sceptics of the immortality of
the soul.”
“ To unite mankind and convince sceptical minds of
the immortality of the soul.”
And such every spiritualist knows to be their teach
ings generally, and the actual results of them. I could
name hundreds of sceptics, honest sceptics, whom the
New Testament, and the Christian ministry, and all other
means, could not convince, and yet who have become
firm believers in this joyous truth, through these mani
festations.
But its tendency “ to unite mankind in harmony” is
its most interesting feature to me. If it is all imagina
tion, I know it produces this result. I have for the last
six years been deeply interested in the social condition
of mankind ; and, were it not for this present influx of
spirit life, I should almost despair of its change for the
better.
But now I see the eyes of nearly all spiritualists
�97
opening to the fearful social discords which are baffling all
individual efforts for goodness and harmony.
With
but few exceptions, every spiritualist with whom I have
met has somehow become possessed of an intense desire
for harmony. “ Harmony” “Harmony,” I hear ut
tered, and repeated, many times, in every circle of spir
itualists. I know it has awakened the desire in the
hearts of thousands, and it has become intense.
Such a
desire I know will be answered by- some mighty practical
results. From the first creation of the world, there have
been periods of the influx of new and higher life into
this earth. It is distinctly traceable through all the geo
logical ages, and in the traditions and monumental his
tories of mankind. And now we see the most unmistaka
ble indications of a new and higher influx of life, of di
vine life, into this world, which is already opening upon
mankind the dawn of a new era, as much more glorious
than the “Christian” era as that is more glorious than
the Mosaic. The friends of the cause have everything
to hope. Let them work on ; the full light of the day
of harmony, which is now dawning, will soon appear,
when the reward of all their labors will be realized in
the practical brotherhood of the race ; what all those
ancient spiritualists so earnestly desired and labored for,
---- THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH.
I have, throughout, implied a belief in the spiritual
cause of these phenomena. This belief is founded on
facts and reason ; and, though firmly established in it, I
have not come to it by the observation of a few facts of
a particular kind, but by a careful observation of many
facts of various kinds, and under every variety of circum
stances. I have become so acquainted with this mode
of communication with spirits, that I can sit at the table,
*
9
�98
and, through its movements, converse almost as intelli
gently and rapidly as with a personal friend. I cannot
always tell who the spirit is with whom I am conversing.
But I have frequently become so acquainted with the
peculiar movements of a certain spirit, that I can iden
tify him the moment he begins to move the table. I can
readily detect the feelings of the spirit, whether he is
angry or pleased, by the movements. I have conversed
with spirits, when, by a single word, I seemed to throw
them into a violent fit of passion, which they would
manifest so forcibly as to greatly disturb the medium and
myself; then, by a few words, I have quieted them. I
have been sitting at the table with my sister, conversing,
when the table, of its own accord, would start off and
open the door, and come back to its former position;
when it, in the same manner, would go to the pianoforte,
and, by intelligible signs, ask for a tune ; and other
things of a similar nature. I have seen it perform, as in
telligently as a human being, and with an intelligence
wholly independent of the conscious thought of any person
in the room.
I have listened to and read communications enough to
fill a volume larger than the Bible ; and, with but very
few exceptions, the communications have been of a high
moral character ; frequently very applicable to the oc
casion, and gratifying to the feelings of the persons to
whom they were addressed ; also instructive to others
present. I haye seen frivolous communications, but
these have always been given in reply to questions equally
frivolous. Never have I witnessed anything lower, or
more vulgar, in the utterances of spirits, than in those
of the persons conversing with them at the time.
Truly, the communications are not generally so great
�99
and wise, according to the standard of this world ; but,
according to the New Testament standard, they often
contain “ the wisdom and the power of God unto sal
vation.” Generally they breathe the very spirit of love,
which, according to Jesus, is the germ of all wisdom.
They frequently manifest a deep interest in the welfare
of their personal friends, and in the general welfare of
humanity.
Do you ask again, “ What is the good of all this” ?
I would say, first, my dear friend, it will give you that
very light of which, your question implies, you are now
wholly destitute ; so destitute and dark is your mind,
that you cannot comprehend the light, and when it
shines upon you, you cry out, “ what is that ? ” “ away
with the shadow.”
Yes, it will enlighten you, wise as you now are, and
reveal to you things, both in heaven and earth, which,
hitherto, you have not dreamt of. Allow me to speak
further of my own experience.
I had “ lost ” a dear sister, whom I loved as myself,
and a father, more precious than life. I often thought
of delightful and instructive intercourse I had with them
while on earth ; my soul at times would seem to feel
their presence ; and, for the moment, I would seem to
realize a joyous communion with their spirits; but
the next moment I would be aroused from “ the pleasant
delusion,” to feel all the more lonely from the contrast.
Then would I offer the whole world for one audible word
from them, that I might know they still lived and knew
my thoughts; for I had even then begun to feel the
foreshadowing of that awful state of positive unbelief into
which many minds have fallen. I did not then see it;
but I now see that the course of study and investigation
�100
which I had marked out for myself would have carried
me to the pit of atheism, had I not been saved by means
which I did not then believe to exist.
In the winter of 1849-50, I took up a paper in which
an account of audible communication with the spirit
world was given. I read that account with a thrill of
interest seldom experienced ; though I could not believe
the reality of those dear friends speaking to me again,
while I lived on this earth, I hoped it would prove true.
I resolved to investigate for myself, for I had often
wondered why there could not be some means of com
munication between those who so dearly love. I did in
vestigate ; and, after a long trial, have become fully
convinced of the fact. I feel sure that my father and
sister have spoken that precious word for which I would
have travelled to the farthest verge of earth. And now,
when I think of that gloomy gulf of doubt into which all
the active tendencies of my nature and pursuits would
have inevitably plunged me, my heart swells with grati
tude, and yearns with a desire to use every means to
save the many thousand others who, in spite of all the
evidences in the Bible, have no belief in their immortal
existence.
I have seen many persons, in this land of Christian
churches, who, from honest doubt and sincere atheism,
have been brought to a firm and cheering faith in the
immortality of the soul, through the “ raps ” and the
“ table tippings.” Ask them, if you would know “ what
sense there is in a table jumping up and down.” They
will tell you it has done more for their souls than all your
pulpit “jumping up and down.” These physical move
ments, as they are called, though the lowest manifesta
tions, are still the most useful ; they are what most
�101
spiritual persons demand before they will accept the
higher as genuine spirit communications.
Thus it often
happens that those “ foolish things ” at which the wise
scoff are able to save them from the folly of their own
wisdom. “ The last shall be first, and the first shall be
last.”
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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New Testament "miracles" and modern "miracles"; the comparative amount of evidence for each; the nature of both; testimony of a hundred witnesses: an essay read before the middle and senior classes in Cambridge Divinity School
Creator
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Fowler, J. H.
Description
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Place of publication: Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.; Philadephia
Collation: 101 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Hobart & Robbins, Boston.
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Bela Marsh
Partridge & Brittan
Date
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1854
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G5260
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Bible
Spiritualism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (New Testament "miracles" and modern "miracles"; the comparative amount of evidence for each; the nature of both; testimony of a hundred witnesses: an essay read before the middle and senior classes in Cambridge Divinity School), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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English
Bible-N.T.
Conway Tracts
Miracles
Spiritualism
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CREEDS
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SPIRITUALITY
ROBERT C. INGERSOLL.
---------------- 4----------------
Price One Penny.
/
LONDON :
PROGRESSIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28’ Stonecutter Street, E.O.
1891.
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�CREEDS.
(From the “ New York Morning Advertiser.”)
[Whateveb may be said of his belief in revealed religion,
Robert G. Ingersoll is respected by all intellectual antagonists
for thorough sincerity, absolute fairness in debate, and un
questionable ability in ti.e presentation of his argument.
His views, therefore, on the recent attitude of the general
assembly at Detroit in the case of Dr. Briggs, the alleged
heretical utterances of the Rev. Heber Newton, and the
desertion of one creed for another by the Rev. Dr. Bridgman,
are of peculiar interest just at this time. Colonel Ingersoll
has just returned from a trip through the west, and in speaking
of these incidents, he said :—]
There is a natural desire on the part of every intelli
gent human being to harmonise his information—to
make his theories agree—in other words, to make what
he knows, or thinks he knows, in one department
agree with, and harmonise with, what he knows, or
thinks he knows, in every other department of human
knowledge.
The human race has not advanced in line, neither
has it advanced in all departments with the same
rapidity. It is with the race as it is with an individual.
A man may turn his entire attention to some one
subject—as, for instance, to geology—and neglect other
sciences. He may be a good geologist, but an exceed
ingly poor astronomer ; or he may know nothing of
politics or of political economy. So he may be a
successful statesman and know nothing of theology.
But if a man, successful in one direction, takes up
some other question, he is bound to use the knowledge
he has on one subject as a kind of standard to measure
what he is told on some other subject. If he is a
chemist, it will be natural for him, when studying
some other question, to use what he knows in chemistry ;
that is to say, he will expect to find cause, and every
where succession and resemblance. He will say : It
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must be in all other sciences as in chemistry—there
must be no chance. The elements have no caprice.
Iron is always the same. Gold does not change.
Prussic acid is always poison—it has no freaks. So he
will reason as to all facts in nature. He will be a
believer in the atomic integrity of all matter, in the
persistence of gravitation. Being so trained, and so
convinced, his tendency will be to weigh what is
called new information in the same scales that he has
been using.
Now for the application of this. Progress in reli
gion is the slowest, because man is kept back by
sentimentality, by the efforts of parents, by old asso
ciations. A thousand unseen tendrils are twining
about him that he must necessarily break if he
advances. In other departments of knowledge induce
ments are held out and rewards are promised to the
one who does succeed—to the one who really does
advance—to the man who discovers new facts. But in
religion, instead of rewards being promised, threats are
made. The man is told that he must not advance ;
that if he takes a step forward it is at the peril of his
soul; that if he thinks and investigates, he is in danger
of exciting the wrath of God. Consequently religion
has been of the slowest growth. Now, in most depart
ments of knowledge man has advanced ; and coming
back to the original statement—a desire to harmonise
all that we know—there is a growing desire on the
part of intelligent men to have a religion fit to keep
company with the other sciences.
THE MAKING OF CREEDS.
Our creeds were made in times of ignorance. They
suited very well a flat world, and a God who lived in
the sky just above us, and who used the lightning to
destroy his enemies. This God was regarded much as
a savage regarded the head of his tribe—as one having
the right to reward and punish. And this God, being
much greater than a chief of the tribe, could give
greater rewards and inflict greater punishments. They
knew that the ordinary chief, or the ordinary king,
punished the slightest offences with death. They also
knew that these chiefs and kings tortured their victims
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as long as the victims could bear the torture. So when
they described their God, they gave to this God power
to keep the tortured victim alive for ever, because they
knew that the earthly chief, or the earthly king, would
prolong the life of the tortured for the sake of increas
ing the agonies of the victim. In those savage days
they regarded punishment as the only means of pro
tecting society. In consequence of this they built
heaven and hell on an earthly plan, and they put God
—that is to say, the chief, that is to say, the king—on
a throne-like an earthly king.
Of course, these views were all ignorant and
barbaric ; but in that blessed day their geology and
astronomy were on a par with their theology. There
was a harmony in all departments of knowledge, or
rather of ignorance. Since that time there has been a
great advance made in the idea of government—the
old idea being that the right to do came from God to
the king, and from the king to the people. Now
intelligent people believe that the source of authority
has been changed, and that all just powers of govern
ment are derived from the consent of the governed.
So there has been a great advance in the philosophy
of punishment—in the treatment of criminals. So,
too, in all the sciences. The earth is no longer flat;
heaven is not immediately above us ; the universe has
been infinitely enlarged, and we have at last found
that our earth is but a grain of sand, a speck on the
great shores of the infinite. Consequently there is
a discrepancy, a discord, a contradiction between our
theology and the other sciences. Men of intelligence
feel this. Dr. Briggs concluded that a perfectly good
and intelligent God could not have created billions of
sentient beings knowing that they were to be eternally
miserable. No man could do such a thing, had he the
power, without being infinitely malicious. Dr. Briggs
began to have a little hope for the huinan race—began
to think that maybe God is better than the creed
describes him.
And right here it may be well enough to remark
that no man has ever been declared a heretic for think
ing God bad. Heresy has consisted in thinking God
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better than the church said he was. The man who
said God will damn nearly everybody was orthodox.
The man who said God will save everybody was
denounced as a blaspheming wretch, as one who
assailed and maligned the character of God. I can
remember when the Universalists were denounced as
vehemently and maliciously as the Atheists are to-day.
THE CASE OF DR. BRIGGS.
Now, continued Colonel Ingersoll, Dr. Briggs is
undoubtedly an intelligent man. He knows that
nobody on the earth knows who wrote the five books
of Moses. He knows that they were not written until
hundred of years after Moses was dead. He knows
that tw’O or more persons were the authors of Isaiah.
He knows that David did not write to exceed three or
four of the Psalms. He knows that the book of Job is
not a Jewish book. He knows that the songs of
Solomon were not written by Solomon. He knows
that the book of Ecclesiastes was written by a Free
thinker. He also knows that there is not in existence
to-day—so far as anybody knows—any of the manu
scripts of the Old or New Testament.
So about the New Testament, Dr. Briggs knows
that nobody lives who has ever seen an original manu
script, or who ever saw anybody that did see one, or
that claims to have seen one. He knows that nobody
knows who wrote Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John.
He knows that John did not write John, and that
gospel was not written until long after John was dead.
He knows that no one knows who wrote the Hebrews.
He also knows that the book of Revelation is an insane
production, Dr. Briggs also knows the way in which
these books came to be canonical, and he knows that
the way was no more binding than a resolution passed
by a political convention.
He also knows that many books were left out that
had for centuries equal authority with those that were
put in. He also knows that many passages—and the
very passages upon which many churches are founded
—are interpolations. He knows that the last chapter
of Mark, beginning with the sixteenth verse to the
end, is an interpolation ; and he also knows that neither
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Matthew, nor Mark, nor Luke, ever said one word
about the necessity of believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, or of believing anything—not one word about
believing in the Bible or joining the church, or doing
any particular thing in the way of ceremony to ensure
salvation. He knows that, according to Matthew, God
agreed to forgive us when we would forgive others,!
Consequently he knows that there is not one particle
of what is called modern theology in Matthew, Mark,
or Luke. He knows that the trouble commenced in
John, and that John was not written until probably one
hundred and fifty years—possibly two hundred years—
after Christ was dead. So he also knows that the sin
against the Holy Ghost is an interpolation; that “ I
came not to bring peace but a sword,” if not an inter
polation, is an absolute contradiction.
Knowing those things, and knowing, in addition
to what I have stated, that there are 30,000 or 40,000
mistakes in the Old Testament, that there are a great
many contradictions and absurdities, that many of the
laws are cruel and infamous, and could have been
made only by a barbarous people, Dr. Briggs has con-«
eluded that, after all, the torch that sheds the serenest
and divinest light is the human reason, and that we
must investigate the Bible as we do other books. At
least, I suppose he has reached such conclusion. He
may imagine that the pure gold of inspiration still runs
through the quartz and porphyry of ignorance and
mistake, and that all we have to do is to extract the
shining metal by some process that may be called
theological smelting; and if so I have no fault to find.
Dr. Briggs has taken a step in advance—that is to say,
the tree is growing, and when the tree goes the bark
splits ; when the new leaves come the old leaves are
rotting on the ground.
AS TO PRESBYTERIANISM.
The Presbyterian Creed is a very bad creed. It
has been the stumbling block, not only of the head,
but of the heart for many generations. I do not know
that it is, in fact, worse than any other orthodox creed ;
but the bad features are stated with an explicitness
and emphasised with a candor that render the creed
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absolutely appalling. It is amazing to me that any
man ever wrote it, or that any set of men ever produced
it. It is more amazing to me that any human being
thought it wicked not to believe it. It is more amazing
still than all the others combined that any human
being ever wanted it to be true.
#
This creed is a relic of the middle ages. It has m
the malice, the malicious logic, the total depravity, the
utter heartlessness of John Calvin, and it gives me a
great pleasure to say that no Presbyterian was ever as
bad as his creed. And here let me say, as I have said
many times, that I do not hate Presbyterians—because
among them I count some of my best friends but i
hate Presbyterianism. And I cannot illustrate this
any better than by saying, I do not hate a man because
he has the rheumatism, but I hate the rheumatism
because it has a man.
The Presbyterian Church is growing, and is growing
because, as I said at first, there is a universal tendency
in the mind of a man to harmonise all that he knows
or thinks he knows. This growth may be delayed.
The buds of heresy may be kept back by the north
wind of Princeton and by the early frost called Patton.
In spite of these souvenirs of the dark ages the church
must continue to grow. The theologians who regard
theology as something higher than a trade tend toward
Liberalism. Those who regard preaching as a business,
and the inculcation of sentiment as a trade, will stand
by the lowest possible views. They will cling to the
letter and throw away the spirit. They prefer the
dead limb to a new bud or to a new leaf. They, want
no more sap. They delight in the dead tree, in its
unbending nature, and they mistake, the stiffness of
death for the vigor and resistance of life.
.
Now,“ as with Dr. Briggs, so with Dr. Bridgman,
although it seems to me that he has simply jumped
from the frying-pan into the fire ; and why he should,
prefer the Episcopal creed to the Baptist is more than I
can imagine. The Episcopal creed is, in. fact, just as
bad as the Presbyterian. It calmly and .with unruffled
brow utters the sentence of eternal punishment on the
majority of the human race, and the Episcopalian
�(8)
expects to be happy in heaven, with his son or his
daughter or his mother or his wife in hell.
Dr. Bridgman will find himself exactly in the
position of the Rev. Mr. Newton, provided he expresses
his thought. But I account for the Bridgmans and the
Newtons by the fact there is still sympathy in the
human heart, and that there is still intelligence in the
human brain. For my part I am glad to see this
growth in the orthodox churches, and the quicker
they revise their creeds the better. I oppose nothing
that is good in any creed—I attack only that which
is only ignorant, cruel and absurd, and I make the
attack in the interest of human liberty and for the
sake of human happiness.
ORTHODOXY THE MASTER.
What do you think of the action of the Presbyterian
General Assembly at Detroit, and what effect do you
think it will have on the religious growth ?” was
asked.
That. General Assembly was controlled by the ortho
dox within the Church, replied Colonel Inge rsoll,
by the strict constructionists and by the Calvii ists;
by the gentlemen who not only believe the creed, not
only believe that a vast majority of people are going to
hell, but are really glad of it; by gentlemen who, when
they feel a little blue, read about total depravity to
cheer up, and when they think of the mercy of God
as exhibited in their salvation, and the justice of God
as illustrated by the damnation of others, their hearts
burst into a kind of effloresence of joy.
These gentlemen are opposed to all kinds of amuse
ments except reading the Bible, the Confession of
Faith and the Creed and listening to Presbyterian
sermons and prayers. All these things they regard as
the food of cheerfulness. They warn the elect against
theatres and operas, dancing and games of chance.
Well, if their doctrine is true, there ought to be no
theatres, except exhibitions of hell; there ought to be
no operas, except where the music is a succession of
wails for the misfortunes of man. If their doctrine is
true, I do not see how any human being could ever
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smile again—I do not see how a mother conld welcome
her babe ; everything in nature would become hateful
—flowers and sunshine would simply tell us of our
fate.
My doctrine is exactly the opposite of this. Let us
enjoy ourselves every moment that we can. The love
of the dramatic is universal. The stage has not simply
amused, but it has elevated mankind. The greatest
genius of our world poured the treasures of his soul
into the drama. I do not believe that any girl can be
corrupted, or that any man can be injured, by becoming
acquainted with Isabella, or Miranda, or Juliet, or
Imogene, or any of the great heroines of Shake
speare.
So I regard the opera as one of the great civilisers.
No one can listen to the symphonies of Beethoven or
the music of Schubert, without receiving a benefit.
And no one can hear the operas of Wagner without
feeling that he has been ennobled and refined.
Why is it the Presbyterians are so opposed to music
in this world, and yet expect to have so much in
heaven ? Is not music just as demoralising in the sky
as on the earth, and does anybody believe that Abra
ham, or Isaac, or Jacob, ever played any music com
parable to Wagner ?
Why should we postpone our joy to another world ?
Thousands of people take great pleasure in dancing,
and I let them dance. Dancing is better than weeping
and wailing over a theology born of ignorance and
superstition.
And so with games of chance. There is a certain
pleasure in playing games, and the pleasure is of the
most innocent character. Let all these games be played
at home and children will not prefer the saloon to the
society of their parents. I believe in cards and billiards,
and would believe in progressive euchre were it more
of a game—the great objection to it is its lack of com
plexity. My idea is to get what little happiness you
can out of this life, and to enjoy all sunshine that
breaks through the clouds of misfortune. Life is poor
enough at best. No one should fail to pick up every
jewel of joy that can be found in his path. Every one
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should be as happy as he can, provided he is not happy
at the expense of another.
So let us get all we can of good between the cradle
and the grave—all that we can of the truly dramatic,
all that we can of enjoyment; and if, when death
comes, that is the end, we have at least made the best
of this life, and if there be another life, let us make the
best of that.
I am doing what little I can to hasten the coming
of the day when the human race will enjoy liberty—
not simply of body, but liberty of mind. And by
liberty of mind I mean freedom from superstition, and,
added to that, the intelligence to find out the conditions
of happiness ; and, added to that, the wisdom to live
in accordance with those conditions.
�(11)
SPIRITUALITY.
If there is an abused word in our language, it is
“ spirituality.”
It has been repeated over and over for several
years by pious pretenders and snivellers as though it
belonged exclusively to them.
In the early days of Christianity the “spiritual”
renounced the world, with all its duties and obliga
tions. They deserted their wives and children. They
became hermits and dwelt in caves. They spent
their useless years praying for their shrivelled and
worthless souls.
They were too “ spiritual ” to love women, to build
homes and to labor for children.
They were too “ spiritual ” to earn their bread, so
they became beggars, and stood by the highway of
life and held out their hands and asked alms of
industry and courage.
They were too “ spiritual ” to be merciful. They
preached the dogmas of eternal pain and gloried in
“ the wrath to come.”
They were too “ spiritual ” to be civilised, so they
persecuted their fellow-men for expressing their
honest thoughts.
They were so “spiritual” that they invented in
struments of torture, founded the Inquisition, ap
pealed to the whip, the rack, the sword and the fagot.
They tore the flesh of their fellow-man with hooks
of iron, buried their neighbors alive, cut off their
eyelids, dashed out the brains of babes and cut off
the breasts of mothers.
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These “ spiritual ” wretches spent day and night
on their knees praying for their own salvation and
asking God to curse the best and noblest in the
world.
John Calvin was intensely “spiritual” when he
warmed his fleshless hands at the flames that consumed
Servetus.
John Knox was constrained by his “spirituality”
to utter low and loathsome calumnies against all
women. All the witch-burners and quaker-maimers
and mutilators were so “ spiritual ” that they constantly
looked heavenward and longed for the skies.
These lovers of God—these haters of men—looked
upon the Greek marbles us unclean, and denounced
the glories of art as the snares and pitfalls of perdition.
These “ spiritual ” mendicants hated laughter and
smiles and dimples, and exhausted their diseased and
polluted imagination in the effort to make love loath
some.
_ From almost every pulpit was heard the denuncia
tion of all that adds to the wealth, the joy, and glory
of life. It became the fashion for the “ spiritual ” to
malign every hope and passion that tends to humanise
and refine the heart. Man was denounced as totally
depraved. Woman was declared to be a perpetual
temptation—her beauty a snare, and her touch pollu
tion.
Even in our own time and country some of the
ministers, no matter how radical they claim to be,
retain the aroma, the odor, or the smell of the
“ spiritual.”
They denounce some of the best and greatest—some
of the benefactors of the race—for having lived on a
low plane of usefulness, and for having had the pitiful
ambition to make their fellows happy in this world.
Thomas Paine was a grovelling wretch because he
devoted his life to the preservation of the rights of
man, and Voltaire lacked the “spiritual” because he
abolished torture in France, and attacked with the
enthusiasm of a divine madness the monster that was
endeavoring to drive the hope of liberty from the heart
of man.
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Humboldt was not “ spiritual ” enough to repeat
with closed eyes the absurdities of superstition, but
was so lost to all the “ skyey influences ” that he was
satisfied to add to the intellectual wealth of the world.
■Darwin lacked “ spirituality,” and in its place had
nothing but sincerity, patience, intelligence, the spirit
of investigation, and the courage to give his honest
conclusions to the world. He contented himself with
giving to his fellow men the greatest and the sublimest
truths that man has spoken since lips have uttered
speech.
But we are now told that these soldiers of science,
these heroes of liberty, these sculptors and painters,,
these singers of songs, these composers of music,
lacked “ spirituality ”’and after all were only common
clay.
This word “ spirituality ” is the fortress, the breast
work, the riflepit of the Pharisee. It sustains the same
relation to sincerity that Dutch metal does to pure gold.
There seems to be something about a pulpit that
poisons the occupant—that changes his nature—that
causes him to denounce what he really loves and to
laud with the fervor of insanity a joy that he never
felt—a rapture that never thrilled his soul. Hypnotised
by his surroundings, he unconsciously brings to market
that which he supposes the purchasers desire.
In every church, whether orthodox or radical, there
are two parties—one conservative, looking backward ;
one radical, looking forward—and generally a minister
“ spiritual ” enough to look both ways.
A. minister who seems to be a philosopher on the
street, or in the home of a sensible man, cannot with
stand the atmosphere of the pulpit. The moment he
stands behind a Bible cushion, like Bottom, he is
“ translated ” and the Titania of superstition “ kisses
his large, fair ears.”
Nothing is more amusing than to hear a clergyman
denounce worldliness—ask his hearers what it will
profit them to build railways and palaces and lose their
own souls—inquire of the common folks before him
why they waste their precious years in following
trades and professions, in gathering treasures that
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moths corrupt and rust devours, giving their days to
the vulgar business of making money—and then see
him take up a collection, knowing perfectly well that
only the worldly, the very people he has denounced,
can by any possibility give a dollar.
“ Spirituality,” for the most part, is a mask worn by
idleness, arrogance, and greed.
Some people imagine they are “ spiritual ” when
they are sickly.
It may be well enough to ask—What is it to be
really spiritual ?
The spiritual man lives up to his ideal. He
endeavors to make others happy. He does not despise
the passions that have filled the world with art and
glory. He loves his wife and* children—home and
fireside. He cultivates the amenities and refinements
of life. He is a friend and champion of the oppressed.
His sympathies are with the poor and the suffering.
He attacks what he believes to be wrong, though
defended by the many, and he is willing to stand for
the right against the world.
He enjoys the beautiful.
In the presence of the highest creations of Art his
eyes are suffused with tears. When he listens to the
great melodies, the divine harmonies, he feels the
sorrows and the raptures of death and love. He is
intensely human. He carries in his heart the burdens
of the world. He searches for the deeper meanings.
He appreciates the harmonies of conduct, the melody
of a perfect life.
He loves his wife and children better than any
God.
He cares more for the world he lives in than for any
other. He tries to discharge the duties of this life, to
help those that he can reach. He believes in being
useful—in making money to feed and clothe and
educate the ones he loves—to assist the deserving and
to support himself. He does not want to be a burden
on others. He is just, generous, and sincere.
Spirituality is all of this world. It is a child of this
earth, born and cradled here. It comes from no
heaven, but it makes a heaven where it is. There is
�( 15 )
no possible connection between superstition and the
spiritual, or between theology and the spiritual.
The spiritually-minded man is a poet. If he does
not write poetry, he lives it. He is an artist. If he
does not paint pictures or chisel statues, he feels them
and their beauty softens his heart. He fills the temple
of his soul with all that is beautiful and he worships at
the shrine of the ideal.
In all the relations of life he is faithful and true.
He asks for nothing that he does not earn. He does
not wish to be happy in heaven if he must receive
happiness as alms. He does not rely on the goodness
of another. He is not ambitious to become a winged
pauper.
.
Spirituality is the perfect health of the soul. It is
noble, manly, generous, brave, free-spoken, natural,
•SupGrl)»
Nothing is more sickening than the “spiritual”
whine—the pretence that crawls at first and talks about
humility, and then suddenly becomes arrogant and
says : “ I am ‘ spiritual ’—I hold in contempt the
vulgar jovs of this life. You work and toil and build
homes and sing songs and weave your delicate robes.
You love women and children and adorn yourselves.
You subdue the earth and dig for gold. You have
your theatres, your operas, and all the luxuries of life ;
but I, beggar that I am, Pharisee that I am, am your
superior because I am ‘ spiritual.’ ”
Above all things, let us be sincere.
Printed by G. W. Foote, at 28 Stonecutter Street, London, E.C.
�WORKS BY COLONEL R. G. INGERSOLL
s. d.
r
MISTAKES OF MOSES
Superior edition, in cloth ...
Only Complete Edition published in England.
DEFENCE OF FREETHOUGHT
Five Hours’ Speech, at the Trial of C. B.
Reynolds for Blasphemy.
REPLY TO GLADSTONE. With a Biography by
J. M. Wheeler
ROME OR REASON ? Reply to Cardinal Man ning
CRIMES AGAINST CRIMINALS
...
AN ORATION ON WALT WHITMAN ...
FAITH AND FACT. Reply to Rev. Dr. Field
GOD AND MAN. Second Reply to Dr. Field
...
THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH
...
LOVE THE REDEEMER. Reply to Count To lstoi
THE LIMITS OF TOLERATION
•••
A Discussion with Hon. F. D. Coudert and
Gov. S. L. Woodford
...
THE DYING CREED
DO I BLASPHEME ?
THE CLERGY AND COMMON SENSE
...
SOCIAL SALVATION
...
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ...
...
GOD AND THE STATE
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ?
...
...
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ? Part II.
...
ART AND MORALITY
...
CHRIST AND MIRACLES
...
...
THE GREAT MISTAKE
...
LIVE TOPICS
MYTH AND MIRACLE
...
REAL BLASPHEMY
...
REPAIRING THE IDOLS
R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter-street, London, E.C.
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Creeds and spirituality
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1896]
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 15 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Reprinted from the New York Morning Advertiser. "Works by Colonel R.G. Ingersoll" listed on back cover. No. 12a in Stein checklist. Printed by G.W. Foote. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Progressive Publishing Company
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1891
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N328
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Spiritualism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Creeds and spirituality), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Creeds
NSS
Religion
Spirituality
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Text
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
THE
GHOSTS
BY
COL. ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
Let them cover their Eyeless Sockets with their Flesh
less Hands and fade for ever from the imagination
of Men.
Price Threepence.
R. FORDER, 28 STONECUTTER STREET, E.O.
1893.
�LONDON :
PRINTED BY
G. W. FOOTE,
AT 11 CLERK F KWELL GREEN, E.C.
�THE GHOSTS.
Let them cover their Eyeless Sockets with their Fleshless Hands
and fade for ever from the imagination of Men.
There are three theories by which men. account for all phe
nomena, for everything that happens : First, the Supernatural; second, the Supernatural and Natural; third, the
Natural. Between these theories there has been, from the
dawn of civilisation, a continual conflict. In this great war
nearly all the soldiers have been in the ranks of the super
natural. The believers in the supernatural insist that matter
is controlled and directed entirely by powers from without;
while naturalists maintain that Nature acts from within;
that Nature is not acted upon; that the universe is all there
is; that Nature with infinite arms embraces everything that
exists, and that all supposed powers beyond the limits of the
material are simply ghosts. You say, “ Oh, this is material
ism!” What is matter? I take in my hand some earth
—in this dust put seeds. Let the arrows of light from the
quiver of the sun smite upon it; let the rain fall upon it;
the seeds will grow and a plant will bud and blossom. Do
you understand this ? Can you explain it better than you
can the production of thought ? Have you the slightest con
ception of what it really is ? And yet you speak of matter as
though acquainted with its origin, as though you had torn
from the clenched hands of the rocks the secrets of material
existence. Do you know what force is ? Can you account
for molecular action ? Are you really familiar with chem
istry, and can you account for the loves and hatreds of the
atoms ? Is there not something in matter that for ever
eludes? After all, can you get beyond, above, or below
appearances ? Before you cry “ materialism !” had you not
better ascertain what matter really is? Can you think even
of anything without a material basis ? Is it possible to
imagine the annihilation of a single atom ? Is it possible for
�( 4 )
you to conceive of the creation of an atom ? Can you have a
thought that was not suggested to you by what you call
matter ?
Our fathers denounced materialism, and accounted for all
phenomena by the caprice of gods and devils.
For thousands of years it was believed that ghosts, good
and bad, benevolent and malignant, weak and powerful, in
some mysterious way, produced all phenomena; that disease
and health, happiness and misery, fortune and misfortune,
peace and war, life and death, success and failure, were but
arrows from the quivers of these ghosts; that shadowy
phantoms rewarded and punished mankind; that they were
pleased and displeased by the actions of men; that they sent
and withheld the snow, the light, and the rain; that they
blessed the earth with harvests or cursed it with famine;
that they fed or starved the children of men; that they
crowned and uncrowned kings; that they took sides in war ;
that they controlled the winds; that they gave prosperous
voyages, allowing the brave mariner to meet his wife and
child inside the harbor bar, or sent the storms, strewing the
sad shore with wrecks of ships and the bodies of men.
Formerly, these ghosts were believed to be almost innu
merable. Earth, air, and water were filled with these phan
tom hosts. In modern times they have greatly decreased
in number, because the second theory—a mingling of the
supernatural and natural—has generally been adopted. The
remaining ghosts, however, are supposed to perform the same
offices as the hosts of yore.
It has always been believed that these ghosts could in some
way be appeased; that they could be flattered by sacrifices,
by prayer, by fasting, by the building of temples and
cathedrals, by the blood of men and beasts, by forms and
ceremonies, by chants, by kneelings and prostrations, by
flagellations and maimings, by renouncing the joys of home,
by living alone in a wide desert, by the practice of celibacy,
by inventing instruments of torture, by destroying men,
women, and children, by covering the earth with dungeons,
by burning unbelievers, by putting chains upon the thoughts
and manacles upon the limbs of men, by believing things
without evidence and against evidence, by disbelieving and
denying demonstration, by despising facts, by hating reason,
by denouncing liberty, by maligning heretics, by slandering
the dead, by subscribing to senseless and cruel creeds, by
discouraging investigation, by worshipping a book, by the
cultivation of credulity, by observing certain times and days,
by counting beads, by gazing at crosses, by hiring others to
repeat verses and prayers, by burning candles, and ringing
�( 5 )
bells, by enslaving each, other, and putting out the eyes of
the soul. All this has been done to appease and flatter this
monster of the air.
In the history of our poor world, no horror has been,
omitted, no infamy has been left undone by the believers in
ghosts,—by the worshippers of these fleshless phantoms.
And yet these shadows were born of cowardice and malignity.
They were painted by the pencil of fear upon the canvas of
ignorance by that artist called superstition.
From these ghosts our fathers received information. They
were the schoolmasters of our ancestors. They were the
scientists and philosophers, the geologists, legislators, astro
nomers, physicians, metaphysicians, and historians of the
past. For ages these ghosts were supposed to be the only
source of real knowledge. They inspired men to write
books, and the books were considered sacred. If facts were
found to be inconsistent with these books, so much the worse
for the facts, and especially for their discoverers. It was then,
and still is, believed that these books are the basis of the
idea of immortality; that to give up these volumes, or rather
the idea that they are inspired, is to renounce the idea of
immortality. This I deny.
The idea of immortality that like a sea has ebbed and
flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves of
hope and fear, beating against the shores and rocks of time
and fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, nor of
any religion. It was born of human affection, and it will
continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of
doubt and darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death.
It is the rainbow of hope shining-upon the tears of grief.
From the books written by the ghosts we have at last
ascertained that they knew nothing about the world in which
we live. . Did they know anything about the next? Upon
every point where contradiction is possible, they have been
contradicted.
By these ghosts, by these citizens of the air, the affairs of
government were administered; all authority to govern
came from. them. The emperors, kings, and potentates all
had commissions from these phantoms. Man was not con
sidered as the source of any powei’ whatever. To rebel
against the king was to rebel against the ghosts, and nothing
less than the blood of the offender could appease the invisible
phantom or the visible tyrant. Kneeling was the proper
position to be assumed by the multitude. The prostrate
were the good. Those who stood erect were infidels and
traitors. In the name and by the authority of the ghosts,
man was enslaved, crushed, and plundered. The many
�( 6 )
toiled wearily in the storm and sun that the few favorites of
the ghosts might live in idleness. The many lived in huts,
and caves, and dens, that the few might dwell in palaces.
The many covered themselves with rags, that the few might
robe themselves in purple and in gold. . The many crept, and
cringed, and crawled, that the few might tread upon their
flesh with iron feet.
From the ghosts men received, not only authority, but
information of every kind. They told us the form of this
earth. They informed us that eclipses were caused by the
sins of man; that the universe was made in six days;
that astronomy and geology were devices of wicked men,
instigated by wicked ghosts ; that gazing at the sky with a
telescope was a dangerous thing ; that digging into the earth
was sinful curiosity ; that trying to be wise above what
they had written was born of a rebellious and irreverent
spirit.
They told us there was no virtue like belief, and no crime
like doubt ; that investigation was pure impudence, and the
punishment therefore, eternal torment. They not only told
us all about this world, but about two others ; and if their
statements about the other world are as true as about this,
no one can estimate the value of their information.
For countless ages the world was governed by ghosts, and
they spared no pains to change the eagle of the human intel
lect into a bat of darkness. To accomplish this infamous
purpose ; to drive the love of truth from the human heart ;
to prevent the advancement of mankind ; to shut out from
the world every ray of intellectual light; to pollute every
mind with superstition, the power of kings, the cunning
and cruelty of priests, and the wealth of nations were
exhausted.
During these years of persecution, ignorance, superstition,
and slavery, nearly all the people, the kings, lawyers, doctors,
the learned and the unlearned, believed in that frightful
production of ignorance, fear and faith, called witchcraft.
They believed that man was the sport and prey of devils.
They really thought that the very air was thick with
these enemies of man. With few exceptions, this hideous
and infamous belief was universal. Under these conditions,
progress was almost impossible.
Fear paralyses the brain. Progress is born of courage.
Fear believes—courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth
and prays—courage stands erect and thinks. Fear retreats
--courage advances. Fear is barbarism—courage is civilisa
tion. Fear believes in witchcraft, in devils, and in ghosts.
Fear is religion—courage is science.
�( 7 )
The facts, upon which this terrible belief rested, were
proved over and over again in every court of Europe.
Thousands confessed themselves guilty—admitted that they
had sold themselves to the Devil. They gave the particulars
of the sale; told what they said and what the Devil replied.
They confessed this, when they knew that confession was
death; knew that their property would be confiscated, and
their children left to beg their bread. This is one of the
miracles of history—one of the strangest contradictions of
the human mind. Without doubt, they really believed
themselves guilty. In the first place, they believed in
witchcraft as a fact, and when charged with it they probably
became insane. In their insanity they confessed their guilt.
They found themselves abhorred and deserted—charged
with a crime that they could not disprove. Like a man in
quicksand, every effort only sunk them deeper. Caught in
this frightful web, at the mercy of the spiders of superstition,
hope fled, and nothing remained but the insanity of confession.
The whole world appeared to be insane.
In the time of James the First, a man was executed for
causing a storm at sea with the intention of drowning one of
the royal family. How could he disprove it ? How could
he show that he did not cause the storm ? All storms were
at that time generally supposed to be caused by the Devil—<
the prince of the power of the air—and by those whom he
assisted.
I implore you to remember that the believers in such
impossible things were the authors of our creeds and con
fessions of faith.
A woman was tried and convicted before Sir Matthew
Hale, one of the great judges and lawyers of England, for
having caused children to vomit crooked pins. She was
also charged with having nursed devils. The learned judge
charged the intelligent jury that there was no doubt as to
the existence of witches; that it was established by all
history, and expressly taught by the Bible.
The woman was hanged and her body burned.
Sir Thomas More declared that to give up witchcraft was
to throw away the sacred scriptures. In my judgment he
was right.
John.Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and witches,
and insisted upon it, years after all laws upon the subject
had been repealed in England. I beg of you to remember
that John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist Church.
In New England, a woman was charged with being a
witch, and with having changed herself into a fox. While
in that condition she was attacked and bitten by some dogs.
�( 8)
A committee of three men, by order of the court, examined
this woman. They removed her clothing and searched for
“ witch spots.” That is to say, spots into which needles
could be thrust without giving her pain. They reported to
the court that such spots were found. She denied, however,
that she ever had changed herself into a fox. Upon the
report of the committee she was found guilty and actually
executed. This was done by our Puritan fathers, by the
gentlemen who braved the dangers of the deep for the sake
of worshipping God and persecuting their fellow men.
In those days people believed in what was known as
lycanthropy—that is, that persons, with the assistance of the
Devil, could assume the form of wolves. An instance is
given where a man was attacked by a wolf. He defended
himself, and succeeded in cutting off one of the animal’s
paws. . The wolf ran away. The man picked up the paw,
put it in his pocket and carried it home. There he found his
wife with one of her hands gone. He took the paw from
his pocket.. It had changed to a human hand. He charged
his wife with being a witch. She was tried. She confessed
her guilt, and was burned.
People were burned for causing frosts in summer—for
destroying crops with hail—for causing storms—for making
cows go dry, and even for souring beer. There was no im
possibility for which someone was not tried and convicted.
The life of no one was secure. To be charged, was to be
convicted. Every man was at the mercy of every other.
This infamous belief was so firmly seated in the minds of
the people, that to express a doubu as to its truth was to be
suspected. Whoever denied the existence of witches 'and
devils was denounced as an infidel.
They believed that animals were often taken possession of
by devils, and that the killing of the animal would destroy
the devil. They absolutely tried, convicted, and executed
dumb beasts.
At Basle, in 1470, a rooster was tried upon the charge of
having laid an egg. .Rooster eggs were used only in making
witch ointment—this everybody knew. The rooster was
convicted, and with all due solemnity was burned in the
public square. So a hog and six pigs were tried for having
killed and. partially eaten a child. The hog was convicted,
but the pigs, on account probably of their extreme youth,
were acquitted. As late as 1740, a cow was tried and con
victed of being possessed by a devil.
They used to exorcise rats, locusts, snakes, and vermin.
They used to go through the alleys, streets, and fields, and
warn them to leave within a certain number of days. In
�( 9 )
case they disobeyed, they were threatened with pains and
penalties.
But let us be careful how we laugh at these things. Let us
not pride ourselves too much on the progress of our age. We
must not forget that some of our people are yet in the same
intelligent business. Only a little while ago, the Governor
of Minnesota appointed a day of fasting and prayer, to see if
some power could not be induced to kill the grasshoppers, or
send them into some other state.
About the close of the fifteenth century, so great was the
excitement with regard to the existence of witchcraft, that
Pope Innocent VII. issued a bull directing the inquisitors to
be vigilant in searching out and punishing ail guilty of this
crime. Forms for the trial were regularly laid down in a
book or pamphlet called the Malleus Maleficorum (Hammer
of Witches), which was issued by the Roman See. Popes
Alexander, Leo, and Adrian, issued like bulls. For two
hundred and fifty years the Church was busy in punishing
the impossible crime of witchcraft; in burning, hanging, and
torturing men, women, and children. Protestants were as
active as Catholics, and in Geneva five hundred witches were
burned at the stake in a period of three months. About one
thousand were executed in one year in the diocese of Como.
At least one hundred thousand victims suffered in Germany
alone: the last execution (in Wurtzburg) taking place as
late as 1749. Witches were burned in Switzerland as late
as 1780.
In England the same frightful scenes were enacted.
Statutes were passed from Henry VI. to James I., defining
the crime and its punishment. The last Act passed by the
feritish Parliament was when Lord Bacon was a member of
the House of Commons; and this Act was not repealed
until 1736.
Sir William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws
of England, says : “ To deny the possibility, nay, actual
existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to con
tradict the Word of God in various passages both of the Old
and New Testament; and the thing itself is a truth to which
every nation in the world hath in its turn borne testimony,
either by examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory
laws, which at least suppose the possibility of a commerce
with evil spirits.”
In Brown’s Dictionary of the Bible, published at Edin
burgh, Scotland, in 1807, it is said that: “ A witch is a
woman that has dealings with Satan. That such persons are
among men is abundantly plain from scripture, and that they
ought to be put to death.”
�( 10 )
This work was re-published in Albany, New York, in 1816.
No wonder the clergy of that city are ignorant and bigoted
even unto this day.
In 1716, Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, nine years of age,
were hanged for selling their souls to the Devil, and raisin«a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a lather of
soap.
In England it has been estimated that at least thirty thou
sand were hanged and burned. The last victim executed in
Scotland perished in 1722. “ She was an innocent old woman,
who had so little idea of her situation as to rejoice at the
sight of the fire which was destined to consume her. She
had a daughter, lame both of hands and of feet—a circum
stance attributed to the witch having been used to transform
her daughter into a pony and getting her shod by the Devil.”
In 1692, nineteen persons were executed and one pressed
to death in Salem, Massachusetts, for the crime of witch
craft.
It was thought, in those days, that men and women made
compacts with the Devil, orally and in writing. That they
abjured God and Jesus Christ, and dedicated themselves
wholly to the Devil. The contracts were confirmed at a
general meeting of witches and ghosts, over which the Devil
himself presided; and the persons generally signed the
articles of agreement with their own blood. These contracts
were, in some instances for a few years; in others, for life.
General assemblies of the witches were held at least once a
year,.at which they appeared entirely naked, besmeared with
an ointment made from the bodies of unbaptised infants.
“ To these meetings they rode from great distances on broom
sticks, pokers, goats, hogs, and dogs. Here they did homage
to the prince of hell, and offered him sacrifices of young
children, and practised all sorts of license until the break of
day.”
“ As late as 1815, Belgium was disgraced by a witch trial;
and guilt was established by the water ordeal.” “ In 1836,
the populace of Hela, near Dantzic, twice plunged into the
sea a woman reputed to be a sorceress ; and as the miserable
creature persisted in rising to the surface, she was pronounced
guilty, and beaten to death.”
“ It was believed that the bodies of devils are not like
those of men and animals, cast in an unchangeable mould.
It was thought they were like clouds, refined and subtle
matter, capable of assuming any form and penetrating into
any orifice. The horrible tortures they endured in their place
of punishment rendered them extremely sensitive to suffer
ing, and they continually sought a temperate and somewhat
�(11)
moist warmth in. order to allay their pangs. It was for this
reason they so frequently entered into men and women.”
The Devil could transport men, at his will, through the
gjy. He could beget children; and Martin Luther himself
had come in contact with one of these children.. He. recom
mended the mother to throw the child into the river,inorder
to free their house from the presence of a devil.
It was believed that the Devil could transform people into
any shape he pleased.
Whoever denied these things was denounced as an infidel.
All the believers in witchcraft confidently appealed to the
Bible. Their mouths were filled with passages demonstrating
the existence of witches and their power over human .beings.
By the Bible they proved that innumerable evil spirits were
ranging over the world endeavoring to ruin mankind; that
these spirits possessed a power and wisdom far transcending
the limits of human faculties ; that they delighted in. every
misfortune that could befall the world; that their malice was
superhuman. That they caused tempests was proved by the
action of the Devil toward Job; by the passage in the book of
Revelation describing the four angels who held the four winds,
and to whom it was given to afflict the earth. They believed
this, because they knew that Christ had been carried by the
Devil in the same manner and placed on a pinnacle of the
temple. “ The prophet Habakkuk had been transported.by
a spirit from Judea to Babylon; and Philip, the evangelist,
had been the object of a similar miracle; and in the same
way St. Paul had been carried in the body to the third
heaven.”
“ In those pious days, they believed that. Incubi and
Succubi were for ever wandering among mankind, alluring,
by more than human charms, the unwary to their destruction,
and laying plots, which were too often successful, against the
virtue of the saints. Sometimes the witches kindled in the
monastic priest a more terrestrial fire. People, told, with
bated breath, how, under the spell of a vindictive woman,
four successive abbots in a German monastery had been
wasted away by an unholy flame.”
An instance is given in which the Devil not only assumed
the appearance of a holy man, in order to pay his addresses
to a lady, but when discovered, crept under the bed, suffered
himself to be dragged out, and was impudent enough to
declare that he was the veritable bishop. So perfectly had
he assumed the form and features of the prelate that those
Who knew the bishop best were deceived.
One can hardly imagine the frightful state of the human
mind during these long centuries of darkness and supersti-
�()
tion. To them, these things were awful and frightful realities.
Hovering about them in the open air, in their houses, in the
bosoms of friends, in their very bodies, in all the darkness of
i* everywhero, around, above and below, were innumer
able hosts of unclean and malignant devils.
From the malice of those leering and vindictive vampires
ot the air, the Church pretended to defend mankind. Pursued
by those phantoms, the frightened multitudes fell upon their
theft aD<* imPl°red
of robed hypocrisy and sceptered
Take from the orthodox Church of to-day the threat and
tear ot hell, and it becomes an extinct volcano.
Take from the Church the miraculous, the supernatural,
the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the
unknowable and the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum
remains.
Notwithstanding all the infamous things justly laid to the
charge of the Church, we are told that the civilisation of
to-day is the child of what we are pleased to call the super
stition of the past.
1
Religion has not civilised man—man has civilised religion.
God improves as man advances.
Ca^ your attention to what we have received from
the followers of the ghosts. Let me give you an outline of
" a sciences as taught by these philosophers of the clouds.
j diseases were produced, either as a punishment by the
good ghosts, or out of pure malignity by the bad ones,
lhere were, properly speaking, no diseases. The sick were
possessed by ghosts. The science of medicine consisted in
knowing how to persuade these ghosts to vacate the premises,
kor thousands of years the diseased were treated with
incantations, with hideous noises, with drums and gongs.
.Everything was. done to make the visit of the ghost as un
pleasant as possible, and they generally succi-eded in making
things so disagreeable that if the ghost did not leave, the
patient did. These ghosts were supposed to be of different
rank, power and dignity. Now and then a man pretended
to have won the favor of some powerful ghost, and that gave
him power oyer the little ones. Such a man became an
eminent physician.
It was found that certain kinds of smoke, such as that
produced by burning the liver of a fish, the dried skin of a
serpent, the eyes of a toad, or the tongue of an adder, were
i 3gly offeQsive ,t0 the nostrils of an ordinary ghost.
With this smoke the sick room would be filled until the ghost
vanished or the patient died.
”
�It was also believed that certain words—the names of the
most powerful ghosts—when properly pronounced, were
very effective weapons. It was for a long time thought that
Isatin words were the best—Latin being a dead language,
and known by the clergy. Others thought that two sticks
laid across each other and held before the wicked ghost
Would cause it instantly to flee in dread away.
For thousands of years the practice of medicine consisted
in driving these evil spirits out of the bodies of men.
In some instances bargains and compromises were made
with the ghosts. One case is given where a multitude of
devils traded a man for a herd of swine. In this transaction
the devils were the losers, as the swine immediately drowned
themselves in the sea. This idea of disease appears to have
been almost universal, and is by no means yet extinct.
The contortions of the epileptic, the strange twitchings of
those afflicted with chorea, the shakings of palsy, dreams,
trances, and the numberless frightful phenomena produced
by diseases of the nerves, were all seized upon as so many
proofs that the bodies of men were filled with unclean and
malignant ghosts.
Whoever endeavored to account for these things by natural
causes, whoever attempted to cure diseases by natural means,
was denounced by the Church as an infidel. To explain
anything was a crime. It was to the interest of the priest
that all phenomena should be accounted for by the will and
bower of gods and devils. The moment it is admitted that
all phenomena are within the domain of the natural, the
necessity for a priest has disappeared. Religion breathes
the air of the supernatural. Take from the mind of man the
idea of the supernatural, and religion ceases to exist. For
this reason, the Church has always despised the man who
explained the wonderful. Upon this principle, nothing was
left undone to stay the science of medicine. As long as
plagues and pestilences could be stopped by prayer, the priest
was useful. The moment the physician found a cure, the
¡priest became an extravagance. The moment it began to be
apparent that prayer could do nothing for the body, the
priest shifted his ground and began praying for the soul.
Long after the devil idea was substantially abandoned in
the practice of medicine, and when it was admitted that God
had nothing to do With ordinary coughs and colds, it was
»till believed that all the frightful diseases were sent by him
as punishments for the wickedness of the people. It was
thought to be a kind of blasphemy to even try, by any
Natural means, to stay the ravages of pestilence. Formerly,
during the prevalence of plague and epidemics, the arro
�( 14 )
gance of the priest was boundless. He told the people that
they had slighted the clergy, that they had refused to pay
tithes, that they had doubted some of the doctrines of the
Church, and that God was now taking his revenge. The
people for the most part believed this infamous tissue of
priestcraft. They hastened to fall upon their knees; they
poured out their wealth upon the altars of hypocrisy; they
abased and debased themselves; from their minds they
banished all doubts, and made haste to crawl in the very
dust of humility.
The Church never wanted disease to be under the control
of man. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, preached
a sermon against vaccination. His idea was, that if God had
decreed from all eternity that a certain man should die with
the small-pox, it was a frightful sin to avoid and annul that
decree by the trick of vaccination. Small-pox being regarded
as one of the heaviest guns in the arsenal of heaven, to
spike it was the height of presumption. Plagues and
pestilences were instrumentalities in the hands of God with
which to gain the love and worship of mankind. To find
a cure for a disease was to take a weapon from the Church.
No one tries to cure the ague with prayer. Quinine has
been found altogether more reliable. Just as soon as a
specific is found for a disease, that disease will be left out
of the list of prayer. The number of diseases with which
God from time to time afflicts mankind is continually decreas
ing. In a few years all of them will be under the control of
man, the gods will be left unarmed, and the threats of their
priests will excite only a smile.
The science of medicine has had but one enemy—religion.
Man was afraid to save his body for fear he might lose his
soul.
Is it any wonder that the people in those days believed in
and taught the infamous doctrine of eternal punishment—a
doctrine that makes God a heartless monster and man a slimy
hypocrite and slave ?
The ghosts were historians, and their histories were the
grossest absurdities. “ Tales told by idiots, full of sound and
fury, signifying nothing.” In those days the histories were
written by the monks, who, as a rule, were almost as super
stitious as they were dishonest. They wrote as though they
had been witnesses of every occurrence they related. They
wrote the history of every country of importance. They told
all the past and predicted all the future with an impudence
that amounted to sublimity. “ They traced the order of St.
Michael, in Prance, to the archangel himself, and alleged that
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he was the founder of a chivalric order in heaven itself. They
said that Tartars originally came from hell, and that they
were called Tartars because Tartarus was one of the names of
perdition. They declared that Scotland was so named after
Scota, a daughter of Pharaoh, who landed in Ireland, invaded
Scotland, and took it by force of arms. This statement was
made in a letter addressed to the Pope in the fourteenth
century, and was alluded to as a well-known fact. The letter
was written by some of the highest dignitaries, and by direc
tion of the King himself.”
These gentlemen accounted for the red on the breasts of
robins from the fact that these birds carried water to unbap
tised infants in hell.
Matthew, of Paris, an eminent historian of the fourteenth
century, gave the world the following piece of information :
“ It is well known that Mohammed was once a cardinal, and
became a heretic because he failed in his effort to be elected
Popeand that, having drank to excess, he fell by the road
side, and in this condition was killed by swine. “ And for
that reason his followers abhor pork even unto this day.”
Another eminent historian informs us that Nero was in the
habit of vomiting frogs. When I read this I said to myself:
Some of the croakers of the present day against Progress
would be the better for such a vomit.
The history of Charlemagne was written by Turpin, of
Rheims. He was a bishop. He assures us that the walls of
a city fell down in answer to prayer. That there were giants
in those days who could take fifty ordinary men under their
arms and walk away with them. “ With the greatest of these,
a direct descendant of Goliath, one Orlando had a theological
discussion, and that in the heat of the debate, when the giant
was overwhelmed with the argument, Orlando rushed forward
and inflicted a fatal stab.”
The history of Britain, written by the archdeacons of
Monmouth and Oxford, was wonderfully popular. According
to them, Brutus conquered England and built the city of
London. During his time it rained pure blood for three days.
At another time a monster came from the sea, and, after
having devoured great multitudes of people, swallowed the
king and disappeared. They tell us that King Arthur was
not born like other mortals, but was the result of a magical
contrivance; that he had great luck in killing giants; that
he killed one in France that had the cheerful habit of eating
some thirty men a.day. That this giant had clothes woven
of the beards of kings he had devoured. To cap the climax,
one of the authors of this book was promoted for having
w ri tten the only reli able history of his country.
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In all the histories of those days there is hardly a single
truth. Facts were considered unworthy of preservation.
Anything that really happened was not of sufficient interest
or importance to be recorded. The great religious historian,
Eusebius, ingeniously remarks that in his history he carefully
omitted whatever tended to discredit the Church, and that
he piously magnified all that conduced to her glory.
The same glorious principle was scrupulously adhered to by
all the historians of that time.
They wrote, and the people believed, that the tracts of
Pharaoh’s chariots were still visible on the sands of the Red
Sea, and that they had been miraculously preserved from the
winds and waves as perpetual witnesses of the great miracle
there performed.
It is safe to say that every truth in the histories of those
times is the result of accident or mistake.
They accounted for everything as the work of good and
evil spirits. With cause and effect they had nothing to do.
Facts were in no way related to each other. God governed
by infinite caprice, filled the world with miracles and discon
nected events. From the quiver of his hatred came the
arrows of famine, pestilence and death..
The moment that the idea is abandoned that all is
natural; that all phenomena are the necessary links in
the endless chain of being, the conception of history
becomes impossible. With the ghosts the present is not
the child of the past, nor the mother of the future. In the
domain of religion all is chance, accident and caprice.
Do not forget, I pray you, that our creeds were written by
the co-temporaries of these historians.
The same idea was applied to law. It was believed by our
intelligent ancestors that all law derived its sacredness and
its binding force from the fact that it had been communi
cated to man by the ghosts. Of course it was not pretended
that the ghosts told everybody the law ; but they told it to
a few, and the few told it to the people, and the people, as a
rule, paid them exceedingly well for their trouble. It was
thousands of ages before the people commenced making
laws for themselves, and strange as it may appear, most of
these laws were vastly superioi’ to the ghost article. Through
the web and woof of human legislation began to run and
shine and glitter the golden thread of justice.
During these years of darkness it was believed that rather
than see an act of injustice done ; rather than see the
innocent suffer ; rather than see the guilty triumph, some
ghost would interfere. This belief, as a rule, gave great
�( 17 )
Satisfaction to the victoi’ious party, and as the other man was
dead, no complaint was heard from him.
This doctrine was the sanctification of brute force and
chance. They had trials by battle, by fire, by water, and by
lot. Persons were made to grasp hot iron, and if it burnt
them their guilt was established. Others, with tied hands
and feet, were cast into the sea, and if they sank, the verdict
of guilty was unanimous—if they did not sink, they were in
league with devils.
So in England, persons charged with erime could appeal
to the corsned. The corsned was a piece of the sacramental
bread. If the defendant could swallow this piece he went
acquit. Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the time of Edward the
Confessor, appealed to the corsned. He failed to swallow
it and was choked to death.
The ghosts and their followers always took delight in
torture, in cruel and unusual punishments. For the infrac
tion of most of their laws, death was the penalty—death
produced by stoning and by fire. Sometimes, when man
committed only murder, he was allowed to flee to some
city of refuge. Murder was a crime against man. But for
saying certain words, or denying certain doctrines,_ or for
picking up sticks on certain days, or for worshipping the
wrong ghost, or for failing to pray to the right one, or for
laughing at a priest, or for saying that wine was not blood,
or that bread was not flesh, or for failing to regard ram’s
horns as artillery, or for insisting that a dry bone was
scarcely sufficient to take the place of water works, or that
a raven, as a ru e, made a poor landlord ¡—Death, produced
by all the ways that the ingenuity of hatred could devise,
was the penalty.
Law is a growth—it is a science. Right and wrong exist
in the nature of things. Things are not right because they
are commanded, nor wrong because they are prohibitedThere are real crimes enough without creating artificial
ones. All progress in legislation has for centuries consisted
in repealing the laws of the ghosts.
The idea of right and wrong is born of man’s capacity to
enjoy and suffer. If man could not suffer, if he could not
inflict injury upon his fellow, if he could neither feel nor
inflict pain, the idea of right and wrong never would have
entered his brain. But for this, the word “ conscience ” never
would have passed the lips of man.
There is one good—happiness. There is but one sin—
selfishness. All law should be for the preservation of the
one and the destruction of the other.
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Under the regime of the.ghosts, laws were not supposed toexist m the nature of things. They were supposed to be
simply the irresponsible command of a ghost. These commands were not supposed to rest upon reason, they were the
product of arbitrary will.
The penalties for the violation of these laws were as cruel
a0 the laws were senseless and absurd. Working on the
Sabbath and murder were both punished with death. The
tendency of . such laws is to blot from the human heart the
sense of justice.
To show you how perfectly every department of know
ledge, or ignorance rather, was saturated with superstition, I
will for a moment refer to the science of language.
It. was thought by our fathers, that Hebrew was the
°^jnal lan"ua#e 5 that it was taught to Adam in the Garden
of Eden by the Almighty, and that consequently all languages
came from, and can be traced to, the Hebrew. Every fact
inconsistent with that idea was discarded. According to the
ghosts, the trouble of the Tower of Babel accounted for the
fact, that all people did. not. speak Hebrew. The Babel
business settled all questions in the science of language.
After a time, so many facts were found to be inconsistent
with the Hebrew idea that it began to fall into disrepute,
and other languages began to compete for the honor of beiii0the original.
°
Andre Kemp, in 1569, published a work on the language of
Paradise,111 which he maintained that God spoke to A d am in
Swedish; that Adam answered in Danish; and that the
serpent—which appears to me quite probable-spoke to Eve
in French. Erro, m a work published at Madrid, took the
Basque was the.language spoken in the Garden
of Eden.; but in 1580 Goropius published his celebrated work
at Antwerp, m which he put the whole matter at rest by
showing, beyond all doubt, that the language spoken in
Paradise was neither more nor less than plain Holland Dutch.
The real founder of the science of language was Leibnitz,
a cotemporary of Sir Isaac Newton. He discarded the idea
that all languages could be traced to one language. He
maintained that language was a natural growth. Experience
teaches us that this must be so. Words are continually dying
out and continually being born. Words are naturally and
necessarily produced. Words are the garments of thought,
the robes of ideas. Some are as rude as the skins of wild
beasts, and others glisten and glitter like silk and gold They
have been born of hatred and revenge; of love and self
sacrifice ; of hope and fear, of agony and joy. These words
are born of the terror and beauty of nature. The stars have
�(ly)
fashioned them. In them mingle the darkness and the dawn.
From everything they have taken something. Words are the
crystalisations of human history, of all that man has enjoyed
and suffered—his victories and defeats—all that he has lost
and won. Words are the shadows of all that has been—the
mirrors of all that is.
The ghosts also enlightened our fathers in astronomy and
geology. According to them the earth was made out of
nothing, and a little more nothing having been taken than
was used in the construction of this world, the stars were
made out of what was left over. Cosmos, in the sixth century,
taught that the stars were impelled by angels, who either
carried them on their shoulders, rolled them in front of them,
or drew them after. He also taught that each angel that
pushed a star took great pains to observe what the other
angels were doing, so that the relative distances between the
stars might always remain the same. He also gave his idea
as to the form of the world.
He stated that the world was a vast parallelogram; that on
the outside was a strip of land, like the frame of a common
slate; that then there was a strip of water, and in the middle
a great piece of land; that Adam and Eve lived on the outer
strip; that their descendants, with the exception of the Noah
family, were drowned by a flood on this outer strip; that the
ark finally rested on the middle piece of land where we now
are. He accounted for night and day by saying that on the
outside strip of land there was a high mountain, around which
the sun and moon revolved, and that when the sun was on the
other side of the mountain it was night; and when on this
side it was day.
He also declared that the earth was flat. This he proved
by many passages from the Bible. Among other reasons for
believing the earth to be flat he brought forward the follow
ing : We are told in the New Testament that Christ shall
come again in glory and power, and all the world shall see
him. Now, if the world is round, how are the people on the
other side going to see Christ when he comes ? That settled
the question, and the Church, not only endorsed the book,
but declared that whoever believed less or more than stated
¡by Cosmos, was a heretic.
In those blessed days, Ignorance was a king and Science an
outcast.
They knew the moment this earth ceased to be the centre
of the universe, and became a mere speck in the starry heaven
of existence, that their religion would become a childish fable
of the past.
�( 20 )
In the name and by the authority of the ghosts, men
enslaved their fellow men; they trampled upon the rights of
women and children. In the name and by the authority of
the ghosts, they bought and sold and destroyed each other;
they filled heaven with tyrants and earth with slaves, the
present with despair and the future with horror. In the name
and by the authority of the ghosts, they imprisoned the
human mind, polluted the conscience, hardened the heart,
subverted justice, crowned robbery, sainted hypocrisy, and
extinguished for a thousand years the torch of reason.
I have endeavored, in some faint degree, to show you what
has happened, and what will always happen when men are
governed by superstition and fear; when they desert the
sublime standard of reason; when they take the words of
others and do not investigate for themselves.
Even the great men of those days were nearly as weak in
this matter as the most ignorant. Kepler, one of the greatest
men of the world, an astronomer second to none, although
he plucked from the stars the secrets of the universe, was an
astrologer, and really believed that he could predict the
career of a man by finding what star was in the ascendant
at his birth. This great man breathed, so to speak, the
atmosphere of his time. He believed in the music of the
spheres, and assigned alto, bass, tenor, and treble to certain
stars.
Tycho Brahe, another astronomer, kept an idiot, whose
disconnected and meaningless words he carefully set down,
and then put them together in such mannei’ as to make
prophecies, and then waited patiently to see them fulfilled.
Luther believed that he had actually seen the Devil, and had
discussed points of theology with him. The human mind
was in chains. Every idea almost was a monster. Thought
was deformed. Eacts were looked upon as worthless. Only
the wonderful was worth preserving. Things that actually
happened were not considered worth recording—real occur
rences were too common. Everybody expected the miraculous.
The ghosts were supposed to be busy; devils were thought
to be the most industrious things in the universe, and with
these imps every occurrence of an unusual character was in
someway connected. There was no order, no serenity, no
certainty in anything. Everything depended upon ghosts
and phantoms. . Man was, for the most part, at the mercy of
malevolent spirits. He protected himself as best he could
with holy water, and tapers, and wafers, and cathedrals. He
made noises and rung bells to frighten the ghosts, and he
made music to charm them. He used smoke to choke them,
and incense to please them. He wore beads and crosses.
�( 21 )
He said prayers, and hired others to say them. He fasted
when he was hungry, and feasted when he was not. He
believed everything that seemed unreasonable, just to
appease the ghosts. He humbled himself. He crawled in
the dust. He shut the doors and windows, and excluded
every ray of light from the temple of the soul. He debauched
and polluted his own mind, and toiled night and day to
repair the walls of his own prison. From the garden of his
heart he plucked and trampled upon the holy flowers of pity.
The priests revelled in horrible descriptions of hell. Con
cerning the wrath of God, they grew eloquent. They
denounced man as totally depraved. They made reason
blasphemy, and pity a crime. Nothing so delighted them as
painting the torments and sufferings of the lost. Over the
worm that never dies they grew poetic; and the second
death filled them with a kind of holy delight. According
to them, the smoke and cries ascending from hell were the
perfume and music of heaven.
At the risk of being tiresome, I have said what I have to
show you the productions of the human mind, when enslaved;
the effects of widespread ignorance—the results of fear. I
want to convince you that every form of slavery is a viper,
that, sooner or later, will strike its poison fangs into the
bosoms of men.
The first great step towards progress is, for man to cease
to be the slave of man ; the second, to cease to be the slave
of the monsters of his own creation—of the ghosts and
phantoms of the air.
For ages the human race was imprisoned. Through the
bars and grates came a few struggling rays of light. Against
these grates and bars Science pressed its pale and thoughtful
face, wooed by the holy dawn of human advancement.
Men found that the real was the useful; that what a man
knows is better than what a ghost says; that an event is
more valuable than a prophesy. They found that diseases
were not produced by spirits, and could not be cured by
frightening them away. They found that death was as
natural as life. They began to study the anatomy and
chemistry of the human body, and found that all was natural
and within the domain of law.
The conjnror and sorcerer were discarded, and the phy
sician and surgeon employed. They found that the earth
was not flat; that the stars were not mere specks. They
found that being born undei’ a particular planet had nothing
to do with the fortunes of men.
The astrologer was discharged and the astronomer took
his place.
�( ¿2 )
# They found that the earth had swept through the constella
tions for millions of ages. They found that good and evil
were produced by natural causes, and not by ghosts; that
man could not be good enough or bad enough to stop or cause
a rain; that diseases were produced as naturally as grass,
and were not sent as punishments upon man for failing
to believe a certain creed. They found that man, through
intelligence, could take advantage of the forces of nature—
that he could make the waves, the winds, the flames, and the
lightnings of heaven do his bidding and minister to his
wants. They found that the ghosts knew nothing of benefit
to man; that they were utterly ignorant of geology—of
astronomy—of geography;—that they knew nothing of
history;—that they were poor doctors and worse surgeons ;
—that they knew nothing of law and less of justice;—that
they were without brains, and utterly destitute of hearts;—
that they knew nothing of the rights of men;—that they
were despisers of women, the haters of progress, the enemies
of science, and the destroyers of liberty.
The condition of the world during the Dark Ages shows
exactly the result of enslaving the bodies and souls of men.
In those days there was no freedom. Labor was despised,
and a laborer was considered but little above a beast.
Ignorance, like a vast cowl, covered the brain of the world,
and superstition ran riot with the imagination of man. The
air was filled with angels, with demons and monsters.
Credulity sat upon the throne of the soul, and Reason was
an exiled king. A man to be distinguished must be a
soldier or a monk. War and theology, that is to say, murder
and hypocrisy, were the principal employments of man.
Industry was a slave, theft was commerce; murder was war,
hypocrisy was religion.
Every Christian country maintained that it was no robbery
to take the property of Mohammedans by force, and no
murder to kill the owners. Lord Bacon was the first man
of note who maintained that a Christian country was bound
to keep its plighted faith with an infidel nation. Reading
and writing were considered dangerous arts. Every layman
who could read and write was suspected of being a heretic.
All thought was discouraged. They forged chains of super
stition for the mind, and manacles of iron for the bodies of
men. The earth was ruled by the cowl and sword, by the
mitre and sceptre, by the altar and throne, by Fear and Foroe,
by Ignorance and Faith, by ghouls and ghosts.
In the fifteenth century the following law was in force in
England:
�( 23 )
“ That whosoever reads the scriptures in the mother
tongue, shall forfeit land, cattle, life, and goods from their
heirs for ever, and so be condemned for heretics to God,
enemies to the Crown, and most arrant traitors to the land.”
During the first year this law was in force, thirty-nine
were hanged for its violation and their bodies burned.
In the sixteenth century men were burned because they
failed to kneel to a procession of monks.
The slightest word uttered against the superstition of the
time was punished with death.
Even the reformers, so-called, of those days, had no idea
of intellectual liberty—no idea even of toleration. Luther,
Knox, Calvin, believed in religious liberty only when they
were in the minority. The moment they were clothed with
power they began to exterminate with fire and sword.
Castellio was the first minister who advocated the liberty
of the soul. He was regarded by the reformers as a
criminal, and treated as though he had committed the crime
of crimes.
Bodinus, a lawyer of France, about the same time, wrote a
few words in favoi’ of the freedom of conscience, but
public opinion was overwhelmingly against him. The
people were ready, anxious, and willing, with whip, and
chain, and fire, to drive from the mind of man the heresy
that he had a right to think.
Montaigne, a man blest with so much common sense that
he was the most uncommon man of his time, was the first to
raise a voice against torture in France. But what was the
voice of one man against the terrible cry of ignorant,
infatuated, superstitious and malevolent millions? It was
the cry of a drowning man in the wild roar of the cruel sea.
In spite of the efforts of the brave few the infamous war
against the freedom of the soul was waged until at least one
pundred millions of human beings—fathers, mothers,
brothers, sisters—with hopes, loves, and aspirations like
ourselves, were sacrificed upon the cruel altar of an ignorant
faith. They perished in every way by which death can be
broduced. Every nerve of pain was sought out and touched
by the believers in ghosts.
For my part I glory in the fact, that here in the new
world—in the United States—liberty of conscience was first
guaranteed to man, and that the Constitution of the United
•States was the first great decree entered in the high court of
human equity for ever divorcing Church and State—the
first injunction granted against the interference of the
ghosts. This was one of the grandest steps ever taken by
ijhe human race in the direction of Progress.
�( 24 )
You will ask what has caused this wonderful change in
three hundred years. And I answer—the inventions and
discoveries of the few ; the brave thoughts, the heroic utter
ances of the few—the acquisition of a few facts.
Besides, you must remember that every wrong in some way
tends to abolish itself. It is hard to make a lie stand always.
A lie will not fit a fact. It will only fit another lie made for
the purpose. The life of a lie is simply a question of time.
Nothing but truth is immortal. The nobles and kings quar
relled: the priests began to dispute ; the ideas of government
began to change.
In 1441 printing was discovered. At that time the past
was a vast cemetery with hardly an epitaph. The ideas of
men had mostly perished in the brain that produced them.
The lips of the human race had been sealed. Printing gave
pinions to thought. It preserved ideas. It made it possible
for man to bequeath to the future the riches of his brain, the
wealth of his soul. At first, it was used to flood the world
with the mistakes of the ancients, but since that time it has
been flooding the world with light.
When people read they begin to reason, and when they
reason they progress. This was another grand step in the
direction of Progress.
The discovery of powder, that put the peasant almost upon
a par with the prince; that put an end to the so-called age of
chivalry; that released a vast number of men from the
armies; that gave pluck and nerve a chance with brute
strength.
The discovery of America, whose shores were trod by the
restless feet of adventure; that brought people holding every
shade of superstition together ; that gave the world an oppor
tunity to compare notes, and to laugh at the follies of each
other. Out of this strange mingling of all creeds, and super
stitions, and facts, and theories, and countless opinions, came
the Great Republic.
Every fact has pushed a superstition from the brain and a
ghost from the clouds. Every mechanic art is an educator.
Every loom, every reaper and mower, every steamboat, every
locomotive, every engine, every press, every telegraph, is a
missionary of Science and an apostle of Progress. Every
mill, every furnace, every building with its wheels and levers,
in which something is made for the convenience, for the use,
and for the comfort and elevation of man, is a church, and
every school house is a temple.
Education is the most radical thing in the world.
To teach the alphabet is to inaugurate a revolution.
To build a school house is to construct a fort.
�(25)
Every library is an arsenal filled with the weapons and
ammunition of Progress, and every fact is a monitor with
fades of iron and a turret of steel.
T
I thank the inventors,., the discoverers, the thinkers. 1
thank Columbus and Magellan. I thank Galileo, and Coper
nicus, and Kepler, and Des Cartes, and Newton, and La
Place. I thank Locke, and Hume, and Bacon, and pbake'
speare, and Kant, and Fichte, and Liebmtz, and Goethe. 1
thank Fulton, and Watts, and Volta, and Galvani, and
Franklin, and Morse, who made lightning the messenger of
man. I thank Humboldt, the Shakespeare of science. 1
thank Crompton and Arkwright, from whose brains leaped
the looms and spindles that clothe the world. I thank Luther
for protesting against the abuses of the Church, and I
denounce him because he was the enemy of liberty. 1 thank
Calvin for writing a book in favor of religious freedom, and 1
abhor him because he burned Servetus. I thank Knox for
resisting episcopal persecution, and I hate him because he
persecuted in his turn. I thank the Puritans for saying,
“ Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God, and yet 1 am
compelled to say that they were tyrants themselves. 1 thank
Thomas Paine because he was a believer m liberty, and because
he did as much to make my country free as any other human
being. I thank Voltaire, that great man who, for halt a
century, was the intellectual emperor of Europe, and who,
from his throne at the foot of the Alps, pointed the finger of
scorn at every hypocrite in Christendom. I thank Darwin,
Haeckel and Biichner, Spencer, Tyndall and Huxley, Draper,
Lecky and Buckle.
,, ....
I thank the inventors, the discoverers, the thinkers, the
scientists, the explorers. I thank the honest millions who
have toiled.
,
,,
_ ..
I thank the brave men with brave thoughts. They are the
Atlases upon whose broad and mighty shoulders rests the
grand fabric of civilisation. They are the men who have
broken, and are still breaking, the chains of Superstition.
They are the Titans who carried Olympus by assault, ana
who will soon stand victors upon Sinai’s crags.
We are beginning to learn that to exchange a mistake or
the truth—a superstition for a fact—to ascertain the real is
t0Happiness is the only possible good, and all that tends to
the happiness of man is right, and is of value. All that
tends to develop the bodies and minds of men; all that gives
us better houses, better clothes, better food, better pictures,
grander music, better heads, better hearts; all that renders
us more intellectual and more loving, nearer just; that
�( 26 )
makes us better husbands and wives, better children, better
citizens—all these things combined produce what I call
Progress.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Man advances only as he overcomes the obstructions of
Nature, and this can be done only by labor and by thought.
Labor is the foundation of all. Without labor, and without
great labor, progress is impossible. The progress of the
world depends upon the men who talk in the fresh furrows
and through the rustling corn; upon those who sow and
reap; upon those whose faces are radiant with the glare of
furnace fires; upon the delvers in the mines, and the workers
in shops; upon those who give to the winter air the ringing
music of the axe; upon those who battle with the boisterous
billows of the sea; upon the inventors and discoverers; upon
the brave thinkers.
. From the surplus produced by labor, schools and univer
sities are built and fostered. From this surplus the painter
is paid for the productions of the pencil; the sculptor for
chiselling shapeless rock into forms divinely beautiful, and
the poet for singing the hopes, the loves, the memories, and
the aspirations of the world. This surplus has given us the
books in which we converse with the dead and living kings
of the human race. It has given us all there is of beauty, of
elegance, and of refined happiness.
I am aware that there is a vast difference of opinion as to
what progress really is; that many denounce the ideas of
to-day as destructive of all happiness—of all good. I know
that there are many worshippers of the past. They venerate
the ancient because it is ancient. They Bee no beauty in
anything from which they do not blow the dust of ages with
the breath of praise. They say, no masters like the old; no
religion, no governments like the ancient; no orators, no
poets, no statesmen like those who have been dust for two
thousand years. Others love the modern simply because it
is modern.
We should have gratitude enough to acknowledge the
obligations we are under to the great and heroic of antiquity,
and independence enough not to believe what they said
simply because they said it.
With the idea that labor is the basis of progress goes the
truth that labor must be free. The laborer must be a free man.
The free man, working for wife and child, gets his head
and hands in partnership.
To do the greatest amount of work in the shortest space of
time, is the problem of free labor.
Slavery does the least work in the longest space of time.
�( 27 )
Free labor will give us wealth. Free thought will give us
truth.
Slowly, but surely, man is freeing his imagination of these
sexless phantoms, of the cruel ghosts. Slowly, but surely,
he is rising above the superstitions of the past. He is
learning to rely upon himself. He is beginning to find that
labor is the only prayer that ought to be answered, and that
hoping, toiling, aspiring, suffering men and women are of
more importance than all the ghosts that ever wandered
through the fenceless fields of space.
The believers in ghosts claim still, that they are the only
wise and virtuous people upon the earth; claim still, that
there is a difference between them and unbelievers so vast,
that they will be infinitely rewarded, and the others infinitely
punished.
I ask you to-night, do the theories and doctrines of the
theologians satisfy the heart or brain of the nineteenth
century p
Have the churches the confidence of mankind ?
Does the merchant give credit to a man because he belongs
to a church ?
Does the banker loan money to a man because he is a
Methodist or Baptist P
Will a certificate of good standing in any church be taken
as collateral security for one dollar ?
Will you take the word of a church member, or his note, or
his oath, simply because he is a church member.
Are the clergy, as a class, better, kinder and more generous
to their families—to their fellow-mem—than doctors, lawyers,
merchants and farmers P
Does a belief in ghosts and unreasonable things necessarily
•make people honest ?
When a man loses confidence in Moses, must the people
lose confidence in him ?
Does not the credit system in morals breed extravagance
in sin ?
Why send missionaries to other lands while every peni
tentiary in ours iB filled with criminals ?
Is it philosophical to say that they who do right carry a
-cross ?
Is it a source of joy to think that perdition is the destinaon of nearly all of the children of men ?
Is it worth while to quarrel about original sin—when there
is so much copy ?
Does it pay to dispute about baptism, and the Trinity, and
predestination, and apostolic succession, and the infallibility
�( 28 )
of churches, of popes, and of books ? Does all this do anv
good ?
J
Are the theologians welcomers of new truths ? Are they
noted for their candor? Do they treat an opponent with
common fairness? Are they investigators? Do they pull
forward or do they hold back ?
Is science indebted to the Church for a solitary fact ?
What Church is an asylum for a persecuted truth ?
What great reform has been inaugurated by the Church ?
Did the Church abolish slavery ?
Has the Church raised its voice against war ?
. I used to think that there was in religion no real restrain
ing force. Upon this point my mind has changed. Religion
will prevent man from committing artificial crimes and
offences.
A man committed murder. The evidence was so conclusivethat he confessed his guilt.
He was asked why he killed his fellow man.
He replied: “Formoney.”
“Did you get any?”
“Yes.”
“ How much ?”
“ Fifteen cents.”
<< What did you do with this money ?”
li
Spent it.”
“ What for ?”
“ Liquor.”
“ What else did you find upon the dead man ?”
“ He had his dinner in a bucket—some meat and bread.”
“ What did you do with that ?”
“ I ate the bread.”
“ What did you do with the meat ?”
“ I threw it away.”
“ Why ?”
“ It was Friday.”
Just to the extent that man has freed himself from thehe has advanced. Just to the extent
that he has freed himself from the tyrants of his own creation
he has progressed. Just to the extent that he has investi. £or himself he has lost confidence in superstition.
With knowledge obedience becomes intelligent acquiescence.
It is no longer degrading. Acquiescence in the understood
in the known is the act of a sovereign, not of a slave. It
ennobles, it does not degrade.
Man has found that he must give liberty to others in order"
to have it himself. He has found that a master is also a
slave; that a tyrant is himself a serf. He has found that-
�( 29 )
■governments should be founded and administered by man
■and for man; that the rights of all are equal; that the
powers that be are not ordained by God ; that woman is at
least the equal of man; that men existed before books; that
relig'on is one of the phases of thought through which the
world is passing; that all creeds were made by man; that
everything is natural; that a miracle is an impos-ibility;
that we know nothing of origin and destiny; that concerning
the unknown we are equally ignorant; that the pew has a
right to contradict what the pulpit asserts; that man is
responsible only to himself and those he injures, and that all
have a right to think.
True religion must be free. Without perfect liberty of
the mind there can be no true religion, Without liberty the
brain is a dungeon—the mind a convict. The slave may
bow and cringe and crawl, but he cannot adore—he cannot
love.
True religion is the perfume of a free and grateful heart.
True religion is a subordination of the passions to the per
ceptions of the intellect. True religion is not a theory—it
is a practice. It is rot a creed—it is a life.
A theory that is afraid of investigation is undeserving a
place in the human mind.
I do not pretend to tell what all the truth is. I do not
pretend- to have fathomed the abyss, nor to have floated on
outstretched wings level with the dim heights of thought.
I simply plead for freedom. I denounce the cruelties and
horrors of slavery. I ask for light and air for the souls of
men. I say, take off those chains—break those manacles—
free those limbs—release that brain ! I plead for the right to
think—-to reason—to investigate. I ask that the future may
be enriched with the honest thoughts of men. I implore every
human being to be a soldier in the army of progress.
I will not invade the rights of others. You have no right
to erect your toll-gate upon the highways of thought. You
have no right to leap from the hedges of superstition and
strike down the pioneers of the human race. You have no
right to sacrifice the liberties of man upon the altars of
ghosts Believe what you may; preach what you desire;
have all the forms and ceremonies you please; exercise your
liberty in your own way; but extend to all others the same
right.
I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they
accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous,
if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one
$nd all, because they enslave the minds of men.
�( 30 )
I attack the monsters, the phantoms of imagination thathave ruled the world. I attack slavery. I ask for room
room for the human mind.
Why should we sacrifice a real world that we have for one
we know not of? Why should we enslave ourselves? Why
should we forge fetters for our own hands ? Why should we
be the slaves of phantoms ? The darkness of barbarism was
the womb of the shadows. In the light of science they'
cannot cloud the sky for ever. They have reddened thehands of man with innocent blood. They made the cradle a
curse, and the grave a place of torment.
They blinded the eyes and stopped the ears of the human
race. They subverted all ideas of justice by promising infinite
rewards for. finite virtues, and threatening infinite punish—i
ment for finite offences.
They filled the future with heavens and with hells, with
the shining peaks of selfish joy and the lurid abysses of flame.
For ages they kept the world in ignorance and awe, in want
and misery, in fear and chains.
I plead for light, for air, for opportunity. I plead for
individual independence. I plead for the rights of labor and
of thought. I plead for a chainless future. Let the ghostsgo—justice remains. Let them disappear—men and women
and children are left. Let the monsters fade away—the
world is here with its hills and seas and plains, with its
seasons of smiles and frowns, its spring of leaf and bud, its
summer of shade and flower and murmuring stream ; its
autumn with laden boughs, when the withered banners of
the corn are still, and gathered fields are growing strangely
wan; while death, poetic death, with hands that color what
they touch, weaves in the autumn wood her tapestries of
gold and brown.
The world remains with its winters and homes and firesides,
where grow and bloom the virtues of our race. All these
are left; and music, with its sad and thrilling voice, and all
there is of art and song and hopo and love and aspiration
high. All these remain. Let the ghosts go—we will worship
them no more.
Manis greater than these phantoms. Humanity is grander
than all the creeds, than all the books. Humanity is the
great sea, and these creeds, and books, and religions, are but
the waves of a day. Humanity is the sky, and these religions
and dogmas and theories are but the mists and clouds
changing continually, destined finally to melt away.
That which is founded upon slavery, and fear, and igno
rance, cannot endure. In the religion of the future there
�( 31 )
will be men and women and children, all the aspirations of
the soul, and all the tender1 humanities of the heart.
Let the ghosts go. We will worship them no more. Let
them cover their eyeless sockets with their fleshless hands,
and fade for ever from the imaginations of men.
�WORKS BY COL. R. G. INGERSOLL.
MISTAKES OF MOSES
...
...
...
Superior edition, in cloth ...
..
...
DEFENCE OF FREETHOUGHT
Five Hours’ Speech at the Trial of C. B.
Reynolds for Blasphemy. ...
...
. .
REPLY TO GLADSTONE
With a Biography by
J. M. Wheeler ...
...
...
...
ROME OR REASON ? Reply to Cardinal Manning
CRIMES AGAINST CRIMINALS
...
...
AN ORATION ON WALT WHITMAN...
...
ORATION ON VOLTAIRE ...
...
...
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
...
...
...
PAINE THE PIONEER
...
...
...
HUMANITY’S DEBT TO THOMAS PAINE
...
ERNEs 1' RENAN AND JESUS CHRIST
..
THE THREE PHILANTHROPISTS
...
...
TRUE RELIGION
...
...
...
...
FAITH AND FACT. Reply to Rev. Dr. Field
...
GOD AND MAN.Second Reply to Dr. Field
...
SKULLS ...
...
...
...
...
THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH
...
...
LOVE THE REDEEMER. Reply to Count Tolstoi
THE LIMITS OF TOLERATION
A Discussion with Hon. F. D. Coudert ...
THE DYING CREED
...
...
...
DO I BLASPHEME ?
...
...
...
THE CLERGY AND COMMON SENSE
...
SOCIAL SALVATION
...
...
...
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ...
...
...
GOD AND THE STATE
...
...
...
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ?
...
...
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ? Part II.
...
ART AND MORALITY
...
...
...
CREEDS AND SPIRITUALITY
...
...
CHRIST AND MIRACLES
...
...
...
THE GREAT MISTAKE
...
...
...
LIVE TOPICS
...
.
...
REAL BLASPHEMY
...
...
...
REPAIRING THE IDOLS
...
...
...
MYTH AND MIRACtE
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�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The ghosts
Creator
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 31 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: "Works by Col. R.G. Ingersoll" listed on back cover. No. 26f in Stein checklist. Printed by G.W. Foote. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
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R. Forder
Date
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1893
Identifier
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N350
Subject
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Spiritualism
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The ghosts), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Ghosts
NSS
Supernatural