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diff --git a/42318-0.txt b/42318-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55dc46e --- /dev/null +++ b/42318-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5665 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42318 *** + + THE + + SALEM WITCHCRAFT, + + The Planchette Mystery, + + AND + + MODERN SPIRITUALISM, + + WITH + + DR. DODDRIDGE'S DREAM. + + + + + HISTORY + OF + SALEM WITCHCRAFT: + + A REVIEW + OF + CHARLES W. UPHAM'S GREAT WORK. + + FROM THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW." + + With Notes, + + BY THE EDITOR OF "THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL." + + NEW YORK: + FOWLER & WELLS CO., PUBLISHERS, + 753 BROADWAY. + 1886. + + + + +BIGOTRY. Obstinate or blind attachment to a particular creed; +unreasonable zeal or warmth in favor of a party, sect, or opinion; +excessive prejudice. The practice or tenet of a bigot. + + +PREJUDICE. An opinion or decision of mind, formed without due +examination of the facts or arguments which are necessary to a just and +impartial determination. A previous bent or inclination of mind for or +against any person or thing. Injury or wrong of any kind; as to act to +the _prejudice_ of another. + + +SUPERSTITION. Excessive exactness or rigor in religious opinions or +practice; excess or extravagance in religion; the doing of things not +required by God, or abstaining from things not forbidden; or the +belief of what is absurd, or belief without evidence. False religion; +false worship. Rite or practice proceeding from excess of scruples in +religion. Excessive nicety; scrupulous exactness. Belief in the direct +agency of superior powers in certain extraordinary or singular events, +or in omens and prognostics.--_Webster._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The object in reprinting this most interesting review is simply to show +the progress made in moral, intellectual, and physical science. The +reader will go back with us to a time--not very remote--when nothing was +known of Phrenology and Psychology; when men and women were persecuted, +and even put to death, through the baldest ignorance and the most +pitiable superstition. If we were to go back still farther, to the Holy +Wars, we should find cities and nations drenched in human blood through +religious bigotry and intolerance. Let us thank God that our lot is +cast in a more fortunate age, when the light of revelation, rightly +interpreted by the aid of SCIENCE, points to the Source of all +knowledge, all truth, all light. + +When we know more of Anatomy, Physiology, Physiognomy, and the Natural +Sciences generally, there will be a spirit of broader liberality, +religious tolerance, and individual freedom. Then all men will hold +themselves accountable to God, rather than to popes, priests, or +parsons. Our progenitors lived in a time that tried men's souls, as +the following lucid review most painfully shows. + + S. R. W. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + The Place 7 + The Salemite of Forty Years Ago 8 + How the Subject was opened 9 + Careful Historiography 10 + The Actors in the Tragedy 12 + Philosophy of the Delusion 12 + Character of the Early Settlement 13 + First Causes 15 + Death of the Patriarch 16 + Growth of Witchcraft 17 + Trouble in the Church 18 + Rev. Mr. Burroughs 19 + Deodat Lawson 20 + Parris--a Malignant 20 + A Protean Devil 21 + State of Physiology 22 + William Penn as a Precedent 22 + Phenomena of Witchcraft 23 + Parris and his Circle 25 + The Inquisitions--Sarah Good 26 + A Child Witch 27 + The Towne Sisters 28 + Depositions of Parris and his Tools 31 + Goody Nurse's Excommunication 35 + Mary Easty 36 + Mrs. Cloyse 38 + The Proctor Family 40 + The Jacobs Family 41 + Giles and Martha Corey 42 + Decline of the Delusion 44 + The Physio-Psychological Causes of the Trouble 45 + The Last of Parris 47 + "One of the Afflicted"--Her Confession 49 + The Transition 50 + The Fetish Theory Then and Now 51 + The Views of Modern Investigators 53 + Importance of the Subject 55 + + +CONTENTS OF THE PLANCHETTE MYSTERY. + + PAGE. + What Planchette is and does (with review of Facts and + Phenomena) 63 + The Press on Planchette (with further details of Phenomena) 67 + Theory First--That the Board is moved by the hands that rest 70 + upon it + Theory Second--"It is Electricity or Magnetism" 71 + Proof that Electricity has nothing to do with it 78 + Theory Third--The Devil Theory 79 + Theory of a Floating Ambient Mentality 81 + "_To Daimonion_"--The Demon 83 + "It is some principle of nature as yet unknown" 85 + Theory of the Agency of Departed Spirits 85 + PLANCHETTE'S OWN THEORY 89 + The Rational Difficulty 92 + The Medium--The Doctrine of Spheres 93 + The Moral and Religious Difficulty 98 + What this Modern Development is, and what is to come of it 102 + Conclusion 105 + How to work Planchette 106 + + +SPIRITUALISM. + + History of Spiritualism 107 + Scriptural Views 110 + Communion of Saints 112 + + +DR. DODDRIDGE'S DREAM. + + Pages 123-125. + + + + +SALEM WITCHCRAFT. + + +THE PLACE. + +The name of the village of Salem is as familiar to Americans as that of +any provincial town in England or France is to Englishmen and Frenchmen; +yet, when uttered in the hearing of Europeans, it carries us back two or +three centuries, and suggests an image, however faint and transient, of +the life of the Pilgrim Fathers, who gave that sacred name to the place +of their chosen habitation. If we were on the spot to-day, we should see +a modern American seaport, with an interest of its own, but by no means +a romantic one. At present Salem is suffering its share of the adversity +which has fallen upon the shipping trade, while it is still mourning the +loss of some of its noblest citizens in the late civil war. No community +in the Republic paid its tribute of patriotic sacrifice more generously; +and there were doubtless occasions when its citizens remembered the +early days of glory, when their fathers helped to chase the retreating +British, on the first shedding of blood in the war of Independence. But +now they have enough to think of under the pressure of the hour. Their +trade is paralyzed under the operation of the tariff; their shipping is +rotting in port, except so much of it as is sold to foreigners; there +is much poverty in low places and dread of further commercial adversity +among the chief citizens, but there is the same vigorous pursuit of +intellectual interests and pleasures, throughout the society of the +place, that there always is wherever any number of New Englanders +have made their homes beside the church, the library, and the school. +Whatever other changes may occur from one age or period to another, +the features of natural scenery are, for the most part, unalterable. +Massachusetts Bay is as it was when the Pilgrims cast their first look +over it: its blue waters--as blue as the seas of Greece--rippling up +upon the sheeted snow of the sands in winter, or beating against rocks +glittering in ice; in autumn the pearly waves flowing in under the +thickets of gaudy foliage; and on summer evening the green surface +surrounding the amethyst islands, where white foam spouts out of the +caves and crevices. On land, there are still the craggy hills, and the +jutting promontories of granite, where the barberry grows as the bramble +does with us, and room is found for the farmstead between the crags, and +for the apple-trees and little slopes of grass, and patches of tillage, +where all else looks barren. The boats are out, or ranged on shore, +according to the weather, just as they were from the beginning, only in +larger numbers; and far away on either hand the coasts and islands, +the rocks and hills and rural dwellings, are as of old, save for the +shrinking of the forest, and the growth of the cities and villages, +whose spires and school-houses are visible here and there. + + +THE SALEMITE OF FORTY YEARS AGO. + +Yet there are changes, marked and memorable, both in Salem and its +neighborhood, since the date of thirty-seven years ago. There was then +an exclusiveness about the place as evident to strangers, and as dear to +natives, as the rivalship between Philadelphia and Baltimore, while far +more interesting and honorable in its character. In Salem society there +was a singular combination of the precision and scrupulousness of +Puritan manners and habits of thought with the pride of a cultivated +and traveled community, boasting acquaintance with people of all known +faiths, and familiarity with all known ways of living and thinking, +while adhering to the customs, and even the prejudices, of their +fathers. While relating theological conversations held with liberal +Buddhists or lax Mohammedans, your host would whip his horse, to get +home at full speed by sunset on a Saturday, that the groom's Sabbath +might not be encroached on for five minutes. The houses were hung with +odd Chinese copies of English engravings, and furnished with a variety +of pretty and useful articles from China, never seen elsewhere, because +none but American traders had then achieved any commerce with that +country but in tea, nankeen, and silk. The Salem Museum was the glory +of the town, and even of the State. Each speculative merchant who went +forth, with or without a cargo (and the trade in ice was then only +beginning), in his own ship, with his wife and her babes, was determined +to bring home some offering to the Museum, if he should accomplish a +membership of that institution by doubling either Cape Horn or the Cape +of Good Hope. He picked up an old cargo somewhere and trafficked with +it for another; and so he went on--if not rounding the world, seeing +no small part of it, and making acquaintance with a dozen eccentric +potentates and barbaric chiefs, and sovereigns with widely celebrated +names; and, whether the adventurer came home rich or poor, he was sure +to have gained much knowledge, and to have become very entertaining +in discourse. The houses of the principal merchants were pleasant +abodes--each standing alone beside the street, which was an avenue +thick-strewn with leaves in autumn and well shaded in summer. Not far +away were the woods, where lumbering went on, for the export of timber +to Charleston and New Orleans, and for the furniture manufacture, which +was the main industry of the less fertile districts of Massachusetts in +those days. Here and there was a little lake--a "pond"--under the shadow +of the woods, yielding water-lilies in summer, and ice for exportation +in winter--as soon as that happy idea had occurred to some fortunate +speculator. On some knoll there was sure to be a school-house. Amid +these and many other pleasant objects, and in the very center of the +stranger's observations, there was one spectacle that had no beauty in +it--just as in the happy course of the life of the Salem community there +is one fearful period. That dreary object is the Witches' Hill at Salem; +and that fearful chapter of history is the tragedy of the Witch +Delusion. + + +HOW THE SUBJECT WAS OPENED. + +Our reason for selecting the date of thirty-seven years ago for our +glance at the Salem of the last generation is, that at that time a +clergyman resident there fixed the attention of the inhabitants on the +history of their forefathers by delivering lectures on Witchcraft. This +gentleman was then a young man, of cultivated mind and intellectual +tastes, a popular preacher, and esteemed and beloved in private life. In +delivering those lectures he had no more idea than his audience that he +was entering upon the great work and grand intellectual interest of +his life. When he concluded the course, he was unconscious of having +offered more than the entertainment of a day; yet the engrossing +occupation of seven-and-thirty years for himself, and no little +employment and interest for others, have grown out of that early effort. +He was requested to print the lectures, and did so. They went through +more than one edition; and every time he reverted to the subject, +with some fresh knowledge gathered from new sources, he perceived +more distinctly how inadequate, and even mistaken, had been his early +conceptions of the character of the transactions which constituted +the Witch Tragedy. At length he refused to reissue the volume. "I was +unwilling," he says in the preface of the book before us, "to issue +again what I had discovered to be an insufficient presentation of the +subject." Meantime, he was penetrating into mines of materials for +history, furnished by the peculiar forms of administration instituted by +the early rulers of the province. It was an ordinance of the General +Court of Massachusetts, for instance, that testimony should in all cases +be taken in the shape of depositions, to be preserved "in perpetual +remembrance." In all trials, the evidence of witnesses was taken in +writing beforehand, the witnesses being present (except in certain +cases) to meet any examination in regard to their recorded testimony. +These depositions were carefully preserved, in complete order: and +thus we may now know as much about the landed property, the wills, the +contracts, the assaults and defamation, the thievery and cheating, and +even the personal morals and social demeanor of the citizens of Salem +of two centuries and a half ago as we could have done if they had +had law-reporters in their courts, and had filed those reports, and +preserved the police departments of newspapers like those of the present +day. The documents relating to the witchcraft proceedings have been +for the most part laid up among the State archives; but a considerable +number of them have been dispersed--no doubt from their connection with +family history, and under impulses of shame and remorse. Of these, some +are safely lodged in literary institutions, and others are in private +hands, though too many have been lost. + + +CAREFUL HISTORIOGRAPHY. + +In a long course of years, Mr. Upham, and after him his sons, have +searched out all documents they could hear of. When they had reason to +believe that any transcription of papers was inaccurate--that gaps had +been conjecturally filled up, that dates had been mistaken, or that +papers had been transposed, they never rested till they had got hold of +the originals, thinking the bad spelling, the rude grammar, and strange +dialect of the least cultivated country people less objectionable than +the unauthorized amendments of transcribers. Mr. Upham says he has +resorted to the originals throughout. Then there were the parish books +and church records, to which was committed in early days very much +in the life of individuals which would now be considered a matter of +private concern, and scarcely fit for comment by next-door neighbors. +The primitive local maps and the coast-survey chart, with the markings +of original grants to settlers, and of bridges, mills, meeting-houses, +private dwellings, forest roads, and farm boundaries, have been +preserved. Between these and deeds of conveyance it has been possible to +construct a map of the district, which not only restores the external +scene to the mind's eye, but casts a strong and fearful light--as we +shall see presently--on the origin and course of the troubles of 1692. +Mr. Upham and his sons have minutely examined the territory--tracing the +old stone walls and the streams, fixing the gates, measuring distances, +even verifying points of view, till the surrounding scenery has become +as complete as could be desired. Between the church books and the parish +and court records, the character, repute, ways, and manners of every +conspicuous resident can be ascertained; and it may be said that nothing +out of the common way happened to any man, woman, or child within the +district which could remain unknown at this day, if any one wished to +make it out. Mr. Upham has wished to make out the real story of the +Witch Tragedy; and he has done it in such a way that his readers will +doubtless agree that no more accurate piece of history has ever been +written than the annals of this New England township. + +For such a work, however, something more is required than the most +minute delineation of the outward conditions of men and society; and in +this higher department of his task Mr. Upham is above all anxious to +obtain and dispense true light. The second part of his work treats of +what may be called the spiritual scenery of the time. He exhibits the +superstition of that age, when the belief in Satanic agency was the +governing idea of religious life, and the most engrossing and pervading +interest known to the Puritans of every country. Of the young and +ignorant in the new settlement beyond the seas his researches have led +him to write thus: + + +THE ACTORS IN THE TRAGEDY. + +"However strange it seems, it is quite worthy of observation, that the +actors in that tragedy, the 'afflicted children,' and other witnesses, +in their various statements and operations, embraced about the whole +circle of popular superstition. How those young country girls, some of +them mere children, most of them wholly illiterate, could have become +familiar with such fancies, to such an extent, is truly surprising. They +acted out, and brought to bear with tremendous effect, almost all that +can be found in the literature of that day, and the period preceding it, +relating to such subjects. Images and visions which had been portrayed +in tales of romance, and given interest to the pages of poetry, will +be made by them, as we shall see, to throng the woods, flit through +the air, and hover over the heads of a terrified court. The ghosts of +murdered wives and children will play their parts with a vividness +of representation and artistic skill of expression that have hardly +been surpassed in scenic representations on the stage. In the +Salem-witchcraft proceedings, the superstition of the middle ages +was embodied in real action. All its extravagant absurdities and +monstrosities appear in their application to human experience. We see +what the effect has been, and must be, when the affairs of life, in +courts of law and the relations of society, or the conduct or feelings +of individuals, are suffered to be under the control of fanciful or +mystical notions. When a whole people abandons the solid ground of +common sense, overleaps the boundaries of human knowledge, gives itself +up to wild reveries, and lets loose its passions without restraint, +it presents a spectacle more terrific to behold, and becomes more +destructive and disastrous, than any convulsion of mere material +nature,--than tornado, conflagration, or earthquake." (Vol. i. p. 468.) + + +PHILOSOPHY OF THE DELUSION. + +All this is no more than might have occurred to a thoughtful historian +long years ago; but there is yet something else which it has been +reserved for our generation to perceive, or at least to declare, without +fear or hesitation. Mr. Upham may mean more than some people would in +what he says of the new opening made by science into the dark depths +of mystery covered by the term Witchcraft; for he is not only the +brother-in-law but the intimate friend and associate of Dr. Oliver +Wendell Holmes, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Harvard +University, and still better known to us, as he is at home, as the +writer of the physiological tales, "Elsie Venner" and the "Guardian +Angel," which have impressed the public as something new in the +literature of fiction. It can not be supposed that Mr. Upham's view of +the Salem Delusion would have been precisely what we find it here if +he and Dr. Holmes had never met; and, but for the presence of the +Professor's mind throughout the book, which is most fitly dedicated to +him, its readers might have perceived less clearly the true direction in +which to look for a solution of the mystery of the story, and its writer +might have written something less significant in the place of the +following paragraph: + +"As showing how far the beliefs of the understanding, the perceptions of +the senses, and the delusions of the imagination may be confounded, the +subject belongs not only to theology and moral and political science, +but to _physiology_, in its original and proper use, as embracing our +whole nature; and the facts presented may help to conclusions relating +to what is justly regarded as the great mystery of our being--the +connection between the body and the mind." (Vol. i. p. viii.) + + +CHARACTER OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT. + +The settlement had its birth in 1620, the date of the charter granted +by James I. to "the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New +England." The first policy of the company was to attract families of +good birth, position, education, and fortune, to take up considerable +portions of land, introduce the best agriculture known, and facilitate +the settling of the country. Hence the tone of manners, the social +organization, and the prevalence of the military spirit, which the +subsequent decline in the spirit of the community made it difficult for +careless thinkers to understand. Not only did the wealth of this class +of early settlers supply the district with roads and bridges, and clear +the forest; it set up the pursuit of agriculture in the highest place, +and encouraged intellectual pursuits, refined intercourse, and a loftier +spirit of colonizing enterprise than can be looked for among immigrants +whose energies are engrossed by the needs of the day. The mode of dress +of the gentry of this class shows us something of their aspect in their +new country, when prowling Indians were infesting the woods a stone's +throw from their fences, and when the rulers of the community took it +in turn with all their neighbors to act as scouts against the savages. +George Corwin was thus dressed: + +"A wrought flowing neckcloth, a sash covered with lace, a coat with +short cuffs and reaching halfway between the wrist and elbow; the skirts +in plaits below; an octagon ring and cane. The last two articles are +still preserved. His inventory mentions 'a silver-laced cloth coat, a +velvet ditto, a satin waistcoat embroidered with gold, a trooping scarf +and silver hat-band, golden-topped and embroidered, and a silver-headed +cane.'" (Vol. i. p. 98.) + +This aristocratic element was in large proportion to the total number +of settlers. It lifted up the next class to a position inferior only +to its own by its connection with land. The farmers formed an order by +themselves--not by having peculiar institutions, but through the dignity +ascribed to agriculture. The yeomanry of Massachusetts hold their heads +high to this day, and their fathers spoke proudly of themselves as "the +farmers." They penetrated the forest in all directions, sat down beside +the streams, and plowed up such level tracts as they found open to +the sunshine; so that in a few years "the Salem Farms" constituted a +well-defined territory, thinly peopled, but entirely appropriated. In +due course parishes were formed round the outskirts of "Salem Farms," +encroaching more or less in all directions, and reducing the area to +that which was ultimately known as "Salem Village," in which some few +of the original grants of five hundred acres or less remained complete, +while others were divided among families or sold. Long before the date +of the Salem Tragedy, the strifes which follow upon the acquisition of +land had become common, and there was much ill-blood within the bounds +of the City of Peace. The independence, the mode of life, and the pride +of the yeomen made them excellent citizens, however, when war broke out +with the Indians or with any other foe; and the military spirit of the +aristocracy was well sustained by that of the farmers. + +The dignity of the town had been early secured by the wisdom of the +Company at home, which had committed to the people the government of the +district in which they were placed; and every citizen felt himself, in +his degree, concerned in the rule and good order of the society in which +he lived; but the holders of land recognized no real equality between +themselves and men of other callings, while the artisans and laborers +were ambitious to obtain a place in the higher class. Artisans of every +calling needed in a new society had been sent out from England by the +Company; and when all the most energetic had acquired as much land as +could be had in recompense for special services to the community--as so +many acres for plowing up a meadow, so many for discovering minerals, so +many for foiling an Indian raid,--and when the original grants had been +broken up, and finally parceled out among sons and daughters, leaving +no scope for new purchasers, the most ambitious of the adventurers +applied for tracts in Maine, where they might play their part of First +Families in a new settlement. The weaker, the more envious, the more +ill-conditioned thus remained behind, to cavil at their prosperous +neighbors, and spite them if they could. Here was an evident preparation +for social disturbance, when opportunity for gratifying bad passions +should arise. + + +FIRST CAUSES. + +There had been a preparation for this stage in the temper with which the +adventurers had arrived in the country, and the influences which at once +operated upon them there. The politics and the religion in which they +had grown up were gloomy and severe. Those who were not soured were sad; +and, it should be remembered, they fully believed that Satan and his +powers were abroad, and must be contended with daily and hourly, and in +every transaction of life. In their new home they found little cheer +from the sun and the common daylight; for the forest shrouded the entire +land beyond the barren seashore. The special enemy, the Red Indian, +always watching them and seeking his advantage of them, was not, in +their view, a simple savage. Their clergy assured them that the Red +Indians were worshipers and agents of Satan; and it is difficult to +estimate the effect of this belief on the minds and tempers of those +who were thinking of the Indians at every turn of daily life. The +passion which is in the far West still spoken of as special, under the +name of "Indian-hating," is a mingled ferocity and fanaticism quite +inconceivable by quiet Christians, or perhaps by any but border +adventurers; and this passion, kindled by the first demonstration of +hostility on the part of the Massachusetts Red Man, grew and spread +incessantly under the painful early experiences of colonial life. Every +man had in turn to be scout, by day and night, in the swamp and in the +forest; and every woman had to be on the watch in her husband's absence +to save her babes from murderers and kidnappers. Whatever else they +might want to be doing, even to supply their commonest needs, the +citizens had first to station themselves within hail of each other all +day, and at night to drive in their cattle among the dwellings, and keep +watch by turns. Even on Sundays patrols were appointed to look to the +public safety while the community were at church. The mothers carried +their babes to the meeting-house, rather than venture to stay at home in +the absence of husband and neighbors. One function of the Sabbath patrol +indicates to us other sources of trouble. While looking for Indians, +the patrol was to observe who was absent from worship, to mark what the +absentees were doing, and to give information to the authorities. These +patrols were chosen from the leading men of the community--the most +active, vigilant, and sensible--and it is conceivable that much +ill-will might have been accumulated in the hearts of not only the +ne'er-do-weels, but timid and jealous and angry persons who were uneasy +under this Sabbath inspection. Such ill-will had its day of triumph when +the Salem Tragedy arrived at its catastrophe. + + +DEATH OF THE PATRIARCH. + +The ordinary experience of life was singularly accelerated in that new +state of society, though in the one particular of the age attained by +the primitive adventurers, the community may be regarded as favored. +Death made a great sweep of the patriarchs at last--shortly before +the Tragedy--but an unusual proportion of elders presided over social +affairs for seventy years after the date of the second charter. The +chief seats in the meeting-house were filled by gray-haired men and +women, rich or poor as might happen; and they were allowed to retain +their places, whoever else might be shifted in the yearly "seating." +The title "Landlord" distinguished the most dignified, and the eldest +of each family of the "Old Planters;" a "Goodman" and "Goodwife" +(abbreviated to "Goody") were titles of honor, as signifying heads +of households. The old age of these venerable persons was carefully +cherished; and when, as could not but happen, many of them departed +near together, the mourning of the community was deep and bitter. +Society seemed to be deprived of its parents, and in fear and grief +it anticipated the impending calamity. Except in regard to these +patriarchs, and their long old age, the pace of events was very rapid. +Early marriages might be looked for in a society so youthful; but the +rapid succession of second and subsequent marriages is a striking +feature in the register. The most devoted affection seems to have had +no effect in deferring a second marriage so long as a year. No time +was lost in settling in life at first; families were large; and +half-brothers and sisters abounded; and as they grew up they married on +the portions which were given them, as a matter of course,--each having +house, land, and plenishing, until at last the parents gave away all but +a sufficiency for their own need or convenience, and went into the town +or remained in the central mansion, turning over the land and its cares +to the younger generation. When there was a failure of offspring, the +practice of adoption seems to have been resorted to almost as a natural +process, which, in such a state of society, it probably was. + + +GROWTH. + +In the early days of the arts of life it is usual for the separate +transactions of each day to be slow and cumbrous; but the experience of +life may be rapid nevertheless. While traveling was a rough jog-trot, +and forest-land took years to clear, and the harvest weeks to gather, +property grew fast, marriages were precipitate and repeated, one +generation trod on the heels of another, and the old folks complained +that The Enemy made rapid conquest of the new territory which they +had hoped he could not enter. When any work--of house-building, or +harvesting, or nutting, or furnishing, or raising the wood-pile--had to +be done, it was secured by assembling all the hands in the neighborhood, +and turning the toil into a festive pleasure. We have all read of such +"bees" in the rural districts of America down to the present day; and we +can easily understand how the "goodmen" and "goodies" watched for the +good and the evil which came out of such celebrations--the courtship and +marriage, and the neighborly interest and good offices on the one +hand, and the evil passions from disappointed hopes, envy, jealousy, +tittle-tattle, rash judgment, and slander on the other. Much that was +said, done, and inferred in such meetings as these found its way long +afterward into the Tragedy at Salem. Mr. Upham depicts the inner side of +the young social life of which the inquisitorial meeting-house and the +courts were the black shadow: + +"The people of the early colonial settlements had a private and interior +life, as much as we have now, and the people of all ages and countries +have had. It is common to regard them in no other light than as a +severe, somber, and pleasure-abhorring generation. It was not so with +them altogether. They had the same nature that we have. It was not all +gloom and severity. They had their recreations, amusements, gayeties, +and frolics. Youth was as buoyant with hope and gladness, love as warm +and tender, mirth as natural to innocence, wit as sprightly, then as +now. There was as much poetry and romance; the merry laugh enlivened +the newly opened fields, and rang through the bordering woods as loud, +jocund, and unrestrained as in these older and more crowded settlements. +It is true that their theology was austere, and their policy, in Church +and State, stern; but, in their modes of life, there were some features +which gave peculiar opportunity to exercise and gratify a love of social +excitement of a pleasurable kind." (Vol. i. p. 200.) + +Except such conflicts as arose about the boundaries of estates when the +General Court was remiss in making and enforcing its decisions, the +first and greatest strifes related to Church matters and theological +doctrines. The farmers had more lively minds, better informed as to law, +and more exercised in reasoning and judging than their class are usually +supposed to have; for there never was a time when lawsuits were not +going forward about the area and the rights of some landed property +or other; and intelligent men were called on to follow the course of +litigation, if not to serve the community in office. Thus they were +prepared for the strife when the operation of the two Churches pressed +for settlement. + + +TROUBLE IN THE CHURCH. + +The farmers in the rural district thenceforward to be called "Salem +Village," desired to have a meeting-house and a minister of their own; +but the town authorities insisted on taxing them for the religious +establishment in Salem, from which they derived no benefit. In 1670, +twenty of them petitioned to be set off as a parish, and allowed to +provide a minister for themselves. In two years more the petition +was granted, as a compromise for larger privileges; but there were +restrictions which spoiled the grace of such concession as there was. +One of these restrictions was that no minister was to be permanently +settled without the permission of the old Church to proceed to his +ordination. Endless trouble arose out of this provision. The men who +had contributed the land, labor, and material for the meeting-house, +and the maintenance for the pastor, naturally desired to be free in +their choice of their minister, while the Church authorities in Salem +considered themselves responsible for the maintenance of true doctrine, +and for leaving no opening for Satan to enter the fold in the form of +heresy, or any kind or degree of dissent. Their fathers, the first +settlers, had made the colony too hot for one of their most virtuous +and distinguished citizens, because he had views of his own on Infant +Baptism; they had brought him to judgment, magistrate and church member +as he was, for not having presented his infant child at the font; he had +sold his estates and gone away. If such a citizen as Townsend Bishop +was thus lost to their society, how could the guardians of religion +surrender their control over any church or pastor within their reach? +They had spiritual charge of a community which had made its abode on the +American shore for the single purpose of living its own religious life +in its own way; and no dissent or modification from within could be +permitted, any more than intrusion or molestation from without. Between +the ecclesiastical view on the one hand, and the civil view on the +other, there was small chance of harmony between town and village, or +between pastor, flock, and the overseers of both. The great point on +which they were all agreed was that they were all in special danger from +the extreme malice of Satan, who, foiled in Puritan England, was bent +on revenge in America, and was visibly and audibly present in the +settlement, seeking whom he might devour. + +Quarreling began with the appearance of the first minister, a young Mr. +Bayley, who was appointed from year to year, but never ordained the +pastor till 1679, when the authorities of Salem tried to force him +upon the people of Salem Village in the face of strong opposition. The +farmers disregarded the orders issued from the town, and managed their +religious affairs by general meetings of their own congregation; and at +length Mr. Bayley retired, leaving the society in a much worse temper +than he had found on his arrival. A handsome gift of land was settled +upon him, in acknowledgment of his services; he quitted the ministry, +and practiced medicine in Roxbury till his death, nearly thirty years +afterward. + + +REV. MR. BURROUGHS. + +His partisans were enemies of his successor, of course. Mr. Burroughs +was a man of even distinguished excellence in the pastoral relation, in +days when risks from Indians made that duty as perilous as the career +of the soldier in war time; but his flock were divided, church business +was neglected, he was allowed to fall into want. He withdrew, was +recalled to settle accounts, was arrested for debt in full meeting--the +debt being for the funeral expenses of his wife--was absolved from all +blame under the cruel neglect he had experienced--and left the Village. +Before he could hear in his remote home in Maine what was doing at +Salem in the first days of the Witch Tragedy, he was summoned to his +old neighborhood, was charged with sorcery on the most childish and +absurd testimony conceivable, and executed in August, 1692. One of the +witnesses--a young girl morbid in body and mind--poured out her remorse +to him the day before his death. He, believing her a victim of Satan, +forgave her, prayed with her, and died honored and beloved by all who +were not under the curse of the bigotry of the time. + + +DEODAT LAWSON. + +The third minister was one Deodat Lawson, who is notable--besides his +learning--for his Sermon on the Devil, and for some mournful mystery +about his end. Of his last days there is nothing known but that +there was something woeful in them; but his sermon, preached at the +commencement of the outbreak in Salem, remains to us. It was published +in America, and then widely circulated in England. It met the popular +craving for light about Satan and his doings; and thus, between its +appropriateness to the time and occasion, and the learning and ability +which it manifested, it produced an extraordinary effect in its day. In +ours it is an instructive evidence of the extent to which "knowledge +falsely so called" may operate on the mind of society, in the absence of +science, and before the time has arrived for a clear understanding of +the nature of knowledge and the conditions of its attainment. Mr. Lawson +bore a part in the Salem Tragedy, and then went to England, where we +hear of him from Calamy as "the unhappy Mr. Deodat Lawson," and he +disappears. + + +PARRIS--A MALIGNANT. + +The fourth and last of the ministers of Salem Village, before the +Tragedy, was the Mr. Parris who played the most conspicuous part in it. +He must have been a man of singular shamelessness, as well as remarkable +selfishness, craft, ruthlessness, and withal imprudence. He began his +operations with sharp bargaining about his stipend, and sharp practice +in appropriating the house and land assigned for the use of successive +pastors. He wrought diligently under the stimulus of his ambition till +he got his meeting-house sanctioned as a true church, and himself +ordained as the first pastor of Salem Village. This was in 1689. He +immediately launched out into such an exercise of priestly power as +could hardly be exceeded under any form of church government; he set +his people by the ears on every possible occasion and on every possible +pretense; he made his church a scandal in the land for its brawls and +controversies; and on him rests the responsibility of the disease and +madness which presently turned his parish into a hell, and made it +famous for the murder of the wisest, gentlest, and purest Christians +it contained. [This man Parris must have had an inferior intellect, +small Conscientiousness, Benevolence, and Veneration; large Firmness, +Self-Esteem, Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Acquisitiveness.] + + +A PROTEAN DEVIL. + +Before we look at his next proceeding, however, we must bring into view +one or two facts essential to the understanding of the case. We have +already observed on the universality of the belief in the ever-present +agency of Satan in that region and that special season. In the woods the +Red Men were his agents--living in and for his service and his worship. +In the open country, Satan himself was seen, as a black horse, a black +dog, as a tall, dark stranger, as a raven, a wolf, a cat, etc. Strange +incidents happened there as everywhere--odd bodily affections and mental +movements; and when devilish influences are watched for, they are sure +to be seen. Everybody was prepared for manifestations of witchcraft from +the first landing in the Bay; and there had been more and more cases, +not only rumored, but brought under investigation, for some years before +the final outbreak. + +This suggests the next consideration: that the generation concerned +had no "alternative" explanation within their reach, when perplexed by +unusual appearances or actions of body or mind. They believed themselves +perfectly certain about the Devil and his doings; and his agency was the +only solution of their difficulties, while it was a very complete one. +They thought they knew that his method of working was by human agents, +whom he had won over and bound to his service. They had all been brought +up to believe this; and they never thought of doubting it. + + +STATE OF PHYSIOLOGY. + +The very conception of science had then scarcely begun to be formed in +the minds of the wisest men of the time; and if it had been, who was +there to suggest that the handful of pulp contained in the human skull, +and the soft string of marrow in the spine, and cobweb lines of nerves, +apparently of no more account than the hairs of the head, could transmit +thoughts, emotions, passions--all the scenery of the spiritual world! +For two hundred years more there was no effectual recognition of +anything of the sort. At the end of those two centuries anatomists +themselves were slicing the brain like a turnip, to see what was inside +it,--not dreaming of the leading facts of its structure, nor of the +inconceivable delicacy of its organization. After half a century of +knowledge of the main truth in regard to the brain, and nearly that +period of study of its organization, by every established medical +authority in the civilized world, we are still perplexed and baffled +at every turn of the inquiry into the relations of body and mind. How, +then, can we make sufficient allowance for the effects of ignorance in +a community where theology was the main interest in life, where science +was yet unborn, and where all the influences of the period concurred +to produce and aggravate superstitions and bigotries which now seem +scarcely credible? + +[The reviewer appears to be a half believer in Phrenology, and yet +unwilling to acknowledge his indebtedness to its teachers for the light +he has received in the organization and phenomena of the brain.] + + +WILLIAM PENN AS A PRECEDENT. + +There had been misery enough caused by persecutions for witchcraft +within living memory to have warned Mr. Parris, one would think, how he +carried down his people into those troubled waters again; but at that +time such trials were regarded by society as trials for murder are by +us, and not as anything surprising except from the degree of wickedness. +William Penn presided at the trial of two Swedish women in Philadelphia +for this gravest of crimes; and it was only by the accident of a legal +informality that they escaped, the case being regarded with about the +same feeling as we experienced a year or two ago when the murderess of +infants, Charlotte Winsor, was saved from hanging by a doubt of the law. +If the crime spread--as it usually did--the municipal governments issued +an order for a day of fasting and humiliation, "in consideration of the +extent to which Satan prevails amongst us in respect of witchcraft." +Among the prosecutions which followed on such observances there was one +here and there which turned out, too late, to have been a mistake. +This kind of discovery might be made an occasion for more fasting and +humiliation; but it seems to have had no effect in inducing caution or +suggesting self-distrust. Mr. Parris and his partisans must have been +aware that on occasion of the last great spread of witchcraft, the +magistrates and the General Court had set aside the verdict of the jury +in one case of wrongful accusation, and that there were other instances +in which the general heart and conscience were cruelly wounded and +oppressed, under the conviction that the wisest and saintliest woman in +the community had been made away with by malice, at least as much as +mistaken zeal. + +The wife of one of the most honored and prominent citizens of Boston, +and the sister of the Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, Mrs. Hibbins, +might have been supposed safe from the gallows, while she walked in +uprightness, and all holiness and gentleness of living. But her husband +died; and the pack of fanatics sprang upon her, and tore her to +pieces--name and fame, fortune, life, and everything. She was hanged in +1656, and the farmers of Salem Village and their pastor were old enough +to know, in Mr. Parris' time, how the "famous Mr. Norton," an eminent +pastor, "once said at his own table"--before clergymen and elders--"that +one of their magistrates' wives was hanged for a witch, only for having +more wit than her neighbors;" and to be aware that in Boston "a deep +feeling of resentment" against her persecutors rankled in the minds of +some of her citizens; and that they afterward "observed solemn marks of +Providence set upon those who were very forward to condemn her." The +story of Mrs. Hibbins, as told in the book before us, with the brief +and simple comment of her own pleading in court, and the codicil to her +will, is so piteous and so fearful, that it is difficult to imagine how +any clergyman could countenance a similar procedure before the memory +of the execution had died out, and could be supported in his course +by officers of his church, and at length by the leading clergy of the +district, the magistrates, the physicians, "and devout women not a few." + +[Here are evidences of large Cautiousness, fear, and timidity, with the +vivid imagination of untrained childhood.] + + +PHENOMENA OF WITCHERY. + +In the interval between the execution of Mrs. Hibbins and the outbreak +at Salem an occasional breeze arose against some unpopular member of +society. If a man's ox was ill, if the beer ran out of the cask, if the +butter would not come in the churn, if a horse shied or was restless +when this or that man or woman was in sight; and if a woman knew when +her neighbors were talking about her (which was Mrs. Hibbins' most +indisputable proof of connection with the devil), rumors got about of +Satanic intercourse; men and women made deposition that six or seven +years before, they had seen the suspected person yawn in church, and +had observed a "devil's teat" distinctly visible under his tongue; and +children told of bears coming to them in the night, and of a buzzing +devil in the humble-bee, and of a cat on the bed thrice as big as an +ordinary cat. But the authorities, on occasion, exercised some caution. +They fined one accused person for telling a lie, instead of treating his +bragging as inspiration of the devil. They induced timely confession, or +discovered flaws in the evidence, as often as they could; so that there +was less disturbance in the immediate neighborhood than in some other +parts of the province. Where the Rev. Mr. Parris went, however, there +was no more peace and quiet, no more privacy in the home, no more +harmony in the church, no more goodwill or good manners in society. + +As soon as he was ordained he put perplexing questions about baptism +before the farmers, who rather looked to him for guidance in such +matters than expected to be exercised in theological mysteries which +they had never studied. He exposed to the congregation the spiritual +conflicts of individual members who were too humble for their own +comfort. He preached and prayed incessantly about his own wrongs and the +slights he suffered, in regard to his salary and supplies; and entered +satirical notes in the margin of the church records; so that he was as +abundantly discussed from house to house, and from end to end of his +parish, as he himself could have desired. In the very crisis of +the discontent, and when his little world was expecting to see him +dismissed, he saved himself, as we ourselves have of late seen other +persons relieve themselves under stress of mind and circumstances, by a +rush into the world of spirits. + +Four years previously, a poor immigrant, a Catholic Irishwoman, had +been hanged in Boston for bewitching four children, named Goodwin--one +of whom, a girl of thirteen, had sorely tried a reverend man, less +irascible than Mr. Parris, but nearly as excitable. The tricks that the +little girl played the Reverend Cotton Mather, when he endeavored to +exorcise the evil spirits, are precisely such as are familiar to us, in +cases which are common in the practice of every physician. If we can +not pretend to explain them--in the true sense of explaining--that is, +referring them to an ascertained law of nature, we know what to look for +under certain conditions, and are aware that it is the brain and nervous +system that is implicated in these phenomena, and not the Prince +of Darkness and his train. Cotton Mather had no alternative at his +disposal. Satan or nothing was his only choice. He published the story, +with all its absurd details; and it was read in almost every house in +the Province. At Salem it wrought with fatal effect, because there was a +pastor close by well qualified to make the utmost mischief out of it. + +[In cases of _hysteria_, the phenomena are sometimes so remarkable, that +one is disposed to attribute their cause to influences beyond nature.] + + +PARRIS AND HIS "CIRCLE." + +Mr. Parris had lived in the West Indies for some years, and had brought +several slaves with him to Salem. One of these, an Indian named John, +and Tituba his wife, seem to have been full of the gross superstitions +of their people, and of the frame and temperament best adapted for the +practices of demonology. In such a state of affairs the pastor actually +formed, or allowed to be formed, a society of young girls between the +ages of eight and eighteen to meet in his parsonage, strongly resembling +those "circles" in the America of our time which have filled the lunatic +asylums with thousands of victims of "spiritualist" visitations. It +seems that these young persons were laboring under strong nervous +excitement, which was encouraged rather than repressed by the means +employed by their spiritual director. Instead of treating them as the +subjects of morbid delusion, Mr. Parris regarded them as the victims of +external diabolical influence; and this influence was, strangely enough, +supposed to be exercised, on the evidence of the children themselves, by +some of the most pious and respectable members of the community. + +We need not describe the course of events. In the dull life of the +country, the excitement of the proceedings in the "circle" was welcome, +no doubt; and it was always on the increase. Whatever trickery there +might be--and no doubt there was plenty; whatever excitement to +hysteria, whatever actual sharpening of common faculties, it is clear +that there was more; and those who have given due and dispassionate +attention to the processes of mesmerism and their effects can have no +difficulty in understanding the reports handed down of what these young +creatures did, and said, and saw, under peculiar conditions of the +nervous system. When the physicians of the district could see no +explanation of the ailments of "the afflicted children" but "the evil +hand," no doubt could remain to those who consulted them of these +agonies being the work of Satan. The matter was settled at once. But +Satan can work only through human agents; and who were his instruments +for the affliction of these children? Here was the opening through which +calamity rushed in; and for half a year this favored corner of the godly +land of New England was turned into a hell. The more the children were +stared at and pitied, the bolder they grew in their vagaries, till at +last they broke through the restraints of public worship, and talked +nonsense to the minister in the pulpit, and profaned the prayers. Mr. +Parris assembled all the divines he could collect at his parsonage, and +made his troop go through their performances--the result of which was +a general groan over the manifest presence of the Evil One, and a +passionate intercession for "the afflicted children." + +[These afflicted children of Salem, in 1690, were kindred to the +numerous "mediums" of 1869. In the former, ignorance ascribed their +actions and revelations to the devil, who bewitched certain persons. +Now, we simply have the more innocent "communications" from where and +from whom you like.] + + +THE INQUISITIONS.--SARAH GOOD. + +The first step toward relief was to learn who it was that had stricken +them; and the readiest means that occurred was to ask this question of +the children themselves. At first, they named no names, or what they +said was not disclosed; but there was soon an end of all such delicacy. +The first symptoms had occurred in November, 1691; and the first public +examination of witches took place on the 1st of March following. We +shall cite as few of the cases as will suffice for our purpose; for +they are exceedingly painful; and there is something more instructive +for us in the spectacle of the consequences, and in the suggestions of +the story, than in the scenery of persecution and murder. + +In the first group of accused persons was one Sarah Good, a weak, +ignorant, poor, despised woman, whose equally weak and ignorant husband +had forsaken her, and left her to the mercy of evil tongues. He had +called her an enemy to all good, and had said that if she was not +a witch, he feared she would be one shortly. Her assertions under +examination were that she knew nothing about the matter; that she had +hurt nobody, nor employed anybody to hurt another; that she served +God; and that the God she served was He who made heaven and earth. It +appears, however, that she believed in the reality of the "affliction;" +for she ended by accusing a fellow-prisoner of having hurt the children. +The report of the examination, noted at the time by two of the heads of +the congregation, is inane and silly beyond belief; yet the celebration +was unutterably solemn to the assembled crowd of fellow-worshipers; and +it sealed the doom of the community, in regard to peace and good repute. + + +A CHILD WITCH. + +Mrs. Good was carried to jail. Not long after her little daughter +Dorcas, aged four years, was apprehended at the suit of the brothers +Putnam, chief citizens of Salem. There was plenty of testimony produced +of bitings and chokings and pinchings inflicted by this infant; and she +was committed to prison, and probably, as Mr. Upham says, fettered with +the same chains which bound her mother. Nothing short of chains could +keep witches from flying away; and they were chained at the cost of +the state, when they could not pay for their own irons. As these poor +creatures were friendless and poverty-stricken, it is some comfort to +find the jailer charging for "two blankets for Sarah Good's child," +costing ten shillings. + +What became of little Dorcas, with her healthy looks and natural +childlike spirits, noticed by her accusers, we do not learn. Her mother +lay in chains till the 29th of June, when she was brought out to receive +sentence. She was hanged on the 19th of July, after having relieved her +heart by vehement speech of some of the passion which weighed upon +it. She does not seem to have been capable of much thought. One of +the accusers was convicted of a flagrant lie, in the act of giving +testimony: but the narrator, Hutchinson, while giving the fact, treats +it as of no consequence, because Sir Matthew Hale and the jury of his +court were satisfied with the condemnation of a witch under precisely +the same circumstances. The parting glimpse we have of this first victim +is dismally true on the face of it. It is most characteristic. + +"Sarah Good appears to have been an unfortunate woman, having been +subject to poverty, and consequent sadness and melancholy. But she was +not wholly broken in spirit. Mr. Noyes, at the time of her execution, +urged her very strenuously to confess. Among other things, he told her +'she was a witch, and that she knew she was a witch.' She was conscious +of her innocence, and felt that she was oppressed, outraged, trampled +upon, and about to be murdered, under the forms of law; and her +indignation was roused against her persecutors. She could not bear in +silence the cruel aspersion; and although she was about to be launched +into eternity, the torrent of her feelings could not be restrained, but +burst upon the head of him who uttered the false accusation. 'You are a +liar,' said she. 'I am no more a witch than you are a wizard; and if you +take away my life, God will give you blood to drink.' Hutchinson says +that, in his day, there was a tradition among the people of Salem, and +it has descended to the present time, that the manner of Mr. Noyes' +death strangely verified the prediction thus wrung from the incensed +spirit of the dying woman. He was exceedingly corpulent, of a plethoric +habit, and died of an internal hemorrhage, bleeding profusely at the +mouth." (Vol. ii. p. 269.) + +When she had been in her grave nearly twenty years, her +representatives--little Dorcas perhaps for one--were presented with +thirty pounds sterling, as a grant from the Crown, as compensation for +the mistake of hanging her without reason and against evidence. + + +THE TOWNE SISTERS. + +In the early part of the century, a devout family named Towne were +living at Great Yarmouth, in the English county of Norfolk. About the +time of the King's execution they emigrated to Massachusetts. William +Towne and his wife carried with them two daughters; and another daughter +and a son were born to them afterward in Salem. The three daughters were +baptized at long intervals, and the eldest, Rebecca, must have been at +least twenty years older than Sarah, and a dozen or more years older +than Mary. A sketch of the fate of these three sisters contains within +it the history of a century. + +On the map which Mr. Upham presents us with, one of the most conspicuous +estates is an inclosure of 300 acres, which had a significant story of +its own--too long for us to enter upon. We need only say that there had +been many strifes about this property--fights about boundaries, and +stripping of timber, and a series of lawsuits. Yet, from 1678 onward, +the actual residents in the mansion had lived in peace, taking no notice +of wrangles which did not, under the conditions of purchase, affect +them, but only the former proprietor. The frontispiece of Mr. Upham's +book shows us what the mansion of an opulent landowner was like in the +early days of the colony. It is the portrait of the house in which the +eldest daughter of William Towne was living at the date of the Salem +Tragedy. + +Rebecca, then the aged wife of Francis Nurse, was a great-grandmother, +and between seventy and eighty years of age. No old age could have had +a more lovely aspect than hers. Her husband was, as he had always been, +devoted to her, and the estate was a colony of sons and daughters, and +their wives and husbands; for 'Landlord Nurse' had divided his land +between his four sons and three sons-in-law, and had built homesteads +for them all as they married and settled. Mrs. Nurse was in full +activity of faculty, except being somewhat deaf from age; and her health +was good, except for certain infirmities of long standing, which it +required the zeal and the malice of such a divine as Mr. Parris to +convert into "devil's marks." As for her repute in the society of which +she was the honored head, we learn what it was by the testimony supplied +by forty persons--neighbors and householders--who were inquired of in +regard to their opinion of her in the day of her sore trial. Some of +them had known her above forty years; they had seen her bring up a large +family in uprightness; they had remarked the beauty of her Christian +profession and conduct; and had never heard or observed any evil of her. +This was Rebecca, the eldest. + +The next, Mary, was now fifty-eight years old, the wife of "Goodman +Easty," the owner of a large farm. She had seven children, and was +living in ease and welfare of every sort when overtaken by the same +calamity as her sister Nurse. Sarah, the youngest, had married twice. +Her present husband was Peter Cloyse, whose name occurs in the parish +records, and in various depositions which show that he was a prominent +citizen. When Mr. Parris was publicly complaining of neglect in respect +of firewood for the parsonage, and of lukewarmness on the part of the +hearers of his services, "Landlord Nurse" was a member of the committee +who had to deal with him; and his relatives were probably among the +majority who were longing for Mr. Parris' apparently inevitable +departure. In these circumstances, it was not altogether surprising that +"the afflicted children" trained in the parsonage parlor, ventured, +after their first successes, to name the honored "Goody Nurse" as one +of the allies lately acquired by Satan. They saw her here, there, +everywhere, when she was sitting quietly at home; they saw her biting +the black servants, choking, pinching, pricking women and children; and +if she was examined, devil's marks would doubtless be found upon her. +She _was_ examined by a jury of her own sex. Neither the testimony of +her sisters and daughters as to her infirmities, nor the disgust of +decent neighbors, nor the commonest suggestions of reason and feeling, +availed to save her from the injury of being reported to have what the +witnesses were looking for. + +We have a glimpse of her in her home when the first conception of her +impending fate opened upon her. Four esteemed persons, one of whom was +her brother-in-law, Mr. Cloyse, made the following deposition, in the +prospect of the victim being dragged before the public: + +"We whose names are underwritten being desired to go to Goodman Nurse, +his house, to speak with his wife, and to tell her that several of the +afflicted persons mentioned her; and accordingly we went, and we found +her in a weak and low condition in body as she told us, and had been +sick almost a week. And we asked how it was otherwise with her; and +she said she blessed God for it, she had more of his presence in this +sickness than sometimes she have had, but not so much as she desired; +but she would, with the Apostle, press forward to the mark; and many +other places of Scripture to the like purpose. And then of her own +accord she began to speak of the affliction that was among them, and in +particular of Mr. Parris his family, and how she was grieved for them, +though she had not been to see them, by reason of fits that she formerly +used to have; for people said it was awful to behold: but she pitied +them with all her heart, and went to God for them. But she said she +heard that there was persons spoke of that were as innocent as she was, +she believed; and after much to this purpose, we told her we heard that +she was spoken of also. 'Well,' she said, 'if it be so, the will of the +Lord be done:' she sat still awhile being as it were amazed; and then +she said, 'Well, as to this thing I am as innocent as the child unborn; +but surely,' she said, 'what sin hath God found out in me unrepented +of, that he should lay such an affliction upon me in my old age?' and, +according to our best observation, we could not discern that she knew +what we came for before we told her. + + ISRAEL PORTER, DANIEL ANDREW, + ELIZABETH PORTER, PETER CLOYSE." + +On the 22d of March she was brought into the thronged meeting-house to +be accused before the magistrates, and to answer as she best could. We +must pass over those painful pages, where nonsense, spasms of hysteria, +new and strange to their worships, cunning, cruelty, blasphemy, +indecency, turned the house of prayer into a hell for the time. The aged +woman could explain nothing. She simply asserted her innocence, and +supposed that some evil spirit was at work. One thing more she could +do--she could endure with calmness malice and injustice which are too +much for our composure at a distance of nearly two centuries. She felt +the _animus_ of her enemies, and she pointed out how they perverted +whatever she said; but no impatient word escaped her. She was evidently +as perplexed as anybody present. When weary and disheartened, and worn +out with the noise and the numbers and the hysterics of the "afflicted," +her head drooped on one shoulder. Immediately all the "afflicted" had +twisted necks, and rude hands seized her head to set it upright, "lest +other necks should be broken by her ill offices." Everything went +against her, and the result was what had been hoped by the agitators. +The venerable matron was carried to jail and put in irons. + + +DEPOSITIONS OF PARRIS AND HIS TOOLS. + +Now Mr. Parris' time had arrived, and he broadly accused her of murder, +employing for the purpose a fitting instrument--Mrs. Ann Putnam, the +mother of one of the afflicted children, and herself of highly nervous +temperament, undisciplined mind, and absolute devotedness to her pastor. +Her deposition, preceded by a short one of Mr. Parris, will show the +quality of the evidence on which judicial murder was inflicted: + +"Mr. Parris gave in a deposition against her; from which it appears, +that, a certain person being sick, Mercy Lewis was sent for. She was +struck dumb on entering the chamber. She was asked to hold up her hand +if she saw any of the witches afflicting the patient. Presently she +held up her hand, then fell into a trance; and after a while, coming to +herself, said that she saw the spectre of Goody Nurse and Goody Carrier +having hold of the head of the sick man. Mr. Parris swore to this +statement with the utmost confidence in Mercy's declarations." (Vol. ii. +p. 275.) + +"The deposition of Ann Putnam, the wife of Thomas Putnam, aged about +thirty years, who testifieth and saith, that on March 18, 1692, I being +wearied out in helping to tend my poor afflicted child and maid, about +the middle of the afternoon I lay me down on the bed to take a little +rest; and immediately I was almost pressed and choked to death, that had +it not been for the mercy of a gracious God and the help of those that +were with me, I could not have lived many moments; and presently I +saw the apparition of Martha Corey, who did torture me so as I can not +express, ready to tear me all to pieces, and then departed from me a +little while; but, before I could recover strength or well take breath, +the apparition of Martha Corey fell upon me again with dreadful +tortures, and hellish temptation to go along with her. And she also +brought to me a little red book in her hand, and a black pen, urging +me vehemently to write in her book; and several times that day she did +most grievously torture me, almost ready to kill me. And on the 19th of +March, Martha Corey again appeared to me; and also Rebecca Nurse, the +wife of Francis Nurse, Sr.; and they both did torture me a great many +times this day, with such tortures as no tongue can express, because +I would not yield to their hellish temptations, that, had I not been +upheld by an Almighty arm, I could not have lived while night. The 20th +of March, being Sabbath-day, I had a great deal of respite between my +fits. 21st of March being the day of the examination of Martha Corey, +I had not many fits, though I was very weak; my strength being, as I +thought, almost gone; but, on 22d of March, 1692, the apparition of +Rebecca Nurse did again set upon me in a most dreadful manner, very +early in the morning, as soon as it was well light. And now she appeared +to me only in her shift, and brought a little red book in her hand, +urging me vehemently to write in her book; and, because I would not +yield to her hellish temptations, she threatened to tear my soul out of +my body, blasphemously denying the blessed God, and the power of the +Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul; and denying several places of +Scripture, which I told her of, to repel her hellish temptations. And +for near two hours together, at this time, the apparition of Rebecca +Nurse did tempt and torture me, and also the greater part of this day, +with but very little respite. 23d of March, am again afflicted by the +apparitions of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey, but chiefly by Rebecca +Nurse. 24th of March, being the day of the examination of Rebecca Nurse, +I was several times afflicted in the morning by the apparition of +Rebecca Nurse, but most dreadfully tortured by her in the time of her +examination, insomuch that the honored magistrates gave my husband leave +to carry me out of the meeting-house; and, as soon as I was carried out +of the meeting-house doors, it pleased Almighty God, for his free grace +and mercy's sake, to deliver me out of the paws of those roaring lions, +and jaws of those tearing bears, that, ever since that time, they have +not had power so to afflict me until this May 31, 1692. At the same +moment that I was hearing my evidence read by the honored magistrates, +to take my oath, I was again re-assaulted and tortured by my +before-mentioned tormentor, Rebecca Nurse." "The testimony of Ann +Putnam, Jr., witnesseth and saith, that, being in the room where her +mother was afflicted, she saw Martha Corey, Sarah Cloyse, and Rebecca +Nurse, or their apparitions, upon her mother." + +"Mrs. Ann Putnam made another deposition under oath at the same trial, +which shows that she was determined to overwhelm the prisoner by the +multitude of her charges. She says that Rebecca Nurse's apparition +declared to her that 'she had killed Benjamin Houlton, John Fuller, +and Rebecca Shepherd;' and that she and her sister Cloyse, and Edward +Bishop's wife, had killed young John Putnam's child; and she further +deposed as followeth: 'Immediately there did appear to me six children +in winding-sheets, which called me aunt, which did most grievously +affright me; and they told me that they were my sister Baker's children +of Boston; and that Goody Nurse, and Mistress Corey of Charlestown, and +an old deaf woman at Boston, had murdered them, and charged me to go +and tell these things to the magistrates, or else they would tear me to +pieces, for their blood did cry for vengeance. Also there appeared to me +my own sister Bayley and three of her children in winding-sheets, and +told me that Goody Nurse had murdered them.'" (Vol. ii. p. 278.) + +All the efforts made to procure testimony against the venerable +gentlewoman's character issued in a charge that she had so "railed at" a +neighbor for allowing his pigs to get into her field that, some short +time after, early in the morning, he had a sort of fit in his own entry, +and languished in health from that day, and died in a fit at the end of +the summer. "He departed this life by a cruel death," murdered by Goody +Nurse. The jury did not consider this ground enough for hanging the old +lady, who had been the ornament of their church and the glory of their +village and its society. Their verdict was "Not Guilty." Not for a +moment, however, could the prisoner and her family hope that their +trial was over. The outside crowd clamored; the "afflicted" howled and +struggled; one judge declared himself dissatisfied; another promised to +have her indicted anew; and the Chief Justice pointed out a phrase of +the prisoner's which might be made to signify that she was one of the +accused gang in guilt, as well as in jeopardy. It might really seem +as if the authorities were all driveling together, when we see the +ingenuity and persistence with which they discussed those three words, +"of our company." Her remonstrance ought to have moved them: + +"I intended no otherwise than as they were prisoners with us, and +therefore did then, and yet do, judge them not legal evidence against +their fellow-prisoners. And I being something hard of hearing and full +of grief, none informing me how the Court took up my words, therefore +had no opportunity to declare what I intended when I said they were of +our company." (Vol. ii. p. 285.) + +The foreman of the jury would have taken the favorable view of this +matter, and have allowed full consideration, while other jurymen were +eager to recall the mistake of their verdict; but the prisoner's +silence, from failing to hear when she was expected to explain, turned +the foreman against her, and caused him to declare, "whereupon these +words were to me a principal evidence against her." Still, it seemed too +monstrous to hang her. After her condemnation, the Governor reprieved +her; probably on the ground of the illegality of setting aside the first +verdict of the jury, in the absence of any new evidence. But the outcry +against mercy was so fierce that the Governor withdrew his reprieve. + + +GOODY NURSE'S EXCOMMUNICATION. + +On the next Sunday there was a scene in the church, the record of which +was afterward annotated by the church members in a spirit of grief and +humiliation. After sacrament the elders propounded to the church, and +the congregation unanimously agreed, that Sister Nurse, being convicted +as a witch by the court, should be excommunicated in the afternoon of +the same day. The place was thronged; the reverend elders were in the +pulpit; the deacons presided below; the sheriff and his officers brought +in the witch, and led her up the broad aisle, her chains clanking as she +moved. As she stood in the middle of the aisle, the Reverend Mr. Noyes +pronounced her sentence of expulsion from the Church on earth, and from +all hope of salvation hereafter. As she had given her soul to Satan, +she was delivered over to him for ever. She was aware that every +eye regarded her with horror and hate, unapproached under any other +circumstances; but it appears that she was able to sustain it. She was +still calm and at peace on that day, and during the fortnight of final +waiting. When the time came, she traversed the streets of Salem between +houses in which she had been an honored guest, and surrounded by +well-known faces; and then there was the hard task, for her aged limbs, +of climbing the rocky and steep path on Witches' Hill to the place where +the gibbets stood in a row, and the hangman was waiting for her, and for +Sarah Good, and several more of whom Salem chose to be rid that day. It +was the 19th of July, 1692. The bodies were put out of the way on the +hill, like so many dead dogs; but this one did not remain there long. +By pious hands it was--nobody knew when--brought home to the domestic +cemetery, where the next generation pointed out the grave, next to her +husband's, and surrounded by those of her children. As for her repute, +Hutchinson, the historian, tells us that even excommunication could not +permanently disgrace her. "Her life and conversation had been such, +that the remembrance thereof, in a short time after, wiped off all the +reproach occasioned by the civil or ecclesiastical sentence against +her." (Vol. ii. p. 292.) + +[Great God! and is this the road our ancestors had to travel in their +pilgrimage in quest of freedom and Christianity? Are these the fruits of +the misunderstood doctrine of total depravity?] + +Thus much comfort her husband had till he died in 1695. In a little +while none of his eight children remained unmarried, and he wound up +his affairs. He gave over the homestead to his son Samuel, and divided +all he had among the others, reserving only a mare and her saddle, some +favorite articles of furniture, and £14 a year, with a right to call on +his children for any further amount that might be needful. He made no +will, and his children made no difficulties, but tended his latter days, +and laid him in his own ground, when at seventy-seven years old he died. + +In 1711, the authorities of the Province, sanctioned by the Council +of Queen Anne, proposed such reparation as their heart and conscience +suggested. They made a grant to the representatives of Rebecca Nurse of +£25! In the following year something better was done, on the petition of +the son Samuel who inhabited the homestead. A church meeting was called; +the facts of the excommunication of twenty years before were recited, +and a reversal was proposed, "the General Court having taken off the +attainder, and the testimony on which she was convicted being not now so +satisfactory to ourselves and others as it was generally in that hour +of darkness and temptation." The remorseful congregation blotted out +the record in the church book, "humbly requesting that the merciful God +would pardon whatsoever sin, error, or mistake was in the application of +that censure, and of the whole affair, through our merciful High Priest, +who knoweth how to have compassion on the ignorant, and those that are +out of the way." (Vol. ii. p. 483.) + + +MARY EASTY. + +Such was the fate of Rebecca, the eldest of the three sisters. Mary, +the next--once her playmate on the sands of Yarmouth, in the old +country--was her companion to the last, in love and destiny. Mrs. Easty +was arrested, with many other accused persons, on the 21st of April, +while her sister was in jail in irons. The testimony against her was a +mere repetition of the charges of torturing, strangling, pricking, and +pinching Mr. Parris' young friends, and rendering them dumb, or blind, +or amazed. Mrs. Easty was evidently so astonished and perplexed by the +assertions of the children, that the magistrates inquired of the voluble +witnesses whether they might not be mistaken. As they were positive, and +Mrs. Easty could say only that she supposed it was "a bad spirit," but +did not know "whether it was witchcraft or not," there was nothing to +be done but to send her to prison and put her in irons. The next we hear +of her is, that on the 18th of May she was free. The authorities, it +seems, would not detain her on such evidence as was offered. She was at +large for two days, and no more. The convulsions and tortures of the +children returned instantly, on the news being told of Goody Easty being +abroad again; and the ministers, and elders, and deacons, and all the +zealous antagonists of Satan went to work so vigorously to get up a +fresh case, that they bore down all before them. Mercy Lewis was so near +death under the hands of Mrs. Easty's apparition that she was crying out +"Dear Lord! receive my soul!" and thus there was clearly no time to be +lost; and this choking and convulsion, says an eminent citizen, acting +as a witness, "occurred very often until such time as we understood Mary +Easty was laid in irons." + +There she was lying when her sister Nurse was tried, excommunicated, +and executed; and to the agony of all this was added the arrest of her +sister Sarah, Mrs. Cloyse. But she had such strength as kept her serene +up to the moment of her death on the gibbet on the 22d of September +following. We would fain give, if we had room, the petition of the two +sisters, Mrs. Easty and Mrs. Cloyse, to the court, when their trial was +pending; but we can make room only for the last clause of its reasoning +and remonstrance. + +"Thirdly, that the testimony of witches, or such as are afflicted as is +supposed by witches, may not be improved to condemn us without other +legal evidence concurring. We hope the honored Court and jury will be +so tender of the lives of such as we are, who have for many years lived +under the unblemished reputation of Christianity, as not to condemn them +without a fair and equal hearing of what may be said for us as well as +against us. And your poor suppliants shall be bound always to pray, +etc." (Vol. ii. p. 326.) + +Still more affecting is the Memorial of Mrs. Easty when under sentence +of death and fully aware of the hopelessness of her case. She addresses +the judges, the magistrates, and the reverend ministers, imploring them +to consider what they are doing, and how far their course in regard to +accused persons is consistent with the principles and rules of justice. +She asks nothing for herself; she is satisfied with her own innocency, +and certain of her doom on earth and her hope in heaven. What she +desires is to induce the authorities to take time, to use caution +in receiving and strictness in sifting testimony; and so shall they +ascertain the truth, and absolve the innocent, the blessing of God +being upon their conscientious endeavors. We do not know of any +effect produced by her warning and remonstrance; but we find her case +estimated, twenty years afterward, as meriting a compensation of £20! +[About one hundred dollars.] Before setting forth from the jail to the +Witches' Hill, on the day of her death, she serenely bade farewell to +her husband, her many children, and her friends, some of whom related +afterward that "her sayings were as serious, religious, distinct, and +affectionate as could well be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of +almost all present." + + +MRS. CLOYSE. + +The third of this family of dignified gentlewomen seems to have had a +keener sensibility than her sisters, or a frame less strong to endure +the shocks prepared and inflicted by the malice of the enemy. Some of +the incidents of her implication in the great calamity are almost too +moving to be dwelt on, even in a remote time and country. Mrs. Cloyse +drew ill-will upon herself at the outset by doing as her brother and +sister Nurse did. They all absented themselves from the examinations +in the church, and, when the interruptions of the services became too +flagrant, from Sabbath worship; and they said they took that course +because they disapproved of the permission given to the profanation +of the place and the service. They were communicants, and persons of +consideration, both in regard to character and position; and their quiet +disapprobation of the proceedings of the ministers and their company of +accusers subjected them to the full fury of clerical wrath and womanish +spite. When the first examination of Mrs. Nurse took place, Mrs. Cloyse +was of course overwhelmed with horror and grief. The next Sunday, +however, was Sacrament Sunday; and she and her husband considered it +their duty to attend the ordinance. The effort to Mrs. Cloyse was so +great that when Mr. Parris gave out his text, "One of you is a devil. He +spake of Judas Iscariot," etc., and when he opened his discourse with +references in his special manner to the transactions of the week, the +afflicted sister of the last victim could not endure the outrage. She +left the meeting. There was a fresh wind, and the door slammed as she +went out, fixing the attention of all present, just as Mr. Parris could +have desired. She had not to wait long for the consequences. On the 4th +of April she was apprehended with several others; and on the 11th her +examination took place, the questions being framed to suit the evidence +known to be forthcoming, and Mr. Parris being the secretary for the +occasion. The witness in one case was asked whether she saw a company +eating and drinking at Mr. Parris', and she replied, as expected, that +she did. "What were they eating and drinking?" Of course, it was the +Devil's sacrament; and Mr. Parris, by leading questions, brought out the +testimony that about forty persons partook of that hell-sacrament, Mrs. +Cloyse and Sarah Good being the two deacons! When accused of the usual +practices of cruelty to these innocent suffering children, and to the +ugly, hulking Indian slave, who pretended to show the marks of her +teeth, Mrs. Cloyse gave some vent to her feelings. "When did I hurt +thee?" "A great many times," said the Indian. "O, you are a grievous +liar!" exclaimed she. But the wrath gave way under the soul-sickness +which overcame her when charged with biting and pinching a black man, +and throttling children, and serving their blood at the blasphemous +supper. Her sisters in prison, her husband accused with her, and young +girls--mere children--now manifesting a devilish cruelty to her, who had +felt nothing but good-will to them--she could not sustain herself before +the assembly whose eyes were upon her. She sank down, calling for water. +She fainted on the floor, and some of the accusing children cried out, +"Oh! her spirit has gone to prison to her sister Nurse!" From that +examination she was herself carried to prison. + +When she joined her sister Easty in the petition to the Court in the +next summer, she certainly had no idea of escaping the gallows; but it +does not appear that she was ever brought to trial. Mr. Parris certainly +never relented; for we find him from time to time torturing the feelings +of this and every other family whom he supposed to be anything but +affectionate to him. Some of the incidents would be almost incredible to +us if they were not recorded in the church and parish books in Mr. +Parris' own distinct handwriting. + +On the 14th of August, when the corpse of Rebecca Nurse was lying among +the rocks on the Witches' Hill, and her two sisters were in irons in +Boston jail (for Boston had now taken the affair out of the hands of +the unaided Salem authorities), and his predecessor, Mr. Burroughs, was +awaiting his execution, Mr. Parris invited his church members to remain +after service to hear something that he had to say. He had to point out +to the vigilance of the church that Samuel Nurse, the son of Rebecca, +and his wife, and Peter Cloyse and certain others, of late had failed +to join the brethren at the Lord's table, and had, except Samuel Nurse, +rarely appeared at ordinary worship. These outraged and mourning +relatives of the accused sisters were decreed to be visited by certain +pious representatives of the church, and the reason of their absence +to be demanded. The minister, the two deacons, and a chief member were +appointed to this fearful task. The report delivered in on the 31st of +August was: + +"Brother Tarbell proves sick, unmeet for discourse; Brother Cloyse hard +to be found at home, being often with his wife in the prison at Ipswich +for witchcraft; and Brother Samuel Nurse, and sometimes his wife, +attends our public meeting, and he the sacrament, 11th of September, +1692: upon all which we chose to wait further." (Vol. ii. p. 486.) + +This decision to pause was noted as the first token of the decline of +the power of the ministers. Mr. Parris was sorely unwilling to yield +even this much advantage to Satan--that is, to family affection and +instinct of justice. But his position was further lowered by the +departure from the parish of some of the most eminent members of its +society. Mr. Cloyse never brought his family to the Village again, +when his wife was once out of prison; and the name disappears from the +history of Salem. + + +THE PROCTOR FAMILY. + +We have sketched the life of one family out of many, and we will leave +the rest for such of our readers as may choose to learn more. Some of +the statements in the book before us disclose a whole family history in +a few words; as the following in relation to John Proctor and his wife: + +"The bitterness of the prosecutors against Proctor was so vehement that +they not only arrested, and tried to destroy, his wife and all his +family above the age of infancy, in Salem, but all her relatives in +Lynn, many of whom were thrown into prison. The helpless children were +left destitute, and the house swept of its provisions by the sheriff. +Proctor's wife gave birth to a child about a fortnight after his +execution. This indicates to what alone she owed her life. John Proctor +had spoken so boldly against the proceedings, and all who had part in +them, that it was felt to be necessary to put him out of the way." (Vol. +ii. p. 312.) + +The Rev. Mr. Noyes, the worthy coadjutor of Mr. Parris, refused to pray +with Mr. Proctor before his death, unless he would confess; and the more +danger there seemed to be of a revival of pity, humility, and reason, +the more zealous waxed the wrath of the pious pastors against the Enemy +of Souls. When, on the fearful 22d of September, Mr. Noyes stood looking +at the execution, he exclaimed that it was a sad thing to see eight +firebrands of hell hanging there! The spectacle was never seen again on +Witches' Hill. + + +THE JACOBS FAMILY. + +The Jacobs family was signalized by the confession of one of its +members--Margaret, one of the "afflicted" girls. She brought her +grandfather to the gallows, and suffered as much as a weak, ignorant, +impressionable person under evil influences could suffer from doubt +and remorse. But she married well seven years afterward--still feeling +enough in regard to the past to refuse to be married by Mr. Noyes. She +deserved such peace of mind as she obtained, for she retracted the +confession of witchcraft which she had made, and went to prison. It was +too late then to save her victims, Mr. Burroughs and her grandfather, +but she obtained their full and free forgiveness. At that time this was +the condition of the family: + +"No account has come to us of the deportment of George Jacobs, Sr., at +his execution. As he was remarkable in life for the firmness of his +mind, so he probably was in death. He had made his will before the +delusion arose. It is dated January 29, 1692, and shows that he, like +Proctor, had a considerable estate.... In his infirm old age he had been +condemned to die for a crime of which he knew himself innocent, and +which there is some reason to believe he did not think any one capable +of committing. He regarded the whole thing as a wicked conspiracy +and absurd fabrication. He had to end his long life upon a scaffold +in a week from that day. His house was desolated, and his property +sequestered. His only son, charged with the same crime, had eluded the +sheriff--leaving his family, in the hurry of his flight, unprovided +for--and was an exile in foreign lands. The crazy wife of that son was +in prison and in chains, waiting trial on the same charge; her little +children, including an unweaned infant, left in a deserted and +destitute condition in the woods. The older children were scattered he +knew not where, while one of them had completed the bitterness of his +lot by becoming a confessor, upon being arrested with her mother as a +witch. This granddaughter, Margaret, overwhelmed with fright and horror, +bewildered by the statements of the accusers, and controlled probably by +the arguments and arbitrary methods of address employed by her minister, +Mr. Noyes--whose peculiar function in those proceedings seems to have +been to drive persons accused to make confession--had been betrayed into +that position, and became a confessor and accuser of others." (Vol. ii. +p. 312.) + + +GILES AND MARTHA COREY. + +The life and death of a prominent citizen, Giles Corey, should not be +altogether passed over in a survey of such a community and such a time. +He had land, and was called "Goodman Corey;" but he was unpopular from +being too rough for even so young a state of society. He was once tried +for the death of a man whom he had used roughly, but he was only fined. +He had strifes and lawsuits with his neighbors; but he won three wives, +and there was due affection between him and his children. He was eighty +years old when the Witch Delusion broke out, and was living alone with +his wife Martha--a devout woman who spent much of her time on her +knees, praying against the snares of Satan, that is, the delusion +about witchcraft. She spoke freely of the tricks of the children, the +blindness of the magistrates, and the falling away of many from common +sense and the word of God; and while her husband attended every public +meeting, she stayed at home to pray. In his fanaticism he quarreled +with her, and she was at once marked out for a victim, and one of the +earliest. When visited by examiners, she smiled, and conversed with +entire composure, declaring that she was no witch, and that "she did +not think that there were any witches." By such sayings, and by the +expressions of vexation that fell from her husband, and the fanaticism +of two of her four sons-in-law, she was soon brought to extremity. But +her husband was presently under accusation too; and much amazed he +evidently was at his position. His wife was one of the eight "firebrands +of hell" whom Mr. Noyes saw swung off on the 22d of September. "Martha +Corey," said the record, "protesting her innocency, concluded her life +with an eminent prayer on the scaffold." Her husband had been supposed +certain to die in the same way; but he had chosen a different one. His +anguish at his rash folly at the outset of the delusion excited the +strongest desire to bear testimony on behalf of his wife and other +innocent persons, and to give an emphatic blessing to the two +sons-in-law who had been brave and faithful in his wife's cause. He +executed a deed by which he presented his excellent children with his +property in honor of their mother's memory; and, aware that if tried he +would be condemned and executed, and his property forfeited, he resolved +not to plead, and to submit to the consequence of standing mute. Old +as he was, he endured it. He stood mute, and the court had, as the +authorities believed, no alternative. He was pressed to death, as +devoted husbands and fathers were, here and there, in the Middle +Ages, when they chose to save their families from the consequences of +attainders by dying untried. We will not sicken our readers with the +details of the slow, cruel, and disgusting death. He bore it, only +praying for heavier weights to shorten his agony. Such a death and such +a testimony, and the execution of his wife two days later, weighed on +every heart in the community; and no revival of old charges against the +rough colonist had any effect in the presence of such an act as his +last. He was long believed to haunt the places where he lived and died; +and the attempt made by the ministers and one of their "afflicted" +agents to impress the church and society with a vision which announced +his damnation, was a complete failure. Cotton Mather showed that Ann +Putnam had received a divine communication, proving Giles Corey a +murderer; and Ann Putnam's father laid the facts before the judge; but +it was too late now for visions, and for insinuations to the judges, and +for clerical agitation to have any success. Brother Noyes hurried on a +church meeting while Giles Corey was actually lying under the weights, +to excommunicate him for witchcraft on the one hand, or suicide on the +other; and the ordinance was passed. But it was of no avail against the +rising tide of reason and sympathy. This was the last vision, and the +last attempt to establish one in Salem, if not in the Province. It +remained for Mr. Noyes, and the Mathers, and Mr. Parris, and every +clergyman concerned, to endure the popular hatred and their own +self-questioning for the rest of their days. The lay authorities were +stricken with remorse and humbled with grief; but their share of the +retribution was more endurable than that of the pastors who had proved +so wolfish toward their flocks. + + +DECLINE OF THE DELUSION. + +In the month of September, 1692, they believed themselves in the thick +of "the fight between the Devil and the Lamb." Cotton Mather was nimble +and triumphant on the Witches' Hill whenever there were "firebrands of +hell" swinging there; and they all hoped to do much good work for the +Lord yet, for they had lists of suspected persons in their pockets, who +must be brought into the courts month by month, and carted off to the +hill. One of the gayest and most complacent letters on the subject of +this "fight" in the correspondence of Cotton Mather is dated on the 20th +of September, 1692, within a month of the day when he was improving the +occasion at the foot of the gallows where the former pastor, Rev. George +Burroughs, and four others were hung. In the interval fifteen more +received sentence of death; Giles Corey had died his fearful death the +day before; and in two days after, Corey's widow and seven more were +hanged. Mather, Noyes, and Parris had no idea that these eight would be +the last. But so it was. Thus far, one only had escaped after being made +sure of in the courts. The married daughter of a clergyman had been +condemned, was reprieved by the Governor, and was at last discharged on +the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence. Henceforth, after that +fearful September day, no evidence was found sufficient. The accusers +had grown too audacious in their selection of victims; their clerical +patrons had become too openly determined to give no quarter. The Rev. +Francis Dane signed memorials to the Legislature and the Courts on +the 18th of October, against the prosecutions. He had reason to know +something about them, for we hear of nine at least of his children, +grandchildren, relatives, and servants who had been brought under +accusation. He pointed out the snare by which the public mind, as well +as the accused themselves, had been misled--the escape afforded to such +as would confess. When one spoke out, others followed. When a reasonable +explanation was afforded, ordinary people were only too thankful to +seize upon it. Though the prisons were filled, and the courts occupied +over and over again, there were no more horrors; the accused were all +acquitted; and in the following May, Sir William Phipps discharged all +the prisoners by proclamation. "Such a jail-delivery has never been +known in New England," is the testimony handed down. The Governor was +aware that the clergy, magistrates, and judges, hitherto active, were +full of wrath at his course but public opinion now demanded a reversal +of the administration of the last fearful year. + + +THE PHYSIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES OF THE TROUBLE. + +As to the striking feature of the case--the confessions of so large a +proportion of the accused--Mr. Upham manifests the perplexity which we +encounter in almost all narrators of similar scenes. In all countries +and times in which trials for witchcraft have taken place, we find the +historians dealing anxiously with the question--how it could happen that +so many persons declared themselves guilty of an impossible offense, +when the confession must seal their doom? The solution most commonly +offered is one that may apply to a case here and there, but certainly +can not be accepted as disposing of any large number. It is assumed that +the victim preferred being killed at once to living on under suspicion, +insult, and ill-will, under the imputation of having dealt with +the Devil. Probable as this may be in the case of a stout-hearted, +reasoning, forecasting person possessed of nerve to carry out a policy +of suicide, it can never be believed of any considerable proportion of +the ordinary run of old men and women charged with sorcery. The love of +life and the horror of a cruel death at the hands of the mob or of the +hangman are too strong to admit of a deliberate sacrifice so bold, on +the part of terrified and distracted old people like the vast majority +of the accused; while the few of a higher order, clearer in mind and +stronger in nerve, would not be likely to effect their escape from an +unhappy life by a lie of the utmost conceivable gravity. If, in the +Salem case, life was saved by confession toward the last, it was for a +special reason; and it seems to be a singular instance of such a mode of +escape. Some other mode of explanation is needed; and the observations +of modern inquiry supply it. There can be no doubt now that the +sufferers under nervous disturbances, the subjects of abnormal +condition, found themselves in possession of strange faculties, and +thought themselves able to do new and wonderful things. When urged to +explain how it was, they could only suppose, as so many of the Salem +victims did, that it was by "some evil spirit;" and except where +there was such an intervening agency as Mr. Parris' "circle," the +only supposition was that the intercourse between the Evil Spirit and +themselves was direct. It is impossible even now to witness the curious +phenomena of somnambulism and catalepsy without a keen sense of how +natural and even inevitable it was for similar subjects of the Middle +Ages and in Puritan times to believe themselves ensnared by Satan, and +actually endowed with his gifts, and to confess their calamity, as the +only relief to their scared and miserable minds. This explanation seems +not to have occurred to Mr. Upham; and, for want of it, he falls into +great amazement at the elaborate artifice with which the sufferers +invented their confessions, and adapted them to the state of mind of the +authorities and the public. With the right key in his hand, he would +have seen only what was simple and natural where he now bids us marvel +at the pitch of artfulness and skill attained by poor wretches scared +out of their natural wits. + +The spectacle of the ruin that was left is very melancholy. Orphan +children were dispersed; homes were shut up, and properties lost; and +what the temper was in which these transactions left the churches and +the village, and the society of the towns, the pastors and the flocks, +the Lord's table, the social gathering, the justice hall, the market, +and every place where men were wont to meet, we can conceive. It was +evidently long before anything like a reasonable and genial temper +returned to society in and about Salem. The acknowledgments of error +made long after were half-hearted, and so were the expressions of +grief and pity in regard to the intolerable woes of the victims. It is +scarcely intelligible how the admissions on behalf of the wronged should +have been so reluctant, and the sympathy with the devoted love of their +nearest and dearest so cold. We must cite what Mr. Upham says in honor +of these last, for such solace is needed: + +"While, in the course of our story, we have witnessed some shocking +instances of the violation of the most sacred affections and obligations +of life, in husbands and wives, parents and children, testifying against +each other, and exerting themselves for mutual destruction, we must not +overlook the many instances in which filial, parental, and fraternal +fidelity and love have shone conspicuously. It was dangerous to befriend +an accused person. Proctor stood by his wife to protect her, and it cost +him his life. Children protested against the treatment of their parents, +and they were all thrown into prison. Daniel Andrew, a citizen of high +standing, who had been deputy to the General Court, asserted, in the +boldest language, his belief of Rebecca Nurse's innocence; and he had to +fly the country to save his life. Many devoted sons and daughters clung +to their parents, visited them in prison in defiance of a blood-thirsty +mob; kept by their side on the way to execution; expressed their +love, sympathy, and reverence to the last; and, by brave and perilous +enterprise, got possession of their remains, and bore them back under +the cover of midnight to their own thresholds, and to graves kept +consecrated by their prayers and tears. One noble young man is said to +have effected his mother's escape from the jail, and secreted her in +the woods until after the delusion had passed away, provided food and +clothing for her, erected a wigwam for her shelter, and surrounded her +with every comfort her situation would admit of. The poor creature must, +however, have endured a great amount of suffering; for one of her larger +limbs was fractured in the all but desperate attempt to rescue her from +the prison walls." (Vol. ii. p. 348.) + +The act of reversal of attainder, passed early in the next century, +tells us that "some of the principal accusers and witnesses in those +dark and severe prosecutions have since discovered themselves to be +persons of profligate and vicious conversation;" and on no other +authority we are assured that, "not without spot before, they became +afterward abandoned to open vice." This was doubtless true of some; but +of many it was not; and of this we shall have a word to say presently. + + +THE LAST OF PARRIS. + +Mr. Parris' parsonage soon went to ruin, as did some of the dwellings +of the "afflicted" children, who learned and practiced certain things +in his house which he afterward pronounced to be arts of Satan, and +declared to have been pursued without his knowledge and with the +cognizance of only his servants (John and Tituba, the Indian and the +negress). Barn, and well, and garden disappeared in a sorry tract of +rough ground, and the dwelling became a mere handful of broken bricks. +The narrative of the pastor's struggles and devices to retain his pulpit +is very interesting; but they are not related to our object here; and +all we need say is, that three sons and sons-in-law of Mrs. Nurse +measured their strength against his, and, without having said an +intemperate or superfluous word, or swerved from the strictest rules of +congregational action, sent him out of the parish. He finally opined +that "evil angels" had been permitted to tempt him and his coadjutors on +either hand; he admitted that some mistakes had been made; and, said +he, "I do humbly own this day, before the Lord and his people, that God +has been righteously spitting in my face; and I desire to lie low under +all this reproach," etc.; but the remonstrants could not again sit +under his ministry, and his brethren in the Province did not pretend to +exculpate him altogether. He buried his wife--against whom no record +remains--and departed with his children, the eldest of whom, the +playfellow of the "afflicted" children, he had sent away before she +had taken harm in the "circle." He drifted from one small outlying +congregation to another, neglected and poor, restless and untamed, +though mortified, till he died in 1720. Mr. Noyes died somewhat earlier. +He is believed not to have undergone much change, as to either his views +or his temper. He was a kind-hearted and amiable man when nothing came +in the way; but he could hold no terms with Satan; and in this he +insisted to the last that he was right. + +Cotton Mather was the survivor of the other two. He died in 1728; and he +never was happy again after that last batch of executions. He trusted to +his merits, and the genius he exhibited under that onslaught of Satan, +to raise him to the highest post of clerical power in the Province, and +to make him--what he desired above all else--President of Harvard +University. Mr. Upham presents us with a remarkable meditation written +by the unhappy man, so simple and ingenious that it is scarcely possible +to read it gravely; but the reader is not the less sensible of his +misery. The argument is a sort of remonstrance with God on the +recompense his services have met with. He has been appointed to serve +the world, and the world does not regard him; the negroes, and (who +could believe it?) the negroes are named Cotton Mather in contempt of +him; the wise and the unwise despise him; in every company he is avoided +and left alone; the female sex, and they speak basely of him; his +relatives, and they are such monsters that he may truly say, "I am a +brother to dragons;" the Government, and it heaps indignities upon him; +the University, and if he were a blockhead, it could not treat him worse +than it does. He is to serve all whom he can aid, and nobody ever does +anything for him; he is to serve all to whom he can be a helpful and +happy minister, and yet he is the most afflicted minister in the +country; and many consider his afflictions to be so many miscarriages, +and his sufferings in proportion to his sins. There was no popularity or +power for him from the hour when he stood to see his brother Burroughs +put to death on the Hill. He seems never to have got over his surprise +at his own failures; but he sank into deeper mortification and a more +childish peevishness to the end. + + +"ONE OF THE AFFLICTED"--HER CONFESSION. + +Of only one of the class of express accusers--of the "afflicted"--will +we speak; but not because she was the only one reclaimed. One bewildered +child we have described as remorseful, and brave in her remorse; and +others married as they would hardly have done if they had been among the +"profligate." Ann Putnam's case remains the most prominent, and the most +pathetic. She was twelve years old when the "circle" at Mr. Parris' +was formed. She had no check from her parents, but much countenance +and encouragement from her morbidly-disposed mother. She has the bad +distinction of having been the last of the witnesses to declare a +"vision" against a suspected person; but, on the other hand, she has the +honor, such as it is, of having striven to humble herself before the +memory of her victims. When she was nineteen her father died, and her +mother followed within a fortnight, leaving the poor girl, in bad health +and with scanty means, to take care of a family of children so large +that there were eight, if not more, dependent on her. No doubt she was +aided, and she did what she could; but she died worn out at the age of +thirty-six. Ten years before that date she made her peace with the +Church and society by offering a public confession in the meeting-house. +In order to show what it was that the accusers did admit, we must make +room for Ann Putnam's confession: + +"'I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence +that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that I, then +being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made the +instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, +whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just +grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that +it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, +whereby I justly fear that I have been instrumental with others, though +ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt +of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person +I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of +any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing +against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by +Satan. And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing +Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and +to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a +calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in +the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto +whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were +taken away or accused. (Signed) Ann Putnam.' + +"This confession was read before the congregation, together with her +relation, August 25, 1706; and she acknowledged it. + + "J. GREEN, _Pastor_." (Vol. ii. p. 510.) + + +THE TRANSITION. + +The most agreeable picture ever afforded by this remarkable community is +that which our eyes rest on at the close of the story. One of the church +members had refused to help to send Mr. Parris away, on the ground that +the village had had four pastors, and had gone through worse strifes +with every one; but he saw a change of scene on the advent of the fifth. +The Rev. Joseph Green was precisely the man for the place and occasion. +He was young--only two-and-twenty--and full of hope and cheerfulness, +while sobered by the trials of the time. He had a wife and infants, and +some private property, so that he could at once plant down a happy +home among his people, without any injurious dependence on them. While +exemplary in clerical duty, he encouraged an opposite tone of mind to +that which had prevailed--put all the devils out of sight, promoted +pigeon-shooting and fishing, and headed the young men in looking after +hostile Indians. Instead of being jealous at the uprising of new +churches, he went to lay the foundations, and invited the new brethren +to his home. He promoted the claims of the sufferers impoverished by the +recent social convulsion; he desired to bury not only delusions, but +ill offices in silence; and by his hospitality he infused a cheerful +social spirit into his stricken people. The very business of "seating" +the congregation was so managed under his ministry as that members +of the sinning and suffering families--members not in too direct +an antagonism--were brought together for prayer, singing, and +Sabbath-greeting, forgiving and forgetting as far as possible. Thus did +this excellent pastor create a new scene of peace and good-will, which +grew brighter for eighteen years, when he died at the age of forty. At +the earliest moment that was prudent, he induced his church to cancel +the excommunication of Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey. It was ten years +more before the hard and haughty mother church in Salem would do its +part; but Mr. Green had the satisfaction of seeing that record also +cleansed of its foul stains three years before his death. Judge Sewall +had before made his penitential acknowledgment of proud error in full +assembly, and had resumed his seat on the bench amid the forgiveness and +respect of society; Chief Justice Stoughton had retired from the courts +in obstinate rage at his conflicts with Satan having been cut short; +the physicians hoped they should have no more patients "under the evil +hand," to make them look foolish and feel helpless; and the Tragedy was +over. There were doubtless secret tears and groans, horrors of shame and +remorse by night and by day, and indignant removal of the bones of the +murdered from outcast graves; and abstraction of painful pages from +books of record, and much stifling of any conversation which could grow +into tradition. The Tragedy was, no doubt, the central interest of +society, families, and individuals throughout the Province for the life +of one generation. Then, as silence had been kept in the homes as well +as at church and market, the next generation entered upon life almost +unconscious of the ghastly distinction which would attach in history to +Massachusetts in general, and Salem in particular, as the scene of the +Delusion and the Tragedy which showed the New World to be in essentials +no wiser than the Old. + +How effectually the story of that year 1692 was buried in silence is +shown by a remark of Mr. Upham's--that it has been too common for the +Witch Tragedy to be made a jest of, or at least to be spoken of with +levity. We can have no doubt that his labors have put an end to this. +It is inconceivable that there can ever again be a joke heard on the +subject of Witchcraft in Salem. But this remark of our author brings us +at once home to our own country, time, and experience. It suggests the +question whether the lesson afforded by this singular perfect piece of +history is more or less appropriate to our own day and generation. + + +THE FETISH THEORY THEN AND NOW. + +We have already observed that at the date of these events, the only +possible explanation of the phenomena presented was the fetish solution +which had in all ages been recurred to as a matter of course. In +heathen times it was god, goddess, or nymph who gave knowledge, or +power, or gifts of healing, or of prophecy, to men. In Christian times +it was angel, or devil, or spirit of the dead; and this conception was +in full force over all Christendom when the Puritan emigrants settled in +New England. The celebrated sermon of the Rev. Mr. Lawson, in the work +before us, discloses the elaborate doctrine held by the class of men who +were supposed to know best in regard to the powers given by Satan to his +agents, and the evils with which he afflicted his victims; and there +was not only no reason why the pastor's hearers should question his +interpretations, but no possibility that they should supply any of +a different kind. The accused themselves, while unable to admit or +conceive that they were themselves inspired by Satan, could propose no +explanation but that the acts were done by "some bad spirit." And such +has been the fetish tendency to this hour, through all the advance +that has been made in science, and in the arts of observation and +of reasoning. The fetish tendency--that of ascribing one's own +consciousness to external objects, as when the dog takes a watch to be +alive because it ticks, and when the savage thinks his god is angry +because it thunders, and when the Puritan catechumen cries out in +hysteria that Satan has set a witch to strangle her--that constant +tendency to explain everything by the facts, the feelings, and the +experience of the individual's own nature, is no nearer dying out +now than at the time of the Salem Tragedy; and hence, in part, the +seriousness and the instructiveness of this story to the present +generation. Ours is the generation which has seen the spread of +Spiritualism in Europe and America, a phenomenon which deprives us of +all right to treat the Salem Tragedy as a jest, or to adopt a tone of +superiority in compassion for the agents in that dismal drama. There are +hundreds, even several thousands, of lunatics in the asylums of the +United States, and not a few in our own country, who have been lodged +there by the pursuit of intercourse with spirits; in other words, by +ascribing to living but invisible external agents movements of their +own minds. Mr. Parris remarked, in 1692, that of old, witches were only +ignorant old women; whereas, in his day, they had come to be persons +of knowledge, holiness, and devotion who had been drawn into that +damnation; and in our day, we hear remarks on the superior refinement +of spirit-intercourses, in comparison with the witch doings at Salem; +but the cases are all essentially the same. In all, some peculiar and +inexplicable appearances occur, and are, as a matter of course, when +their reality can not be denied, ascribed to spiritual agency. We may +believe that we could never act as the citizens of Salem acted in their +superstition and their fear; and this may be true; but the course of +speculation is, in "spiritual circles," very much the same as in Mr. +Parris' parlor. + +And how much less excuse there is for our generation than for his! +We are very far yet from being able to explain the well-known and +indisputable facts which occur from time to time, in all countries where +men abide and can give an account of themselves; such facts as the +phenomena of natural somnambulism, of double consciousness, of suspended +sensation while consciousness is awake, and the converse--of a wide +range of intellectual and instinctive operations bearing the character +of marvels to such as can not wait for the solution. We are still far +from being able to explain such mysteries, in the only true sense of the +word _explaining_--that is, being able to refer the facts to the natural +cause to which they belong; but we have an incalculable advantage over +the people of former centuries in knowing that for all proved facts +there is a natural cause; that every cause to which proved facts within +our cognizance are related is destined to become known to us; and that, +in the present case, we have learned in what direction to search for it, +and have set out on the quest. None of us can offer even the remotest +conjecture as to what the law of the common action of what we call mind +and body may be. If we could, the discovery would have been already +made. But, instead of necessarily assuming, as the Salem people did, +that what they witnessed was the operation of spiritual upon human +beings, we have, as our field of observation and study, a region +undreamed of by them--the brain as an organized part of the human frame, +and the nervous system, implicating more facts, more secrets, and more +marvels than our forefathers attributed to the whole body. + + +THE VIEWS OF MODERN INVESTIGATORS. + +It is very striking to hear the modern lectures on physiological +subjects delivered in every capital in Europe, and to compare the calm +and easy manner in which the most astonishing and the most infernal +phenomena are described and discussed, with the horror and dismay that +the same facts would have created if disclosed by divines in churches +three centuries ago. Dr. Maudsley, in his recent work on "The +Physiology and Pathology of Mind," and other physicians occupied in his +line of practice, lead us through the lunatic asylums of every country, +pointing out as ordinary or extraordinary incidents the same +"afflictions" of children and other morbid persons which we read of, one +after another, in the Salem story. It is a matter of course with such +practitioners and authors to anticipate such phenomena when they have +detected the morbid conditions which generate them. Mr. Upham himself +is evidently very far indeed from understanding or suspecting how much +light is thrown on the darkest part of his subject by physiological +researches carried on to the hour when he laid down his pen. His view +is confined almost exclusively to the theory of fraud and falsehood, as +affording the true key. It is not probable that anybody disputes or +doubts the existence of guilt and folly in many or all of the agents +concerned. There was an antecedent probability of both in regard to +Mr. Parris' slaves, and to such of the young children as they most +influenced; and that kind of infection is apt to spread. Moreover, +experience shows us that the special excitement of that nervous +condition induces moral vagaries at least as powerfully as mental +delusions. In the state of temper existing among the inhabitants of the +Village when the mischievous club of girls was formed at the pastor's +house, it was inevitable that, if magic was entered upon at all, it +would be malignant magic. Whatever Mr. Upham has said in illustration of +that aspect of the case his readers will readily agree to. But there is +a good deal more, even of the imperfect notices that remain after the +abstraction and destruction of the records in the shame and anguish that +ensued, which we, in our new dawn of science, can perceive to be an +affair of the bodily organization. We are, therefore, obliged to him for +rescuing this tremendous chapter of history from oblivion, and for the +security in which he has placed the materials of evidence. In another +generation the science of the human frame may have advanced far enough +to elucidate some of the Salem mysteries, together with some obscure +facts in all countries, which can not be denied, while as yet they can +not be understood. When that time comes, a fearful weight of imputation +will be removed from the name and fame of many agents and sufferers who +have been the subjects of strange maladies and strange faculties, in all +times and countries. As we are now taught the new discoveries of the +several nerve-centers, and the powers which are appropriated to them; +and when we observe what a severance may exist between the so-called +organ of any sense or faculty and the operation of the sense or faculty; +and how infallibly ideas and emotion may be generated, and even beliefs +created in minds sane and insane, by certain manipulations of the nerves +and brain, we see how innocently this phenomenon may be presented in +natural somnambulism. Sleepwalkers have been known in many countries, +and treated of in medical records by their physicians, who could not +only walk, and perform all ordinary acts in the dark as well as in the +light, but who went on writing or reading without interruption though an +opaque substance--a book or a slate--was interposed, and would dot the +_i's_ and cross the _t's_ with unconscious correctness without any use +of their eyes. There is a wide field of inquiry open in this direction, +now that the study of the nervous system has been begun, however minute +is the advance as yet. + + +IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. + +It is needless to dwell on the objection made to the rising hopefulness +in regard to the study of Man, and the mysteries of his nature. Between +the multitude who have still no notion of any alternative supposition to +that of possession or inspiration by spirits, or, at least, intercourse +with such beings, and others who fear "Materialism" if too close an +attention is paid to the interaction of the mind and the nerves, and +those who always shrink from new notions in matters so interesting, and +those who fear that religion may be implicated in any slight shown to +angel or devil, and those who will not see or hear any evidence whatever +which lies in a direction opposite to their prejudices, we are not +likely to get on too fast. But neither can the injury lapse under +neglect. The spectacle presented now is of the same three sorts of +people that appear in all satires, in all literatures, since the pursuit +of truth in any mode or direction became a recognized object anywhere +and under any conditions. Leaving out of view the multitude who are +irrelevant to the case, from having no knowledge, and being therefore +incapable of an opinion, there is the large company of the superficial +and light-minded, who are always injuring the honor and beauty of truth +by the levity, the impertinence, the absurdity of the enthusiasm they +pretend, and the nonsense they talk about "some new thing." No period of +society has been more familiar with that class and its mischief-making +than our own. There is the other large class of the cotemporaries of any +discovery or special advance, who, when they can absent themselves from +the scene no longer, look and listen, and bend all their efforts to +hold their ground of life-long opinion, usually succeeding so far as to +escape any direct admission that more is known than when they were born. +These are no ultimate hindrance. When Harvey died, no physician in +Europe above the age of forty believed in the circulation of the blood; +but the truth was perfectly safe; and so it will be with the case of the +psychological relations of the nervous system when the present course of +investigation has sustained a clearer verification and further advance. +On this point we have the sayings of two truth-seekers, wise in quality +of intellect, impartial and dispassionate in temper, and fearless in the +pursuit of their aims. The late Prince Consort is vividly remembered for +the characteristic saying which spread rapidly over the country, that he +could not understand the conduct of the medical profession in England +in leaving the phenomena of mesmerism to the observation of unqualified +persons, instead of undertaking an inquiry which was certainly their +proper business, in proportion as they professed to pursue _science_. +The other authority we refer to is the late Mr. Hallam. A letter of his +lies before us from which we quote a passage, familiar in its substance, +doubtless, to his personal friends, to whom he always avowed the view +which it presents, and well worthy of note to such readers as may not +be aware of the observation and thought he devoted to the phenomena of +mesmerism during the last quarter-century of his long life. "It appears +to me probable that the various phenomena of mesmerism, together with +others, independent of mesmerism properly so called, which have lately +[the date is 1844] been brought to light, are fragments of some general +law of nature which we are not yet able to deduce from them, merely +because they are destitute of visible connection--the links being +hitherto wanting which are to display the entire harmony of effects +proceeding from a single cause." + +[Persons curious to know what has been developed in this class of +studies may find the same in a work published at this office, entitled +THE LIBRARY OF MESMERISM AND PSYCHOLOGY--comprising the Philosophy of +Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, and Mental Electricity; Fascination, or the +Power of Charming; The Macrocosm, or the World of Sense; Electrical +Psychology, or the Doctrine of Impressions; The Science of the Soul, +treated Physiologically and Philosophically. Complete in one illustrated +volume. Price, $4.] + +What room is there not for hopefulness when we compare such an +observation as this with Mr. Parris' dogmatical exposition of Satan's +dealings with men! or when we contrast the calm and cheerful tone of the +philosopher with the stubborn wrath of Chief Justice Stoughton, and with +the penitential laments of Judge Sewall! We might contrast it also with +the wild exultation of those of the Spiritualists of our own day who can +form no conception of the modesty and patience requisite for the sincere +search for truth, and who, once finding themselves surrounded by facts +and appearances new and strange, assume that they have discovered a +bridge over the bottomless "gulf beyond which lies the spirit-land," and +wander henceforth in a fools' paradise, despising and pitying all who +are less rash, ignorant, and presumptuous than themselves. It is this +company of fanatics--the first of the three classes we spoke of--which +is partly answerable for the backwardness of the second; but the blame +does not rest exclusively in one quarter. There is an indolence in the +medical class which is the commonest reproach against them in every age +of scientific activity, and which has recently been heroically avowed +and denounced in a public address by no less a member of the profession +than Sir Thomas Watson.[1] There is a conservative reluctance to change +of view or of procedure. There is also a lack of moral courage, by no +means surprising in an order of men whose lives are spent in charming +away troubles, and easing pains and cares, and "making things +pleasant"--by no means surprising, we admit, but exceedingly unfavorable +to the acknowledgment of phenomena that are strange and facts that are +unintelligible. + + [1] Address on the Present State of Therapeutics. Delivered at + the opening meeting of the Clinical Society of London, January + 10, 1868. By Sir Thomas Watson, Bart., M.D. + +This brings us to the third class--the very small number of persons who +are, in the matter of human progress, the salt of the earth; the few who +can endure to see without understanding, to hear without immediately +believing or disbelieving, to learn what they can, without any +consideration of what figure they themselves shall make in the +transaction; and even to be unable to reconcile the new phenomena with +their own prior experience or conceptions. There is no need to describe +how rare this class must necessarily be, for every one who has eyes sees +how near the passions and the prejudices of the human being lie to each +other. These are the few who unite the two great virtues of earnestly +studying the facts, and keeping their temper, composure and cheerfulness +through whatever perplexity their inquiry may involve. It is remarkable +that while the world is echoing all round and incessantly with the +praise of the life of the man spent in following truth wherever it may +lead, the world is always resounding also with the angry passions of men +who resent all opinions which are not their own, and denounce with fury +or with malice any countenance given to mere proposals to inquire in +certain directions which they think proper to reprobate. Not only was it +horrible blasphemy in Galileo to think as he did of the motion of the +earth, but in his friends to look through his glass at the stars. + +This Salem story is indeed shocking in every view--to our pride as +rational beings, to our sympathy as human beings, to our faith as +Christians, to our complacency as children of the Reformation. It is so +shocking that some of us may regret that the details have been revived +with such an abundance of evidence. But this is no matter of regret, but +rather of congratulation, if we have not outgrown the need of admonition +from the past. How does that consideration stand? + +At the end of nearly three centuries we find ourselves relieved of a +heavy burden of fear and care about the perpetual and unbounded malice +of Satan and his agents. Witchcraft has ceased to be one of the gravest +curses of the human lot. We have parted with one after another of the +fetish or conjectural persuasions about our relations with the world of +spirit or mind, regarded as in direct opposition to the world of matter. +By a succession of discoveries we have been led to an essentially +different view of life and thought from any dreamed of before the new +birth of science; and at this day, and in our own metropolis, we have +Sir Henry Holland telling us how certain treatment of this or that +department of the nervous system will generate this or that state of +belief and experience, as well as sensation. We have Dr. Carpenter +disclosing facts of incalculable significance about brain-action without +consciousness, and other vital mysteries. We have Dr. Maudsley showing, +in the cells of the lunatic asylum, not only the very realm of Satan, as +our fathers would have thought, but the discovery that it is not Satan, +after all, that makes the havoc, but our own ignorance which has seduced +us into a blasphemous superstition, instead of inciting us to the study +of ourselves. And these are not all our teachers. Amid the conflict +of phenomena of the human mind and body, we have arrived now at the +express controversy of Psychology against Physiology. Beyond the mere +statement of the fact we have scarcely advanced a step. The first can +not be, with any accuracy, called a science at all, and the other is in +little more than a rudimentary state; but it is no small gain to have +arrived at some conception of the nature of the problem set before us, +and at some liberty of hypothesis as to its conditions. In brief, and +in the plainest terms, while there is still a multitude deluding and +disporting itself with a false hypothesis about certain mysteries of the +human mind, and claiming to have explained the marvels of Spiritualism +by making an objective world of their own subjective experience, the +scientific physiologists [those especially who are true phrenologists] +are proceeding, by observation and experiment, to penetrate more and +more secrets of our intellectual and moral life. + + + + +THE PLANCHETTE MYSTERY. + + +WHAT PLANCHETTE IS AND DOES. + +This little gyrating tripod is proving itself to be something more than +a nine days' wonder. It is finding its way into thousands of families in +all parts of the land. Lawyers, physicians, politicians, philosophers, +and even clergymen, have watched eagerly its strange antics, and +listened with rapt attention to its mystic oracles. Mrs. Jones demands +of it where Jones spends his evenings; the inquisitive of both sexes are +soliciting it to "tell their fortunes;" speculators are invoking its aid +in making sharp bargains, and it is said that even sagacious brokers in +Wall Street are often found listening to its vaticinations as to the +price of stocks on a given future day. To all kinds of inquiries answers +are given, intelligible at least, if not always true. A wonderful jumble +of mental and moral possibilities is this little piece of dead matter, +now giving utterance to childish drivel, now bandying jokes and +badinage, now stirring the conscience by unexceptionably Christian +admonitions, and now uttering the baldest infidelity or the most +shocking profanity; and often discoursing gravely on science, +philosophy, or theology. It is true that Planchette seldom assumes this +variety of theme and diction under the hands of the same individual, +but, in general, manifests a peculiar facility of adapting its discourse +to the character of its associates. Reader, with your sanction, we will +seek a little further acquaintance with this new wonder. + +[Illustration: THE PLANCHETTE.] + +The word "Planchette" is French, and simply signifies a _little board_. +It is usually made in the shape of a heart, about seven inches long and +six inches wide at the widest part, but we suppose that any other shape +and convenient size would answer as well. Under the two corners of the +widest end are fixed two little castors or pantograph wheels, admitting +of easy motion in all horizontal directions; and in a hole, pierced +through the narrow end, is fixed, upright, a lead pencil, which forms +the third foot of the tripod. If this little instrument be placed upon a +sheet of printing paper, and the fingers of one or more persons be laid +lightly upon it, after quietly waiting a short time for the connection +or _rapport_ to become established, the board, if conditions are +favorable, will begin to move, carrying the fingers with it. It will +move for about one person in every three or four; and sometimes it will +move with the hands of two or three persons in contact with it, when it +will not move for either one of the persons singly. At the first trial, +from a few seconds to twenty minutes may be required to establish the +motion; but at subsequent trials it will move almost immediately. The +first movements are usually indefinite or in circles but as soon as some +control of the motion is established, it will begin to write--at first, +perhaps, in mere monosyllables, "Yes," and "No," in answer to leading +questions, but afterward freely writing whole sentences, and even pages. + +For me alone, the instrument will not move; for myself and wife it moves +slightly, but its writing is mostly in monosyllables. With my daughter's +hands upon it, it writes more freely, frequently giving, correctly, the +names of persons present whom she may not know, and also the names +of their friends, living or dead, with other and similar tests. Its +conversations with her are grave or gay, much according to the state +of her own mind at the time; and when frivolous questions are asked, +it almost always returns answers either frivolous or, I am sorry to +say it, a trifle wicked. For example, she on one occasion said to it: +"Planchette, where did you get your education?" To her horror, it +instantly wrote: "In h--l," without, however, being so fastidious as to +omit the letters of the word here left out. On another occasion, after +receiving from it responses to some trival questions, she said to +it: "Planchette, now write something of your own accord without our +prompting." But instead of writing words and sentences as was expected, +it immediately traced out the rude figure of a man, such as school +children sometimes make upon their slates. After finishing the +outlines--face, neck, arms, legs, etc., it swung around and brought +the point of the pencil to the proper position for the eye, which it +carefully marked in, and then proceeded to pencil out the hair. On +finishing this operation, it wrote under the figure the name of a young +man concerning whom my daughter's companions are in the habit of teasing +her. + +My wife once said to it: "Planchette, write the name of the article I am +thinking of." She was thinking of a finger ring, on which her eye had +rested a moment before. The operator, of course, knew nothing of this, +and my wife expected either that the experiment would fail, or else that +the letters R-i-n-g would be traced. But instead of that, the instrument +moved, very slowly, and, as it were, deliberately, and traced an +apparently _exact circle_ on the paper, of about the size of the finger +ring she had in her mind. "Will you try that over again?" said she, when +a similar circle was traced, in a similar manner, but more promptly. +During this experiment, one of my wife's hands, in addition to my +daughter's, was resting lightly upon the board; but if the moving force +had been supplied by her, either consciously or unconsciously, the +motion would evidently have taken the direction of her thought, which +was that of writing the letters of the word, instead of a direction +unthought of. + +While Planchette, in her intercourse with me, has failed to distinguish +herself either as a preacher or a philosopher, I regret to say that she +has not proved herself a much more successful prophet. While the recent +contest for the United States Senatorship from the State of New York was +pending, I said to my little oracular friend: "Planchette, will you give +me a test?" "Yes." "Do you know who will be the next U. S. Senator from +this State?" "Yes." "Please write the name of the person who will be +chosen." "_Mr. Sutton_," was written. Said I, "I have not the pleasure +of knowing that gentleman; please tell me where he resides." _Ans._ "In +Washington." + +I do not relate this to disturb the happy dreams of the Hon. Reuben E. +Fenton by suggesting any dire contingencies that may yet happen to mar +the prospect before him. In justice to my little friend, however, I must +not omit to state that in respect to questions as to the kind of weather +we shall have on the morrow? will such person go, or such a one come? or +shall I see, or do this, that, or the other thing? its responses have +been generally correct. + +To rush to a conclusion respecting the _rationale_ of so mysterious a +phenomenon, under the sole guidance of an experience which has been so +limited as my own, would betray an amount of egoism and heedlessness +with which I am unwilling to be chargeable; and my readers will now be +introduced to some experiences of others. + +A friend of mine, Mr. C., residing in Jersey City, with whom I have +almost daily intercourse, and whose testimony is entirely trustworthy, +relates the following: + +Some five or six months ago he purchased a Planchette, brought it home, +and placed it in the hands of Mrs. B., a widow, who was then visiting +his family. Mrs. B. had never tried or witnessed any experiments with +Planchette, and was incredulous as to her power to evoke any movements +from it. She, however, placed her hands upon it, as directed, and to her +surprise it soon began to move, and wrote for its first words: "Take +care!" "Of what must I take care?" she inquired. "Of your money." +"Where?" "In Kentucky." + +My friend states that Mrs. B.'s husband had died in Albany about two +years previous, bequeathing to her ten thousand dollars, which sum she +had loaned to a gentleman in Louisville, Ky., to invest in the drug +business, on condition that she and he were to share the profits; and up +to this time the thought had not occurred to her that her money was not +perfectly safe. At this point she inquired: "Who is this that is giving +this caution?" "B---- W----." (The name of a friend of hers who had died +at Cairo, Ill., some six years before.) Mrs. B. "Why! is my money in +jeopardy?" Planchette. "Yes, and needs prompt attention." My friend C. +here asked: "Ought she to go to Kentucky and attend to the matter?" +"Yes." + +So strange and unexpected was this whole communication, and so +independent of the suggestions of her own mind, that she was not a +little impressed by it, and thought it would at least be safe for her +to make a journey to Louisville and ascertain if the facts were as +represented. But she had at the time no ready money to pay her traveling +expenses, and not knowing how she could get the money, she asked: "When +shall I be able to go?" "In two weeks from to-day," was the reply. + +She thought over the matter, and the next day applied to a friend of +hers, a Mr. W., in Nassau Street, who promised to lend her the money by +the next Tuesday or Wednesday. (It was on Thursday that the interview +with Planchette occurred.) She came home and remarked to my friend: +"Well, Planchette has told one lie, anyhow; it said I would start for +Louisville _two weeks_ from that day. Mr. W. is going to lend me the +money, and I shall start by _next_ Thursday, only _one_ week from that +time." + +But on the next Tuesday morning she received a note from Mr. W. +expressing regret that circumstances had occurred which would render it +impossible for him to let her have the money. She immediately sought, +and soon found, another person by whom she was promised the money still +in time to enable her to start a couple of days before the expiration of +the two weeks--thus still, as she supposed, enabling her to prove +Planchette to be wrong in at least that particular. But from +circumstances unnecessary to detail, the money did not come until +Wednesday, the day before the expiration of the two weeks. She then +prepared herself to start the next _morning_; but through a blunder +of the expressman in carrying her trunk to the wrong depot, she was +detained till the five o'clock P.M. train, when she started, just two +weeks, _to the hour_, from the time the prediction was given. + +Arriving in Louisville, she learned that her friend had become involved +in consequence of having made a number of bad sales for large amounts, +and had actually gone into bankruptcy--reserving, however, for the +security of her debt, a number of lots of ground, which his creditors +were trying to get hold of. She thus arrived not a moment too soon to +save herself, which she will probably do, in good part, at least, if not +wholly--though the affair is still unsettled. + +Since this article was commenced, the following fact has been furnished +me from a reliable source. It is offered not only for the test which it +involves, but also to illustrate the remarkable faculty which Planchette +sometimes manifests, of calling things by their right names. A lady +well known to the community, but whose name I have not permission to +disclose, recently received from Planchette, writing under her own +hands, a communication so remarkable that she was induced to ask for the +name of the intelligence that wrote it. In answer to her request, the +name of the late Col. Baker, who gallantly fell at Ball's Bluff, was +given, in a perfect _fac-simile_ of his handwriting. She said to him: +"For a further test, will you be kind enough to tell me where I last saw +you?" She expected him to mention the place and occasion of their last +interview when she had invited him to her house to tea; but Planchette +wrote: "_In the hall of thieves_." "In the hall of thieves," said the +lady; "what on earth can be the meaning of that? O! I remember that +after he was killed, his body was brought on here and laid in the City +Hall, and there I saw him." + + +THE PRESS ON PLANCHETTE. + +In Planchette, public journalists and pamphleteers seem to have caught +the "What is it?" in a new shape, and great has been the expenditure of +printer's ink in the way of narratives, queries, and speculations upon +the subject. There are now lying before me the following publications +and articles, in which the Planchette phenomena are noticed and +discussed,--from which we propose to cull and condense such statements +of fact as appear to possess most intrinsic interest, and promise most +aid in the solution of the mysteries. Afterward we shall discuss the +different theories of these writers, and also some other theories that +have been propounded. + +"PLANCHETTE'S DIARY," edited by Kate Field, is an entertaining pamphlet, +consisting of details in the author's experience, with little or no +speculation as to the origin or laws of the phenomena. The author +herself was the principal medium of the communications, but she +occasionally introduces experiences of others. The pamphlet serves to +put one on familiar and companionable terms with the invisible source +of intelligence, whatever that may be, illustrating the leading +peculiarities of the phenomena, giving some tests of an outside +directing influence more or less striking, and candidly recording the +failures of test answers which were mixed up with the successes. We +extract two or three specimens: + + "May 26th--Evening. Our trio was reinforced by Mr. B., a clever + young lawyer, who regarded Planchette with no favorable eye--had no + faith whatever in 'Spiritualism,' and maintained that for his part + he thought it quite as sensible, if not more so, to attribute + unknown phenomena to white rabbits as to spirits.... Planchette + addressed herself to Mr. B. thus: + + 'You do not think that I am a spirit. I tell you that I am. If I am + not an intelligence, in the name of common sense what am I? If you + fancy I am white rabbits, then all I have to say is, that white + rabbits are a deal cleverer than they have the credit of being among + natural historians.' + + Later, doubt was thrown upon the possibility of getting mental + questions answered, and Planchette retorted: + + 'Do you fancy for one moment that I don't know the workings of your + brain? That is not the difficulty. It is the + impossibility--almost--of making two diametrically opposed + magnetisms unite.' + + After this rebuke, Mr. B. asked a mental question, and received the + following answer: + + 'I am impelled to say that if you will persevere in these + investigations, you may be placed _en rapport_ with your wife, who + would undoubtedly communicate with you. If you have any faith in the + immortality of the soul, you can have no doubt of the possibility of + spiritual influences being brought to bear upon mortals. It is no + new thing. Ever since the world began, this power has been exerted + in one way or another; and if you pretend to put any faith in the + Bible, you surely must credit the possibility of establishing this + subtile connection between man and so-called angels.' + + This communication was glibly written until within eleven words of + the conclusion, when Planchette stopped, and I asked if she had + finished. + + 'No,' she replied. + + 'Then why don't you go on?' I continued. '_I_ can write faster than + this.' + + Planchette grew exceeding wroth at this, and dashed off an answer: + + 'Because, my good gracious! you are not obliged to express yourself + through another's brain.' + + I took it for granted that Planchette had shot very wide of the mark + in the supposed response to Mr. B.'s mental query, and hence was not + prepared to be told that it was satisfactory, in proof of which Mr. + B. wrote beneath it: + + 'Appropriate answer to my mental question, _Will my deceased wife + communicate with me?_--I. A. B.'" + + "May 28th. At the breakfast-table Mr. G. expressed a great desire to + see Planchette perform, and she was brought from her box. Miss W. + was also present. After several communications, Miss W. asked a + mental question, and Planchette immediately wrote: + + 'Miss W., that is hardly possible in the present state of the money + market; but later, I dare say you will accomplish what you desire to + undertake.' + + _Miss W._ 'Planchette is entirely off the track. My question was, + _Can you tell me anything about my nephew?_' + + _Mr. G._ 'Well, it is certainly very queer. _I_ asked a mental + question to which this is to a certain extent an answer.' + + Mr. G. was seated beside me, thoroughly intent upon Planchette. Miss + W. was at a distance, and not in any way _en rapport_ with me. If + this phenomenon of answering mental questions be clairvoyance, the + situation of these two persons may account for the mixed nature of + the answer, beginning with Miss W. and finishing with Mr. G." + +_Putnam's Monthly Magazine_ for December, 1868, contains an interesting +article entitled "_Planchette in a New Character_." What the "new +character" is in which it appears, may be learned from the introductory +paragraph, as follows: + + "We, too, have a Planchette, and a Planchette with this signal + merit: it disclaims all pretensions to supermundane inspirations; it + operates freely--indeed, with extraordinary freedom; it goes at the + tap of the drum. The first touch of the operators, no matter under + what circumstances it is brought out to reveal its knowledge, sets + it in motion. But it brings no communications from any celestial or + spiritual sources. Its chirography is generally good, and frequently + excellent. Its remarks evince an intelligence often above that of + the operators, and its talent at answering or evading difficult + questions is admirable. We have no theories about it." + +It seems, from other passages in the article, that this Planchette +disclaims the ability to tell anything that is not contained in the +minds of the persons present, although it frequently gives theories in +direct contradiction to the opinions of all present, and argues them +with great persistence until driven up into a corner. It simply assumes +the name of "Planchet," leaving off the feminine termination of the +word; and "on being remonstrated with for illiteracy, it defended itself +by saying, 'I always was a bad _speler_,'--an orthographical blunder," +says the writer, "that no one in the room was capable of making." + +Although the writer in the paragraph above quoted disclaims all theories +on the subject, he does propound a theory, such as it is; but of this +we defer our notice until we come to put the several theories that have +been offered into the hopper and grind them up together; at which time +we will take some further notice of the amusing peculiarities of this +writer's Planchette. + +The _Ladies' Repository_ of November, 1868, contains an article, written +by Rev. A. D. Field, entitled "Planchette; or, Spirit-Rapping Made +Easy." This writer mentions a number of test questions asked by him of +Planchette, the answers to which were all false. Yet he acknowledges +that "the mysterious little creature called Planchette is no humbug; +that some mysterious will-power causes it to answer questions, and that +it is useless to ignore these things, or to laugh at them." The writer +submits a theory by which he thinks these mysteries may be explained, in +a measure, if not wholly, but this, with others, will be reserved for +notice hereafter. + +_Harper's Monthly Magazine_ for December, 1868, contains an article +entitled "_The Confessions of a Reformed Planchettist_." In this +article, the writer, no doubt drawing wholly or in part from his +imagination, details a series of tricks which he had successfully +practiced upon the credulity of others, and concludes by propounding +a very sage and charitable theory to account for _all_ Planchette +phenomena, on which theory we shall yet have a word to offer. + +_Hours at Home_, of February, 1869, contains an article, by J. T. +Headley, entitled "_Planchette at the Confessional_." In this article, +the writer cogently argues the claims of these new phenomena upon the +attention of scientific men. He says: "That it [the Planchette] writes +things never dreamed of by the operators, is proved by their own +testimony and the testimony of others, beyond all contradiction;" and +goes so far as to assert that to whatever cause these phenomena may be +attributed, "they will seriously affect the whole science of mental +philosophy." He relates a number of facts, more or less striking, and +propounds a theory in their explanation, to which, with others, we will +recur by-and-by. + +The foregoing are a few of the most noted, among the many less +important, lucubrations that have fallen under our notice concerning +this interesting subject--enough, however, to indicate the intense +public interest which the performances of this little board are +exciting. We will now proceed to notice some of the _theories_ that +have been advanced for the solution of the mystery. + + +THEORY FIRST--THAT THE BOARD IS MOVED BY THE HANDS THAT REST UPON IT. + +It is supposed that this movement is made either by design or +unconsciously, and that the answers are either the result of adroit +guessing, or the expressions of some appropriate thoughts or memories +which had been previously slumbering in the minds of the operators, and +happen to be awakened at the moment. + +After detailing his exploits (whether real or imaginary he has left us +in doubt) in a successful and sustained course of deception, the writer +in _Harper's_ reaches this startling conclusion of the whole matter: + + "It would only write when I moved it, and then it wrote precisely + what I dictated. That persons write 'unconsciously,' I do not + believe. As well tell me a man might pick pockets without knowing + it. Nor am I at all prepared to believe the assertions of those who + declare that they do not move the board. I know what operators will + do in such cases; I know the distortion, the disregard of truth + which association with this immoral board superinduces." + +This writer has somewhat the advantage of me. I confess I have no means +of coming to the knowledge of the truth but those of careful thought, +patient observation, and collection of facts, and deduction from them. +But here is a mind that can with one bold dive reach the inner mysteries +of the sensible and supersensible world, penetrate the motives and +impulses that govern the specific moral acts of men, and disclose +at once to us the horrible secret of a conspiracy which, without +preconcert, has been entered into by thousands of men, women, and +children in all parts of the land, to cheat the rest of the human +race--a conspiracy, too, in which certain members of innumerable private +families have banded together to play tricks upon their fathers, +mothers, brothers, and sisters! I feel awed by the overshadowing +presence of such a mind--in fact, I do not feel quite _at home_ with +him, and therefore most respectfully bow myself out of his presence +without further ceremony. + +As to the hypothesis that the person or persons whose hands are on the +board move it _unconsciously_, this is met by the fact that the persons +are perfectly awake and in their senses, and are just as conscious of +what they are doing or not doing as at any other time. Or if it be +morally possible to suppose that they all, invariably, and with one +accord, _lie_ when they assert that the board moves without their +volition, how is it that the answers which they give to questions, some +of them mentally, are in so large a proportion of cases, _appropriate_ +answers? How is it, for example, that Planchette, under the hands of +my own daughter, has, in numerous cases, given correctly the names of +persons whom she had never seen or heard of before, giving also the +names of their absent relatives, the places of their residence, etc., +all of which were absolutely unknown by every person present except the +questioner? + +A theory propounded by the Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in an article +published in _The Advance_, some time since, may be noticed under this +head. He says: + + "How, then, shall we account for the writing which is performed + without any direct volition? Our method refers it to an automatic + power of mind separate from conscious volition. * * * Very common + is the experience of an automatic power in the pen, by which it + finishes a word, or two or three words, after the thoughts have + consciously gone on to what is to follow. We infer, then, from + ordinary facts known to the habitual penman, that _if a fixed idea + is in the mind_ at the time when the nervous and volitional powers + are exercised with a pen, it will often express itself spontaneously + through the pen, when the mental faculties are at work otherwise. We + suppose, then, that Planchette is simply an arrangement by which, + through the outstretched arms and fingers, the mind comes into + such relation with the delicate movements of the pencil, that its + automatic power finds play, and the _ideas present in the mind are + transferred unconsciously to paper_." (Italics our own.) + +That may all be, Doctor, and no marvel about it. That the "fixed +idea"--"the ideas _present in the mind_," should be "transferred +unconsciously to paper," by means of Planchette, is no more wonderful +than that the same thing should be done by the pen, and _without_ the +intervention of that little board. But for the benefit of a sorely +mystified world, be good enough to tell us how ideas that are _not_ +present, and that _never were_ present, in the mind, can be transferred +to paper by this automatic power of the mind. Grant that the mind +possesses an automatic power to work in _grooves_, as it were, or in +a manner in which it has been previously _trained_ to work, as is +illustrated by the delicate fingerings of the piano, all correct and +skillful to the nicest shade, while the mind of the performer may for +the moment be occupied in conversation; but not since the world began +has there been an instance in which the mind, acting solely from itself, +by "automatic powers" or otherwise, has been able to body forth any idea +which was not previously within itself. That Planchette does sometimes +write things of which the person or persons under whose hands it moves +never had the slightest knowledge or even conception, it would be +useless to deny. + + +THEORY SECOND--IT IS ELECTRICITY, OR MAGNETISM. + +That electricity, or magnetism (a form of the same thing), is the agent +of the production of these phenomena, is a theory which, perhaps, has +more advocates among the masses than any other. It is the theory urged +by Mr. Headley with a great amount of confidence in his article already +referred to; and with his arguments, as those of an able and, in some +sense, _representative_ writer on this subject, we shall be principally +occupied for a few paragraphs. + +When this theory is offered in seriousness as a final solution of the +mystery in question, we are tempted to ask, Who is electricity? what +is his mental and moral _status_? and how and where did he get his +education? Or if by "electricity" is here simply meant the subtile, +imponderable, and _impersonal_ fluid commonly known by that name, +then let us ask, Who is at the other end of the wire?--for there must +evidently be a _who_ as well as a _what_ in the case. But when the +advocates of the electrical theory are brought to their strict +definitions, they are compelled to admit that this agent is nothing more +than a medium of the power and intelligence that are manifested. Now +a medium, which signifies simply a _middle_, distinctly implies two +opposite ends or extremes, and as applied in this case, one of those +ends or extremes must be the source, and the other the recipient of the +power or influence that is transmitted through the medium or middle; and +it is an axiom of common sense that no medium can be a perfect medium +which has anything to do with the origination or qualification of that +which is intended simply to flow through it, or which is not absolutely +free from action except as it is acted upon. That there are so-called +mediums which refract, pervert, falsify, or totally obliterate the +characteristics of that which was intended to be transmitted through +them, is not to be denied; but these are by no means perfect or reliable +mediums, either in physical or psychic matters. + +If the little instrument in question, therefore, is, through the medium +of electricity or any other agency, brought under perfect control and +then driven to write a communication, the force that drives and the +intelligence that directs it can not be attributed to the medium itself, +but to something behind and beyond it which must embrace _in itself_ all +the active powers and qualifications to produce the effect. Now let us +see where Mr. Headley gets the active powers and qualifications to +produce the phenomena manifested by his Planchette. He shall speak for +himself: + + "That a spirit, good or bad, has anything to do with this piece + of board and the tips of children's fingers, is too absurd a + supposition to be entertained for a moment. We are driven, + therefore, to the conclusion that what is written (by honest + operators) has its origin either in the minds of those whose hands + are on the instrument, or else it results from communication with + other minds through another channel than the outward senses. At all + events, on this hypothesis I have been able to explain most of the + phenomena I have witnessed. I had, with others, laughed at the + stories told about Planchette, when a lady visiting my family from + the city brought, as the latest novelty, one for my daughter. + Experiments were of course made with it, with very little success, + till a young lady came to visit us from the West, whose efforts + with those of my son wrought a marvelous change. She was modest and + retiring, with a rich brown complexion, large swimming eyes, dark as + midnight, and a dreamy expression of countenance, and altogether a + temperament that is usually found to possess great magnetic power. + My son, on the contrary, is fair, full of animal life, and enjoying + everything with the keenest relish. In short, they were as opposite + in all respects as two beings could well be. As the phenomena + produced by electricity are well known to arise from opposite poles, + or differently charged bodies, they would naturally be adapted to + the trial of Planchette." + +Mr. H. now finds the mysterious agency, "electricity," completely +unchained, and under the hands of this couple Planchette becomes "very +active." Indifferent to its performances at first, he was induced to +give it more serious attention by the correct answers given to a couple +of questions asked in a joking manner by his wife, concerning some love +affairs of his before they were married, and which were known to none +present except himself and wife. Of course these answers, being in +his wife's mind when she asked the question, were supposed to be +"communicated through the agency of electricity or magnetism to the +two operators," and the mystery was thus summarily disposed of. But an +interest being thus for the first time aroused in Mr. H.'s mind, he +proceeds to inquire a little further into the peculiarities of this new +phenomenon, and proceeds as follows: + + "Seeing that Planchette was so familiarly acquainted with my lady + friends, I asked it point blank: 'Where is Mary C----?' This was a + friend of my early youth and later manhood, who had always seemed + to me rather a relative than an acquaintance. To my surprise it + answered, 'Nobody knows.' + + I supposed I knew, because for twenty years she had lived on the + Hudson River in summer, and in New York in the winter. + + 'Is she happy?' I asked. 'Better be dead,' was the reply. + + 'Why?' 'Unhappy' was written out at once. + + 'What makes her unhappy?' 'Won't tell.' + + 'Is she in fault, or others?' 'Partly herself.' + + I now pushed questions in all shapes, but they were evaded. At last + I asked, 'How many brothers has she?' + + 'One,' was the response. 'That,' said I, 'is false;' but not having + heard from the family for several years, I asked again, 'How many + _did_ she have?' '_Three._' 'Where are the other two?' I continued. + 'Dead.' + + 'What is the name of the living one?' 'John.' I could not recollect + that either of them bore this name, but afterward remembered it was + that of the eldest. Now I had no means of ascertaining whether this + was all true, but convinced it was not, I began to ask ridiculous + and vexatious questions, when the answers showed excessive + irritation, and finally it wrote '_Devil_.' I then said: 'Who are + you?' 'Brother of the Devil.' + + 'What is your occupation?' 'Tending fires.' + + 'What are you going to do with me?' 'Broil you.' + + 'What for?' 'Wicked.' + + Now while I was excessively amused at all this, I noticed that the + two young operators were greatly agitated, and begged me to stop. + I saw at a glance that the very superstitious feeling that I + was endeavoring to ridicule away, was creeping over them, and I + desisted.... Another day I asked where a certain gentleman was who + failed years ago, taking in his fall a considerable amount of my own + funds. I said 'Where is Mr. Green?' 'In Brazil.' + + 'Will he ever pay me anything?' 'Yes.' + + 'When?' 'Next year.' + + 'How much.' 'Ten thousand dollars.' + + Neither of the operators knew anything about this affair, and the + answer, 'Brazil,' was so out of the way and unexpected, that all + were surprised. Whether the man was there or not, I could not tell, + nor did I know if he ever had been there--indeed, the last time I + heard from him he was in New York." + +Now, observing that no conscious or intelligent agency in shaping these +answers is assigned to the young persons whose hands were upon the +board, and who, it appears, did not know anything of the persons +concerning whom the inquiries were made, it would, perhaps, as we desire +nothing but a true philosophy on this matter, be worth while to look a +little critically at the answers and statements that were given, and the +further explanations propounded by Mr. H. For convenience, they may be +classified as follows: + +1. Answers that were substantially in the interrogator's own mind when +he asked the questions. Such were the answers to the questions: "How +many brothers _did_ she [Mary C----] have?" "Where did she _formerly_ +live?" He tells us that "the pencil slowly wrote out in reply: +'_Catkill_,' leaving out the _s_;" and adds: "of course, this place was +in my mind, though neither of the young people knew anything about the +lady or her residence." + +2. Answers which he does not know were in his mind, but supposes they +must have been. Thus, in his own language, while commenting on the +answers to questions respecting Mary C---- and her brothers: "Nor can +I account for the answer '_Unhappy_,' _unless unconsciously to myself_ +there passed through my mind that vague fear so common to us all when +we inquire about friends of whom we have not heard for years. The death +of the two brothers baffled all conjecture _unless I remembered_ that +during the war I saw the death of a young man of the same name, and I +wondered at the time if it was one of these brothers--whether they had +joined the army." (The Italics our own.) So also of Planchette's answers +to the questions respecting Mr. Green, locating him in Brazil, and +saying that he intended to pay him (Mr. H.) ten thousand dollars next +year, while Mr. G. had last been reported to Mr. H. as being in New +York, and the latter did not know that he had ever been in Brazil. +But Mr. H., after thinking over a certain conversation which he had +previously had with Mr. Green respecting a business journey he had made +to "_South America_," remarks: "Brazil doubtless often occurred to +me--in fact, I was conscious on reflection that I had more frequently +located him in that country than in any other. So when the question was +put, it would involuntarily flash over me _without my being conscious of +it_, 'I wonder if he has gone back to South America, and if his venture +is in Brazil?' _Magnetism caught up the flashing thought and put it +on paper._" (Italics our own.) Such is his hypothesis to explain an +hypothesis! + +3. Answers which he not only knows he had not in his mind when the +questions were asked, but which were directly _contrary_ to his mind or +opinion. Such were answers to several of the questions occurring in the +conversation about Mary C----, as, "better be dead;" "unhappy;" fault +"partly herself;" has "_one_" brother; which latter statement was so +directly contrary to his mind that he even pronounced it "false," until +he thought to inquire, "How many _did_ she have?" + +4. Answers which were not only not in his mind, but which he directly +pronounces "_false_" and thus dismisses them. Such, for instance, is +the answer "Nobody knows," to the question "Where is Mary C----?" "That +this," says he, "was false, is evident on the very face of it." + +With this analysis of the leading phenomena cited by Mr. H. before us, +lot us look at the wonderful things which "electricity and magnetism" +are made to accomplish. + +I do not dispute that there is such a power of the human mind as that +known as clairvoyance. I have had too many proofs of this to doubt it. +But I have had equally positive proofs that the development of its +phenomena is dependent upon certain necessary conditions, among +which are, that the agent of them, in order to be able to reveal the +secret thoughts of another, must possess by nature peculiar nervous +susceptibilities, enabling his psychic emanations, so to speak, to +sympathetically coalesce with those of the person whose thoughts and +internal mental states are to be the subject of investigation. But this +sympathetic coalescence can not take place where there is the slightest +psychic repulsion or antagonism to the clairvoyant on the part of the +interrogating party. Moreover, even when all these conditions are +present, nothing can be correctly read from the mind of the questioner +unless there is on his mind a _clear and distinct definition_ of the +matters of which he seeks to be told. + +But even in class No. 1 of the above series we find that "electricity," +hitherto believed to be only an imponderable and impersonal fluid, has, +upon Mr. H.'s theory, been able to accomplish the revealment of secret +thoughts entirely independent of all these conditions. It is distinctly +stated that those young persons whose hands were on the Planchette knew +nothing whatever of the matters which formed the several subjects of +inquiry; and for aught that is stated to the contrary, they appear +to have been perfectly awake and in their normal state. In addition +to this, it is to be observed that Mr. Headley here appears in the +assumed character of a captious, contentious, and somewhat irritating +questioner, which, whether he intended it or not, was entirely the +opposite of that harmonious and sympathetic interflow of mental states +known in other cases to be necessary to a successful clairvoyant +diagnosis of inward thoughts. And yet "electricity" overleaps all these +obstacles, seizes facts that occurred many years previous, some of which +were known only to Mr. H. and wife, others only to Mr. H. himself, and +instantly flashes forth the appropriate answer! Here is science! If +there were no other phenomena connected with Planchette, this alone +might well challenge the attention of philosophers! + +But if this is wonderful, what shall we think of the achievements of +this same "electricity" and "magnetism" in revealing facts of the second +class--facts which the questioner himself did not and does not now +_know_ were in his mind, but only _supposes they must have been_? Think +of a diffused element of nature, which, from the dawn of creation had +been blind and dead, and only passively obedient to certain laws of +equilibrium, suddenly assuming intelligence and volition, burrowing into +a man's brains, rummaging among ten thousand thoughts, emotions, and +experiences stored up in the archives of his memory, and finally coming +to the mere fossil of a (_supposed_) experience from which the last +vestige of memory-life had departed, and seizing this incident, it moves +the little board with an intelligent volition, and lo, the fact stands +revealed. + +And again, what of that spicy colloquy in which Planchette writes the +words "devil," "devil's brother," "stir fires," "broil you," etc.? Oh, +Mr. H. tells us, "That was owing to the irritation of the mediums, +their horror and fright, their superstition, and their repugnance to +the questions that were being asked." Curious, is it not? to see +"electricity" seizing hold of this irritation, that horror, the other +fright, and such and such a superstition, repugnance, and disgust, +and, carefully arranging these mental emotions, building them up by a +mysterious mason-work into a distinctly defined and sharply pronounced +individuality, with a peculiar moral and intellectual character of its +own, differing more from each and all of the parties present in the +flesh than any one of the latter differed from another! And this +individuality, too, putting forth a volition which was not _their_ +volition, moving the Planchette which _they_ did not move, making +and arranging letters which _they_ did not make and arrange, writing +intelligent words and sentences which _they_ did not write, and then +causing this creation to assume the name and character of a regularly +built "devil"--a character which appears to have been so far from these +young persons' minds that they were unwilling to look it in the face, +and were sorely afraid of it! Surely, if "electricity" can do all this, +then "electricity" itself is the "devil," and the less mankind have to +do with it the better. + +But more wonderful still. It appears that "electricity" can give +answers, of which not even the slightest elements previously existed in +the mind of the questioner or any of the company, and which were even +diametrically _contrary_ to his mind; as in the answers of class No. 3. +Here "electricity" swings loose, and, becoming completely independent, +commences business on its "own hook." Not only so, but it even goes so +far beyond the sphere of Mr. H.'s mind as to _fib_ a little, giving at +least two answers which this writer pronounced "false," as noted in +class No. 4--thus giving a still more signal display of its independent +powers of invention--naughty invention though it was. + +Seriously, had not friend Headley better employ his fine talents +in giving us another clever book or two about "Washington and his +Generals," and leave Mr. Planchette, and that more wonderful personage, +Mr. Electricity, to take care of themselves? We are obliged here to part +company with Mr. H., and pass on for the purpose of having a few words +under this same head with the reverend author of "Planchette, or +Spirit-Rapping Made Easy," in the _Ladies' Repository_. + +I find it difficult to get at the idea of this writer, if indeed he +himself has any definite idea on the subject. By the title of his +article, however, and several expressions that occur in the body of it, +he seems to associate the performances of the Planchette with a somewhat +extensive class of phenomena, in which spirit-rappings, table-tippings, +etc., are included. He says: + + "Twelve years ago I took pains to study the matter, and at that time + I came to conclusions that are every day being proved to be true. I + was soon satisfied that as regarded 'trance mediums,' the cause was + due to one-third trickery, one-third partial insanity or monomania, + and the remainder animal magnetism. I have since learned that opium + and hashish (Indian hemp) played an important part. It was proved + that young ladies purchased written speeches which they delivered + under the influence of hashish." + +He then goes on to speak of galvanism, magnetism, electricity, animal +magnetism, and the odylic force; but, so far as we can see, without +proving any necessary connection between these forces or either of them, +and the subject which he aims to elucidate. Quoting a former article of +his, he continues: + + "The magnetizer of whom I spoke [an exposer of rappings] threw + himself into magnetic connection with the table, and _willed_ it + to move hither and thither. The will in this case seemed to be a + powerful battery, putting its subject into life. Now I suggest + that this power be applied to machinery. We will get us a large + propelling wheel, to which we will connect our machinery. We will + then engage a company of mediums who shall get into _rapport_ with + one wheel, and stand willing the wheel on in its evolutions.... If a + table may be made to spin around the room, why may not a wheel be + made to turn as well?" + +The writer certainly deserves credit for this sage suggestion, and a +patent for his machine; but whether he will succeed in making it operate +satisfactorily without calling into requisition the "monomania," the +"hashish," and the "opium," remains to be seen. He then goes on to +describe Planchette, and afterward continues: + + "The mysterious little creature is called Planchette, and is + no humbug. And it conforms to all the customs of the old-time + tipping-tables. The operator magnetizes Planchette, and by a + mysterious will-power causes it to answer questions. Before giving + illustrations, we may as well state the laws that seem to govern it. + _First._ It will always answer correctly, _if the operator knows the + answer_. _Second._ While it will answer other questions, in all the + experiments I have ever engaged in, it has never answered correctly. + _Third._ If a person standing by, who has strong magnetic powers, + asks a question, Planchette will answer. But _in all cases_, in our + experiments, some ruling mind must have knowledge of what the answer + should be, if a correct answer is returned." + +In reply to the above, we assert, _First_. That the "operator" does not +"magnetize" the board at all, nor does he exercise any "will power" +over it, causing it to answer questions; and if he did thus cause it to +answer only those questions whose answers are already in his mind, what +marvel is there in it, more than there is in my pen being caused by my +will-power to trace these words and sentences? _Secondly._ If by his +_second_ and _third_ specifications of the supposed "laws" which govern +Planchette, he means to imply that it will not tell, _often_ tell, +and tell with remarkable correctness, things that were never known +or dreamed of by the operator, the questioner, or any one present in +visible form, then he simply mistakes, as can be testified by thousands, +in the most positive manner. But the great essential question is, not +so much whether answers given under such and such circumstances can +be _correct_, as whether answers and communications _can be given at +all_, which have no origin in the minds of the persons engaged in +the experiment, and which must hence be referred to some outside +intelligence? + +The writer under review, after all, acknowledges his incompetency to +unravel this subject, by saying: + + "There are mysteries in Planchette. No one is ready to explain the + mysterious connection between the mind and the little machine, but + there can no longer be any doubt that these curious phenomena, + table-tipping and all, are produced by magnetism and electricity.... + It is useless to ignore these things, or to laugh at them. It were + better to account for them, and subject the influence to the power + of man.... When some scientific man will condescend to toy with + Planchette, we shall have the curtain drawn aside behind which the + spirits have operated these years, and this calamitous + spirit-rapping mania will destroy no longer." + +One might almost regret that this latter thought did not occur to the +writer before he commenced his article, in which case, by a little +patient waiting for this ideal and very condescending "scientific +man," we might have been spared this diatribe of jumbled electricity, +magnetism, will-power, opium, hashish, monomania, and driving wheels. + + +ELECTRICITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. + +From much and varied observation and experiment in reference to the +performances of Planchette, and of kindred phenomena, now extending over +a period of about twenty years, I here record my denial, in the most +emphatic manner, that electricity or magnetism, properly so called, has +anything to do with the mystery at all, and call for the proof that it +has. That a certain psycho-dynamic agency closely allied to, and in some +of its modifications perhaps identical with, Reichenbach's "Od," or +odylic force, may have some mediatorial part to play in the affair, I +do not dispute, nor yet, for the present, do I affirm. But though this +agency has sometimes been identified with what, for the want of a better +term, has been called "animal magnetism," it has yet to be proved, I +believe, that there are any of the properties of the magnet, or of +magnetism, about it, even so much as would suffice to attract the +most comminuted iron filings. It is remarkable that the assertion or +hypothesis that electricity or magnetism is concerned in the production +of the phenomena in question, has never yet had an origin in any high +scientific authority. This is accounted for by the fact that those +who are properly acquainted with this agency, and who have the proper +apparatus at their command, can demonstrate the truth or falsity of +such a hypothesis with the greatest ease. For an experiment, place +your Planchette upon a plate of glass, or some other non-conducting +substance. Attach to it a common pith-ball electrometer, and then let +your medium place his hands upon the board. If electricity equal to the +force even of a small fraction of a grain passes from the medium to +the board, the pith ball, to that extent, will be deflected from its +position. By means of the _Torsion Balance_ electrometer, invented by +Coulomb, the presence of almost the smallest conceivable fraction of +a grain of electrical force in your Planchette or your table might be +detected; and with these delicate tests within reach, tell us not that +the movements in question are caused by electricity till you have +_proved_ it positively and beyond all dispute. + +In the discussion of this electrical theory we have occupied more space +than we originally intended, but we have thought it might be for the +interest of true science to exhibit, once for all, this ridiculous and +yet very popular fallacy, in its true light. + + +THIRD--THE DEVIL THEORY. + +This theory, which appears to have many advocates, is well set forth in +the following excerpts from an article published in the Philadelphia +_Universe_, a Catholic organ: + + "Neither the sight of the eye, nor the touch of the hand, can + discover the spring by which Planchette moves. Therefore it is not, + in its movements, a toy. It moves--undoubtedly it moves. And how? + Intelligently! It answers questions of any kind put to it in any + language required. It does this. This can not be done but by + intelligence. Well, by what description of intelligence? It can not + be supposed that the Divine intelligence is the motive; for how can + God be conceived to make such a manifestation of himself as + Planchette exhibits? + + "A corresponding reason cuts off the idea that it is presided over + by an angelic intelligence; and it is evident to all that a human + mind does not control it. There is but one more character of + intelligence--that of evil spirits. Therefore Planchette is moved by + the agents of hell.... But why should the devil connect himself with + Planchette?... We suppose that the experienced scoundrel is ready to + do anything human wickedness may ask him when souls are the price of + the condescension. But his reasons for particular manifestations are + of small importance here. Facts are facts, and the point is, that + Planchette is not a toy, that it is moved by an intelligence, and + that the intelligence that moves it is necessarily evil. We would + therefore advise all who have a Planchette to build for it a special + fire of pitch and brimstone.... No one has a right to consult the + enemy of God. They who do so are in danger of becoming worshipers of + the devil, and of dwelling with him for ever." + +This theory has at least the merit of being clear, definite, and easy to +be understood, if it is not in all respects convincing. But here we have +an exemplification of the old paradox of an irresistible force coming +in contact with an immovable body. The Catholic priest tells us that +Planchette is _not_ a toy; that it moves by an intelligence and volition +that is not human; that its moving and directing power is of the devil. +The Rev. Dr. Patton, in his article in the _Advance_ (heretofore +referred to), tells us that "It is a philanthropic toy, which may be +used to bring to light hidden connections of mind and body, and to +refute the assumptions of spiritism;" and the Rev. A. D. Field, in his +article in the _Ladies' Repository_, backs up Dr. Patton by saying, that +it is "a mere toy," "is no humbug," is of "some use;"--and, concerning +the _devil_ theory of the general power which moves it and other +physical bodies, he says: there is "too often the spirit of gentleness +to make the theory acceptable." The "immovable body" here, is the +authority of the Catholic priest; the "irresistible force" is the +authority of our clerical brethren representing Protestantism; and after +this fair impingement of the latter upon the former, we shall, perhaps, +have to adopt a compromise solution of the problem, by saying that the +"immovable body" has been moved _a little_, and that the "irresistible +force" has been resisted _some_. + +But this _devil_ theory, if what the Bible teaches us concerning that +personage is true, is encumbered with other difficulties; and the first +of these is, that the devil, however wicked, is not a _fool_. If he +should set a trap for human souls, he would not be so stupid as to tell +them there is a trap there. When approaching human beings, he assumes, +as the good book tells us, the garb of an angel of light; but it is not +likely that he would ever say he is the devil, as Planchette sometimes +does--at least until he felt quite sure of his prey. And again, when, in +a case slightly parallel with cases sometimes involved in the question +in hand, the captious Pharisees accused the Saviour of men of casting +out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils, he reminded them that a +house or a kingdom divided against itself can not stand. Now Planchette, +I admit, is not always a saint--in fact, she sometimes talks and acts +very naughtily as well as foolishly; yet at other times, when a better +_spirit_ takes possession of her, she is gentle, loving, well disposed, +and does certainly give most excellent advice,--advice which could +not be heeded without detriment to the devil's kingdom, and which, +if universally followed, would work its overthrow entirely. It is +inconceivable that Satan would thus tear down with one hand what he +builds up with another. But just at this point I wish to say, I think +there is need of great caution in consulting Planchette on matters +of a weighty or serious nature, lest one should extort from her mere +_confirmations_ of his own errors, either in doctrine or practice; and +that nothing should in any case be accepted from it that is repugnant to +the established principles of the Christian religion. But we are after +the _science_ of the thing now, and for the present that is our only +question--a question, however, which the devil theory, as will appear +from the foregoing, does not seem fully to answer. + + +THEORY OF A FLOATING, AMBIENT MENTALITY. + +It is supposed by those who hold this theory, or rather hypothesis, +that the assumed floating, ambient mentality is an aggregate emanation +from the minds of those present in the circle; that this mentality is +clothed, by some mysterious process, with a force analogous to what it +possesses in the living organism, by which force it is enabled, under +certain conditions, to move physical bodies and write or otherwise +express its thoughts; and that in its expression of the combined +intelligence of the circle, it generally follows the strongest mind, or +the mind that is otherwise best qualified or conditioned to give current +to the thought. Although the writer of the interesting article, entitled +"_Planchette in a New Character_," in _Putnam's Monthly_ for December, +1868, disclaims, at the commencement of his lucubration, all theories on +the subject, yet, after collating his facts, he shows a decided leaning +to the foregoing theory as the nearest approach to a satisfactory +explanation. "Floating, combined intelligence brought to bear upon +an inanimate object," "active intellectual principle afloat in the +circumambient air," are the expressions he uses as probably affording +some light on the subject. This is a thought on which, as concerns its +main features, many others have rested, not only in this country but in +Europe, especially in England, as I am told by a friend who recently +visited several sections of Great Britain where forms of these +mysterious phenomena prevail. + +The first difficulty that stands in the way of this hypothesis is +that it supposes a thing which, if true, is quite as mysterious and +inexplicable as the mystery which it purports to explain. How is it +that an "intellectual principle" can detach itself from an intellectual +being, of whose personality it formed the chief ingredient, and become +an outside, objective, "floating," and "circumambient" entity, with a +capability of thinking, willing, acting, and expressing thought, in +which the original possessor of the emanated principle often has no +conscious participation? And after you have told us this, then tell us +how the "intellectual principle," not only of _one_, but of _several_ +persons can emanate from them, become "floating" and "ambient," and +then, losing separate identity, _conjoin_ and form _one_ active +communicating agent with the powers aforesaid? And after you have +removed from these _mere assumptions_ the aspect of physical and moral +impossibility, you will have another task to perform, and that is to +show us how this emanated, "combined," "floating," "circumambient" +intelligence can sometimes assume an individual and seemingly _personal_ +character of its own, totally distinct from, and, in some features, even +_antagonistic_ to, all the characters in the circle in which the +"emanation" is supposed to have its origin? + +It is not denied now that the answers and communications of Planchette +(and of the influence acting through other channels) often do exhibit +a controlling influence of the mind of the medium or of other persons +in the circle. But no theory should ever be considered as explaining +a mystery unless it covers the _whole ground_ of that mystery. Even, +therefore, should we consider the theory of the "floating intelligence" +of the circle reproducing itself in expression, as explaining that part +of the phenomenon which identifies itself with the minds of the circle +(which it does not), what shall be said of those cases in which the +phenomena exhibit characteristics which are _sui generis_, and can not +possibly have been derived from the minds of the circle? + +That phenomena of the latter class are sometimes exhibited is not +only proved by many other facts that might be cited, but is clearly +exemplified by this same writer in _Putnam's Magazine_. The intelligence +whose performances and communications he relates seems to stand out with +a character and individuality as strongly marked and as distinct from +any and all in the circle as any one of them was distinct from another. +This individuality was first shown by giving its own pet names to the +different persons composing the circle--"Flirt," "Clarkey," "Hon. +Clarke," "The Angel," and "Sassiness." The young lady designated by the +last _sobriquet_, after it had been several times repeated, petitioned +to be indicated thereafter "only by the initial 'S,'" which the +impertinent scribbler accorded only so far as omitting all the letters +except the five S's, so that she was afterward recognized as +"S.S.S.S.S." + +The writer further says: + + "It is always respectful to 'Hon. Clarke,' and when pressed to state + what it thought of him, answered that he was 'a good skipper,' a + reputation fairly earned by his capacity for managing a fleet of + small boats. But we were not contented with so vague an answer, and + our urgent demand for an analysis of his character produced the + reply: 'A native crab apple, but spicy and sweet when ripe.' * * * + When asked to go on, it wrote: 'Ask me Hon. Clarke's character + again, and I will flee to the realms of imperishable woe; or, as + Tabitha is here, say I'll pull your nose;' and on being taunted with + its incapacity to fulfill the threat, it wrote: 'Metaphorically + speaking, of course.' Not satisfied with this rebuff, on another + occasion the subject was again pursued, and the answer elicited as + follows: 'Yes, but you can't fool me. I said nay once, and when I + says nay I means nay.' [A mind of _its own_, then.] More than once + it has lapsed into the same misuse of the verb, as: 'I not only + believes it, but I knows it;' and again: 'You asks and I answers, + because I am here.' * * * + + "Again, on being remonstrated with for illiteracy, it defended + itself by saying: 'I always was a bad speler' (_sic_); an + orthographical blunder that no one in the room was capable of + making. But on the whole, our Planchette is a scientific and + cultivated intelligence, of more than average order, though it may + be, at times, slightly inaccurate in orthography, and occasionally + quote incorrectly; I must even confess that there are moments when + its usual elegance of diction lapses into slang terms and abrupt + contradictions. But, after all, though we flatter ourselves that as + a family we contain rather more than ordinary intelligence, still it + is more than a match for us." + +Who can fail to perceive, from these quotations and admissions, the +marked and distinctive _individuality_ of the intelligence that was +here manifested, as being of itself totally fatal to the idea of +derivation from the circle? + +But not only was this intelligence _distinctive_, but in several +instances even _antagonistic_ to that existing in the circle, as in the +case reported as follows: + + "Some one desiring to pose this ready writer, asked for its theory + of the Gulf Stream; which it announced without hesitation to be + 'Turmoil in the water produced by conglomeration of icebergs.' + Objection was made that the warmth of the waters of the natural + phenomenon rather contradicted this original view of the subject; + to which Planchette tritely responded: 'Friction produces heat.' + 'But how does friction produce heat in this case?' pursued the + questioner. 'Light a match,' was the inconsequent answer--Planchette + evidently believing that the pupil was ignorant of first principles. + 'But the Gulf Stream flows north; how, then, can the icebergs + accumulate at its source?' was the next interrogation; which + elicited the contemptuous reply: 'There is as much ice and snow at + the south pole as at the north, ignorant Clarkey.' 'But it flows + from the Gulf of Mexico?' pursued the undismayed. 'You've got me + there, unless it flows underground,' was the cool and unexpected + retort; and it wound up by declaring, sensibly, that, after all, + 'it is a meeting of the north and south Atlantic currents, which + collide, and the eddie (_sic_) runs northward.' [At another time,] + on being twice interrogated in regard to a subject, it replied + tartly: 'I hate to be asked if I am sure of a fact.'" + +Now, what could have been this intelligence which thus insisted upon +preserving and asserting its individuality so distinctly as to forbid +all reasonable hypothesis of a compounded derivation from the minds of +the circle, even were such a thing possible? A fairy, perhaps, snugly +cuddled up under the board so as to elude observation. Friend "Clarkey," +try again, for surely _this_ time you are a little befogged, or else the +present writer is _more_ so. + + +"TO DAIMONION" (THE DEMON). + +There was published, several years ago, by Gould & Lincoln, Boston, +a little work entitled: "TO DAIMONION, OR THE SPIRITUAL MEDIUM. +_Its nature illustrated by the history of its uniform mysterious +manifestations when unduly excited._ By TRAVERSE OLDFIELD." This author +deals largely in quotations from ancient writers in illustration of his +subject; and as an attempt to explain the mysteries of clairvoyance, +trance, second-sight, "spirit-knockings," intelligent movements of +physical bodies without hands, etc., his work has claims to our +attention which do not usually pertain to the class of works to which it +belongs. "_To Daimonion_" (the demon), or the "spiritual medium," he +supposes to be the _spiritus mundi_, or the spirit of the universe, +which formed so large an element in the cosmological theories of many +ancient philosophers; and this, "when unduly excited" (whatever that +may mean), he supposes to be the medium, not only of many psychic and +apparently preternatural phenomena described in the writings of all +previous ages, but also of the similar phenomena of modern times, of +which it is now admitted that Planchettism is only one of the more +recently developed phases. For some reason, which seemed satisfactory to +him, but which we fear he has not made clear or convincing to the mass +of his readers, this writer assumes it as more than probable that this +_spiritus mundi_--a living essence which surrounds and pervades the +world, and even the whole universe--is identical with the "nervous +principle" which connects the soul with the body,--in all this +unconsciously reaffirming nearly the exact theory first propounded by +Mesmer, in explanation of the phenomena of "animal magnetism," so +called. Quotations are given from Herodotus, Xenophon, Cicero, Pliny, +Galen, and many others, referring to phenomena well known in the times +in which these several writers lived, and which he supposes can be +explained only on the general hypothesis here set forth; and in the same +category of marvels, to be explained in the same way, he places the +performances of the snake-charmers, clairvoyants, thought-readers, etc., +of modern Egypt and India. + +This _spiritus mundi_, or "nervous principle," to which he supposes the +ancients referred when they spoke of "the demon," is, according to his +theory, the medium, or menstruum, by which, under certain conditions +of "excitement," the thoughts and potencies of one mind, with its +affections, emotions, volitions, etc., flow into another, giving rise to +reflex expressions, which, to persons ignorant of this principle, have +seemed possible only as the utterances of outside and supermundane +intelligences. And as this same _spiritus mundi_, or demon, pervades and +connects the mind equally with all _physical_ bodies, in certain _other_ +states of "excitement" it moves those physical bodies, or makes sounds +upon them, expressing intelligence--that intelligence always being a +reflex of the mind of the person who, consciously or unconsciously, +served as the exciting agent. + +Whatever elements of truth this theory, in a _different_ mode of +application, might be found to possess, in the form in which it is here +presented it is encumbered by two or three difficulties which altogether +seem fatal. In the first place, it wears upon its face the appearance of +a thing "fixed up" to meet an emergency, and which would never have been +thought of except by a mind pressed almost to a state of desperation by +the want of a theory to account for a class of facts. Look at it: "The +spirit of the world identical with the nervous principle"!--the same, +"when unduly _excited_," the medium by which a mind may _unconsciously_ +move other minds and organisms, or even dead matter, in the expression +of its own thoughts! Where is the shadow of proof? Is it anything more +than the sheerest assumption? + +Then again: even if this mere assumption were admitted for truth, it +would not account for that large class of facts referred to in the +course of our remarks on the "Electrical theory," unless this _spiritus +mundi_, demon, nervous principle, or spiritual medium, is made at once +not only the "medium," but the intelligent and designing _source_ of +the communication; for, as we have said before, it would be perfectly +useless to deny that thoughts are sometimes communicated through the +Planchette and similar channels, which positively never had any +existence in the minds of any of the persons visibly present. + +And then, too, in relation to the nature of the demon, or demons: the +theory of the ancients, from whose representative minds this writer has +quoted, was notoriously quite different from that which he has given. +The ancients recognized good demons and evil demons. The demon of +Socrates was regarded by him as an invisible, individual intelligence. A +legion of demons were in one instance cast out by Christ from the body +of a man whom they had infested; we can hardly suppose that these were +simply a legion of "nervous principles" or "souls of the world." What +those demons were really understood to be in those days, may be learned +from a passage in the address of Titus to his army, when encamped before +Jerusalem, in which, in order to remove from their minds the fear of +death in battle, he says: + + "For what man of virtue is there who does not know that those souls + which are severed from their fleshy bodies in battles by the sword, + are received by the ether, that purest of elements, and joined to + that company which are placed among the stars; that they become + _good demons_ and propitious heroes, and show themselves as such to + their posterity afterward?"--_Josephus, Wars of the Jews, B. VI., + chap. 1, sec. 5._ + +Hesiod and many others might be quoted to the same purpose; but let +this suffice as to the character and origin of these demons; and it may +suffice also for the theory of _To Daimonion_, as to the particular +mystery here to be explained. + + +IT IS SOME PRINCIPLE OF NATURE AS YET UNKNOWN. + +If there is any wisdom in this theory, it is so profound that we "don't +see it." It looks very much to us as though this amounted only to the +saying that "all we know about the mystery is, that it is _unknown_; all +the explanation that we can give of it is, that it is inexplicable; and +that the only theory of it is, that it has no theory." Thus it leaves +the matter just where it was before, and we should not have deemed this +saying worthy of the slightest notice had we not heard and read so much +grave discussion on the subject, criticising almost every other theory, +and then concluding with the complacent announcement of the writer's or +speaker's theory as superior to all others, that "_it is some principle +or force of nature as yet unknown_!" + + +THEORY OF THE AGENCY OF DEPARTED SPIRITS. + +This theory apparently has both merits and difficulties, which at +present we can only briefly notice. Among the strong points in its +favor, the first and most conspicuous one is, that it accords with +what this mysterious intelligence, in all its numerous forms of +manifestation, has steadily, against all opposition, persisted in +claiming _for itself_, from its first appearance, over twenty years +ago, till this day. And singularly enough, it appears as a fact +which, perhaps, should be stated as a portion of the history of these +phenomena, that years before public attention and investigation were +challenged by the first physical manifestation that claimed a spiritual +origin, an approaching and general revisitation of departed human +spirits was, in several instances, the burden of _remarkable +predictions_. I have in my possession a little book, or bound pamphlet, +entitled, "A Return of Departed Spirits," and bearing the imprint, +"Philadelphia: Published by J. R. Colon, 203½ Chestnut Street, 1843," +in which is contained an account of strange phenomena which occurred +among the Shakers at New Lebanon, N. Y., during the early part of that +year. In the language of the author: "Disembodied spirits began to take +possession of the bodies of the brethren and sisters; and thus, by using +them as instruments, made themselves known by speaking through the +individuals whom they had got into." The writer then goes on to describe +what purported to be the visitations of hundreds in that way, from +different nations and tribes that had lived on earth in different +ages--the consistency of the phenomena being maintained throughout. I +have conversed with leading men among the Shakers of the United States +concerning this affair, and they tell me that the visitation was not +confined to New Lebanon, but extended, more or less, to all the Shaker +communities in the United States--not spreading from one to another, +but appearing nearly simultaneously in all. They also tell me that the +phenomena ceased about as suddenly as they appeared; and that when the +brethren were assembled, by previous appointment, to take leave of their +spirit-guests, they were exhorted by the latter to treasure up these +things in their hearts; to say nothing about them to the world's people, +but to wait patiently, and soon they (the spirits) would return, and +make their presence known to the world generally. + +During the interval between the autumn of 1845 and the spring of 1847, +a book, wonderful for its inculcations both of truth and error, was +dictated in the mesmeric state by an uneducated boy--A. J. Davis--in +which the following similar prediction occurs: + + "It is a truth that spirits commune with one another while one is in + the body and the other in the higher spheres--and this, too, when + the person in the body is unconscious of the influx, and hence can + not be convinced of the fact; and this truth will ere long present + itself in the form of a living demonstration. And the world will + hail with delight the ushering in of that era when the interiors of + men will be opened, and the spiritual communion will be established, + such as is now being enjoyed by the inhabitants of Mars, Jupiter, + and Saturn."--_Nat. Div. Rev., pp. 675, 676._ + +Eight months after the book containing this passage was published, and +more than a year after the words here quoted were dictated and written, +strange rapping sounds were heard in an obscure family in an obscure +village in the western part of New York. On investigation, those sounds +were found to be connected with intelligence, which, rapping at certain +letters of the alphabet as it was called over, spelled sentences, and +claimed to be a _spirit_. The phenomena increased, assumed many other +forms, extended to other mediums, and rapidly spread, not only all +over this country, but over the civilized world. And wherever this +intelligence has been interrogated under conditions which _itself_ +prescribes for proper answers, its great leading and persistent response +to the question, "What are you?" has been, "_We are spirits!_" Candor +also compels us to admit that this claim has been perseveringly +maintained against the combined opposition of the great mass of +intelligent and scientific minds to whom the world has looked for its +guidance; and so successfully has it been maintained, that its converts +are now numbered by millions, gathered, not from the ranks of the +ignorant and superstitious, but consisting mostly of the intelligent +and thinking middle classes, and of many persons occupying the highest +positions in civil and social life. + +At first its opponents met it with expressions of utter contempt and +cries of "humbug." Many ingenious and scientific persons volunteered +their efforts to expose the "trick;" and if they seemed, in some +instances, to meet with momentary success in solving the mystery, the +next day would bring with it some _new_ form of the phenomenon to +which none of their theories would apply. Being finally discouraged by +repeated failures to explain the hidden cause of these wonders, they +withdrew from the field, and for many years allowed the matter to go by +default; and only within the last twelvemonth has investigation of the +subject been re-aroused by the introduction into this country of the +little instrument called "the Planchette"--an instrument which, to our +certain knowledge, was used at least ten years ago in France, and that, +too, as a supposed means of communicating with departed spirits. + +This little board has been welcomed as a "toy" or a "game" into +thousands of families, without suspicion of its having the remotest +connection with so-called "Spiritualism." The cry has been raised, + + "Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," + +but too late! The Trojan walls are everywhere down; the wooden horse is +already dragged into the city with all the armed heroes concealed in its +bowels; the battle has commenced, and must be fought out to the bitter +end, as best it may be; and in the numerous magazine and newspaper +articles that have lately appeared on the subject, we have probably +only the beginning of a clash of arms which must terminate one way or +another. + +Should our grave and learned philosophers find themselves overcome by +this little three-legged spider, it will be mortifying; but in order to +avoid that result, we fear they will have to do better than they have +done yet. + +On the other hand, before the Spiritualists can be allowed to claim the +final victory in this contest, they should, it seems to me, be required +to answer the following questions in a manner satisfactory to the +highest intelligence and the better moral and religious sense of the +community: + +Why is it that "spirits" communicating through your mediums, by +Planchette or otherwise, can not relate, plainly and circumstantially, +_any_ required incident of their lives, as a man would relate his +history to a friend, instead of dealing so much in vague and ambiguous +generalities, as they almost always do, and that, too, often in the bad +grammar or bad spelling of the medium? Or, as a question allied to this, +why is it that what purports to be the _same_ spirit, generally, if not +_always_, fails, when trial is made, to identify himself in the _same +manner_ through any two different mediums? Or, as another question still +allied to the above, why is it that your Websters, Clays, Calhouns, and +others, speaking through mediums, so universally give the idea that they +have deteriorated in intellect since they passed into the spirit-world? +And why is it that so little discourse or writing that possesses real +merit, and so much that is mere drivel, has come through your mediums, +if _spirits_ are the authors? And why does it so often happen that the +spirits--if they _are_ spirits--can not communicate anything except what +is already in the mind of the medium, or at least of some other person +present? It does not quite answer these questions to say that the +medium is "_undeveloped_" unless you explain to us precisely on what +principle the undevelopment affects the case. A speaking-trumpet may +be "undeveloped"--cracked or wanting in some of its parts, so as to +deteriorate the sound made through it; but we should at least expect +that a man speaking through it would speak his own thoughts, and not the +thoughts of the trumpet. + +And then, looking at this subject in its _moral_ and _social_ aspects, +the question should be answered: Why, on the supposition that these +communications really come from immortal spirits, have they made so +little progress, during the twenty years that they have been with +us, in elevating the moral and social standard of human nature, in +making better husbands and wives, parents and children, citizens and +philanthropists, in drawing mankind together in harmony and charity, and +founding and endowing great institutions for the elevation of the race? +Rather may we not ask, in all kindness, why is it that the Spiritualist +community has been little more than a Babel from the beginning to the +present moment? + +Or, ascending to the class of themes that come under the head of +Religion: Why is it that prayer is so generally ignored, and the worship +of God regarded as an unworthy superstition? Why is it that in the +diatribes, dissertations, and speeches of those who profess to act under +the sanction of the "spirits," we have a reproduction of so much of +the slang and ribaldry of the infidels of the last century, and of the +German Rationalism of the present, which is now being rejected by the +Germans themselves? And why is it that in their references to the great +lights of the world, we so often have Confucius, Jesus Christ, and +William Shakspeare jumbled up into indistinguishability? + +I do not say that all these questions may not be answered consistently +with the claims of the spiritual hypothesis, but I _do_ say that before +our Spiritualist friends can have a _right_ to expect the better portion +of mankind to drink down this draft of philosophy which they have mixed, +they must at least satisfy them that there is _no poison_ in it. + +Having thus exhibited these several theories, and, to an extent, +discussed them _pro et contra_, it is but fair that we should now ask +Planchette--using that name in a liberal sense--what is _her_ theory of +the whole matter? Perhaps it may be said that after raising this world +of curiosity and doubt in the public mind as to its own origin and +true nature, we have some semblance of a right to hold this mysterious +intelligence responsible for a solution of the difficulty it has +created; and perhaps if we are a little skillful in putting our +questions, and occasionally call in the aid of Planchette's brothers and +sisters, and other members of this mysterious family, we may obtain some +satisfactory results. + + +PLANCHETTE'S OWN THEORY. + +Planchette is intelligent; she can answer questions, and often answer +them correctly, too. On what class of subjects, then, might she be +expected to give answers more generally correct than those which relate +to herself, especially if the questions be asked in a proper spirit, +and under such conditions as are claimed to be requisite for correct +responses? Following the suggestion of this thought, the original plan +of this essay has been somewhat modified, and a careful consultation +instituted, of which I here submit the results: + +_Inquirer._ Planchette, excuse me if I now treat you as one on whom a +little responsibility is supposed to rest. An exciter of curiosity, if +as intelligent as you appear to be, should be able to satisfy curiosity; +and a creator of doubts may be presumed to have some ability to solve +doubts. May I not, then, expect from _you_ a solution of the mysteries +which have thus far enveloped you? + +_Planchette._ That will depend much upon the spirit in which you may +interrogate me, the pertinence of your questions, and your capacity to +interpret the answers. If you propose a serious and careful consultation +for really useful purposes, there is another thing which you should +understand in the commencement. It is that, owing to conditions and laws +which may yet be explained to you, I shall be compelled to use your own +mind as a scaffolding, so to speak, on which to stand to pass you down +the truths you may seek, and which are above the reach of your own mind +alone. Keep your mind unperturbed, then, as well as intent upon your +object, or I can do but little for you. + +_I._ The question which stands as basic to all others which I wish to +ask is, What is the nature of this power, intelligence, and will that +communicates with us in this mysterious manner? + +_P._ It is the reduplication of your own mental state; it is a spirit; +it is the whole spiritual world; it is God--one or all, according to +your condition and the form and aspect in which you are able to receive +the communication. + +_I._ That is covering rather too much ground for a beginning. For +definiteness, suppose we take one of those points at a time. In +saying, "It is a spirit," do you mean that you yourself, the immediate +communicating agent, are an intelligence outside of, and separate from, +myself, and that that intelligence is the spirit or soul of a man who +once occupied a physical body, as I now do? + +_P._ That is what I assert--only in reaffirmation of what the world, in +explanation of similar phenomena, has been told a thousand times before. + +_I._ Excuse me if I should question you a little closely on this point. +There are grave difficulties in the way of an acceptance of this theory. +The first of these is the _prima facie_ absurdity of the idea. + +_P._ Absurdity! How so? + +_I._ It is so contrary to our ordinary course of thought; contrary, I +may say, to our instincts; contrary to what the human faculties would +naturally expect; contrary to the general experience of the world up to +this time. In fact, the more highly educated minds of the world have +long agreed in classing the idea as among the grossest of superstitions. + +_P._ If you would, in place of each one of these assertions, affirm +directly the contrary, you would come much nearer the truth. It is +certain that the highest minds, as well as the lowest, of all ages and +nations, with only such exceptions as prove rather than disprove the +rule, have confidently believed in the occasional interposition of +spirits in mundane affairs. True, there are in this age many of the +class which you call the "more highly educated minds," who, spoiled by +reasonings merely sensual, and hence necessarily sophistical, do not +admit such an idea; but do not even these generally admit that there is +an invisible world of spirits? + +_I._ Most of them do; all professing Christians do. I do, certainly. + +_P._ Let me test their consistency, and yours, then, by asking, Do they +and you hold that one and the same God made all worlds, both natural and +spiritual, and all things in them? + +_I._ Of course they do; how otherwise? + +_P._ Then, seeing that you acknowledge the unity of the Cause of all +worlds and all things in them, you must acknowledge a certain union of +all these in one universal system as the offspring of that one Cause, +must you not? + +_I._ Yes; I suppose the totality of things, natural and spiritual, must +be acknowledged as forming, in some sense, one united system, of diverse +but mutually correlated parts. + +_P._ Please tell me, then, how there can be any united system in which +the component parts, divisions, and subdivisions, down even to the most +minute, are not each, necessarily and always, in communication with all +the others, either immediately or mediately? + +_I._ I see the point, and acknowledge it is ingeniously made; but do you +not see that the argument fails to meet the whole difficulty? + +_P._ What I do see is, that in admitting a connection of any kind, +whether mediate or immediate, between the natural and spiritual worlds, +you admit that a communication between the two worlds--hence between all +things of one and all things of the other; hence between the intelligent +inhabitants of one and those of the other--is logically not only +possible but probable, not to say certain; and in this admission you +yield the point under immediate discussion, and virtually concede that +the idea of spirit-communication is not only _not absurd_, but is, +indeed, among the most reasonable of things, to which ignorance and +materialistic prejudice alone have given the aspect of absurdity. + +_I._ Well, there is something in that which looks like argument, I must +admit. + +_P._ Can you not go a little farther and admit for established fact, +proved by the testimony of the Book from which you derive your religious +faith, that communications between spirits and mortals have sometimes +taken place? + +_I._ True, but the Bible calls the spirits thus communicating, "familiar +spirits," and those who have dealings with them, "witches" and +"wizards," and forbids the practice under severe penalties. How does +that sound to you, my ingenious friend? + +_P._ The way you put it, it sounds as though you did not quite +understand the full scope of my question; but no matter, since it is +at once a proof and an acknowledgment on your part that spirits have +communicated with mortals--the essential point in dispute, which when +once admitted will render further reasonings more plain. Let me ask you, +however, was not the practice of consulting familiar spirits that is +forbidden in the Bible, a practice that was common among the heathen +nations of those times? + +_I._ It was, and is spoken of as such in several passages. + +_P._ Did not the heathens consult familiar spirits as petty divinities, +or gods, and as such, follow their sayings and commands implicitly? and +would not the Israelites to whom the Old Testament was addressed have +violated the first command in the decalogue by adopting this practice? +and was not that the reason, and the only reason, why the practice was +forbidden? + +_I._ To each of those questions I answer, Yes, certainly. + +_P._ Do the Old or New Testament writings anywhere command us to abstain +from all intercourse with spirits?--or from any intercourse which would +not be a violation of the command, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before +me?" + +_I._ Really I do not know that the Bible contains any such command. + +_P._ Do you not know, on the contrary, that spirits other than those +called "familiar spirits," often did communicate, and with apparently +good and legitimate purposes, too, with men whose names are mentioned in +the Bible? + +_I._ Well, I must in candor say that there were some cases of that kind. + +_P._ May you not, then, from all this learn a rule which will always +be a safe guide to you in respect to the matters under discussion? I +submit for your consideration, that that rule is, "Be not forgetful to +entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." +But even if the "strangers" that may come to you, either of your own +world or the spirit-world, should prove to be "angels," do not follow +them implicitly, or in an unreasoning manner, nor worship them as gods, +for in so doing you would render yourself amenable to the law against +having dealings with "familiar spirits." + +_I._ I must admit that your remarks throw a somewhat new light on the +subject, and I do not know that I can dispute what you say. But even +admitting all your strong points thus far, the spirit-theory of +Planchettism and other and kindred modern wonders remains encumbered +with a mass of difficulties which it seems to me must be removed before +it can be considered as having much claim to the credence of good and +rational minds. On some of these points I propose now to question you +somewhat closely, and shall hope that you will bear with me in the same +patience and candor which you have thus far manifested. + +_P._ Ask your questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my +ability. + + +THE RATIONAL DIFFICULTY. + +_I._ The difficulties, as they appear to me, are of a threefold +character--_Rational_, _Moral_, and _Religious_. I begin with the first, +the Rational Difficulty. And for a point to start from, let me ask, +Is it true, as generally held, that when a man becomes disencumbered +of the clogs and hinderances of the flesh, and passes into the +spirit-world--especially into the realms of the just--his intellect +becomes more clear and comprehensive? + +_P._ That is true, as a general rule. + +_I._ How is it, then, that in returning to communicate with us mortals, +the alleged spirits of men who were great and wise while living on the +earth, almost uniformly appear to have _degenerated_ as to their mental +faculties, being seldom, if ever, able to produce anything above +mediocrity? And why is it that the speaking and writing purporting to +come from spirits, are so generally in the bad grammar, bad spelling, +and other distinctive peculiarities of the style of the medium, and so +often express precisely what the medium knows, imagines, or surmises, +and nothing more? + +_P._ That your questions have a certain degree of pertinence, I must +admit; but in making this estimate of the intelligence purporting to +come from the spiritual world, have you not ignored some things which +candor should have compelled you to take into the account? Think for a +moment. + +_I._ Well, perhaps I ought to have made an exception in your own +favor. Your communication with me thus far has, I must admit, been +characterized by a remarkable breadth and depth of intelligence, as well +as ingenuity of argument. + +_P._ And what, too, of the style and merits of the communications +purporting to come from spirits to other persons and through other +channels--are they not, as an almost universal rule, decidedly superior +to anything the medium could produce, unaided by the influence, whatever +it may be, which acts upon him? + +_I._ Perhaps they are; indeed, I must admit I have known many instances +of alleged spirit-communications which, though evidently stamped with +some of the characteristics of the medium, were quite above the normal +capacity of the latter; yet in themselves considered, they were +generally beneath the capacity of the _living man_ from whose +disembodied spirit they purported to come. + +_P._ By just so much, then, as the production given through a medium is +elevated above the medium's normal capacity, is the influence which acts +upon him to be credited with the character of that production. Please +make a note of this point gained. And now for the question why these +communications should be tinctured with the characteristics of the +medium at all; and why spirits can not, as a general rule, communicate +to mortals their own normal intelligence, freely and without +obstruction, as man communicates with man, or spirit with spirit. But +that we may be enabled to make this mystery more clear, we had better +attend first to another question which I see you have in your mind--the +question as to the potential agent used by spirits in making +communications. + + +THE MEDIUM--THE DOCTRINE OF SPHERES. + +_I._ That is what we are anxious to understand; electricity, magnetism, +odylic force, or whatever you may know or believe it to be--give us all +the light you can on the subject. + +_P._ Properly speaking, neither of these, or neither without important +qualifications. Preparatory to the true explanation, I will lay the +foundation of a new thought in your mind by asking, Do you know of any +body or organism in nature--unless, indeed, it be a _dead_ body--which +has not something answering to an atmosphere? + +_I._ It has been said by some astronomers that the moon has no +atmosphere; though others, again, have expressed the opinion that she +has, indeed, an atmosphere, but a very rare one. + +_P._ Precisely so; and as might have been expected from the rarity +of her atmosphere, she has the smallest amount of cosmic life of +any planetary body in the solar system--only enough to admit of the +smallest development of vegetable and animal forms. Still, every sun, +planet, or other cosmic body in space is generally, and every regularly +constituted form connected with that body is specifically, surrounded, +and also pervaded, by its own peculiar and characteristic atmosphere; +and to this universal rule, minerals, plants, animals, man, and in their +own degree even the disembodied men whom you call "spirits," form no +exception. + +_I._ Do you mean to say that man and spirits, and also the lower living +forms, are surrounded by a sphere of air or wind like the atmosphere of +the earth, but yet no part of that atmosphere? + +_P._ The atmospheres of other bodies than planets are not air or wind, +but in their substances are so different from what you know as the +atmospheres of planets as not to have anything specifically in common +with them. The specific atmospheres of flowers, and when excited by +friction, those also of some metals, and even of stone crystals, +are often perceptible to the sense of smell, and are in that way +distinguishable not only from the atmosphere of the earth, but also from +the atmospheres of each other. But properly speaking, the psychic _aura_ +surrounding man and spirits should no longer be called an atmosphere, +that is, an _atom-sphere_ or sphere of atoms, but simply a "sphere;" +for it is not atomic, that is, material, in its constitution, but is +a spiritual substance, and as such extends indefinitely into space, +or rather has only an indirect relation to space at all. Nor is the +atmosphere, as popularly understood, the only enveloping sphere of the +earth, for beyond and pervading it, and pervading also even all solid +bodies, is a sublime interplanetary substance called "ether," the +vehicle of light, and next approach to spiritual substance; while all +bodies, solid, liquid, and gaseous, are also pervaded by electricity. + +_I._ All that is interesting, but the subject is new to me, and I would +like to have some farther illustration. Can you cite me some familiar +fact to prove that man is actually surrounded and pervaded by a sphere +such as you describe? + +_P._ I can only say that you are at times conscious of the fact +yourself, as all persons are who are possessed of an ordinary degree +of psychic sensitiveness. Does not even the silent presence of certain +persons, though entire strangers, affect you with an uncomfortable sense +of repulsion, perhaps embarrassing your thoughts and speech, while in +the presence of others you at once feel perfectly free, easy, at home, +and experience even a marked and mysterious sense of congeniality? + +_I._ That is so; I have often noticed it, but never could account for +it. + +_P._ Farther than this, have you not at times when free from external +disturbances, with the mind in a revery of loose thoughts, noticed the +abrupt intrusion of the thought of a person altogether out of the line +of your previous meditations, and then observed that the same person +would come bodily into your presence very shortly afterward? + +_I._ I have, frequently; the same phenomenon appears to have been +noticed by others, and is so common an occurrence as to have given rise +to the well-known slang proverb, "Speak of the devil and he will always +appear." + +_P._ Just so; but still further: Have you not personally known of +instances, or been credibly informed of them, in which mutually +sympathizing friends of highly sensitive organizations were mysteriously +and correctly impressed with each other's general conditions, even when +long distances apart, and without any external communication? + +_I._ I have heard and read of many such cases, but could have scarcely +believed them had I not had some experience of the kind myself. + +_P._ There must, then, be here some medium of communication; that medium +is evidently not anything cognizable to either of the five outer senses. +What, then, can it be but the co-related spheres of the two persons, +which I have already told you are not atomic--not material but +spiritual, and as such have little relation to space? + +_I._ That idea, if true, looks to me to be of some importance, and I +would like you, if you can, to show me clearly what relation these +"spheres," as you call them, have to the spiritual nature of man. + +_P._ Consider, then, the primal meaning of the word "spirit:" It is +derived from the Latin _spiritus_, the basic meaning of which is +_breath_, _wind_, air--nearly the same idea that you attach to the word +"atmosphere." So the Greek word _pneuma_, also translated "spirit," +means precisely the same thing. The same meaning is likewise attached +to the Hebrew word _ruach_, also sometimes translated "spirit." Now, +carrying out this use of terms, the wind, air, or atmosphere of the +earth (including the ether, electricity, and other imponderable +elements) is the spirit of the earth;[2] the atmosphere of any other +body, great or small, is the spirit of that body; the atmosphere, or +rather sphere, being now without atoms, of a man, considered as an +intellectual and moral being, is the spirit of that man; the sphere of +a disembodied man or soul is the spirit of that man or soul; and so the +Infinite and Eternal Sphere of the Deity which pervades and controls all +creations both in the spiritual and natural universe, is the Spirit of +the Deity, which in the Bible is called the Holy Spirit. + + [2] Query: Have we here the _spiritus mundi_ of the old + philosophers? + +_I._ Well, those ideas seem singularly consistent with themselves, to +say the least, however novel they may appear. But now another point: You +have said that atmospheres or spheres surround and pervade all bodies, +unless, indeed, they be _dead_ bodies--attributing, as I understand you, +a kind of _cosmic_ life to plants, and a mineral life to minerals, as +well as a vegetable and animal life respectively to vegetables and +animals; do you mean by that to intimate that the sphere is the _effect_ +or the _cause_ of the living body? + +_P._ Of each living material form, the sphere, or at least _some_ +sphere, was the cause. Matter, considered simply by itself, is dead, and +can only live by the influx of a surrounding sphere or spirit. It may +be said at the last synthesis, that the _general_ sphere even of each +microscopic monad that is in process of becoming vitalized, as well as +of the great nebulous mass that is to form a universe, is the Spirit +of the Infinite Deity, which is present with atoms in the degree of +atoms, as well as with worlds in the degree of worlds. This Spirit, +as it embodies itself in matter, becomes segregated, finited, and +individualized, and forms a specific soul, spirit, or sphere by itself, +now no longer deific, but always of a nature necessarily corresponding +to the peculiar form and condition of the matter in which it becomes +embodied. Life, therefore, is not the result of organization, but +organization is the result of life, which latter is eternal, never +having had a beginning, and never to have an end. Some of your +scientific men have recently discovered what they have been pleased to +term "the physical basis of life," in a microscopic and faintly vital +substance called _protoplasm_, which forms the material foundation of +all organic structures, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. They +have not yet, however, discovered the source from which the life found +in this substance comes--which would be plain to them if they understood +the doctrine of spheres and influx as I have here given it. + +_I._ I thank you for this profoundly suggestive thought, even should it +prove to be no more than a thought. But please now show us what bearing +all this has upon the question more particularly before us--the question +as to the medium and process through which this little board is moved, +the tables are tipped, people are entranced and made to speak and write, +and all these modern wonders are produced--also how and why it is that +the alleged spirit-communications are commonly tinctured, more or less, +with the peculiar characteristics of the human agents through whom they +are given? + +_P._ You now have some idea of the doctrine of spheres; you will, +however, understand that the spheres of created beings, owing to a unity +of origin, are universally co-related, and, under proper conditions, can +act and react upon each other. You have before had some true notion of +the laws of _rapport_, which means relation or correspondence. You will +understand, further, that there can be no action between any two things +or beings in any department of creation except as they are in _rapport_ +or correspondence with each other, and that the action can go no farther +than the _rapport_ or correspondence extends. Now, two spirits can +always, when it is in divine order, readily communicate with each other, +because they can always bring themselves into direct _rapport_ at some +one or more points. Though matter is widely discreted from spirit, in +that the one is dead and the other is alive, yet there is a certain +correspondence between the two, and between the degrees of one and the +degrees of the other; and according to this correspondence, relation, +or _rapport_, spirit may act upon matter. Thus your spirit, in all its +degrees and faculties, is in the closest _rapport_ with all the degrees +of matter composing your body, and for this reason alone it is able to +move it as it does, which it will no longer be able to do when that +_rapport_ is destroyed by what you call death. Through your body it is +_en rapport_ with, and is able to act upon, surrounding matter. If, +then, you are in a susceptible condition, a spirit can not only get into +_rapport_ with your spirit, and through it with your body, and control +its motions, or even suspend your own proper action and external +consciousness by entrancement, but if you are at the same time _en +rapport_ with this little board, it can, through contact of your hands, +get into _rapport_ with _that_, and move it without any conscious or +volitional agency on your part. Furthermore, under certain favorable +conditions, a spirit may, through your sphere and body combined, come +into _rapport_ even with the spheres of the ultimate particles of +material bodies near you, and thence with the particles and the whole +bodies themselves, and may thus, even without contact of your hands, +move them or make sounds upon them, as has often been witnessed. Its +action, however, as before said, ceases where the _rapport_ ceases; and +if communications from really intelligent spirits have sometimes been +defective as to the quality of the intelligence manifested, it is +because there has been found nothing in the medium which could be +brought into _rapport_ or correspondence with the more elevated ideas of +the spirit. The spirit, too, in frequent instances, is unable to prevent +its energizing influences from being diverted by the reactive power of +the medium, into the channels of the imperfect types of thought and +expression that are established in his mind, and it is for this simple +reason that the communication is, as you say, often tinctured with the +peculiarities of the medium, and even sometimes is nothing more than +a reproduction of the mental states of the latter, perhaps greatly +intensified. + +_I._ If this theory, so far seemingly very plausible, is really the +correct one, it ought to go one step farther, and explain the many +disorderly unintelligible rappings, thumpings, throwing of stones, +hurling of furniture, etc., which often have occurred in the presence +of particular persons, or at particular places.[3] + + [3] See an article entitled "_A Remarkable Case of Physical + Phenomena_," in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for August, 1868. + +_P._ Those are manifestations which, when not the designed work of evil +spirits, have their proximate source in the dream-region which lies +between the natural and spiritual worlds. + +_I._ Pray tell us what you mean by the dream-region that lies between +the two worlds? + +_P._ There are sometimes conditions in which the body is profoundly +asleep, with no perturbations of the nervous system caused by previous +mental and physical exercise. In this state the mind may still be +perfectly awake, and independently, consciously, and even intensely +active. When thus conditioned, it may be, and often is, among spirits +in the spiritual world, though from the nature of the case it is seldom +able to bring back into the bodily state any reminiscences of the scenes +of that world. The dream state, properly speaking, is not this, but +a state intermediate between this and the normal, wakeful state of +the bodily senses, and is a state of broken, confused, irrational, +inconsistent, and irresponsible thoughts, emotions, and apparent +actions--the whole arising from confusedly intermixed bodily and +spiritual states and influences. The potential spheres of spirits who +desire to make manifestations to the natural world sometimes become +commingled, designedly or otherwise, with the spheres of persons in the +body who, in consequence of certain nervous or psychic disorders, are +more or less in this dream-region even when the body is so far awake as +to be _en rapport_ with external things; and in such cases, whatever +manifestations may arise from the spiritual potencies with which such +persons are surcharged, will of necessity be beyond the control, or +possibly even beyond the cognizance, of any governing spirit, and will +be irrational, inconsistent, and sometimes very annoying, or even +destructive, according to the types of the dreamy mentality of the +medium. If you will think for a moment, you will remember that the kind +of manifestations referred to are never known to occur except in the +presence of persons in a semi-somnambulic or highly hysterical state, +or laboring under some analogous nervous disorders; and the persons are +often of a low organization, and very ignorant. + + +THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY. + +_I._ I am constrained to say, my mysterious friend, that the novelty and +ingenuity of your ideas surprise me greatly, and I do, in all candor, +acknowledge that you have skillfully disposed of my objections to the +spiritual theory of these phenomena on _rational_ grounds, and explained +the philosophy of this thing, in a manner which I am at present unable +to gainsay. I must still hesitate, however, to enroll myself among the +converts to the spiritual theory unless you can remove another serious +objection, which rests on _moral and religious grounds_. From so +important and startling a development as general open communications +from spirits, it seems to me that we would have a right to expect some +conspicuous _good_ to mankind; yet, although this thing has been before +the world now over twenty years, I am unable to see the evidence that +it has wrought any improvement in the moral and social condition of +the converts to its claims. Pray, how do you account for that fact? + +_P._ My friend, that question should be addressed to the Spiritualists, +not to me. I will say, however, that this whole subject, long as it has +been before the world, is still in a chaotic state, its laws have been +very little understood, and even its essential objects and uses have +been very much misconceived. I may add that, from its very nature, its +real practical fruits as well as its true philosophy must necessarily be +the growth of a considerable period of time. + +_I._ I will not, then, press the objection in that form. When we look, +however, at the _Religious_ tendencies of the thing, I do not think we +find much promise of the "practical fruits" which you here intimate may +yet come of it. I lay it down as a proposition which all history proves, +that Infidelity, in all its forms, is an enemy to the human race, and +that it never has done or can do anybody any good, but always has done +and must do harm. But it is notorious that the spirits, if they be +such, with their mediums and disciples, have _generally_ (though not +universally, I grant) assumed an attitude at least of _apparent_ +hostility to almost every thing peculiar to the Christian religion, +and most essential to it, and are constantly reiterating the almost +identical ribaldry and sophistry of the infidels of the last century. +How shall a good and Christian person who knows and has felt the truth +of the vital principles of Christianity become a Spiritualist while +Spiritualism thus denies and scoffs at doctrines which he _feels_ and +_knows_ to be true? + +_P._ The point you thus make is apparently a very strong one. But let +me ask, Can you not conceive that there may be a difference between the +mere word-teaching of Spiritualists and even spirits themselves, and the +_real_ teaching of Spiritualism as such? that is to say, between mere +verbal utterances and phenomenal demonstrations? For illustration, +suppose a man asserts at noonday that there is no sun, does he teach you +there is no sun? or does he teach you that he is blind? + +_I._ That he is blind, of course. + +_P._ So, then, when a spirit comes to you and asserts that there is no +God--it is seldom that they assert that, but we will take an extreme +case--does he teach you that there is no God, or does he teach you that +he himself is a fool? + +_I._ Well, I should say he would teach the latter; but what use would +the knowledge that he is such a fool be to us? + +_P._ It is one of the important providential designs of these +manifestations to teach mankind that spirits in general maintain +the characters that they formed to themselves during their earthly +life--that, indeed, they are the identical persons they were while +dwelling in the flesh--hence, that while there are just, truthful, +wise, and Christian spirits, there are also spirits addicted to lying, +profanity, obscenity, mischief, and violence, and spirits who deny God +and religion, just as they did while in your world. It has become very +necessary for mankind to know all this; it certainly could in no other +way be so effectually made known as by an actual manifestation of it; +and it is just as necessary that you should see the _dark_ side as the +_bright_ side of the picture. + +_I._ Yet a person already adopting, or predisposed to adopt, any false +doctrine asserted by a spirit, would, it seems to me, be in danger of +receiving the spirit-assertion as _verbally_ true. + +_P._ That is to say, a person already in, or inclined to adopt, the +same error that a spirit is in, would be in danger of being confirmed, +for the time being, in that error, by listening to the spirit's +asseveration. This, I admit, is just the effect produced for a time +by the infidel word-teaching of some spirits upon those _already_ +embracing, or inclined to embrace, infidel sentiments. But if you +will look beyond this superficial aspect of the subject at its great +phenomenal and rational teachings, I think you will see that its deeper, +stronger, and more permanent tendency is, not to promote infidelity, but +ultimately to destroy it for ever. I have said before, that the real +object of this development has been very much misconceived; I tell you +now that the great object is to purge the Church itself of its latent +infidelity; to renovate the Christian faith; and to bring theology and +religion up to that high standard which will be equal to the wants of +this age, as it certainly now is not. + +_I._ Planchette, you are now touching upon a delicate subject. You +should know that we are inclined to be somewhat tenacious of our +theological and religious sentiments, and not to look with favor on any +innovations. Nevertheless, I am curious to know how you justify yourself +in this disparaging remark on the theology and religion of the day? + +_P._ I do not mean to be understood that there is not much that is true +and good in it. There is; and I would not by a single harsh word wound +the loving hearts of those who have a spark of real religious life in +them. I would bind up the bruised reed, rather than break it; I would +fan the smoking flax into a flame, rather than quench it. This is the +sentiment of all _good_ spirits, of whom I trust I am one. But let me +say most emphatically, that you want a public religion that will tower +high above all other influences whatsoever; that will predominate over +all, and ask favors of none; that will unite mankind in charity and +brotherly love, and not divide them into hostile sects, and that will +infuse its spirit into, and thus give direction to, all social and +political movements. Such a religion the world must have, or from this +hour degenerate. + +_I._ Why might not the religion of the existing churches accomplish +these results, provided its professors would manifest the requisite zeal +and energy? + +_P._ It is doing much good, and might, on the conditions you specify, +do much more. Yet the public religion has become negative to other +influences, instead of positive, as it should be, from which false +position it can not be reclaimed without such great and vital +improvements as would almost seem to amount to a renewal _ab ovo_. + +_I._ On what ground do you assert that the religion of the day stands in +a position "negative" to other influences? + +_P._ I will answer by asking: Is it not patent to you and all other +intelligent persons, that for the last hundred years the Christian +Church and theology have been standing mainly on the defensive against +the assaults of materialism and the encroachments of science? Has it +not, without adequate examination, poured contempt on Mesmerism, +denounced Phrenology, endeavored to explain away the facts of Geology +and some of the higher branches of Astronomy? Has it not looked with a +jealous eye upon the progress of science generally? and has it not +been at infinite labor in merely defending the _history_ of the life, +miracles, death, and resurrection of Christ, against the negations of +materialists, which labor might, in a great measure, have been saved if +an adequate proof could have been given of the power and omnipotent +working of a _present_ Christ? And what is the course it has taken with +reference to the present spiritual manifestations, the claims of which +it can no more overthrow than it can drag the sun from the firmament? +Now a true church--a church to which is given the power to cast out +devils, and take up serpents, or drink any deadly thing, without being +harmed--will always be able to stand on the aggressive against its +_real_ spiritual foes more than on the mere defensive, and in no case +will it ever turn its back to a fact in science. Its power will be +the power of the Holy Spirit, and not the power of worldly wealth and +fashion. When it reasons of righteousness, temperance, and judgment, +Felix will tremble, but it will never tremble before Felix, lest he +withdraw his patronage from it. + +_I._ I admit that the facts you state about the Church's warfare in +these latter days have not the most favorable aspect; but how the needed +elements of theology and religion are to be supplied by demonstrations +afforded by these latter-day phenomena, I do not yet quite see. + +_P._ If religious teachers will but study these facts, simply _as_ +facts, in all the different aspects which they have presented, from +their first appearance up to this time--study them in the same spirit +in which the chemist studies affinities, equivalents, and isomeric +compounds--in the same spirit in which the astronomer observes planets, +suns, and nebulæ--in the same spirit in which the microscopist studies +monads, blood-discs, and protoplasm--always hospitable to a new fact, +always willing to give up an old error for the sake of a new truth; +never receiving the mere _dicta_ either of spirits or men as absolute +authority, but always trusting the guidance of right reason wherever she +may lead--if, I say, they will but study these great latter-day signs, +providential warnings and monitions, in this spirit, I promise them that +they shall soon find a _rational_ and _scientific_ ground on which to +rest every real Christian doctrine, from the Incarnation to the crown of +glory--miracles, the regeneration, the resurrection, and all, with the +great advantage of having the doctrine of immortality taken out of the +sphere of _faith_ and made a _fixed fact_. Furthermore, I promise them, +on those conditions, that they shall hereafter be able to _lead_ science +rather than be dragged along unwillingly in its trail; and then science +will be forever enrolled in the service of God's religion, and no longer +in that of the world's materialism and infidelity. + +_I._ Planchette, your communication has, upon the whole, been of a most +startling character; tell me, I pray you, what do you call all this +thing, and what is to come of it? + + +WHAT THIS MODERN DEVELOPMENT IS, AND WHAT IS TO COME OF IT. + +_P._ Can you, then, bear an announcement still more startling than any I +have yet made? + +_I._ I really know not; I will try; let us have it. + +_P._ Well, then, I call it a Fourth Great Divine Epiphany or +Manifestation; or what you will perhaps better understand as one of the +developments characterizing the beginning of a Fourth Great Divine +Dispensation. What is to come of it, you will be able to judge as well +as I when you understand its nature. + +_I._ What! so great an event heralded by so questionable an +instrumentality as the rapping and table tipping spirits? + +_P._ Be calm, and at the same time be humble. Remember that it is not +unusual for God to employ the foolish things of this world to confound +the wise, and that when He comes to visit His people, He almost always +comes in disguises, and sometimes even "as a thief in the night." +Besides the spirits of which you speak are only the rough but very +useful pioneers to open a highway through which the King is coming with +innumerable hosts of angels, who, indeed, are already near you, though +you see them not. It is, indeed, an hour of temptation that has come +upon all the world; but be watchful and true, prayerful and faithful, +and fear not. + +_I._ Please tell us then, if you can, something of the nature and +objects of this new Divine Epiphany which you announce; and as you say +it is a _Fourth_, please tell us, in brief, what were the preceding +_Three_, the times of their occurrence, and how they are all +distinguished from each other. + +_P._ The _First_ appealed only to the affections and the inner sense of +the soul, and was the Dispensation of the most ancient Church, when God +walked with man in the midst of the garden of his own interior delights, +and when "Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him." But as +this sense of the indwelling presence of God was little more than a mere +_emotion_, for which, in that period of humanity's childhood, there was +no adequate, rational, and directive intelligence, men, in process of +time, began to mistake _every_ delight as being divine and holy; +thus they justified themselves in their _evil_ delights, or in the +gratification of their lusts and passions, considering even these as all +divine. [The "sons of God" marrying the "daughters of men."--_Gen._ +vi. 2-4.] And as they possessed no adequate reasoning faculty to which +appeals might be made for the correction of these tendencies, and thus +no ground of reformation, the race gradually grew to such a towering +height of wickedness that it had to be almost entirely destroyed. The +_Second_ age or Dispensation, commencing with Noah, was distinctively +characterized by the more special manifestation of God in outward types +and shadows, in the _adyta_ of temples and other consecrated places and +things, from which, as representative seats of the Divine Presence, and +through inspired men, were issued _laws_ to which terrible penalties +were annexed, as is exemplified by the law issued from Mount Sinai. +The evil passions of men were thus put under restraint, and a rational +faculty of discriminating between right and wrong--that is to say, a +_Conscience_--was at the same time developed. But the sophistical use +of these types and shadows (of which all ancient mythology is an +outgrowth), and the accompanying perversion of the general conscience +of mankind, gradually generated _Idolatry_ and _Magic_ with all their +complicated evils, against which the Jewish Church, though belonging to +the same general Dispensation, was specially instituted to react. +Furthermore, as the mere restraints of penal law necessarily imply the +existence in man of latent evils upon which the restraint is imposed, it +is manifest that such a dispensation alone could not bring human nature +to a state of perfection; and so a _Third_ was instituted, in which _God +was manifested in the flesh_. That is to say, He became incarnate in +one man who was so constituted as to embody in himself the qualitative +totality of Human Nature, that through this one Man as the Head of the +Body of which other men were the subordinate organs, He might become +united with all others--so that by the spontaneous movings of the living +Christ within, and thus in perfect freedom, they might live the divine +life in their very fleshly nature, previously the source of all sinful +lusts, but now, together with the inner man, wholly regenerated and +made anew. Here, then, is a _Trinity_ of Divine manifestations, to +the corresponding triune degrees of the nature of man--the inner or +affectional degree, the intermediate, rational, or conscience degree, +and the external, or sensuous degree. + +But while this was all that was necessary as a ground for the perfect +union of man with God, in the graduated triune degrees here mentioned, +and thus all that was necessary for his personal salvation in a sphere +of being beyond and above the earthy, it was _not_ all that was +necessary to perfect his relations to the great and mysterious realm of +forms, materials, and forces which constitute the theater of his earthly +struggles; nor was it quite all that was necessary to project and carry +into execution the plan of that true and divine structure, order and +government of human society which might be appropriately termed "the +kingdom of heaven upon earth; wherefore you have now, according to a +divine promise frequently repeated in the New Testament, a _Fourth_ +Great Divine Manifestation, which proves to be a manifestation of God in +_universal science_. + +_I._ But that "_Fourth_ Manifestation" (or "_second_ coming," as we are +in the habit of calling it), which was promised in the New Testament, +was to be attended with imposing phenomena, of which we have as yet seen +nothing. It was to be a coming of Christ "in the clouds of heaven, with +power and great glory," and the resurrection of the dead, the final +judgment, etc., were to occur at the same time? + +_P._ Certainly; but you would not, of course, insist upon putting a +strictly literal interpretation upon this language, and thus turning +it into utter and senseless absurdity. The _real "heaven"_ is not that +boundary of your vision in upper space which you call the sky, but the +interior and living reality of things. The "_clouds_" that are meant +are not those sheets of condensed aqueous vapor which float above +your head, but the material coatings which have hitherto obscured +interior realities, and through which the Divine _Logos_, the "Sun of +Righteousness," is now breaking with a "power" which moves dead matter +without visible hands, and with a "great glory," or light, which reveals +a spiritual world within the natural. The "_Resurrection_" is not the +opening of the literal graves, and re-assembling of the identical flesh, +blood, and bones of dead men and nations which, during hundreds and +even thousands of years, have been combining and re-combining with the +universal elements; but it is the re-establishment of the long-suspended +relations of spirits with the earthly sphere of being, by which they +are enabled to freely manifest themselves again to their friends in the +earthly life, and often to receive great benefits in return; and if +you do not yet see, as accompanying and growing out of all this, the +beginning of an ordeal that is to try souls, institutions, creeds, +churches, and nations, as by fire, you had better wait awhile for a more +full exposition of the "_last judgment_." People should learn that the +kingdom of God comes not to _outward_ but to _inward_ observation, and +that as for the prophetic words which have been spoken on this subject, +"they are spirit, and they are life." + +_I._ And what of the changed aspects of science that is to grow out of +this alleged peculiar Divine manifestation? + +_P._ To answer that question fully would require volumes. Be content, +then, for the present, with the following brief words: Hitherto science +has been almost wholly materialistic in its tendencies, having nothing +to do with spiritual things, but ignoring and casting doubts upon them; +while _spiritual_ matters, on the other hand, have been regarded by the +Church wholly as matters of faith with which science has nothing to +do. But through these modern manifestations, God is providentially +furnishing to the world all the elements of a spiritual science which, +when established and recognized, will be the stand-point from which +all physical science will be viewed. It will then be more distinctly +known that all external and visible forms and motions originate from +invisible, spiritual, and ultimately divine causes; that between cause +and effect there is always a necessary and intimate _correspondence_; +and hence that the whole outer universe is but the symbol and sure +index of an invisible and _vastly more real_ universe within. From +this unitary basis of thought the different sciences as now correctly +understood may be co-related in harmonic order as One Grand Science, the +_known_ of which, by the rule of correspondence, will lead by easy clews +to the _unknown_. The true structure and government of human society +will be clearly hinted by the structure and laws of the universe, +and especially by that _microcosm_, or little universe, the human +organization. All the great stirring questions of the day, including the +questions of suffrage, woman's rights, the relations between labor and +capital, and the questions of general political reform, will be put into +the way of an easy and speedy solution; and mankind will be ushered into +the light of a brighter day, socially, politically, and religiously, +than has ever yet dawned upon the world. + +_I._ My invisible friend, the wonderful nature of your communication +excites my curiosity to know your name ere we part. Will you have the +kindness to gratify me in this particular? + +_P._ That I may not do. My name is of no consequence in any respect. +Besides, if I should give it, you might, unconsciously to yourself, be +influenced to attach to it the weight of a personal authority, which +is specially to be avoided in communications of this kind. There is +nothing to prevent deceiving spirits from assuming great names, and you +have no way of holding them responsible for their statements. With +thinkers--minds that are developed to a vigorous maturity--the truth +itself should be its only and sufficient authority. If what I have told +you appears intrinsically rational, logical, scientific, in harmony with +known facts, and appeals to your convictions with the force of truth, +accept it; if not, reject it; but I advise you not to reject it before +giving it a candid and careful examination. I may tell you more at some +future time, but for the present, farewell. + + +CONCLUSION. + +Here the interview ended. It was a part of my original plan, after +reviewing various theories on this mysterious subject, to propound one +of my own; but this interview with Planchette has changed my mind. +I confess I am amazed and confounded, and have nothing to say. The +commendable motive which the invisible intelligence, whatever it may +be, assigned in the last paragraph for refusing to give its name, +also prompts me to withhold my own name from this publication for the +present, and likewise to abstain from the explanation I intended to +give of certain particulars as to the manner and circumstances of this +communication. On its own intrinsic merits alone it should be permitted +to rest; and as I certainly feel that my own conceptions have been +greatly enlarged, not to say that I have been greatly instructed, I give +it forth in the hope that it may have the same effect upon my readers. + + +HOW TO WORK PLANCHETTE. + +We have received letters from different persons who have tried +Planchette, but failed to make her work. Our correspondents wish to know +the reason of the failure, and what conditions must be complied with on +their part to remedy the difficulty. We reply by the insertion of the +following rules, which should be read in connection with the descriptive +paragraph near the commencement of this pamphlet: + + =RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN USING PLANCHETTE.= + + For some persons (strong magnetizers), "Planchette" moves at once, + and for one such person it moves rapidly and writes distinctly. With + such a person it is not necessary for another to put their hands on; + it will operate alone for them, and better than with two persons. + + It has been noticed that one pair of male and one pair of female + hands form a more perfect Battery to work "Planchette" than two + males or two females would do. + + It has also been noticed that one light and one dark complexioned + person are better than two light or two dark persons would be + together; also, that two females, with their hands on together, are + better than the hands of two males would be. + + If, after observing these rules, "Planchette" should refuse to + write, or move, different persons must try until the necessary + Battery is formed to make it operate. (It is here remarked that the + average number of persons able to work "Planchette" is about five + to eight; but it is still possible, but improbable, to have an + assemblage of eight persons and not any be able to make "Planchette" + go.) After it is ascertained who are the proper persons to move + "Planchette," no end of fun, amusement, and possibly instruction, + will be afforded. + +According to the experience of the present writer, the proportional +number of those for whom Planchette will work promptly, and from the +first, is not quite so great as here given. But by perseverance through +repeated trials, under the right mental and physical conditions, +most persons may at length obtain responsive movements, more or less +satisfactory. Planchette, however (or the intelligence which moves her), +likes to be treated with a decent respect, and has a repugnance to +confusion. Ask her, therefore, none but respectful questions, and _only +one of these at a time_; and when there are several persons in the +company anxious to obtain responses, while one is consulting let all +the others keep _perfectly quiet_, and each patiently await his turn. +A non-compliance with these conditions generally spoils the experiment. + + + + +SPIRITUALISM. + +BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + + [The following was written for, and published in the _Christian + Union_. It was reprinted in THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL in 1870. We + present it here, as in some measure explanatory of all the matter + which precedes it. There are many who do not accept all that is + claimed to be true, in Modern Spiritualism, who will entertain the + moderate views expressed by The Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. + EDITOR.] + + +It is claimed that there are in the United States four million +Spiritualists. The perusal of the advertisements in any one of the +weekly newspapers devoted to this subject will show that there is a +system organized all over the Union to spread these sentiments. From +fifty to a hundred, and sometimes more, of lecturers advertise in a +single paper, to speak up and down the land; and lyceums--progressive +lyceums for children, spiritual pic-nics, and other movements of the +same kind, are advertised. This kind of thing has been going on from +year to year, and the indications now are that it is increasing rather +than diminishing. + +It is claimed by the advocates of these sentiments that the number of +those who boldly and openly profess them is exceeded by the greater +number of those who are _secretly_ convinced, but who are unwilling to +encounter the degree of obloquy or ridicule which they would probably +meet on an open avowal. + +All these things afford matter for grave thought to those to whom none +of the great and deep movements of society are indifferent. When we +think how very tender and sacred are the feelings with which this has +to do--what power and permanency they always must have, we can not but +consider such a movement of society entitled at least to the most +serious and thoughtful consideration. + +Our own country has just been plowed and seamed by a cruel war. The +bullet that has pierced thousands of faithful breasts has cut the +nerve of life and hope in thousands of homes. What yearning toward the +invisible state, what agonized longings must have gone up as the sound +of mournful surges, during these years succeeding the war! Can we wonder +that any form of religion, or of superstition, which professes in the +least to mitigate the anguish of that cruel separation, and to break +that dreadful silence by any voice or token, has hundreds of thousands +of disciples? If on review of the spiritualistic papers and pamphlets we +find them full of vague wanderings and wild and purposeless flights of +fancy, can we help pitying that craving of the human soul which all this +represents and so imperfectly supplies? + +The question arises, Has not the Protestant religion neglected to +provide some portion of the true spiritual food of the human soul, and +thus produced this epidemic craving? It is often held to be a medical +fact that morbid appetites are the blind cry of nature for something +needed in the bodily system which is lacking. The wise nurse or mother +does not hold up to ridicule the poor little culprit who secretly picks +a hole in the plastering that he may eat the lime; she considers within +herself what is wanting in this little one's system, and how this lack +shall be more judiciously and safely supplied. If it be phosphate of +lime for the bones which nature is thus blindly crying for, let us give +it to him more palatably and under more attractive forms. + +So with the epidemic cravings of human society. The wise spiritual +pastor or master would inquire what is wanting to these poor souls that +they are thus with hungry avidity rushing in a certain direction, +and devouring with unhealthy eagerness all manner of crudities and +absurdities. + +May it not be spiritual food, of which their mother, the Church, has +abundance, which she has neglected to set before them? + +Now, if we compare the religious teachings of the present century with +those of any past one, we shall find that the practical spiritualistic +belief taught by the Bible has to a great extent dropped out of it. + +Let us begin with the time of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more evident +in reading his life than that he was acting all the time in view of +_unseen_ and spiritual influences, which were more pronounced and +operative to him than any of the _visible_ and materialistic phenomena +of the present life. In this respect the conduct of Christ, if +imitated in the present day, would subject a man to the imputation of +superstition or credulity. He imputed things to the direct agency of +invisible spirits acting in the affairs of life, that we, in the same +circumstances, attribute only to the constitutional liabilities of the +individual acted upon by force of circumstances. + +As an example of this, let us take his language toward the Apostle +Peter. With the habits of modern Christianity, the caution of Christ to +Peter would have been expressed much on this fashion: "Simon, Simon, +thou art impulsive, and liable to be carried away with sudden +impressions. The Jews are about to make an attack on me which will +endanger thee." + +This was the exterior view of the situation, but our Lord did not take +it. He said, "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee that he may +sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail +not." This Satan was a person ever present in the mind of Christ. He +was ever in his view as the invisible force by which all the visible +antagonistic forces were ruled. When his disciples came home in triumph +to relate the successes of their first preaching tour, Christ said, "I +beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." When the Apostle Peter +rebuked him for prophesying the tragical end of his earthly career, +Christ answered not him, but the invisible spirit whose influence over +him he recognized: "Get thee behind me, Satan! Thou art an offense unto +me." + +When the Saviour's last trial approached, he announced the coming crisis +in the words, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." +When he gave himself into the hands of the Sanhedrim, he said, "This is +your hour and that of the powers of darkness." When disputing with the +unbelieving Jews, he told them that they were of their father, the +devil; that he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the +truth; that when he spoke a lie he spoke of his own, for he was a liar, +and the father of lies. + +In short, the life of Christ, as viewed by himself, was not a conflict +with enemies _in the flesh_, but with an invisible enemy, artful, +powerful, old as the foundations of the world, and ruling by his +influences over evil spirits and men in the flesh. + +The same was the doctrine taught by the Apostles. In reading the +Epistles we see in the strongest language how the whole visible world +was up in arms against them. St. Paul gives this catalogue of his +physical and worldly sufferings, proving his right to apostleship mainly +by perseverance in persecution. "In labors more abundant, in stripes +above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft; of the Jews five +times received I forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with rods, +once was I stoned; thrice have I suffered shipwreck--a night and a day +have I been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of water, in +perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the +heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils +among false brethren." + +One would say with all this, there was a sufficient array of physical +and natural causes against St. Paul to stand for something. In modern +language--yea, in the language of good modern Christians--it would be +said "What is the use of taking into account any devil or any invisible +spirits to account for Paul's trials and difficulties?--it is enough +that the whole world has set itself against what he teaches--Jew and +Gentile are equally antagonistic to it." + +But St. Paul says in the face of all this, "We are not wrestling with +flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and the leaders of +the darkness of this world, and against wicked spirits in high places;" +and St. Peter, recognizing the sufferings and persecutions of the early +Christians, says, "Be sober, be vigilant." Why? "Because your adversary, +the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." + +In like manner we find in the discourses of our Lord and the Apostles +the recognition of a counteracting force of good spirits. When +Nathaniel, one of his early disciples, was astonished at his spiritual +insight, he said to him, "Thou shalt see greater things than these! +Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and angels of God ascending and +descending on the Son of man." When he spoke of the importance of little +children, he announced that each one of them had a guardian angel who +beheld the face of God. When he was transfigured on the Mount, Moses and +Elijah appeared in glory, and talked with him of his death that he was +to accomplish at Jerusalem. In the hour of his agony in the garden, an +angel appeared and ministered to him. When Peter drew a sword to defend +him, he said, "Put up thy sword. Thinkest thou that I can not now pray +to my Father, and he will give me more than twelve legions of angels?" + +Thus, between two contending forces of the invisible world was +Christianity inaugurated. During the primitive ages the same language +was used by the Fathers of the church, and has ever since been +traditional. + +But we need not say that the fashion of modern Protestant theology and +the custom of modern Protestant Christianity have been less and less of +this sort. + +We hear from good Christians, and from Christian ministers, talk of this +sort: A great deal is laid to the poor devil that he never thought of. +If men would take care of their own affairs the devil will let them +alone. We hear it said that there is no _evidence_ of the operation +of invisible spirits in the course of human affairs. It is all a mere +matter of physical, mental, and moral laws working out their mission +with unvarying certainty. + +But is it a fact, then, that the great enemy whom Christ so constantly +spoke of is dead? Are the principalities and powers and rulers of the +darkness of this world, whom Paul declared to be the real opponents that +the Christian has to arm against, all dead? If that great enemy whom +Christ declared the source of all opposition to himself is yet living, +with his nature unchanged, there is as much reason to look for his +action behind the actions of men and the vail of material causes as +there was in Christ's time; and if the principalities and powers and +rulers of the darkness of this world, that Paul speaks of, have not +died, then they are now, as they were in his day, the _principal_ thing +the Christian should keep in mind and against which he should arm. + +And, on the other hand, if it is true, as Christ declared, that every +little child in him has a guardian angel, who always beholds the +Father's face; if, as St. Paul says, it is true that the angels all are +"ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs +of salvation," then it follows that every one of us is being constantly +watched over, cared for, warned, guided, and ministered to by invisible +spirits. + +Now let us notice in what regions and in what classes of mind the modern +spiritualistic religion has most converts. + +To a remarkable degree it takes minds which have been denuded of all +faith in spirits; minds which are empty, swept of all spiritual belief, +are the ones into which any amount of spirits can enter and take +possession. + +That is to say, the human soul, in a state of starvation for one of its +normal and most necessary articles of food, devours right and left every +marvel of modern spiritualism, however crude. + +The old angelology of the Book of Daniel and the Revelation is poetical +and grand. Daniel sees lofty visions of beings embodying all the grand +forces of nature. He is told of invisible princes who rule the destiny +of nations! Michael, the guardian prince of the Jews, is hindered +twenty-one days from coming, at the prayer of Daniel, by the conflicting +princes of Media and Persia. In the New Testament, how splendid is the +description of the angel of the resurrection! "And behold, there was a +great earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and +came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it! His +countenance was as the lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and +for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men." We have +here spiritualistic phenomena worthy of a God--worthy our highest +conceptions--elevated, poetic, mysterious, grand! + +And communities, and systems of philosophy and theology, which have +explained all the supernatural art of the Bible, or which are always +apologizing for it, blushing for it, ignoring and making the least they +can of it--such communities will go into spiritualism by hundreds and +by thousands. Instead of angels, whose countenance is as the lightning, +they will have ghosts and tippings and tappings and rappings. Instead +of the great beneficent miracles recorded in Scripture, they will have +senseless clatterings of furniture and breaking of crockery. Instead of +Christ's own promise, "He that keepeth my commandments, I will love him +and manifest _myself_," they will have manifestations from all sorts of +anonymous spirits, good, bad, and indifferent. + +Well, then, what is the way to deal with spiritualism? Precisely what +the hunter uses when he stands in the high, combustible grass and sees +the fire sweeping around him on the prairies. He sets fire to the grass +all around him, and it burns _from_ instead of _to_ him, and thus he +fights fire with fire. Spiritualism, in its crudities and errors, can be +met only in that way. The true spiritualism of the Bible is what will be +the only remedy for the cravings of that which is false and delusive. + +Some years ago the writer of this, in deep sorrow for the sudden death +of a son, received the following letter from a Roman Catholic priest, +in a neighboring town. He was a man eminent for holiness of life and +benevolence, and has since entered the rest of the blessed. + + DEAR MADAM: In the deep affliction that has recently visited you I + implore you to remember well that there is a communion of spirits of + the departed just, which death can not prevent, and which, with + prayer, can impart much consolation. This, with the condolence of + every parent and child in my flock, I beg leave to offer you, + wishing, in the mean time, to assure you of my heartfelt regret and + sympathy. + + Yours, very truly, JAMES O'DONNELL, + Catholic Pastor, Lawrence. + +What is this communion which death can not prevent, and which with +prayer can impart consolation? It is known in the Apostles' Creed as + + "THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS." + +When it is considered what social penalties attach to the profession of +this faith, one must admit that only some very strong cause can induce +persons of standing and established reputation openly to express beliefs +of this kind. The penalty is loss of confidence and being reputed of +unsound mind. It is not an easy thing to profess belief in anything +which destroys one's reputation for sanity, yet undoubtedly this is the +result. + +It must also be admitted that most of the literature which has come into +existence in this way is of a doubtful and disreputable kind, and of a +tendency to degrade rather than elevate our conceptions of a spiritual +state. + +Yet such is the hunger, the longing, the wild craving of the human soul +for the region of future immortality, its home-sickness for its future +home, its perishing anguish of desire for the beloved ones who have +been torn away from it, and to whom in every nerve it still throbs and +bleeds, that professed words and messages from that state, however +unworthy, are met with a trembling agony of eagerness, a willingness to +be deceived, most sorrowful to witness. + +But any one who judges of the force of this temptation merely by what is +published in the _Banner of Light_, and other papers of that class, has +little estimate of what there is to be considered in the way of existing +phenomena under this head. + +The cold scientists who, without pity and without sympathy, have +supposed that they have had under their dissecting knives the very +phenomena which have deluded their fellows, mistake. They have not seen +them, and in the cold, unsympathizing mood of science, they never can +see them. The experiences that have most weight with multitudes who +believe more than they dare to utter, are secrets deep as the grave, +sacred as the innermost fibers of their souls--they can not bring their +voices to utter them except in some hour of uttermost confidence and to +some friend of tried sympathy. They know what they have seen and what +they have heard. They know the examinations they have made they know the +inexplicable results, and, like Mary of old, they keep all these sayings +and ponder them in their hearts. They have no sympathy with the vulgar, +noisy, outward phenomena of tippings and rappings and signs and +wonders. They have no sympathy with the vulgar and profane attacks on +the Bible, which form part of the utterances of modern seers; but they +can not forget, and they can not explain things which in sacred solitude +or under circumstances of careful observation have come under their +own notice. They have no wish to make converts--they shrink from +conversation, they wait for light; but when they hear all these things +scoffed at, they think within themselves--Who knows? + +We have said that the strong, unregulated, and often false +spiritualistic current of to-day is a result of the gradual departure +of Christendom from the true supernaturalism of primitive ages. We have +shown how Christ and his Apostles always regarded the invisible actors +on the stage of human existence as more powerful than the visible ones; +that they referred to their influence over the human spirit and over the +forces of nature, things which modern rationalism refers only to natural +laws. We can not illustrate the departure of modern society from +primitive faith better than in a single instance--a striking one. + +The Apostles' Creed is the best formula of Christian faith--it is common +to the Greek, the Roman, the Reformed Churches, and published by our +Pilgrim Fathers in the New England Primer in connection with the +Assembly's Catechism. It contains the following profession: + + "I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the + Communion of Saints; the Forgiveness of Sins," etc. + +In this sentence, according to Bishop Pearson on the Creed, are +announced four important doctrines: 1. The Holy Ghost; 2. The Holy +Catholic Church; 3. The Communion of Saints; 4. The Forgiveness of Sins. + +To each one of these the good Bishop devotes some twenty or thirty pages +of explanation. + +But it is customary with many clergymen in reading to slur the second +and third articles together, thus: "I believe in the Holy Catholic +Church, the communion of saints"--that is to say, I believe in the Holy +Catholic Church, which is the communion of saints. + +Now, in the standard edition of the English Prayer Book, and in all the +editions published from it, the separate articles of faith are divided +by semicolons--thus: "The Holy Ghost; The Holy Catholic Church; The +Communion of Saints." But in our American editions the punctuation is +altered to suit a modern rationalistic idea--thus: "The Holy Catholic +Church, the Communion of Saints." + +The doctrine of the Communion of Saints, as held by primitive +Christians, and held still by the Roman and Greek Churches, is thus +dropped out of view in the modern Protestant Episcopal reading. + +But what is this doctrine? Bishop Pearson devotes a long essay to it, +ending thus: + + Every one may learn by this what he is to understand by this part of + the article in which he professeth to believe in the Communion of + Saints. + +Thereby he is conceived to express thus much: + + "I am fully persuaded of this, as a necessary and infallible truth, + that such persons as are truly sanctified in the Church of Christ, + while they live in the crooked generations of men and struggle with + all the miseries of this world, have fellowship with God the Father, + God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ... that they partake of the + kindness and care of the blessed angels who take delight in + ministrations for their benefit, that ... they have an intimate + union and conjunction with all the saints on earth as being members + of Christ; NOR IS THIS UNION SEPARATED BY THE DEATH OF ANY, but they + have communion with all the saints who, from the death of Abel, have + departed this life in the fear of God, and now enjoy the presence of + the Father, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. + + "_And thus I believe in the Communion of Saints._" + +Now, we appeal to the consciences of modern Christians whether this +statement of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints represents the +doctrine that they have heard preached from the pulpit, and whether it +has been made practically so much the food and nourishment of their +souls as to give them all the support under affliction and bereavement +which it certainly is calculated to do? + +Do they really believe themselves to partake in their life-struggle +of the kindness and care of the blessed angels who take delight in +ministrations for their benefit? Do they believe they are united by +intimate bonds with all Christ's followers? Do they believe that the +union is not separated by the death of any of them, but that they have +communion with all the saints who have departed this life in the faith +and now enjoy the presence of the Father? + +Would not a sermon conceived in the terms of this standard treatise +excite an instant sensation as tending toward the errors of +Spiritualism? And let us recollect that the Apostles' Creed from which +this is taken was as much a standard with our Pilgrim Fathers as the +Cambridge Platform. + +If we look back to Cotton Mather's Magnalia, we shall find that the +belief in the ministration of angels and the conflict of invisible +spirits, good and evil, in the affairs of men, was practical and +influential in the times of our fathers. + +If we look at the first New England Systematic Theology, that of Dr. +Dwight, we shall find the subject of Angels and Devils and their +ministry among men fully considered. + +In the present theological course at Andover that subject is wholly +omitted. What may be the custom in other theological seminaries of the +present day we will not say. + +We will now show what the teaching and the feeling of the primitive +church was on the subject of the departed dead and the ministrations of +angels. In _Coleman's Christian Antiquities_, under the head of Death +and Burial of the Early Christians, we find evidence of the great and +wide difference which existed between the Christian community and all +the other world, whether Jews or heathen, in regard to the vividness of +their conceptions of immortality. The Christian who died was not counted +as lost from their number--the fellowship with him was still unbroken. +The theory and the practice of the Christians was to look on the +departed as no otherwise severed from them than the man who has gone +to New York is divided from his family in Boston. He is not within the +scope of the senses, he can not be addressed, but he is the same person, +with the same heart, still living and loving, and partners with them of +all joys and sorrows. + +But while they considered personal identity and consciousness unchanged +and the friend as belonging to them, as much after death as before, +they regarded his death as an advancement, an honor, a glory. It was +customary, we are told, to celebrate the day of his death as his +birth-day--the day when he was born to new immortal life. Tertullian, +who died in the year 220 in his treatise called the _Soldier's +Chaplet_, says: "We make anniversary oblations for the dead--for their +birth-days," meaning the day of their death. In another place he says, +"It was the practice of a widow to pray for the soul of her deceased +husband, desiring on his behalf present refreshment or rest, and a part +in the first resurrection," and offering annually for him oblation on +the day of his _falling asleep_. By this gentle term the rest of the +body in the grave was always spoken of among Christians. It is stated +that on these anniversary days of commemorating the dead they were used +to make a feast, inviting both clergy and people, but especially the +poor and needy, the widows and orphans, that it might not only be a +memorial of rest to the dead, but a memorial of a sweet savor in the +sight of God. + +A Christian funeral was in every respect a standing contrast to the +lugubrious and depressing gloom of modern times. Palms and olive +branches were carried in the funeral procession, and the cypress +was rejected as symbolizing gloom. Psalms and hymns of a joyful and +triumphant tone were sung around the corpse while it was kept in the +house and on the way to the grave. St. Chrysostom, speaking of funeral +services, quotes passages from the psalms and hymns that were in common +use, thus: + + "What mean our psalms and hymns? Do we not glorify God and give him + thanks that he hath crowned him that has departed, that he hath + delivered him from trouble, that he hath set him free from all fear? + Consider what thou singest at the time. 'Turn again to thy rest, O + my soul, for the Lord hath rewarded thee;' and again: 'I will fear + no evil because thou art with me;' and again: 'Thou art my refuge + from the affliction that compasseth me about.' Consider what these + psalms mean. If thou believest the things which thou sayest to be + true, why dost thou weep and lament and make a pageantry and a mock + of thy singing? If thou believest them _not_ to be true, why dost + thou play the hypocrite so much as to sing?" + +Coleman says, also: + + "The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at funerals and + often at the grave itself. By this rite it was professed that the + communion of saints was still perpetuated between the living and the + dead. It was a favorite idea that both still continued members of + the same mystical body, the same on earth and in heaven."--_Antiq., + p. 413._ + +Coleman says, also, that the early Christian utterly discarded all the +Jewish badges and customs of mourning, such as sackcloth and ashes and +rent garments, and severely censured the Roman custom of wearing black. + + St. Augustine says: "Why should we disfigure ourselves with black, + unless we would imitate unbelieving nations, not only in their + wailing for the dead, but also in their mourning apparel? Be + assured, these are foreign and unlawful usages." + + He says, also: "Our brethren are not to be mourned for being + liberated from this world when we know that they are not _om_itted + but _pre_mitted, receding from us only that they may precede us, so + that journeying and voyaging before us they are to be _desired_ but + not lamented. Neither should we put on black raiment for them when + they have already taken their white garments; and occasion should + not be given to the Gentiles that they should rightly and justly + reprove us, that we grieve over those as extinct and lost who we say + are now alive with God, and the faith that we profess by voice and + speech we deny by the testimony of our heart and bosom." + +Are not many of the usages and familiar forms of speech of modern +Christendom a return to old heathenism? Are they not what St. Augustine +calls a repudiation of the Christian faith? The black garments, the +funeral dreariness, the mode of speech which calls a departed friend +lost--have they not become the almost invariable rule in Christian life? + +So really and truly did the first Christians believe that their friends +were still one with themselves, that they considered them even in their +advanced and glorified state a subject of prayers. + +Prayer for each other was to the first Christians a reality. The +intimacy of their sympathy, the entire oneness of their life, made +prayer for each other a necessity, and they prayed for each other +instinctively as they prayed for themselves. So, St. Paul says "_Always_ +in _every_ prayer of mine making request for you always with joy." +Christians are commanded without ceasing to pray for each other. As +their faith forbade them to consider the departed as lost or ceasing to +exist, or in any way being out of their fellowship and communion, it did +not seem to them strange or improper to yield to that impulse of the +loving heart which naturally breathes to the Heavenly Father the name of +its beloved. On the contrary, it was a custom in the earliest Christian +times, in the solemn service of the Eucharist, to commend to God in a +memorial prayer the souls of their friends _departed_, but not _dead_. +In Coleman's _Antiquities_, and other works of the same kind, many +instances of this are given. We select some: + +Arnobius, in his treatise against the heathen writers, probably in 305, +speaking of the prayers offered after the consecration of the elements +in the Lord's Supper, says "that Christians prayed for pardon and peace +in behalf of the living and dead." Cyril, of Jerusalem, reports the +prayer made after consecrating the elements in Holy Communion in these +words: + + "We offer this sacrifice in memory of those who have fallen asleep + before us, first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that + God by their prayers and supplications may receive our supplications + and those we pray for, our holy fathers and bishops, and all that + have fallen asleep before us, believing it is of great advantage to + their souls to be prayed for while the holy and tremendous sacrifice + lies upon the altar." + +A memorial of this custom has come into the Protestant Church in the +Episcopal Eucharistic service where occur these words: "And we also +bless thy Holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith +and fear, beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow their good +examples, that we with them may be partakers of thy Heavenly Kingdom." +It will be seen here the progress of an idea, its corruption and its +reform. + +The original idea with the primitive Christian was this: "My friend is +neither dead nor changed. He is only gone before me, and is promoted to +higher joy; but he is still mine and I am his. Still can I pray for him, +still can he pray for me; and as when he was here on earth we can be +mutually helped by each other's prayers." + +Out of this root--so simple and so sweet--grew idolatrous exaggerations +of saint worship and a monstrous system of bargain and sale of prayers +for the dead. The Reformation swept all this away--and, as usual with +reformations, swept away a portion of the primitive truth--but it +retained still the Eucharistic memorial of departed friends as a +fragment of primitive simplicity. + +The Church, furthermore, appointed three festivals of commemoration of +these spiritual members of the great Church Invisible with whom they +held fellowship--the festivals of All Souls, of All Angels, of All +Saints. + +Two of these are still retained in the Episcopal Church the feast of +St. Michael and All Angels, and the feast of All Saints. These days +are derived from those yearly anniversaries which were common in the +primitive ages. + +[Here we have a formal deprecation of the tendency of modern orthodoxy +to withdraw from what was once regarded as a proper religious belief and +sentiment, and which modern Spiritualists warmly accept, and make one of +the chief grounds for their doctrine of intercommunication between the +departed dead and the living. We expect to give our readers other papers +by Mrs. Stowe in continuation of her discussion on the subject. + + * * * * * + +In the following letter, or extract from a letter, from Mr. Andrew +Jackson Davis, one of the leading lights and exponents of Spiritualism +at the present day, we have a voice from the _inside_, furnishing some +information with regard to the state of spiritualistic affairs in +America, and some of the expected results of the movement.] + +"Spiritualism, for the most part, is a _shower_ from the realm of +intelligences and uncultured affections. It is rapidly irrigating and +fertilizing everything that has root and the seed-power to grow. It +is starting up the half-dead trees of Sectarianism, causing the most +miserable weeds to grow rapid and rank, and of course, attracting very +general attention to religious feelings and super-terrene existences. + +"As an effect of this spiritualistic rain, you may look for an +immense harvest of both wheat and tares--the grandest growths in great +principles and ideas on the one hand, and a fearful crop of crudities +and disorganizing superstitions on the other. There will be seen +floating on the flood many of our most sacred institutions. Old +wagon-ruts, long-forgotten cow-tracks, every little hole and corner in +the old highways, will be filled to the brim with the rain. You will +hardly know the difference between the true springs and the flowing +mud-pools visible on every side. Many noble minds will stumble as they +undertake to ford the new streams which will come up to their very +door-sills, if not into their sacred and established habitations. +Perhaps lives may be lost; perhaps homes may be broken up; perhaps +fortunes may be sacrificed; for who ever heard of a great flood, a storm +of much power, or an earthquake, that did not do one, or two, or _all_ +of these deplorable things? Spiritualism is, indeed, all and everything +which its worst enemies or best friends ever said of it;--a great rain +from heaven, a storm of violence, a power unto salvation, a destroyer +and a builder too--each, and all, and everything good, bad, and +indifferent; for which every one, nevertheless, should be thankful, as +eventually all will be when the evil subsides, when the severe rain is +over, and the clouds dispersed--when even the blind will see with new +eyes, the lame walk, and the mourners of the world be made to rejoice +with joy unspeakable. + +"Of course, my kind brother, you know that I look upon 'wisdom' +organized into our daily lives, and 'love' inspiring every heart, as the +only true heaven appointed saviour of mankind. And all spiritual growth +and intellectual advancement in the goodnesses and graces of this +redeemer I call an application of the Harmonial Philosophy. But I find, +as most likely you do, that it is as hard to get the Spiritualists to +become Harmonial Philosophers as to induce ardent Bible-believers to +daily practice the grand essentials which dwell in the warm heart of +Christianity." + + * * * * * + +It is not long since the writer was in conversation with a very +celebrated and popular minister of the modern Church, who has for +years fulfilled a fruitful ministry in New England. He was speaking of +modern Spiritualism as one of the most dangerous forms of error--as an +unaccountable infatuation. The idea was expressed by a person present +that it was after all true that the spirits of the departed friends were +in reality watching over our course and interested in our affairs in +this world. + +The clergyman, who has a fair right, by reason of his standing and +influence to represent the New England pulpit, met that idea by a prompt +denial. "A pleasing sentimental dream," he said, "very apt to mislead, +and for which there is no scriptural and rational foundation." We have +shown in our last article what the very earliest Christians were in +the habit of thinking with regard to the unbroken sympathy between the +living and those called dead, and how the Church by very significant and +solemn acts pronounced them to be not only alive, but alive in a fuller, +higher, and more joyful sense than those on earth. + +We may remember that among the primitive Christians the celebration of +the Lord's Supper was not as in our modern times a rare and unfrequent +occurrence, coming at intervals of two, three, and even six months, but +that it occurred every Sunday, and on many of the solemn events of life, +as funerals and marriages, and that one part of the celebration always +consisted in recognizing by a solemn prayer the unbroken unity of the +saints below and the saints in heaven. We may remember, too, that it was +a belief among them that angels were invisibly present, witnessing and +uniting with the eucharistic memorial--a belief of which we still have +the expression in that solemn portion of the Episcopal communion service +which says, "Wherefore with angels and archangels, and with all the +company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy Holy Name." + +This part of the eucharistic service was held by the first Christians +to be the sacred and mysterious point of confluence when the souls of +saints on earth and the blessed in heaven united. So says Saint +Chrysostom: + + "The seraphim above sing the holy Trisagion hymn; the holy + congregation of men on earth send up the same; the general assembly + of celestial and earthly creatures join together; there is one + thanksgiving, one exultation; one choir of men and angels rejoicing + together." + +And in another place he says: + + "The martyrs are now rejoicing in concert, partaking of the mystical + songs of the heavenly choir. For if while they were in the body + whenever they communicated in the sacred mysteries they made part of + the choir, singing with the cherubim, 'holy, holy, holy,' as ye all + that are initiated in the holy mysteries know; much more now, being + joined with those whose partners they were in the earthly choir, + they do with greater freedom partake of those solemn glorifications + of God above." + +The continued identity, interest and unbroken oneness of the departed +with the remaining was a topic frequently insisted on among early +Christian ministers--it was one reason of the rapid spread of +Christianity. Converts flocked in clouds to the ranks of a people who +professed to have vanquished death--in whose inclosure love was forever +safe, and who by so many sacred and solemn acts of recognition consoled +the bereaved heart with this thought, that their beloved, though +unseen, was still living and loving--still watching, waiting, and caring +for them. + +Modern rationalistic religion says: "We do not know anything about +them--God has taken them: of them and their estate we know nothing: +whether they remember us, whether they know what we are doing, whether +they care for us, whether we shall ever see them again to know them, are +all questions vailed in inscrutable mystery. We must give our friends up +wholly and take refuge in God." + +But St. Augustine, speaking on the same subject, says: + + "Therefore, if we wish to hold communion with the saints in eternal + life we must think much of imitating them. They ought to recognize + in us something of their virtues, that they may better offer their + supplications to God for us. These [virtues] are the foot-prints + which the blessed returning to their country have left, that we + shall follow their path to joy. Why should we not hasten and run + after them that we too may see our fatherland? There a great crowd + of dear ones are awaiting us, of parents, brethren, children, a + multitudinous host are longing for us--now secure of their own + safety, and anxious only for our salvation." + +Now let us take the case of some poor, widowed mother, from whose heart +has been torn an only son--pious, brave, and beautiful--her friend, her +pride, her earthly hope--struck down suddenly as by a lightning stroke. +The physical shock is terrible--the cessation of communion, if the +habits of intercourse and care, if the habit, so sweet to the Christian, +of praying for that son, must all cease. We can see now what the +primitive Church would have said to such a mother: "Thy son is _not_ +dead. To the Christian there is no death--follow his footsteps, imitate +his prayerfulness and watchfulness, and that he may the better pray for +thee, keep close in the great communion of saints." Every Sabbath would +bring to her the eucharistic feast, when the Church on earth and the +Church in heaven held their reunion, where "with angels and archangels, +and all the company of heaven," they join their praises! and she +might feel herself drawing near to her blessed one in glory. How +consoling--how comforting such Church fellowship! + +A mother under such circumstances would feel no temptation to resort to +doubtful, perplexing sources, to glean here and there fragments of that +consolation which the Church was ordained to give. In every act of life +the primitive Church recognized that the doors of heaven were open +through her ordinances and the communion of love with the departed blest +unbroken. + +It has been our lot to know the secret history of many who are not +outwardly or professedly Spiritualists--persons of sober and serious +habits of thought, of great self-culture and self-restraint, to whom it +happened after the death of a friend to meet accidentally and without +any seeking or expecting on their part with spiritualistic phenomena of +a very marked type. These are histories that never will be unvailed to +the judgment of a scoffing and unsympathetic world; that in the very +nature of the case must forever remain secret; yet they have brought to +hearts bereaved and mourning that very consolation which the Christian +Church ought to have afforded them, and which the primitive Church so +amply provided. + +In conversation with such, we have often listened to remarks like this: +"I do not seek these things--I do not search out mediums nor attend +spiritual circles. I have attained all I wish to know, and am quite +indifferent now whether I see another manifestation." "And what," we +inquired, "is this something that you have attained?" "Oh, I feel +perfectly certain that my friend is not dead--but alive, unchanged, in +a region of joy and blessedness, expecting me, and praying for me, and +often ministering to me." + +Compare this with the language of St. Augustine, and we shall see that +it is simply a return to the stand-point of the primitive Church. + +Among the open and professed Spiritualists are some men and women of +pure and earnest natures, and seriously anxious to do good, and who +ought to be distinguished from the charlatans who have gone into it +merely from motives of profit and self-interest. Now it is to be +remarked that this higher class of spiritualists, with one voice, +declare that the subject of spiritual communication is embarrassed with +formidable difficulties. They admit that lying spirits often frequent +the circle, that they are powerful to deceive, and that the means of +distinguishing between the wiles of evil spirits and the communications +of good ones are very obscure. + +This, then, is the prospect. The pastures of the Church have been +suffered to become bare and barren of one species of food which the +sheep crave and sicken for the want of. They break out of the inclosure +and rush, unguided, searching for it among poisonous plants, which +closely resemble it, but whose taste is deadly. + +Those remarkable phenomena which affect belief upon this subject are +not confined to paid mediums and spiritual circles, so called. They +sometimes come of themselves to persons neither believing in them, +looking for them, nor seeking them. Thus coming they can not but +powerfully and tenderly move the soul. A person in the desolation of +bereavement, visited with such experiences, is in a condition which +calls for the tenderest sympathy and most careful guidance. Yet how +little of this is there to be found! The attempt to unvail their history +draws upon them, perhaps, only cold ridicule and a scarcely suppressed +doubt of their veracity. They are repelled from making confidence where +they ought to find the wisest guidance, and are drawn by an invisible +sympathy into labyrinths of deception and error--and finally, perhaps, +relapse into a colder skepticism than before. That such experiences +are becoming common in our days, is a fact that ought to rouse true +Christians to consideration, and to searching the word of God to find +the real boundaries and the true and safe paths. + +We have stated in the last article, and in this, what the belief and the +customs of the primitive Christians were in respect to the departed. We +are aware that it does not follow, of course, that a custom is to be +adopted in our times because the first Christians preached and taught +it. A man does not become like his ancestors by dressing up in their old +clothes--but by acting in their _spirit_. It is quite possible to wear +such robes and practice such ceremonies as the early Christians did +and not to be in the least like them. Therefore let us not be held as +advocating the practice of administering the eucharist at funerals, and +of praying for the dead in the eucharistic service, because it was done +in the first three centuries. But we do hold to a return to the _spirit_ +which caused these customs. We hold to _that belief_ in the unbroken +unity possible between those who have passed to the higher life than +this. We hold to that vivid faith in things unseen which was the +strength of primitive Christians. The first Christians _believed_ what +they said they did--we do not. The unseen spiritual world, its angels +and archangels, its saints and martyrs, its purity and its joys, were +ever before them, and that is why they were such a mighty force in the +world. St. Augustine says that it was the vision of the saints gone +before that inspired them with courage and contempt of death--and it is +true. + +In another paper we shall endeavor to show how far these beliefs of the +primitive Church correspond with the Holy Scripture. + + + + +DR. DODDRIDGE'S DREAM + + [In concluding these Psychological discussions, what is there more + appropriate than the following? If it be called only a dream, or, + even a delusion, what harm can come of it? Is it not in keeping with + Scripture teachings, as now interpreted? For ourselves, we enjoy our + own opinions on subjects not susceptible of proof to the external + senses. Others may do the same. EDITOR.] + + +Dr. Doddridge was on terms of very intimate friendship with Dr. +Samuel Clarke, and in religious conversation they spent many happy +hours together. Among other matters, a very favorite topic was the +intermediate state of the soul, and the probability that at the instant +of dissolution it was introduced into the presence of all the heavenly +hosts, and the splendors around the throne of God. One evening, after a +conversation of this nature, Dr. Doddridge retired to rest, and "in the +visions of the night" his ideas were shaped into the following beautiful +form. + +He dreamed that he was at the house of a friend, when he was taken +suddenly and dangerously ill. By degrees he seemed to grow worse, and at +last to expire. In an instant he was sensible that he had exchanged the +prison-house and sufferings of mortality for a state of liberty and +happiness. Embodied in a slender, aerial form, he seemed to float in a +region of pure light. Beneath him lay the earth, but not a glittering +city or a village, the forest or the sea were visible. There was naught +to be seen below save the melancholy group of his friends, weeping +around his lifeless remains. Himself thrilled with delight, he was +surprised at their tears, and attempted to inform them of his happy +change, but by some mysterious power, utterance was denied; and as he +anxiously leaned over the mourning circle, gazing fondly upon them and +struggling to speak, he rose silently upon the air, their forms became +more and more indistinct, and gradually melted away from his sight. +Reposing upon golden clouds, he found himself swiftly mounting the +skies, with a venerable figure at his side, guiding his mysterious +movements, and in whose countenance he discovered the lineaments of +youth and age blended together, with an intimate harmony and majestic +sweetness. + +They traveled together through a vast region of empty space, until, at +length, the battlements of a glorious edifice shone in the distance, and +as its form rose brilliant and distinct among the far-off shadows that +flitted athwart their path, the guide informed him that the palace he +beheld was, for the present, to be his mansion of rest. Gazing upon its +splendor, he replied that while on earth he had often heard that eye +had not seen, nor ear heard, nor could the heart of man conceive, +the things which God hath prepared for those who love him; but +notwithstanding the building to which they were rapidly approaching was +superior to anything he had before beheld, yet its grandeur had not +exceeded the conceptions he had formed. The guide made no reply--they +were already at the door, and entered. The guide introduced him into a +spacious apartment, at the extremity of which stood a table, covered +with a snow-white cloth, a golden cup, and a cluster of grapes, and then +said that he must leave him, but that _he_ must remain, for in a short +time he would receive a visit from the lord of the mansion, and that +during the interval before his arrival, the apartment would furnish him +sufficient entertainment and instruction. The guide vanished, and he +was left alone. He began to examine the decorations of the room, and +observed that the walls were adorned with a number of pictures. Upon +nearer inspection he perceived, to his astonishment, that they formed a +complete biography of his own life. Here he saw depicted, that angels, +though unseen, had ever been his familiar attendants; and sent by God +they had sometimes preserved him from imminent peril. He beheld himself +first represented as an infant just expiring, when his life was +prolonged by an angel gently breathing into his nostrils. Most of the +occurrences delineated were perfectly familiar to his recollection, and +unfolded many things which he had never before understood, and which had +perplexed him with many doubts and much uneasiness. Among others he was +particularly impressed with a picture in which he was represented as +falling from his horse, when death would have been inevitable had not +an angel received him in his arms and broken the force of his descent. +These merciful interpositions of God filled him with joy and gratitude, +and his heart overflowed with love as he surveyed in them all an +exhibition of goodness and mercy far beyond all that he had imagined. + +Suddenly his attention was arrested by a knock at the door. The lord of +the mansion had arrived--the door opened and he entered. So powerful and +overwhelming, and withal of such singular beauty was his appearance, +that he sank down at his feet, completely overcome by his majestic +presence. His lord gently raised him from the ground, and taking his +hand led him forward to the table. He pressed with his fingers the juice +of the grapes into the golden cup, and after having himself drank, +he presented it to him, saying, "This is the new wine in my Father's +kingdom." No sooner had he partaken than all uneasy sensations vanished, +perfect love had now cast out fear, and he conversed with the Saviour as +an intimate friend. Like the silver rippling of a summer sea he heard +fall from his lips the grateful approbation: "Thy labors are finished, +thy work is approved; rich and glorious is the reward." Thrilled with +an unspeakable bliss, that pervaded the very depths of his soul, he +suddenly saw glories upon glories bursting upon his view. The Doctor +awoke. Tears of rapture from this joyful interview were rolling down his +cheeks. Long did the lively impression of this charming dream remain +upon his mind, and never could he speak of it without emotions of joy, +and with tender and grateful remembrance. + + + + +BRAIN AND MIND; + +OR, + +MENTAL SCIENCE CONSIDERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF +PHRENOLOGY, + +AND + +IN RELATION TO MODERN PHYSIOLOGY. + + By HENRY S. DRAYTON, A.M., M.D., and JAMES MCNEILL, A.B. Illustrated + with over 100 Portraits and Diagrams. 12mo, extra cloth, $1.50. + + This contribution to the science of mind has been made in response + to the demand of the time for a work embodying the grand principles + of Phrenology, as they are understood and applied to-day by the + advanced exponents of mental philosophy, who accept the doctrine + caught by Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe. + +The following, from the Table of Contents, shows the scope of the work: + + General Principles; Of the Temperaments; Structure of the Brain and + Skull; Classification of the Faculties; The Selfish Organs; The + Intellect; The Semi-Intellectual Faculties; The Organs of the + Social Functions; The Selfish Sentiments; The Moral and Religious + Sentiments; How to Examine Heads; How Character is Manifested; The + Action of the Faculties; The Relation of Phrenology to Metaphysics + and Education; Value of Phrenology as an Art; Phrenology and + Physiology; Objections and Confirmations by the Physiologists; + Phrenology in General Literature. + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS. + + "Phrenology is no longer a thing laughed at. The scientific + researches of the last twenty years have demonstrated the fearful + and wonderful complication of matter, not only with mind, but with + what we call moral qualities. Thereby, we believe, the divine origin + of 'our frame' has been newly illustrated, and the Scriptural + psychology confirmed; and in the Phrenological Chart we are disposed + to find a species of 'urim and thummim,' revealing, if not the + Creator's will concerning us, at least His revelation of essential + character. The above work is, without doubt, the best popular + presentation of the science which has yet been made. It confines + itself strictly to facts, and is not written in the interest of any + pet 'theory.' It is made very interesting by its copious + illustrations, pictorial and narrative, and the whole is brought + down to the latest information on this curious and suggestive + department of knowledge."--_Christian Intelligencer, N. Y._ + + "Whether a reader be inclined to believe Phrenology or not, he must + find the volume a mine of interest, gather many suggestions of the + highest value, and rise from its perusal with clearer views of the + nature of mind and the responsibilities of human life. The work + constitutes a complete text-book on the subject."--_Presbyterian + Journal, Philadelphia._ + + "In 'Brain and Mind' the reader will find the fundamental ideas on + which Phrenology rests fully set forth and analyzed, and the science + clearly and practically treated. It is not at all necessary for the + reader to be a believer in the science to enjoy the study of the + latest exposition of its methods. The literature of the science is + extensive, but so far as we know there is no one book which so + comprehensively as 'Brain and Mind' defines its limits and treats of + its principles so thoroughly, not alone philosophically, but also in + their practical relation to the everyday life of man."--_Cal. + Advertiser._ + +In style and treatment it is adapted to the general reader, abounds with +valuable instruction expressed in clear, practical terms, and the work +constitutes by far the best Text-book on Phrenology published, and is +adapted to both private and class study. + +The illustrations of the Special Organs and Faculties are for the most +part from portraits of men and women whose characters are known, and +great pains have been taken to exemplify with accuracy the significance +of the text in each case. For the student of mind and character the work +is of the highest value. By mail, postpaid, on receipt of price, $1.50. +Address, + +FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers, 753 Broadway, N. Y. + + + + +[Illustration: 6. Combativeness. 3. Friendship.] + +THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL + + +is widely known in America and Europe, having been before the reading +world fifty years, and occupying a place in literature exclusively its +own, viz.: the study of =Human Nature=. + +It has long met with the approval of the press and the people, and +as a means of introducing the JOURNAL and extending an interest in +the subject, we have prepared a new =Phrenological Chart=. This is a +handsome lithograph of a symbolical head, in which the relative location +of each of the organs is shown by special designs illustrating the +function of each in the human mind. + +These sketches are not simply outlines, as shown above, but many of them +are little gems of artistic design and coloring in themselves, and will +help the student to locate the faculties and to impress his mind with a +correct idea of their prime functions. + +For instance, =Combativeness= is represented by a scene in a +lawyer's office, where a disagreement has led to an angry dispute; +=Secretiveness= is shown by a picture of the cunning fox attempting to +visit a hen-roost by the light of the moon; the teller's desk in a bank +represents =Acquisitiveness=; a butcher's shop is made to stand for +=Destructiveness=; the familiar scene of the "Good Samaritan" exhibits +the influence of =Benevolence=; =Sublimity= is pictured by a sketch of +the grand scenery of the Yosemite Valley. + +The Chart also contains a printed Key, giving the names and definitions +of the different faculties. The whole picture is very ornamental, and +must prove a feature of peculiar attraction wherever it is seen; nothing +like it for design and finish being elsewhere procurable. + +It is mounted with rings for hanging on the wall, and will be +appropriate for the home, office, library, or school. The head itself is +about twelve inches wide, beautifully lithographed in colors, on heavy +plate paper, about 19 x 24 inches. Price, $1.00. It is published and +offered as a special premium for subscribers to the =Phrenological +Journal= for 1885. To those who prefer it, we will send the +Phrenological Bust as a premium. The Journal is published at $2.00 a +year, with 15 cents extra required when the Chart or Bust is sent. +Single Number, 20 cents. Address + + +FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers, 753 Broadway, N. Y. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +Words in italics have been surrounded with _underscores_ and bold words +with =signs=. Small capitals have been changed to all capitals. + +Some of the section titles in the Table of Contents are different from +the ones in the main text. This has not been changed. + +One of the page numbers in the Table of Contents has been changed from +"82" to "81". A few punctuation errors have been corrected without note. +Also the following changes have been made, on page + + 49 "griovous" changed to "grievous" (for the accusing of several + persons of a grievous crime) + 110 "Prostestant" changed to "Protestant" (the custom of modern + Protestant Christianity have been) + 119 "occurence" changed to "occurrence" (a rare and unfrequent + occurrence, coming at intervals) + 119 "occured" changed to "occurred" (but that it occurred every + Sunday). + +Otherwise the original was preserved, including archaic spelling and +inconsistent hyphenation. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Salem witchcraft, The planchette +mystery, and Modern spiritualism, by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Phrenological Journal + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42318 *** |