THE EPWORTH RAPPINGS.
IT does not seem as if a Life of John Wesley would be complete without
an account of what was known as the "Epworth rappings," which occurred
in the home of Samuel Wesley in 1716, while John was at the Charterhouse
School, London. They occasioned no little speculation among philosophers
and doubters in general, not only at the time they occurred, but down to
the present day. A brief description of these strange noises, and how
they were regarded at the time, may be proper in this place.
On the night of December 2, 1716, Robert Brown, Mr. Wesley's servant,
and one of the maids of the family were alone in the dining room. About
ten o'clock they heard a strong knocking on the outside of the door
which opened into the garden. They answered the call, but no one was
there. A second knock was heard, accompanied by a groan. The door was
again and again opened, as the knocks were repeated, with the same
result. Being startled, they retired for the night.
As Mr. Brown reached the top of the stairs a hand mill, at a little
distance, was seen whirling with great velocity. On seeing the strange
sight he seemed only to regret that it was not full of malt. Strange
noises were heard in and about the room during the night. These were
related to another maid in the morning, only to be met with a laugh,
and, "What a pack of fools you are!" This was the beginning of these
strange noises in the Epworth parsonage.
Subsequently, knocking was heard on the doors, on the bedstead, and at
various times in all parts of the house.
Susannah and Ann were one evening below stairs in the dining room and
heard knockings at the door and overhead. The next night, while in their
chamber, they heard knockings under their feet, while no person was in
the chamber at the time, nor in the room below. Knockings were heard at
the foot of the bed and behind it.
Mr. Wesley says that, on the night of the 21st of December, "I was
wakened, a little before one o'clock, by nine distinct and very loud
knocks, which seemed to be in the next room to ours, with a short pause
at every third knock." The next night Emily heard knocks on the bedstead
and under the bed. She knocked, and it answered her. "I went down
stairs," says Mr. Wesley, "and knocked with my stick against the joists
of the kitchen. It answered me as loud and as often as I knocked."
Knockings were heard under the table; latches of doors were moved up and
down as the members of the family approached them. Doors were violently
thrust against those who attempted to open or shut them.
When prayer was offered in the evening, by the rector, for the king, a
knocking began all around the room, and a thundering knock at the
_amen_. This was repeated at morning and evening, when prayer was
offered for the king. Mr. Wesley says, "I have been thrice pushed by an
invisible power, once against the corner of my desk in my study, and a
second time against the door of the matted chamber, and a third time
against the right side of the frame of my study door, as I was going
in."
Mr. Poole, the vicar of Haxey, an eminently pious and sensible man, was
sent for to spend the night with the family. The knocking commenced
about ten o'clock in the evening. Mr. Wesley and his brother clergyman
went into the nursery, where the knockings were heard. Mr. Wesley
observed that the children, though asleep, were very much affected; they
trembled exceedingly and sweat profusely; and, becoming very much
excited, he pulled out a pistol and was about to fire it at the place
from whence the sound came. Mr. Poole caught his arm and said: "Sir, you
are convinced that this is something preternatural. If so, you cannot
hurt it, but you give it power to hurt you." Then going close to the
place, Mr. Wesley said: "Thou deaf and dumb devil, why dost thou
frighten these children, who cannot answer for themselves? Come to me in
my study, who am a man." Instantly the particular knock which the rector
always gave at the gate was given, as if it would shiver the board in
pieces. The next evening, on entering his study, of which no one but
himself had the key, the door was thrust against him with such force as
nearly to throw him down.
A sound was heard as if a large iron bell was thrown among bottles under
the stairs; and as Mr. and Mrs. Wesley were going down stairs they heard
a sound as if a vessel of silver were poured upon Mrs. Wesley's breast
and ran jingling down to her feet; and at another time a noise as if all
the pewter were thrown about the kitchen. But on examination all was
found undisturbed.
The dog, a large mastiff, seemed as much disturbed by these noises as
the family. On their approach he would run to Mr. and Mrs. Wesley,
seeking shelter between them. While the disturbances continued the dog
would bark and leap, and snap on one side and on the other, and that
frequently before any person in the room heard any noise at all. But
after two or three days he used to tremble and creep away before the
noise began; and by this the family knew of its approach. Footsteps
were heard in all parts of the house, from cellar to garret. Groans and
every sort of noise were heard all over the house too numerous to
relate. Whenever it was attributed to rats and mice the noises would
become louder and fiercer.
These disturbances continued for some four months and then subsided,
except that some members of the family were annoyed by them for several
years.
Mr. Wesley was frequently urged to quit the parsonage. His reply was
eminently characteristic: "No," said he, "let the devil flee from me. I
will never flee from the devil."
Every effort was made to discover the cause of these disturbances, but
without satisfactory results, save that all believed they were
preternatural. The whole family were unanimous in the belief that it was
satanic.
A full account of these noises was prepared from the most authentic
sources by John Wesley and published in the _Arminian Magazine_. Dr.
Priestley, an unbeliever, confessed it to have been the
best-authenticated and best-told story of the kind that was anywhere
extant; and yet, so strongly wedded was he to his materialistic views,
he could not accept them, nor find what might be regarded as a
commonsense solution of them. He thought it quite probable that it was a
trick of the servants, assisted by some of the neighbors, and that
nothing was meant by it except puzzling the family and amusing
themselves. But Mrs. Wesley and other members of the household declared
that the noises were heard above and beneath them when all the family
were in the same room.
Dr. Southey, though he does not express an opinion of these noises in
his _Life of Wesley_, in a letter to Mr. Wilberforce avows his belief in
their preternatural character. In his _Life of Wesley_ he does say, "The
testimony upon which it rests is far too strong to be set aside because
of the strangeness of the relation."
Dr. Priestley observes in favor of the story that all the parties seemed
to have been sufficiently void of fear, and also free from credulity,
except the general belief that such things were supernatural. But he
claims that "where no good end is answered we may safely conclude that
no miracle was wrought."
Mr. Southey replies to Priestley thus: "The former argument would be
valid if the term 'miracle' were applicable to the case; but by
'miracle' Mr. Priestley intends a manifestation of divine power, and in
the present case no such meaning is supposed, any more than in the
appearance of departed spirits. Such things may be preternatural and yet
not miraculous; they may be in the ordinary course of nature, and yet
imply no alteration of its laws. And in regard to the good end which it
may be supposed to answer, it would be end sufficient if sometimes one
of those unhappy persons, who, looking through the dim glass of
infidelity, sees something beyond this life and the narrow sphere of
mortal existence, should, from the well-established truth of such a
story (trifling and objectless as it may appear), be led to conclude
that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in
their philosophy."[C]
Mr. Coleridge finds a satisfactory solution of this knotty question in
attributing the whole thing to "a contagious nervous disease" with which
he judged the whole family to have been afflicted, "the acme or
intensest form of which is catalepsy." The poor dog, it would seem, was
as badly afflicted as the rest.
This notion does not need refutation. Dr. Adam Clarke, who collected all
the accounts of these disturbances and published them in his _Wesley
Family_, claims that they are so circumstantial and authentic as to
entitle them to the most implicit credit. The eye and ear witnesses were
persons of strong understanding and well-cultivated minds, untinctured
by superstition, and in some instances rather skeptically inclined.
[Illustration: JEFFREY'S ATTIC ROOM, WHENCE THE MYSTERIOUS NOISES CAME.]
These unexplained noises in the Epworth rectory found their counterpart
in what was known a little earlier as "New England witchcraft," and in
our times as the Rochester and Hidsville knockings in 1848, which have
ripened into modern Spiritualism, which, if real, is satanic.
There is but little doubt that these remarkable occurrences at his
Epworth home made a deep and lasting impression on John Wesley's mind
and life. There was ever present to his mind the reality of an invisible
world, and he was convinced that satanic as well as angelic forces were
all about us, both to bless and to ruin us if permitted to do so by Him
who rules all the world.