GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
The Other World;
OR, GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
BEING FACTS, RECORDS, AND TRADITIONS
RELATING TO DREAMS, OMENS, MIRACULOUS OCCURRENCES,
APPARITIONS, WRAITHS, WARNINGS, SECOND-SIGHT,
WITCHCRAFT, NECROMANCY, ETC.
EDITED BY
THE REV. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE, D.C.L.
_Vicar of All Saints’, Lambeth._
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.
HENRY S. KING AND CO., LONDON.
1875.
(_All rights reserved._)
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
AUGUSTA,
COUNTESS OF STRADBROKE,
OF HENHAM HALL, IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK,
THESE VOLUMES
ARE,
BY HER LADYSHIP’S KIND PERMISSION,
VERY RESPECTFULLY
Dedicated.
“It is often asked--Do you believe in Prophecies and Miracles? Yes and no,
one may answer; that depends. In general, yes; doubtless we believe in
them, and are not of the number of those who ‘pique themselves,’ as
Fénelon said, ‘on rejecting as fables, without examination, all the
wonders that God works.’ But if you come to the particular, and say--Do
you believe in such a revelation, such an apparition, such a cure?--here
it is that it behoves us not to forget the rules of Christian prudence,
nor the warnings of Holy Writ, nor the teaching of Theologians and Saints,
nor, finally, the decrees of Councils, and the motives of those decrees.
Has the proper Authority spoken? If it has spoken, let us bow with all the
respect due to grave and mature ecclesiastical judgments, even where they
are not clothed with infallible authority; if it has not spoken, let us
not be of those who reject everything in a partizan spirit, and want to
impose this unbelief upon everybody; nor of those who admit everything
lightly, and want alike to impose their belief; let us be careful in
discussing a particular fact, not to reject the very principle of the
Supernatural, but neither let us shut our eyes to the evidence of
testimony; let us be prudent, even to the most careful scrutiny--the
subject-matter requires it, the Scriptures recommend it--but let us not be
sceptics; let us be sincere, but not fanatical: that is the true mean. And
let us not forget that most often the safest way in these matters is not
to hurry one’s judgment, not to decide sharply and affirm absolutely--in a
word, not to anticipate, in one sense or the other, the judgment of those
whose place and mission it is to examine herein; but to await, in the
simplicity of faith and of Christian wisdom, a decision which marks out a
wise rule, although not always with absolute certainty.”--Dupanloup,
Bishop of Orleans, “On Contemporary Prophecies.”
PREFACE.
These volumes have been compiled from the standing-point of a hearty and
reverent believer in Historical Christianity. No one can be more fully
aware of their imperfections and incompleteness than the Editor; for the
subjects under consideration occupy such a broad field, that their
treatment at greater length would have largely increased the bulk of the
volumes, and indefinitely postponed their publication.
The facts and records set forth (and throughout, the Editor has dealt with
facts, rather than with theories) have been gathered from time to time
during the past twenty years, as well from ordinary historical narrations
as from the personal information of several friends and acquaintances
interested in the subject-matter of the book. The materials thus brought
together from so many quarters have been carefully sifted, and those only
made use of as would best assist in the arranged method of the volume, and
suffice for its suitable illustration.
The Editor regrets that, in the publication of so many recent examples of
the Supernatural (about fifty), set forth for the first time in the
following pages, the names of the persons to whom those examples occurred,
and in some cases those likewise who supplied him with them, are withheld.
The truth is, there is such a sensitive dislike of publicity and of rude
criticism consequent upon publicity, that very many persons shrink from
the ordeal. However, it may be sufficient to state that the Editor holds
himself personally responsible for all those here recorded, which are not
either details of received History, or formally authenticated by the names
and addresses of those who have supplied him with them.
Many examples of the Supernatural in modern times and in the present day
are here published for the first time, in an authoritative and complete
form.
By the kind courtesy of Lord Lyttelton, the family records of a remarkable
apparition, which is said to have been seen by his noble ancestor, were
placed at the Editor’s disposal, and, by his Lordship’s permission, are in
the following pages now first set forth in detail and at length.
The Editor is also indebted to the following, either for obliging replies
to his inquiries, or for information which has been embodied in the
succeeding pages:--The late Lady Brougham, the late Rev. W.
Hastings-Kelke, of Drayton Beauchamp; A. L. M. P. de Lisle, Esq., of
Garendon Park; the Very Rev. A. Weld, S.J.; the Right Rev. Monsignor
Patterson, D.D., of S. Edmund’s College, Ware; the Rev. J. Jefferson,
M.A., of North Stainley Vicarage, near Ripon; the Very Rev. E. J.
Purbrick, S.J., of Stonyhurst College; the Rev. John Richardson, B.A., of
Warwick; Henry Cope Caulfeild, Esq., M.A., of Clone House, S. Leonard’s;
the Rev. Theodore J. Morris; Mrs. George Lee; the Rev. H. N. Oxenham,
M.A.; Miss S. F. Caulfeild; Dominick Browne, Esq. (Dytchley); Captain
Lowrie, of York; Mr. C. J. Sneath, of Birmingham; and many others.
If there be anything set forth in this volume, in ignorance or
misconception, contradictory to the general teaching of the Universal
Church, the Editor puts on record here his regret for having penned it,
and his desire altogether to withdraw such error.
F. G. L.
All Saints’ Vicarage,
York Road, Lambeth.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
Page
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.--Materialism of the present age 1
CHAPTER II.
The Miraculous in Church History 21
CHAPTER III.
Spiritual Powers and Properties of the Church.--
Sacraments.--Sacramentals.--Exorcism 51
CHAPTER IV.
Witchcraft and Necromancy 149
CHAPTER V.
Dreams, Omens, Warnings, Presentiments, and Second Sight 207
MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE.
“In some sense of the Supernatural, in some faith in the Unseen, in some
feeling that man is not of this World, in some grasp on the Eternal God,
and on an eternal supernatural and supersensuous life, lies the basis of
all pity and mercy, all help, and comfort, and patience, and sympathy
among men. Set these aside, commit us only to the Natural, to what our
eyes see and our hands handle, and, while we may organize Society
scientifically, and live according to ‘the laws of Nature,’ and be very
philosophical and very liberal, we are standing on the ground on which
every savage tribe stands, or indeed on which every pack of wolves
gallops.”
GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.--MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE.
To any sincere and hearty believer in Historical Christianity the advance
of Materialism and the consequent denial of the Supernatural must be the
cause both of alarm and sadness. The few lead, the many follow; and it is
frequently the case that conclusions contrarient to the idea of the
Supernatural are arrived at, after a course of reasoning, which
conclusions appear to many wholly unjustified, either by the premisses
adopted, or from the argument that has ensued.
It has been stated, in a serial of some ability,[1] that the final issue
of the present conflict between so that things are necessarily different
to what they would have been if he had not thus acted, and no disturbance
nor dislocation of the system around him ensues as a consequence of such
action, surely He Who contrived the system in question can subsequently
interpose both in the natural and spiritual order of the world. For to
deny this possibility is obviously to place God on a lower level than man;
in other words, to make the Creator of all things weaker and less free
than His own creatures.
Now, to go a step further, all human efforts to find out God have been the
result of the combination of ideas gleaned from human experience. These
ideas have often enough been grotesque, fanciful, and distorted--a
judgment which will be admitted to be accurate by all Christian people;
whether the gross conceptions of Pagan mythology or the nebulous
speculations of modern “thinkers” are brought under consideration. That
man, the created, cannot understand God the Creator--that the thing made
cannot compass the Maker--is not only perfectly certain, but necessary.
The being of God cannot be grasped by a finite intellect; nor can such an
intellect conceive the mode of an existence absolutely and utterly removed
from created conditions. Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent: we
cannot attain unto it.[2]
But though it may be, and is, utterly impossible to conceive Almighty
God, it is anything but impossible to conceive the fact and reality of His
being. For, as is well known, the general thought and conscience of
mankind have believed in a God, _semper et ubique_, everywhere and at all
times. Thus a thing may exist, and its existence may be perfectly patent
to the understanding; and furthermore its existence may be worthy of
implicit belief; while, at the same time, the thing itself may be found to
transcend and overpass the limited powers of man’s intellect. Take, for
example, the ideas conveyed by the terms “eternal”[3] and “infinite.” Who
can comprehend them? Who can explain them? Ordinary popular conceptions
make them mere indefinite extensions of duration and space; yet these
conceptions need not and do not appear absurd, but, on the contrary,
enable ideas, at once definite, distinct, and recognizable, to be conveyed
from man to man.
Thus, by a simple process of thought, we may see for ourselves the place
and propriety of a Revelation, and appreciate the truth of the
Supernatural. Here, in the province of a Revelation, not man’s conception
of God, but God Himself is set forth. Not so unlike ourselves is He that
we find Him, with will, actions, and purposes, unintelligible; but, using
analogies gathered and systematized by experience, we learn, at the same
time, that our Creator is beyond the range both of thought and
language--never to be fully known, until, with divinely-illuminated
faculties in a higher state, we see Him face to face.
And when we have attained to this point in our course of thought, the
first leading fact of God’s revelation meets us. Here it is: “There is but
one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of
infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all
things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be
three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.”[4]
Now in this revelation, given in its fullness by the Eternal Word, and
bequeathed to the Christian Church, to be preserved and handed down for
future generations, all is Supernatural. That body of doctrine which
Christians believe, divinely guarded by the Church, was announced
beforehand, centuries ere it was actually delivered, by a wisdom above
nature--the divine light of prophecy. When it was set forth by the Eternal
Word, its truth was attested in the face of a hostile people by a power
above nature, whose word Creation obeyed, as in regularity, so in marked
and palpable change. This body of doctrine or gospel put forth a
supernatural power in the strange rapidity and manifest success with which
it subdued hearts to itself. Ancient Rome owned the Crucified as a Monarch
conquering and to conquer. His Revelation, of the truth of which there
shall be witnesses unto the end, is above nature, in that it alone
provides adequate remedies for the manifold infirmities of the human race.
The life it produces here is supernatural, as are also the means by which
that life is created, and the efficient gifts by which it is being
constantly renewed. Supernatural, too, is the work of the Holy Ghost,
wrought out by human agents and human instrumentality; changing,
sanctifying, illuminating; shadowing forth by its action the reunion of
earth with heaven, of man with God, only to be completed and made perfect
in the life to come.
Now the purport of this volume is to show by examples of supernatural
intervention--examples many of which have been gathered from quite recent
periods--that Almighty God, from time to time, in various ways and by
different human instruments, still condescendingly reveals to man glimpses
of the world unseen, and shows the existence of that life beyond the
grave, in which the sceptic and materialist of the present restless age
would have us disbelieve, and which they themselves scornfully reject.
From the sure and solid standing-point of Historical Christianity,
believing Holy Scripture to be the Word of God, and the Christian Church
to be the divinely-formed corporation for instructing, guiding, and
illuminating mankind, remarkable examples of the Supernatural, miracles,
spectral appearances of departed spirits, providential warnings by dreams
and otherwise, the intervention and ministry of good angels, the assaults
of bad, the certain power and efficacy of the gifts of Holy Church, the
sanctity of consecrated places, and the persevering malignity of the devil
and his legions, are gathered together, and set forth in the pages to
follow. For it may reasonably be believed that, as Almighty God has
graciously vouchsafed to intervene in the affairs of mankind in ages long
past, so there has never been a period in which such merciful intervention
has not from time to time taken place. Granted that in the days of Moses
and Aaron, and of Elijah and Elisha, man owned miraculous powers, and
wrought wonders by the gift of God; granted that in dreams and visions the
will of the Most High was sometimes made known to favoured individuals of
the Jewish Dispensation; remembering the miracles of our Lord’s apostles
and disciples, and bearing in mind the divine and supernatural powers
which were first entrusted to, and have been ever since exercised by, the
Catholic Church, it is at once unreasonable and unphilosophical to deny
the existence in the world of the supernatural and miraculous. As will be
abundantly set forth, their presence and energy are in perfect accord and
harmony with the universal experience of mankind. Sceptics may contemn and
object, materialists may scoff; but numerous facts as well as a very
general sentiment are against their conclusions and convictions.
Floating straws show the direction and force of a current. As an example
of the lengths to which an adoption of the materialistic principle will
lead some persons, who regard themselves as “philosophers,” and as a
specimen of the dangers which threaten us, it may be well to refer briefly
to the proposal which has recently been formally and publicly made, viz.,
that in certain cases of hopeless disease or imbecile old age, physicians
should be legally authorized to put an end to such patients by poison.
Thus, when the head of a family becomes old or borders on childishness,
the son, by going through the proposed legal formality, may stand by and
witness the poisoning of his father, and so enter on the possession of his
property. When a mother becomes old, the daughter may assist in a similar
manner at her mother’s death. A crippled child, a weak-minded relation, an
infirm member of the family, according to the “philosophers,” should have
a poisonous drug efficiently administered; that so the weak, crippled, or
imbecile might be murdered and put out of the way. Thus these
philosopher-fanatics assure us that “the natural law of the preservation
of the fittest,” propounded by them, will come into active and unchecked
operation. Having warned us that the penalty we endure for ignoring this
“law” is a population largely composed of weak, unhealthy, poor and
suffering people, they now earnestly recommend a “scientific method,” by
which the lame, the blind, the weak, and the imbecile should be cleared
off from the stage of life.[5] “Natural selection,” would, unchecked and
never opposed, have preserved alive only the best and noblest types; and
as, they tell us in their infallible wisdom, this principle or law has
developed us so far from the mollusk to the man, it might by this time,
had it been carefully and faithfully applied, have developed us, if not
into angels, at least into nineteenth-century savages of great muscular
power. This is the odious message to mankind which naturalistic
Materialism announces. And if we confine ourselves to what is sometimes
called “science”--that is, exclusive knowledge of things material--such a
conclusion as that arrived at, and such degrading principles as those
propounded for acceptance and practice, may not be altogether
unreasonable.[6] In this kind of “science” there is little else but
coldness, cruelty, and savagery. Only the strong have a right to live. The
weak were born to have their life trampled out, and, according to this
newly-revived theory, the sooner it is done the better. The murder of the
lame, the halt, and the blind, therefore, becomes thoroughly scientific,
and follows as a matter of course. Its practice is based upon laws which
the materialists have been for some time proclaiming to be “supreme.” If
there be no supernatural basis of life, if the supernatural have no real
existence, if man be of the earth earthy, if he be only an outgrowth of
the dumb forces of matter (the first article of the creed of these
“philosophers”), if he be governed solely and altogether, absolutely and
completely by an inexorable material law (the highest and the only law,
as they would have us believe), then, of course, their conclusion
inevitably follows--that it is both merciful and wise to put a man out of
his misery when he becomes a burden both to himself and his friends. There
is no place in the lofty and elevating system of Naturalism for a being
who cannot take care of himself.
Again: while Scepticism is rampant, and some are endeavouring to bring
back the Pagan notions of ancient nations, to galvanize into new life the
corrupt imbecilities of the past, men of science are making assertions and
assumptions of the boldest, if not of the wildest nature. One such
recently maintained the following proposition:--“Taking our earth, we
_know_ that millions of years have passed since she began to be peopled.”
Now, the maintainer of this assertion notoriously holds some peculiar
theories about the means by which the solar system (and consequently other
systems) was made, or rather grew. These theories, in some of their
details, are or may be founded upon certain more or less well-ascertained
facts. But when he uses the term “know,” we are bold to point out that
such an assertion rests on mere assumption.[7] We need facts,--facts
which could stand the careful investigation of persons skilled in taking
and measuring evidence; and secondly, we require to be reasonably
convinced that no other possible explanation of a difficulty be
forthcoming, except that on which his assumption is founded and his
inevitable conclusion (as he regards it) deduced. But how often with
scientific people the phrase “We know” stands for “This is our theory,” or
rather “This is our _present_ theory;” for scientific theories change very
frequently; and points which have been most dogmatically laid down at one
period have been with equal dogmatism condemned and repudiated at another,
by those who apparently strain every nerve and exercise every gift
bestowed upon them, to deny and cast out the Supernatural from amongst
mankind.
From the introduction to a volume of great interest (“The Maxims and
Examples of the Saints”), the following extract is taken, both because of
its inherent truth, and also because the Christian instinct in defence of
the Supernatural is so prominently and forcibly expressed in every line.
Mr. de Lisle’s words stand thus:--
“In these days of shallowness and scepticism, men pride themselves on
calling everything into question, as if they proved their claim to wisdom
according to the measure of their unbelief. But those who dive a little
deeper into things will not be so ready to admit the claims of modern
insolent writers. They will find that our ancestors had heads as sound,
judgments as cool and unprejudiced, at least, as any of these moderns; and
the more they examine, the more reasons will they find for attaching
weight to their testimony. In my intercourse abroad with divers holy
priests and religious monks, I have seen and heard enough to convince me
that many things take place in this world of a supernatural order. Nor do
I believe there ever has been a period in the history of the Church, when
our Lord has not borne testimony to her divine truth, and to the admirable
sanctity of many of her children, by evident and glorious miracles. This
is the faith of the Church; and who shall gainsay the teaching of that
society that carries with it the experience of eighteen centuries, the
immutable promises of God, the attestations of innumerable martyrs, and
the consent of nations? To him who believes the words of the holy Gospel,
‘The works that I do shall they do also, and greater than these,’ &c.
(speak not now to the unbeliever), the conclusion will be clear, and
humble faith will bow with submission. Keeping this promise in view, the
Christian will not find it difficult to believe even the most wonderful
histories in the lives of the Saints; at all events, his spirit will not
be that which loves to question everything, still less that which treats
the testimony of devout writers with levity or scorn. To the humble
observer of the ways of Divine Providence, enough occurs every day to
prepare him for any manifestation of the Power of God: not to say that
there is not a state in Christendom in which, even in our own times, many
wonderful miracles have not taken place. Witness the glorious appearance
of a vast cross of fire in the heavens at Migné, near Poictiers in France,
in the year 1826, in the month of December, an event which was attested on
oath before the bishop of the diocese by several thousand
eye-witnesses.[8] Josephus relates the prodigies that appeared in the
heavens before the downfall of Jerusalem: and who shall say that this
sublime apparition in France did not portend the approaching calamities
that have since fallen upon that kingdom and upon Europe? In the years
1830 and 1831, blood miraculously flowed from the arms of S. Nicholas, at
Tolentino in Italy, and the circumstance was solemnly attested by the
bishop, the clergy, and the magistrates of that city. History records
similar prodigies to have taken place at Tolentino whenever any calamities
were about to befall Christendom. S. Nicholas has been dead above 500
years. I myself had the consolation to visit his shrine; and I heard from
several individuals, with tears in their eyes, the affecting recital of
the miracle. Who does not call to mind the wonderful manifestations of
God’s power at Rome and at Ancona during the period of the French
Revolution, in the year 1792? Innumerable images of our Blessed Redeemer,
and of his Virgin Mother, were seen to move their eyes, and some even to
weep. Nor were these events seen only by a few, they were beheld and
attested by thousands.[9] The miracles that God has performed by means of
the holy Prince Hohenlohe are known to all, and some of them have been
wrought even in England. These are facts so notorious, that no one can
call them in question; nor is it in the power of profane ridicule to throw
doubt over their authenticity. At the same time, it will always be true
that the Catholic Church does not oblige her children to believe any
miracles but those recorded in the sacred Scriptures; she leaves it to
the discretion of each individual to ground his conviction on the
evidence which has come before him; though it would not be an act of
piety, or worthy of praise for anyone to speak lightly of such miracles as
have been honoured by the approbation of the Holy See.”
* * * * *
As a mark of rapid theological decline, it may here be put on record, that
a recent writer, the author of “Supernatural Religion: an Inquiry into the
Reality of Divine Revelation” (Longman: 1874), sets forth his “views” (not
his “opinion,” least of all his faith, but his “views”) as follows:--
“The importance which has been attached to theology by the Christian
Church, almost from its foundation, has been subversive of Christian
morality. _In surrendering its miraculous element and its claims to
supernatural origin, therefore, the religion of Jesus does not lose its
virtue, or the qualities which have made it a blessing to humanity._ It
sacrifices none of that elevated character which has distinguished and
raised it above all human systems: _it merely relinquishes a claim which
it has shared with all antecedent religions, and severs its connection
with ignorant superstition_. It is too divine in its morality to require
the aid of miraculous attributes. No supernatural halo can heighten its
spiritual beauty, and no mysticism deepen its holiness. In its perfect
simplicity it is sublime, and in its profound wisdom it is eternal.
“_We gain infinitely more than we lose in abandoning belief in the reality
of Divine revelation._ Whilst we retain pure and unimpaired the treasure
of Christian morality, we relinquish nothing but the debasing elements
added to it by human superstition. _We are no longer bound to believe a
theology which outrages reason and moral sense._ We are freed from base
anthropomorphic views of God and His government of the universe; and from
Jewish theology we rise to higher conceptions of an infinitely wise and
beneficent Being, hidden from our finite minds, it is true, in the
impenetrable glory of Divinity, but whose laws of wondrous
comprehensiveness and perfection we ever perceive in operation around us.
_We are no longer disturbed by visions of fitful interference with the
order of Nature_, but we recognize that the Being who regulates the
universe is without variableness or shadow of turning. It is singular how
little there is in the supposed revelation of alleged information, however
incredible, regarding that which is beyond the limits of human thought;
but that little is of a character which reason declares to be the ‘wildest
delusion.’ Let no man, whose belief in the reality of Divine Revelation
may be destroyed by such inquiry, complain that he has lost a precious
possession, and that nothing is left but a blank. _The revelation not
being a reality_, that which he has lost was but an illusion, and that
which is left is the truth.”
In another volume recently written by Mr. Congreve, the Positivist, the
author maintains in the plainest possible language, what is the immediate
and practical object of the small sect to which he has allied
himself:--“The professed servants of Humanity must lead in the struggle to
eliminate God; and that this is the essential element in the whole
existing perplexity is forcing itself upon all.” Again, man’s duty is said
to be “openly and avowedly to take service in one or the other of the
opposing camps; to bring face to face the two beliefs; the belief in the
Past, the belief in God, and the belief in the Future, the belief in
Humanity; and to choose deliberately between them.” Furthermore, he avers:
“We contemplate the Trinity of our religion, Humanity, the World, and
Space.” A Christian critic has made the following terse comments on Mr.
Congreve’s book:--
“The chief feeling which possesses us in reading these Essays is one of
sorrow for the writer. It is really sad that a man of education should
lend himself to such a delusion. The ‘Religion’ itself is ridiculous;
indeed it has not so much as a theory. Not even on paper can its doctrines
be stated, for the simple reason that it has no doctrines whatever. But
it is always melancholy to watch a naturally good intellect under the sway
of a fantastic idea, or to see an educated gentleman writing 500 pages on
the ‘Worship’ of what does not exist. The sensation of the reader, as he
turns page after page, is expressed in such an inquiry as this: Since the
writer himself believes in nothing whatever, how can he invite my
conversion?”
THE MIRACULOUS IN CHURCH HISTORY.
“And He said unto them, Go ye into all the World, and preach the Gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned.
“And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”--_S. Mark_ xvi.
15-18.