CHAPTER X.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

Before a brief summary is made of the contents and purport of this book,

an account of a most remarkable event which occurred at Oxford about

forty-five years ago may be fitly chronicled. It will be known, in its

general outline, by many Oxford men; and was given to the Editor in the

month of June, 1854, by a member of Brasenose College, where it had

occurred.

In the year 1829, a club, known as the "Hell-Fire Club," consisting of

members of the university _in statu pupillari_,--formed in some respects

on the model of that existing in the last century, which met at Medmenham

Abbey,--was accustomed to meet twice a week at Brasenose College, in

Oxford. Unbelief at that time is said to have taken coarser forms there

than is the case now. Then it was less dangerous, because more gross and

revolting. The members of the Club, however, were not unsuccessful in

their imitation of the blasphemy, drunkenness and other sins which had so

notoriously characterized the older society. They met twice a week, and

each is reported to have endeavoured to outdo his fellow-member in rampant

blasphemy and sceptical daring. The meetings were kept so private, and

such judicious care was taken to preserve unity of thought and secrecy

amongst the various members, that the College authorities, though

partially aware of its existence, were said to be unable to interfere.

On the north side of the College runs a narrow lane, connecting the square

in which Brasenose College faces that of All Souls, with Turl Street.

Going towards the latter, on the left-hand side stands Brasenose, until it

is joined by the north portion of Lincoln College. On the other side is

the high garden wall of Exeter College. It is a dreary and dismal-looking

thoroughfare at best; and especially so at night. The windows of Brasenose

College are of a narrow Jacobean type, protected both by horizontal as

well as perpendicular stanchions. The lower windows, being almost level

with the street, were further secured by a coarse wire netting.

Towards midnight on a day in December in the year above-named, one of the

Fellows of Brasenose College was returning home, when as he approached he

saw a tall man apparently draped in a long cloak, and, as he imagined,

helping to assist some one to get out of the window. The window belonged

to the rooms of one who was reported to be a leading member of the

Hell-Fire Club. Being one of the authorities of the College, he

instinctively rushed forward to detect what he imagined to be the

perpetration of a distinct breach of the rules, when (as he himself

afterwards declared) a thrill of horror seized him in a moment, and he

felt all at once convinced that it was no human being at whom, appalled

and fear-stricken, he looked. As he rushed past he saw the owner of the

rooms, as he conceived, being forcibly and strugglingly dragged between

the iron stanchions. The form, the features,[59] horribly distorted and

stamped with a look of indescribable agony, were vividly before him; and

the tall figure seemed to hold the frantic struggler in a strong grasp.

He rushed past, round to the chief entrance, knocked at the gate, and then

fell to the ground in a swoon. Just as the Porter opened it, there rose a

cry from a crowd of men trooping out from a set of rooms immediately to

the right of the Porter's lodge. They were members of the notorious

Hell-Fire Club. In the middle of a violent speech, as profane as it is

said to have been blasphemous, and with a frightful imprecation upon his

lips, a chief speaker (the owner of the rooms) had suddenly broken a

blood vessel, and was then lying dead on the floor.

The club in question, it is reported, never met again.[60]

So much on this point. A few words are perhaps needed upon another. It may

be held by some that what has already been written on Witchcraft and

Necromancy is a melancholy instance of grovelling superstition on the part

of its Author.[61] Be it so. He is quite ready to avow his entire belief

in the express statements of Holy Scripture, and in the general Christian

tradition and teaching on the subject itself and all that is necessarily

involved in it. Those who believe in the existence of angels, "the

glorious battalions of the living God," and who frankly accept as truth

the various records of Holy Scripture, in which their ministry to mankind

is set forth, will likewise believe that S. Peter's exhortation to the

Early Christians did not simply embody a sentiment but declared a fact,

when he wrote: "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil,

as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."[62]

That the pagan nations owning and serving the Prince of this World, and

being supernaturally served by him in return, actively practised magic at

the time of our Blessed Saviour's first coming, is generally allowed. And

that the Christian writers of early times, more particularly S. Gregory

Thaumaturgus, admitted the reality and force of the sorcerers'

incantations and powers, is abundantly evident from their words and

reasoning. The case of the damsel of Thyatira, "possessed with a spirit of

divination," who "brought her masters much gain by soothsaying," clearly

establishes this point; and so does the apostle's authoritative

action:--"Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command

thee in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the

same hour."[63]

When, three centuries after the Day of Pentecost, the Church of God

commenced numbering up her earliest triumphs, the soothsayers, the

diviners, and the dealers with evil spirits began to experience her

righteous and beneficent power. Constantine, urged to action by those who

sat in the seats of the apostles, formally sanctioned the condemnation of

magicians; but of course under Julian the Apostate, magic rites were not

only still commonly in vogue, but were publicly patronized. Later on,

Valentinian re-enacted the laws of Constantine; and under Theodosius the

severest penalties were likewise enforced against the practice of magic;

and, in truth, against every phase of pagan worship. But a general belief

in sorcery and divination remained powerful and active long after the

supreme and glorious victory of Christianity in the sixth century; and the

manner in which the authorities of the Christian Church met the belief,

and, by Sacraments and Sacramentals, aided the faithful to withstand the

legions of the Devil and his human allies, is perfectly familiar to the

student of history.

The well-known conviction that demons had appeared to mankind under the

names of sylvans, gnomes, and fauns was common enough amongst the Romans

prior to the revelation of Christianity; while the conviction that these

demons had sometimes made women the object of their passion was arrived at

by many. Justin Martyr and S. Augustine of Hippo[64] seem to imply

something of the sort; and marriage or commerce with demons was a charge

frequently made against witches, even from the earliest times.[65] It was

said that these demons owned a remarkable attachment to women with

beautiful hair,--a belief possibly founded on the passage in S. Paul's

First Epistle to the Corinthians,[66] in which he exhorts women to cover

their heads "because of the angels." In the middle ages the intercourse

of philosophers belonging to certain secret societies with sylphs and

salamanders was also believed by many:[67] and, later on, the study of

astrology, with its fatalistic theories, and the restoration of the

heresies of the Manichees, served to aid in more systematically

formulating that belief in witchcraft and the supernatural which was for

centuries so universal, and which never could have become so without a

sure and solid substratum of fact and truth.

Again, it is impossible to believe that the sorcerers of the Oriental

nations have been and are impostors. As regards those of modern Egypt, Mr.

Lane, in his interesting volume upon that country,[68] appears to have

settled the question by expressing his conviction of the truth and reality

of their supernatural performances. And similar conclusions have

reluctantly but most certainly been arrived at by those who, with some

knowledge and reasonable powers of observation, have witnessed the acts

and deeds of the Eastern dealers with evil spirits.

With reference to Egypt, Mr. Lane's statement on the subject stands

thus:--

"A few days after my arrival in this country my curiosity was excited on

the subject of magic by a circumstance related to me by Mr. Salt, our

consul-general. Having had reason to believe that one of his servants was

a thief, from the fact of several articles of property having been stolen

from his house, he sent for a celebrated Maghrabee magician, with a view

of intimidating them, and causing the guilty one, (if any of them were

guilty,) to confess his crime. The magician came, and said that he would

cause the exact image of the person who had committed the thefts to appear

to any youth not arrived at the age of puberty; and desired the master of

the house to call in any boy whom he might choose. As several boys were

then employed in a garden adjacent to the house, one of them was called

for this purpose. In the palm of this boy's right hand, the magician drew

with a pen a certain diagram, in the centre of which he poured a little

ink. Into this ink he desired the boy steadfastly to look. He then burned

some incense, and several bits of paper inscribed with charms; and at the

same time called for various objects to appear in the ink. The boy

declared that he saw all these objects, and, last of all, the image of the

guilty person; he described his stature, countenance, and dress; said that

he knew him; and directly ran down into the garden, and apprehended one of

the labourers, who, when brought before the master, immediately confessed

that he was the thief."--P. 267.[69]

The performers themselves maintain, that they have been instructed in the

art by those who have traditionally received the knowledge step by step,

and period by period, from the old "magicians of Egypt;" and some frankly

allow, that they themselves are constantly attended and waited on by a

familiar spirit, demon, or genius, who actively aids them in their

performances, and who is, under certain circumstances, always prepared to

do their bidding.

These genii, or "Ginn" as they are called in Egypt, "are said to be of

pre-Adamite origin, and in their general properties," remarks Mr. Lane,

"are an intermediate class of beings between angels and men, but inferior

in dignity to both, created of fire, and capable of assuming the forms and

material fabric of men, brutes, and monsters; and of becoming invisible at

pleasure. They eat and drink, propagate their species (like or in

conjunction with human beings,) and are subject to death."... "The Ginn,"

continues Mr. Lane, "are supposed to pervade the solid matter of the

earth, as well as the firmament, where, approaching the confines of the

lowest heaven, they often listen to the conversation of the angels

respecting future things, thus enabling themselves to assist diviners and

magicians."--P. 222.

In the twentieth chapter of his interesting and attractive volume, he

writes:--"I have met with many persons among the more intelligent of the

Egyptians who condemn these modern Psylli as impostors, but none who has

been able to offer a satisfactory explanation of the most common and most

interesting of their performances."--P. 383.

In another part of the book Mr. Lane concludes his chapter on "Magic"

thus:--"Neither I nor others have been able to discover any clue by which

to penetrate the mystery."[70]

So likewise as regards India,[71] it is impossible to set aside the facts,

which are testified to not by one but by hundreds, as to the supernatural

powers of the jugglers there. Identical in kind with the performances of

the magicians of Egypt before Pharaoh and in the presence of Moses and

Aaron, recorded in the Book of Exodus, the secret of the following

"tricks" (familiar to any one who has been in India) has been handed down

from father to son from the most remote ages; and we have no reason to

doubt that the source of the power by which these acts are done is one and

the same.

For instance:--The juggler, giving one of the spectators a coin to hold as

securely as possible within his hands, after pronouncing incantations in a

monotonous voice for some minutes, suddenly stops, still keeping his seat,

makes a rapid motion with his right hand, as if in the act of throwing

something at the person holding the coin, at the same time breathing with

his mouth upon him. Instantaneously the hands of the person taking part in

the performance are suddenly distended, while a horrible sensation of

holding something cold and disagreeable and nasty, is immediately felt,

forcing him to cast away the contents of his palms, which, to the horror

and disgust of uninitiated persons, turns out to be, not the coin which

before was there, but a live snake coiled up! The juggler then rises, and

catching the snake, which is now crawling and wriggling on the ground,

takes it by the tail, opens his mouth wide, and allows the snake to drop

into it. With deliberation he appears by degrees to swallow it, until the

whole, tail and all, completely disappears. He opens his mouth for the

spectators to investigate; but nothing is to be seen, neither does the

snake appear again.

Here is another instance:--A juggler will be brought to act before,

perhaps, many hundreds of people, of all ages, degrees, and religions,

including the soldiery of a garrison, in the public yard of a barrack. A

guard of soldiers will be placed around him, to prevent either trickery or

deception on his part, or interruption from the spectators. A little girl,

about eight or nine years old, accompanies the man, who is also provided

with a tall, narrow basket, three or four feet high, little more than a

foot in width, and open all the way up. The juggler, after some

altercation with the child, pretends to get angry, and lashing himself

into a fury, seizes hold of the child, and inverts the basket completely

over her. Thus placed completely at his mercy, and in spite of her screams

and entreaties, he draws his sword, and fiercely plunges it down into the

basket, and brings it out dripping with blood--or what apparently is such.

The child's screams become fainter and fainter, as again and again the

sword is thrust through the basket; and at length they gradually cease,

and everything is still. Then follows a critical moment for the supposed

murderer: and the exertions of the guard scarcely serve to save him from

the excited soldiery. When order is at length obtained, however, the man,

raising his bloody sword for an instant, strikes the basket with it, which

falls, and reveals--not a murdered child weltering in blood, but an empty

space, with no vestige left of the supposed victim. In a few moments the

identical little girl comes rushing--from whence no one can tell--to the

feet of the performer, with every sign of affection, and perfectly unhurt.

Be it observed that these performances commonly take place in India in

places where it is impossible for any contrivances or trap-doors to exist,

in the centre of court-yards at the various military stations, and before

innumerable witnesses.

Again: in Corea and China the practice of Necromancy is said to be almost

universal. An intelligent modern writer upon China gives an account, in

the following passage, of one mode in which questions are put, and answers

obtained, by a kind of divination:--Written communications from spirits

are not unfrequently sought for in the following manner: after the

presence and desired offices of some spirit are invoked, "two or more

persons support with their hands some object to which a pencil is attached

in a vertical position, and extending to a table below covered with sand.

It is said that the movements of the pencil, involuntary as far as the

persons holding it are concerned, but governed by the influences of

spirits, describe certain characters which are easily deciphered, and

which often bring to light remarkable disclosures and revelations. Many

who regard themselves as persons of superior intelligence are firm

believers in this mode of consulting spirits."[72]

Here, as illustrating the common principles and course of action which are

adopted and followed in all parts of the World by those who seek

information by forbidden means, the following may be set forth:--

There is a dreary-looking House in one of the London Squares which is

reported to be haunted. And certainly this opinion, as the Editor can

testify from a careful personal enquiry, is tolerably current in the

neighbourhood. A Lady, curious about the fact, was present on an occasion

when certain inquiries were made regarding this House by means of

"Planchette,"--the instrument just referred to as so commonly used in

China. It is a small board, in shape like a heart, which is made to run

on two wheels or castors, and a hole is provided for a pencil so to be

placed with its point downward as that, when put upon a sheet of white

paper the point may just touch the surface. After the usual invocation or

incantation (or whatever it be), the persons who practise modern

divination place their hands on the board. Questions are put, and answers

given. No one touches the pencil, but the board is so guided, as the

Necromancers and Spiritualists assert, that the pencil is made to write

intelligible answers to expressed (and sometimes to mere mental) queries.

The following, printed _verbatim et literatim_, are in the handwriting of

the lady who witnessed them put and responded to, and are given as a fair

specimen of this mode of divination, now so generally practised in

England:--

Is any house haunted in B---- Square? Yes.

What killed the two people in the haunted room? Fright.

What frightened them? Spirits.

What kind of spirits? Yourself.

How could any one be afraid of me? Without your body.

Did they see them? Spirits not visible.

How did they know they were there? Thought they saw them.

Did they make them feel them? No.

Then how did the spirits make themselves known--by what means?

Mesmeric.

Were you ever there? No.

Why do those spirits haunt that house? Murder was committed there.

Who was murdered, a man or a woman? A woman.

What was the name of the woman? (Writing not intelligible.)

Who murdered her? (Writing not intelligible.)

Is he alive or dead? Dead.

Is it the woman's spirit, or the man's, who haunts the house? Both.

Was the man hung? No.

Was the murder found out while he lived? No.

Are you a bad spirit? Bad.

Is it what the Bible calls "divination" to consult you in this way?

Yes.

Is it displeasing to God? Perhaps.

Is it wrong? You know.

It is only right to add that those who made and obtained the foregoing

intelligible responses to intelligible questions, for good and sufficient

reasons came to hold such practices to be unlawful and wicked, and threw

the instrument by which they had been given into the Thames.

On this subject, and all its details, no words of warning could be more

forcible than the following, which are quoted, in the hope that some who

may have been thoughtlessly induced to adopt the practices of Modern

Spiritualism, may be led at once to desist from the same:--

"Although good and evil spirits possess a powerful influence in the

government of the World, yet it is strictly forbidden, in the divine laws

of the Old and New Testament, to seek any acquaintance with them, or to

place ourselves in connection with and relation to them; and it is just as

little permitted for citizens of the world of spirits visibly to manifest

themselves to those who are still in the present state of existence,

without the express command or permission of the Lord. He, therefore, that

seeks intercourse with the invisible world sins deeply, and will soon

repent of it; whilst he that becomes acquainted with it, without his own

seeking and by Divine guidance, ought to beg and pray for wisdom, courage,

and strength, for he has need of all these; and let him that is introduced

into such a connection, by means of illness, or the aberration of his

physical nature, seek by proper means to regain his health, and detach

himself from intercourse with spirits."[73]

Yet, with many, and an increasing number, it is to be feared such advice

is wholly unheeded. For more than five-and-twenty years the subject of

Modern Spiritualism has been under discussion in England, and the facts on

which it has been founded have been before the World; but "having eyes men

see not, and having ears they hear not." Or, guided by the superficial

opinions of those whose one-eyed Materialism tinges so many of their

hap-hazard theories, they put aside a consideration of the astonishing

phenomena of the system of Spiritualism, and absolutely deny their

existence.[74] The age is shallow in its very incredulity. The wisdom of

the World is foolishness indeed.

When it is too late, when thousands upon thousands have become the active

votaries of Spiritualism, perhaps the bishops and clergy of the Church of

England may wake up to some realization of the enormous influence for

evil,[75] both dogmatic and moral, which this diabolical system cannot do

other than secure, and lift their testimony against it. Mahometanism is

not more directly anti-christian. Yet the numbers of those who believe in

Spiritualism are daily increasing, and the purblind policy of ignoring its

principles and action must very soon come to an end. Of course

Materialists and sceptics reasonably doubt; for otherwise their own

infallibility would ignominiously collapse. But for Christians, who

possess a copy of the "Holy Bible," and are able to read it, doubt seems

to me (I write with all due humility) simply inconsequent and irrational.

Here, let us turn from shadow to sunshine, from that which is evil to that

which is good; from the "lying wonders" of designing evil spirits, to the

glorious manifestations of God Almighty's power in the Christian

Church--for the one kind are but reasonable correlatives of the other.

And, for myself, I am free to confess that the evidence in favour of

certain of the recent miracles said to have been wrought in the Roman

Catholic portion of the One Family of God is not only convincing, but

conclusive. Having long given up attributing any value to the slanders and

misstatements of Protestant and infidel writers, I have attempted for

myself to investigate the principle of action, in the reception of

evidence and the decision of authority, which is taken at Rome, with

regard to such events and occurrences; and briefly give it as follows:--

The Congregation of Rites, which enquires into all miracles which demand

sanction, is presided over by the cardinal-vicar. It consists of

twenty-one cardinals of various nations, nine official prelates, nine

consulting prelates of various nations, all the fourteen Papal Masters of

Ceremonies, fourteen ordinary members, one secretary, one

deputy-secretary, and one notary and keeper of the archives--in all

seventy people. Four miracles are required to be distinctly proved for

Beatification; and two more for Canonization. All these must be proved by

eye, and not by ear-witnesses. In miracles where diseases have been cured,

it is required, 1st, That the disease must have been of an aggravated

nature, and difficult or impossible to be cured; 2ndly, that it was not on

the turn; 3rdly, that no medicine had been used, or if it had that it had

done no good; 4thly, the cure must be sudden; 5thly, it must be complete

and perfect; and 6thly, there must have been no crisis. In the process of

examination and enquiry, no step is taken, no doubt propounded, no fact

allowed, without many of the members of the Congregation being present:

and a printed Report is sent to all who may have been absent. Besides the

ordinary cross-examinations, which are always of a most scrutinizing

character, it is the sole duty of one of the leading members of the

Congregation, the _Promotor Fidei_, as he is termed, to raise objections,

and if possible to disprove every reported miracle. The members of this

Congregation are as keen, penetrating and business-like, and have as

complete a knowledge of the unconscious delusions of the human heart, as

any body of English jurymen. As ecclesiastical scholars they may be truly

said to be equal to the same number of English barristers; and the head of

the Congregation, for shrewdness, acuteness of intellect, and judicial

ability, is equal to any judge in England, who by his interpretation of

the law, and his particular sentence in a special case, wills away the

life or property of any Englishman. The subject has been treated at length

in the great work of Pope Benedict XIV. (A.D. 1740-1758) "On

Beatification," &c., as well as in the Decrees of Pope Urban VIII. and

Pope Clement XI.; and so sifting and careful has always been the

investigation, that Alban Butler asserts, on the authority of Daubenton,

that an English gentleman (not a Roman Catholic) being present and seeing

the process of several miracles, maintained them to have been completely

proved and perfectly incontestable, but was astonished beyond measure at

the scrupulosity of the scrutiny when authoritatively informed that _not

one of those which he had heard discussed_ had been allowed by the

Congregation to have been sufficiently proved.

Father Perrone, the distinguished living theologian, also asserts that

having shown the formal process for certain miracles to a lawyer of some

eminence (not a Roman Catholic) who after examination was perfectly

satisfied with both the testimony and the reasoning, the latter declared

that they would certainly stand before a British jury; but was mightily

astonished on hearing that the Congregation did not consider that evidence

to be sufficiently convincing and conclusive.

Similar investigations have been made in England, since the Reformation,

and this by ecclesiastical authority. For example: in the year before his

translation to the see of Norwich (_i. e._ in 1640), Dr. Joseph Hall, then

Bishop of Exeter, made a strict and judicial inquiry into all the

circumstances of the sudden and miraculous cure of a cripple at S.

Madron's Well, in Cornwall, and the following is the recorded conviction

of this pious prelate:--"The commerce which we have with the good spirits

is not now discerned by the eye, but is, like themselves, spiritual. Yet

not so, but that even in bodily occasions we have many times insensible

helps from them; in such a manner as that by the effects we can boldly

say, 'Here hath been an angel, though we see him not.' Of this kind was

that (no less than miraculous) cure which at S. Madron's, in Cornwall, was

wrought upon a poor cripple, John Trelille, where (besides the attestation

of many hundreds of neighbours), I took a strict and personal examination

in that last Visitation which I ever did or ever shall hold. This man,

that for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands, by reason

of the close contraction of the sinews of his legs, (upon three

admonitions in a dream to wash in that well) was suddenly so restored to

his limbs, that I saw him able to walk and get his own maintenance. I

found here was neither art nor collusion: the thing done, the author

invisible."[76]

Now, whatever may be thought of the principles enunciated in Mr.

Lecky's[77] volumes on "The Rise and Influence of Rationalism," none can

deny either the marvellous faculty exhibited for gathering and marshalling

facts; while some portions of his thoughtful reflections do but put into

luminous language thoughts and convictions which find a cordial response

from many.

The following remarkable passage is singularly true and accurate in its

estimate of an unmistakeable historical fact, viz., that the Oxford

movement to a great extent left out of consideration[78] the continued

existence of modern miracles in the Christian Church. Mr. Lecky writes

thus:--"At Oxford these narratives (_i. e._ the record of patristic and

mediæval miracles) hardly exercised a serious attention. What little

influence they had was chiefly an influence of repression; what little was

written in their favour was written for the most part in the tone of an

apology, as if to attenuate a difficulty rather than to establish a creed.

This was surely a very remarkable characteristic of the Tractarian

movement, when we remember the circumstances and attainments of its

leaders, and the great prominence which miraculous evidence had long

occupied in England. It was especially remarkable when we reflect that one

of the great complaints which the Tractarian party were making against

modern theology was, that the conception of the Supernatural had become

faint and dim, and that its manifestations were either explained away or

confined to a distant past. It would seem as if those who were most

conscious of the character of their age were unable, in the very midst of

their opposition, to free themselves from its tendencies."--Vol. i. pp.

165-166.

It must be allowed that there is some amount of truth in this

temperately-made charge. Whatever else may have been pressed forward, and

with success, it is obvious that the active energy of the Supernatural has

been kept somewhat in the background. At all events it has not been made

too prominent. Even in books of devotion, adapted from Roman Catholic

sources, examples of miracles have been omitted; and so the golden threads

which were so rudely broken three centuries and a half ago, are still in

the mire; for few have cared to gather them up once more and weave them

into a perfect whole. That work has still to be done. Not until there be

what a modern writer terms "daring faith"--faith which can move

mountains--should the work be attempted.

And now, fully alive to its imperfections, I bring my book to its close.

It has been briefly shown herein what a great influence the materialistic

speculations of a few bold and over-confident writers have recently

exercised on current thought. At the same time the presence of the

Supernatural in Church History has been made perfectly manifest, and

abundant sources pointed out from which additional examples may readily be

gathered for consideration by those who may desire to gather them. Side by

side, however, with that which in the Supernatural order is good and

beneficial to man, energizes that which is evil. There are angels and

there are demons. There is light and there is darkness. Numberless armies

of glorious spirits, as the Divine Revelation tells us,[79] stand, rank by

rank and order by order, as the bright ornaments of the City of God. Their

subtlety, their quickness of penetration, their extensive knowledge of

natural things, are undoubtedly perfect in proportion to the excellency of

their being, inasmuch as they are pure intelligences, perfect from the

Hand of their Maker. They know the concerns of mortal men.[80] They are

our protectors, our patrons, our guides. For us they lift up their prayers

to God, and they are near us in our trials and temptations. Their motion

is swift as thought, their activity inconceivable. As they are the friends

of mankind by God's decree, so specially do they become the guardians of

the regenerate and the particular protectors of the innocent and young.

And their beneficent actions are not altogether unknown. The old records

tell of their charity; man's experience testifies to their presence. And,

furthermore, for man's behoof in his time of trial, and for his eternal

advantage hereafter, were given those powers and properties which belong

to the Church by the grace and efficacy of the Sacraments.

Yet, on the other hand, until the number of the Elect is accomplished, the

Enemy of Souls, the Prince of the Powers of the Air, is permitted to wield

an alarming influence; while too often the natural man, with his will

free, wills to remain his servant. Yea; and even the baptized, too. For by

Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Necromancy Satan still works, men being his

direct agents and slaves. Sometimes in one form, sometimes in another, he

dupes those who seek him; while his legions suggest to men's minds evil

thoughts, paint dangerous objects to the imagination, frequently direct

the active current of the human heart to sin, and finally turn round and

accuse their captives at the tribunal of God the Judge of all. So must it

be to the end, for this life is man's time of probation.

Of Dreams and Warnings, Omens and Presentiments, much has been written.

Each example must be considered on its own merits; for perhaps no coherent

theory will sufficiently cover and explain all the instances here already

adduced.

So, too, with Spectral Appearances and Haunted Localities. While

experience testifies to the facts recorded, such Glimpses of the

Supernatural may be well left to tell their own story, to leave their own

impression, and set forth their own teaching. To those who possess the

grace and habit of faith they will not seem over-strange, for as Hamlet

remarked to his friend--

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."

As I prepare to lay down my pen, I cannot but notice and put on record

what amid "the triumphs of Science," so frequently start up to confront

us, viz. the sad records of calamity brought to notice, and the gloomy

scenes of deepest misery which are yet so frequently depicted. "Woe is

me!" is man's wail still. But with many the Supernatural, as we too well

know, is bidden to stand aside. The Catholic Religion is written of as

antiquated, out of date, and effete. The truth of the Christian Revelation

is openly denied. Yet may not the terrible disasters of which we hear, and

the miserable calamities which so constantly occur along the path of

"human progress" and "scientific triumph," be permitted by God Almighty as

an intelligible and richly deserved rebuke to lofty looks and the impious

and blasphemous thoughts of the proud?[81]

Man's life in this country is certainly not longer than it was eight or

ten centuries ago. He dies as he died. Nor is the race of Englishmen

sturdier, finer, or better grown than of old. The tombs of the Crusaders

tell us this. Look at the stately figures of the Fitzalans in Bedale

Church, or at those of the Marmions in that of Tanfield, and it may be

that in this practical particular deterioration instead of progress should

be more fittingly and faithfully recorded. As is obvious enough, Science,

with all the boasting of its adherents, can, after all, effect but little.

True it is that wonderful discoveries are made in the Realms of Nature.

Operations untraced before, are now accurately apprehended; and secrets,

long hidden, are triumphantly brought to light. One might imagine from the

random confidence of some (as guides more shallow than safe), that Science

had discovered an appliance for every human weakness, an antidote to every

physical evil or disease, an unfailing specific against every want and

woe. Yet, after all its researches and with all its supposed discoveries

(for many may have been known and lost), never were failures so great or

misfortunes so heavy. The ugly iron ship of the present day, hideous in

form and appearance, yet constructed with all the obtainable skill of

modern science, at an enormous sacrifice of expense, fitted with

life-boats and patent scientific life-preservers, divided into

compartments, after due calculations (on a scientific method), suddenly

goes down, where a fisherman of six centuries ago, in his wooden skiff,

would have ridden a storm securely, and becomes an iron coffin for five or

six hundred corpses, rotting where the seaweed grows. Again, War, with

scientific appliances--in the invention and preparation of which the great

nations are active rivals--marches over a great country, defended by the

highest military art and strength, and in a few short months reduces its

people to spoliation, tribute, and shame. Less than a century ago, nearly

a twenty years' struggle would have been made, ere such a sudden and

sweeping contest could have been so securely sealed.

Human Art may do something, and Science may effect more: but how

frequently some little flaw or casualty defeats all! The boastings of

Science, consequently, become vain and vapid: its works lie in the dust.

Past ages have had their pride humbled; as Tyre and Alexandria and Babylon

too eloquently tell. When God, by the insolence of intellect, is thrust

aside, He sometimes, nevertheless, mercifully but efficiently reminds men

that He is. When the Supernatural is deliberately denied and scornfully

rejected, suffering may serve to open the eyes of the blind and make the

dumb to speak. The general tendency in these days is to worship Mind,

Intelligence, and Power, for Might, with too many, is Right. Literary

jargon setting forth this duty may be constantly read. The wisest action

for the truly wise is to turn away from such; for the noblest and proudest

ambition of a Christian's life should consist in being humble worshippers

of Him the One Author of the Supernatural and the Natural, Whose only

power is infinite, Whose knowledge and wisdom are boundless, and Whose

abiding love and mercy are over all His works.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER X.

THE CLAIMS OF SCIENCE AND FAITH.

By my friend Mr. Hawker's obliging kindness I am enabled to publish the

following remarkable Letter:--

"To Mr. S. J----, Merchant, Plymouth.

"MY DEAR NEPHEW,--You ask me 'to put into one of my nutshells' the pith

and marrow of the controversy which at this time pervades the English mind

as to the claims of Science and Faith. Let me try: The material

universe--so the sages allege--is a vast assemblage of atoms or

molecules--'motes in the sunbeam' of Science, which has existed for

myriads of ages under a perpetual system of evolution, restructure, and

change. This mighty mass is traversed by the forces electrical, or

magnetic, or with other kindred names; and these by their incessant and

indomitable action are adequate to account for all the phenomena of the

world of matter, and of man. The upheaval of a continent; the drainage of

a sea; the creation of a metal; nay, the origin of life, and the

development of a species in plant, or animal, or man; these are the

achievements of fixed and natural laws among the atomic materials, under

the vibration of the forces alone. Thus far the vaunted discoveries of

Science are said to have arrived. Let us indulge them with the theory that

these results, for they are nothing more, are accurate and real. But

still, a thoughtful mind will venture to demand whence did these atoms

derive their existence? and from what, and from whom, do they inherit the

propensities wherewithal they are imbued? And tell me, most potent

seigniors, what is the origin of these forces? And with whom resides the

impulse of their action and the guidance of their control? 'Nothing so

difficult as a beginning.' Your philosopher is mute! he has reached the

horizon of his domain, and to him all beyond is doubt, and uncertainty,

and guess. We must lift the veil. We must pass into the border-land

between two Worlds, and there inquire at the Oracles of Revelation

touching the Unseen and Spiritual powers which thrill through the mighty

sacrament of the visible Creation. We perceive, being inspired, the realms

of surrounding space peopled by immortal creatures of air--

'Myriads of spiritual things that walk unseen,

Both when we wake and when we sleep.'

These are the existences, in aspect as 'young men in white garments,' who

inhabit the void place between the Worlds and their Maker, and their God.

Behold the battalions of the Lord of Hosts! the Workers of the sky! the

faithful and intelligent Vassals of God the Trinity! We have named them in

our own poor and meagre language 'the Angels,' but this title merely

denotes one of their subordinate offices--messengers from on high. The

Gentiles called them 'Gods,' but we ought to honour them by a name that

should embrace and interpret their lofty dignity as an intermediate army

between the kingdom and the throne; the Centurions of the stars, and of

men; the Commanders of the forces and their Guides. These are they that,

each with a delegated office, fulfil what their 'King invisible' decrees;

not with the dull, inert mechanism of fixed and natural law, but with the

unslumbering energy and the rational obedience of spiritual life. They

mould the atom; they wield the force; and, as Newton rightly guessed, they

rule the World of matter beneath the silent Omnipotence of God.

"'And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of

it reached to Heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and

descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it.'--Genesis xxviii.

12. _Tolle, Lege_, my dear nephew.

"Your affectionate uncle,

"R. S. HAWKER.

"Morwenstow Vicarage, Cornwall."

GENERAL INDEX.

A Discerner of spirits, i. 81

Abimelech's dream, i. 210

Aerolites, i. 24

After-vision of a suicide, ii. 75

Alexander Macdonald's dream, i. 285

Amulet of the Grahams, i. 277

---- of the Macdonald Lockharts, i. 278

Ann Thorne bewitched, i. 194

Apparition at Ballarat, ii. 61

---- at time of death, ii. 59

---- in the Jewel House, ii. 105

---- near Cardiff, ii. 114

---- of a college friend, ii. 71

---- of a crow, ii. 131

---- of a dying father, ii. 58

---- of a dying lady to her children, ii. 64

---- of a father to his son, ii. 58

---- of a friend, ii. 60

---- of a sister, ii. 59

---- of a son to his mother and another, ii. 73

---- of an officer, ii. 10

---- of Dr. Ferrar's daughter, ii. 25

---- of Philip Weld, ii. 51

---- of Rev. W. Naylor, ii. 7

---- of S. Stanislaus, ii. 51

---- seven years after death, ii. 71

---- to a gentleman, ii. 119

---- to a lady and her child, ii. 113

---- to a lady and her child, ii. 117

---- to a sentry, and his death thereupon, ii. 108

---- to Lord Brougham, ii. 68

---- to Lord Chedworth, ii. 35

---- to Mr. Andrews, ii. 41

Apparitions at Oxford, ii. 209

Arrowsmith, Trial of Rev. E., i. 91

Arrowsmith's Hand preserved, i. 95

Authentication of Lamb's cure, i. 96

Barony of Chedworth, ii. 34

Belief in God universal, i. 5

Benediction, The principle of, i. 90

Beresford apparition, The, ii. 11

Bird, The Spectral, ii. 128

Bisham Abbey, Ghost at, ii. 91

Bishop Joseph Hall on temporal punishment, ii. 89

Bishop Ken's hymn, ii. 82

Blessing and cursing, Power of, i. 90.

Bosworth's testimony, Mr. T., ii. 146

Bridget Bishop accused of witchcraft, i. 198

Bull of Pope Innocent VIII. against witchcraft, i. 162

Captain William Dyke, ii. 22

Cardan, Jerome, i. 282

Case of Annie Milner, i. 169

---- of Martha Brossier, i. 165

Catharine Campbell accused of witchcraft, i. 197

Catholic claim to exclusive use of exorcism, i. 163

Causation, The law of, i. 3

Chamber, John, on "Judiciall Astrologie," i. 200

Charles I., Omens concerning, i. 267, 271

Charles Ireland bewitched, i. 186

Chevalier's testimony concerning Spiritualism, Mr., ii. 180

"Christ is coming" quoted, ii. 136.

Christian Shaw bewitched, i. 197

Christian writers on the Supernatural, i. 31

Christianity, Morse on the decline of, ii. 137

Citation, Remarkable case of, i. 90

Club, The Hell-Fire, ii. 207

Colgarth, The Philipsons of, i. 90

Collins's Sermon, Rev. H., i. 135

Cometism, The Trinity of, i. 19

Constantine victorious, i. 38

Creslow, Haunted chamber at, ii. 92

Criticism upon Mr. Congreve, i. 20

Crookes, Mr. W., on Spiritualism, ii. 159, 162, 164

Cross of Constantine, The, i. 35

---- fire seen in France in 1826, A, i. 16

Cure, Miraculous, i. 95

---- Miraculous, by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 121, 125

Daimonomagia, i. 174

Dale-Owen, Mr., quoted, ii. 183, 185

Death of Captain Speer, i. 253

---- of Rev. S. B. Drury, i. 251

De Lisle's, Miss, death, Supernatural music at, i. 135

De Lisle, Mr., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54

---- Mr. Edwin, on Strauss, i. 2

Demons, Belief in, ii. 212

Denial of the Supernatural, i. 1

Details of the Supernatural, i. 8

Discovery of a lost will, i. 204

Disease of witchcraft, i. 174

Double apparition at time of death, ii. 55

---- in the West Indies, ii. 58

Dr. Lamb, the sorcerer, i. 202

Dr. Newman on ecclesiastical miracles, i. 36

Dr. Samuel Johnson on the Lyttelton story, ii. 45

Dr. William Harvey's escape from death, i. 284

Dream of a child, Warning given in the, i. 260

---- of a dignitary realized, i. 257

---- of a housekeeper realized, i. 240

---- of a widow lady, i. 258

---- of Adam Rogers, i. 219

---- of Andrew Scott, i. 261

---- of Mr. Matthew Talbot, i. 225

---- of Mr. Williams of Scorrier, i. 226

---- of the Princess Natgotsky, i. 255

---- of the Swaffham tinker, i. 215

---- Prognostication of death in a, i. 250

---- Remarkable, of a clergyman, i. 247

---- Warning given in a, i. 254

---- Warning neglected, i. 244

Dreams and visions, i. 211

Dreams, Nature of, i. 210

---- of James Jessop, i. 244, 245

---- recorded in Scripture, i. 211

---- reproduction of thoughts in, i. 215

---- supernatural, i. 210

Dunbar's testimony, Rev. Dr., ii. 218

Dungeon at Glamis Castle, The, ii. 114

Early Popes martyrs, The, i. 31

Eastern form of exorcism, i. 162

Ecclesiastical miracles, i. 32

Effect of the Supernatural, i. 7

Elimination of God, The, i. 19

Elizabeth Gorham bewitched, i. 187

---- Style accused of witchcraft, i. 177

---- Tibbots bewitched, i. 178

---- Treslar hung for witchcraft, i. 181

Ellinor Shaw and Mary Philips, i. 182

Emperor Julian thwarted, The, i. 42

English canon concerning exorcism, i. 164

---- statutes against witchcraft, i. 163

"Eternal," The term, i. 5

Execution of Frederick Caulfield, i. 223

---- of Lamb's servant, i. 203

Exhumation of James Quin, i. 236

Exorcism, Power of, i. 57, 69, 82

---- Latin form of, i. 138

---- Oriental form of, i. 162

Facts of witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164

Faculty of Jerome Cardan, i. 283

Fall of aerolites, i. 25

False reasoning, i. 26

Ferrers family, Omen concerning, i. 272

Florence Newton accused of witchcraft, i. 180

Friday an unlucky day, i. 282

Ghost of Bisham Abbey, ii. 91

God and His creatures, i. 4

---- The elimination of, i. 19

Guesses of Science, The, i. 14

Hand of Arrowsmith preserved, i. 95

Hanmer, Mr. C. L., on an apparition, ii. 60

Hannah Green's testimony, i. 242

Haunted houses and localities, ii. 82

---- chamber at Creslow, ii. 92

---- Glamis Castle, ii. 114

---- house at Barby, ii. 109

---- house at Berne, ii. 126

---- house in Cheshire, ii. 116

---- house in Scotland, ii. 123

---- place at York Castle, ii. 96

---- places, ii. 84

---- police cell, ii. 121

---- road near Cardiff, ii. 114

---- room at Glamis Castle, ii. 112

---- room in the Tower, ii. 104

---- spot in Yorkshire, ii. 100

Hell-Fire Club, The, ii. 207

Henry Spicer's testimony, Mr., ii. 75

---- IV. of France, Omen of death to, i. 267

Herder on Witchcraft, ii. 210

Heresies of the modern Spiritualists, ii. 185, 191

Home, Mr. Daniel, ii. 151, 153

Hospitals, Christian in their origin, i. 10

Howell, Mr. J., on Spiritualism, ii. 176, 177

Howitt, Mr. W., on eternal punishment, ii. 186, 188

Hume on miracles, i. 23

Increase Mather on the tests of demoniacal possession, i. 173

---- Mather's "Cases of Conscience," i. 195

Inquiries regarding Wynyard, ii. 33

Jane Brookes accused of witchcraft, i. 175

---- Wenham accused of witchcraft, i. 192

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, on the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 45

Kostka's, S. Stanislaus, apparition, ii. 53

---- picture at Stonyhurst, ii. 53

Labarum, The, i. 37

Lactantius on dreams, i. 213

Lady Betty Cobb, ii. 15

Lancashire demoniacs, The, i. 171

Lane, Mr., on Modern Necromancy, ii. 215, 217

Laud, Omens concerning Archbishop, i. 271

Law of causation, The, i. 3

Lecky, Mr. W. H. E., on the Oxford Movement, ii. 232

Legion, The Thundering, i. 34

Longdon, Mary, bewitched, i. 194

Lord Falkland, Omen concerning, i. 270

Lord Litchfield's note of a presentiment, i. 281

---- testimony, i. 281

Lord Westcote's testimony, ii. 42

Lyttelton Ghost story, ii. 36, 42, 46

Macdonald's, A., case of second sight, i. 285

Macknish on dreams, i. 215

Major George Sydenham, ii. 22

Marquis de Marsay on Spirits, ii. 86

Mary of Medicis, Omen of death to, i. 267

Media, Table of Spiritual, ii. 143

Mines, Haunted, ii. 84

Ministry of Angels, ii. 82

Miracles at Rome in 1792, i. 17

---- Bishop Hall on, ii. 230

---- examination of at Rome, ii. 227

---- of our Lord, i. 30

---- of Prince Hohenlohe, i. 17

---- wrought by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 123, 126

Miracle at Garswood, i. 96

---- at Metz, i. 128

---- at Typasa, i. 42

---- under Marcus Aurelius, i. 33

Miraculous cure at Pontoise, i. 83

---- facts, Tradition of, i. 32

---- of Joseph Lamb, i. 95

---- of Mary Wood, i. 114

---- of Winifred White, i. 116

Mediumship, ii. 143

---- Clairlative, ii. 146

---- Clairvoyant, ii. 150

---- Developing, ii. 148

---- Duodynamic, ii. 148

---- Gesticulating, ii. 144

---- Homo-motor, ii. 147

---- Impersonating, ii. 145

---- Impressional, ii. 150

---- Manipulating, ii. 145

---- Missionary, ii. 149

---- Motive, ii. 144

---- Neurological, ii. 146

---- Pantomimic, ii. 145

---- Pictorial, ii. 148

---- Psychologic, ii. 147

---- Psychometric, ii. 148

---- Pulsatory, ii. 145

---- Speaking, ii. 150

---- Symbolic, ii. 147

---- Sympathetic, ii. 146

---- Therapeutic, ii. 149

---- Tipping, ii. 144

---- Vibratory, ii. 144

Miss Weld's testimony, ii. 54

Modern scientific methods, i. 10

Monsignor Patterson's testimony, ii. 52

More's "Antidote against Atheism," i. 173

Mr. De Lisle on Miracles, i. 15

Mr. De Lisle's testimony, ii. 54

Mr. Edwin De Lisle in reply to Strauss, i. 4

Mr. E. Lenthal Swifte's testimony, ii. 104

Mr. George Fortescue's declaration, ii. 43

Mr. Henry Cope Caulfeild's testimony, ii. 115

Mr. Herbert Spencer answered, i. 11

Mr. J. G. Godwin's declaration, ii. 68

Mr. Laxon's wife tormented, i. 189

Mr. M. P. Andrews' declaration, ii. 43

Mr. Ralph Davis on the Northampton witches, i. 182

Mr. Rutherford's declaration, i. 263

Mr. William Talbot's testimony, i. 226

Mrs. Baillie-Hamilton's testimony, ii. 66

Mrs. George Lee's testimony, i. 230

Mrs. Kempson's testimony, i. 254

Murder discovered by a dream, i. 221

---- of Maria Martin discovered, i. 231

---- of the crippled and imbecile, i. 9

Naturalistic materialism, i. 10

Nature of God, i. 6

---- dreams, i. 210

Necromancy recognized by the fathers, i. 161

---- in China, ii. 220

Northamptonshire witches, The, i. 182

Notions, reintroduction of Pagan, i. 13

Old traditions generally accepted, ii. 90

Omen concerning Archbishop Laud, i. 271

---- concerning King Charles I., i. 268, 269, 270

---- concerning Lord Falkland, i. 270

Omens and prognostications, i. 263

---- The subject of, i. 263

Opinions of Strauss, i. 3

Oracles, The cessation of, i. 282

Ostrehan's, Captain, testimony, ii. 218

Oxenham omen, The, i. 273

Pagan notions, Reintroduction of, i. 13

Patterson's, Monsignor, information, ii. 52

Perrone, Father, on Spiritualism, ii. 184

Philipsons of Colgarth, The, i. 90

Planchette, Use of, ii. 220, 222

Plumer Ward's, Mr., account of the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 46

Plutarch on the "Cessation of Oracles," i. 282

Popes martyrs, The early, i. 31

Portrait of S. Stanislaus, ii. 53

Power and malice of Satan, ii. 83

---- of blessing and cursing, i. 90

---- of exorcism claimed exclusively, i. 163

Presentiment of Lieutenant R----, i. 250

---- of death, i. 262

---- to Lady Warre's chaplain, i. 281

Principle of benediction, The, i. 88

Principles of the Broad Church party, ii. 137

Prognostication of death in a dream, i. 250

---- of death to Captain Speer, i. 252

Prognostications and omens, i. 263

Propriety of a revelation, i. 5

Purbrick, Rev. E. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54

Purport of dreams, i. 212

Rebuilding of the Temple, i. 42

"Report on Spiritualism" quoted, ii. 153

Rev. Dr. Cox's testimony, ii. 54

Rev. Dr. J. M. Neale's testimony i. 243

Rev. Edward Price on the World of Spirits, ii. 82

Rev. G. R. Winter on the Swaffham tinker, i. 215

Rev. H. N. Oxenham's testimony, i. 277

Rev. J. Richardson's testimony, i. 253

Rev. John Wesley on evil spirits, ii. 85

Rev. Joseph Jefferson's testimony, ii. 100

Rev. Mr. Perring's dream realized, i. 234

Rev. T. J. Morris's testimony, i. 240

"Rules for the Spirit Circle" quoted, ii. 151

S. Augustine on miracles, i. 30

S. Bernard on dreams, i. 214

S. Cyprian on dreams, i. 214

S. Cyril on dreams, i. 214

S. Irenæus on miracles, i. 41

S. John's College, Oxford, Founding of, i. 267

S. Pacian on miracles, i. 41

S. Thomas Aquinas on dreams, i. 214

Sacrilege discovered by a dream, i. 232

"Sadducismus Triumphatus" referred to, i. 199

Satan, power and malice of, ii. 83

Science and faith, Rev. R. S. Hawker on, ii. 239

Science of the Pagan oracles, i. 161

"Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism" quoted, ii. 143

Scott, Dream of Andrew, i. 261

Scripture on witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164

Séance at the Marshalls', i. 203

---- record of, from "Spiritual Magazine," ii. 169

Second sight, Treatise on, i. 285

---- at Cardiff, i. 286

---- at Ramsbury, i. 288

---- Jerome Cardan's gift of, i. 283

Sexton, Dr. G., on spiritualism, ii. 225

Shakespeare's conception of the supernatural, ii. 89

Singular prognostication, i. 250

Sir Christopher Heydon on astrology, i. 200

Sir George Caulfeild, i. 223

Sir Henry Chauncy trying witches, i. 193

Sir Henry Yelverton and his death, i. 95

Sir Martin Beresford, ii. 13

Sir Matthew Hale's evidence as to witchcraft, i. 163

Sir Thomas Brown's evidence against witchcraft, i. 163

Slade's, Sir Alfred, testimony, ii. 218

Somerset omen, The, i. 266

Sorcery of Dr. Lamb, i. 202

_Sortes Virgilianæ_, The, i. 269, 270

Sound of a drum, The, i. 278

Southey on haunted localities, ii. 84

Spectral dog, The, i. 280

Spectre of Lady Hobby, The, ii. 91

Spedlin's Tower haunted, ii. 97

Spirits, perturbed, ii. 87

---- World of, ii. 82

Spiritualism despised, ii. 139

---- modern, ii. 135, 169

---- Mr. W. Crookes on the phenomena of, ii. 159

---- Origin of, ii. 141

Spiritualistic manifestations, i. 205;

ii. 151, 153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 169, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178,

180

Statement of Lord Lyttelton's valet, ii. 45

Stigmatization, i. 98, 100, 101, 102, 105, 109

Strauss, Opinions of, i. 2

Successful exorcism by an English clergyman, i. 80

Sudden death of Ruth Pierce, i. 289

Supernatural banished, The, ii. 140

---- basis of life, i. 12

---- its work, i. 2

---- noises at Abbotsford, ii. 99

---- religion, i. 18

Surey demoniac, The, i. 177

Tertullian on dreams, i. 213

Testimony to the fulfilment of a solemn Curse, i. 117

The Chester-le-Street apparition, ii. 3

The Christian system, i. 26

The Lyttelton ghost story, ii. 35

The Misses Amphlett, ii. 39

The Oxenham omen, i. 274

The result of a solemn Curse, i. 117

The sound of a drum, i. 278

The spectral dog, i. 280

---- bird, ii. 128

The use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4

The white bird of the Oxenhams, i. 274

Theories concerning dreams, i. 210

Thirteen to Dinner, i. 281

Thomas Aquinas on miracles, S., i. 28

Three men rescued by a dream, i. 231

Tichborne dole, The, i. 264

---- Curse and Prophecy, The, i. 265

---- Mabella, Lady, i. 264

---- Sir Henry, i. 265

---- Sir Roger, i. 264

Tinley, Dream of Samuel, i. 262

Tradition of miraculous powers, i. 32

Treatise on second sight, i. 285

Trial of Rev. E. Arrowsmith, i. 91

Trinity of Comteism, The, i. 19

Twice-repeated dream of a sailor, i. 231

Tyrone apparition, The, ii. 11

Unalterable experience, i. 24

Use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4

Wallace, Mr. A., on spiritualism and science, ii. 193

Wandering souls, ii. 87

Ward's account of the Lyttelton ghost, Mr., ii. 46

Warning given in a dream, i. 238, 254

---- given to a lady by a dream, i. 242

---- to a lady, i. 258

---- to a little child, i. 260

---- to two persons in dreams, i. 258

"Weekly Register," The, on Mr. Wallace's theories, ii. 197

Weld ghost story, The, ii. 49

---- Philip, drowned, ii. 50

---- Very Rev. Alfred, S. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54

Weld's, Philip, apparition, ii. 53

Westcote, Lord, on the Lyttelton ghost, i. 33

White's Dream, Sir Thomas, i. 266

Witchcraft and necromancy, i. 152

---- and sorcery, Canon Melville on, i. 156

---- common in non-Catholic countries, i. 201

---- condemned in Scripture, i. 152, 155

---- Definition of, i. 174

---- Examples of, i. 176-201

---- George More on, i. 171

---- Herder on, ii. 210

---- Jane Wenham accused of, i. 192

---- Joseph Glanville on, i. 175

---- recognized by the Fathers, i. 161

---- Rev. John Wesley on, i. 160

Witches, The Northamptonshire, i. 182

"Wonders of the Invisible World," i. 198

World of spirits, The, ii. 82

Wynyard ghost story, The, ii. 26

THE END.

CHISWICK PRESS:--PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Here in Mr. Surtees' record is a remarkable example of the pious and

devout use of the sacred Sign of the Cross, which, having been universal

amongst all classes before the Reformation, was continued by many for long

generations afterwards, and the use of which since the Catholic Revival in

the English Church has become common.

[2] "History of Durham," by Robert Surtees, Esq.: under

"Chester-le-Street." Vol. ii. pp. 147-148.

[3] "Nichols' Literary Illustrations." Vol. iv. p. 119, _et seq._ London,

1822.

[4] Arthur Orchard, of S. John's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1662; M.A. 1666;

B.D. 1673.

[5] "Letters on Animal Magnetism," by Dr. W. Gregory, p. 487. London,

1851.

[6] A member of the noble family of Beresford thus wrote (A.D. 1873) to a

friend of the Editor, with reference to the above narrative:--"The

tradition in our family is entirely in favour of the truth of the Spectral

Appearance, and the account which I have read, and return, is in my

opinion a true and faithful narration of it."

[7] The record of this came to the Editor, through a friend, from the late

Rev. W. Hastings Kelke, M.A., sometime Rector of Drayton Beauchamp, in the

county of Bucks.

[8] The barony of Chedworth was conferred upon John Howe, Esq., of

Chedworth, co. Gloucester, on May 12, 1741. He had two sons, John Thynne,

the nobleman referred to in the above account, and Henry Frederick, who in

turn succeeded him in the title. His daughter Mary married Alexander

Wright, Esq., whose daughter Mary Wright is the lady mentioned in the

above narrative. Miss Wright's cousin John inherited as fourth baron, but

died unmarried, Oct. 29, 1804, when the peerage became extinct.

[9] Another narrative of this remarkable event, which substantially

corresponds with those given in the text above is provided here. In

certain respects there are discrepancies, and just those kinds of

discrepancies which might reasonably have been looked for in accounts

drawn up by different hands; but in the main facts, regarding which there

can be no reasonable doubt, there is a remarkable and notable identity in

all the leading features: "Two nights before, on Lord Lyttelton retiring

to bed, after his servant was dismissed and his light extinguished, he had

heard a noise resembling the fluttering of a dove at his chamber window.

This attracted his attention to the spot; when, looking in the direction

of the sound, he saw the figure of an unhappy female whom he had seduced,

and who, when deserted, had put a violent end to her own existence,

standing in the aperture of the window from which the fluttering sound had

proceeded. The form approached the foot of the bed, the room was

preternaturally light, the objects of the chamber were distinctly visible.

Raising her hand and pointing to a dial which stood on the mantlepiece of

the chimney, the figure, with a severe solemnity of voice and manner,

answered to the appalled and conscience-stricken man that at that very

hour, on the third day after the visitation, his life and his sins would

be concluded, and nothing but their punishment remain, if he availed

himself not of the warning to repentance which he had thus received. The

eye of Lord Lyttelton glanced upon the dial; the hand was on the stroke of

twelve: again the apartment was involved in total darkness--the warning

spirit disappeared, and bore away at her departure all the lightness of

heart and buoyancy of spirit, ready flow of wit, and vivacity of manner,

which had formerly been the pride and ornament of the unhappy being to

whom she had delivered her tremendous summons. Such was the tale that Lord

Lyttelton delivered to his companions. They laughed at his superstition,

and endeavoured to convince him that his mind must have been impressed

with this idea by some dream of a more consistent nature than dreams

generally are, and that he had mistaken the visions of his sleep for the

visitation of a spirit. He was consoled, but not convinced; he felt

relieved by their distrust, and on the second night after the appearance

of the spectre, he retreated to his apartment with his faith in the

reality of the transaction somewhat shaken; and his spirits, though not

revived, certainly lightened of somewhat of their oppression. On the

succeeding day the guests of Lord Lyttelton, with the connivance of his

attendant, had provided that the clocks throughout the house should be

advanced an hour; by occupying the host's attention during the whole day

with different and successive objects of amusement, they contributed to

prevent his discovering the imposture. Ten o'clock struck: the nobleman

was silent and depressed. Eleven struck, the depression deepened, and now

not even a smile, or the slightest movement of his eye indicated him to be

conscious of the efforts of his associates, as they attempted to dispel

his gloom. Twelve struck. 'Thank God! I am safe,' exclaimed Lord

Lyttelton, 'the ghost was a liar after all. Some wine, there. Congratulate

me, my friends; congratulate me on my reprieve. Why, what a fool I was to

be cast down by so idle and absurd a circumstance! But, however, it is

time for bed. We'll be up early and out with the hounds to-morrow. By my

faith, it's half-past twelve, so good night!' and he returned to his

chamber convinced of his security, and believing that the threatened hour

of peril was now past. His guests remained together to await the

completion of the time so ominously designated by the vision. A quarter of

an hour had elapsed: they heard the valet descend from his master's room.

It was just twelve. Lord Lyttelton's bell rang violently. The company ran

in a body to his apartment. The clock struck one at their entrance, the

unhappy nobleman lay extended on the bed before them, pale and lifeless,

and his countenance terribly convulsed."

In his "Memoirs," Sir Nathaniel Wraxall has the following relating to this

occurrence:--

"Dining at Pitt Place, about four years after the death of Lord Lyttelton,

in the year 1783, I had the curiosity to visit the bed-chamber, where the

casement window, at which Lord Lyttelton asserted the dove appeared to

flutter, was pointed out to me; and at his stepmother's, the Dowager Lady

Lyttelton's in Portugal Street, Grosvenor Square, who being a woman of

very lively imagination, lent an implicit faith to all the supernatural

facts which were supposed to have accompanied or produced Lord Lyttelton's

end. I have frequently seen a painting which she herself executed in 1780,

especially to commemorate the event: it hung in a conspicuous part of her

drawing-room. There the dove appears at the window, while a female figure,

habited in white, stands at the foot of the bed, announcing to Lord

Lyttelton his dissolution. Every part of the picture was faithfully

designed after the description given to her by the valet-de-chambre who

attended him, to whom his master related all the circumstances."

[10] Copied from a paper in the autograph of Lord Westcote, entitled

"Remarkable Circumstances attending the Death of Thomas, Lord Lyttelton,"

which the present Lord Lyttelton most courteously entrusted to the Editor

of this volume, together with several other original documents relating to

the same, as follows:--1. Extract from Mr. Plumer Ward's "Illustrations of

Human Life," vol. i. p. 165. 2. Written account given by Sir Digby Neave,

bart., to Lord Lyttelton in 1860. 3. MS. containing Mr. George Fortescue's

testimony, signed S. L. 4. The following declaration:--"Chiswick, May 6th,

1867. Miles Peter Andrews told me the story of Lord Lyttelton's appearance

to him, driving with me at Wingerworth, many years ago.--Anna Hunloke."

[11] Lord Lyttelton's valet made the following statement:--"That Lord

Lyttelton made his usual preparations for bed; that he kept every now and

then looking for his watch; that when he got into bed, he ordered his

curtains to be closed at the foot. It was now within a minute or two of

twelve by his watch; he asked to look at mine, and seemed pleased to find

it nearly keep time with his own. His lordship then put them both to his

ear, to satisfy himself if they went. When it was more than a quarter

after twelve by our watches, he said, 'This mysterious lady is not a true

prophetess, I find.' When it was near the real hour of twelve, he said,

'Come, I'll wait no longer; get me my medicine, I'll take it, and try to

sleep.' I just stepped into the dressing-room to prepare the physic, and

had mixed it, when I thought I heard my lord breathing very hard. I ran to

him, and found him in the agonies of death."--"Gentleman's Magazine," vol.

lxxxv. part i. p. 598, A.D. 1815.

[12] In Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" (vol. iv. p. 313) the Doctor is

recorded to have said, "It is the most extraordinary occurrence in my

days. I heard it from Lord Westcote, his uncle. I am so glad to have

evidence of the spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it."

[13] "James Weld, Esq., seventh son of Thomas Weld, Esq., of Lulworth

Castle, was born April 30, 1785, married July 15, 1812, the Hon. Juliana

Anne, daughter of Robert Edward, tenth Lord Petre, and has had issue, 1.

Henry, 2. Francis, a priest, 3. _Philip_, died 1846; 1. Anna Maria, 2.

Katharine, 3. Agnes, a nun, 4. Charlotte."--See Burke's "Landed Gentry,"

vol. ii. art. "Weld of Lulworth Castle."

[14] The Right Rev. Monsignor Patterson, the present President of S.

Edmund's college (A.D. 1872), kindly informs me that there is a memorial

brass in front of the sanctuary of the chapel of that society, on which is

figured a floriated cross, rising out of waves, with a label appended to

it,--"Lord save me."

[15] S. Stanislaus Kostka was born on Oct. 28, 1550, his parents being

John and Margaret Kostka, Polish nobles of wealth and repute. Miraculous

signs foreshadowed his birth; and the holiness and purity of his early

years betokened in a marked manner the favour of God towards this child.

In his fourteenth year he went to Vienna to finish his studies at the

Jesuit college. Here, his saintliness was so manifested forth by his

conduct, that the Fathers said, "We have in our seminary an angel under

the form of Stanislaus." Many miraculous favours are said to have been

bestowed upon him by the hands of saints and angels, too numerous and

lengthy to be recorded. He commenced his noviciate in the Jesuit college

at Rome; where, after a short but edifying sojourn, he joyfully departed

this life, aged 18 years, on the morning of August 15, 1568.

[16] Mr. de Lisle, of Garendon Park, Leicestershire, in communicating to

me the above narrative, writes as follows:--"I send you my account of the

apparition of Philip Weld, according to my promise. I received it back

this morning (July 17, 1872) from the Benedictine Convent at Athenstone,

in Warwickshire, where my daughter Gwendoline is a nun, and where one of

the Miss Welds, a cousin of Philip, is also a nun. She approves the

accuracy of my account, and has added a paper with a few notes, which I

inclose along with my own article, and from which you can correct mine so

far as needed. I add here my affirmation that the above recorded narrative

is a true and faithful account of what the Very Rev. Dr. Cox, then

President of S. Edmund's College, related to me and to Mrs. de Lisle in

February, 1847." The Editor is also greatly indebted to the Very Rev.

Alfred Weld, S.J., for his courteous Letters upon the subject of the above

narrative, as likewise to the Rev. E. J. Purbrick, S.J.

[17] "Letters on Animal Magnetism," by Dr. W. Gregory, pp. 448-489.

London, 1851.

[18] "The Apparition or Spectral Appearance of my friend's father to him

in the West Indies--the old gentleman having died in England, and the fact

of two officers having seen it simultaneously, shows that it could not

have been the result of their imagination, but that it was an objective

appearance; in fact, the dead man's immortal spirit, indicating to one

once bound by Nature's ties to the living witness of it, that the

separation of soul and body had taken place. It is firmly believed by the

family, who, however, all shrink from making their names public. So, my

dear doctor, you must be content with this."--E. M. C., Cambridge, July

15, 1873.

[19] "The narrative of the spectral appearance of a lady at Torquay,

forwarded to Dr. F. G. Lee at his special request, is copied from, and

compared with that in, the family Bible of H. A. T. Baillie-Hamilton by

the undersigned,

"C. Margaret Balfour,

Mary Baillie-Hamilton.

Witness, J. R. Grant.

"Princes Street, Edinburgh,

October 7, 1871."

[20] "The above is a correct and truthful statement.

"Witness my hand and seal.

John Gill Godwin.

[Illustration]

"76, Warwick Street,

South Belgravia, Nov. 6, 1874."

[21] Special enquiry, made since the above was penned, shows conclusively

that this appearance was seen exactly seven years after the date of

death.--Editor.

[22] The Editor is in no degree concerned with Paganism or Pagan

superstitions, nor has he gathered præ-Christian examples. Yet such will

have been numerous to the ordinary student of classical history. The

Haunted House of Damon, mentioned by Plutarch, will be familiar to many.

[23] The following is the original of a most beautiful verse in Bishop

Ken's well-known "Evening Hymn," either mutilated in the worst of taste in

most hymn-books, or else altogether eliminated and suppressed:--

"You, my best guardian, while I sleep

Close to my bed your vigils keep;

Your love angelical instil,

Stop all the avenues of ill."

[24] "What do we know of the World of Spirits? Little or nothing, beyond

what Faith and Revelation afford. Still we know that they surround us;

that they hover over us; that they accompany us whithersoever we go; and

that even in the innermost tabernacle of the soul they penetrate and have

their being. Good spirits and bad are around us; good spirits to aid us,

to waft our lame and imperfect prayers to heaven, and to protect us in the

hour of temptation or peril. 'He shall give His angels charge over thee,

lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' Bad angels, too, are around us

and against us, percolating through every avenue of the soul, inflaming

the imagination, warping the judgment, tainting the will, and too often,

alas! perverting it to perdition. Bad angels are around us, even within

the protecting sanctuary of God's Church, when summoned, permitted there

by the subdued and corrupted will of man. Bad angels are around us in

every walk and rank and condition and event of life: we see them not, but

they hover over us and around us, and they penetrate within the mysterious

precincts of the soul, by many a foul and unholy thought, by many an evil

suggestion to sin. And they triumph, and they gibber in their unholy glee

whenever they tempt and prevail. They triumph, and they laugh the

insulting laugh whenever they steep to the lips in sin an unhappy mortal,

and fasten upon him the mocking thought and determination of a deathbed

repentance. That is their battle ground, the battle ground of victory. The

standard of deceit is then triumphant: the captive is delivered bound into

their hands to do with as they list, to be tormented according to the

refinement of their infernal pleasure. 'He shall be delivered unto the

tormentors.'"--Rev. Edward Price.

[25] This belief prevails extensively in Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland.

[26] The souls of the dead, or spirits of some sort, are constantly heard

and not unfrequently seen in mines. A Shropshire miner informed the Editor

that, of his own knowledge, he had heard supernatural sounds of moanings

and mutterings underground, and had seemed to _feel_ the passing spirits

as they swept by. On one occasion, after the violent and sudden death of a

comrade, the noises were unusually loud; while the horses employed

underground would stand trembling and covered with perspiration whenever

the spirits were heard.

[27] "The Life of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., by Robert Southey, Esq.,"

vol. ii. p. 370. London: 1858.

[28] In many places on the continent, especially in France and Spain, it

was the custom to pray for departed souls, suffering (as their needful

purification was incompleted) _in any particular locality_. Dr. Neale

gives an example of this, occurring in a prayer which he saw printed and

hung up in a church at Braganza in Spain, which ran thus:--"We pray,

likewise, for the souls which are suffering in any place by the particular

chastisement of God." And the following is translated from a French

Prayer-Book of the last century:--"Have mercy, O Lord God, good and

pitiful, on the souls of those who are being chastised for their

transgressions in the flesh, in those places where Thou willest them to

suffer;" an evident reference in both cases to troubled spirits which

haunt definite spots.

[29] When the tone of thought in Shakspeare's day is compared with that in

our own, the contrast between the accurate and explicit religious

statements regarding the Supernatural, with the shallow and cynical

scepticism of modern writers, can hardly be put down to the credit of the

Modern. At all events those who claim to range themselves on the side of

the Ancient and the True may be permitted to do so. Nothing could more

forcibly set forth the current belief of the sixteenth century than the

following well-known utterance of the Ghost in "Hamlet":--

"I am thy Father's spirit;

Doom'd for a certain time to walk the night,

And for the day confined to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,

Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end,

Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood."

"Hamlet," pp. 22-23. Oxford: 1873.

[30] The Editor is indebted to the late Revs. W. Hastings Kelke and H.

Roundell of Buckingham, for the above curious example. It was intended to

have been published some years ago in "The Records of Bucks."

[31] For an accurate account by the late Rev. W. Hastings Kelke of this

curious and interesting old mansion, the property of Lord Clifford of

Chudleigh, see "The Records of Bucks," vol. i. pp. 255-267. Aylesbury,

1858.

[32] "Memoirs of Sir John Reresby," p. 238.

[33] The Rev. Joseph Jefferson, M.A., Vicar of North Stainley, near Ripon,

who sent me the above--unaltered, and printed just as it was written--on

the 2nd of June, 1873.

[34] "Notes and Queries," vol. x. second series, Sept. 8, 1860, pp.

192-193, and Sept. 22, 1860, p. 236.

[35] Barby is a parish in the Hundred of Fawsley, in the county of

Northampton, a little more than five miles from Daventry. It contains

between six and seven hundred inhabitants.

[36] "Your account, as about to be printed, is _true and exact_, as to all

the facts of the haunted house at ----, which came within my own personal

knowledge. Don't mention names, or we shall perhaps be damaging the

property, and lay ourselves open to an action at law. I may add that the

late Bishop of Chester [Dr. Graham] is said to have furnished a mutual

friend, the late Master of Trinity, with similar accounts, which had taken

place before I knew the place, verifying to an A B C the old and, no

doubt, perfectly true tradition. It is strange enough I know, _but it is

true_.--Yours, &c., H. S. B., November, 1874."

[37] The wife of the clergyman above alluded to, wrote to the Editor as

follows:--"Having read the account which you contemplate publishing, I can

testify of my own personal knowledge that it is _neither understated nor

exaggerated, but is in all its details strictly true and accurate_.--June,

1874."

[38] Miss S. F. Caulfeild, author of "Avenele," "Desmond," &c.

[39] It seems that other places are reported to be haunted by appearances

of Birds. A correspondent informs the Editor that this is the case with an

old House in Dorsetshire, not far from Poole, where a wingless bird is

sometimes seen. The same is said of a mansion in Essex, as another

correspondent declares. In one room in an old house in Dean Street, Soho,

likewise, several persons have seen a large raven, three times the size of

an ordinary raven, perched on the tester of the old-fashioned bed. The

inmates of the house, in 1854, whose family had had the lease for eighty

years, are said to have been so accustomed to seeing it (though they knew

it to be spectral) that they were undisturbed by its frequent appearance.

Dr. Neale's story as follows (not unlike the examples already given), is

very singular. Regarding it he wrote:--"_It comes to me with a weight of

evidence, which, strange as is the tale, I cannot disbelieve_. Three

friends, not very much distinguished by piety, had been dining together at

the residence of one of them in Norfolk. After dinner they went out and

strolled through the churchyard. 'Well,' said a clergyman, one of the

three, 'I wonder, after all, if there is any future state or not?' They

agreed that whichever died first should appear to the others and inform

them. 'In what shape shall it be?' asked one of the friends. At that

moment a flight of crows arose from a neighbouring field. 'A crow is as

good a shape as any other,' said the clergyman; 'if I should be the first

to die, I will appear in that.' He _did_ die first; and some time after

his death, the other two had been dining together, and were walking in the

garden afterwards. A crow settled on the head of one of them, stuck there

pertinaciously, and could only be torn off by main force. And when this

gentleman's carriage came to take him home, the crow perched on it, and

accompanied him back."

[40] "Strange Things Amongst Us." By Henry Spicer. 2nd ed., pp. 100-102.

London: Chapman & Hall, 1864.

[41] The following is taken from a small volume which has been

gratuitously circulated very widely amongst the clergy and laity. It bears

a Christian title, but is altogether anti-Christian from end to end:--

"The unwise, idolatrous, early Christian priests, in their admiration of

Christ, exalted him in their imagination to be God Himself, forgetting the

Creator God, and exalting in their foolish imagination his Blessed Mother

as the Mother of God--folly that has been widely perpetuated down to these

days. Oh, foolish churches, how great has been your folly, how widely you

have departed from the truth; therefore how little you have been able to

cope with the wicked heart of man!

"In like manner as the Israelites, from the crucifixion down to these

days, have erred in disbelieving the Messiah-ship of Christ, so the

spurious churches have, during many ages, exalted Christ in their

imagination to be God. The Israelites and the spurious churches being

equal in their great error--the one refusing to acknowledge him as the

long-promised Messiah, the other exalting him in their imagination as

being the Messiah, the Holy Ghost, and God the Creator also; the

Israelites refusing to give any glory to Christ, the spurious churches

madly rushing, in their ancient antagonism towards the Jews, to the

opposite extreme, by robbing, in their imagination, God the Creator of His

Glory, and giving all glory to the Messiah, to the great grief of the

Messiah.

"Now clearly understand, oh ye nations of the whole world! it was not God

who was born out of the Virgin Mary, and who was crucified, but the before

holy angel Christ--understand this, and the Holy Scriptures will be plain

to your comprehension--Christians have erred greatly during so many

generations, in like manner as the followers of Mahomet and of Buddah have

erred--errors that were carelessly accepted by powerful rulers, evil and

ignorant, and forced upon the priests and the people, generation after

generation. The time is at hand, even knocking at the door, when your

understanding shall be made clear, and neither the professing followers of

Christ, nor of Buddah, nor of Mahomet, nor the unwise of other sects, will

continue in their many errors."--"Christ is Coming," pp. 135-6.

"Yet to-day, if one dare question the value of Christianity, what a howl

is raised from one end of Christendom to the other! We say so advisedly,

for it is the howl of fear.... Though Christianity to-day declines and is

losing power and vigour, yet in its day it hath done great and glorious

good in the work of human redemption. It was an advance upon the religions

which preceded it."--"What of the Dead? An Address by Mr. J. J. Morse, in

the Trance State," p. 5. London: J. Burns. 1873.

[42] 2 St. Peter iii. 3, 4.

[43] "A Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism: a Paper read by Mr. T.

Grant to the Maidstone and Mid-Kent Natural History and Philosophical

Society on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1872." London: J. Burns.

[44] A remarkable example of this has been courteously given to me by Mr.

Thomas Bosworth, of 198, High Holborn, as follows:--"Some seven or eight

years ago there appeared in one of the newspapers a story to the following

effect:--A commercial firm at Bolton, in Lancashire, had found that a

considerable sum of money which had been sent to their bank by a

confidential clerk, had not been placed to their credit. The clerk

remembered the fact of taking the money, though not the particulars, but

at the bank nothing was known of it. The clerk, feeling that he was liable

to suspicion in the matter, and anxious to elucidate it, sought the help

of spirit medium. The medium promised to do her best. Having heard the

story, she presently passed into a kind of trance. Shortly after she said,

'I see you on your way to the bank--I see you go into the bank--I see you

go to such and such part of the bank--I see you hand some papers to a

clerk--I see him put them in such and such a place under some other

papers--and I see them there now.' The clerk went to the bank, directed

the cashier where to look for the money, and it was found; the cashier

afterwards remembering that in the hurry of business he had there

deposited it. A relation of mine saw this story in a newspaper at the

time, and wrote to the firm in question, the name of which was given,

asking whether the facts were as stated. He was told in reply that they

were. That gentleman who was applied to, having corrected one or two

unimportant details in the above narration, wrote on November 9,

1874:--'Your account is a correct one. I have the answer of the firm to my

enquiry at home now.'"

[45] The term "willer" and "necromancer" are used as identical by Easterns

as well as by the aborigines of New Zealand.

[46] There have been published "Rules to be Observed for the Spirit

Circle," "framed under the Direction and Impression of Spirits," by Emma

Hardinge, from which the following points are gathered. Firstly, there is

a definition, and it is stated that "the Spirit Circle is the assembling

together of a given number of persons for the purpose of seeking communion

with the spirits who have passed away from Earth into the higher world of

souls." A leading direction enjoins the inquiring votaries to "_Avoid

strong_ light, which by producing excessive motion in the atmosphere,

disturbs the manifestations. A very subdued light is the most favourable

for any manifestations of a magnetic character, especially for spiritual

magnetism." "Strongly positive persons of any kind" and "the dogmatical"

should not be admitted. Furthermore, these "Rules" contain the

following:--

"Spirit control is often deficient, and at first almost always imperfect.

_By often yielding to it, your organism becomes more flexible and the

spirit more experienced_; and practice in control is absolutely necessary

for spirits as well as mortals. _If dark and evil-disposed spirits

manifest to you, never drive them away_, but always strive to elevate them

and treat them as you would mortals under similar circumstances. Do not

always attribute falsehoods to 'lying spirits,' or deceiving mediums. Many

mistakes occur in the communion of which you cannot always be aware.

_Strive for Truth_, but rebuke Error gently, and do not always attribute

it to design, but rather to mistake, in so difficult and experimental a

stage of the communion as mortals at present enjoy with spirits."

[47] The kind of communication made to those who first consult the

spirits, is just of that nature calculated to allure the superficial, the

frivolous, the uninformed, triflers, and seekers after novelties; and to

lead them on to a more frequent intercourse and a deeper kind of

communion.

[48] Dr. J. G. Davey, M.D., of Northwoods, Bristol, writes as follows:--"I

have satisfied myself not only of the mere abstract truth of Spiritualism,

but of its great and marvellous power for good, both on moral and

religious grounds. The direct and positive communications vouchsafed to me

from very many near and dear relatives and friends, said to be dead, have

been of the most pleasing yet startling character."--_Report on

Spiritualism_, p. 232. London: Longmans, 1871.

[49] This person, whose name was most accurately given, had died five days

previously. He was a servant on the estate, and had belonged to the sect

of the Anabaptists.

[50] "Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called Spiritualism, during

the years 1870-73." By William Crookes, F.R.S.

[51] "The reader who has not been in the habit of attending _séances_

should be informed that the peculiar phraseology of some of the questions

is rendered necessary by the fact that if you ask the spirits, 'Where did

_you_ die?' or 'Where were _you_ buried?' they will sometimes tell you

that it was not _they_ who died and were buried, but merely the external

shell or material covering of the real man."--Note by the Editor of the

"Spiritual Magazine."

[52] "There is scarcely a city or a considerable town in Continental

Europe, at the present moment, where Spiritualists are not reckoned by

hundreds if not by thousands; where regularly established communities do

not habitually meet for spiritual purposes: and they reckon among them

individuals of every class and avocation."--"Scepticism and Spiritualism."

In a letter to the "Spiritual Magazine," dated May 4th, 1867, Judge

Edmunds, of America, estimated the number of Spiritualists in the United

States at ten millions. "In London, ten years ago," writes Mr. R. Dale

Owen, "there was but a single Spiritual paper; to-day there are

five."--"The Debatable Land," p. 175. London: Trübner, 1871.

[53] The Rev. John Edwards, jun., M.A., Vicar of Prestbury, near

Cheltenham.

[54] "We do not, either by faith or works, _earn_ Heaven, nor are we

sentenced, on any Day of Wrath, to Hell. In the next world we simply

gravitate to the position for which, by life on earth, we have fitted

ourselves; and we occupy that position _because_ we are fitted for

it."--"The Debatable Land," by R. Dale Owen, p. 125. London, 1871.

[55] Howitt's "What Spiritualism has Taught," p. 8.

[56] Howitt's "What Spiritualism has Taught," p. 10.

[57] "Spiritualism is avowedly opposed to the Christian Religion. 'The

Creed of the spirits' is published in the shape of a little tract, one of

those called 'Seed Corn,' which active agents love to distribute

gratuitously wherever readers can be found, and these are its clauses: 'I

believe in God'--'I believe in the immortality of the human soul'--'I

believe in right and wrong'--'I believe in the communion of spirits as

ministering angels.' Nothing more. Those well-intending persons,

therefore--and we believe that among Protestants there are many--who go to

_séances_ out of curiosity, and who are sometimes heard to say that if

Spiritualism be true it must therefore be right, should be warned that

they are lending countenance to persons in whose writings the doctrines of

the Trinity and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ are emphatically

denied--the Holy Ghost scoffed at in words too blasphemous for repetition,

our Blessed Lady insulted, and the whole fabric of Religion attacked and

undermined; and whether this is done by spirits who actually manifest

themselves for the purpose of leading people astray, or by impostors who

work upon the credulity of their audience, the thing can have but one

origin, and that is the same as that of any other work by which the

Arch-enemy seeks to close the heart of man against the True Faith. It is

time therefore to use other weapons than that of ridicule against the

baneful and, we fear, widely increasing delusion."--"Tablet," September 6,

1873.

[58] Collect for the Feast of S. Michael and All Angels, "Book of Common

Prayer."

[59] "The soul has a kind of body of a quality of its own."--Tertull.

cont. Marc. lib. v. cap. xv.

[60] This account is current, with slender and unimportant variations, at

Oxford; or at all events _was_ current in my days there (A.D. 1850-1854),

and on what could not be regarded as other than good authority. One

version is already in print--that given by Mr. William Maskell, at pp.

108-112 of his curious and interesting book, "Odds and Ends," London,

1872. He seems to imply that it was the late Archdeacon of Cleveland, the

Ven. Edward Churton, who saw the spectral apparitions in Brasenose Lane;

but the Archdeacon belonged to Christ Church, and, as his son, the Rev. W.

R. Churton, of Cambridge, informs me, was not resident at Oxford at the

time of the occurrence. More probably it was the Archdeacon's brother, the

Rev. T. T. Churton, sometime Fellow of Brasenose.

[61] As to the universality of the belief in Witchcraft, the reader may

consult Herder's "Philosophy of History," bk. viii. ch. 2. And as regards

the convictions of some of the leading minds of Europe in times past on

the subject, Mr. Leckey in his "History of Rationalism" (vol. i. p. 66),

makes the following candid admission: "It is, I think, impossible to deny

that the books in defence of the belief are not only far more numerous

than the later works against it, but that they also represent far more

learning, dialectic skill, and even general ability. For many centuries

the ablest men were not merely unwilling to repudiate the superstition;

they often pressed forward earnestly and with the most intense conviction

to defend it. Indeed, during the period when Witchcraft was most prevalent

there were few writers of real eminence who did not, on some occasion,

take especial pains to throw the weight of their authority into the scale.

Thomas Aquinas was probably the ablest writer of the thirteenth century,

and he assures us that diseases and tempests are often the direct acts of

the devil; that the devil can transport men at his pleasure through the

air; and that he can transform them into any shape. Gerson, the Chancellor

of the University of Paris, and, as many think, the author of 'The

Imitation,' is justly regarded as one of the master intellects of his age;

and he, too, wrote in defence of the belief. Bodin was unquestionably the

most original political philosopher who had arisen since Machiavelli, and

he devoted all his learning and acuteness to crushing the rising

scepticism 'on the subject of witches.'"

[62] 1 S. Peter v. 8.

[63] Acts xvi. 16-18.

[64] Apologia, cap. v. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv. cap. xxiii.

[65] 1 Cor. xi. 10.

[66] Ibid. xi. 15.

[67] Luther, following the current tradition of his day, believed that the

Devil could beget children on the bodies of women; and declared that he

himself had personally come across, and was well acquainted with, one of

the Devil's offspring. So too did Erasmus believe the fact of such

generation. It is a tradition in the Catholic Church, that the last and

great Antichrist--the final Antichrist--may be born of such an alliance.

Of course Mahomet was _a_ great Antichrist; for though he borrowed certain

Christian features and adopted many Jewish notions and Rabbinical

traditions in his system, yet he plainly and undoubtedly fulfilled the

prophetic statement of S. John the Divine--"_He is Antichrist, who denieth

the Father and the Son_." (1 S. John ii. 22.) Mahomet's great and leading

heresy is expressed in the following dogmatic assertion of the Koran:

"_God neither begetteth nor is begotten_." Now no system has more

pertinaciously, successfully, and for so long a time opposed Christianity

than Mahometanism--not even Arianism. But modern "Liberalism," so called,

as still developing amongst ancient Christian nations, promises even to

outstrip the system of Mahomet, and to be as blighting and baneful in its

results.

[68] "An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians." By

E. W. Lane. 5th edition. London: 1860.

[69] See the whole of this chapter, which is full of information and

interest. It gives a record of several other similar examples.

[70] In No. 117 of the "Quarterly Review," there is a criticism on Mr.

Lane's account of these necromancers; but the facts recorded by him are

neither satisfactorily accounted for nor successfully explained away.

[71] My brother-in-law, Captain Ostrehan, of the Bombay Staff Corps, Sir

Alfred Slade, Bart., and the Rev. Dr. Dunbar, chaplain to Bishop

Claughton, have furnished me with remarkable examples of the power of

Oriental necromancers.

[72] Nevins' "China and the Chinese," p. 167. New York, 1868.

[73] "Theory of Pneumatology," by J. H. Jung-Stilling, pp. 136-137.

London: Longmans, 1834.

[74] Dr. Sexton in his "Defence of Modern Spiritualism" (London: J.

Burns), a tractate written with ability and frankness, remarks that "it is

too late in the day to sneer at this matter with a sort of

self-complacency, which seems to say, 'You are a poor deluded creature:

behold my superior wisdom; I don't believe in such nonsense.' Here are the

facts, and we demand in the true spirit of Science to know what is to be

done with them. If you have any theory by which they can be explained, let

us hear it, in order that we may judge of its merits; if you have not, we

are all the more justified in clinging to our own." And, again, referring

to the inquiries of a certain Dr. Hare in America, he writes:--"The

question with Dr. Hare was--Did the phenomena occur, and, if so, were they

produced by the direct action of those persons in whose presence they took

place? The nonsensical notions mooted by unscientific opponents, and which

are still urged with as much gravity as though they had been made the

subject of mathematical demonstration, that electricity, magnetism, odic,

or psychic forces are the agents by which the manifestations are produced,

he knew well enough could not bear a moment's investigation. Electricity

cannot move tables, nor in fact act at all without cumbrous apparatus.

Magnetism cannot give intelligent responses to questions, and odic force

and its twin brother psychic are probably as imaginary as the

philosopher's stone; and even if their existence could be proved beyond

the shadow of a doubt, they could not in the slightest degree help us to

the solution of the great problem of the cause of the phenomena designated

Spiritual."

[75] A thoughtful writer, and one who is evidently far-seeing and awake to

the danger, recently made the following pertinent remarks in the _Church

Review_:--

"The presence of Superstition is always the sign of a wandering from the

true path; the _excess_ of Superstition almost invariably the precursor of

great intellectual and religious changes, if not absolute convulsions.

Before the great crash of Paganism the necromancers and practisers of

curious arts were carrying on an unusually brisk trade among the Romans.

We all know how prevalent was the belief in witches, wizards, and

astrology at the time immediately preceding the (so-called) Reformation.

Before the French Revolution the sect founded by Cagliostro and Lorenza

Feliciani, which professed a knowledge of the ancient arts of the

Egyptians, found great numbers of followers. And have we not a sign of a

national mental crisis in our own day in the prevalence of 'Spiritualism,'

which is the form which necromancy at present takes? There may be many

people who are utterly unaware how large a number of their

fellow-countrymen, and especially of their countrywomen, believe in

Spiritualism, and attend _séances_. Those who do so are not usually very

fond of parading their belief, because they have a lurking suspicion that

they may get laughed at; but this very reserve makes the bond between the

votaries of Spiritualism so much the stronger. It is no exaggeration to

say that the practice of dealing with familiar spirits is on the increase

in Great Britain at the present moment." (A.D. 1873.)

[76] "On the Invisible World," by Joseph Hall, D.D., &c., book i. sec. 8.

Father Christopher Davenport, better known as "Sancta Clara," in one of

his most remarkable treatises, "Paralipomena Philosophica de Mundo

Peripatetico," chap. iv. p. 68 (A.D. 1652), confirms the account in the

text of the above-named Bishop of Exeter, giving all the details of this

particular miraculous cure. It seems that both the Well and Chapel of S.

Madron were constantly visited by the faithful during the first part of

the seventeenth century, especially in the month of May and on the feast

of Corpus Christi.

[77] "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in

Europe," by W. E. H. Lecky, M.A. Fourth edition in two volumes. London,

1870.

[78] Dr. Newman will, of course, be excepted; for his remarkable

Dissertation prefixed to the translation of Fleury's "History" is known to

many, more especially in its new form,--a volume already referred to at

length in chap. ii. pp. 35-36. It is certainly quite unjust to include the

Tractarian school amongst those who are referred to by Mr. Lecky in the

following passage:--"At present nearly all educated men receive an account

of a miracle taking place in their own day, with an absolute and even

derisive incredulity which dispenses with all examination of the

evidence."--Vol. i. p. 1. Though many are reticent, and many more shrink

from publicity and rude criticism, it is known that the direct influence

of the Miraculous and Supernatural is by no means unknown in the Church of

England.

[79] Job xxv. 5.

[80] See a most remarkable Letter from the pen of my friend the Rev. R. S.

Hawker, of Morwenstow, on "The Claims of Science and Faith," standing as

an Appendix to this Chapter, in which the office of the angels is referred

to.

[81] Mr. Mill, who is now dead, wrote that "this World was a bungled

business in which no clear-sighted man [meaning himself apparently, and

modestly] could see any signs either of wisdom or of God." Mr. Matthew

Arnold, son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, has written that "the existence of God

is an unverifiable hypothesis." A third writer maintains that the "great

duty" of the philosophers "should be to eliminate the idea of God from the

minds of men," a sentiment not unlike that of Mr. Congreve, already quoted

on p. 19 of vol. i.; while a popular publication, circulated by thousands

amongst the lower classes, declares that the mission of its Editors is "to

teach men to live without the fear of God; to die without the fear of the

Devil; and to attain salvation without the Blood of the Lamb."