The devoutest believers in "the march of intellect" must at intervals
be almost driven to renounce their creed in despair. Errors which were
supposed to have been exploded centuries ago, sometimes reappear on a
sudden, and propagate themselves for a season with a rapidity which no
reasoning can pursue, no ridicule arrest. Notions, worthy only of the
dark ages, spring up in the glare of the supposed illumination of the
present day, and resist all the efforts of the Briarean press itself
to dispel them. At one time, it is a pious Hungarian prince who
performs preternatural cures, at the request of the friends of the
sick parties in Ireland, conveyed through that droll medium for a
miracle, the Hamburg letter-bag! At another, it is an old dropsical
impostor, whom thousands of blaspheming dupes venerate as a second
virgin quick of a new Messiah! A short time since animal magnetism
was in vogue; and the strong will of certain gifted individuals was
believed to have the power of entering into a mystical communication
with the spirits of others, and of absolutely controlling their whole
physical and mental being! To-day we are startled by the actual
exhibition of a miracle, the "unknown tongue," on alternate Sundays,
at the Caledonian Chapel in Regent Square, London! If at any time we
are tempted to plume ourselves on the fact, that the belief in ghosts
and witchcraft has disappeared, we are quickly humiliated by the
recollection that there are yet thousands of devout believers in
the prophecies of Francis Moore, physician; or by overhearing the
rhapsodies of some millenarian dreamer, who as confidently gives us
the date of the opening of the New Jerusalem as if he were speaking of
the New London Bridge.--_Quarterly Review_.
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