we account for the extraordinary prophecies, messages, coincidences
and communications in accordance with facts? We wish this had been
the only difficulty to surmount, for it perplexes much less than
the _feminine security_ of these rappers against the inspection
of their actual _quomodò_. We can most safely presume that if by
search warrant, stratagem, or _vi et armis_, the rapping instrument
of these Fox girls had been exposed to the public, there would not
have been one doubt about the nature and origin of the _spiritual
communications_, nor the question ever asked, how it happened that
these communications were so wonderfully true to fact. Brains, books,
good and bad spirits, devils and all would not have been needed for
this discussion. Indeed where is the necessity at all, of dragging out
human weakness, credulity, and duplicity to solve the psychological
part of this fraud and forgery, if we can rap as well as the Fox girls
(the great guns of rappism), and on the strength of our rappings tell
_more truth_ and _fewer lies_ than their spirits, what need have we
of metaphysical disquisitions on the handwriting found in a drawer
or any where else, resembling Mr. Calhoun's, John Smith's, or any
other of the great departed?[8] So far as our experience went, the
Fox girls made few, very few good hits, and perpetrated a vast amount
of most intolerable nonsense and contradiction; enough of itself,
even if the rappings had been made outside the pale of their _queenly
robes_ one inch, two feet, above their heads, in the aerial centre
of the room, disconnected with every tangible and visible thing, to
have turned any sensible man on his heel instanter, with contempt and
disgust. But for the sake of those who are duped or perplexed by these
communications, we must spend a little breath to enlighten them. When
a man _suspects_ supernatural agency or interference in physical,
really visible, sensible, or tangible demonstrations, he is ready to
believe any thing communicated at the time, and when he comes to the
full belief in divine interposition, his faith is perfected. Where,
by long practice, preparation and skill, tricks are performed with
a view to imposition, it requires the highest degree of coolness,
calmness, and self-possession, to resist the impression of the
superhuman, and however well fortified we may be in these respects, it
is hardly to be expected that we should be able to discover the real
nature of the performance without some experience and practice on our
side. The instant the idea of the superhuman gets possession of the
mind all fitness for investigation and power of analysis begins to
vanish, and credulity swells to its utmost capacity. The most glaring
inconsistencies and absurdities are not discerned and are swallowed
whole, and so deep is the blindness and so extraordinary in its
character, that we have seen a convert made to _spiritual rappism_
upon the strength of one single coincidence selected from among a
great mass of disgusting mummery and perversion of truth. Not one of
the discrepancies, were of any importance with him; one lucky hit
of the rappers and the whole performance, errors, raps and all were
invested with supernatural power. Now, how does it happen, that the
believer in such cases does not notice the incongruities and failures,
or does not appear to notice them. This is somewhat of a psychological
phenomenon, but might as well be explained on the ground of unfairness,
as any other; unfairness is as often the beginning and accompaniment
of _infatuation_, as a mental incapacity for more than one idea. A
shrewd person can, at any time, take a promiscuous company, and with
the imposture of rapping, or any other trick, calculated to divert
the attention, and a mode of spelling out communications similar to
that adopted by the Fox girls, make out as many or more wonderful and
seemingly supernatural communications as they, certainly not more of
error and absurdity. We were once riding in a stage-coach, with a
gentleman, who, after a long journey, laid a wager with another that he
would tell the occupation of every person in the coach. To the surprise
of all he won the wager. A lady present, apparently much hurt, asked
how he knew she was a "housekeeper." The reply was, Because I saw you
frequently putting your hands to your belt--for the keys. Many of our
shrewd itinerant phrenologists, after the parade of measuring and
fumbling one's head, and a few master-key questions, will portray the
life and character with a wonderful degree of accuracy. Our stage-coach
pythonist had, during the journey, watched the motions, complexion,
conversation, expression of countenance, appearance of the hands, the
dress,--in fine, ever little circumstance of habit or person, and it so
happened judged rightly in each case. It is so with the phrenologist,
who draws his information mostly from similar sources.[9] It is so
with the rappers; they observe carefully, have experience with persons
of all classes, and generally, unless molested by some skeptic, have
every thing in their own way. Their visitors, especially the dupes,
betray more to these rappers than their own skill can eliminate, and
it is surely to be expected that they should hit right sometimes. Upon
mere hap-hazard conjecture, this might happen occasionally, but with
all the arts and aids of preparation, credulity, and fanaticism, they
become as successful as the oracles of Delos and Lesbos.
Before concluding the subject of rappings we remark briefly that a
SPIRIT that cannot or will not tell the truth on all occasions, is
wholly unworthy our credence or respect; and believing, as we do, that
miracles are God's prerogative and all miraculous power is withheld
from evil spirits as militating with the plan of Revelation, we needed
no further investigation for our own satisfaction, than to know that
a very large part of their pretended communications were grossly
erroneous; but we have held it to be important for the sake of others
that the whole subject should be examined. The fever has somewhat
abated of late, but unless boldly and vigorously assailed it will
reappear under some new pretension with exacerbations more virulent
than ever.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This witch of Endor it seems was the only woman with a _familiar
spirit_ that had escaped death under the royal edict of Saul, and how
successfully she bewitched or juggled Saul our readers all know. We
refer them one and all to the 19th Chap. Leviticus, 31st verse--ED.
[2] In Washington.
[3] The Bible teaches of witches and wizards with familiar spirits,
and that they were to be put to death; of magicians, astrologers,
sorcerers, soothsayers, and false prophets; but the only account of a
miraculous performance by the devil, is that of his first great and
momentous fraud upon our race in the garden of Eden, and this is by
some considered as allegorical. Through that act he got possession of
the human heart, and he needs now no external manifestations to further
his intrigues.
Pharaoh's magicians were able, by their arts, to imitate to a certain
extent only, the miracles of Moses and Aaron. They turned their rods
into serpents, the river into blood, and caused frogs to come out of
their hiding-places, but when it came to the conversion of the small
dust into lice, their magic was baffled, and "then the magicians said
unto Pharaoh _This is the finger of God_."
The raising of Samuel's spirit, and his prophecy of the result of
the battle, was a professional trick of the witch of Endor, and no
more remarkable than many of the doings related of the rappers and
tippers, and of mesmerizers who send clairvoyants to explore the
UNKNOWN WORLD. Considering all the circumstances, we think that many
hits, or conjectures of false prophets, or fortune-tellers of the
present day, have been quite as successful, and even more wonderful,
than this feat of the witch of Endor. We know that some Commentators
regard the raising of Samuel's ghost, and the prophecy of the result
of the battle, as the work of God, and not of the witch herself, or
her master; and to such a conclusion they seem to be forced, if they
admit any thing superhuman about it, for it would not answer to accord
so much power to a witch, accursed of the law. How such an explanation
can be reconciled with Divine attributes and teachings, we are at loss
to conceive. The account tells us that Saul had sought the Lord in
vain. The Lord had refused to communicate with him. Shall it be said
then that the Almighty is capable of trifling? (for this seems to be
the alternative.) That he made known his will through a witch; and
that, in Saul's (the Lord's anointed) last extremity, the Lord forced
him to believe a lie or an accursed witch? Is not this the inference,
the inevitable conclusion? How readily all difficulty vanishes by
expounding this transaction upon the very same principles that we apply
to spirit-rapping, viz.: that it was a juggle, and like all witchcraft
of whatsoever kind, was of human immediate instrumentality. To affirm
of such performances that they are inexplicable, and amazing, is no
argument in favor of their superhuman character. They are not more
wonderful or difficult of explanation, than hundreds of tricks which
we see, and of which we read every day, as performed by jugglers.
To the great mass of mankind these latter are equally puzzling, and
would undoubtedly pass for miracles, were it not for the fact that
they are _professedly_ tricks. We believe in the all-pervading,
all-controlling, all-sustaining power of God, in Divine interposition,
special Providences, and the efficacy of prayer, as taught in the
Scriptures, after our own interpretation. _We believe that miracles are
God's prerogative, and believing thus, we conclude that the working
of miracles by the devil, or evil spirits, would furnish an excuse
for man's unbelief or infidelity._ Most earnestly, therefore, do we
deprecate the advancement of any theory (for it can be but _theory_ at
the best), which attributes these and kindred delusions, to the direct
agency of the devil, or evil spirits. Such teachings are mischievous in
their tendency, and militate with the true interests of Christianity,
just as far and as long as they have no better foundation than theory,
speculation, or conjecture, and are wanting in proof positive,
invincible and overwhelming, of their correctness.--C.G.P., Ed.
[4] We were thus given to understand that spirits retain their earthly
names, and answer to them. It occurred to us, therefore, that if we put
down the name of John Smith we should be sure of a response.--C. G. P.,
Ed.
[5] The expression was very common with them that "_they could rap_, or
_had rapped_." Rather careless, certainly!
[6] We, of course, had no more thought of electrical agency here than
in the rap of an auctioneer's hammer.--C.G.P., ED.
[7] We have made excellent rappings with this instrument, and
accompanied them with very wonderful communications.--ED.
[8] Whatever respect we may have for the memory of the great, we feel
at liberty to banter their spirits if we catch them in bad company, and
at base tricks.--ED.
[9] We believe in the fundamental doctrines of phrenology, but have no
faith whatever in this common empirical trade of delineating character
promiscuously by the contour of the head alone.--ED.
TABLE-TIPPINGS.
This fallacy demands our most rigid scrutiny, and none the less of
severe reprobation, from the fact that it is engaged in, to a great
extent, by respectable and intelligent persons. The business of
Spiritual Rappings is a sheer and miserable imposture, and as the
performers are obliged to invent and manage the machinery, or whatever
instrumentality produces the sounds, there is no possibility of their
deceiving themselves. The table-tipping is rather a case of delusion,
or self-imposition, though there are occasionally actors in this
performance who betray insincerity, and some whose actions give the
_lie direct_ to their professions. How it happened that TABLES were
selected for the demonstrations of departed spirits, or the operations
of the "_new fluid_," is beyond our wisdom to explain. Why should not
the pump-handle work _sua sponte_, the cradle rock itself, or the coach
start off without horses, as well as tables jump about the room at the
mere imposition of hands, or the behest of those wonderful personages
entitled _mediums_? Is there any thing in the shape, material, purpose,
or history of a table that it should become, _par excellence_, the
connecting link between the natural and the spiritual world? or that
it should be the great reservoir of electricity, magnetism, "_new
fluid_," "_od_," or what not? Perhaps _legs_ are indispensable to
this new species of dancing and jumping. But, as in many of the best
_authenticated_ cases, the table moves along the floor with a gradual,
slow, and dignified motion, without jumping, and more especially as
many of the tables are upon castors, we see no reason why wheels
should not be better than legs, and why coaches will not do as well,
or better, than tables--for the rolling friction is much less than
the sliding friction, and carriages could be made very light for this
particular purpose. These tipping magicians are not very fruitful in
expedients or they would have attempted long ago the speculation of a
_new line of spiritual coaches on common roads, propelled by mediums_.
But to the point. One of the first table-tippings that came under our
notice was one which had become quite celebrated, and of which we had
heard a great deal before we came to witness it. We were informed,
by persons of high intelligence, who had been eye-witnesses, and
participated in the experiments, that when several persons joined hands
around this table, in connection with the medium, the table began to
move about the room with force, celerity, and apparent life. That
forcible resistance could not stop it, and that the performers were
hardly able to keep up with its motion. That, on the same occasion,
heavy bodies were lifted from the floor by the mere superposition
of hands, without grasping; in other words, that by laying the hand
upon a heavy article, and raising the hand, the dead weight _lifted
itself_ from the floor, and followed the motion of the hand. Our
informants were men of high standing, of high endowments and general
intelligence, men of veracity, and men whose opinions were worth much
in legal questions and matters of state. Oh! what a discovery and
development was here. ADIEU YE LEVERS, SCREWS, WEDGES; PULLEYS, SCREW
AND LEVER-JACKS, CRANES AND BOOM-DERRICKS, STEAM, GAS, AND EVERY
KIND OF ENGINE, HORSE AND ALL OTHER POWERS, FIRE, AIR, AND WATER,
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM, CHEMICAL, MECHANICAL, AND ALL SUBSERVIENT
AGENCIES, ONE AND ALL, ADIEU! Mind has subverted the laws of matter;
all philosophy is merged in spirituality, and volition has become the
all-potent, all-sufficient, all-pervading power; the crazy and pitiable
seekers after perpetual motion are become the master spirits of the
age, and gravity and friction have given way to two new controlling
principles, levity and non-resistance. Suffice it to say, we laughed at
our informants, and gave them a flat contradiction, "that they had not
seen what they related." It is well worthy of remark here, that we have
never yet known any one of our acquaintance to take serious offence at
the most positive contradictions upon this subject,--a proof, to our
mind, that there is a secret, deep-seated, smothered conviction against
the reality and genuineness of these manifestations. A curious element
of our composition it is, that honest men find no little difficulty in
deceiving themselves, and take so little or no umbrage at being charged
with this kind of deception.
Imbued deeply ourselves with an ardent _penchant_ for novelties upon
every subject, and a determination to _ferret out_ the extraordinary
pretensions of this new wonder, we have taken occasion to inquire
of persons, from all parts of the country, where these exhibitions
have been made, and we assure our readers that although the time may
thus have been profitably spent, the inquiry became tedious even to
disgust. We heard substantially the same story from all; viz., that the
tables tipped and moved about "without visible agency," and yet, in
almost every case, upon close sifting and careful cross-examination,
we found that somebody had hands upon the table during the whole of
its gambols. Surely the _devil has to do with table-tippings_, for
we have never seen honest-minded persons so unfair and oblique on
any other subject before. Not that the fiend tips, kicks, or propels
in any way the tables, but that he tips either the conscience or
the judgment to a deplorable extent to sustain the cheat. In every
inquiry and investigation we have found gross and weak exaggeration,
and have fully resolved that we will maintain, to the last extremity,
the position of unqualified, uncompromising denial and opposition, to
the _highest testimony of earth_, as to the verity of _table-tippings,
spirit-rappings, or any kindred chicanery of miraculous or spiritual
purport_. We were much gratified recently at the remark of an
experienced friend, that "he would not believe these things, even if he
saw them with his own eyes." There was meaning in the remark. He would
not admit the testimony of others to such an anomaly, and he would not
trust or believe _himself_ if he should give way to the conviction that
all of mathematical and mechanical science, all of religion and bible
teaching, and all of common sense, was to be contravened and exploded
by these new manifestations, promising endless perplexity, confusion,
crime, and insanity, and no good to any body. Our friends repeatedly
say to us, "we don't see how these things can be, but we cannot
discredit the opinion and testimony of Mr. A., Dr. B., Prof. C., Rev.
Mr. D., Judge E., Hon. Mr. F., &c." "We think it hard to impugn such
testimony, and why should not their word in this matter go as far as
yours?" Our plain answer is this: if we tell you that black is white,
and white is black, we do not expect our testimony to be regarded; and
we take the same privilege in repudiating all testimony, from whatever
source, of a similar character. It was a strong, though reverential,
position of St. Paul, that "even an angel from heaven would be accursed
if he preached any other doctrine than that which he, Paul, had
preached," for he well knew that an angel from heaven could not preach
any other.
With all reverence we say it, we feel a sort of inspiration upon the
laws of reaction, gravity, and friction, based upon the experience of
every moment of remembered life, that compels us to reject peremptorily
the testimony of our best friends, of the most distinguished and
credible persons, or of the most exalted intellects, when they tell us
that by the mere superposition of hands, or by the effort of the will,
a table moves off by itself, or lifts itself from the floor without
visible agency. There are several individuals in this place, ourselves
among the number, who have agreed to give two thousand dollars to
any person who will show to us such a feat performed by a table. We
feel entirely safe in the offer, and moreover think it prudent, in
case we should deposit the money, to deposit it in a Savings Bank
paying interest, for otherwise the money might be lying idle for a
whole lifetime. We might hesitate, if there were the remotest chance
of explaining such extraordinary appearances upon any principle of
science; but the fact is, these assertions contravene all science,
and bear absurdity on their very front. We hear some say, gravity,
electricity, and magnetism cause bodies to move without visible
agencies or connection. Yes! they _do_; they always _have_, and always
_will_. But here, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three, we must be told, for the first time, that the human
body has analogous powers to magnets and thunder-clouds; and, more than
this, that no regular law of traction or attraction, propulsion or
repulsion, governs this marvellous, new, nervous, corporeal, carneous
power, _odylic_ force, or what not, but that it is subject to all the
anomalous, capricious and vicious directions and governance of _human_
volition.
We have too much contempt for _odylic_ philosophy, or any such chimera
or vagary, to stop and discuss it here. We have for twenty years, ever
since the revival of Slumbering Mesmerism, by Dr. Poyen, of Lowell,
Mass., made diligent inquiry and patient, persevering effort to obtain
from among the great mass of mesmeric performances some evidence of a
new principle, new force, or any resolution of nervous or sensorial
agency into physical power other than that of a mind upon its own
body, and have never yet seen the most faint indications of any such
nervous power as these modern psychologists pretend to unfold to us.
What! a nervous force that acts exterior to, and independent of,
its own tenement and rightful fulcrum? that propels masses heavier
than the _body corporate_, without rending the latter in twain? Of
one thing we feel assured, that this new-fangled philosophy is a
poisonous, though covert fang, secretly gnawing at the very root of
Christian faith. It made a bold sally in that coarse proposition of
Miss Martineau respecting our Saviour's miracles--too coarse indeed
to meet with favor--and now assails, under a less offensive and more
sophistical garb, of "_odylic force_;" seeking to explain a mystery
of the Bible (always an _infidel effort_), and to bring miracles and
God's prerogatives within the scope and control of human reason and
action. We ask any theologian who may incline to apply such tests to
the solution of miraculous performance, if he supposes that if the
mountain had removed, and been cast into the sea, at the bidding of
the disciple (with faith as a grain of mustard-seed), that disciple
would have been the source of the propelling power, and felt fatigue,
depression, or reaction in proportion to the mass to be removed? If,
when at the call of Joshua, the huge orb of earth stood still upon its
axis, the vast momentum recoiled, through _odylic ether_, upon poor
Joshua's brain? We can all accept the proposition of Archimedes "_Give
me a place whereon to stand, and I will move the world_;" but who upon
the largest latitude of plastic, ductile OD, or any other principle or
pretext of mesmeric sophistry, would venture to arrest and propel the
earth by the odylic, nervous, sensorial agency of one of its little
creatures, held to its centre by indomitable gravity. Perchance it may
be reasoned that from Joshua's cerebral fountain there issued a vast
stream of odylic essence, or psychological fluid, whose mighty gushing
into space was equal to the momentum of huge earth, and reacting, like
water in the mill-wheel, caused the great sphere to stop. Oh! how
hazardous, yea impious, is the attempt to _explain_ a miracle--God's
prerogative, God's interposition in former times, though not above
human _command_ upon the touchstones of prayer and faith, yet always
and _forever_ above human _ken_. Our Saviour himself said, "Of myself I
can do nothing," and his miracles were prefaced with prayer. GOD of the
Bible! while thy word stands, the wisdom of the wise and prudent shall
not prevail over the faith, simplicity and common-sense philosophy of
thy "Babes."