abnormalisms, based on hypnotism, trances, and the messiah idea,
which have sprung up and flourished in different parts of our own
country even within the last twenty years. Naturally these delusions
thrived best among the ignorant classes, but there were some notable
exceptions, particularly in the case of the Beekmanites or “Church
of the Redeemed.” About 1875 Mrs Dora Beekman, the wife of a
Congregational minister in Rockford, Illinois, began preaching that
she was the immortal reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Absurd as this
claim may appear, she found those who believed her, and as her converts
increased in numbers they established their headquarters, which they
called “heaven,” near Rockford, built a church, and went zealously
to work to gather proselytes. Beekman refused to believe the new
doctrine, but being unable to convince his wife of her folly he was
finally driven to insanity. In the meantime the female Christ found an
able disciple in the Reverend George Schweinfurth, a young Methodist
minister of considerable cultivation and ability, who was installed as
bishop and apostle of the new sect. Mrs Beekman dying soon after, in
spite of her claim to immortality, Schweinfurth at once stepped into
her place, declaring that the Christly essence had passed from her into
himself. His claim was accepted, and when last heard from, about three
years ago, he was worshiped by hundreds of followers drawn from the
most prominent denominations of the vicinity as the risen Christ, the
lord of heaven and the immortal maker and ruler of the earth. (_J. F.
L., 6_, and current newspapers.)
PATTERSON AND BROWN’S MISSION
In 1888 a man named Patterson, in Soddy, a small town in eastern
Tennessee, began preaching that a wonderful thing was about to
happen, and after the matter had been talked about sufficiently for
his purpose, he announced that Christ had come in the person of A.
J. Brown, who had served as Patterson’s assistant. Later on Brown
disappeared, and it was announced that he had gone up into the mountain
to fast for forty days and nights in order to be fittingly prepared for
his mission. At the end of this period, on a Sunday morning in June,
his followers went out toward the hills, where he suddenly appeared
before them, clothed in white, with his hands uplifted. A great shout
went up, and the people rushed toward him, falling upon their knees
and kissing his feet. Many who were ill declared themselves healed by
his touch. So great was the fanaticism of these people that one girl
declared she was ready to die to prove her faith, and the nonbelievers
became so fearful that human life would be sacrificed that they sent
for the sheriff at Chattanooga, and it required all his power to compel
Patterson and Brown to leave the neighborhood that quiet might be
restored. (_J. F. L., 6._)
WILDERNESS WORSHIPERS
In 1889 and 1890 a remarkable messianic excitement developed among the
negroes along Savannah river in Georgia and South Carolina, where one
man after another proclaimed himself as Christ, promised miracles,
drew crowds of excited men and women from their work, and created a
general alarm among the white population of the whole section. The
most prominent of these Christs was a mulatto named Bell, who went
about preaching his divinity and exhorting all who would be saved to
give up everything and follow him. Hundreds of negroes abandoned the
cotton fields, the sawmills, and the turpentine woods to follow him,
obeying his every word and ready to fall down and worship him. They
assumed the name of “Wilderness Worshipers,” and set up in the woods
a “temple” consisting of a series of circular seats around an oak. The
excitement became so demoralizing and dangerous that Bell was finally
arrested. His frenzied disciples would have resisted the officers, but
he commanded them to be patient, declaring that he could not be harmed
and that an angel would come and open his prison doors by night. As
no specific charge could be formulated against him, he was released
after a short time, and continued his preaching to greater crowds than
before. At last he announced that the world would come to an end on
August 16, 1890; that all the negroes would then turn white and all
white men black, and that all who wished to ascend on the last day
must purchase wings from him. (_J. F. L., 6._) He was finally adjudged
insane and sent to the asylum. Successors arose in his place, however,
and kept up the excitement for a year afterward in spite of the efforts
of the authorities to put a stop to it. One of these claimed to be
King Solomon, while another asserted that he was Nebuchadnezzar, and
emphasized his claim by eating grass on all fours. In addition to
the “temple” in the woods they set up an “ark,” and were told by the
leaders that any persecutors who should sacrilegiously attempt to touch
it would fall down dead. Notwithstanding this warning, the officers
destroyed both ark and temple in their efforts to end the delusion. At
last a woman was killed by the enthusiasts, and a series of wholesale
arrests followed. King Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and others who were
clearly insane were sent to join Bell in the asylum, and the others
were released from custody after the excitement had waned.
HEAVENLY RECRUITS
Within the last five years various local revivalists have attracted
attention in different sections of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri,
by their extravagances, among which prophecies, visions, trances, and
frenzied bodily exercises were all prominent. Particularly at the
meetings of the “Heavenly Recruits” in central Indiana, and at other
gatherings under the direction of Mrs Woodworth, cataleptic trances
were of nightly occurrence. The physical and mental demoralization
at last became so great that the meetings were suppressed by the
authorities.
From the beginning of history the dance and kindred physical exercises
have formed a part of the religious ritual of various oriental sects,
while hypnotic powers and practices have been claimed for their
priests. This is especially true of the Mohammedan sect or order of
the Dervishes, of which some account is given in the appendix to this
chapter.
APPENDIX—HYPNOTISM AND THE DANCE AMONG THE DERVISHES
[From Brown’s Dervishes]
+Hypnotism.+—It is through the performance of the Zikr, by khalvet
(pious retirement for purposes of deep devotion), by the Tevejjuh
(or turning the face or mind devoutly toward God in prayer), by
the Murakebeh (or fearful contemplation of God), the Tesarruf (or
self-abandonment to pious reflection and inspiration), and the Tesavvuf
(or mystical spiritualism), that the fervent Dervish reaches peculiar
spiritual powers called _Kuvveh i roohee batinee_ (a mystical,
internal, spiritual power). The life or biography of every eminent
sheikh or peer details innumerable evidences of this power exercised
in a strange and peculiar manner. This exercise is called the Kuvveh
Iradat, or the “Power of the Will,” and, as a theory, may be traced
historically to the Divine Power—the soul of man being connected with
the Divine Spirit—from which it emanates, and with which, through
the means before mentioned, it commences. Some sheikhs are more
celebrated than others for their peculiar and strange powers, and it
is to their superiority that their reputation and reverence in the
Mussulman world in general, and among Dervishes in particular, is to
be attributed. With the supposition that the details given of them
by their biographers, disciples, or successors are not invented,
or even exaggerated, their powers are certainly very remarkable.
Whilst among them an implicit belief in them is firmly sustained,
sultans and princes have evidently doubted them, and, being alarmed
with the influence the possessors acquired and sustained among the
public generally, they have often shown a direful exercise of their
own arbitrary will and power, which resulted in the untimely end of
the unfortunate sheikh. Many, on the other hand, have survived the
frequent exercise of their “spiritual powers,” and either because they
acquired a power and influence over the minds of their temporal rulers,
or whether they used them for their own private purposes, so as to
conciliate the more religious or fanatic, they succeeded in reaching
advanced ages and a peaceful end of their remarkable careers. When the
ruler of the country has not cared to order the execution of the sheikh
who declared himself possessed of these spiritual powers, he has simply
exiled him from his capital or his territory, and permitted him freely
to exercise his powers and renown in some less objectionable locality.
These powers can only be acquired through the long instruction of a
superior spiritual director, or Murshid, or As-hâb i Yekeen, for whom
the disciples ever retain a most grateful remembrance and attachment.
Among the practices of these powers is the faculty of foreseeing coming
events; of predicting their occurrence; of preserving individuals from
the harm and evil which would otherwise certainly result for them;
of assuring to one person success over the machinations of another,
so that he may freely attack him and prevail over him; of restoring
harmony of sentiment between those who would otherwise be relentless
enemies; of knowing when others devised harm against themselves, and
through certain spells of preserving themselves and causing harm to
befall the evil minded, and even of causing the death of anyone against
whom they wish to proceed. All this is done as well from a distance as
when near.
In other parts of the world, and among other people, these attainments
would have been attributed to sorcery and witchcraft; in modern times
they would be ascribed to spiritism, or magnetic influences, either
of the spirit or of the body; but to the instructed Dervish they all
derive their origin in the spirit of the holy sheikh—the special gift
of the great Spirit of God, which commences with the spirit of man,
from which it directly emanated. The condition or disposition necessary
for these effects is called the Hâl (state or frame), and is much
the same as that required by the magnetized, and the object of his
operation. The powers of the body are enfeebled by fasting and mental
fatigue in prayer, and the imagination kept in a fervid state, fully
impressed with the conviction that such powers are really possessed by
the sheikh, and that he can readily exercise them over the willing
mind and body of the disciple. How the sheikh can produce such strange
results on a distant and unconscious person is left to the admiration
and imagination of the faithful disciple, as an incentive to exertions
in the same true path as that of his sheikh.
To exercise the power of the will, it is necessary to contract the
thoughts suddenly upon the object designed to be affected so perfectly
as to leave no room for the mind to dwell, possibly, upon any other.
The mind must not doubt for an instant of the success of this effort,
nor the possibility of failure; it must, in fact, be completely
absorbed by the one sole idea of performing the determination strongly
taken and firmly relied upon. The persons must, from time to time,
practice this; and as they proceed, they will be able to see how much
propinquity exists between themselves and the Hazret i Asmâ (God?) and
how much they are capable of exercising this power.
As an example, the author of the Reshihât narrates the following:
In my youth, I was ever with our Lord Molânâ Sa’eed ed Deen
Kâshgharee at Hereed. It happened that we, one day, walked out
together and fell in with an assembly of the inhabitants of the
place who were engaged in wrestling. To try our powers we agreed
to aid with our “powers of the will” one of the wrestlers, so
that the other should be overcome by him, and after doing so, to
change our design in favor of the discomfited individual. So we
stopped and, turning toward the parties, gave the full influence
of our united wills to one, and immediately he was able to subdue
his opponent. As the person we chose, each in turn, conquered the
other, whichever we willed to prevail became the most powerful of
the two, the power of our own wills was thus clearly manifested.
On another occasion two other persons possessed of these same powers
fell in with an assembly of people at a place occupied by prize
fighters. “To prevent any of the crowd from passing between and
separating us we joined our hands together. Two persons were engaged
fighting; one was a powerful man, while the other was a spare and weak
person. The former readily overcame the latter; and seeing this I
proposed to my companion to aid the weak one by the power of our wills.
So he bade me aid him in the project, while he concentrated his powers
upon the weaker person. Immediately a wonderful occurrence took place;
the thin, spare man seized his giant-like opponent and threw him on the
ground with surprising force. The crowd cried out with astonishment as
he turned him over on his back and held him down with apparent ease. No
one present except ourselves knew the cause. Seeing that my companion
was much affected by the effort which he had made, I bade him remark
how perfectly successful we had been, and adding that there was no
longer any necessity for our remaining there, we walked away.” (Pages
129–132.)
* * * * *
Many individuals who have seriously wronged and oppressed his friends
received punishments through the powers of the sheikh. Several
instances are related wherein some such even fell sick and died, or
were only restored to health by open declarations of repentance and
imploring his prayerful intercession with God. His spirit seems to
have accompanied those in whose welfare he took an active interest,
and enabled them to commune with him, though far distant from him.
His power of hearing them was well known to his friends, and several
instances are cited to prove the fact. His power of affecting the
health of those who injured him or his friends was greatly increased
while he was excited by anger, and on such occasions his whole frame
would be convulsed and his beard move about as if moved by electricity.
On learning details of cruelty done to innocent individuals, the sheikh
would be strangely affected, so much so that no one dared to address
him until the paroxysm was passed; and on such occasions he never
failed to commune spiritually with the sovereign or prince in such a
mysterious manner as to inspire him to deal justly with the guilty
person and secure his merited punishment.
Through his “mystical powers” many persons were impressed with the
unrighteousness of their course, and, having repented of the same,
became good and pious and firm believers in his spiritual influences.
These powers were always connected with his prayers, and it was during
these that he was enabled to assure the parties interested of their
salutary results and the acceptation of their desires. It scarcely
needs to be added, that these prayers were in conformance with
Islamism, and were offered up to Allah, whom he adored, and to whose
supreme will he attributes his powers. He constantly performed the Zikr
Jehree, or “audibly called God’s name,” and the frequent repetition of
this practice fitted him for such holy purposes. Sometimes he would
affect the mind of the individual upon whom he exercised his powers in
such a manner as to throw him into a species of trance, after which he
could remember nothing that he had previously known, and continued in
this state until the sheikh chose to restore him to the enjoyment of
his ordinary faculties. Notwithstanding all of these eminent powers,
this great sheikh is reputed to have spent the latter days of his life
at Herat in extreme indigence, much slighted and neglected by those who
had so admired him while in the vigor of his career. All fear of his
mystical influences seems to have disappeared, and it is narrated that
these greatly declined with his ordinary strength of mind and body.
(Pages 137–139.)
* * * * *
+Dervish dance.+—The exercises which are followed in these halls are
of various kinds, according to the rules of each institution; but in
nearly all they commence by the recital, by the sheikh, of the seven
mysterious words of which we have spoken. He next chants various
passages of the Koran, and at each pause, the Dervishes, placed in a
circle round the hall, respond in chorus by the word “Allah!” or “Hoo!”
In some of the societies they sit on their heels, the elbows close to
those of each other, and all making simultaneously light movements of
the head and the body. In others, the movement consists in balancing
themselves slowly, from the right to the left, and from the left to the
right, or inclining the body methodically forward and aft. There are
other societies in which these motions commence seated, in measured
cadences, with a staid countenance, the eyes closed or fixed upon
the ground, and are continued on foot. These singular exercises are
concentrated under the name of Murâkebeh (exaltation of the Divine
glory), and also under that of the Tevheed (celebration of the Divine
unity), from which comes the name Tevheed Khâneh, given to the whole of
the halls devoted to these religious exercises.
In some of these institutions—such as the Kâdirees, the Rufâ′ees,
the Khalwettees, the Bairâmees, the Gulshenees, and the Ushâkees—the
exercises are made each holding the other by the hand, putting forward
always the right foot and increasing at every step the strength of
the movement of the body. This is called the Devr, which may be
translated the “dance” or “rotation.” The duration of these dances
is arbitrary—each one is free to leave when he pleases. Everyone,
however, makes it a point to remain as long as possible. The strongest
and most robust of the number, and the most enthusiastic, strive to
persevere longer than the others; they uncover their heads, take off
their turbans, form a second circle within the other, entwine their
arms within those of their brethren, lean their shoulders against
each other, gradually raise the voice, and without ceasing repeat “Yâ
Allah!” or “Yâ Hoo!” increasing each time the movement of the body, and
not stopping until their entire strength is exhausted.
Those of the order of the Rufâ′ees excel in these exercises. They
are, moreover, the only ones who use fire in their devotions. Their
practices embrace nearly all those of the other orders; they are
ordinarily divided into five different scenes, which last more than
three hours, and which are preceded, accompanied, and followed by
certain ceremonies peculiar to this order. The first commences with
praises which all the Dervishes offer to their sheikhs, seated before
the altar. Four of the more ancient come forward the first, and
approach their superior, embrace each other as if to give the kiss
of peace, and next place themselves two to his right and two to his
left. The remainder of the Dervishes, in a body, press forward in a
procession, all having their arms crossed and their heads inclined.
Each one, at first, salutes by a profound bow the tablet on which the
name of his founder is inscribed. Afterwards, putting his two hands
over his face and his beard, he kneels before the sheikh, kisses his
hand respectfully, and then they all go on with a grave step to take
their places on the sheepskins, which are spread in a half circle
around the interior of the hall. So soon as a circle is formed, the
Dervishes together chant the Tekbeer and the Fâtiha. Immediately
afterwards the sheikh pronounces the words “Lâ ilâha ill′ Allah!”
and repeats them incessantly; to which the Dervishes repeat “Allah!”
balancing themselves from side to side, and putting their hands over
their faces, on their breasts and their abdomens, and on their knees.
The second scene is opened by the Hamdee Mohammedee, a hymn in honour
of the prophet, chanted by one of the elders placed on the right of the
sheikh. During this chant the Dervishes continue to repeat the word
“Allah!” moving, however, their bodies forward and aft. A quarter of
an hour later they all rise up, approach each other, and press their
elbows against each other, balancing from right to left and afterwards
in a reverse motion, the right foot always firm, and the left in a
periodical movement, the reverse of that of the body, all observing
great precision of measure and cadence. In the midst of this exercise
they cry out the words “Yâ Allah!” followed by that of “Yâ Hoo!” Some
of the performers sigh, others sob, some shed tears, others perspire
great drops, and all have their eyes closed, their faces pale, and the
eyes languishing.
A pause of some minutes is followed by a third scene. It is performed
in the middle of an Ilahee, chanted by the two elders on the right
of the sheikh. The Ilahees, as has already been said, are spiritual
cantiques, composed almost exclusively in Persian, by sheikhs deceased
in the odor of sanctity. The Dervishes then hasten their movements,
and, to prevent any relaxation, one of the first among them puts
himself in their center, and excites them by his example. If in the
assembly there be any strange Dervishes, which often happens, they
give them, through politeness, this place of honor; and all fill it
successively, the one after the other, shaking themselves as aforesaid.
The only exception made is in favor of the Mevevees; these never
perform any other dance than that peculiar to their own order, which
consists in turning round on each heel in succession.
After a new pause commences the fourth scene. Now all the Dervishes
take off their turbans, form a circle, bare their arms and shoulders
against each other, and thus make the circuit of the hall at a measured
pace, striking their feet at intervals against the floor, and all
springing up at once. This dance continues during the Ilahees chanted
alternately by the two elders to the left of the sheikh. In the midst
of this chant the cries of “Yâ Allah!” are increased doubly, as also
those of “Yâ Hoo!” with frightful howlings, shrieked by the Dervishes
together in the dance. At the moment that they would seem to stop
from sheer exhaustion the sheikh makes a point of exerting them to
new efforts by walking through their midst, making also himself most
violent movements. He is next replaced by the two elders, who double
the quickness of the step and the agitation of the body; they even
straighten themselves up from time to time, and excite the envy or
emulation of the others in their astonishing efforts to continue the
dance until their strength is entirely exhausted.
The fourth scene leads to the last, which is the most frightful of
all, the wholly prostrated condition of the actors becoming converted
into a species of ecstasy which they call Halet. It is in the midst of
this abandonment of self, or rather of religious delirium, that they
make use of red-hot irons. Several cutlasses and other instruments
of sharp-pointed iron are suspended in the niches of the hall, and
upon a part of the wall to the right of the sheikh. Near the close
of the fourth scene two Dervishes take down eight or nine of these
instruments, heat them red hot, and present them to the sheikh. He,
after reciting some prayers over them, and invoking the founder of the
order, Ahmed er Rufâ′ee, breathes over them, and raising them slightly
to the mouth, gives them to the Dervishes, who ask for them with the
greatest eagerness. Then it is that these fanatics, transported by
frenzy, seize upon these irons, gloat upon them tenderly, lick them,
bite them, hold them between their teeth, and end by cooling them
in their mouths. Those who are unable to procure any seize upon the
cutlasses hanging on the wall with fury, and stick them into their
sides, arms, and legs.