D. Fox, of Eochester, when the disturbance increased and

varied in character, assuming the form of moving chairs, etc., without any apparent cause. At length the raps assumed a certain regularity, and responded to the knocks or questions of the family, till an alphabetic and telegraphic correspondence was established between members of the Fox family and the mysterious invisible agent. Two daughters of Mr. Fox appear to have been the principal media in the communications thus far ; and to these was added shortly afterwards a widowed daughter of Mrs. Fox, named Mrs. Fish. One Margaretta Fox, aged fourteen, pro- ceeding on a visit to Mrs. Fish at Eochester,the sounds accom- panied her as if they " had packed the thing among the beds." The intelligence of these phenomena spread rapidly, and created a great sensation ; public meetings were held, and committees examined the question without arriving at any solution. The manifestations were ultimately heard even at the house of a wealthy resident at Kochester, Mr. Grainger, without the presence of either Mrs. Fish or her sister.
The movement extended very speedily throughout the Union ; indeed, the rapidity of its dilTusion is almost with- out a parallel in the history of the development of religious 'truths or delusions.
492 SPIRITUAL MAIflFESTATIONS.
In 1S52, Pliiladelpliia alone reckoned three hundred circles or channels of communication between the known and the unknown ; and it was calculated that in September, 1853, there were thirty thousand media in the United States.
Before we dismiss the Fox family, it is as well to observe that, even amid conflicting accounts, respectable authori- ties in the United States vouch for the perfect honesty and good faith of the Fox family. It is true that one opponent arose threatening to demolish them, but they weathered the storm. Mrs. Culver, a connection of the family, en- deavpured to expose the whole trick, by stating that Cathe- rine Fox liad taught her the way in which the sounds were produced with her toes. Unfortunately, many of Mrs. Culver's statements were subsequently found to be false- hoods, and she seems to have been gifted with a remarkably inventive faculty : hence the success of the Fox family and the movement was not affected by her disclosures. Other difficulties were started by some opponents, who pro- fessed to be able to make the same sounds with their knee and ankle-joints.
Leaving the Foxes, we have to remark that two years sub- sequently similar occurrences took place in the house of a Dr. Phelps, at Stratford, Connecticut. This gentleman, "who is a Presbyterian minister, is said to enjoy the repu- tation of being a most worthy, intelligent, and upright man. We cannot enter into the particulars of his case, but it will suffice to say that all kinds of extraordinary phenomena disturbed his residence, which he and his numerous visitors professed themselves incapable of accounting for by any known agency ; that he met with much annoyance and per- secution on this subject, that he threw his house open to all visitors, challenged enquiry, and at length offered to present his house and all it contained to any one who would detect the cause. Among innumerable singular and unaccountable manifestations, we can only find space to introduce the following statement of Dr. Phelps : — I have seen things in motion more than a thousand times, and in most cases where no visible power existed by which the motion could have been produced. There have been broken from my windows seventy -one panes of glass, more than thirty of which I have seen break with my own eyes. I have seen
SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 493
objects, sucli as brushes, tumblers, candlesticks, snuffers, etc. wbich but a few minutes before I knew to be at rest, fly against the glass and dash it to pieces, where it was utterly- impossible, from the direction in which they moved, that any visible power should have caused their motion. As to the realit}' of the facts, they can be proved by testimony a hundred-fold greater than is ordinarily required in our courts of justice in cases of life and death."
It would be foreign to our purpose to enter into a cir- cumstantial narration of the movement. It will be quite sufficient to give a brief statement of the convictions held by the advocates of this movement, of the various forms of manifestation recently developed, and of the most singular cases on record.
As the movement gradually progressed, it naturally excited the greatest attention, and became ultimately united with certain religious convictions that have rapidly spread notwithstanding, or perhaps in consequence of, much per- secution. Many of the earlier media or vehicles of these communications, persons whose peculiar nervous and electric temperament was thought to favour intercourse with, de- parted spirits, asserted, and their friends confirmed the fact, that these invisible powers, by certain distinct knockings, corresponding to the place of the letters in the alphabet, were able to convey messages. Such was the initial and elementary form of spiritual communication, of which more will be said presently. By means of this correspondence it was asserted that messages were conveyed from departed spirits, some of an admonitory, others of a consolatory character. These messages ditfered according to circum- stances, as would be natural, proceeding from the necessary diversities of character in earthly or disembodied spirits. Some messages were of a sublime tendency, some indifferent, more puerile, and but few, if any, morally injurious. In dogmatical and theological matters the messages also varied, but commonly agreed in teaching naturalistic faith ; in de- nouncing the tyranny and selfishness of certain churches ; in condemning the dreadful doctrines of hell and damnation ; in enforcing brotherly love, purity, charity, and truthfulness ; and in directing persevering efibrts to spread [this new re-
491' SPiniTITAL MANITESTATIOITS.
formation. The messages proceeded to assert that a new era is dawning on mankind, when more familiar intercourse with the world of spirits would be held ; that the pro- gress man has made in science and wisdom is preparing for this happy consummation ; and that it has been the re- searches of scientific spirits, especially Pranklin's, which have discovered the means of holding intercourse with the children of earth through the medium of powerful vital electro-magnetic currents ! "With regard to the question of the utility of these manifestations, many messages appear to describe them as sent to comfort the mourner, to convert the sceptic, and to heal the diseased ; and it is said that this assertion has been extensively justified by experience- in America.
The manifestations first took the form of rappings ; but these rappings assumed protean forms. They would occur inside and outside a door together, at opposite doors simultaneously, on the floor, on the walls, when the feet of the media were isolated on glass stools, etc., and many knocks with various sounds would occur at the same time- in the same table. But the rappings, it is said, soon became the least remarkable of the phenomena. Musical media, writing media, bird media, etc. etc. we are assured have been since developed. Media with no taste for music, when impressed, would play well on the piano; others would paint creditably who had no knowledge of the art ; pianos and violoncellos would play of themselves, without visible contact ; and the hand and pen of media would write various messages mechanically, without any effort of volition or thought. The minds of the media would be impressed with important messages and interest- ing scenes, partaking of the nature of clairvoyance and prevision ; writing would take place without human agency ; tables, furniture, etc. would move with and without contact, in opposition to great pressure, and with tremendous force. A very humble phase of these developments has crossed the Atlantic, and visited the conservative countries in Europe under the form of table-turning. The bigots have fancied they detected satanic agency in the novelty and the mystery of this movement; Professor Faraday, and other scientific men,.
SPlEITUAIi MANIFESTATIONS. 495-
have explained all by involimtarj muscular action, tliougli the believers in these marvels assure us that there are scores of well-attested cases, where no muscle was within three, or even six, feet of the moving tables ; and, in short, as usual with all new and unaccountable phenomena, it has been hushed up or laughed down.
Our space will not permit us to dwell on all the singular forms of development presented by this movement ; but it will be obvious to the reader, from what has been said, that the dancing tables, as the French style them, present a re- markable analogy to the epidemic called St. Yitus's Dance, in the middle ages ; and that whatever the cause of these singular movements — whether it be subjective or objective — it is evidently a psychological as well as a physiological phe- nomenon, and that all attempted explanations that keep to bone and muscle will fail to solve the mystery. As it will be our endeavour presently to offer some additional elucida- tions on this point, we shall confine ourselves for the moment to a farther consideration of the most striking recent mani- festations in America. And here we cannot do better than cite the authority and follow the statements of Judge Edmonds, a man of high integrity and intelligence, but evidently of a highly nervous temperament, and who has been expelled from the American Senate for his advocacy of spiritualism.
It was in January, 1851, that the attention of Judge Edmonds was first directed to the subject of Spiritual Inter- course. He was at that time withdrawn from society, and labouring under great depression of spirits. He occu- pied his leisure in reading on the subject of death, and man's existence afterwards. He had heard so many conflicting and contradictory opinions on this suject from the pulpit, that he hardly Icnew what to believe : he was anxiously seeking to know if after death we should again meet those whom we had loved here. In tliis uncertainty he was invited by a friend to witness the " Eochester Knockings." He complied, more to please his friend and as a diversion, than for any otlier purpose. Ho was a good deal impressed by wliat he witnessed, and determined to in- vestigate the matter thoroughly. ^If it were a delusion or
493 SPIEITUAL MAXITESTATIOI^S.
a deception, he tliouglit that he could detect it. For four months he devoted two evenings in the week to witnessing the phenomenon in all its phases. He kept a careful record of all he witnessed, and from time to time compared his notes to detect contradictions and inconsistencies. He read all books on the subject that he could procure, especially- such as professed to be exposures of the humbug. He went from place to place, seeing diiferent mediums, meeting with different parties of persons, often with persons whom he had never met before, and sometimes where he was himself entirely unknown — sometimes in the dark, :and sometimes in the light, — often with inveterate unbelievers, and more frequently with zealous believers. In fine, he availed himself of every opportunity that was afforded, thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. All this time he was a sceptic, and tried the patience of believers sorely by his obdurate refusal to yield his belief He saw around him some who yielded a ready faith after one or two sittings ; others, under the same circumstances, avowing a determined unbelief; some refused to witness anything, and yet remained con- firmed sceptics. Judge Edmonds would not imitate either of these parties, but refused to yield, unless upon most irre- fragable testimony. At length the evidence came, and to his mind, in such force, that no sane man could withhold his faith.
The question hitherto uninvestigated by him was, whether what he saw was produced by mere mortal means, or by- some invisible unknown agency : in short, if it were decep- tion, or produced by some unknown cause. He proceeds to give a general idea of what commonly characterised his hypothetical interviews, numbering several hundred al- ready. Most of them took place in the presence of others. He preserved the names of the witnesses, but generally refuses to publish them, to avoid their incur- ring the obloquy and persecution that he has personally endured. He asserts that the following considerations grow out of the facts : — 1st, that he has thus very many witnesses whom he can invoke to confirm the truth of his statements ; and 2ndh"j that if he has been deceived and did not see what he thought he saw, his delusion has been shared
SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 497
i)y many as intelligent, honest, and enlightened persons as can be found in the Union.
His attention was first called to the manifestations bv the rappings, the then most usual, and now the most incon- siderable mode of intercourse. He was naturally suspicious of deception, and at first trusted to his senses and the con- clusions drawn by his intellect from their evidence. But he was at a loss to account for the media causing what he witnessed under the following circumstances : the media walking the length of a suite of parlours, forty or fifty feet, and the rappings being distinctly heard five or six feet behind them, the whole distance, backward and forward several times ; being heard near the top of a mahogany door above where the medium could reach, and as if struck hard with a fist ; being heard on the bottom of a carriage when travelling on a railroad, and on the floor and the table, when seated in court, at an eating-house and by the side of the road ; being heard at difierent parts of the room, sometimes several feet distant from the medium, and where he could not reach, — sometimes on the table, and immediately after on the floor, and then at different parts of the table, in rapid succession, enabling the spectators and auditors to feel the Tibration, as well as hear the sounds, — sometimes when the hands and feet of the medium were both firmly and care- fully held by some one of the party, and sometimes on a table when no one touched it.
After depending on his senses as to these various phases of the phenomena, Judge Edmonds had recourse to the aid of science with the help of an accomplished electrician and his apparatus, besides which eight or ten intelligent, educated persons, examined the matter. They continued their investigation for several days, and established to their perfect satisfaction two things, — first, that the sounds were not generated by the agency of any present or near them ; second, that they were not forthcoming at their will and pleasure.
Meanwhile another feature attracted his attention,^/, e. the physical manifestations, as they are termed. Thus the Judge affirms that he has known a deal table with four legs lifted bodily from the floor, in the centre of a circle of six ■or eight persons, turned upside down and laid on its top at
VOL. II. K K
498 SPIEITUAL ITAKIFE STATIONS.
their feet, tlien lifted up over tlieir heads, and put leaning against the back of the sofii on which they sat. He adds that he has known that same table to be lifted up on two legs, its to]) at an angle with the floor of 45 degrees, when it neither fell over of itself, nor could any person present put it back on its four legs. He states that he has seen a mahogany table having only a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backwards and forwards as one would shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though the glass pendants rang again. He has seen the same table tipped up, wdth the same lamp upon it, so far that the lamp must have fallen off unless retained there by something else than its own gravity ; yet it neither fell nor stirred. He has known a dinner bell taken from a high shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of four or five persons in that closet, then rung around the room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlour, and then borne through the folding doors to the farther end of the front parlour, and there dropped on the floor. He has frequently known persons pulled about with a force which it was im- possible for them to resist, and once when all his own strength was added in vain to that of the person thus influenced. He has known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved rapidly backwards and forwards without any person touch- ing it, through a room in which at least a dozen people were seated, yet nobody was touched ; and it repeatedly stopped within a few inches of the judge when it was coming with a velocity which, if not arrested, must have broken his legs !
The judge affirms that this is not a hundredth part of what he has witnessed, but enough to show the general character of what he has seen. Yet he adds that he has lieard of yet more extraordinary transactions from others whose testimony- would be credited in any human transaction.
During this time Judge Edmunds read the exposures and explanations of the humbug, and declares that he could not but smile at the rashness and futility of the explanations ; for while some learned professors were chuckling on having detected the secret in the toe and knee-joints, the manifesta- tions at Xew York changed to ringing a bell placed under the table.
SPIRITUAL MAjS'IEESTATIONS. 499
Thus far our authority has confined himself to what he witnessed in the presence of others. He has preferred, he says, not to subject his individual veracity to the judgment of those who would have persecuted Gralileo for discovering.: the planetary system, and have united in the cry of " folly" at Fulton's steamboat, " humbug" at Morse's telegraph, and " insanity" at Grrey's iron road.
Having by patient inquiry satisfied himself on this point, the Judge^ proceeded to inquire whence comes the intelli- gence that is behind it all ; for he considers that intelligence as a remarkable feature of the phenomenon. He states that he has known mental questions answered — i. e. questions merely framed in the mind of the interrogator, and not re- vealed by him or known to others. Before joining a circle he has often prepared a series of questions, and found them answered in the same order without his having even taken a memorandum of them in his pocket. His most secret thoughts — those which he has never uttered to mortal man or woman — have been as freely replied to as if he had ut- tered them. Purposes which he has secretly entertained have been publicly revealed, and he has been repeatedly admonished that his every thought could be disclosed by the intelligence manifesting itself.
He has heard the media use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Prencli words, when they knew no language but their own ; and he asserts that it is a well-attested fact that there has been much talking and writing in tongues with which the media were unacquainted.
Judge Edmonds meets the objection of all these latter phenomena being perhaps only the reflection of the minds of the circle, by stating that facts were often communi- cated, unknown then, but afterwards found to be true. Also thoughts have been uttered on subjects not then in his mind, and utterly at variance with his views.
" These are not apocryphal cases," observes the Judge ; " the parties are at hand, and in our very midst, and any person that pleases may make the investigation as I have done."
But all this, and much more of a cognate nature, goes to show, in the opinion of our authority, that there is
500 SPIRITUAL MANirESTATIO^fS.
a High order of intelligence involved in this new pheno- menon— an intelligence beyond mere mortal agency.
He directed his attention to this inquiry, devoting all his leisure hours for more than two years to the task. He went from cii'cle to circle, from medium to medium, seek- ing linowledge on all hands on the subject, either from books or observations, and bringing to bear on the sub- ject all the acutenesa with which he had been gifted by nature, and which, we might suppose, had been sharpened by his professional experience.
He states that there were many ways in which this secret intelligence communed with them besides the rap- pings and table-hftings, and that through those other modes there came very many communications remarkable for their eloquence, their high order of intellect, and their pure and lofty moral tone, at the same time that he discovered many inconsistencies and contradictions calculated to mislead, and that he endeavoured to elicit something valuable from this chaos. He refers the public to his book in evidence of his success.
To such as imagine that he overrates the importance of the subject, he replies that scarcely four years have elapsed since the Eochester knockings were first known in America. Then media could be counted by units, but now by thou- sands ; then believers could be numbered by hundreds, now by tens of thousands. It is believed by the best informed that the whole number in the United States must be se- veral hundred thousand, and that in New York and its vicinity there must be from twenty-five to thirty thousand. There are ten or twelve newspapers and periodicals, some of which have already attained a circulation of more than ten thousand copies. Besides the undistinguished multi- tude, there are many men of high standing and talent ranked among them, — doctors, larryers, and clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend pre- sident of a college, judges of their higher courts, members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the National Senate.
It is the opinion of Judge Edmonds that a movement which has spread with such marvellous celerity, in spite of
SPIBITUAL MAITIFE STATIONS. 501
the ridicule which has deterred so many from an open avowal, and which has attracted the attention of so many of the best minds among the Americans, cannot be unworthy of in- yestigation. Judge Edmonds originally went into the in- quiry considering the whole a deception, and intending to publish his exposure of it ; but, having arrived at a different conclusion, he felt the obligation to be equally important to make the result known.
Such is a brief summary of the defence of himself, and of the movement by its most able and eminent advocate. We shall only add a few facts from other sources to this state- ment.
There are other authenticated facts open to scrutiny, among the most striking of which we will allude to the fol- lowing : — The witness, a Mr. John B. AYolf, visiting at the house of Mr. J. Koons, at Ushfield, Dover Township, Athens County, Ohio, wrote Nov. 5, 1853, saying — " I have had one extended and one brief interview with spirits. I have again seen them, talked with them, and shook hands with them as really and substantially as one man shakes hands with another. . . . Again, writing was done without human hands ; and, indeed, volumes are written in this way, and in no other way. During the circle's continuance the hand is visible while the writing is done ; the pencil and paper are also visible, — visible alike to believer and sceptic." Eemark- able phenomenon, certainly, and very useful to authors if these communications were good for anything !
At the Spiritual Conference at Dodsworth's Hall on the 29th of February, 1853, it was stated by a Mr. Whittaker, of Troy, who knew the fact to he true, that a medium re- siding in that city being at one time indisposed, was ordered by the spirits to take at a single dose one hundred grains of arsenic in a mixture of lemon- juice and spirits of nitre ; and that he took the prescription according to the direction, and, so far from experiencing any inconvenience, was greatly benefited by it !
A Mr. Henry Grordon, a well-known medium for spiritual manifestations, being at a circle in New York one evening, was repeatedly raised from his seat and carried through the air without any visible power touching him. _.
502 SPIEITIIAL MATTirESTATIOKS. '
■ jNIanv witnesses affirm that tlie laws of gravity are often suspended by these unknown powers, that things otherwise hurtful are rendered innocuous by some invisible agency, that material objects are displaced and removed to immense distances without any traceable cause, that inveterate ma- ladies have been rapidly and easily cured, and, in short, that phenomena are constantly occurring which former ages would have reckoned supernatural.
A word must be said regarding table-turnings, which are the most elementary of all the manifestations, and those best known in England. Evangelical clergymen, and French Catholics in England, have found that tables maintained doctrines con- formable to their education, and that they have mutually anathematized each other like good Christians. In these cases it must be admitted that appearances favour the view that the reverend gentlemen charged the tables, and converted them into passive vehicles of their respective views, and that, if any evil spirits vrere present, they must have been incarnate in the orthodox operations.
But table-moving has ])een so superficially treated in Europe that we must go to America to embrace the whole scope of the question. There we find that tables are not only moved when no mortal hand is within twenty feet of the'm, but raised from the floor, out of the reach of any per- son, turned upside-down, or revolve with extreme velocity, carrying heavy men seated upon them. It might be ima- gined that these phenomena, resting on the evidence of countless respectable witnesses, point to a new and myste- rious locomotive force.
A^arious attempts have been made to solve this problem, but as yet no full solution has been found. The theory of muscular or involuntary pressure is supposed by many good authorities to be disproved by undeniable facts. To suppose them merely to be delusion or deception is in many cases equally unjust, though fraud has undoubtedly been mixed up with them, as with all popular movements. If the phenomena cannot be referred to ponderable, it is as dif- ficult to account for them by imponderable matter alone, unless we give intelligence to these forces. Hence the in- quirer is drawn from one position to another, till he has
SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 503
no refuge save in the labyrinth of psychology, which is tan- tamount to having no explanation at all ; and here, even, the difficulty occurs as to whether the phenomena are self- origi- nated and spontaneous, or come from other intelligences. And after all, we are reduced to admit that it would be vain, with our present imperfect knowledge of the question, to pronounce a judgment on its cause. We do not, however, encounter so much difficulty when we trace the characteristics of its development to Avhat have been styled the psychological epidemics of past ages.
A case of psychological sympathy has recently occurred in Europe, which,by its connection with spirituality and pure morality, may be viewed as a more satisfactory, though still an imperfect, illustration of the manifestations in America.
That portion of Southern Sweden formerly called Sma- land, and which now comprises the provinces of Kalmar, Wexio, and Jon Kopping, though one of the poorest parts of the kingdom, is inhabited by a laborious and contented people. Their lot, which is one of extreme suffering and privation, is rendered endurable to them by their natural simplicity of character and deep religious feeling. About sixty years ago a very strong religious movement took place among them, which, for political reasons or otherwise, go- vernment thought fit to put a violent stop to, and with great difficulty it was done. "Whether there be a predisposition among these simple but earnest people for religious excite- ment we cannot tell ; but certain it is that, at the commence- ment of 1842, the singular phenomenon of which we are about to speak made its appearance among them, and, from its rapid spread, and apparently contagious character, and from the peculiar nature of its manifestations, it was popu- larly called the Preaching Epidemic.
I)r. J. A. Butsch, Bishop of Skara, in AYestgothland, wrote a long letter on this subject to Dr. C. F. Wiugard, Arch- bishop of Upsala, and Primate of all Sweden, which letter is considered so perfect an authority on the matter, that it is published in an appendix to Archbishop Wingiird's " Beview •of the Church of Christ," an excellent little work, which lias been translated into English by Gr. W. Carlson, late Chap- lain to the Swedish Embassy in London, a gentleman of
504; 'SPIEITUAL MANirESTATIONS.'
great erudition and aceomplisliments. To tliis letter we- shall have frequent occasion to refer.
The reader will naturally ask, as the Bishop himself does, what is the Preaching Epidemic ? AVhat it really was nohody as yet has been able to say. Among the peasantry, the most general belief was, that it was an immediate divine miracle, in order to bestow grace on such as were afflicted with the disease, and as a means of warning and exhortation to those who saw and heard the patients. Among others, somewhat above the class of peasants, many denied alto- gether the existence of the disease, declaring the whole to be either intentional deception, in the desire of gain or notoriety ; or else self-delusion, produced partly by an over- strained religious feeling, or by that passion of imitation which is common to the human mind. The Bishop himself was of opinion that it was a disease originally physical, but affecting the mind in a peculiar way : he arrived at this conclusion by attentively studying the phenomenon itself. At all events, bodily sickness was an ingredient in it, as was proved from the fact, that although every one affected by it, in describing the commencement of their state, mentioned a spiritual excitement as its original cause, close examination proved that an internal bodily disorder, attended by pain, had preceded or accompanied this excitement. Besides,, there were persons who, against their own will, were affected by the quaking fits, which were one of its most striking early outward symptoms, without any previous religious excite- ment ; and these, when subjected to medical treatment, soon recovered.
The Bishop must have been a bold man, and not afraid of ridicule ; for, though writing to an archbishop, he says that though he will not give the disease a name, still he will venture to express an opiniou, which opinion is, that the disease corresponds very much with what he has heard and. read respecting^ the effects of animal magnetism. He says- that he carefully studied the effect of sulphur and the magnet upon several sick persons, and found the symptoms of the Preaching Epidemic to correspond with the effect of animal magnetism as given in Kluge's " Versuch einer Darstellung dea animalischen Magnetismus als Heilmittel." In both-
SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 505
cases there was an increase of activity of the nervous and muscular system ; and, further, frequent heaviness in the head, heat at the pit of the stomach, prickling sensation in the extremities, convulsions and quakings ; and, finally, the falling, frequently with a deep groan, into a profound faint- ing fit or trance. In this trance, the patient was in so perfect a state of insensibility to outward impressions, that the loudest noise or sound would not awaken him, nor would he feel a needle thrust deeply into his body. Mostly, however, during this trance, [he would hear questions ad- dressed to him, and reply to them ; and, which was extra- ordinary, invariably in these replies applied to everyone the pronoim. thou. The power of speech, too, in this state, was that of great eloquence, lively declamation, and the com- mand of much purer language than was usual, or apparently possible, for him in his natural state. The invariable assertions of all the patients, when in this state, were, that they were exceedingly well, and that they had never been so happy before ; they declared that the words they spoke were given to them by some one else, who spoke by them. Their disposition of mind was pious and calm ; they seemed disposed for visions and predictions. Like the early Quakers, they had an aversion to certain words and phrases, and testified in their preaching against places of amusement, gaming, excess in drinking, may-pole festivities, gay clothing, and the crooked combs which the peasant women wear in, their haii% and which, no doubt, were objects of vanity and display.
There was in some families a greater liability to this strange influence than in others ; it was greater also in children and females than in grown-up people and men ; and amongst men, those of a sauguine, choleric temperament were most susceptible. The patients invariably showed a strong desire to be together, and seemed to feel a sort of attraction or spiritual aifinity to each other. In places or worship, they woidd all sit together ; and it was remarked that when a person afilicted with the preaching epidemic was questioned about the disease in himself, individually, he always gave his answer on behalf of them all; and thus said " t^e" when the inquirer naturally expected " I P^
506 SPIRITUAL 3IAKIFESTATI0]N'S.
Prom these facts tlie learned bishop infers that the preaching epidemic belonged to that class of operations which have been referred to animal magnetism. He says, that " whatever may be the cause of this singular agency or influence, no doubt exists of its always producing a religious state of mind, whicli was strengthened by the apparently miraculous operations from within. He goes then into the question, whether the religious impression produced be in accordance with the established notions of the operations of *' grace on the heart," and decides this not to be the case, because the excited person, immediately after he begins to quake, experiences an unspeakable peace, joy, and blessed- ness, not on account of new-born faith, through atoning grace, but by a certain immediate and miraculous influence from God. These are the bishop's own words. But with the polemical question we have nothing to do. However, the bishop goes on to say, that " whatever the origin of the disease may be, it characterizes itself by Christian language, and makes its appearance with many truly Christian thoughts and feelings :" and that *' probably the disease has univer- sally met with something Christian, previously implanted in. the heart, to which it has, in an exciting way, allied itself."
With respect to the conduct and conversation of the patients during the time of their seizure, he says he never saw anything improper, although many strange rumours to the contrary were circulated and believed, to the great disadvantage of the poor people themselves. In the province of Elfsborg, where the disease prevailed to a great extent, bands of children and young people under its influence went about singing what are called Zion's hymns, the eff'ect of which was singularly striking, and even aflecting. He says, that *' to give a complete and detailed description of the nature of the disease would be difficult, because, like ' animal mag- netism,'— we use his own words — " it seems to be infinite in its modification and form." In the above-mentioned province of Elfsborg, it was often said, " such and such a person has began to quake, but he has not as yet dropped down, nor has seen visions, nor has preached."
This quaking, of which so much is said, appear to have been the first outward sign of the influence, the inward
SPIRITUAL M ANIFE STATIONS . 507
vision and tlie preaching being its consummation ; though, when this consummation ^Yas reached, the fit mostly com- menced bj the same sign, Nevertheless, in some patients, the quaking decreased in proportion to the strength which the disease gained. These quakings also seem to have come on at the mention of certain words, the introduction of certain ideas or the proximity of certain persons or things, which in some mysterious manner appeared inimical or unholy to the patient. Sometimes, also, those very things and words which at first aftected the patient ceased to do so as he advanced to the higher stages of the disease ; and other words or things which hitherto had produced no eftect, began to agitate him in the same way. One of the patients explained this circumstance thus — that according as his spiritual being advanced upwards, " he found that there existed in himself, and in the world, many things which were worse than that which previously he had considered as the worst." In some cases, the patients were violently aftected by the simple words "yes" and "no;" the latter word in particular was most painful and repulsive to them, and has frequently been described by them as '' one of the worst demons, tied with the chains of darkness in the deepest abyss." It was remarked also that they frequently acted as if they had a strong temptation to speak falsehood, or to say more than they were at liberty to say. They would therefore exhort each other to speak the truth; and so frequently answered dubiously, and even said they did not know, when a contrary answer might have been confidently expected, that an unpleasant impression was frequently produced on the mind of the hearer; and some persons imbibed from this very circumstance unfiivourable ideas of their truthfulness, when, in fact, this very caution and hesitation was a pecidiarity of the disease.
In the province of Skaraborg, the bishop says he has seen several persons fall at once into the trance, without any preparatory symptom. In the province of Elfsborg, the patients preached witli their eyes open, and standing ; whilst in his own province of Skaraborg, he himself saw and heard them preaching in a recumbent posture, and with closed eyes, and altogether, as far as he could discover, in a state
508 SPIEITUAL MAIfrFESTATIOirs.
of perfect insensibility to outward impressions. He gives an account of three preaching girls in the parish of "Warnham, of ages varying from eight to twelve. This account, but principally as relates to one of them, we will lay before the reader.
It was shortly before the Christmas of 1842, when he went, together with a respectable farmer of the neighbourhood, the Eev. Mr. Zingvist, and the Eev. Mr. Smedmark, to the cottage where a child lived, who by all accounts had advanced to the highest stage of the disease. Many persons besides himself and his friends were present. As regards all the three children, he says, that for their age, as is generally the case in Sweden, they were tolerably well-informed on religious matters, and could read well. They were naturally of good disposition, and now, since they had been subject to the disease, were remarkable for their gentleness and quiet demeanour. Their manners were simple as those of peasant children, but, being bashful and timid, were not inclined to give much description of their feelings and experience ; still, from the few words they spoke, it was evident that, like the rest of the peasantry and their own relatives, they con- sidered it a divine influence, but still asserted that they knew not exactly what to think, either of themselves or of their situations. "When in the trance, they declared that they were exceedingly well ; that they never had been so cheerful, or felt so much pleasure before. On being awolie, however, they complained, sometimes even with tears, of weakness in the limbs, pain in the chest, headache, etc.
In the particular case of the one child to which we have referred, the symptoms were precisely the same : there came on, in the first place, a violent trembling or quaking of the limbs, and she fell backwards with so much violence as to give the spectator a most painful sensation ; but no apparent injury ensued. The patient was now in the trance, or state of total unconsciousness ; and this trance, which lasted several hours, divided itself into two stages, acts or scenes, totally different in character. In the first place, she rose up violently, and all her actions were of a rapid and violent character. She caught at the hands of the people round her ; some she instantly flung aside, as if the effect produced
SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 509
T)j them was repugnant to her; others she held gently, patted and rubbed softly ; and these the people called " good hands." Sometimes she made signs, as if she were pouring out something, which she appeared to drink ; and it was said by her father and another man present, that she could detect any one in the company who had been dram-drinking ; and she would in this way represent every glass he had taken. She went through — for what purpose it seems im- possible to say — the operation of loading, presenting, and firing a gun, and performed most dramatically a pugilistic combat, in which she alone sustained and represented the action of both parties ; she likewise acted the part of a person dressing; and what rendered all this most extraordinary was, that though she was but a simple, bashful, peasant child, clad in her peasant's dress — a sheep->skin jacket — yet all her actions and movements were free, and full of the most dramatic effect : powerful and vigorous when repre- senting manly action, and so indescribably graceful and easy, and full of sentiment, when personating female occupations, as to amaze the more cultivated spectators; and, as the bishop says, " to be far more like the motions of an imao-e in a dream, than a creature of flesh and blood." Another circumstance is peculiar : although these children diflered from each other in their natural state, yet, while under the influence of the disease, their countenances became so similar, as greatly to resemble each other.
The child next passed into the second stage of the trance, which was characterized by a beautiful calmness and quiet- ness, and with her arms meekly folded she began to preach. Her manner in speaking was that of purest oratory ; her tones were earnest and solemn, and the language of that spi- ritual character which, when awake, it would have been impossible for her to use. The bishop noted down her little discourse on his return home, and an analysis of it shows it to be an edifying practical address, perfectly conformable to the pure spirit of the Grospel, and suited to an unsophis- ticated audience. During its delivery the child had some- thing saint-like in her appearance. Her utterance was soft and clear, not a word was retracted or repeated ; and her voice, which in her waking state had a peculiar hoarseness, had now a wonderful brilliancy and clearness of tone, which
510 SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATION'S.
produced great effect. The whole assembly observed the deepest silence, and many wept. The parents of these children informed the bishop that they had during tliis time tolerable appetites, but that they preferred milk and fruits. Many of the patients were cured by medicines administered by the bishop, who concludes by saying that the phenomenon lies out of the sphere of human knowledge, but that its extraordinary character has produced a great religious movement and wrought much good. It has sent multitudes to church who never went there, and many have been thereby reclaimed from the error of their vays. Many passages in their history will strikingly remind the reader of the early Quakers. The number of persons affected in the province of Skaraborg alone, where the disease did not prevail so generally as in other parts, amounted in 1843 to 3000 ; but in many places impostors affected the disease to gain a livelihood, and brought the real patients into discredit. The clergy and the doctors every- where used all their endeavours to extinguish the movement, and by the end of 1843 it had almost ceased. Nothing of the kind has since appeared, but the good effect it produced on the mind of many a hardened sinner remains to testify of its truth and reality, although no one, whether learned in the science of physical or spiritual life, can yet explain the cause and nature of this extraordinary mental pheno- menon.
The Preaching Epidemic has several features in common with the American manifestations, in which young children, even under five years of age, have acted as media. Both retain also the common feature of being an epidemic or sympathetic affection, though the cause in both cases must remain at present involved in difficulty and mystery.
To the same cause we are inclined to attribute the frenzy which raged at one time in 'New England, and is familiar to all readers of American History as the Salem witchcraft.
The New England mind was singularly susceptible to impressions of a spiritual and supernatural character, and the period of her history in which this peculiar frenzy pre- vailed was one of difficulty and despondency. Indian wars of the most fearful character had ravaged her frontiers, and
SPIEITUAL MAXirESTATIONS. 511
the Eoglisli Government, jealous of the growing indepen- dency of her colonies, and especially of Massachusetts, not onl}' curtailed her liberties, but threatened her with the loss of her charter ; a circumstance which the whole of jN'ew England regarded as a national calamity, an infliction of Divine wrath for supposed sins and shortcomings. More especially, liowever, was this the case as regarded Massachu- setts, in which a spirit of latitudinarianism and unbelief, the natural reaction of that extreme rigidity of Puritanism which had been the glory of the generation now passing away, began to prevail : to oppose this freedom of religious faith, and to meet in a spirit of humiliation the sorrows of the time, Puritan Massachusetts increased the strictness of her religious observances, humbled herself as in sack- cloth and ashes, and sought with fasting and prayer the causes of the Divine displeasure. It was at this time, when the public mind, as will be easily seen, was in a state of extreme susceptibility, that the first cases of witchcraft occiured.
The laws of England, which admitted witchcraft, and punished it with death, had been adopted in Massachusetts^ strengthened by the Scriptural Judaic command, " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ;" and as early as 1645 the mania commenced, and persons at Boston and other towns were taken up and tried, and one individual executed for this supposed crime.
" Among other evidences," says the historian Hildreth, " of a departui-e from the ancient landmarks, and of the propagation even in New England of a spirit of doubt, were the growing suspicions of the reality of that every-day supernaturahsm which formed so prominent a feature of the Puritan theology. Against this rising incredulity, Increase Mather had, in 16S4, published a book of 'Eemarkable Providences,' which enumerated and testified to the truth of all the supposed cases of w^itchcraft which had occurred in JN'ew England, with arguments to prove their reality."
As the siglit of an execution for murder creates in the mind of the debased a morbid passion for the committal of the crime, so did the publication of this work soon give rise to a supposed case of witchcraft. A house at Newbury was said to be haunted or bewitched, and the wife of the occu-
^12 SPIRITUAL MAHTIFESTATIONS.
pant, a wretched old woman, was accused as a witch. Seven- teen people came forward on her trial to charge her with misfortunes which had happened to them in the course of iheir lives, and, but for the firmness and good sense of Simon Bradstreet, and the abrogation of the charter which just then took place, and gave people something else to think of, she would have been executed on the charge.
Mather, however, had sown seed which fell into fruitful ground, and in due course sprang up, being fostered in the meantime by the republication, in Boston, of the works of Hichard Baxter and the authority of Sir Matthew Hale. In 1688, therefore, the morbid imaginations of the people, already predisposed, being excited by this mental food, cases of witcheraft were discovered. The four children of a "pious family" in Boston, the eldest a girl of thirteen, began to be strangely affected, barking like dogs, purring like cats, being at times deaf, dumb, or blind ; having their limbs distorted, and complaining of being pricked, pinched, pulled, and cut. A pious minister was called in, witchcraft w^as suspected, and an old Irish woman, an indented ser- vant of the family, who had scolded the children in Irish because her daughter was accused of theft, was taken up on the charge. Five ministers held a day of fasting and prayer, and the old woman was tried, found guilty, and executed.
" Though Increase Mather," says Hildreth, " was absent, he had a zealous representative in his son. Cotton Mather, a young minister of five-and-twenty, a prodigy of learn- ing, eloquence, and piety, recently settled as colleague with his father over Boston North Church, Cotton Mather had an extraordinary memory, stuffed with all sorts of learning. His application was equal to that of a German professor. His lively imagination, trained in the school of puritan theology, and nourished on the traditionary legends of Xew England, of which he was a voracious and indis- criminate collector, was stiU further stimulated by fasts, vigils, prayers, and meditations, almost equal to those of any Catholic saint. Like the Jesuit missionaries of Canada, he often believed himself, during his devotional exercises, to have direct and personal communication with the Deity. In every piece of good fortune he saw an answer to his
SPIBITUAL MAJTIFESTATIONS. 518
prayers ; in every calamity or mortification, the especial personal malice of the devil or his agents."
In order to study these cases of witchcraft at his leisure, Cotton Mather took one of the bewitched to his house, and the devil within her flattered his religious vanity to the extreme. He preached and prayed on the subject, calling witchcraft " a most nefandous treason against the Majesty on High," and wrote another book of " Memorable Provi- dences relating to Witchcraft and Possession," in which he defied the modern Sadducee any longer to doubt. Four ministers testified to the unanswerable arguments which he thus set forth, as did also Eichard Baxter in London.
Public attention thus turned to the subject, other cases of the same character soon occurred. Two young girls of Salem, the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, the minister, began to be " moved by strange caprices," and being pro- nounced bewitched by a physician at Boston, Tituba, an old Indian woman, the servant of the family, was suspected, principally because she had volunteered to discover the witch by some magical rites. Of course, nothing was talked of but these girls ; it was quite an interesting excitement ; ministers met to pray ; the whole town of Salem fasted and prayed, and a fast was ordered throughout the colony. The rage for notoriety, or the efiects of these cases on the ima- gination of similarly nervous temperaments, soon produced their results, and not only were several girls affected in the same way, but poor old John, the Indian husband of Tituba.
The whole of Salem was agog, and the magistrates took up the matter solemnly. Accusations spread ; two women — the one crazy, the other bed-ridden — were suspected, in addition to the others. Parris preached the next Sunday on the cases, and the sister of one of the accused left tlie church, which was enough to throw suspicion upon her. The deputy-governor of the colony came to Salem, and a great court was held in the meeting-house, five other magis- trates and " a great crowd being present." Parris was tlie general accuser. The accused were held with their arms extended and their hands held open, lest by the least motion of their fingers they might inflict torments on their victims,
VOL. II. L h
514
SPIRITUAL. MANIFESTATIONS.
who sometimes appeared to be struck dumb or knocked down by the mere glance of their eye.
In the examinations in Salem meeting-house, some very extraordinary scenes occurred. " Look there," cried one of the afflicted, " there is Goody Procter on the beam." (This Goody Procter's husband, firmly protesting the innocence of his wife, had attended her to the court, and, in conse- quence, was charged by some of "the afflicted" with being a wizard.) At the above exclamation many, if not all, the bewitched, had grievous fits. Question by the Court : " Ann Putnam, who hurts you ?" Answer : " Groodman Procter, and his wife too." Then some of the afflicted cry out, '' There is Procter going to take up Mrs. Pope's feet ;" and immediately her feet are taken up. Question by the Court : " What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things ?" Answer : " I know not ; I am innocent !" Abigail Williams, another of the afflicted, cries out, " There is Goodman Procter going to Mrs. Pope;" and immediately the said Pope falls into a fit. A Magistrate to Procter : " You see the devil will deceive you ; the children (so the afflicted were called) could see what you were going to do before the woman was hurt. I would advise you to repentance, for you see the devil is bringing you out !" Abigail Williams again cries out, " There is Goodman Procter going to hurt Goody Bibber;" and immediately Bibber falls also into a fit. And so on. But it was on evidence such as this that people were believed to be witches, and were huiTied to prison and tried for their lives.
Tituba was flogged into confession ; others yielded to influence more stringent than blows. Weak women, asto- nished at the charges and confessions of their accusers assured that they were witches, and urged to confess as the only means of saving their lives, were easily prevailed upon to admit any absurdities : journeys through the air on broomsticks, to attend a witch sacrament — a sort of tra- vesty on the Christian ordinance — at which the devil appeared in the shape of a " small black man ;" signing the devil's book renouncing their former baptism, and being baptised anew by the devil in " Wenham Pond," after the Anabaptist fashion. Called upon to tell who were present at these
spiEiTUAL makifestatio:n^s. 515
sacrifices, tbe confessing witches wound np witli new accu- sations. In a very sliort time near a hundred persons were in prison. Nor was the mischief limited to Salem; many- persons were accused in Andover, Boston, and other towns. On the 2d of June a special court at Salem was appointed for the trial of a poor old friendless woman, one Bridget Bishop, who was accused by Samuel Parris. Another poor woman, Deliverance Hobbs by name, among other things, was accused, as Cotton Mather relates, " of giving a look towards the great and spacious meeting-house of Salem, and immediately a demon, invisibly entering the house, tore down a part of it." She protested her innocence, but was hanged on the 10th of June.
Cotton Mather, and the other ministers of Boston and Charlestown, were loud in their gratitude and praise of this zeal in the cause, and the accusations and trials and condemnations proceeded. It was a chapter out of the history of the middle ages.
It remained for the science and better knowledge of the present day to explain these witch phenomena according to psychological and natural laws. At that time they were believed to be no less than the work of the devil, and as such were punished. " AVe recommend," said the minister of that stern puritan religion which had now grown rampant in severity, " the speedy and rigorous prosecu- tion of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious ;" and the court accordingly, on the 30th of June, condemned five women of blameless lives, all protesting their innocence. Of these five, Rebecca JNTurse, whose sister had left the church when Samuel Parris was preaching a violent sermon against witches, was at first acquitted on insufficient evidence, and a reprieve was granted by Governor Phipps. But Parris, who seemed to have been a man of a virulent disposition, could not bear to see an especial object of his hatred — one against whom he had preached and denounced from the pulpit — escape. The subservient governor recalled the reprieve, and the following communion-day slie was taken in chains to the meeting-house, excommunicated, and hanged with the rest.
The frenzy increased. On August 3d, six more were arraigned ; and John Willard, an officer who had been em-
516 SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.
ployed to arrest suspected persons, declining to serve any longer, was accused by the " afflicted," — nfflicted, indeed ! — condemned, and hanged. Among those who suffered with Willard was Procter, the husband of Elizabeth Procter, her execution having been delayed on account of her pregnancy. He had truly and manfully maintained his wife's innocence, and, as we have already related, been himself accused ; others witnessed against him under the agony of torture, and he was condemned. He was a man of firm and clear character, and petitioned for trial in Boston, but to no purpose. The behaviour and execution of this man sank deep into the public mind, and offended many. Still greater was the effect produced by the execution of G-eorge Burroughs, him- self a minister, who was accused of witchcraft because he denied its possibility. He was formerly the minister at Salem ; afterwards at Saco, whence he had been driven by the Indian war, and was now, to his own sorrow, once more in Salem, where he had many enemies. Among other things charged against him was the fact that, though small of size, he was remarkably strong, whence it was argued that his strength was the gift of the devil. " On the ladder," says Bancroft, " he cleared his innocence by an earnest speech, and by repeating the Lord's Prayer composedly and exactly with a fervency that astonished all. Tears flowed to the eyes of many ; it seemed as if the spectators would rise up to hinder the execution. Cotton Mather, on horseback, among the crowd, addressed the people, cavilling at the ordina- tion of Burroughs as no true minister, insisting on his guilt, and hinting that the devil could sometimes assume the appearance of an angel of light ; and the hanging pro- ceeded."
On September 9th, six women were found guilty and con- demned ; and a few days later, again eight women ; while Giles Cory, an old man of eighty, who refused to plead, was pressed to death — a barbarous usage of the English law, which, however, was never again followed in the colonies. On the 23rd of this month, the afflicted are stated by Hildreth to have amounted to about fifty ; fifty-five had confessed themselves witches and turned accusers ; twenty persons had already suffered death ; eight more were under sentence. The jails were full of prisoners, and new accu-
SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 517
sations were added every day. Such was the state of things when the court adjourned to the first Monday in November. The interval was employed by Cotton Mather in preparing his " Wonders of the Invisible World," con- taining a triumphant account of the trials, and vaunting the good offices of the late executions, which he considered a cause of pious thankfulness to God. Although the president of Harvard College approved, the governor com- mended, and Stoughton expressed his thanks for the work of Cotton Mather, yet a spirit was abroad in the colony, and becoming more demonstrative every day, which was very adverse to these outrages on humanity and their pro- moters.
In the interim between the last executions and the sitting of the adjourned court, the representatives of the people assembled, and the church of Andover, with their minister at their head, protested against these witch- trials. " We know not," said they, " who can think himself safe, if the accusations of children and others under a diabolical influence shall be received against persons of good fame." Very truly and reasonably did they say so ; for even now one of the Andover ministers was accused, and the wife of the minister of Beverley ; and when the son of old Governor Bradstreet now refused as a magistrate to grant any more warrants, he himself was accused, and shortly after his brother, for bewitching a dog, and both were obliged to flee for their lives, their property being immediately seized. And more than this, when Lady Phipps, in the absence of her husband, the governor, interfered to obtain the discharge of a prisoner from jail, accusations were whis- pered even against her !
The frenzy of delusion becoming weaker. Cotton Mather wrote, and circulated in manuscript, the account of a case of witchcraft in his own parish in Boston. This called forth a reply from Eobert Calef, a clear-headed, fearless man, who, by the weapons of reason and ridicule, overcame and put to flight, in an astonishingly short time, both witches and devils. It was in vain that Cotton Mather denounced him as " a coal from hell ;" the sentiment of the people went with him ; and though a circular from Harvard College, signed by the president, Increase Mather, solicited a return
518 SPIEITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.
from all the ministers of the neighbourhood of the appari- tions, possessions, enchantments, and all extraordinary things, wherein the existence and agency of the invisible world is more sensibly demonstrated, the next ten years produced scarcely five returns.
The invisible world was indeed becoming invisible ; and, as is always the case, the superstition, when it ceased to be credited, lost its power of delusion. Cotton Mather and his party were too seli-righteous to follow the example of AYilliam Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, or they might soon have cleared Massachusetts of its witches. The Swedes who emigrated to the banks of the Delaware, took with them all the terrors and superstitions which the wild and gloomy Scandinavian mythology had engrafted upon Christianity, and a woman was accused of witchcraft by them in 1684. The case was brought to trial; William Penn sat as judge ; and the jury, composed principally of Quakers, found the woman " guilty of the common fame of being a witch; but not guilty as she stood indicted." No notoriety could be obtained by witchcraft in Pennsylvania ; it furnished the excitement neither of preaching, praying, nor fasting; and the psychological epidemic not finding there a moral atmosphere capable of sustaining the infection, died out. There were no more cases of witchcraft in Penn- sylvania.
Here we leave the subject. The power of supposed witch- craft and of spiritual manifestation seem to us identical, but the cause problematic. All we can say is, that it appears to us psycho -physical, of an epidemic or sympathetic character, and that it possesses many features which seem to imply a close connection with the mysterious agency called Animal Magnetism.
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