{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_43345/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_43345","id":"gutenberg_43345","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43345","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spiritualism","Supernatural"],"text":"GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.\n\n\n\n\n  The Other World;\n\n  OR, GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.\n\n  BEING FACTS, RECORDS, AND TRADITIONS\n\n\n  RELATING TO DREAMS, OMENS, MIRACULOUS OCCURRENCES,\n  APPARITIONS, WRAITHS, WARNINGS, SECOND-SIGHT,\n  WITCHCRAFT, NECROMANCY, ETC.\n\n\n  EDITED BY\n  THE REV. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE, D.C.L.\n  _Vicar of All Saints\u2019, Lambeth._\n\n\n  IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.\n\n\n  HENRY S. KING AND CO., LONDON.\n  1875.\n\n\n\n\n(_All rights reserved._)\n\n\n\n\n  TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE\n  AUGUSTA,\n  COUNTESS OF STRADBROKE,\n  OF HENHAM HALL, IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK,\n  THESE VOLUMES\n  ARE,\n  BY HER LADYSHIP\u2019S KIND PERMISSION,\n  VERY RESPECTFULLY\n  Dedicated.\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is often asked--Do you believe in Prophecies and Miracles? Yes and no,\none may answer; that depends. In general, yes; doubtless we believe in\nthem, and are not of the number of those who \u2018pique themselves,\u2019 as\nF\u00e9nelon said, \u2018on rejecting as fables, without examination, all the\nwonders that God works.\u2019 But if you come to the particular, and say--Do\nyou believe in such a revelation, such an apparition, such a cure?--here\nit is that it behoves us not to forget the rules of Christian prudence,\nnor the warnings of Holy Writ, nor the teaching of Theologians and Saints,\nnor, finally, the decrees of Councils, and the motives of those decrees.\nHas the proper Authority spoken? If it has spoken, let us bow with all the\nrespect due to grave and mature ecclesiastical judgments, even where they\nare not clothed with infallible authority; if it has not spoken, let us\nnot be of those who reject everything in a partizan spirit, and want to\nimpose this unbelief upon everybody; nor of those who admit everything\nlightly, and want alike to impose their belief; let us be careful in\ndiscussing a particular fact, not to reject the very principle of the\nSupernatural, but neither let us shut our eyes to the evidence of\ntestimony; let us be prudent, even to the most careful scrutiny--the\nsubject-matter requires it, the Scriptures recommend it--but let us not be\nsceptics; let us be sincere, but not fanatical: that is the true mean. And\nlet us not forget that most often the safest way in these matters is not\nto hurry one\u2019s judgment, not to decide sharply and affirm absolutely--in a\nword, not to anticipate, in one sense or the other, the judgment of those\nwhose place and mission it is to examine herein; but to await, in the\nsimplicity of faith and of Christian wisdom, a decision which marks out a\nwise rule, although not always with absolute certainty.\u201d--Dupanloup,\nBishop of Orleans, \u201cOn Contemporary Prophecies.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThese volumes have been compiled from the standing-point of a hearty and\nreverent believer in Historical Christianity. No one can be more fully\naware of their imperfections and incompleteness than the Editor; for the\nsubjects under consideration occupy such a broad field, that their\ntreatment at greater length would have largely increased the bulk of the\nvolumes, and indefinitely postponed their publication.\n\nThe facts and records set forth (and throughout, the Editor has dealt with\nfacts, rather than with theories) have been gathered from time to time\nduring the past twenty years, as well from ordinary historical narrations\nas from the personal information of several friends and acquaintances\ninterested in the subject-matter of the book. The materials thus brought\ntogether from so many quarters have been carefully sifted, and those only\nmade use of as would best assist in the arranged method of the volume, and\nsuffice for its suitable illustration.\n\nThe Editor regrets that, in the publication of so many recent examples of\nthe Supernatural (about fifty), set forth for the first time in the\nfollowing pages, the names of the persons to whom those examples occurred,\nand in some cases those likewise who supplied him with them, are withheld.\n\nThe truth is, there is such a sensitive dislike of publicity and of rude\ncriticism consequent upon publicity, that very many persons shrink from\nthe ordeal. However, it may be sufficient to state that the Editor holds\nhimself personally responsible for all those here recorded, which are not\neither details of received History, or formally authenticated by the names\nand addresses of those who have supplied him with them.\n\nMany examples of the Supernatural in modern times and in the present day\nare here published for the first time, in an authoritative and complete\nform.\n\nBy the kind courtesy of Lord Lyttelton, the family records of a remarkable\napparition, which is said to have been seen by his noble ancestor, were\nplaced at the Editor\u2019s disposal, and, by his Lordship\u2019s permission, are in\nthe following pages now first set forth in detail and at length.\n\nThe Editor is also indebted to the following, either for obliging replies\nto his inquiries, or for information which has been embodied in the\nsucceeding pages:--The late Lady Brougham, the late Rev. W.\nHastings-Kelke, of Drayton Beauchamp; A. L. M. P. de Lisle, Esq., of\nGarendon Park; the Very Rev. A. Weld, S.J.; the Right Rev. Monsignor\nPatterson, D.D., of S. Edmund\u2019s College, Ware; the Rev. J. Jefferson,\nM.A., of North Stainley Vicarage, near Ripon; the Very Rev. E. J.\nPurbrick, S.J., of Stonyhurst College; the Rev. John Richardson, B.A., of\nWarwick; Henry Cope Caulfeild, Esq., M.A., of Clone House, S. Leonard\u2019s;\nthe Rev. Theodore J. Morris; Mrs. George Lee; the Rev. H. N. Oxenham,\nM.A.; Miss S. F. Caulfeild; Dominick Browne, Esq. (Dytchley); Captain\nLowrie, of York; Mr. C. J. Sneath, of Birmingham; and many others.\n\nIf there be anything set forth in this volume, in ignorance or\nmisconception, contradictory to the general teaching of the Universal\nChurch, the Editor puts on record here his regret for having penned it,\nand his desire altogether to withdraw such error.\n\nF. G. L.\n\n  All Saints\u2019 Vicarage,\n  York Road, Lambeth.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOL. I.\n\n\n                                                                  Page\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n    INTRODUCTORY.--Materialism of the present age                    1\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n    The Miraculous in Church History                                21\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n    Spiritual Powers and Properties of the Church.--\n    Sacraments.--Sacramentals.--Exorcism                            51\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n    Witchcraft and Necromancy                                      149\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n    Dreams, Omens, Warnings, Presentiments, and Second Sight       207\n\n\n\n\nMATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE.\n\n\n\u201cIn some sense of the Supernatural, in some faith in the Unseen, in some\nfeeling that man is not of this World, in some grasp on the Eternal God,\nand on an eternal supernatural and supersensuous life, lies the basis of\nall pity and mercy, all help, and comfort, and patience, and sympathy\namong men. Set these aside, commit us only to the Natural, to what our\neyes see and our hands handle, and, while we may organize Society\nscientifically, and live according to \u2018the laws of Nature,\u2019 and be very\nphilosophical and very liberal, we are standing on the ground on which\nevery savage tribe stands, or indeed on which every pack of wolves\ngallops.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nGLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nINTRODUCTORY.--MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE.\n\n\nTo any sincere and hearty believer in Historical Christianity the advance\nof Materialism and the consequent denial of the Supernatural must be the\ncause both of alarm and sadness. The few lead, the many follow; and it is\nfrequently the case that conclusions contrarient to the idea of the\nSupernatural are arrived at, after a course of reasoning, which\nconclusions appear to many wholly unjustified, either by the premisses\nadopted, or from the argument that has ensued.\n\nIt has been stated, in a serial of some ability,[1] that the final issue\nof the present conflict between so that things are necessarily different\nto what they would have been if he had not thus acted, and no disturbance\nnor dislocation of the system around him ensues as a consequence of such\naction, surely He Who contrived the system in question can subsequently\ninterpose both in the natural and spiritual order of the world. For to\ndeny this possibility is obviously to place God on a lower level than man;\nin other words, to make the Creator of all things weaker and less free\nthan His own creatures.\n\nNow, to go a step further, all human efforts to find out God have been the\nresult of the combination of ideas gleaned from human experience. These\nideas have often enough been grotesque, fanciful, and distorted--a\njudgment which will be admitted to be accurate by all Christian people;\nwhether the gross conceptions of Pagan mythology or the nebulous\nspeculations of modern \u201cthinkers\u201d are brought under consideration. That\nman, the created, cannot understand God the Creator--that the thing made\ncannot compass the Maker--is not only perfectly certain, but necessary.\nThe being of God cannot be grasped by a finite intellect; nor can such an\nintellect conceive the mode of an existence absolutely and utterly removed\nfrom created conditions. Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent: we\ncannot attain unto it.[2]\n\nBut though it may be, and is, utterly impossible to conceive Almighty\nGod, it is anything but impossible to conceive the fact and reality of His\nbeing. For, as is well known, the general thought and conscience of\nmankind have believed in a God, _semper et ubique_, everywhere and at all\ntimes. Thus a thing may exist, and its existence may be perfectly patent\nto the understanding; and furthermore its existence may be worthy of\nimplicit belief; while, at the same time, the thing itself may be found to\ntranscend and overpass the limited powers of man\u2019s intellect. Take, for\nexample, the ideas conveyed by the terms \u201ceternal\u201d[3] and \u201cinfinite.\u201d Who\ncan comprehend them? Who can explain them? Ordinary popular conceptions\nmake them mere indefinite extensions of duration and space; yet these\nconceptions need not and do not appear absurd, but, on the contrary,\nenable ideas, at once definite, distinct, and recognizable, to be conveyed\nfrom man to man.\n\nThus, by a simple process of thought, we may see for ourselves the place\nand propriety of a Revelation, and appreciate the truth of the\nSupernatural. Here, in the province of a Revelation, not man\u2019s conception\nof God, but God Himself is set forth. Not so unlike ourselves is He that\nwe find Him, with will, actions, and purposes, unintelligible; but, using\nanalogies gathered and systematized by experience, we learn, at the same\ntime, that our Creator is beyond the range both of thought and\nlanguage--never to be fully known, until, with divinely-illuminated\nfaculties in a higher state, we see Him face to face.\n\nAnd when we have attained to this point in our course of thought, the\nfirst leading fact of God\u2019s revelation meets us. Here it is: \u201cThere is but\none living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of\ninfinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all\nthings, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be\nthree Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: the Father, the Son,\nand the Holy Ghost.\u201d[4]\n\nNow in this revelation, given in its fullness by the Eternal Word, and\nbequeathed to the Christian Church, to be preserved and handed down for\nfuture generations, all is Supernatural. That body of doctrine which\nChristians believe, divinely guarded by the Church, was announced\nbeforehand, centuries ere it was actually delivered, by a wisdom above\nnature--the divine light of prophecy. When it was set forth by the Eternal\nWord, its truth was attested in the face of a hostile people by a power\nabove nature, whose word Creation obeyed, as in regularity, so in marked\nand palpable change. This body of doctrine or gospel put forth a\nsupernatural power in the strange rapidity and manifest success with which\nit subdued hearts to itself. Ancient Rome owned the Crucified as a Monarch\nconquering and to conquer. His Revelation, of the truth of which there\nshall be witnesses unto the end, is above nature, in that it alone\nprovides adequate remedies for the manifold infirmities of the human race.\nThe life it produces here is supernatural, as are also the means by which\nthat life is created, and the efficient gifts by which it is being\nconstantly renewed. Supernatural, too, is the work of the Holy Ghost,\nwrought out by human agents and human instrumentality; changing,\nsanctifying, illuminating; shadowing forth by its action the reunion of\nearth with heaven, of man with God, only to be completed and made perfect\nin the life to come.\n\nNow the purport of this volume is to show by examples of supernatural\nintervention--examples many of which have been gathered from quite recent\nperiods--that Almighty God, from time to time, in various ways and by\ndifferent human instruments, still condescendingly reveals to man glimpses\nof the world unseen, and shows the existence of that life beyond the\ngrave, in which the sceptic and materialist of the present restless age\nwould have us disbelieve, and which they themselves scornfully reject.\n\nFrom the sure and solid standing-point of Historical Christianity,\nbelieving Holy Scripture to be the Word of God, and the Christian Church\nto be the divinely-formed corporation for instructing, guiding, and\nilluminating mankind, remarkable examples of the Supernatural, miracles,\nspectral appearances of departed spirits, providential warnings by dreams\nand otherwise, the intervention and ministry of good angels, the assaults\nof bad, the certain power and efficacy of the gifts of Holy Church, the\nsanctity of consecrated places, and the persevering malignity of the devil\nand his legions, are gathered together, and set forth in the pages to\nfollow. For it may reasonably be believed that, as Almighty God has\ngraciously vouchsafed to intervene in the affairs of mankind in ages long\npast, so there has never been a period in which such merciful intervention\nhas not from time to time taken place. Granted that in the days of Moses\nand Aaron, and of Elijah and Elisha, man owned miraculous powers, and\nwrought wonders by the gift of God; granted that in dreams and visions the\nwill of the Most High was sometimes made known to favoured individuals of\nthe Jewish Dispensation; remembering the miracles of our Lord\u2019s apostles\nand disciples, and bearing in mind the divine and supernatural powers\nwhich were first entrusted to, and have been ever since exercised by, the\nCatholic Church, it is at once unreasonable and unphilosophical to deny\nthe existence in the world of the supernatural and miraculous. As will be\nabundantly set forth, their presence and energy are in perfect accord and\nharmony with the universal experience of mankind. Sceptics may contemn and\nobject, materialists may scoff; but numerous facts as well as a very\ngeneral sentiment are against their conclusions and convictions.\n\nFloating straws show the direction and force of a current. As an example\nof the lengths to which an adoption of the materialistic principle will\nlead some persons, who regard themselves as \u201cphilosophers,\u201d and as a\nspecimen of the dangers which threaten us, it may be well to refer briefly\nto the proposal which has recently been formally and publicly made, viz.,\nthat in certain cases of hopeless disease or imbecile old age, physicians\nshould be legally authorized to put an end to such patients by poison.\n\nThus, when the head of a family becomes old or borders on childishness,\nthe son, by going through the proposed legal formality, may stand by and\nwitness the poisoning of his father, and so enter on the possession of his\nproperty. When a mother becomes old, the daughter may assist in a similar\nmanner at her mother\u2019s death. A crippled child, a weak-minded relation, an\ninfirm member of the family, according to the \u201cphilosophers,\u201d should have\na poisonous drug efficiently administered; that so the weak, crippled, or\nimbecile might be murdered and put out of the way. Thus these\nphilosopher-fanatics assure us that \u201cthe natural law of the preservation\nof the fittest,\u201d propounded by them, will come into active and unchecked\noperation. Having warned us that the penalty we endure for ignoring this\n\u201claw\u201d is a population largely composed of weak, unhealthy, poor and\nsuffering people, they now earnestly recommend a \u201cscientific method,\u201d by\nwhich the lame, the blind, the weak, and the imbecile should be cleared\noff from the stage of life.[5] \u201cNatural selection,\u201d would, unchecked and\nnever opposed, have preserved alive only the best and noblest types; and\nas, they tell us in their infallible wisdom, this principle or law has\ndeveloped us so far from the mollusk to the man, it might by this time,\nhad it been carefully and faithfully applied, have developed us, if not\ninto angels, at least into nineteenth-century savages of great muscular\npower. This is the odious message to mankind which naturalistic\nMaterialism announces. And if we confine ourselves to what is sometimes\ncalled \u201cscience\u201d--that is, exclusive knowledge of things material--such a\nconclusion as that arrived at, and such degrading principles as those\npropounded for acceptance and practice, may not be altogether\nunreasonable.[6] In this kind of \u201cscience\u201d there is little else but\ncoldness, cruelty, and savagery. Only the strong have a right to live. The\nweak were born to have their life trampled out, and, according to this\nnewly-revived theory, the sooner it is done the better. The murder of the\nlame, the halt, and the blind, therefore, becomes thoroughly scientific,\nand follows as a matter of course. Its practice is based upon laws which\nthe materialists have been for some time proclaiming to be \u201csupreme.\u201d If\nthere be no supernatural basis of life, if the supernatural have no real\nexistence, if man be of the earth earthy, if he be only an outgrowth of\nthe dumb forces of matter (the first article of the creed of these\n\u201cphilosophers\u201d), if he be governed solely and altogether, absolutely and\ncompletely by an inexorable material law (the highest and the only law,\nas they would have us believe), then, of course, their conclusion\ninevitably follows--that it is both merciful and wise to put a man out of\nhis misery when he becomes a burden both to himself and his friends. There\nis no place in the lofty and elevating system of Naturalism for a being\nwho cannot take care of himself.\n\nAgain: while Scepticism is rampant, and some are endeavouring to bring\nback the Pagan notions of ancient nations, to galvanize into new life the\ncorrupt imbecilities of the past, men of science are making assertions and\nassumptions of the boldest, if not of the wildest nature. One such\nrecently maintained the following proposition:--\u201cTaking our earth, we\n_know_ that millions of years have passed since she began to be peopled.\u201d\nNow, the maintainer of this assertion notoriously holds some peculiar\ntheories about the means by which the solar system (and consequently other\nsystems) was made, or rather grew. These theories, in some of their\ndetails, are or may be founded upon certain more or less well-ascertained\nfacts. But when he uses the term \u201cknow,\u201d we are bold to point out that\nsuch an assertion rests on mere assumption.[7] We need facts,--facts\nwhich could stand the careful investigation of persons skilled in taking\nand measuring evidence; and secondly, we require to be reasonably\nconvinced that no other possible explanation of a difficulty be\nforthcoming, except that on which his assumption is founded and his\ninevitable conclusion (as he regards it) deduced. But how often with\nscientific people the phrase \u201cWe know\u201d stands for \u201cThis is our theory,\u201d or\nrather \u201cThis is our _present_ theory;\u201d for scientific theories change very\nfrequently; and points which have been most dogmatically laid down at one\nperiod have been with equal dogmatism condemned and repudiated at another,\nby those who apparently strain every nerve and exercise every gift\nbestowed upon them, to deny and cast out the Supernatural from amongst\nmankind.\n\nFrom the introduction to a volume of great interest (\u201cThe Maxims and\nExamples of the Saints\u201d), the following extract is taken, both because of\nits inherent truth, and also because the Christian instinct in defence of\nthe Supernatural is so prominently and forcibly expressed in every line.\nMr. de Lisle\u2019s words stand thus:--\n\n\u201cIn these days of shallowness and scepticism, men pride themselves on\ncalling everything into question, as if they proved their claim to wisdom\naccording to the measure of their unbelief. But those who dive a little\ndeeper into things will not be so ready to admit the claims of modern\ninsolent writers. They will find that our ancestors had heads as sound,\njudgments as cool and unprejudiced, at least, as any of these moderns; and\nthe more they examine, the more reasons will they find for attaching\nweight to their testimony. In my intercourse abroad with divers holy\npriests and religious monks, I have seen and heard enough to convince me\nthat many things take place in this world of a supernatural order. Nor do\nI believe there ever has been a period in the history of the Church, when\nour Lord has not borne testimony to her divine truth, and to the admirable\nsanctity of many of her children, by evident and glorious miracles. This\nis the faith of the Church; and who shall gainsay the teaching of that\nsociety that carries with it the experience of eighteen centuries, the\nimmutable promises of God, the attestations of innumerable martyrs, and\nthe consent of nations? To him who believes the words of the holy Gospel,\n\u2018The works that I do shall they do also, and greater than these,\u2019 &c.\n(speak not now to the unbeliever), the conclusion will be clear, and\nhumble faith will bow with submission. Keeping this promise in view, the\nChristian will not find it difficult to believe even the most wonderful\nhistories in the lives of the Saints; at all events, his spirit will not\nbe that which loves to question everything, still less that which treats\nthe testimony of devout writers with levity or scorn. To the humble\nobserver of the ways of Divine Providence, enough occurs every day to\nprepare him for any manifestation of the Power of God: not to say that\nthere is not a state in Christendom in which, even in our own times, many\nwonderful miracles have not taken place. Witness the glorious appearance\nof a vast cross of fire in the heavens at Mign\u00e9, near Poictiers in France,\nin the year 1826, in the month of December, an event which was attested on\noath before the bishop of the diocese by several thousand\neye-witnesses.[8] Josephus relates the prodigies that appeared in the\nheavens before the downfall of Jerusalem: and who shall say that this\nsublime apparition in France did not portend the approaching calamities\nthat have since fallen upon that kingdom and upon Europe? In the years\n1830 and 1831, blood miraculously flowed from the arms of S. Nicholas, at\nTolentino in Italy, and the circumstance was solemnly attested by the\nbishop, the clergy, and the magistrates of that city. History records\nsimilar prodigies to have taken place at Tolentino whenever any calamities\nwere about to befall Christendom. S. Nicholas has been dead above 500\nyears. I myself had the consolation to visit his shrine; and I heard from\nseveral individuals, with tears in their eyes, the affecting recital of\nthe miracle. Who does not call to mind the wonderful manifestations of\nGod\u2019s power at Rome and at Ancona during the period of the French\nRevolution, in the year 1792? Innumerable images of our Blessed Redeemer,\nand of his Virgin Mother, were seen to move their eyes, and some even to\nweep. Nor were these events seen only by a few, they were beheld and\nattested by thousands.[9] The miracles that God has performed by means of\nthe holy Prince Hohenlohe are known to all, and some of them have been\nwrought even in England. These are facts so notorious, that no one can\ncall them in question; nor is it in the power of profane ridicule to throw\ndoubt over their authenticity. At the same time, it will always be true\nthat the Catholic Church does not oblige her children to believe any\nmiracles but those recorded in the sacred Scriptures; she leaves it to\nthe discretion of each individual to ground his conviction on the\nevidence which has come before him; though it would not be an act of\npiety, or worthy of praise for anyone to speak lightly of such miracles as\nhave been honoured by the approbation of the Holy See.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs a mark of rapid theological decline, it may here be put on record, that\na recent writer, the author of \u201cSupernatural Religion: an Inquiry into the\nReality of Divine Revelation\u201d (Longman: 1874), sets forth his \u201cviews\u201d (not\nhis \u201copinion,\u201d least of all his faith, but his \u201cviews\u201d) as follows:--\n\n\u201cThe importance which has been attached to theology by the Christian\nChurch, almost from its foundation, has been subversive of Christian\nmorality. _In surrendering its miraculous element and its claims to\nsupernatural origin, therefore, the religion of Jesus does not lose its\nvirtue, or the qualities which have made it a blessing to humanity._ It\nsacrifices none of that elevated character which has distinguished and\nraised it above all human systems: _it merely relinquishes a claim which\nit has shared with all antecedent religions, and severs its connection\nwith ignorant superstition_. It is too divine in its morality to require\nthe aid of miraculous attributes. No supernatural halo can heighten its\nspiritual beauty, and no mysticism deepen its holiness. In its perfect\nsimplicity it is sublime, and in its profound wisdom it is eternal.\n\n\u201c_We gain infinitely more than we lose in abandoning belief in the reality\nof Divine revelation._ Whilst we retain pure and unimpaired the treasure\nof Christian morality, we relinquish nothing but the debasing elements\nadded to it by human superstition. _We are no longer bound to believe a\ntheology which outrages reason and moral sense._ We are freed from base\nanthropomorphic views of God and His government of the universe; and from\nJewish theology we rise to higher conceptions of an infinitely wise and\nbeneficent Being, hidden from our finite minds, it is true, in the\nimpenetrable glory of Divinity, but whose laws of wondrous\ncomprehensiveness and perfection we ever perceive in operation around us.\n_We are no longer disturbed by visions of fitful interference with the\norder of Nature_, but we recognize that the Being who regulates the\nuniverse is without variableness or shadow of turning. It is singular how\nlittle there is in the supposed revelation of alleged information, however\nincredible, regarding that which is beyond the limits of human thought;\nbut that little is of a character which reason declares to be the \u2018wildest\ndelusion.\u2019 Let no man, whose belief in the reality of Divine Revelation\nmay be destroyed by such inquiry, complain that he has lost a precious\npossession, and that nothing is left but a blank. _The revelation not\nbeing a reality_, that which he has lost was but an illusion, and that\nwhich is left is the truth.\u201d\n\nIn another volume recently written by Mr. Congreve, the Positivist, the\nauthor maintains in the plainest possible language, what is the immediate\nand practical object of the small sect to which he has allied\nhimself:--\u201cThe professed servants of Humanity must lead in the struggle to\neliminate God; and that this is the essential element in the whole\nexisting perplexity is forcing itself upon all.\u201d Again, man\u2019s duty is said\nto be \u201copenly and avowedly to take service in one or the other of the\nopposing camps; to bring face to face the two beliefs; the belief in the\nPast, the belief in God, and the belief in the Future, the belief in\nHumanity; and to choose deliberately between them.\u201d Furthermore, he avers:\n\u201cWe contemplate the Trinity of our religion, Humanity, the World, and\nSpace.\u201d A Christian critic has made the following terse comments on Mr.\nCongreve\u2019s book:--\n\n\u201cThe chief feeling which possesses us in reading these Essays is one of\nsorrow for the writer. It is really sad that a man of education should\nlend himself to such a delusion. The \u2018Religion\u2019 itself is ridiculous;\nindeed it has not so much as a theory. Not even on paper can its doctrines\nbe stated, for the simple reason that it has no doctrines whatever. But\nit is always melancholy to watch a naturally good intellect under the sway\nof a fantastic idea, or to see an educated gentleman writing 500 pages on\nthe \u2018Worship\u2019 of what does not exist. The sensation of the reader, as he\nturns page after page, is expressed in such an inquiry as this: Since the\nwriter himself believes in nothing whatever, how can he invite my\nconversion?\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE MIRACULOUS IN CHURCH HISTORY.\n\n\n\u201cAnd He said unto them, Go ye into all the World, and preach the Gospel to\nevery creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he\nthat believeth not shall be damned.\n\n\u201cAnd these signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name shall they\ncast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up\nserpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they\nshall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.\u201d--_S. Mark_ xvi.\n15-18.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE MIRACULOUS IN CHURCH HISTORY.\n\n\nThe important subject of the Miraculous in Church History sufficiently\nwell known to students of it, involves the existence of a religious\nprinciple of universal application. This will be apparent, in due course,\nfrom the following preliminary considerations:--\u201cA miracle,\u201d writes Hume,\n\u201cis a violation of the laws of Nature; and, as a firm and unalterable\nexperience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle is as\nentire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.\u201d[10]\nFurther on, he declares \u201cthat a miracle supported by any human testimony\nis more properly a subject of derision than of argument.\u201d[11] On these\nstatements, definite and precise as they appear, and yet not sufficiently\ndefinite, it may be remarked in the first place that no human experience\nis unalterable: it may to a certain person or certain persons have been\nhitherto unaltered. But this is all. Are there then no facts beyond our\nexperience--no natural positions or states with which we are unacquainted?\nWhen a man writes of \u201cunalterable experience,\u201d he obviously means so much\nof that experience, as either mediately or immediately has come to his\nknowledge; in other words his own past experience.[12] And this Hume\ndeclares sufficient to enable him to determine what are the unvarying laws\nof Nature, and, by consequence, what are miracles. But surely here is\nsomething akin to arrogance. For what modest person would venture to\nmaintain his own experience to be altogether and absolutely firm and\nunalterable? Who would declare of a witness, who testified, for example,\nwhat was contrary to that experience, that such a man was worthy only of\ndisbelief and derision? And yet many, in the present day, adopt and put\ninto practice this unstable and imperfect theory of Hume.\n\nWhat has been set forth above in opposition to that theory is still more\npointedly expressed in the following remarkable passage:\n\n\u201cThe natural philosopher when he imagines a physical impossibility which\nis not an inconceiveability, merely states that his phenomenon is against\nall that has been hitherto known of the course of Nature. Before he can\ncompass an impossibility, he has a huge postulate to ask of his reader or\nhearer, a postulate which Nature never taught: it is that the Future is\nalways to agree with the Past. How do you know that this sequence of\nphenomena always will be? Answer, Because it must be. But how do you know\nthat it must be? Answer, Because it always has been. But then, even\ngranting that it always has been, how do you know that what always has\nbeen always will be? Answer, I see my mind compelled to that conclusion.\nAnd how do you know that the leanings of your mind are always towards\ntruth? Because I am infallible, the answer ought to be; but this answer is\nnever given.\u201d[13]\n\nOf course no Christian will deny the following elementary propositions\nhere briefly stated, before the general subject is further discussed.\nFirst that man consists of body and soul, the nobler and more important\npart being the soul, which is spiritual, immortal, and eternal. God, the\nCreator of all things, is a Spirit; and, in this particular, man is made\nin the image of God. Destined to dwell on the earth for a while, during an\nappointed period of probation, man passes by death, which is a temporary\nseparation of soul and body, to the life beyond the grave. Man\u2019s duty\nhere, therefore, ought to fit and prepare him for a future state, and\nteach him better the value of his soul and the reality of the\nSupernatural.\n\nNow the Almighty, in calling man into being here, and making him \u201clord of\nthe whole earth,\u201d giving him, in fact, dominion over the beasts of the\nfield, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, has established in\nconnection with him a two-fold order, the natural, which relates to the\nvisible world, and the Supernatural or miraculous, which concerns the\nspiritual and invisible. The natural order comprises the law of nature, by\nwhich the World created by God is governed, and concerns man in his\ndealings with nature. But the Supernatural concerns him in his relations\nwith God and the world of spirits. Both orders are alike from God, and\neach has its appointed sphere. The Author of both is the controller of\neach. And, as if to indicate to man from time to time that God has\nsomething to say in His own creation, and will not be totally excluded\nfrom it by man\u2019s forgetfulness, the Supernatural is wisely and mercifully\ninterwoven with the natural, to remind man, by the Glimpses occasionally\nvouchsafed of the former, that, though the World has been made for his use\nand advantage, many things in it speak eloquently of a continued existence\nin the future, though now the same World\u2019s fashion most surely passeth\naway. How prone man becomes, by constantly contemplating the natural, to\nthrust the Supernatural aside, is the experience of many. And this being\nso, how merciful is God to remind us of the next world, not only by the\nordinary modes and channels appointed for so doing, by change, by\nrevelation, by death; but occasionally by suddenly, strangely, and\nabruptly breaking in upon the usual order of events, and the ordinary\ncourse of nature, to let us see with our natural eyes, and hear with our\nears, that He is. Thus the Supernatural indicates the tracing of the\nFinger of God. Freely, and for a lofty purpose, to set forth His glory,\npower, and mercy, He created the laws of nature; freely, and for a like\nlofty purpose, He sometimes suspends them. Such intervention on His part,\nsuch a suspension, is a miracle, which may be defined as \u201ca record and\nevidence of the Supernatural manifesting itself in the midst of the\nnatural order;\u201d or, as S. Thomas Aquinas so clearly and ably defined it of\nold, \u201cA miracle is an act performed by God out of the ordinary course of\nnature.\u201d In accepting this, we do but maintain that God alone is the\nAuthor and Controller of all laws, whether natural or supernatural.\nHistorical Christianity calls upon us to believe, firstly, the great\nprinciple that miracles are possible; and, secondly, that those recorded\nin Holy Scripture, ranging from the time of Moses to that of S. John the\nDivine, are true. Other miracles or miraculous interventions rest upon the\nvalue, purport, and character of the evidence and testimony forthcoming\nfor their authenticity. They are all equally possible, because all are\nacts of the Almighty; but they are not all equally credible, because the\nevidence of their authenticity may be of a less precise, definite, and\nwell-authenticated character.\n\nTo assert, as some do, that a miraculous intervention implies change or\ncontradiction in God, is inaccurate; for in His works surely He may\nexercise that liberty which is one of His perfections. Were man\u2019s range of\nvision wider than it is, the working of a miracle might be found to be,\nafter all, only the realization and carrying out of God\u2019s original design\nand primary purpose. Again, from the point of view of another objection,\nto maintain that we cannot know what a miracle is, or whether any miracle\nhas been ever wrought, without being acquainted with _all_ the laws of\nnature, is likewise inaccurate; for we know enough, both of the natural\nand supernatural, to be perfectly certain that it is out of the ordinary\ncourse of nature for a dead man to come to life again. While, then, such a\nmiracle teaches us to acknowledge the power of God, it may, at the same\ntime, serve to let the Materialist realize his own possible ignorance of\nthe laws of nature. For after all there may be some hidden law, as yet\nunknown, which may contradict a known law, and so modify it--a probability\nwhich is at least deserving of the consideration of those who altogether\ndeny the Supernatural.\n\nAs regards miracles, let the well-known argument of the great S.\nAugustine of Hippo be considered: \u201cChristianity,\u201d he writes, \u201cwas either\nfounded by miracles, or it was not. If it was, then miracles exist. If it\nwas not, then this is the greatest of all miracles, viz. that a religion\nso radically contrarient to all human prejudices, and so much resisted by\nall human influence, should, without the aid of miracles, have made its\nplace and assured its progress in the world.\u201d If, again, the only evidence\nthat a person will admit is that of his own personal experience, that he\nmust himself witness a miracle; that, like S. Thomas, he will maintain,\n\u201cExcept I shall see ... I will not believe,\u201d has he not power of mind\nenough to appreciate the fact that he is in every way unreasonable, by\ndemanding for himself that which he altogether refuses to admit in others?\n\nBut, in truth, the miracles of our Blessed Lord, and more particularly the\nmiracle of His Resurrection, were so striking and convincing, being\ntestified to, both as regards their act and consequences, by so many, that\nthey produced both conviction and triumph. Not universally, but with a\nsufficient number of persons to ensure the steady increase of the infant\nChurch--though the very miracles which wrought such a vast moral and\nreligious change, were rejected by the unbelievers of the day.\n\nIn the Church of the primitive, as well as in later, ages, the\nSupernatural was being constantly manifested. The apostles proved the\ndivinity of their mission by the power of their works. The miracles\nrecorded in the \u201cActs of the Apostles\u201d were followed by others equally\nmarvellous and remarkable in succeeding periods--a feature that might have\nbeen most reasonably looked for in the history of Christianity, for the\nvery life and spirit of the Church are supernatural.[14] Persecuted in\nevery age, she has risen again. After being cast down, driven from this\nplace in one century, she has made still greater progress elsewhere in\nanother. For the first three hundred years of her existence, and in the\nvery heart of the world\u2019s civilization, Rome, every patriarchal primate of\nthat Holy See died a witness to the truths of Christianity. The ordinary\nsupernatural powers of our Lord\u2019s first followers were duly inherited by\nthose formally set apart to fill their place and office. Men freely\ntestified to what they had seen and heard. As occasion seemed to need it,\nthe divine power was duly manifested in outward, notable, and noted\nacts,--to the truth and reality of which even Profane History has\nabundantly witnessed.\n\nWhile in the records of the Christian Church there is an almost constant\ntradition of miraculous facts. The tale of every century is rife with\nthem. They were to have been anticipated, because He had spoken Whose Word\nshall never fail, and His promise seems to have been always remembered:\n\u201cVerily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I\ndo he shall do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I\ngo unto My Father.\u201d[15] Consequently it is found that many of the later\nmiracles, those termed \u201cecclesiastical,\u201d in distinction to scriptural, are\neven more remarkable than those wrought by our Blessed Lord Himself--a\nfact which, instead of deserving ridicule and contempt, merits, from\npersons of a Christian habit of mind, patient consideration, and a\ncareful, if not a ready, acceptance. For in such the faithful will only\nperceive a perfect realization of their Master\u2019s divine pledge.\n\nTo take a notable example of the miraculous occurring towards the close of\nthe second century (A.D. 174), testified to, as far as the fact of the\nmiracle is concerned, by at least four independent Pagan writers,\nDionysius Cassius, Julius Capitolinus, \u00c6lius Lampridius, and Claudian.\n\nEusebius, in his \u201cEcclesiastical History,\u201d[16] puts on record the\nfollowing account of a most remarkable event:[17]--\u201cIt is said that when\nMarcus Aurelius C\u00e6sar was forming his troops in order of battle against\nthe Germans and Sarmatians, he was reduced to extremities by a failure of\nwater. Meanwhile the soldiers in the so-called \u2018Melitene legion,\u2019 which\nfor its faith remains to this day, knelt down upon the ground, as we are\naccustomed to do, in prayer, and betook themselves to supplication. And\nwhereas this sight was strange to the enemy, another still more strange\nhappened immediately--thunderbolts which caused the enemy\u2019s flight and\noverthrow; and upon the army to which the men were attached, who had\ncalled upon God, a rain, which restored it entirely when it was all but\nperishing by thirst.\u201d This fact had been previously put on record by\nClaudius Apollinaris,[18] Bishop of Hierapolis, in his \u201cApology for\nChristianity,\u201d addressed about the year 176 to the Emperor Marcus.\nTertullian, about fifteen years later, affirms the truth of the same fact\nwhen addressing the Proconsul of Africa. Each of these writers gives point\nto the narrative, the first by recording that henceforth the term\n\u201cThundering Legion\u201d was applied to that in which the Christian soldiers\nhad prayed: the second by his statement that the Emperor had, in\nconsequence, promulgated an edict in favour of the Christians. It is clear\nfrom Eusebius, likewise, that the Pagans acknowledged the miracle, as they\ncould not fail to do, wrought as it was in the presence of so many; but,\nof course, they denied that it was to be attributed to the prayers of the\nChristians. Julius Capitolinus attributed it to the prayers of the\nEmperor;[19] Dionysius Cassius to the operations of Arnuphis, an Egyptian\nmagician.[20] A record of the unquestioned fact, however, is sculptured on\nthe Antonine column at Rome;[21] a medal, struck the very year of the\noccurrence, likewise commemorates the event. Here, then, we find on record\nan occurrence which ordinary people will call a miracle; here we obtain a\ndistinct example of the Supernatural. In answer to the prayers of certain\nRoman soldiers, sons and servants of the Crucified, palpable benefits are\nvouchsafed, and marvellous deliverances effected. The foe is destroyed,\nand they are rescued. And this fact is testified to by Pagans worthy of\ncredit as well as by Christians, and is put on record in the modes already\nset forth.\n\nAnother example, the appearance of a luminous Cross to Constantine (A.D.\n312), must here be given, because of its inherent importance; because the\ntestimony to its having occurred before so many is very general; and\nbecause the moral and religious changes consequent upon it, results that\nboth immediately and eventually followed, have been at once great and\nnotorious:--\n\nThe conversion of the Roman empire, in the person of its head, was the\nmost remarkable event in the early pages of Christian history.\n\u201cConstantine\u2019s submission of his power to the Church,\u201d writes Dr. Newman,\n\u201chas been a pattern for all Christian monarchs since, and the\ncommencement of our state establishment to this day; and, on the other\nhand, the fortunes of the Roman Empire are in prophecy apparently\nconnected with her in a very intimate manner, which we are not yet able\nfully to comprehend. If any event might be said to call for a miracle it\nwas this; whether to signalize it, or to bring it about. Thus it was that\nthe fate of Babylon was written on the wall of the banqueting-hall; also\nportents in the sky preceded the final destruction of Jerusalem, and are\npredicted in Scripture as forerunners of the last great day. Moreover our\nLord\u2019s prophecy of \u2018the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven\u2019 was anciently\nunderstood of the Cross. And further, the sign of the Cross was at the\ntime, and had been from the beginning, a received symbol and instrument of\nChristian devotion, and cannot be ascribed to a then rising superstition.\nTertullian speaks of it as an ordinary rite for sanctifying all the\nordinary events of the day; it was used in exorcisms; and, what is still\nmore to the point, it is regarded by S. Justin, Tertullian, and Minucius\nas impressed with a providential meaning upon natural forms and human\nworks, as well as introduced by divine authority into the types of the Old\nTestament.\u201d[22]\n\nThe supernatural manner in which the Emperor\u2019s conversion was\naccomplished may be thus recorded. Marching from the border of the Rhine,\nthrough Gaul and part of Italy by Verona to Rome, against the tyrant\nMaxentius, who had declared war against him, and was already near Rome\nwith a largely superior force, Constantine solemnly and earnestly invoked\nthe One True God, the God of the Christians, for assistance and victory.\nAt that period he was not a Christian himself, though he had no doubt\naccurately enough measured the true character of Roman paganism. A short\ntime after midday, upon his march, there appeared in the heavens[23] a\nlarge luminous Cross in sight of himself and the whole of his army, with\nthe inscription surrounding it, \u201cIn this conquer.\u201d On the following night\nit is recorded that our Blessed Lord appeared to him in a dream, or, as\nsome say, a vision, and commanded him to have a representation of the sign\nmade, and to use it henceforth as his chief standard in battle. The\nEmperor, rising early the next morning, announced this vision and message\nto his confidential friends, and at once gave orders for the making of the\nimperial standard.[24] This being done, fifty men of the stoutest and\nmost religious of his guards were chosen to carry it. And, surrounded by\nthese, it was borne immediately before the Emperor himself. The Christian\nsoldiers were full of faith and hope. They saw the Finger of God, and\nlooked for victory.\n\nOn the other hand the army of Maxentius, consisting of three divisions of\nveteran soldiers, esteemed the most efficient in the empire, engaged\nConstantine in the Quintian fields near the bridge Milvius. The attack was\nfast and furious. But the aggressors were at all points met with vigour\nand bravery, and soon succumbed and were in retreat. Constantine, with far\nfewer numbers than those opposed to him, was completely victorious; the\nlegions of Maxentius were scattered or slain, and on the same day, with\nthe sacred Labarum (as the imperial standard in question was termed) borne\nbefore him, he entered Rome in triumph. His conversion to Christianity\nsoon followed upon his victory. In his triumph he dropped the old customs\nof his Pagan predecessors. He neither mounted the Capitol, nor offered\nsacrifices to the deities of Rome, but by suitable inscriptions recorded\nhis belief in the power of Christ\u2019s saving Cross. In his palace at\nConstantinople, as well as in the chief square of that city, the sacred\nsign was at once set up; and medals were struck, with representations of\nthe symbol in question upon them, to commemorate both the victory and his\nown religious change. This occurred about A.D. 312.\n\nHere then we find the record of a distinctively supernatural intervention.\nNo known physical cause could have formed a sentence of Greek or Latin in\nthe air. Nor could a whole army have mistaken a Cross, with its\ncorresponding and appropriate inscription, for a halo of light, or a mere\nnatural phenomenon. Moreover: three years after the event, Constantine\nerected his triumphal arch at Rome, with an inscription, which still\nremains, testifying that he had gained the victory \u201cinstinctu divinitatis,\nmentis magnitudine.\u201d Lactantius, likewise, in his treatise \u201cDe mortibus\nPersecutorum\u201d (if it be his book, though some attribute it to C\u00e6cilius),\nasserts the main facts of the case as regards the dream, describing the\n\u201cheavenly sign of God;\u201d and this in a treatise certainly written within\ntwo years of its occurrence. Seven years later, Nazarius, a Pagan orator,\nin a panegyric on the Emperor, also puts upon record his solemn conviction\nthat celestial aid was miraculously rendered to Constantine in his defeat\nof Maxentius. Thus far those who were not Christians testify to the fact\nunder consideration. On the other hand, Eusebius, who received the account\nfrom Constantine himself (who is known to have confirmed it with an\noath), gives that record of the occurrence which has been already set\nforth--and he was notoriously an historian who had small leaning towards\nover-belief. While the reasonable conclusion, therefore, is that so many\nindependent writers and records of the fact could not have been made to\nconspire in disseminating a falsehood; the action of the Emperor which\nfollowed the event was in perfect harmony with that which might have been\nlooked for under the circumstances narrated--the supernatural appearance\nof a luminous Cross, heralding a change, even the triumph of the Religion\nof Christ over the effete systems of a decaying and decayed idolatry.\n\nThe principle which was manifested in these cases is, through the study of\nhistory, likewise seen to have existed and energized in every part of the\nChurch. Everywhere, from time to time, the proximity of the unseen world\nand the existence of the Supernatural were made manifest: while, here and\nthere, examples of special miraculous interventions evidently stood forth\nto show that neither the Arm of the Most High was shortened nor the faith\nof the followers of our Blessed Lord stunted in its growth. In fact\nmiracles of the most remarkable character have been performed from the age\nof the apostles to the present time: while Glimpses of the Supernatural\nhave been granted to many as partially unfolding the mysteries of the\nUnseen World to those who longed and prayed for the same; by which\nglimpses or visions their faith has been deepened and their conviction of\nthe truths of Christianity most surely strengthened. Just as our Blessed\nSaviour, following Moses, constantly appealed to the prodigies He wrought\nin attestation of His divine mission and in support of His doctrine; so\nwas it with His followers who came after Him. For to them He had promised\nas much. So far therefore from confining the power of working miracles to\nHis own person and time, He expressly pledged himself and promised that\nHis servants and ambassadors should receive power to work still greater\nworks.[25] Just as under the laws of Nature and the written law given by\nMoses, the Almighty was pleased to illustrate the society of His chosen\nservants with frequent miracles, so we are led to expect that the One\nFamily of God should be for ever distinguished by occasional miracles\nwrought in and through her, as a standing proof of her divine origin and\nas a guide to the wanderers beyond the confines of her fold. And thus it\ncomes to pass that the Fathers and Teachers of the Church, amongst other\nproofs of her favour, have constantly appealed to the miracles by which\nshe is illustrated as a proof of her heavenly mission, and as marking her\noff, at the same time, from the various hereticks and schismaticks who,\ngoing out from her, were not of her. For example S. Iren\u00e6us, a disciple of\nS. Polycarp, himself a disciple of S. John the Evangelist, reproaches the\nHereticks against whom he writes in his well-known treatise,[26] that they\ncould neither give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, cast out\ndevils, nor raise the dead to life again, as he maintains was frequently\ndone in the Church. Tertullian, a contemporary of his, writing of the\nhereticks, asks, \u201cI wish to see the miracles which they have worked.\u201d S.\nPacian, in the fourth century, opposing Novatus, and considering his\nclaims, scornfully inquires, \u201cHas he the gift of tongues, or of prophecy?\nHas he restored to life the dead?\u201d S. Augustine of Hippo, in numerous\npassages of his works, refers to the miracles wrought by and through and\nin the Church as most important if not conclusive evidence of her heavenly\ncharacter and veracity.\n\nAgain: In the middle of the fourth century occurred that most wonderful\nmiracle, when the Emperor Julian deliberately attempted to rebuild the\nTemple at Jerusalem, with the express intention of disproving the prophet\nDaniel\u2019s[27] utterance concerning it. Then tempests, whirlwinds,\nearthquakes, and fiery eruptions convulsed the scene of the undertaking,\nmaiming and alarming the persistent workmen, throwing down buildings in\nthe neighbourhood, as Rufinus testifies, and rendering the carrying on of\nthe work a sheer physical impossibility. A luminous Cross surrounded by a\ncircle, indicating that to the Crucified was given all power in heaven\nand earth, and showing that the Word of God could never fail, nor be\nbrought to nought by the vain determinations of men, appeared in the\nsky,--a portent witnessed by thousands, and testified to both by Pagan and\nArian, as well as by Christian writers.[28]\n\nFurthermore, in the following century, another miracle took place at\nTypassus or Typasa in Africa, where a large congregation of Christians,\nbeing assembled in divine worship, in opposition to the decree of the\nArian tyrant Hunneric, they were collected in the Forum, in the presence\nof the whole province, their right hands were chopped off, and their\ntongues cut out to the roots by his command; yet, nevertheless they\ncontinued to speak as plainly and perfectly as they had done before the\nbarbarous mutilation in question.\n\nThis is vouched for by Victor, Bishop of Vite, in the following\nwords:--\u201cThe king in wrath sent a certain count with directions to hold a\nmeeting in the Forum, of the whole province, and there to cut out their\ntongues by the root, and to cut off their right hands. When this was\ndone, they so spoke and speak, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, as they used\nto speak before. If, however, anyone will be incredulous, let him now go\nto Constantinople, and there he will find one of them, Reparatus a\nsubdeacon, speaking like an educated man without any impediment\nwhatsoever. On which account he is regarded with exceeding great\nveneration in the court of the Emperor Zeno, and specially by the\nEmpress.\u201d[29]\n\nNow, this miracle is remarkable for various reasons. The witnesses to its\nauthenticity are varied, both as to their persons and the details of their\ntestimony, which testimony is both consistent and at one on all important\nand material points. Moreover, the evidence on behalf of the miracle is\nvery complete: the number of persons upon whom it was wrought was more\nthan considerable; thus, at the same time, increasing the occasion of\nvalid testimony in its favour, and preventing the interposition of what\nsome persons term \u201cchance.\u201d Furthermore, the miracle is entire; for, as\nDr. Newman remarks, \u201cit carried its whole case with it to every beholder:\u201d\nit is also permanent, that is, it continued to indicate its effects before\nthousands, whose inquiries, public investigations, and conclusions must\nhave exercised considerable weight with those who were prepared to accept\nit.[30]\n\nIn this brief survey of the miraculous, it is impossible even to touch on\nthe more remarkable evidences of the Supernatural as set forth in the\nHistory of the Christian Church. Numerous miracles are recorded by S.\nBasil, S. Gregory Thaumaturgus, S. Athanasius, S. Jerome, S. Chrysostom,\nS. Ambrose, and S. Augustine, as well as by other illustrious Fathers and\nChurch Historians who adorned the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of\nthe Christian era. One, however, related by both the last-named, by S.\nAmbrose and S. Augustine, deserves notice, because both those holy bishops\nwere eye-witnesses of it. A cloth in which the relics of SS. Gervasius and\nProtasius had been wrapped was applied to the eyes of a blind man, who\nthereupon received his sight.[31] S. Augustine likewise gives an account\nof numerous miracles wrought in his own diocese of Hippo,--some through\nthe instrumentality of the sacred remains of S. Stephen, others in answer\nto earnest prayer: while three of the miracles so recorded by him are the\nraising of three dead bodies to life.\n\nThe miracles recorded to have been wrought by S. Basil, S. Athanasius, S.\nJerome, S. John Chrysostom, S. Ambrose, and S. Augustine (and, in this\nparticular, he who runs may read) testify clearly and sufficiently to the\nDivine power which existed in the Church Universal in the times of those\nholy saints, and the rich fruits of which were both seen and tested by the\nfaithful. One of the most remarkable was the verification of the Wood of\nthe Cross, after its discovery by S. Helena, A.D. 326, through the\nconvincing miracle wrought upon a dead man, who, on being touched by it,\nwas immediately restored to life.\n\nAnd so soon as the Religion of Christ was brought to Britain by our great\nApostle and Archbishop S. Augustine, \u201cgreater works than these\u201d followed,\nas a matter of course, when the banner of the cross was unfurled upon the\ncoasts of Kent. That this was so, that many miracles were wrought, we\nlearn from a Letter written by S. Gregory the Great to S. Augustine,\nembodied in the well-known \u201cHistory\u201d of the Venerable Bede, and preserved\namongst S. Gregory\u2019s \u201cWorks,\u201d in which the Archbishop is duly and lovingly\ncautioned against becoming too much elated with vain glory, because of\nthese marked manifestations of Divine power and favour; and is reminded\nthat God Almighty had, no doubt, bestowed the gift of working them, not on\nthe Archbishop\u2019s own account, or for his own merit, but for the conversion\nof the English nation.[32]\n\nSo, through every succeeding age, were Glimpses afforded of the\nSupernatural. For example, S. Bernard, perhaps the most illustrious saint\nof the twelfth century, in the \u201cLife of S. Malachi of Armagh,\u201d records the\nmiraculous cure of the withered hand of a youth, by the dead hand of his\nholy friend S. Malachi. But nothing can exceed the splendour and publicity\nof the miracles of S. Bernard himself,--to the reality of which the\nfaithful of France and Switzerland, as well as those of Germany and Italy,\nbore abundant testimony. Princes and prelates, kings and priests were\nwitnesses of his supernatural power; for, like his Lord and Master, he\nwrought instantaneous cures on the lame, the halt, and the blind, in the\npresence of multitudes, and to the great spread and triumph of the Faith.\nOf those worked at Cologne, Philip, Archdeacon of Li\u00e9ge, who was formally\ncommissioned to inquire and report upon them by Lampeon, Archbishop of\nRheims, declared as follows: that \u201cthey were not performed in a corner,\nbut the whole city was witness to them. If anyone,\u201d he adds, \u201cdoubts or is\ncurious, he may easily satisfy himself on the spot, more especially as\nsome of the miracles were wrought upon persons of no inconsiderable rank\nand reputation.\u201d[33] Moreover, S. Bernard himself distinctly refers to\nthem in one of his most celebrated treatises, \u201cDe Consideratione,\u201d\naddressed to Pope Eugenius III., and maintains that the evidence of God\u2019s\nspecial graces and exceptional blessings thus resting upon him, enabled\nhim to feel sufficient confidence of the Divine aid and benediction to\nenter upon the grave and laborious task of preaching the Second Crusade.\n\nAnd if we proceed onward to the sixteenth century, where in some places,\nand especially amongst the northern nations of Europe, Faith began to wax\ncold, and Charity was not, we find, from History, that the miracles of\nFrancis Xavier, the saintly apostle of India, may almost vie with those\nof the great S. Bernard, for they were as numerous and as inherently\nremarkable; while the testimony as to their truth, reality, and\ninfluence[34] was generally acknowledged by the faithful, as well as by\nProtestants.\n\nIn truth, wherever the Catholic religion has been taught and accepted,\nwherever the Name of Jesus has been loved and venerated, wherever faith in\nthe Unseen has been active and daring, there the Finger of God has\nsometimes been manifested. And this, of course, was to have been expected.\nOur Blessed Saviour\u2019s glorious and unfailing promise, that His disciples,\nwith whom He pledged Himself to remain unto the end of the world, should\ndo even \u201cgreater works\u201d than He Himself had wrought, was thus, from time\nto time, as man\u2019s faith merited God Almighty\u2019s intervention, literally and\nstrictly fulfilled.\n\n\n\n\nSPIRITUAL POWERS AND PROPERTIES OF THE CHURCH.\n\n\n\u201cWhen a man holds up to my conscious eye the page of futurity; or when, at\nthe mandate of a mortal, I clearly perceive Nature to listen and to\nsuspend her laws, I rationally conclude that such a man is indeed employed\nby God. These miraculous and prophetical tests, produced by the ancient\nseer to the Israelites, appealed to by Christ in His own sacred cause, and\nmade over by Him to His ministers for ever in the work of conversion, have\nbeen a means to guide the enquiring soul to that Authority\ndivinely-commissioned to teach the World. This power to deliver the\ndictates of the Holy Spirit, this society of continued apostles, or in\nother words, the Holy Catholic Church in every age, has proved by the\nevidence of actual miracles her possession of this gift presented to her\nby her Divine Founder.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nSPIRITUAL POWERS AND PROPERTIES OF THE CHURCH.\n\n\nIt is allowed on all hands by Catholic Christians that liberty has been\nsometimes permitted to the devil or his angels to enter into the bodies of\nmen (just as of old Satan was allowed to try the patriarch Job), and to\nobtain such an absolute command over their powers and faculties as to\nincapacitate them, more or less, for any of the common duties of life. On\nthis point, those who accept the Written Word of God as a portion, and a\nvery important portion, of His Divine Revelation to mankind, through\nChrist, can have no doubt. In the New Testament, numerous instances of\npossession by evil spirits are recorded.\n\nThe case of the daughter of the woman of Canaan, who cried out to our\nBlessed Saviour, \u201cHave mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my\ndaughter is grievously vexed with a devil,\u201d[35] and obtained from Him the\ngracious and merciful reply, \u201cBe it unto thee even as thou wilt,\u201d is\nfamiliar to all.\n\nSo likewise is that of the man with an unclean spirit, recorded in the\nfirst chapter of the Gospel according to S. Mark. Here the spirit\nacknowledging that Christ was the \u201cHoly One of God,\u201d received the rebuke\nof Jesus Christ. \u201cAnd when the unclean spirit had torn\u201d the man suffering,\n\u201cand cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all\namazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing\nis this? What new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth He even\nthe unclean spirits, and they do obey Him.\u201d\n\nAgain we read, \u201cUnclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him,\nand cried saying, Thou art the Son of God.\u201d[36] And when His apostles were\ncalled and formally ordained, it is written that they were \u201cto have power\nto heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils,\u201d power which in due course\nboth the Gospels and the recorded History of the Church assure us was duly\nexercised.\n\nAnother miraculous intervention, by which our Blessed Saviour manifested\nHis divine power over evil spirits, and freed suffering men from their\nfrightful influence, is here given from S. Mark\u2019s Gospel at length: \u201cWhen\nHe was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a\nman with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no\nman could bind him, no not with chains: because that he had often been\nbound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by\nhim, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And\nalways, day and night, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying\nand cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran\nand worshipped Him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to\ndo with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God\nthat Thou torment me not. For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou\nunclean spirit. And He asked him, What is thy name? And he answered,\nsaying, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he besought Him much that\nHe would not send him away out of the country. Now there was nigh unto the\nmountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought Him,\nsaying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter unto them. And forthwith\nJesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into\nthe swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea\n(they were about two thousand), and were choked in the sea. And they that\nfed the swine fled, and told it in the city and in the country. And they\nwent out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus, and see\nhim that was possessed of the devil, and had the legion, sitting and\nclothed and in his right mind.\u201d[37]\n\nWith these solemn and awful facts before us, it is impossible to doubt\neither of the power or influence of the devil and his angels. That such\npower had been known amongst the ancient nations, and that certain persons\nhad entered into compacts or alliances with evil spirits, seems to be\ngenerally admitted. And although the fact of the Incarnation had sorely\ncrippled the influence of the enemy of souls, it is clear from the last\npromise given by our Lord to His apostles, \u201cIn My Name they shall cast out\ndevils,\u201d that such authority and action would still be needed. For\npossessions were not to cease, as a reference to the Acts of the Apostles\nshows: where it is recorded that the very authority bestowed by our\nBlessed Saviour was actually and efficiently exercised; and there is no\nreasonable evidence to show that such divinely-bestowed powers have ever\nceased. All through the History of the Church, here and there, from time\nto time, as man needed and as God willed, such direct supernatural powers\nas those referred to, appear to have been put into operation. For the\nChurch can bless and the Church can curse. The Church can bind and can\nloose. She can commend to the protection of God Almighty and His holy\nangels, and she can deliver over to Satan. She can bestow light and peace\non her true and faithful children, and send out the disobedient and\nimpenitent beyond the consecrated confines of her spiritual powers and\ngraces. As effects of Christ\u2019s most gracious promise, such ordinary and\nextraordinary works were wrought; for the glory of His great Name, and as\na testimony of the truth of the Church Universal.\n\nFor generations, up to the very earliest age of Christianity, there have\nbeen officers of the Church duly set apart and ordained for the particular\nwork of exorcism. Amongst the minor orders of Western Christendom the\nexorcist has always found a place; and although, in later years, this\nspecial work, when undertaken, has been more frequently done by persons in\nthe higher or sacred orders, yet the very office itself, and its title, as\nwell as the existing forms for casting out evil spirits, abundantly attest\nthe Church\u2019s divine and spiritual powers.\n\nIn countries which are specially and eminently Christian, where churches,\nsanctuaries, and religious houses are numerous; where, by the road-side\nand on the hill-top, stand the signs and symbols of the Faith of\nChristendom; where the Sacrament of Baptism is shed upon so many; where\npost-baptismal sin is remitted by those who have authority and\njurisdiction to bind and loose in the Name of their Master; and where the\nBlessed Sacrament of the Altar, God manifest in the Flesh, reposing in the\ntabernacle, or borne in triumph through aisle and street and garden,\nhallows and feeds the faithful--there the power and influence of the Evil\nOne is circumscribed and weakened. Sacred oil for unction, and holy water\nand the life-giving power of the Cross, and the relics of the beatified as\nwell as of the favoured and crowned servants of the Crucified, make the\ndevils flee away, and efficiently curb their power. Hence it is found that\nin countries where the Catholic Faith has been halved or rejected,\nSuperstition has taken the place of the first theological virtue, Faith;\nand the Prince of the Powers of the air comes back again with his evil and\nmalignant spirits to vex mankind anew,[38] and mar and stay the final\ntriumph of Him to Whom all power is given in heaven and in earth.\n\nA remarkable case of the Supernatural will here be put on record, which\noccurred in the diocese of Exeter during the seventeenth century.\nPreliminary inquiries and comments concerning the various incidents would\nbe obviously out of place; for the well-authenticated story itself is\nunfolded with a simplicity and yet with a power which efficiently serve to\nstamp it as true.\n\n\u201cAbout 152 years since,\u201d writes Mr. Fortescue Hitchins, in his \u201cHistory of\nCornwall,\u201d \u201ca ghost is said to have made its appearance in this parish[39]\n(Little Petherick[40]), in a field about half a mile from Botaden or\nBotathen (in that county). In the narrative which is given of this\noccurrence, it is said to have been seen by a son of Mr. Bligh, aged about\nsixteen, by his father and mother, and by the Rev. John Ruddle, master of\nthe grammar school of Launceston, and one of the prebendaries of Exeter,\nand vicar of Alternon. The relation given by Mr. Ruddle is in substance as\nfollows:--\n\n\u201cYoung Mr. Bligh, a lad of bright parts and of no common attainments,\nbecame on a sudden pensive, dejected, and melancholy. His friends\nobserving the change, without being able to discover the cause, attributed\nhis behaviour to laziness--an aversion to school--or to some other motive\nwhich they suspected he was ashamed to discover. He was, however, induced\nafter some time to inform his brother that in a field through which he\npassed to and from school he was invariably met by the apparition of a\nwoman whom he personally knew while living, and who had been dead about\neight years. Ridicule, threats, and persuasions were alike used in vain by\nthe family to induce him to dismiss these absurd ideas. Mr. Ruddle was\nhowever sent for, to whom the lad ingenuously communicated the time,\nmanner, and frequency of this appearance. It was in a field called \u2018Higher\nBloomfield.\u2019 The apparition, he said, appeared dressed in female attire,\nmet him two or three times while he passed through the field, glided\nhastily by him, but never spoke. He had thus been occasionally met about\ntwo months before he took any particular notice of it: at length the\nappearance became more frequent, meeting him both morning and evening, but\nalways in the same field, yet invariably moving out of the path when it\ncame close by him. He often spoke, but could never get any reply. To avoid\nthis unwelcome visitor he forsook the field, and went to school and\nreturned from it through a lane, in which place between the quarry-park\nand nursery it always met him.\n\n\u201cUnable to disbelieve the evidence of his senses, or to obtain credit with\nany of his family, he prevailed upon Mr. Ruddle to accompany him to the\nplace. \u2018I arose,\u2019 says this clergyman, \u2018the next morning, and went with\nhim. The field to which he led me I guessed to be about twenty acres, in\nan open country, and about three furlongs from any house. We went into\nthe field, and had not gone a third part before the _spectrum_, in the\nshape of a woman, with all the circumstances that he had described the day\nbefore, so far as the suddenness of its appearance and transition would\npermit me to discover, passed by.\n\n\u201c\u2018I was a little impressed at it, and, though I had taken up a firm\nresolution to speak to it, I had not the power, nor durst I look back; yet\nI took care not to show any fear to my pupil and guide; and therefore,\ntelling him that I was satisfied in the truth of his statement, we walked\nto the end of the field, and returned: nor did the ghost meet us that time\nbut once.\n\n\u201c\u2018On the 27th July, I went to the haunted field by myself, and walked the\nbreadth of it without any encounter. I then returned, and took the other\nwalk, and then the spectre appeared to me, when about the same place in\nwhich I saw it when the young gentleman was with me. It appeared to move\nswifter than before, and seemed to me about ten feet from me on my right\nhand, insomuch that I had not time to speak to it as I had determined with\nmyself beforehand. The evening of this day the parents, the son, and\nmyself being in the chamber where I lay, I proposed to them our going to\nthe place next morning; we accordingly met at the stile we had appointed;\nthence we all four walked into the field together. We had not gone more\nthan half the field before the ghost made its appearance. It then came\nover the stile just before us, and moved with such rapidity, that by the\ntime it had gone six or seven steps, it passed by. I immediately turned my\nhead and ran after it, with the young man by my side. We saw it pass over\nthe stile at which we entered, and no farther. I stepped upon the hedge at\none place, and the young man at another, but we could discern nothing;\nwhereas I do aver that the swiftest horse in England could not have\nconveyed himself out of sight in that short space of time. Two things I\nobserved in this day\u2019s appearance; first a spaniel dog, which had followed\nthe company unregarded, barked and ran away as the _spectrum_ passed by:\nwhence it is easy to conclude that it was not our fear and fancy which\nmade the apparition; secondly the motion of the _spectrum_ was not\n_gradatim_ or by steps, or moving of the feet, but by a kind of gliding,\nas children upon ice, or as a boat down a river, which practically answers\nthe description the ancients give of the motion of these lemures. This\nocular evidence clearly convinced, but withal strangely affrighted, the\nold gentleman and his wife. They all knew this woman, Dorothy Durant, in\nher lifetime; were at her burial: and now plainly saw her features in this\napparition.\n\n\u201c\u2018The next morning being Thursday, I went very early by myself, and walked\nfor about one hour\u2019s space in meditation and prayer, in the field next\nadjoining. Soon after five I stepped over the stile into the haunted\nfield, and had not gone above thirty or forty paces before the ghost\nappeared at the further stile. I spoke to it in some short sentences, with\na loud voice, whereupon it approached me but slowly, and, when I came\nnear, it moved not. I spoke again, and it answered in a voice neither\naudible nor very intelligible. I was not in the least terrified, and\nthereupon persisted until it spoke again, and gave me satisfaction; but\nthe work could not be finished at this time. Whereupon the same evening,\nan hour after sunset, it met me again near the same place, and after a few\nwords on each side it quietly vanished, and neither doth appear now, nor\nhath appeared since, nor ever will move to any man\u2019s disturbance. The\ndiscourse in the morning lasted about a quarter of an hour.\n\n\u201c\u2018These things are true, and I know them to be so, with as much certainty\nas eyes and ears can give me; and until I can be persuaded that my senses\nall deceive me about their proper objects, and by that persuasion deprive\nmyself of the strongest inducement to believe in Christian Religion, I\nmust and will assert that the things contained in this paper are true. As\nfor the manner of my proceeding, I have no reason to be ashamed of it. I\ncan justify it to men of good principles, discretion, and recondite\nlearning, though in this case I chose to content myself in the assurance\nof the thing, rather than be at the unprofitable trouble to persuade\nothers to believe it, for I know full well with what difficulty relations\nof so uncommon a nature and practice obtain belief.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo much as regards the record of the appearance found in the volume\nalready referred to.\n\nThe following extract from Mr. Ruddle\u2019s MS. Diary, was taken by the Rev.\nR. S. Hawker, M.A., vicar of Morwenstow, the accomplished and well-known\nChristian poet, and appears in his interesting \u201cFootprints of Former Men\nin Far Cornwall\u201d (London, 1870), and still further amplifies and\nillustrates this story, the practical and eventual issue of which is now\nto be recorded:--\n\n\u201cJanuary 7, 1665. At my own house I find by my books what is expedient to\nbe done; and then Apage Sathanas!\n\n\u201cJanuary 9, 1665. This day I took leave of my wife and family, under\npretext of engagements elsewhere, and made my secret journey to our\ndiocesan city, wherein the good and venerable bishop then abode.[41]\n\n\u201cJanuary 10. \u2018Deo gratias,\u2019 in safe arrival at Exeter: craved and obtained\nimmediate audience of his lordship; pleading it was for counsel and\nadmonition on a weighty and pressing cause. Called to the presence; made\nobeisance; and then, by command, stated my case, the Botathen\nperplexity--which I moved with strong and earnest instances and solemn\nasseverations of that which I had myself seen and heard. Demanded by his\nlordship, what was the succour that I had come to entreat at his hands?\nReplied, license for my exorcism, that so I might, ministerially, allay\nthis spiritual visitant, and thus render to the living and the dead\nrelease from this surprise.\n\n\u201c\u2018But,\u2019 said our bishop, \u2018on what authority do you allege that I am\nentrusted with faculty so to do? Our Church, as is well known, hath\nabjured certain branches of her ancient power, on grounds of perversion\nand abuse.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Nay, my Lord,\u2019 I humbly answered, \u2018under favour, the seventy-second of\nthe Canons[42] ratified and enjoined on us, the clergy, Anno Domini 1604,\ndoth expressly provide that _No minister, unless he hath the license of\nhis diocesan bishop, shall essay to exorcise a spirit, evil or good_.\nTherefore it was,\u2019 I did here mildly allege, \u2018that I did not presume to\nenter on such a work without lawful privilege under your lordship\u2019s hand\nand seal.\u2019\n\n\u201cHereupon did our wise and learned bishop, sitting in his chair,\ncondescend upon the theme at some length, with many gracious\ninterpretations from ancient writers and from Holy Scripture, and did\nhumbly rejoin and reply; till the upshot was that he did call in his\nsecretary and command him to draw the aforesaid faculty forthwith and\nwithout further delay, assigning him a form, insomuch that the matter was\nincontinently done, and after I had disbursed into the secretary\u2019s hands\ncertain moneys, for signitary purposes, as the manner of such officers\nhath always been, the Bishop did himself affix his signature under the\nsigillum of his see, and deliver the document into my hands.\n\n\u201cWhen I knelt down to receive his benediction, he softly said, \u2018Let it be\nsecret, Mr. Rudall,--weak brethren! weak brethren!\u2019\u201d\n\nSome details from the same Diary as to the exact manner in which the ghost\nwas laid give an additional interest to the narrative.\n\n\u201cJanuary 12th, 1665. Rode into the gateway of Botathen, armed at all\npoints, but not with Saul\u2019s armour, and ready. There is danger from the\ndemons, but so there is in the surrounding air every day. At early morning\nthen and alone, for so the usage ordains, I betook me towards the field.\nIt was void, and I had thereby due time to prepare. First I paced and\nmeasured out my circle on the grass. Then did I mark my pentacle in the\nvery midst, and at the intersection of the five angles I did set up and\nfix my crutch of raun [rowan]. Lastly I took my station south, at the true\nline of the meridian, and stood facing due north. I waited and watched\nfor a long time. At last there was a kind of trouble in the air, a soft\nand rippling sound, and all at once the shape appeared, and came on\ntowards me gradually. I opened my parchment scroll, and read aloud the\ncommand. She paused and seemed to waver and doubt; stood still: and then I\nrehearsed the sentence again, sounding out every syllable like a chant.\nShe drew near my ring, but halted at first outside, on the brink. I\nsounded again, and now at the third time I gave the signal in Syriac--the\nspeech which is used, they say, where such ones dwell and converse in\nthoughts that glide.\n\n\u201cShe was at last obedient and swam into the midst of the circle: and there\nstood still suddenly. I saw, moreover, that she drew back her pointing\nhand. All this while I do confess that my knees shook under me, and the\ndrops of sweat ran down my flesh like rain. But now, although face to face\nwith the spirit, my heart grew calm and my mind composed, to know that the\npentacle would govern her, and the ring must bind until I gave the word.\nThen I called to mind the rule laid down of old that no angel or fiend, no\nspirit, good or evil, will ever speak until they be spoken to. N.B.--This\nis the great law of prayer. God Himself will not yield reply until man\nhath made vocal entreaty once and again. So I went on to demand, as the\nbooks advise; and the phantom made answer willingly. Questioned, wherefore\nnot at rest? Unquiet because of a certain sin. Asked what and by whom?\nRevealed it; but it is _sub sigillo_, and therefore _nefas dictu_; more\nanon. Inquired, what sign she could give me that she was a true spirit and\nnot a false fiend? Stated [that] before next Yule-tide a fearful\npestilence would lay waste the land;[43] and myriads of souls would be\nloosened from their flesh, until, as she piteously said, \u2018Our valleys will\nbe full.\u2019 Asked again, why she so terrified the lad? Replied, \u2018It is the\nlaw; we must seek a youth or a maiden of clean life, and under age, to\nreceive messages and admonitions.\u2019 We conversed with many more words; but\nit is not lawful for me to set them down. Pen and ink would degrade and\ndefile the thoughts she uttered, and which my mind received that day. I\nbroke the ring and she passed, but to return once more next day. At\nevensong a long discourse with that ancient transgressor, Mr. B----. Great\nhorror and remorse; entire atonement and penance; whatsoever I enjoin;\nfull acknowledgment before pardon.\n\n\u201cJanuary 13, 1665. At sunrise I was again in the field. She came in at\nonce, and, as it seemed, with freedom. Inquired if she knew my thoughts,\nand what I was going to relate? Answered, \u2018Nay, we only know what we\nperceive and hear: we cannot see the heart.\u2019 Then I rehearsed the penitent\nwords of the man she had come up to denounce, and the satisfaction he\nwould perform. Then said she, \u2018Peace in our midst.\u2019 I went through the\nproper forms of dismissal, and fulfilled all, as it was set down and\nwritten in my memoranda; and then with certain fixed rites, I did dismiss\nthat troubled ghost, until she peacefully withdrew, gliding towards the\nwest. Neither did she ever afterwards appear; but was allayed, until she\nshall come in her second flesh, to the Valley of Armageddon on the Last\nDay.\u201d\n\nAnother example, giving with singular power and effect a very striking\nGlimpse of the Supernatural, from the experiences of a venerated and\nexemplary Roman Catholic clergyman, the late Rev. Edward Peach, of S.\nChad\u2019s, Birmingham, is here given at length. The events narrated occurred\nin the year 1815, and Mr. Peach deliberately affirmed of the following\naccount that it \u201c_may be relied on in every particular as being strictly\ntrue_.\u201d \u201cI,\u201d he continues, in a formal record of the successful exorcism,\n\u201cwas the minister of God employed on the occasion; and truth is more to\nme than all the boastings of pride and vain glory.\u201d\n\nThe authentic record stands as follows:--\n\n\u201cSome time after Easter, in the year 1815, I was informed that a young\nmarried woman of the name of White, in the parish of King\u2019s Norton,\nWorcestershire, a Protestant, was afflicted with an extraordinary kind of\nillness, and that her relations, who occupied a small farm, were convinced\nthat her illness arose solely from the malice of a rejected admirer, who,\nthey said, had employed the assistance of a reputed wizard at Dudley to do\nher a mischief. These were their terms. I paid but little attention to\nthis story. Afterwards I was informed by a sister who frequents our\nmarkets, and supplies with butter a respectable family of my congregation,\nMr. Powell, Suffolk Street, that the young woman was married in the\nbeginning of the preceding Lent; that her former admirer repeatedly\ndeclared that, if she did marry any other, she should never have another\nhappy day; that the day after her marriage she was seized with an\nextraordinary kind of mental complaint; that she became suddenly\ndelirious; that she raved, and declared that a multitude of infernal\nspirits surrounded her; that they threatened to carry her away; that she\nmust go with them. The poor sister informed my friend, with tears\nstreaming down her cheeks, that she continued in that state, day and\nnight, for nearly two months, and that the whole family were almost\nexhausted with the fatigue of constantly attending her, for, she said,\nthey could not leave her alone, lest she should put her threats of\ndestroying herself into execution.\n\n\u201cAt the end of about two months, according to the relation of the same\nsister, the poor creature was so spent that her medical attendant (who,\nduring the whole time of his attendance, declared that her illness arose\nmore from a mental than corporeal cause,) declared that, in all\nprobability, she could not survive four-and-twenty hours. The clergyman of\nthe parish was called in to assist her in her last moments; but he found\nher in a state not to be benefited by his assistance, and he departed.\n\n\u201cAmongst the neighbours who came to make a tender of their good offices\nfor the relief of the afflicted family was a Catholic woman. Her offers\nwere accepted, and she was frequently with her. Finding her reduced almost\nto a state of inanition, and hearing her speak of these infernal spirits\nevery time she opened her lips, the thought came into her mind of applying\nto her some holy water. She accordingly procured some, dipped her finger\ninto it, and made the sign of the cross upon her forehead. Instantly the\npoor sufferer started, and, in a faint voice, exclaimed, \u2018You have scalded\nme.\u2019 However, she leaned upon the bosom of her attendant, and, what she\nhad not done for a considerable time before, she fell into a gentle sleep.\nOn awaking, she continued to hold the same language as before. The\nCatholic put a little holy water into her mouth. But the very instant it\nentered her mouth she seemed to be in a state of suffocation. She and the\nothers who were with her were alarmed, and expected that every instant\nwould be her last. In a short time, however, she swallowed it, and after\nmany convulsive struggles she regained her breath, and exclaimed with\nviolence, \u2018You have scalded my throat, you have scalded my throat.\u2019 In a\nfew minutes she fell again into a comfortable sleep, and continued so for\nsome hours. The next morning she appeared refreshed, and spoke reasonably\nfor a short time. Being informed of what had been applied to her, she\nseemed to wish for more. The swallowing was attended with the same\nsensation of scalding, and the same convulsive struggles as before; but it\nseemed to give her ease. From that time the danger of death seemed to\ndecrease by degrees. She enjoyed lucid intervals from time to time; and\ninvariably after the application of holy water, although attended with the\nsame sensations as before, she fell into a slumber.\n\n\u201cOne remarkable circumstance deserves notice. In one of her paroxysms, she\ninsisted on getting up, and going out of doors. She said that there was a\nlarge snake in front of the house, that she would go and kill it, and then\none of her enemies would be removed. Nothing would satisfy her, till this\nsame sister, who gave the account, assured her that she would go down and\nkill it. She went down, and, to her great astonishment, found a large\nsnake, and succeeded in destroying it.\n\n\u201cThis in substance is the account which the sister gave of Mrs. White\u2019s\nextraordinary illness. At the same time it was asked whether I could be of\nany assistance to her, or whether it was probable that I could be\nprevailed on to go and see her? My friend who related to me the whole of\nthe above account, asked me to go. I replied that I knew nothing of them,\nnor they of me; but that if she would walk over, and examine into the\nstate of the poor woman, I would go, if there appeared to her to be any\nprobability of my being of service. She went, and, on her return, she\ninformed me that all she had heard seemed to be true, and assured me that\nall the family were desirous of seeing me, and particularly the young\nwoman herself.\n\n\u201cHowever, I still delayed, till at length, on Tuesday in Rogation Week,\nMay 2nd, 1815, a special messenger came over to inform me that Mrs. White\nwas in a worse state than ever, and to request me to go and see her\nwithout delay.\n\n\u201cI obeyed the call, and I may say with truth that it was the most awful\nvisit I ever made during the whole course of my ministry. The distance was\nabout six miles. No sooner had I cleared the skirts of the town than I\nheard the distant thunder before me. Before I had proceeded two miles, the\nstorm was nearly over my head; and I may say the remainder of my walk,\nand during the time I was with her, there was hardly cessation of one\nminute between the claps of thunder. I do not say that in this there was\nanything supernatural, but, knowing the business I was upon, it was truly\nawful.\n\n\u201cWhen I arrived at the house, I was informed that she was in a dreadful\nstate, and that the strength of two persons was necessary to keep her in\nbed. I went up-stairs, and on entering into the room, before she saw me,\nthe curtains being drawn on the side where I entered, she turned to the\nother side of the bed, and struggled so violently to get away that it was\nwith difficulty that her husband and two women overpowered her. In a few\nminutes, before she had lifted up her eyes to see me (for she had turned\nher face downwards) she stretched out her hand to me, in a convulsive\nmanner, and fell speechless and spent upon her back.\n\n\u201cAfter a time she opened her eyes, and in a faint whisper, answered a\nquestion that was put to her, and said she knew who I was. She revived by\ndegrees, and in a short time could speak in an audible voice. Her friends\nhaving requested me to try if I could discover what it was that weighed\nmost upon her mind, for they said they had tried to no purpose, I\nrequested them to withdraw. Being alone, she related to me, as far as she\ncould recollect, the circumstances of her illness, and I found that they\ncorresponded exactly with the accounts given by her sister. I questioned\nher as to the cause, but I could not discover that it was owing to\nanything weighing heavy on her mind. She was positive, she said, that it\nwas the young man who had done her a mischief.\n\n\u201cI then proceeded to explain to her some of the articles of the Catholic\nFaith. She listened with every attention; and when I assured her that she\nmust believe the Holy Catholic Church before she could obtain relief, she,\nwithout hesitation, declared that she did believe, and that she believed\nfrom the moment she knew what holy water was, and experienced its effects.\nFrom the time it was first applied, she said that the devils seemed to\nkeep at a greater distance from her, and that the number seemed to be\ndiminished.\n\n\u201cSuch were the ideas on her mind at the time. She was convinced, she said,\nthat it was not the effect of imagination--that she was not\ndelirious--that she knew everything that was said to her, and that she\ncould recollect everything that had passed. I asked her to tell me where\nthe holy water was. Her voice immediately faltered; and with every\nendeavour, I perceived that she could not point out with her finger, nor\ntell me by words where it was. She was like an infant attempting to point\nout an object.\n\n\u201cI looked about and found it. I dipped my finger into it, and made the\nsign of the cross on her forehead. She started as soon as I touched her,\nand was a little convulsed. I asked her what was the matter. For a few\nmoments she could not articulate; but as soon as she could speak, she said\nthat it scalded her.\n\n\u201cAfter a little more conversation, I desired her to join with me in\nrepeating the Lord\u2019s Prayer. She consented, and without difficulty\nrepeated the first words. But when we came to the petitions, her voice\nfaltered; she was labouring for breath, and appeared to be almost\nsuffocated: her countenance and limbs were convulsed. The greatest\nstammerer could not find greater difficulty in pronouncing words than she\ndid in pronouncing every word of the petitions. At one time I was inclined\nto desist, thinking that it was impossible for her to finish it; but we\nlaboured on, and at length came to the end.\n\n\u201cAfter a short pause, she again began to converse with a free voice,\nwithout the least faltering. I explained to her the nature of exorcisms,\nand proposed to read them over her. She consented, and said that she would\nendeavour to offer up her prayers to God during the time in the best\nmanner she could. As soon as I began the exorcisms, she fell into a state\nof convulsive agitation, not indeed endeavouring to get away; but every\nlimb, every joint seemed to be agitated and convulsed, even her\ncountenance was distorted,--it required constant attention to keep her\ncovered.\n\n\u201cNow it was that I felt in a particular manner the awful situation in\nwhich I was. All alone with a person in a distressed condition,--the\nlightning flashing, the thunder rolling, and I with an imperative voice\ncommanding the evil spirit to reply to my interrogatories, and to go forth\nfrom her. I acknowledge that my flesh began to creep and my hair to stand\non end. However, I proceeded on till I came to the conclusion, and nothing\nhappened except the violent agitation of the poor sufferer, which\ncontinued uninterrupted during the whole time.\n\n\u201cAfter I had finished, she became calm, and in a few minutes began to\nconverse with me with the same ease as before. Among other things, I asked\nher whether she had felt any particular sensations during the time that I\nwas coming to see her? She said that during the whole afternoon she had\nfelt the most determined resolution to destroy herself; that she employed\nevery means to induce her friends to leave the room, or to make her escape\nfrom them; and that if she had succeeded, she would have laid violent\nhands on herself the moment she was at liberty. I explained to her the\nnature of baptism, the necessity of receiving it, and the effects produced\nby it.\n\n\u201cDuring the course of our conversation, discovering that there were strong\nreasons to doubt whether she had been baptized at all, or whether the\nessential rites had been observed in her baptism, I conceived that it\nwould be advisable to re-baptize her conditionally. I proposed it, and\nshe readily consented. I gave her what instructions were necessary, and\nrepeated several acts of contrition. Finding her in dispositions the most\nsatisfactory, I made use of the holy water, and baptized her, subject to\nthe condition, _if she was not baptized_. During the time she trembled\nlike a leaf, and the features of her countenance were distorted, like\nthose of a person in acute pain. Upon my putting the question to her, she\nreplied as she did before, that it gave her as much pain as if boiling\nwater had been poured over her.\n\n\u201cImmediately after the ceremony was concluded, she began to speak to me\nwith all the cheerfulness of a person in perfect health and spirits. We\nconversed together for a few minutes, and I took my leave, promising to\nsee her again the next day. Her sister went to her, and her first request\nwas that she might have a cup of tea and something to eat; and before I\nleft the house, she eat and drank as she had done before her affliction. I\nwent to see her the next day, and found her down-stairs in perfect health;\nat least, no effects of her illness were perceptible, except a weakness of\nbody. From that time to this, she has enjoyed good health, and not the\nleast symptom of her former complaint has been felt. It is more than a\ntwelvemonth since.\u201d\n\nA second example of successful exorcism, now to be narrated, is from the\npen of an eminent and well-known clergyman[44] of the Church of England,\nwhose literary labours in the early part of the Oxford movement, were\nrecognized and rewarded by high authority in the English Church. Only a\nslight verbal alteration here and there to make the narrative of itself\nquite intelligible, has been made by the Editor.\n\n\u201cThe subject is almost too sacred for pen; and I only put it on record to\nshow the goodness of God, and to indicate that His powers are not\nwithdrawn, nor His Arm shortened. It is some years, however, since the\nevent to be related happened; and the subject of it has long gone to his\nlast account. I must scrupulously refrain from any indication of place and\nperson; though, in these latter days of rude and coarse unbelief, when\nsuch interpositions of the Almighty\u2019s mercy are laughed to scorn, _some_\nmay find comfort and edification from its recital.\n\n\u201cThe son of a farmer, who had just come of age, having heard a sermon of\nmine, which I had preached some five years previously, came a distance of\nmore than thirty miles to seek at my hands ghostly counsel. From his\nchildhood he had been led to indulge in breaches of the seventh\ncommandment, and these after a while were certainly of a heinous\ncharacter. He believed himself (when I saw him) to be possessed by an\nunclean spirit. Wherever he went, he asserted that he saw a hideous black\nfigure, darkly draped, with a form like a man, but with the face of a\nbeast, sitting opposite to, huddled up, and staring at him. It would\nappear for weeks together, at home, abroad, in his sleeping-room, in the\nfield, in the market. Sometimes he would throw himself on to the floor in\nan agony of distraction, and pray God that it might be removed. For a\nshort term he would cease to see it. But in due course it reappeared. And\nat last (an event which had never happened hitherto,) it would likewise\nhaunt him in dreams. On one occasion he declared that it seemed to\nelongate itself into a long serpent-like figure, and, as he asserted,\ntried to creep down his throat. But wherever he went he almost always saw\nit. Thinking it might be the result of bodily ailment he consulted a\nphysician; but with no effect.\n\n\u201cI am free to say that I was not long in coming to a conclusion, that it\nwas a case of possession; though I did not arrive at that conclusion until\nI had taken counsel from one of the most pious and holy clergymen I ever\nknew,[45] and had commended the subject to God Almighty in very earnest\nprayer.\n\n\u201cThe result was that I unfolded to the subject of this apparition my\nintention, with God\u2019s help, and his own sanction, to cast out the spirit,\naccording to the old rule and custom of Holy Church. Prior to this he made\na full and frank confession of his whole life, and resolved by God\u2019s help\nto amend. Having made an appointment, a fortnight hence, with him, and\nbeing resolved to consecrate my proposed act, by special deeds of fasting,\nself-denial, and prayer, I was alarmed to hear, by letter, of his most\nserious illness a few days later. His relations asserted that he was\nsuffering from epilepsy, and that the fits were rapid and most severe.\n\n\u201cThe following day, taking with me a book containing an authorized form of\nexorcism, I went to see the sick man. His sufferings seemed to be\nexcruciating: his fits shocking to witness. At a half-lucid interval he\nsaw me; and, starting from his bed, tried to throw himself out of the\nwindow. When he was calmer, I knelt down and prayed for him with his\nrelations; making several times an act of Faith.\n\n\u201cThen signing him with the cross on forehead, mouth, and breast, I began\nthe authorized form. During this, his fits returned; and his violence and\nravings were terrible to witness. Throughout I felt sustained in my action\nby a Higher Power, and completed my task in the Name of the Adorable and\nEver-Blessed Trinity. Here he sank into a deep sleep; and this sleep\nproved to be the beginning of a complete change for the better. The fits\nceased, the body was no longer tortured with writhings; and, as I heard\nfrom him afterwards, the hideous vision or apparition vanished, and was\nnever seen again. A few years afterwards he died, as I believe in grace;\nand, as I commended his soul to God, so I committed his body to the dust;\nand have always looked upon this remarkable event as a token, to myself\nmost unworthy, of the Almighty\u2019s power and Presence amongst us, as well as\nof His exceeding great mercy and goodness to this poor sufferer.\u201d\n\nAnother remarkable instance of the active and energizing powers of the\nChurch of God, unimpaired and uncrippled, may be gathered from the record\nwhich follows of the sudden and effectual cure of\nFran\u00e7oise-Genevi\u00e8ve-Philippe, which took place in the church of the\nCarmelites of Pontoise on the 16th of July, 1784, upon the Festival of Our\nLady of Mount Carmel. The record below is a literal translation of the\nformal act and deed of the person cured:--\n\n\u201cI, the undersigned Fran\u00e7oise-Genevi\u00e8ve-Philippe, called in religion\n\u2018Sister Josephine-Mary of the Incarnation,\u2019 aged thirty years, declare\nthat my health being disordered at Pontoise, where I resided with the\nUrsuline Dames for eleven years, I was advised to make a change of air; I\nconsequently withdrew to the Dames of the Congregation of\nTrouvelle-les-Vernon, where I entered on the 16th of February, 1782. My\nhealth continued bad in consequence of the frequent attacks of h\u00e6morrhage\nto which I became subject.\n\n\u201cOn the 29th of December following I was seized with a violent headache,\nbeginning with a swoon, which lasted more than two hours, and with a\nfrightful h\u00e6morrhage. Suitable remedies were instantly administered to me\nby skilful physicians, but in vain; and after this I was attacked with\nconvulsions, and the entire suspension of all motion in my body.\n\n\u201cDifferent consultations were held at Paris; MM. Fum\u00e9 and Petit sent me\nprescriptions which produced no effect. This sickness continued until the\n13th of May, 1783, when I was removed into the town of my uncle\u2019s. All\nthese facts have been attested by the physicians and surgeons of Vernon,\nby the testimony of M. Atadie, physician to his Serene Highness the Duke\nof Penthievre, and of M. le Noble, physician, who had employed magnetism,\nbut without effect. These certificates, duly legalized by M. le\nLieutenant-G\u00e9n\u00e9ral of the same town, attest that my disorder was deemed so\nviolent and incurable to the period when I decided upon returning to\nPontoise, hoping to recover my health by the means which it might please\nGod to employ. I arrived there on the 5th of August, 1783; from that time\nmy condition was precisely the same, namely habitual convulsions. I was\ndeprived of the use of my limbs, particularly of my right arm, in which\nthe convulsions were so violent that it was found necessary to fix and tie\nit with a bandage. The left was not much better, for on merely touching\nit, or on a change of weather, it experienced similar convulsions. Added\nto this I was attacked violently with gout, which I felt all over my body,\nbut especially in my head and the extremities of my fingers. I was subject\nto pains in my breast and stomach, so severe as to occasion me to spit\nblood and to vomit up even the most liquid of my food. Sleep, of which I\nhad in general but little till this period, now became, as it were, a\nstranger to me. My voice was for a month or six weeks almost extinct, and\nthere was not a part of my body which was not in a state of suffering; the\nleast noise became almost insupportable.\n\n\u201cIt is moreover to be remarked, that I never discovered, although always\nvaletudinary, what could be capable of occasioning such a malady. This is\na testimony I offer to truth. The persons who could not be ignorant of\nwhat concerned their patient have made the same depositions.[46]\n\n\u201cSuch was my condition when they were proceeding at Pontoise, by order of\nthe Holy See, in the process of the beatification of the servant of God,\nMarie de l\u2019Incarnation, whose name in the world was Madame Acarie,\nfoundress of the Carmelites in France, who, having edified the World by\nthe virtues which characterize great souls, and consecrated at Carmel\nthree of her daughters, herself embraced this holy state under the humble\nquality of converse-sister in the Convent of Carmelites at Amiens, and\ndied at that of Pontoise in the odour of sanctity on the 18th of April,\n1618, aged fifty-two years.\n\n\u201cThe fame of this process revived my faith. I made a Novena to her, in\nwhich the Carmelites, as well as many other pious persons, united. I not\nonly, during this Novena, took no medicines, but I told my physician:\n\u2018Perhaps, sir, you will smile at me when I tell you that I am performing a\nNovena to the venerable Sister Marie de l\u2019Incarnation, and that I hope\nto-morrow to be taken to her tomb!\u2019 \u2018I commend your piety,\u2019 said he, \u2018to\nmake a Novena to that blessed person, but I do not equally commend the\nstep which you propose to take; I fear that none but bad consequences will\nresult from it.\u2019 I replied, as I had done to many other of my friends,\n\u2018that I had the firmest confidence of a cure.\u2019\n\n\u201cI persevered constantly in this moral and physical disposition until the\nmoment when I was carried in a sedan chair into the church of the\nCarmelites. I was brought there at five o\u2019clock in the morning. I heard\nmass, and communicated without quitting my chair. Towards the moment of\nelevation I felt severe pains throughout my whole frame, and seemed to\nmyself to be in such a state of weakness that I then thought if I were to\nbe communicated it would have been for the last time. A cold sweat spread\nitself at that time over my whole body. The priest who gave me the Holy\nSacrament noticed that I was so weak that I could not hold the cloth upon\nmy knees. He was so much afraid from the paleness of my countenance and\nthe alteration he perceived in me, that in fear of some accident he put\nthe sacred ciborium almost close to my lips.\n\n\u201cFinding me in this painful state, which announced rather a speedy\ndissolution than a cure, I formed acts of submission to the Will of God. I\nbegged Him to accept the sacrifice of my life; I also thrice made the\nprayer of the blind man, \u2018Son of David, have mercy on me;\u2019 the while\ninteriorly, having lost my power of articulation. I remained in that state\ntill the end of the mass, and finding my strength recovering I called my\nnurse, and begged her to go and see if the chapel in which the precious\nremains of the Venerable Sister Marie de l\u2019Incarnation were deposited was\nopen, having the design to be carried there. But O bounty and mercy of the\nLord! at the very moment the people were preparing I quitted the chair\nmyself; my nurse came hastily upon me to stop me, imagining that this\nmovement was a last effort of nature. I corrected her, saying that I\nthanked her, but that thanks be to God! I had no need of her help, and\ninstantly after, on the steps of the altar, returned thanks after\ncommunion; for I did not as yet perceive the change that was made in me. I\nwas not sensible of it till after having made my thanksgiving, which was\nnear a quarter of an hour after. I then raised myself from the ground\nfilled with joy and consolation, finding I had recovered the use of my\nlimbs; my breast and stomach at ease and devoid of pain, enjoying\ntranquillity altogether wonderful. I first ascended the seven steps of the\naltar; and then went to the grate of the choir and thanked the community\nfor the prayers that they had the goodness to offer up for me; requesting\nthem to add still further their thanks to mine. I then turned towards the\nBlessed Sacrament, where I remained on my knees on the ground without any\nsupport during the period of three masses, which were said in succession.\nI afterwards heard high mass, and assisted at the entire Office of the\nDay, without the noise of chaunting, of the instruments, nor the great\nconcourse of people, occasioning me the slightest inconvenience. Although\nI had to answer in the course of the day to more than four thousand\npersons attracted by the novelty of the circumstance to the church of the\nCarmelites, on the afternoon of the same day I went on foot to visit the\nUrsuline Dames.\n\n\u201cDone at Compi\u00e8gne on the 12th of Feb. 1792.\n\n  (Signed) \u201cFran\u00e7oise-Genevi\u00e8ve-Philippe,\n\n    \u201cCalled in religion \u2018Sr. Josephine of the Incarnation,\u2019 Religious\n    Carmelite of the Monastery of the City of Compi\u00e8gne, in which I had\n    the happiness to enter on the 20th of December, 1786, and to pronounce\n    my holy and inviolable engagements on the 22nd of July, 1788.\u201d\n\nAnother point bearing very directly on the subject of this chapter here\nsuggests itself for some brief consideration:--\n\nDeeds of benediction have been so universally recognized in history, that\nit may be credibly maintained that the custom originated in the earliest\nages of the World\u2019s existence, either by a direct revelation from Heaven\nor by the most elementary religious instinct of the immediate descendants\nof our first parents. The heads of tribes, after the Flood, blessed their\nchildren and followers. And, when the Patriarchal dispensation drew\ntowards its close, the power of blessing was exercised by the leaders and\nchiefs of God\u2019s chosen people. Proof of all this is on record in the\nSacred Writings. He, therefore, who runs may read. And we may gather from\nthe same source that a form of blessing was attached to the priest\u2019s\noffice;[47] and that such blessing was efficient. All this is of course\ntaken for granted under the Christian dispensation; and it is evident that\nthe various forms of sacerdotal benediction are true means of bestowing\nthe Divine blessing and grace: and this, because of the salient principle\nthat the Fall of man from original righteousness, having effected a loss\nof union with God Almighty, salvation is the renewal of that union by and\nthrough Jesus Christ and His Church. Now, a Blessing, in the Name of God,\nis bestowed by a superior upon an inferior.[48] Thus a bishop gives his\nbenediction to a priest, deacon, or layman; a priest to a layman; a father\nor head of a family to a son or an inferior member of that same family; a\npatriarch or chieftain to his tribe, or to any member of it. The blessing\nof God is a great and mighty gift of grace, and has always been intimately\nconjoined with the offering of sacrifice, and so particularly and\nspecifically with the offering of the Christian sacrifice, as also with\nand by a benediction, some of the most solemn services of Holy Church have\nbeen brought to an end.\n\nOf course, if there be a power to bless, there is, as has already been\npointed out, likewise a power to curse. Neither blessing nor curse may be\nabsolute in their effect, and all acts and deeds are done under God, or\nwith the permission of the Almighty. Of the results respectively of\nblessings or curses we know but little. But the glimpses which History,\nRevealed Religion, and Experience alike afford of those results are full\nof interest, and are subjects for contemplation and study. Here, as in the\nconsideration of similar details, concerning the Supernatural, the Church\nUniversal should be our guide. Where she leads we should go: where she\ndirects we should follow.\n\nAs bearing on this subject, it may be suitably pointed out that Mr. Robert\nSouthey in his \u201cCommon-Place Book\u201d puts on record a very remarkable story\nof \u201ccitation\u201d by a man unjustly and cruelly murdered:--\n\n\u201cThe Philipsons of Colgarth coveted a field like Ahab, and had the\npossessor hung for an offence which he had not committed. The night\nbefore his execution the old man (for he was very old) read the 109th\nPsalm as his solemn and dying commination, verses 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13,\n14, 15, and 16.\u201d The verses contain a prayer for vengeance upon \u201cthe\nwicked and deceitful, who have spoken with a lying tongue,\u201d and whose days\nare to be few, and their children to be fatherless, their descendants\ncontinually vagabonds and beggars, and their posterity to be cut off. \u201cThe\ncurse,\u201d Southey adds, \u201cwas fully accomplished; the family were cut off,\nand the only daughter who remained sold laces and bobbins about the\ncountry.\u201d\n\nTwo remarkable and, as may be well believed, supernatural events occurred\n(which may be fittingly recorded here) with regard to the cruel and\nshameful death of Edmund Arrowsmith, a Roman Catholic priest of the county\nof Lancaster, in the year 1628. He was born at Haddock in the parish of\nWinwick, five miles from Warrington and seven from Wigan. His father was\nRobert Arrowsmith, a yeoman, and his mother Margaret Gerard, of the\nancient and noble family of that name. His immediate ancestors had\nsuffered much for their religion. Edmund, their son, having been received\ninto the College at Douay in 1605, was eventually ordained priest at Arras\non December 9th, 1612. A year afterwards he was sent to England to\nminister to his fellow religionists. One of his flock being exasperated\nagainst him because he refused to marry him to his first cousin and had\nrebuked him for evil-living, informed against him to the vigilant\nauthorities; and Arrowsmith, being apprehended, was sent to Lancaster\nCastle, \u201cfor not having taken the oaths, and upon vehement suspicion that\nhe was a priest and a jesuit.\u201d The judge on circuit was Sir Henry\nYelverton.\n\n\u201cAre you a priest, sir?\u201d asked the judge, when the accused person was\nbrought before him.\n\nArrowsmith, signing himself with the cross, replied, \u201cMy lord, I would to\nGod I were worthy.\u201d\n\nOn the judge repeating the question Arrowsmith replied coolly, \u201cI would I\nwere.\u201d\n\nWhen the accused, in reply to a minister on the bench, suggested a\ndisputation regarding religion, and claimed to defend his Faith, the judge\nsilenced him at once, and declared that he would not allow him to make any\ndefence at all.\n\n\u201cI am ready, my lord, bear in mind,\u201d replied Arrowsmith, \u201cnot only to\ndefend it in words, but in deeds, and to seal it with my blood.\u201d\n\nThe judge then told him, in an insulting and savage manner, that he should\ndie, and see his bowels burnt before his very face.\n\n\u201cAnd you too must die, my lord, and that within a year.\u201d[49]\n\nTwo indictments were framed against him: one for being a priest and a\njesuit, and the other for disparaging Protestantism; on these he was found\nguilty of high treason, and ordered to die according to the law. To the\ngaoler of the prison, the sheriff brought express commands from the judge\nto load him with the heaviest irons in the Castle, and to lodge him in a\nsmall cell where he could not lie down. This occurred on the 26th of\nAugust, 1628, and he suffered death on the 28th of the same month. He was\ndragged on a hurdle from the Castle to the place of execution, having\nreceived absolution from a fellow prisoner, Mr. Southworth, in the Castle\nyard. He was bound on the hurdle, and for greater ignominy with his head\nto the horse\u2019s tail. The gallows and boiling caldron were set up about a\nquarter of a mile distant from the Castle. The devotion and piety of this\nholy and zealous man were as remarkable as his constancy and\nfortitude,--graces which edified those who witnessed his sad end. He\noffered himself up as a sacrifice thrice: once upon his knees at the foot\nof the ladder, again on the ladder, which he kissed, and a third time just\nbefore the halter was fastened round his neck; and then prayed fervently,\n\u201cO Sweet Jesus, I freely offer Thee my death, in satisfaction for my\nsins.\u201d Then he was cast off, suffered to hang until he was dead--an act\nof mercy, by no means ordinary or common--cut down, disembowelled, and\nquartered; his head being placed on a pole amongst the pinnacles of the\nCastle. It is recorded that the judge being vexed and annoyed with the\nclever and luminous answers which Arrowsmith made when under examination,\nin the hearing of so many, appeared to take a special pleasure in viewing\nthe execution from his lodgings, through a perspective glass; that he had\nthe curiosity to examine the four quarters of his body, which, by his\ncommand, being brought to his apartment, he made an unnatural and shocking\ncomparison between them and a haunch or two of venison with which he had\nthat day been presented; and that he deliberately kicked the right hand of\nthe body in contempt. On leaving the town he ordered the martyr\u2019s head to\nbe placed on a pole six yards higher than the pinnacles of the Castle.\n\nThe judge, sitting at supper at an inn on January 23, 1629, upon return\nfrom circuit, felt a heavy blow, as if someone had struck him on the back\nof the head; upon which he fell into a violent rage with, and severely\nrated, the servant who was waiting upon him; who protested that he had not\nstruck him, nor did he see anyone strike him. A little while afterwards,\nthe judge felt another blow like the first; and, as some records say, a\nthird just as the meal was being ended. The blows he himself evidently\nthought to have come from the hand of divine justice, for he exclaimed in\nfear and trepidation: \u201cThat dog Arrowsmith hath killed me.\u201d[50] In great\nterror he was carried to bed, and dying the next morning, the prophecy of\nthe holy priest regarding his death was exactly fulfilled.\n\nAs regards the Hand of the sufferer, it was procured and treasured up by\nhis relatives the Gerards: and the following remarkable occurrence is\nconnected with it.\n\nIn the year 1813 a young man named Joseph Lamb, then residing at Eccles,\nnear Trafford Hall, about four miles from Manchester, fell from a rick of\nconsiderable height to the ground, and received a violent injury in the\nback. He was so injured that he could neither stand nor walk and suffered\nvery considerable pain; but after many attempts had been made by\nphysicians to give him relief and effect a cure, his case at a later stage\nwas unanimously pronounced to be incurable. In religion he was a Roman\nCatholic, having been converted to that ancient faith from being an\nAnabaptist--a sect to which his father still belonged. Local circumstances\nhad led to his investigating the martyrdom of the venerable priest, Edmund\nArrowsmith, who, as already recounted, gave up his life in the cause of\nGod at Lancaster, on the 28th of August, 1628. Of this holy man a Hand had\nbeen long and carefully preserved at Sir William Gerard\u2019s, of Garswood,\nnear Wigan, where it was and is deservedly venerated and held in respect\nby all Roman Catholics. The sufferer Lamb, finding that the skill and\npower of man could do nothing for him, conceived a firm conviction that it\nwould please the Almighty to restore him to health by the instrumentality\nof this relic, and he consequently most earnestly and systematically\nprayed to God that it might be so. His parents consequently, in response\nto his urgent entreaties, on October 2nd, 1814, had him conveyed in a\ncovered cart from his own house near Trafford Hall to Garswood, a distance\nof fourteen miles.[51] In a state of considerable suffering, and quite\nunable to assist himself, he was lifted out of the cart and carried into\nthe Roman Catholic chapel, where he was placed before the altar. Then the\n\u201cHoly Hand,\u201d as it is termed, was brought forth; the sacred sign of the\ncross was solemnly made over the affected part of the poor suffering man\u2019s\nback; when, in an instant, he felt freedom from pain and found his former\nhealth and strength perfectly restored. He immediately rose, stood up for\nsome time in prayer, and then walked, without any assistance whatsoever,\nto his relatives and friends who were gathered at the chief entrance of\nthe chapel. He returned home quite recovered and perfectly well, and so\nremained, up to the 19th of September, 1816.[52] The result of this\nmiraculous intervention was that several of his kinsmen and acquaintances\nbecame converts to the religion which he had elected to follow; and these,\ntogether with many Roman Catholics who became acquainted with Almighty\nGod\u2019s merciful visitation of him, joined in a solemn act of thanksgiving,\nby assembling to sing the _Te Deum_ in the chapel of Garswood.[53]\n\nThus, then, we see the prophecy of a Christian priest, who was unjustly\nand illegally condemned and cruelly murdered, exactly and most strikingly\nfulfilled; and a wonderful sign bestowed from God to man of Eternal Truth,\nin the supernatural cure wrought some two centuries and more afterwards\nupon this Lancashire farm-labourer.\n\nHere something may be properly put on record, regarding cases in which\nvisible marks and tokens of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus\nChrist have been supernaturally and miraculously impressed upon God\u2019s\nsaints and servants, in order to set forth before the eyes of man, as a\nmatter of _sight_ and not as a matter of _faith_, the truth of the\nRevelation of Almighty God, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\nThe first recorded instance of stigmatization is that of S. Francis of\nAssisi, in the thirteenth century. From the life of this distinguished\nsaint, written by S. Bonaventure (chapters xii. and xv.), we gather the\nfollowing particulars of these remarkable phenomena.\n\nIt was the custom of the saint, from time to time, to retire into the\nsolitudes of Mount Alverna, in the Apennines, in order the more easily to\ngive himself up to prayer and meditation. \u201cWhile fasting there for forty\ndays, being in prayer, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,\nand feeling within his soul an intense desire to be crucified with his\nLord, he beheld, descending from heaven towards him, a seraph, having six\nwings as it were of fire.[54] When the celestial messenger came near to\nhim, there appeared between the wings the form of One crucified, with the\nhands and feet stretched out upon the cross. Two wings rose above the\nhead, two were spread forth in flight, while the others veiled the whole\nbody.\u201d Francis felt a great joy at the apparition, and yet, at the same\ntime, a deep sorrow at beholding Him Whom his soul loved, so cruelly\nfastened to the Cross, the thought of which pierced his heart as with a\nsword of grief. It was presently revealed to him that he was to imitate\nthe Passion of our Lord.\n\n\u201cThe vision disappearing, his soul was filled with heavenly light, while a\nmarvellous sign was left imprinted on his limbs. On his hand and feet were\nthe marks of the nails, as he had beheld in the seraphic vision, and on\nhis right side was a wound, as if made by a lance\u2019s thrust. His hands and\nfeet appeared transfixed with the nails, their heads being seen in the\nupper part of the feet, and the points on the reverse sides. The heads of\nthese nails were round and black, and the points somewhat long and bent,\nas if turned back; so that between them and the skin there was the space\nof a finger. They could be moved with ease; for on the one side they were\nembedded in the flesh, whilst on the other they were clear of it: yet it\nwas not possible to draw them out, as we are assured by S. Clare, who,\nafter the saint\u2019s death, essayed to do so, but could not succeed. The\nwound in the side was deep, and of the width of three fingers. It was red,\nand the saint\u2019s habit was often stained by the blood which flowed from\nit.\u201d\n\nThese stigmata were seen during his life by the reigning Pope Alexander\nwith many of his cardinals; and after his death, by more than fifty\nbrethren together, by S. Clare and many of her sisters, and an innumerable\ncrowd of seculars, who came from all parts of the country to be witnesses\nof these wonders.\n\nAt the close of the seventeenth century, another case of stigmatization\noccurred to Veronica Juliana, a nun; and her examination by the bishop of\nher diocese, aided by several physicians, was of so strict and severe a\ncharacter, that deception on her part would have been quite impossible.\n\nIn the early part of the same century, Joanna di Jesu Maria, a Spanish\nnun, was subjected to even a more rigorous examination, before a court\ncomposed of the Commissary of the Inquisition, the Suffragan Bishop,\nseveral of the secular and regular clergy of the district, of many learned\nmen, and two distinguished physicians. In this case, the subject of the\nphenomena bore not only the wounds on her hands, feet, and side, from\nwhich blood and water frequently flowed, but also around her head, as from\nthe crown of thorns, a deep wound, which, in the opinion of the doctors,\npenetrated to the skull. They, furthermore, declared by oath that the\nwounds were not natural, and could not possibly be the effect of fraud.\n\nThe most celebrated subjects of stigmata in our own days are Maria M\u00f6rl,\nthe Ecstatica of Caldamo, in the Tyrol, and Maria Domenica Lazzari, a\npeasant girl of Capriana, whose cases were brought before the English\npublic by that late distinguished nobleman John, Earl of Shrewsbury, A. L.\nM. P. De Lisle, Esq.,[55] the Rev. T. W. Allies, and others.\n\nThe following account of Maria M\u00f6rl is abridged from that of G\u00f6rres, in\nhis work on the Supernatural, entitled \u201cChristliche Mystik,\u201d which,\nperhaps, is the most complete and detailed description published. After\ngiving a brief sketch of her life, which tells us that she was a girl of\ngreat piety, also that at the age of eighteen she became a confirmed\ninvalid, and after receiving Holy Communion she always remained in an\necstasy for several hours, we read, that \u201cin the autumn of 1833, her\nConfessor, Father Capistran, had by chance noticed that the parts of her\nhands where the wounds afterwards appeared had begun to form in hollows,\nas though impressed by some external substance, the parts, at the same\ntime, becoming the seat of considerable pain, accompanied by frequent\ncramps.\u201d Soon afterwards, the wounds appeared on the hands, feet, and\nside. On Thursdays and Fridays these places often ran with clear blood,\nand were covered on other days with a scar of dried blood, without showing\nany signs of inflammation. \u201cIn 1834, on the occasion of a solemn\nprocession, a new phase of her ecstasy developed itself, and one day\nsurprised her in the presence of several witnesses, when she was\ntransfigured with an angelic beauty, radiant and glorious as a heavenly\nspirit, her arms extended to their extreme width in the form of a cross,\nand her feet barely seeming to touch the bed on which she reposed. All\naround could then plainly perceive the mysterious stigmata, and the matter\ncould no longer remain a secret.\u201d\n\nOf Maria Domenica Lazzari, who was born March 16th, 1815, and whose case\nis no less remarkable than the above, Mr. Allies, then a clergyman of the\nChurch of England, wrote the following account, twenty-five years\nago:--\u201cIn August, 1833, she had an illness, not in the first instance of\nan extraordinary nature; but it took the form of an intermittent fever,\nconfining her completely to her bed, and finally contracting the nerves of\nher hands and feet so as to cripple them. On the 10th of January, 1834,\nshe received on her hands, feet, and left side, the marks of our Lord\u2019s\nFive Wounds.... Three weeks afterwards, her family found her in the\nmorning covering her face in a state of great delight,--a sort of trance.\nOn removing the handkerchief, letters were found on it marked in blood,\nand Domenica\u2019s brow had a complete impression of the crown of thorns, in a\nline of small punctures about a quarter of an inch apart, from which the\nblood was flowing freshly. They asked her who had torn her so. She\nreplied, \u2018A very fair lady had come in the night and adorned her.\u2019...\nFrom the time that she first received the stigmata, in January, 1834, to\nthe present time (account published in 1847), the wounds have bled every\nFriday, with a loss of from one to two ounces of blood, beginning early in\nthe morning, and on Friday only. The above information (Mr. Allies\ndeclares) we received from Signor Yoris, a surgeon of Cavalese, the chief\nvillage of the district in which Capriana lies.\u201d\n\nTwo additional and quite recent examples of stigmatization, most perfectly\nand satisfactorily authenticated, demand to have the facts which are known\nand admitted here set forth. The first is as follows:--\n\nOn the 30th January, 1850, was born at Bois d\u2019Haine, a village in the\nprovince of Hainaut, in Belgium, Anne Louise Lateau, the daughter of\nGregory and Ad\u00e8le Lateau. The family, though of humble condition, were at\nthe time in tolerably comfortable circumstances. The father was employed\nas a workman in a neighbouring metal factory, and the cottage in which\nthey dwelt, together with the land on which it stood, was their own\nproperty. But a sad change soon took place. On the 30th April, 1850,\nGregory Lateau died of small-pox, leaving the mother and three children\n(the infant Louise and two little girls of two and three years of age)\nunprovided for. To add to their distress, the widow Lateau was seriously\nill, and the infant had caught the small-pox. Abandoned by all, they were\nin danger of perishing of starvation had they not been relieved by the\ntimely aid of a charitable neighbour. It was a long time, however, before\nthe mother\u2019s health was sufficiently restored to enable her to better\ntheir condition by her own exertions. When eight years old, Louise was\nsent to take charge of an old woman confined to her bed, and almost as\npoor as themselves. She afterwards received five months\u2019 schooling, which\nis all the education she has ever had. At eleven years old, having made\nher first communion, she went as a servant to her aunt, with whom she\nremained until her death, which occurred two years later. Her next\nsituation was with a lady at Brussels, but she was obliged to leave\nthrough illness. On her recovery, she was again employed in a farm at\nManage, where she remained till called home by her mother, with whom she\nhas since lived, working as a dressmaker. With regard to her moral\ncharacter, one of its most important features is charity. During the\nravages of the cholera in Belgium, in 1866, she gave examples of the most\nheroic devotedness--nursing the sick when their own relations had fled in\ndismay, laying out the dead, and, in some instances, even conveying them\nto the cemetery. For the rest, she is of a cheerful disposition, simple\nand straightforward in her manner, possessed of good sense, without\nsmartness or enthusiasm. Owing to the small amount of instruction she has\nreceived, her education is limited, but has been much improved by her own\nexertions. She speaks French with tolerable fluency, but is unable to\nwrite correctly or read with ease. The mother of Louise is fifty-eight\nyears of age, of a frank and outspoken character, upright and religious.\nThough poor, she refuses to receive any pecuniary assistance, and\nmanifests great reluctance to the introduction of the numerous visitors\nattracted to her cottage from all parts of the world by the wonderful\naccounts respecting her daughter. We now come to the consideration of\nthose phenomena which for nearly six years have been exciting such\nuniversal interest. On Friday, the 24th April, 1868, manifestations of an\nextraordinary character commenced with a flow of blood from the chest. The\nyoung girl, with her accustomed reserve, made no mention of the fact; but\nas on successive Fridays the bleeding extended to the feet and hands,\nconcealment became no longer possible. The phenomenon, as it now appears,\nis thus described by Dr. Lefebvre:--\n\n\u201cIf in the course of the week, from Saturday to Thursday morning, an\ninspection is made of the parts from which blood flows on the Friday, this\nis what is seen:--On the back of each hand there is a rather oval surface,\nnearly one inch in length. It is rather more pink in colour, and it is\nsmoother than the neighbouring skin, and does not show a trace of oozing\nof any kind. On the palm of each hand there is also an oval surface of a\nlight pink colour, corresponding precisely to the stigmatized surface of\nthe back. On the upper aspect of each foot, the impress has the shape of a\nlong square with rounded angles, the square being a little more than an\ninch long. To conclude, there are on the soles of the feet, as on the\npalms of the hands, small surfaces of pinkish white colour.\n\n\u201c... The first symptoms indicative of the approaching efflux of blood\noccur on the Thursday, generally about noon. On each of the pink surfaces\nalready described on the hands and feet, a vesicle is seen to commence,\nand to rise little by little. When completely developed, it is a rounded\nhemispherical prominence on the surface of the skin; its base is the same\nsize as the pink surface on which it rests--that is, nearly an inch long,\nby a little more than half an inch broad. This vesicle is formed by the\nepidermis detached from the dermis, and elevated as a half sphere by\nserous liquid within.\u201d\n\nWe again quote some of the medical details:--\n\n\u201cThe phenomenon occurs thus:--The vesicle bursts, and the contained\nserosity escapes. This occurs in different ways--sometimes by a rent\nlengthways, sometimes by a crucial or a triangular division. In the last\ncase, the rupture of the vesicle suggests the puncture of a leech; but\nthis is a mere resemblance, to prove which it is enough to ascertain the\nentire absence on the hands and feet of those three-cornered white and\nindelible scars which always follow leech-bites. But a still more\ndecisive observation is that this triangular rent only divides the\nepidermis; in fact, if this be removed by rubbing with a cloth, the little\nwound is no longer seen, and the true skin is found to be quite intact.\nDirectly after the rupture of the vesicle and the escape of the fluid,\nblood begins to ooze from the bare derma.\n\n\u201cThe flow of blood always detaches the piece of scarf-skin that makes the\nvesicle, so that the bleeding surface of the true skin is quite bare;\nsometimes, however--and especially on the palms of the hands and the soles\nof the feet, where the epidermis is very tough--the blood collects, and\nforms a clot in the partly-torn vesicle.\u201d[56]\n\nThe general appearance of the wound in the side on Friday is as\nfollows:--The blood issues from three small points of a triangular form at\nthe distance of half an inch from each other. A vesicle has also been\nobserved similar to those upon the hands and feet. On its bursting, the\nblood flowed through the derma or thick skin over a round surface of the\ndiameter of about half an inch.\n\nThe bleeding on the forehead commenced on Friday, the 25th September,\n1868, and, at the present time,[57] takes place every week, and has\nextended round the whole of the head. The bleeding circlet on the forehead\nforms a band of two fingers\u2019 breadth in width, and the blood oozes from\ntwelve or fifteen points. There is no appearance of vesicle, nor is the\nskin discoloured.\n\nThe second extraordinary account of a young girl, who is now marked with\nthe stigmata, is furnished by the Rev. F. Prendergast, of San\nFrancisco:[58]--\n\n\u201cMiss Collins was born in England; both her parents are Roman Catholics.\nAbout two years and a half ago she was a pupil at the Convent of Notre\nDame. On her return to this city she left her father\u2019s home, and with a\nfriend, Miss Armer, commenced the practice of charitable acts--visiting\nthe sick, clothing the destitute, and instructing little children. Many of\nthe charitable persons of the city co-operate with Miss Collins, Miss\nArmer, and an elderly lady who keeps house for them, in their good works.\nThe archbishop approved of this semi-religious order, and has paid the\nhouse rent of these ladies since they began this practice. Miss Collins\nhas always been in delicate health, and has frequently received the last\nsacraments of the Church, given to those in a dying condition. She has had\nperiodical attacks of heart disease, and intense pulmonary congestion.\nSoon after Miss Collins and Miss Armer entered upon their charitable and\nself-denying duties, the former was prostrated by a return of her\ncomplaint. She recovered but slowly and imperfectly, and on January 2nd,\nat the children\u2019s festival in the basement of S. Mary\u2019s Cathedral, she was\nseized with a most violent attack. She was taken to her residence; and two\nor three days afterwards was again seized with congestion of the lungs,\nfollowed by congestion of the brain. The attending physician, herself, and\nall her friends were convinced that there was no hope of her recovery. She\ntook leave of those who stood by her bedside, and made her final\npreparations for death. On Wednesday, January 8th, she was all day in\nconvulsions.... Towards six o\u2019clock she grew better, but on the night of\nthe third day became speechless, and was compelled to write her wants and\nwishes in pencil.\n\n\u201cAt twelve o\u2019clock that night, Miss Armer and the nurse, who watched by\nher bedside, believed her to be dying, if not dead. They recited the\nprayers for the departing soul, and held the blessed candle by her hand,\naccording to the custom of the Church. Presently Miss Collins closed her\neyes and drew a long breath. They then believed her to be dead; but to\ntheir utter amazement and bewilderment she revived, and made signs that\nshe wished to write. They gave her the pencil and paper, and she wrote as\nfollows: \u2018Put three drops of the water from the font of Our Lady of La\nSalette in my mouth, and say three Hail Maries with me before the\ncrucifix.\u2019 They complied with the instructions, and perceived that she\njoined mentally in the recital of the prayers. As soon as ended, she\nreached out her hands for the crucifix, and kissed, with an expression of\ngreat devotion, the Five Wounds of our Blessed Saviour. She then intimated\nthat she wished to have a little water. They gave her some, and she\nimmediately rose up and declared, with a beaming and heavenly countenance,\nthat she was cured; and she called on her companions, Miss Armer and the\nnurse, to join her in saying the rosary for the sick. She wished to\nrecite the principal parts of the devotion herself, but yielding to the\nrequest of Miss Armer, only made the responses in a clear and loud voice.\nShe then requested her companions to retire, but seeing they had some\nobjections, told them she would set the example. She laid down quietly,\nand slept without motion or sign till morning, when she ate heartily, and\nseemed quite restored to health. Since then she has never for a moment\nsuffered from any of those diseases to which she had been before a victim,\nand which had more than once brought her to death\u2019s door.\n\n\u201cOn being questioned about her recovery, she stated to her confessor, her\ncompanions, and others of her friends, that immediately previous to her\nrecovery the Blessed Virgin spoke to her in a voice clear and musical, but\nas if it were coming from afar, directing her what to do in order to\nobtain her health, approving her manner of life, and giving her some\ncounsels for her own guidance. Her recovery was regarded by all conversant\nwith the facts as being a miraculous one; and, contrasting her subsequent\nexcellent health with her former miserable condition, there seems to be no\nreason to doubt but that she was saved by the merciful interposition of\nthe Supreme Power of God.\n\n\u201cAfter some weeks she experienced, without any assignable natural cause,\nan intense pain in her temples, which caused her indescribable anguish.\nThese sufferings suddenly passed away, but in the course of some days\nreturned with equal violence. So far there were no perceptible marks on\nany portion of her body, but during her sufferings on the Feast of the\nFive Wounds of our Lord she felt an acute pain in her head, her side, in\nboth hands, and in both feet. On the Friday before Good Friday, the Feast\nof the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin, she experienced pains in the\nsame parts, and on that day the stigmata, or marks of our Saviour\u2019s\nWounds, became clearly visible on the backs of her hands, and blood oozed\nfrom her left side, near the heart.\n\n\u201cSeveral persons witnessed the stigmata on this occasion, but were loth to\nreveal the fact, preferring to await further developments. That night the\npains passed away, and her usual health returned. On Holy Thursday the\nsame sufferings were experienced, commencing in the afternoon and becoming\nvery intense during Thursday night. On Friday the stigmata appeared on the\nsurfaces of both hands and on the upper surface of both feet. Blood also\noozed from her side. During the day her sufferings were indescribable, and\nwere witnessed by a large number of people.[59] The stigmata and\nsuffering continued unabated until twelve o\u2019clock on Friday night, when\nshe suddenly experienced some relief, and was able, for the first time in\ntwenty-four hours, to take a little water. On the next day she attended\ndivine service in church, and has since been in the enjoyment of excellent\nhealth. The marks of the stigmata remain on her hands and side. She has\nnever, at any time during her sufferings, been unconscious, except when\nthey were so intense as to cause momentary delirium. She prayed\ncontinually, and her countenance, ordinarily indicating extreme agony,\noccasionally relaxed into a sweet and heavenly smile. At times her hands\nwere extended in the form of a crucifix, and became so rigid in that\nposition that it was impossible to move them.\u201d[60]\n\nAs serving still further to illustrate the subject of this chapter, it\nshould be known that Dr. John Milner, F.S.A., Vicar Apostolic of the\nMidland District of England (a prelate eminent both for his high character\nand great literary ability), records a supernatural cure, the subject of\nwhich was personally known to himself.\n\n\u201cOn March 15, 1809, Mary Wood, living at Taunton Lodge, near Taunton, in\nSomersetshire, in attempting to open a sash-window, pushed her left hand\nthrough a pane of glass, which caused a very large and deep transverse\nwound in the inside of the left arm, and divided the muscles and nearly\nthe whole of the tendons that lead to the hand; from which accident she\nnot only suffered at times the most acute pain, but was, from the period\nthe bishop saw her [March 15, 1809], until some time in July, totally\ndeprived of the use of her hand and arm.\u201d[61] What passed between the\nlatter end of July, when, as the surgeon states, \u201che left his patient with\nno hope of her recovery or of restoring her,\u201d until the 6th of August, on\nthe night of which she was miraculously cured, can be gathered from a\nLetter to Bishop Milner, dated November 19th, 1809, by her amanuensis Miss\nMaria Hornyold, of the ancient family of that name:\n\n\u201cThe surgeon gave little or no hopes of the girl ever again having the use\nof her hand; which, together with the arm, seemed withered and somewhat\ncontracted; only saying [that] in some years Nature might give her some\nlittle use of it, which was considered by her superior as a mere delusive\ncomfort. Despairing of further human assistance toward her cure, she\ndetermined, with the approbation of her said superiors, to have recourse\nto God, through the intercession of S. Winifred by a Novena.[62]\nAccordingly on the 6th of August she put a piece of moss from the Saint\u2019s\nWell on her arm, continuing recollected and praying, &c., when, to her\ngreat surprise, the next morning she found that she could dress herself,\nput her arm behind her, and to her head, having regained the free use and\nfull strength of it. In short, she was perfectly cured.\u201d\n\nSo much for this portion of Miss Hornyold\u2019s narrative. Now, reverting to\nBishop Milner, his testimony to the fact of the cure having been effected\nis here set forth:\n\n\u201cIn this state I myself saw her a few years afterwards, when I examined\nher hand; and in the same state she still continues, at the above-named\nplace, with many other highly credible vouchers, who are ready\nrespectively to attest these particulars.\u201d\n\nThe conclusion of Miss Hornyold\u2019s Letter is as follows:\n\n\u201cOn the 16th of the month the surgeon was sent for, and being asked his\nopinion concerning Mary Wood\u2019s arm, he gave _no hope of a perfect cure_,\nand little of her ever having _even the least use of it_; when she, being\nintroduced to him and showing him the arm, which he thoroughly examined\nand tried, he was so affected at the sight and the recital of the manner\nof the cure, as to shed tears, and exclaim, \u2018It is a special interposition\nof Divine Providence.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe case of Winifred White, a young woman of Wolverhampton, suddenly and\nmiraculously cured, is not less important and interesting:--\u201cThe disease\nfrom which she was suffering,\u201d writes Bishop Milner, \u201cwas one of the most\nalarming of a topical nature of any that is known, namely a curvature of\nthe spine, as the physician and surgeon ascertained, who treated it\naccordingly, by making two great issues, one on each side of the spine, of\nwhich the marks are still imprinted on the patient\u2019s back. Secondly, that\nbesides the most acute pains throughout the whole nervous system, and\nparticularly in the brain, this disease of the spine produced a\n_hemiplegia_, or palsy of one side of the patient, so that when she could\nfeebly crawl, with the help of a crutch under her right arm, she was\nforced to drag her left leg and arm after her, just as if they constituted\nno part of her body. Thirdly, that her disorder was of long continuance,\nnamely, of three years\u2019 standing, though not in the same degree till the\nlatter part of that time, and that it was publicly known to all her\nneighbours and a great many others. Fourthly, that having performed the\nacts of devotion which she felt herself called upon to undertake, and\nhaving bathed in the fountain [at Holywell in Flintshire], she, _in one\ninstant of time_, on the 28th of June, 1805, found herself freed from all\npains and disabilities, so as to be able to walk, run, and jump like any\nother young person, and to carry a greater weight with the left arm than\nwith the right. Fifthly, that she has continued in this state these\nthirteen years, down to the present time; and that all the above-mentioned\ncircumstances have been ascertained by me in the regular examination of\nthe several witnesses of them, in the places of their respective\nresidences, namely in Staffordshire, Lancashire, and Wales, they being\npersons of different counties, no less than of different religions and\nsituation of life.\u201d[63]\n\nThe result of a solemn Curse, made in the Name of Almighty God, by one who\nhad been greatly and grievously wronged, is recorded and not unsuitably\nhere, it is hoped, in the following remarkable narrative--one fresh\nevidence of the existence of the Supernatural amongst us, had we only eyes\nto see and ears to hear.\n\nThe younger son of a Nova Scotia baronet, under promise of marriage,\nbetrayed the only surviving daughter of a Northumbrian yeoman of ancient\nand respectable family, nearly allied to a peer, so created in William the\nFourth\u2019s reign. She was a person of rare beauty and of considerable\naccomplishments, having received an education of a very superior character\nin Edinburgh. After her betrayal she was deserted by her lover, who fled\nabroad. The night before he left, however, at her earnest request, he met\nher in company with a friend with the avowed intention of promising\nmarriage in the future, when his family (as he declared) might be less\naverse to it. After-events show that this was merely an empty promise, and\nthat he had no intention of fulfilling it. A long discussion took place\nbetween the girl and her betrayer, in the presence of the female friend in\nquestion, a first cousin of her father. High words, strong phrases, and\nsharp upbraidings were uttered on both sides; until at last the young man\nin cruel and harsh language, turning upon her fiercely, declared that he\nwould never marry her at all, and held himself, as he maintained,\nperfectly free to wed whom he should choose. \u201cYou will be my certain\ndeath,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cbut death will be more welcome than life.\u201d \u201cDie\nand be ----,\u201d he replied. At this the girl, with a wail of agony, swooned\naway. On her recovery she seemed to gather up her strength to pronounce a\nCurse upon him and his. It was spoken in the Name of the One Living and\nTrue God. She uttered it with deliberation, yet with wildness and\nbitterness, maintaining that she was his wife, and would haunt him to the\nday of his death; declaring at the same time to her relation present, \u201cAnd\nyou shall be the witness.\u201d He left the place of meeting without any\nreconciliation or kind word, and, it was believed, went abroad. In less\nthan five months, in giving birth to her child, she died, away from her\nhome, and was buried with it (for the child, soon after its baptism, died\nlikewise) in a village churchyard near Ambleside. Neither stone nor\nmemorial marks the grave. Her father, a widower, wounded to the quick by\nthe loss of his only daughter, pined away and soon followed her to his\nlast resting-place.\n\nFive years had passed and the female cousin of the old yeoman, being\npossessed of a competency, had gone to live in London, when, on a certain\nmorning in the spring of the year 1842, she was passing by a church in the\nwest end, where, from the number of carriages waiting, she saw that a\nmarriage was being solemnized. She felt mysteriously and instinctively\ndrawn to look in. On doing so, and pressing forwards towards the altar,\nshe beheld to her astonishment, the very man, somewhat altered and\nweather-worn, who had caused so much misery to her relations, being\nmarried (as on inquiring she discovered) to the daughter of a rich city\nmerchant. This affected her deeply, bringing back the saddest memories of\nthe past. But, as the bridal party were passing out of the church, and she\npushed forward to look, and be quite sure that she had made no mistake,\nboth herself and the bridegroom at one moment saw an apparition of her\nrelation, the poor girl whom he had ruined, dressed in white, with flowing\nhair and a wild look, holding up in both hands her little infant. Both\nseemed perfectly natural in appearance and to be of ordinary flesh and\nblood. There was no mistaking her certain identity. This occurred in the\nfull sunshine of noon and under a heavy Palladian Porch in the presence of\na crowd. The bridegroom turned deathly pale in a moment, trembled\nviolently, and then, staggering, fell forward down the steps. This\noccasioned a vast stir and sensation amongst the crowd. It seemed\nincomprehensible. The bridegroom, said the church officials in answer to\ninquiries, was in a fit. He was carried down the steps and taken in the\nbridal carriage to his father-in-law\u2019s house. But it was reported that he\nnever spoke again; and this fact is mentioned in a contemporary\nnewspaper-account of the event. Anyhow his marriage and death appeared in\nthe same number of one of the daily papers. And although the family of the\ncity merchant knew nothing of the apparition, what is thus set forth was\nput on record by the lady in question, who knew the mysterious\ncircumstances in all their details; which record is reasonably believed by\nher to afford at once a signal example of retributive justice and a marked\npiece of evidence of the Supernatural. Names, for obvious reasons, are not\nmentioned here. The truth of this narrative, however, was affirmed on\noath by the lady in question, before two justices of the peace, at\nWindsor, on October 3, 1848, one of whom was a beneficed clergyman in the\ndiocese of Oxford, well known to the Editor of this volume,--to whom this\nrecord was given, in the year 1857 (when he was assistant-minister of\nBerkeley Chapel), by a lady of rank who worshipped there.\n\nHere, accounts of two cases of miraculous cure through and by the Blessed\nSacrament will be suitably and fittingly introduced. The first is from the\npen of a well-known mission-preacher of the Church of England, and\noccurred in the diocese of London: the second, equally remarkable, took\nplace in the diocese of Metz.\n\nThe introductory remarks, so full of truth and piety, which immediately\nprecede the first narrative, have an equal bearing on that which follows.\nBoth are instances of God\u2019s extraordinary mercy and goodness to the\nchildren of men.\n\n\u201cThe Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord works its effects\nnot only on the soul of man, but also on his body. We need not be\nsurprized at this, for if the body is affected by the soul, so that a\nperson depressed in mind often falls sick in body; and, on the contrary,\nif good spirits are of great use in preserving bodily health--as indeed we\nfrequently see,--if this be the case, may we not expect that the\nSacrament, which only reaches the soul through the body, will have some\ninfluence on that body through which they are transmitted. The Blessed\nSacrament, then, when worthily received, affects the body in three ways.\nFirst, it tends to moderate what is called \u2018concupiscence,\u2019 that is those\nnatural appetites and desires of the body which dwell in the flesh and\ntempt to sin. And this we learn from the words of the prayer of Humble\nAccess in the Communion Service--that our sinful bodies may be made clean\nby His Body.\n\n\u201cSecondly, the Blessed Sacrament gives to our bodies glory in the Day of\nthe Resurrection.\n\n\u201cOur Lord says, \u2018He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath\nEternal Life, and I will raise him up at the last day.\u2019 Not that all men\nwill not rise from the dead at that day, but that the wicked will rise\nwith hideous bodies, and the righteous only with bodies like unto our\nLord\u2019s own Body; whilst the glory also of those who are saved will differ\none from another. And so S. Paul writes, \u2018One star differeth from another\nstar in glory.\u2019\n\n\u201cThirdly, the Blessed Sacrament sometimes works the cure of sick persons\nwho receive it with faith. Of course this is not often the case, for if\nmiracles were common they would cease to be miracles. Moreover, there is\nbut little faith now-a-days, and even when our Lord walked in the flesh\nthere were some places in which He did not do many mighty works because of\ntheir unbelief. Also He worked bodily cures the rather during His earthly\nministry; because when He gives these more excellent gifts it is less\nnecessary for Him to show this power by miracles of healing. It pleases\nHim however, sometimes even now, to cure bodily sickness by his bodily\ntouch, and a case of this sort we will now relate:--\n\n\u201cI. Two or three years ago there lived in one of our great cities a poor\nwoman of devotion and faith. She attended a church where the Holy\nEucharist was frequently celebrated, and the true faith believingly\ntaught. She received the faith gladly, and lived up to it, communicating\nregularly and with devotion. It befell her, however, to be taken with\nsickness, which brought on lockjaw, so that she could not eat, and only\nsmall portions of nourishment could be given her through an opening in her\nteeth. She was in this state several days, looking forward to certain\ndeath.\n\n\u201cAt last, thinking more of the suffering which her loss would bring upon\nher family than upon any fear of death in her own heart, she said to her\nhusband, \u2018Surely, the Lord Jesus is very merciful and would restore me to\nhealth if we were to ask Him. For how dreadful would it be for the poor\nchildren to be left without a mother! I have heard of a woman who was\ncured of a sickness by our Lord when the doctors gave her up. Why should\nwe not ask Him to cure me?\u2019 Thus she spoke, and her husband agreed with\nher, that they would ask this of the Lord.\n\n\u201cThe priest of the church which they attended was visiting the poor\nwoman, and next time he came she told him of what she had thought, and\nasked whether it would be wrong to pray for this object. Seeing the faith\nof the poor people, he could not say anything against it, only exhorting\nthem to be ready to accept the Will of the Lord whatever it might be. \u2018It\nis not wrong,\u2019 said he, \u2018to pray to the Lord for restoration to health, so\nlong as we add, \u201cNot my will but Thine be done.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cAccordingly he arranged that they should have a special Celebration of\nthe Blessed Sacrament with that intention--to ask of our Lord the cure of\nthe poor mother. The time was fixed. The woman was to be present herself,\nand to communicate, and the priest promised to ask some other devout\npeople to attend and unite in prayer for the same object.\n\n\u201cAt the hour appointed the priest was at the altar, a little body of\ndevout persons was gathered in the church, and the poor woman was brought\nthere, suffering, but still with good hope. The service proceeded; the\nprayer of Consecration was said; the Lamb of God was upon the altar, and\nthe priest pleaded the one true and perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice\non behalf of the poor sufferer, and prayed for her recovery, as did also\nherself and her friends. Having communicated himself, the priest brought\nthe Holy Sacrament to the woman, giving her only a small particle, such as\nshe could receive between her teeth, and then the chalice of the Lord\u2019s\nBlood. The faithful now communicated; the remainder of the service was\nsaid, the Priest gave the Peace and Blessing, and the last Amen was said.\nThen the woman fell down in a sort of swoon; but it only lasted a short\ntime, for presently she got up, opened her mouth, and said, \u2018I am quite\nwell.\u2019 Yes! The Lord had heard her. We were astonished with joy, and\njoined in hearty thanksgiving to God for the miracle which he had wrought.\nThe woman walked home, to the great delight of her family, and was able to\nreturn to her ordinary work.\n\n\u201cA fortnight after the event, the writer of this narrative[64] saw the\nwoman, and heard from her own lips, as well as from the Priest, the\naccount of the miracle, which he has related as nearly as he can remember\nit.\n\n\u201cWe are not to be anxious for miracles, nor to crave after signs; but when\nit pleases God to work such as this, it seems to be right for His glory,\nand for the dignity of the Most Holy Sacrament, that His mercy should be\nmade known; and is it not joy to every faithful heart, that the Lord\nshould manifest His power over all His works, and show to men His tender\ncompassion of the sick and suffering?\u201d\n\nII. The second case is thus related. It bears a remarkable similarity to\nthat just set forth:--\n\n\u201cAnne de Cl\u00e9ry, the subject of the extraordinary cure about to be\nrecorded, was at school in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, at Metz, in\nthe year 1855. She was then thirteen years of age, and her health and\nspirits good. Previously she had lived two years in Africa, where her\nfather still resides,[65] and occupies the post of Notary-General to the\nImperial Court at Algiers. Madame de Cl\u00e9ry\u2019s health having suffered from\nthe climate, she returned to Metz with her two daughters, the youngest of\nwhom--Anne--was very uneasy about her mother\u2019s health, and prayed\nfervently for her recovery, offering herself to suffer the pains of\nsickness in her stead. Anne\u2019s illness, which was of a very distressing\nnature, commenced in the Holy Week of 1856, and continued steadily to\nincrease, in spite of the prescriptions of the first physicians at Metz,\nAix in Savoy, and Paris. Remedies of every possible kind--some of them of\na terribly severe character--were tried, but without the smallest result,\nexcept to increase the sufferings of the poor patient. The Paris\nphysician, at length (in the year 1857), pronounced her case to be\nincurable. He says: \u2018Mdlle. Anne is labouring under the disease known by\nthe name of \u201cmuscular and atrophical paralysis.\u201d I very much apprehend\nthat no remedies can touch the disease.\u2019 The sufferings of the poor girl\nwere continuous and severe. Her limbs were deprived of power and strength;\nthey shrank and contracted, and the muscles under each knee produced a\nsort of knot which no power on earth could untie. She would be, as far as\nman could foresee, a cripple as long as she lived. Anne de Cl\u00e9ry was,\nhowever, resigned to the Will of God, and supported her heavy trial by a\ndeep piety and constant prayer. At times her faith suggested the\npossibility of a miraculous cure; but she scarcely hoped or wished for\nsuch a wonderful favour. She had a particular devotion to the Blessed\nSacrament; and every week the priest brought her the Holy Communion, which\nwas her greatest support and consolation. She employed her time, when\nable, though in the recumbent position, and unable to lift her head, in\nembroidering altar-cloths, and making artificial flowers for the adornment\nof the sanctuary. It was while thus preparing for the devotion known as\n\u2018the Forty Hours\u2019 Adoration\u2019 in the parochial church of S. Martin at Metz,\nin the year 1865, that the thought sometimes crossed her mind that she\nmight be cured by the Blessed Sacrament. But she was slow to encourage an\nidea which might be an illusion, and deprive her of her resignation and\npeace of mind. The devotion above mentioned was to take place on the 12th,\n13th, and 14th of June. On the first two days it was impossible to carry\nher to the church (whither she had not been taken for a long while), her\npains were so severe; but on the third day, with the greatest difficulty,\nand at the cost of much suffering, after having received Communion, she\nwas carried to the church by her maid Cl\u00e9mentine, who sat on a bench and\nheld her on her knees. Madame de Cl\u00e9ry and Mdlle. de Coetlosquet knelt\nclose beside her; but neither Anne nor her friends were expecting the\nextraordinary event about to follow.\n\n\u201cAfter a few moments\u2019 rest Anne became absorbed in devotion, and prayed as\nshe often did at the moment of Communion: \u2018Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst\ncure me.\u2019 At the same instant she felt so violent a pain in her whole\nbody, that it was all she could do not to scream out. She prayed for\nstrength to bear it, and resigned herself to God\u2019s will. Then, she says,\nshe felt filled with faith and hope, and became conscious that she was\ncured. Anne threw herself immediately upon her knees and said to her\ncompanions, \u2018Pray, pray; I am cured!\u2019 Madame de Cl\u00e9ry overcome with\nemotion, in a state of bewilderment, led her daughter out of the church,\nscarcely believing the evidence of her senses when she saw her standing\nalone and able to walk. She ascertained that the knots under her\ndaughter\u2019s knees had entirely disappeared; and then Anne returned to the\nchurch, where she remained kneeling in praise and thanksgiving before the\nBlessed Sacrament for three-quarters of an hour, without feeling the least\nfatigue.\n\n\u201cHer cure was complete; all the ailments that had afflicted her\ndisappeared, leaving behind no trace of illness. Eleven days after her\ncure, Anne walked through the streets of Metz in a procession of the\nBlessed Sacrament, which lasted an hour and a quarter, to the astonishment\nand admiration of all who had known her former sad condition. Her\nphysician, when he saw her rise and walk to meet him, said, \u2018Mademoiselle,\nwhat men could not effect, God has done.\u2019\u201d[66]\n\nThe Editor has been furnished with many similar accounts; some coming\nbefore him on slender testimony: others on testimony which it is\nimpossible either to weaken or to reject. In some cases strange and\nsupernatural events which have occurred of late years--beautiful glimpses\nof the unseen world--are treasured up by those who were the direct\nsubjects of them, though considerable difficulty is experienced in\nobtaining such satisfactory attestations of their authentication, (owing\nto the fact that persons naturally shrink from publicity,) as would\nwarrant their appearance in this volume.\n\nBefore this chapter is closed, however, it may be well to add the\nfollowing, from the pen of an English clergyman well known to the Editor,\nwhich possess some inherent interest:\n\n\u201cThis passed under my own eyes a few weeks back. A little child, three\nyears old, daughter of highly-respectable but poor parents, was\naccidentally burnt to death--fell upon the grate, and lingered only some\ntwo hours, it might have been supposed in frightful tortures. Her mother,\nwho blamed herself for leaving the child even for a moment, seemed in\nimminent danger of losing her reason, and was in a state of terrible\ndespair. The little one raised herself to say, \u2018Mother, don\u2019t cry! I\u2019m\ngoing to die;\u2019 and then pointing, added, \u2018_Don\u2019t you see that Good Man who\nstands there and waits for me?_\u2019 This from a child of three years old.\n\n\u201cLet those who choose, elect to believe that this was an optical delusion:\nthose who honestly believe that the angels of little children do behold\nHis Father\u2019s face, and doubt not that angels minister to the heirs of\nsalvation, will probably arrive at a different conclusion.\u201d[67]\n\nHere is another remarkable case of the Supernatural, provided by the same\nclergyman:--\n\n\u201cA lady of my acquaintance, a woman of great intellectual powers, with a\nkeenly satirical and inquiring mind, chastened, however, by Christian\nfaith and love--a most devout communicant--was the voucher of these facts.\n\n\u201cRetiring to rest some years ago, late at night, she happened, on her way\nto her room, to look out of a window which opened on a court behind the\nhouse. To her surprise (she was not in the least a superstitious person,\nnor had her mind been travelling in a ghostly direction), she saw standing\nbeneath the window, in the full rays of the moonlight, the figure of a\nchild in white clothing, the arms crossed in prayer, the face inclining\nforward, with a kind of white cowl or head-covering, from the body of\nwhich child rays seemed to pass. She was not terrified, but amazed; and\nafter gazing fixedly some little while, during which the figure did not\nmove, she went to her room, and sent the nurse down to fetch something,\nwhere she would be likely to see the figure, without saying anything about\nit to her. The nurse returned speedily, white with fear, saying, \u2018Ma\u2019am,\ndid you see that wonderful thing all shining?\u2019 The lady inquired what she\nmeant. The servant\u2019s impressions were identical with her own. Neither of\nthem went to look again; but the lady thought within herself, that this\nmight be a warning sent from God to prepare her for the death of an elder\nchild, a daughter, whose figure and bearing, she thought, resembled that\nof the child enshrouded in white linen in the yard; and she consequently\nentertained a dread that that daughter might be taken from her. This did\nnot prove the case; but as another younger child--the very darling of the\nmother\u2019s heart, and an infant at the time of this singular\napparition--grew older, the idea was _borne in_ strongly upon the lady\u2019s\nmind, that that younger child would be taken from her about the time when\nit attained the apparent age and stature of the mysterious visitant, who\nseemed to be a little girl of about five years old. This, doubtless, might\nbe a fancy only: she had not seen the face, only the figure; and when this\ndear little one--a peculiarly sweet and engaging child--actually sickened,\nand at last, after a long illness, died, at about this age, the mother did\nnot dare take to herself the consolation it seemed likely to afford her,\nas a foreshadowing of her child\u2019s beatified rest. On the contrary, the\nmother\u2019s heart was distracted with doubts and fears.... There had been no\ndirect communion with God, as far as man could judge, near the last;\nrather a certain fretfulness, a turning from God to man, a clinging to the\nmother as her all. The Christian\u2019s heart was almost paralysed by the vast\nand unspeakable terror which took possession of her soul. Was her dear one\nindeed saved?... Although she thought all day long of this child,--I knew\nher at the time, and she seemed consumed by grief, fast breaking, though\nnever was God\u2019s house opened without her finding her way thither,--she had\nnever once dreamt of her, or seen her in her dreams, much to her own\nsurprise, and despite the constant craving of her aching heart. But at\nlast, one night she dreamt, and thus: that she had risen from her bed, and\nwas standing in her chamber; that the door softly opened, and her little\none came and sat upon the threshold, sweetly smiling. \u2018What, my own\ndarling! (she thought she said,) are you come back again to me?\u2019 \u2018Yes, my\nmamma,\u2019 replied the child. \u2018And are you happy, dearest?\u2019 \u2018Yes, quite\nhappy; but not for anything I have done,--only for the merit of my Lord.\u2019\nThe mother advanced and embraced her child, and thus embracing she awoke.\nAnd now wonderfully was it borne in upon her that the midnight apparition\nof so many years ago and the child of her dream were one. Her dream was so\nreal, that she could not but receive it as a divine intimation, a direct\nanswer to her prayers. She now felt and believed that her dear one was in\nParadise. For some weeks, despite her longings to renew the vision, she\nsaw her child no more. Then she did so once again, in a dream. She was\ncrossing a radiant garden, where she knew not; in its centre was a stately\nhall or cupola, and on the marble steps which led to it stood her sweet\none, looking pure and blessed. The mother bounded towards her, when she\nespied, within the hall, at the further end of a corridor or long passage,\nthe form of another child of hers still living! This sight terrified her;\nshe shrieked out, and shrieking she awoke. That child lives still, and may\nit long be preserved to the mother\u2019s prayers! But meanwhile, it is not a\nlittle remarkable, that during nearly three years which have elapsed,\ndespite every effort on the mother\u2019s part, she has never once dreamt of\nher darling! This is what contributes, with the vision of the radiant\nchild at first, to impart a supernatural character to the whole\ntransaction, and take these visitations out of the category of ordinary\ndreams. On my own mind there is not the smallest doubt that here was a\ntwo-fold supernatural intervention; firstly, vision,--seen, remember, _by\ntwo witnesses_; then by a most strangely corroborative dream.\u201d\n\nAnother example, shadowing forth the possible value and power of\nprayer,--\u201cthe effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man,\u201d--though\nbriefly told, is not without its own special interest in these days of\nIrreligion and Unbelief.\n\n\u201cAn English gentleman I knew well was residing in France; his only son was\na barrister in the Middle Temple Chambers in London. This son suffered\nfrom disease of the heart, not known to be immediately dangerous; he was a\nprofessed unbeliever--a scoffer, even; and had, alas! spoken lightly of\nRevelation the day before his death. A sudden, violent attack prostrated\nhim; and, after a few hours of suffering, he departed. That night, the\nfather, who was not aware of any immediate danger to his child, dreamt\nthat the spirit of his deceased wife appeared to him, and addressed him,\nsaying, \u2018Rise and pray! William is dying, and there are none to pray for\nhim!\u2019--or words to that effect. This dream was repeated, I believe,\nthrice. The father did rise, and remained in earnest intercessory prayer\n(he was a devout Christian man,) for the greater part of the night. This\nis a well-authenticated fact, the certainty of which may be relied on.\u201d\n\nThis chapter is brought to its close by a most impressive account of sweet\nand heavenly music which was heard near the dying bed of one, whose\npatience and devotion during sickness were as remarkable as her earthly\nlife had been pure and holy.\n\nIt is from the pen of one who for many years was a clergyman of the Church\nof England, but is now a Cistercian monk of the Monastery of Mount S.\nBernard, on the Charnwood Hills, in Leicestershire, and who is known in\nreligion as Father Augustine.\n\n\u201cOn the last day she [Mary, daughter of A. P. de Lisle, of Garendon Park,\nEsq.], longed much for a cup of cold water, but it was not thought good\nfor her; and so, when reminded of our Saviour\u2019s thirst on the Cross, she\noffered up her own thirst in union with His, and said she would ask for it\nno more.[68] Her faculties, however, continued entire and clear to the\nend, and by her particular request indulgenced prayers[69] were recited to\nher that she might frequently repeat them. Thus her life ebbed softly\naway; the last words on her lips being a prayer to her \u2018Sweet Saviour to\nhave mercy upon her.\u2019 And are not such things as these natural grounds for\nhaving a sure hope that she died in the favour of God? It is true that we\nhave even supernatural grounds in the fact that on the night before her\ndecease (whilst she was receiving with devout mind the last anointing of\nHoly Church to prepare her for her end) there was heard distinctly and by\nseveral persons the sound of a celestial chant, proceeding from her\nchamber, hymned by no earthly voices. Does not this look as if the blessed\nspirits themselves had been assisting to prepare her that she might soon\nbecome one of their company?\u201d\n\n\u201cFour men,\u201d continues the author of the Sermon from which the above is\ntaken, in a note to it, \u201cnone of them [Roman] Catholics, heard the\nchanting three several times. They all agreed in their conviction as to\nwhence it came, that it was from the chamber of the dying child. The third\ntime it was so loud that they could distinguish, as it were, the several\nvoices that blended in this celestial harmony, some of which sung the\ntreble notes, while others took the deeper parts. The character of the\nmusic was indescribably beautiful; and one of the men, who had been in the\nhabit of attending the Catholic service in S. Mary\u2019s chapel, at\nGr\u00e2ce-Dieu, declared that the style of it was exactly like that of the\nsolemn Plain Chant used in that chapel which he was accustomed to hear\nthere. They described the chanting as having no air in it that they could\ncarry away, but the effect was solemn and beautiful beyond expression.\nThey supposed, at the moment, that it was some service, according to the\nCatholic rites, which was being sung in the sick chamber by the priest and\nhis attendants. When they heard it, therefore, they were not surprised at\nthe sound, except that its beauty exceeded that of any religious service\nthey had ever heard; and it was not until the following morning, at the\nbreakfast hour, when relating what they had heard to their\nfellow-servants, and being then informed that there had been no service\n_chanted_ in the sick room, that the conviction flashed upon them, as upon\nall to whom these facts have been since related, that the chanting\nproceeded from heavenly spirits and departed saints, who had come hither\non an errand of mercy, to hedge round the dying bed of the departing\nchild.\u201d--Note, p. 13.\n\nThe Editor prefers to leave these varied records of the spiritual powers\nand properties of the Church, these different examples of the presence of\nthe Supernatural, to the consideration of the reader; himself declining\neither to lay down principles, frame arguments, or draw deductions from\nfacts already set forth.\n\n\nAPPENDIX TO CHAPTER III.\n\nTHE FORM OF EXORCISING THE POSSESSED.\n\n[TRANSLATED FROM THE \u201cROMAN RITUAL.\u201d]\n\n_The Priest, having confessed, or at least hating sin in his heart, and\nhaving said Mass, if it possibly and conveniently can be done, and humbly\nimplored the Divine help, vested in surplice and violet stole, the end of\nwhich he shall place round the neck of the one possessed, and having the\npossessed person before him, and bound if there be danger of violence,\nshall sign himself, the person, and those standing by, with the sign of\nthe Cross, and sprinkle them with holy water, and kneeling down, the\nothers making the responses, shall say the Litany as far as the prayers._\n\n_At the end the Antiphon._ Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the\noffences of our forefathers, neither take Thou vengeance of our sins.\n\nOur Father. _Secretly._\n\n\u2123 And lead us not into temptation.\n\n\u211f But deliver us from evil.\n\n\n_Psalm_ liv.\n\n_Deus, in Nomine._\n\n_The whole shall be said with_ Glory be to the Father.\n\n\u2123 Save Thy servant,\n\n\u211f O my God, that putteth his trust in Thee.\n\n\u2123 Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower,\n\n\u211f From the face of his enemy.\n\n\u2123 Let the enemy have no advantage of him,\n\n\u211f Nor the son of wickedness approach to hurt him.\n\n\u2123 Send him help, O Lord, from the sanctuary,\n\n\u211f And strengthen him out of Sion.\n\n\u2123 Lord, hear my prayer,\n\n\u211f And let my cry come unto Thee.\n\n\u2123 The Lord be with you,\n\n\u211f And with thy spirit.\n\n\nLet us pray.\n\nO God, Whose property is ever to have mercy and to forgive: receive our\nsupplications and prayers, that of Thy mercy and loving-kindness Thou wilt\nset free this Thy servant (or handmaid) who is fast bound by the chain of\nhis sins.\n\nO holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist: Who hast assigned that tyrant and apostate to the fires of hell;\nand hast sent Thine Only Begotten Son into the world, that He might bruise\nhim as he roars after his prey: make haste, tarry not, to deliver this\nman, created in Thine Own image and likeness, from ruin, and from the\nnoon-day devil (_d\u00e6monio meridiano_; in our version, \u201cthe sickness that\ndestroyeth in the noon-day\u201d). Send Thy fear, O Lord, upon the wild beast,\nwhich devoureth Thy vine. Grant Thy servants boldness to fight bravely\nagainst that wicked dragon, lest he despise them that put their trust in\nThee, and say, as once he spake in Pharaoh: I know not the Lord, neither\nwill I let Israel go. Let Thy right hand in power compel him to depart\nfrom Thy servant N. (or Thy handmaid N.) \u2720, that he dare no longer to hold\nhim captive, whom Thou hast vouchsafed to make in Thine image, and hast\nredeemed in Thy Son; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the Unity of the\nHoly Spirit, ever One God, world without end. Amen.\n\n_Then he shall command the spirit in this manner._\n\nI command thee, whosoever thou art, thou unclean spirit, and all thy\ncompanions possessing this servant of God, that by the Mysteries of the\nIncarnation, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nby the sending of the Holy Ghost, and by the Coming of the same our Lord\nto judgment, thou tell me thy name, the day, and the hour of thy going\nout, by some sign: and, that to me, a minister of God, although unworthy,\nthou be wholly obedient in all things: nor hurt this creature of God, or\nthose that stand by, or their goods in any way.\n\n_Then shall these Gospels, or one or the other, be read over the\npossessed._\n\nThe Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. John i. 1. _As he says these\nwords he shall sign himself and the possessed on the forehead, mouth, and\nbreast._ In the beginning was the Word ... full of grace and truth.\n\nThe Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Mark xvi. 15. At that time:\nJesus spake unto His disciples: Go ye into all the world ... shall lay\nhands on the sick, and they shall recover.\n\nThe Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke x. 17. At that time:\nThe seventy returned again with joy ... because your names are written in\nheaven.\n\nThe Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke xi. 14. At that time:\nJesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb ... wherein he trusted, and\ndivideth his spoils.\n\n\u2123 Lord, hear my prayer,\n\n\u211f And let my cry come unto Thee.\n\n\u2123 The Lord be with you,\n\n\u211f And with thy Spirit.\n\n\nLet us pray.\n\nAlmighty Lord, Word of God the Father, Jesus Christ, God and Lord of every\ncreature: Who didst give to Thy Holy Apostles power to tread upon serpents\nand scorpions: Who amongst other of Thy wonderful commands didst vouchsafe\nto say--Put the devils to flight: by Whose power Satan fell from heaven\nlike lightning: with supplication I beseech Thy Holy Name in fear and\ntrembling, that to me Thy most unworthy servant, granting me pardon of all\nmy faults, Thou wilt vouchsafe to give constancy of faith and power, that\nshielded by the might of Thy holy arm, in trust and safety I may approach\nto attack this cruel devil, through Thee, O Jesus Christ, the Lord our\nGod, Who shalt come to judge the quick and the dead, and the world by\nfire. Amen.\n\n\n_Then defending himself and the possessed with the sign of the Cross,\nputting part of his stole round the neck, and his right hand upon the head\nof the possessed, firmly and with great faith he shall say what follows._\n\n\u2123 Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee ye of the contrary part.\n\n\u211f The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed.\n\n\u2123 Lord, hear my prayer,\n\n\u211f And let my cry come unto Thee.\n\n\u2123 The Lord be with you,\n\n\u211f And with thy spirit.\n\n\nLet us pray.\n\nO God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon Thy Holy Name, and\nhumbly implore Thy mercy, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to grant me help\nagainst this, and every unclean spirit, that vexes this Thy creature.\nThrough the same Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\nTHE EXORCISM.\n\nI exorcise thee, most foul spirit, every coming in of the enemy, every\napparition, every legion; in the Name of our Lord Jesus \u2720 Christ be rooted\nout, and be put to flight from this creature of God \u2720. He commands thee,\nWho has bid thee be cast down from the highest heaven into the lower parts\nof the earth. He commands thee, Who has commanded the sea, the winds, and\nthe storms. Hear therefore, and fear, Satan, thou injurer of the faith,\nthou enemy of the human race, thou procurer of death, thou destroyer of\nlife, kindler of vices, seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, inciter\nof envy, origin of avarice, cause of discord, stirrer-up of troubles: why\nstandest thou, and resistest, when thou knowest that Christ the Lord\ndestroyest thy ways? Fear Him, Who was sacrificed in Isaac, Who was sold\nin Joseph, was slain in the Lamb, was crucified in man, thence was the\ntriumpher over hell. _The following signs of the Cross shall be made upon\nthe forehead of the possessed._ Depart therefore in the Name of the Father\n\u2720, and of the Son \u2720, and of the Holy \u2720 Ghost: give place to the Holy\nGhost, by this sign of the holy \u2720 Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord: Who with\nthe Father, and the same Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever one God,\nworld without end. Amen.\n\n\u2123 Lord, hear my prayer.\n\n\u211f And let my cry come unto Thee.\n\n\u2123 The Lord be with you.\n\n\u211f And with thy spirit.\n\n\nLet us pray.\n\nO God, the Creator and Protector of the human race, Who hast formed man in\nThine own Image: look upon this Thy servant N. (_or_ this Thy handmaid\nN.), who is grievously vexed with the wiles of an unclean spirit, whom the\nold adversary, the ancient enemy of the earth, encompasses with a horrible\ndread, and blinds the senses of his human understanding with stupor,\nconfounds him with terror, and harasses him with trembling and fear. Drive\naway, O Lord, the power of the devil, take away his deceitful snares: let\nthe impious tempter fly far hence: let Thy servant be defended by the sign\n\u2720 (_on his forehead_) of Thy Name, and be safe both in body, and soul.\n(_The three following crosses shall be made on the breast of the\ndemoniac._) Do Thou guard his inmost \u2720 soul, Thou rule his inward \u2720 parts,\nThou strengthen his \u2720 heart. Let the attempts of the opposing power in his\nsoul vanish away. Grant, O Lord, grace to this invocation of Thy most Holy\nName, that he who up to this present was causing terror, may flee away\naffrighted, and depart conquered; and that this Thy servant, strengthened\nin heart, and sincere in mind, may render Thee his due service. Through\nour Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.\n\n\nTHE EXORCISM.\n\nI adjure thee, thou old serpent, by the Judge of the quick and the dead,\nby thy Maker, and the Maker of the world: by Him, Who hath power to put\nthee into hell, that thou depart in haste from this servant of God N., who\nreturns to the bosom of the Church, with thy fear and with the torment of\nthy terror. I adjure Thee again \u2720 (_on his forehead_), not in my\ninfirmity, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, that thou go out of this\nservant of God N., whom the Almighty God hath made in His Own Image.\nYield, therefore, not to me, but to the minister of Christ. For His power\npresses upon thee Who subdued thee beneath His Cross. Tremble at His arm,\nwhich, after the groanings of hell were subdued, led forth the souls into\nlight. Let the body \u2720 (_on his breast_) of man be a terror to thee, let\nthe image of God \u2720 (_on his forehead_) be an alarm to thee. Resist not,\nnor delay to depart from this person, for it has pleased Christ to dwell\nin man. And think not that I am to be despised, since thou knowest that I\ntoo am so great a sinner. God \u2720 commands thee. The majesty of Christ \u2720\ncommands thee. God the Father \u2720 commands thee. God the Son \u2720 commands\nthee. God the Holy \u2720 Ghost commands thee. The Sacrament of the Cross \u2720\ncommands thee. The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all\nthe other Saints \u2720, commands thee. The blood of the Martyrs \u2720 commands\nthee. The stedfastness (_continentia_) of the Confessors \u2720 commands thee.\nThe devout intercession of all the Saints \u2720 commands thee. The virtue of\nthe Mysteries of the Christian Faith \u2720 commands thee. Go out, therefore,\nthou transgressor. Go out, thou seducer, full of all deceit and wile, thou\nenemy of virtue, thou persecutor of innocence. Give place, thou most dire\none: give place, thou most impious one: give place to Christ in Whom thou\nhast found nothing of thy works: Who hath overcome thee, Who hath\ndestroyed thy kingdom, Who hath led thee captive and bound thee, and hath\nspoiled thy goods: Who hath cast thee into outer darkness, where for thee\nand thy servants everlasting destruction is prepared. But why, O fierce\none, dost thou withstand? why, rashly bold, dost thou refuse? thou art the\naccused of Almighty God, whose laws thou hast broken. Thou art the accused\nof Jesus Christ our Lord, whom thou hast dared to tempt, and presumed to\ncrucify. Thou art the accused of the human race, to whom by thy persuasion\nthou hast given to drink thy poison. Therefore, I adjure thee, most wicked\ndragon, in the Name of the immaculate \u2720 Lamb, Who treads upon the lion and\nadder, Who tramples under foot the young lion and the dragon, that thou\ndepart from this man \u2720 (_let the sign be made upon his forehead_), that\nthou depart from the Church of God \u2720 (_let the sign he made over those who\nare standing by_): tremble, and flee away at the calling upon the Name of\nthat Lord, of Whom hell is afraid; to Whom the Virtues, the Powers, and\nthe Dominions of the heavens are subject; Whom Cherubim and Seraphim with\nunwearied voices praise, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.\nThe Word \u2720 made Flesh commands thee. He Who was born \u2720 of the Virgin\ncommands thee. Jesus \u2720 of Nazareth commands thee; Who, although thou didst\ndespise His disciples, bade thee go bruised and overthrown out of the man:\nand in his presence, having separated thee from him, thou didst not\npresume to enter into the herd of swine. Therefore, thus now adjured in\nHis Name \u2720, depart from the man, whom He has formed. It is hard for thee\nto wish to resist \u2720. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks \u2720.\nBecause the more slowly goest thou out, does the greater punishment\nincrease against thee, for thou despisest not men, but Him, Who is Lord\nboth of the quick and the dead, Who shall come to judge the quick and the\ndead, and the World by fire. \u211f Amen.\n\n\u2123 Lord, hear my prayer.\n\n\u211f And let my cry come unto thee.\n\n\u2123 The Lord be with you.\n\n\u211f And with thy spirit.\n\n\nLet us pray.\n\nO God of heaven, God of earth, God of the Angels, God of the Archangels,\nGod of the Prophets, God of the Apostles, God of the Martyrs, God of the\nVirgins, God, Who hast the power to give life after death, rest after\nlabour; because there is none other God beside Thee, nor could be true,\nbut Thou, the Creator of heaven and earth, Who art the true King, and of\nWhose kingdom there shall be no end: humbly I beseech Thy glorious\nmajesty, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to deliver this Thy servant from\nunclean spirits, through Christ our Lord. Amen.\n\n\nTHE EXORCISM.\n\nI therefore adjure thee, thou most foul spirit, every appearance, every\ninroad of Satan, in the Name of Jesus Christ \u2720 of Nazareth, Who, after His\nbaptism in Jordan, was led into the wilderness, and overcame thee in thine\nown stronghold: that thou cease to assault him whom He hath formed from\nthe dust of the earth for His own honour and glory: and that thou in\nmiserable man tremble not at human weakness, but at the image of Almighty\nGod. Yield, therefore, to God \u2720 Who by His servant Moses drowned thee and\nthy malice in Pharaoh and his army in the depths of the sea. Yield to God\n\u2720, Who put thee to flight when driven out of King Saul with spiritual\nsong, by his most faithful servant David. Yield thyself to God \u2720, Who\ncondemned thee in the traitor Judas Iscariot. For He touches thee with\nDivine \u2720 stripes, when in His sight, trembling and crying out with thy\nlegions, thou saidst: What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the Most\nHigh God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? He presses\nupon thee with perpetual flames, Who shall say to the wicked at the end of\ntime--Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the\ndevil and his angels. For thee, O impious one, and for thy angels, is the\nworm that dieth not; for thee and thy angels is the fire unquenchable\nprepared: for thou art the chief of accursed murder, thou the author of\nincest, thou the head of sacrileges, thou the master of the worst actions,\nthou the teacher of heretics, thou the instigator of all uncleanness.\nTherefore go out \u2720, thou wicked one, go out \u2720, thou infamous one, go out\nwith all thy deceits; for God hath willed that man shall be His temple.\nBut why dost thou delay longer here? Give honour to God the Father \u2720\nAlmighty, before Whom every knee is bent. Give place to Jesus Christ \u2720 the\nLord, Who shed for man His most precious Blood. Give place to the Holy \u2720\nGhost, Who by His blessed apostle Peter struck thee to the ground in Simon\nMagus; Who condemned thy deceit in Ananias and Sapphira; Who smote thee in\nHerod, because he gave not God the glory; Who by His apostle Paul smote\nthee in Elymas the sorcerer with a mist and darkness, and by the same\napostle by his word of command bade thee come out of the damsel possessed\nwith the spirit of divination. Now therefore depart \u2720, depart, thou\nseducer. The wilderness is thy abode. The serpent is the place of thy\nhabitation: be humbled, and be overthrown. There is no time now for delay.\nFor behold the Lord the Ruler approaches closely upon thee, and His fire\nshall glow before Him, and shall go before Him; and shall burn up His\nenemies on every side. If thou hast deceived man, God thou canst not\nscoff: One expels thee, from Whose Sight nothing is hidden. He casts thee\nout, to Whose power all things are subject. He shuts thee out, Who hast\nprepared for thee and for thine angels everlasting hell; out of Whose\nmouth the sharp sword shall go out, when He shall come to judge the quick\nand the dead, and the World by fire. Amen.\n\n\n_All the aforesaid things being said and done, so far as there shall be\nneed, they shall be repeated, until the possessed person be entirely set\nfree._\n\n_The following which are noted down will be of great assistance, said\ndevoutly over the possessed, and also frequently to repeat the_ Our\nFather, Hail Mary, _and_ Creed.\n\n_The Canticle._ Magnificat.\n\n_The Canticle._ Benedictus.\n\n\n_The Creed of S. Athanasius._\n\n_Quicunque vult._\n\nPsalm xci. _Qui habitat._\n\nPsalm lxviii. _Exurgat Deus._\n\nPsalm lxx. _Deus in adjutorium._\n\nPsalm liv. _In Nomine Tuo._\n\nPsalm cxviii. _Confitemini Domino._\n\nPsalm xxxv. _Judica, Domine._\n\nPsalm xxxi. _In Te, Domine, speravi._\n\nPsalm xxii. _Deus, Deus meus._\n\nPsalm iii. _Domini, quid multiplicati?_\n\nPsalm xi. _In Domino confido._\n\nPsalm xiii. _Usque quo, Domine?_\n\n_Each Psalm shall be said with_ Glory be to the Father, &c.\n\n\n_Prayer after being set free._\n\nWe pray Thee, O Almighty God, that the spirit of wickedness may have no\nmore power over this Thy servant N. (_or_ Thy handmaid N.), but that he\nmay flee away, and never come back again: at Thy bidding, O Lord, let\nthere come into him (_or_ her) the goodness and peace of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, by Whom we have been redeemed, and let us fear no evil, for the\nLord is with us, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the Unity of the\nHoly Ghost, ever one God, world without end. \u211f Amen.\n\n\n\n\nWITCHCRAFT AND NECROMANCY.\n\n\n\u201cTo deny the possibility, nay actual existence of Witchcraft and Sorcery,\nis at once flatly to contradict the revealed Word of God, in various\npassages both of the Old and New Testament; and the thing itself is a\ntruth to which every Nation in the World hath in its turn borne testimony,\neither by examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory laws, which\nat least suppose the possibility of commerce with evil\nspirits.\u201d--Blackstone\u2019s \u201cCommentaries,\u201d book iv. chap. iv. p. 61.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nWITCHCRAFT AND NECROMANCY.\n\n\nWitchcraft is the system of those persons who, through the direct agency\nof wicked spirits, perform certain acts and deeds beyond the natural and\nordinary powers of mankind.[70] On the other hand, Necromancy, according\nto the definition of Cotgrave, is \u201cdivination by conference with dead\nbodies raised.\u201d In its modern and wider acceptation, the latter is a\nformal summoning of the spirits of the dead out of the hidden place of\ntheir abode--\u201cthe desert where they glide,\u201d--in order to consult with them\nas to the present or future by unlawful means, and to secure their active\nassistance in supernatural things and practices which are forbidden.\n\nThe invocation and consultation of evil spirits specially summoned to\nearth by certain recognized incantations, would be acts of Witchcraft and\nNecromancy. Of these cases, abundant examples occur both in sacred[71] and\nprofane history.[72]\n\nTo the wizard or witch were freely given by the Devil or his angels divers\npowers at once supernatural and uncommon, by which, when sought for, both\nriches and sensual pleasures could for a while be secured, even to\nsurfeiting. Occasionally the gift of predicting certain future events was\nbestowed; in other cases, the power of working evil and mischief upon the\nlives, limbs, and fortunes of neighbours or chosen subjects. This power,\nas was commonly believed, was bestowed by an express and definite compact,\nas some declare, formally made in writing by the Devil or his agents, and\nsealed with the wizard\u2019s or witch\u2019s own blood. By the unvarying terms of\nthe bond, as an essential preliminary, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism was\nexpressly renounced by the person accepting the Devil\u2019s terms and\nconditions. Satan was formally worshipped, prayed to, and acknowledged as\nRuler and Lord; and then, after a certain number of years, as a necessary\nconsequence, the soul of the wizard or witch, without any chance of\nredemption, was irrevocably lost, and became absolutely the everlasting\nproperty of the Evil One.\n\nThe existence of this detail of the Supernatural, sometimes dimly and\nobscurely set forth, at others with undoubted and remarkable clearness,\nowns in its favour the almost universal consent of the human race[73] in\nall ages. Even the incredulity of the modern persons, who term themselves\n\u201cphilosophers\u201d and \u201cthinkers,\u201d cannot be reasonably alleged in\ncontravention of so broad and general a fact; for these \u201cphilosophers\u201d\nthemselves admit as much when, in their great wisdom, they proceed to\ncharacterize the opposite disposition--the readiness to accept such\nfacts--as \u201cvulgar\u201d and \u201cpopular.\u201d\n\nIt is impossible to point to any period when the belief in Witchcraft and\nNecromancy was perfectly obliterated, or to any nation which altogether\nrepudiated it.[74] If one particular phase was removed, discredited, or\ndiscountenanced, some other form, substantially and inherently similar,\neventually took its place. Holy Scripture[75] is full of references to\nWitchcraft and Necromancy. The dark rites and deeds involved in their\npractice are distinctly and unequivocally condemned. If such had not\nactively existed, why should their condemnation have been pronounced in\nthe Sacred Books? Supernatural acts are there recorded, which are\nexpressly said to have been performed by and through the system and power\nof Witchcraft, which is plainly declared to be a sin of a very dark dye.\nThe practice, consequently, is directly and plainly forbidden, as being\ncontrary to the Mind and Will of God; and laws were enacted and put on\nrecord by which those who, in the face of warnings, continued to practise\nsuch forbidden arts, were to be punished by death.\n\nIt is equally clear from certain of the Epistles of the Apostles of our\nBlessed Lord, that the fact of Witchcraft and Necromancy being commonly\npractised by Pagan nations was not only perfectly well known[76] to the\nguides and rulers of the Christian Church, but was again formally\nforbidden by those who were left to teach in the Name and on behalf of\ntheir Lord and Master. Nothing, in fact, can be more certain than that the\nApostles condemned and prohibited the consultation of, or intercourse\nwith, either the spirits of the departed or evil angels.\n\nHere a few remarks defining and setting forth the principle on which such\nunlawful arts were authoritatively prohibited, may reasonably follow.\n\nBy the very act of his profession the Christian allows the co-existence in\nthe World of two distinct and separable orders,--the Natural, which\ngoverns the physical and moral laws of the world, and the Supernatural,\nwhich, according to God\u2019s Revelation, gradually unfolded and duly\ndeveloped, governs the moral laws of man. The object of man\u2019s faith is\nmystery, certain in itself, but above human intelligence. He yields the\nhomage of his will not only to a God Who is the Great Creator and\nPreserver of the world and of all that therein is, but renders it to a God\nWho is the Repairer and Restorer of the human race by the Incarnation of\nthe Eternal Word, and the Sanctifier of souls. This supernatural order,\nthen, was not only known and established in the earth by other\nsupernatural facts, but the visible testimony of Nature to the invisible\norder superior to and above Nature, was from time to time, and when\nnecessary, abundantly made manifest. The Supernatural, then, exists in the\nWorld to lead men to God. Everything, therefore, that rises up in\nopposition to the Supernatural and mars the true idea of it, of necessity\nturns man away from God. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, each and all\n(as Christian experience by temptation testifies,) effect this most\nsuccessfully.\n\nThe World, which has been defined as \u201cthe rebellion of the reason against\nGod,\u201d scorns to accept miracles and mysteries, and boldly denies the\nexistence both of angels and fallen spirits--scoffing at and repudiating\nthe idea of Witchcraft or Necromancy, which it craftily characterizes as\n\u201cthe foolish and ignorant superstitions of a dark age.\u201d Furthermore, the\nWorld admits of no truth superior to the human intellect, of no law which\nrestricts what is called \u201chuman liberty\u201d or the \u201crights of man;\u201d and\nabsolutely refuses to acknowledge in the domain of facts anything which\noversteps those fixed rules which it alone chooses to recognize in the\ngovernment of Nature.\n\nThe Flesh tends to degrade man to the level of the beasts, with whom he\nhas in common notable tendencies and powerful passions. To the carnal man,\nwho is at enmity with God, the very term \u201cSupernatural\u201d is a word void\nboth of meaning and efficacy. His motto is, \u201cLet us eat and drink, for\nto-morrow we die:\u201d his conviction, as far as he may be said to have any,\nis that his own soul is nothing more than \u201ca force which has its origin in\nmatter itself,\u201d and which, by consequence, shares its destruction; while\nhis God is simply either \u201ca stream of tendency, by which all things tend\nto fulfil the law of their being,\u201d or \u201ca substance immanent in the\nuniverse.\u201d[77]\n\nThirdly, the Devil, through hatred both of God and man, strives in every\nway to substitute himself for God in this World. He is the Prince of the\nPowers of the air. He is stronger and more knowing than man. His intellect\nis clearer and finer. Moreover, his kingdom is powerful; his spiritual\nauxiliaries are numerous; his allies on earth, of all kinds, in the flesh,\nare multitudinous. The deeds which he delights that men should do are\nperfectly well known.[78] By counterfeiting genuine prodigies and true\nrevelations, therefore, he draws men into the deadly meshes of a degrading\nand damnable superstition, by means of a delusive and lying\nsupernaturalism. And the mischief resulting from such an active and\nsuccessful policy is by no means on the wane, if they are not surely on\nthe increase, in these dangerous latter days. True that in England the\nlaws against Witchcraft are abolished,[79] but history, fairly consulted\nand faithfully read, tells us that not a century has elapsed since the\ncommencement of the Christian era without its demoniacal apparitions and\ncertain examples of Necromancy and Witchcraft. While this is so, of course\nno intention is entertained by the Editor of denying the common belief of\nthe Universal Church, that by and through the Incarnation and Sacrifice of\nthe Ever-Blessed Son of God the powers and influence of the Enemy of souls\nhave been materially and efficiently crippled.[80]\n\nHaving thus digressed for an obvious purpose, it is now needful to return\nto the particular subject of this section, upon which some light will, in\ndue course, be found to have been thrown, by the above brief expositions\nof principles; in the consideration and by the aid of which the strange\nfacts and singular records which follow will appear in their proper place,\nwhen the important subject of the Supernatural, as brought out, incident\nupon incident, by historical records and authentic accounts, is under\nconsideration.\n\nThat Witchcraft and Necromancy were publicly recognized as facts by the\nFathers of the Christian Church is indisputable; while the existence of an\norder of ministers known as \u201cexorcists,\u201d acting from time to time, as\noccasion required or necessity demanded, in casting out evil spirits, is a\nsufficient proof of the watchful care and beneficent action of the\nUniversal Church, at once authoritative, indefectible, and divine.[81]\n\nIn 1484, Pope Innocent VIII. issued a Bull against Witchcraft, upon the\npromulgation of which, treatises were drawn up for the guidance of local\nbishops, chancellors, and other ecclesiastical officials, in the necessary\nlabour of bringing hardened offenders to justice. This Bull was renewed in\nthe latter part of the fifteenth century, by Pope Alexander VI., so that\nthe subject of Witchcraft gained unusual attention about that period.\n\nAs a matter of fact, it is computed that in the year 1515, no less than\nfive hundred witches were burnt in Geneva alone, and the same was the case\nin other parts of Christendom,--a proof at once of the craft and power of\nSatan, and of the demoralization of those who had deliberately elected to\nbecome his servants and slaves. The earliest statute against Witchcraft\nenacted in England, was passed in the reign of King Henry VI.; and\nadditional laws of great stringency and severity, sorely needed, were\nenacted under the Tudors, by Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, and James I. In\nthe year 1604, the great Act of Parliament against Witchcraft, drawn up\nby Coke and Bacon, was passed; and it is asserted that no less than twelve\nbishops attended the Committee of the House of Lords when the Bill was\nunder discussion. Sir Matthew Hale and Sir Thomas Browne, men of high\nlegal and literary rank and mark, each gave evidence at the trials which\nspeedily followed. In this particular, as in some others, England followed\nGeneva. Between the years 1565 and 1700, eleven wizards or sorcerers were\nburnt at the stake in the Carrefour du Bordage, in Guernsey, the square\ndevoted by the city authorities of that island to this kind of punishment.\nThe last case of death for Witchcraft there took place in 1747.\n\nIt may here be put on record that at the period of the Reformation, and\nduring the succeeding century, the power of casting out devils was claimed\nexclusively by those who remained in visible communion with the See of\nRome, and many Roman Catholic writers of those periods maintained that no\nsuch power belonged either to any teacher of heresy or to schismatics.[82]\nBut many of the Puritans, knowing that the act of exorcism, like baptism,\nwas not essentially a sacerdotal act (for if baptism may be validly\nconfirmed by a deacon, it may, with equal validity, be bestowed by a\nlayman), maintained the power to be inherent in any Christian man (with\nright disposition and following recognized and authorized rules) of\ncasting out evil spirits; and, in consequence, declined altogether to\nrepudiate the clear and plain records and statements of Holy Scripture\nconcerning Witchcraft and Necromancy. They therefore made several attempts\nto secure the official authorization of a form for exorcism, framed after\nthe old and customary rite, to be printed in the \u201cBook of Common Prayer.\u201d\nThis, however, was never done. But in 1604 the subject was duly\nconsidered, and determined upon in the seventy-second Canon, which, as has\nbeen already pointed out, properly and stringently forbad to the clergy\nthe practice of exorcism without a special license or faculty from the\nBishop of the diocese.\n\nAs to the facts of Witchcraft and Necromancy, it is quite impossible to\ndeny their existence. Records of the plainest character, legal evidence\nand literary testimony of undisputed authority,[83] may be discovered,\nwhich very luminously set forth what was believed on the subject; and this\nnot alone by the ignorant, but by the learned and well-informed. The only\ndifficulty is to make a suitable selection from that evidence which so\nabundantly exists; being careful that such selection shall not set forth\nmerely one aspect of the subject, but several, and leaving each account to\ntell its own story. This it is now proposed briefly to attempt.\n\nFor example, in the year 1599, a girl named Martha Brossier, of\nRomorantin, in Berry, was reputed to be possessed, and excited a\nconsiderable sensation in Paris. At the suggestion of the then Bishop of\nParis, the King ordered a Committee composed of the most eminent\nphysicians, to examine and report on her case. The physicians appointed\nwere Marescot, Ellain, Haulin, Riolan, and Duet; and their Report, which\nis exceedingly curious, will be found translated into English by Abraham\nHartwell, and published towards the close of the sixteenth century.[84]\nThe dedication to his Majesty proceeds thus:--\n\n\u201cSire, by the commandment of Your Majestie, we have set down briefely and\ntruly that which wee have found in our visiting of Martha Brossier.... We\npresent the same unto Your Majestie without any art, without any painted\nshow, without any flourish, but with a naked Simplicitie, the faithful\ncompanion of Truth, which you have desired from us in this matter and\nwhich you have always loved and curiously sought.\u201d The Report then\ncontinues: \u201cWe the undersigned Doctors Regents in the facultie of\nphysicke in the Universitie of Paris, touching the matter of Martha\nBrossier, a maide of the age of two-and-twenty yeres or thereabouts, born\nat Romorantin in Berry, who was brought unto us in the chappel of my Lord\nof Saint Genefue [Genevi\u00e8ve], and who we saw sometimes in constitution,\ncountenance and speech as a person sounde of bodie and minde, ... do say\nin our consciences, and certify that which followeth: that all which is\nbefore set down (referring to the character of her fits) must be referred\nto one of these three causes--sicknesse, counterfeiting, or diabolicall\npossession. For the opinion that it proceedeth from sicknesse, we are\nclerely excluded from that, for the agitations and motions we observed\ntherein doe retain nothing of the nature of sickness, nay not of those\ndiseases whereunto of the first sight they might have resembled; it being\nneither an epilepsie or falling sickness, which always supposes the loss\nof sense and judgment, nor the passion which we call hysterica, ... nor\nany of the foure motions proceeding from diseases, that is to say,\nshivering, trembling, panting, and convulsion, or indeede if there doe\nappeare any convulsion; and that a man will so call the turning up of her\neyes, the gnashing of her teeth, the writhing of her chaps (which are\nalmost ordinarie with this maide while she is in her fittes); the\nconfidence which the priest hath when he openeth her mouth, and holdeth it\nopen with his finger within it, testifying sufficiently that they doe not\nproceede from, nor are caused by, any disease, considering that in\ndiseases he that hath a convulsion is not master of that part or member\nwherein it is, having neither any power of election or command over it,\nand particularly which is in the convulsion of the jawes, which is most\nviolent of all the rest, the finger of the priest should bee no more\nrespected nor spared than the finger of any other man. Moreover, diseases,\nand the motions also of diseases (especially those that are violent),\nleave the body feeble, the visage pale, and the breath panting. This\nmaide, at the end of her fittes, was found to be as little moved and\nchanged in pulse, colour, countenance, and breath, as ever she was before;\nyea, which is the more to be noted, as little at the end of her exorcisme\nas at the beginning, at evening as in the morning, at the last day as at\nthe first. Touching the point of counterfeiting, the insensibilitie of her\nbodie during her extasies and furies, tried by the deepe prickings of long\npinnes, which were thrust into divers parts of her hands, and afterwards\nplucked out againe, without any show that ever she made of feeling the\nsame, either in the putting in of them, or the taking out of them, a\ngriefe which, without majicke and without speech, could not, in our\nopinion, be indured, without any countenance or show thereof, neither by\nthe constancie of the most courageous, nor by the stoutnesse of the most\nwicked, nor by the stronge conceit of the most criminall malefactores,\ntook from us almost the suspicion of it, but much more persuaded us from\nthat opinion, the thin and slender foam that in her mad fits we saw issue\nout of her mouth, which she had no means to be abel to counterfeit. And\nyet more than all this, the very consideration before mentioned of the\nlittle or no change at all that was seene in her person after all these\nmost sharpe and very long pangs, (a thing which nobody in the world did\never trie in their most moderate exercises,) we are driven, even till this\nhoure, by all the lawes of discourse and knowledge, yea, and almost forced\nto beleeve that this maide is a demoniacke, and the Devill dwelling in her\nis the Author of these effects. If wee had seen that which my Lord of St.\nGenefue and many others doe report,--that this maide was lifted up into\nthe ayre more than four foote above five or six strong persons that held\nher,--it would have been an argument to us of an extraordinarie power,\nover and beyond the common nature and condition of man. But not being\npresente at that wonder, we doe give a testamonie of our knowledge, which\nis as much or rather more admirable than that force and power was, viz.,\nthat being demanded, and in her exercising commanded, my Lord of Paris\nfurnishing the priest with questions and interrogatories, this maide\ndivers and sundrie times, by many persons of qualitie and worthie of\ncredit, was seene and heard to obey and answere to purpose, not only in\nthe Latin tongue, (wherein it had not been impertinent peradventure to\nhave suspected some collusion,) but also in Greeke and in English, and\nthat upon the sudden. She did, we say once againe, understande the Greeke\nand English languages, wherein we beleeve, as it is very likely that she\nwas never studied, so that there was no collusion used with her, neither\ncould she invent or imagine the interpretations thereof. It resteth,\ntherefore, even in the judgment of Aristotle in the like case, that they\nwere inspired unto her.\u201d The Report then concludes with this solemn\ndeclaration: \u201cBy reason whereof, and considering also, under correction,\nthat Saint Luke, who was both a physician and an evangelist, describing\nthe persons out of whose bodies our Lord and his apostles did drive the\ndevils left unto us, none other or any greater signes than those which wee\nthink wee have seene in this case, wee are the more induced and almost\nconfirmed to beleeve and to conclude as before, taking God for a Witness\nof our consciences in the matter. Made at Paris, this 3rd April, 1599.\u201d\n\nOn this Report, as may be gathered from the tractate referred to, it is\nevident and notorious that the physicians Marescot, Ellain, Haulin,\nRiolan, and Duet, were all men of scientific attainments and unimpeachable\nmoral integrity; the same facts were also witnessed and formally attested\nby the Bishop of Paris, the Abbot of Genevi\u00e8ve, and other competent\nobservers.\n\nAnother case, that of a girl named Anne Millner, or Mylner, of Chester,\nabout the year 1564, deserves consideration. The record here given is\ntaken from a pamphlet of considerable interest.[85] Some curious facts\nconnected with it are attested by Sir William Calverley, Sir William\nSneyd, Lady Calverley, and other persons of distinction who then lived at\nChester. The description of the paroxysm is extremely graphic:--\u201cWe went,\u201d\nsays the Report, which is signed by the above-named persons, \u201cat about two\nof the clocke in the afternoone of the same 16th day of February and there\nfound the mayden in her traunce, after her accustomed manner lying in a\nbed within the haule, her eyes half shut, half open, looking as she had\nbeen agast, never moving either eye or eyelid, her teeth something open,\nwith her tongue doubling betweene, her face somewhat red, her head as\nheavy as leade to lift at; there she laid, still as a stone, and feeling\nher pulse it beat in as good measure as if she had been in perfect\nhealth.\u201d The Report then describes her becoming violently convulsed: \u201cShe\nlifted herself up in her bed, bending backwards in such order that almost\nher head and fete met, falling down on the one side, then on the other.\u201d A\nperson of the name of Lane, who was reputed to possess great power over\ndemoniacs, was then called in, who first, as the Report expresses it,\n\u201cwilled\u201d that she should speak, and then \u201cwilled\u201d that she should rise and\ndress herself, all which she did, to the astonishment of the bystanders;\nand a Certificate to that effect was signed by all present on March 8,\n1564.\n\nIn Lancashire seven persons belonging to one family were reputed to be\nunder the direct influence of evil spirits, or in a certain state of\nbewitchment, exhibiting signs of demoniacal possession. The pamphlet, the\ntitle of which is given below,[86] puts on record what in this case is\nreported to have occurred: \u201cThese possessed persons had every one\nsomething peculiar to herselfe which none of the rest did shew, and that\nso rare and straunge that all the people were obliged to confesse it was\nthe worke of an evil spirit within them; so had they many things in\ncommon, and were handled for the most part in their fittes alike.... They\nhad all every one very straunge visions, they heard hideous and fearful\nvoices of spirits sundrie times and did make marveilous answers back\nagaine ... they were in their fits ordinarilie holden in that captivity\nand bondage, that for an houre, two, or three, and longer time they\nshould neither see, heare, nor taste, nor feel nothing but the divells,\nthey employing them wholly for themselves, vexing and tormenting them so\nextreameley as that for the present they could feel no other paine or\ntorture that could bee offered; no, though you should plucke an ear from\nthe heade or an arm from the bodie. They had also a marveilous sore\nheaving as if their hearts would burst, so that with violent straining\nsome of them vomitted bloude many times. They were all of them verry\nfierce, offering violence both to themselves and others, whereine they\nshewed verie greate and extraordinarie strength. They were out of their\nright mind, without the use of their senses, expecially voyd of feiling:\nas much sense in a stock as one of them, or as possible, in a manner, to\nquicken a dead man as to alter or chaunge them in their traunces in\nanything they either saide or did. They in their fittes had divers parts\nand members of their bodies so striffe and stretched out as were\ninflexible or very hard to be bended. They shewed very great and\nextraordinarie knowledge, as may appeare by the straunge things saide and\ndone by them, according to that which we have already set down in the\nparticulars. They ever after their fittes were as well as might be, and\nfelt very little or no paine at all, although they had been never so sore\ntormented immediately before.\u201d\n\nThe strange and singular violence of the convulsions in those who were\nunder the influence of Witchcraft, is brought out in almost all the\nrecords of such cases, notably in those which occurred during the Great\nRebellion,[87] and specially in the case of Anne Styles, who was executed\nat Salisbury in 1653.\n\nThe narrative states that she was so strong in her fits that six men or\nmore could not hold her, but while suffering under most grievous hurrying\nand tortures of the body, the witch being only brought into the room, she\nfell asleep and slept for three hours, so fast that when they would have\nawakened her they could not.[88] The insensibility of the body in this\nstate, we are informed by Increase Mather, led to a cruel test for\ndemoniacal possession. There was a notorious Witchfinder, he observes, \u201cin\nScotland, who undertook by a pin to make an infallible discovery of\nsuspected persons, whether they were witches or not. If, when the pin was\nrun an inch or two into the body of the accused party no blood appeared\nnor any sense of pain, he declared them to be witches, by means of which\nno less than three hundred persons were condemned for witchcraft in that\ncountry.\u201d[89]\n\nIn a small but curious tractate entitled \u201cDaimonomagia,\u201d the effects of\nWitchcraft are maintained to be a disease. The definition of it stands\nthus:--\u201cA disease of witchcraft is a sickness that arises from strange and\npreternatural causes, and from diabolical power in the use of strange and\nridiculous ceremonies by witches or necromancers, afflicting with strange\nand unaccustomed symptoms, and commonly preternaturally violent, very\nseldom, or not at all, curable by natural remedies.\u201d Then follow the\ndiagnostical signs, amongst which are insensibility, convulsions, together\nwith a preternatural knowledge both of living and dead languages, and\nafter these the causes of witchcraft. Biernannus and Wierius, two\nauthorities on the subject, find that aspect and contact do not\nnecessarily bewitch; but witches sometimes try to bewitch another of the\nsame family. Lastly, as regards the cure, directions are provided by which\nthe wizard, witch, or necromancer is to be compelled to use certain dark\nceremonies for the cure of the bewitched.\n\nIn the year 1658, a woman named Jane Brookes was tried, condemned, and\nexecuted at Chard in Somersetshire. The indictment against her was that\nshe had bewitched Richard the son of Henry Jones, of Shepton Mallet in\nthat county. Numberless persons of all ranks and classes, including both\nclergymen and physicians, witnessed his sufferings and paroxysms; while\nthe direct influence of the woman indicted was fully apparent and\nabundantly proved. \u201cThe boy,\u201d as the Rev. Joseph Glanville,[90] one of the\nchaplains of King Charles II. writes, \u201cfell into his fitts at the sight of\nJane Brookes and lay in a man\u2019s arms like a dead person; the woman was\nthen willed to lay on her hand, which she did, and he thereupon started\nand sprung out in a very unusual manner. One of the justices, to prevent\nall possibilities of _legerdemain_, caused Gibson and the rest to stand\noff from the boy, and then that justice himself held him. The youth being\nblindfolded, the justice called as if Brookes should touch him, but winked\nto others to do it, which two or three successively did, but the boy\nappeared not concerned. The justice then called on the father to take him,\nbut had privately before desired one Mr. Geoffrey Strode to bring Jane\nBrookes to touch him at such a time as he should call for his father,\nwhich was done, and the boy immediately sprang out after a very odd and\nviolent fashion. He was afterwards touched by several persons and moved\nnot, but Jane Brookes being again caused to put her hand upon him he\nstarted and sprung up twice as before. All this while he remained in his\nfit and some time after, and being then laid on a bed in the same room,\nthe people present could not for a long time bow either of his arms or\nlegs.\u201d\n\nIt appears tolerably evident that the boy, when under the influence of his\nfits, owned a faculty not unlike that of clairvoyance. As regards Jane\nBrookes and her sister, he seems to have had the capacity to describe them\naccurately wherever they might have been. As the Report declares, \u201cHe\nwould tell the clothes and habits they were in at the time, exactly as the\nconstable and others have found them on repairing to them, although\nBrookes\u2019 house was a good distance from Jones\u2019: this they often tried, and\nalways found the boy right in his description.\u201d[91]\n\nFrom the same volume, the main facts of which seem to be admitted by\ncompetent authority, a woman named Elizabeth Style of Bayford was\nindicted for bewitching a girl named Elizabeth Hill, thirteen years of\nage. In this case the formal deposition of three credible witnesses\nattests that \u201cduring her fits, her strength was encreased beyond the\nproportion of nature, and the force of divers men. Furthermore, in one fit\nshe foretold when she would have the next, which happened accordingly.\u201d\n\nThe case of the \u201cSurey Demoniac,\u201d as he was termed, which was set forth at\nlength in a publication issued in London towards the close of the\nseventeenth century,[92] is certainly worthy of being noticed here. In the\nyear 1697 a youth of nineteen years of age, named Richard Dugdale, excited\ngreat attention; it being generally believed that he was possessed by an\nevil spirit, as the direct consequence of Witchcraft. His paroxysms were\nwitnessed by numerous clergymen, physicians, and persons of respectability\nand rank; and caused an amount of interest and excitement which can\nscarcely be realized.[93] His fits commenced with violent convulsions; his\nsight or eyeballs turned upward and backwards; he afterwards answered\nquestions; predicted during one fit the period of accession and duration\nof another fit; spoke in foreign languages, of which at other times he was\nignorant, and described events passing at a distance with singular and\nrecognized accuracy. Here again the word of narration is quoted at\nlength:--\u201cAt the end of one fit the demoniac told what hour of the night\nor day his next [fit] would begin, very precisely and punctually, as was\nconstantly observed, though there was no equal or set distance of time\nbetween his fits; betwixt which there would be, sometimes a few hours,\nsometimes many, sometimes one day, sometimes many days.\u201d \u201cHe would have\ntold you,\u201d one of the deponents asserts on oath, \u201cwhen his fits would\nbegin, when they were two or three in one day, or three or four days\nasunder, wherein he never was, that the deponent knoweth of,\ndisappointed.\u201d On one occasion, when the minister was addressing him, he\nexclaimed, \u201cAt ten o\u2019clock my next fit comes on.\u201d \u201cThough he was never\nlearned in the English tongue, and his natural and acquired abilities were\nvery ordinary, yet, when the fit seized him, he often spake Latin, Greek,\nand other languages very well.... He often told of things in his fits done\nat a distance, whilst those things were a-doing,--as, for instance, a\nwoman being afraid to go to the barn, though she was come within a bow\u2019s\nlength of it, was immediately sent for by the demoniac, who said, \u2018Unless\nthat weak-faithed jade come, my fits will last longer.\u2019 Some said, \u2018Let us\nsend for Mr. G----.\u2019 The demoniac answered, \u2018He is now upon the hay-cart,\u2019\nwhich was found to be true.... On another occasion he told what great\ndistress there was in Ireland, and that England must \u2018pay the piper.\u2019\nAgain, one going by him to a church meeting, was told by the demoniac in\nhis fit, \u2018Thou needest not go to the said meeting, for I can tell thee the\nsermon that will be preached there,\u2019 upon which he told him the text and\nmuch of the sermon that was that day preached.\u201d Lastly, it is certified by\ntwo of the deponents that \u201cthe demoniac could not certainly judge what the\nnature of his distemper was; because when he was out of his fits, he could\nnot tell how it was with him when he was in his fits.\u201d\n\nFrom another publication[94] we gather that, in the case of Florence\nNewton, an Irishwoman, who was charged with bewitching Mary Longdon, when\nthe sufferer and the accused were both in court, and the evidence against\nthe person charged was being concluded, the prisoner at the bar simply\nlooked at the woman reputed to be under her influence, and made certain\nmotions of her hands towards her, upon which we are told that \u201cthe maid\nfell into most violent fits, so that all the people that could lay hands\non her could scarcely hold her.\u201d\n\nQuaint as these records are, peculiar in their literary style, singularly\nsimple and homely in their subject-matter as to details, and tinged, it\nmay be, not infrequently with the exaggerated superstitions of the times,\nit is impossible that so many persons of all ranks and classes--the\nhighest as well as the lowest--eye-witnesses of facts, could have been so\nutterly mistaken as to the Supernatural character of Witchcraft, or so\ndeluded as to its true nature and import. Some writers have hastily and\nerroneously asserted that at the close of the seventeenth century the\narraigning and trying of witches came to an end. But this is not so.[95]\nIn 1712, Judge Parker (who succeeded Chief Justice Holt,) put a check upon\nthe so-called \u201ctrial by water,\u201d by his charge at the Essex Summer Assizes\nof that year. Three years later, however, in 1715, Elizabeth Treslar was\nhung and then burnt for Witchcraft on Northampton Heath.\n\nThe following account (extracted _verbatim et literatim_) is taken from a\nrare and curious tract[96] published early in the eighteenth century,\ncontaining an account of the trial, examination, and condemnation of two\nwitches named Shaw and Phillips in the year 1705. One or two sentences of\nthe old narrative are two coarse for quotation; but substantially the\ncontemporary account is reprinted, following its old typographical form:--\n\n\u201cOn Wednesday the 7th of this Instant March 1705, being the second day of\nthe Assizes held at Northampton: One Ellinor Shaw and Mary Phillips[97]\n(two notorious Witches), were brought into court and there Arraign\u2019d at\nthe Bar upon several Indictments of Witchcraft; particularly for\nBewitching and Tormenting in a Diabolical manner, the Wife of Robert Wise\nof Benefield in the said County, till she Dyed; as also for Killing by\nWitchcraft and wicked Facination one Elizabeth Gorham of Glapthorn, a\nChild of about four years of Age, in the said County of Northampton; as\nalso for Bewitching to death one Charles Ireland of Southwick in the said\nCounty; to which Indictment the two said Prisoners pleaded not Guilty and\nthere upon put themselves upon their Tryals as followeth:--\n\n\u201cThe first Evidence against them was one Widdow Peak, who deposed that she\nwith two other Women, undertook to Watch the same Prisoners after they had\nbeen Apprehended; and that about Midnight there appeared in the Room a\nlittle white Thing about the Bigness of a Cat, which sat upon Mary\nPhillips\u2019 Lap, at which time she heard her, the said Mary Phillips, say,\nthen pointing to Ellinor Shaw, that she was the Witch that Killed Mrs.\nWise by Roasting her Effiges in Wax, sticking it full of Pinns, and till\nit was all wasted, and all this she affirm\u2019d was done the same Night Mrs.\nWise Dyed in a sad and languishing Condition. Mrs. Evans deposed that when\nMrs. Wise first was taken Ill, that she saw Ellinor Shaw look out at the\nWindow (it being opposite to her House), at Which time she heard her say,\n\u2018I have done her Business now I am sure; this Night Ill send the old Devil\na New Year\u2019s Gift\u2019 (next day being New year\u2019s Day), and well knowing this\nEllinor Shaw to be a reputed Witch, was so much concern\u2019d at her Words\nthat she went then to see how Mrs. Wise did, Where she found her\nTormented with such Pains, as exceeding those of a Woman in Travel, which\nEncreased to such a terrible Degree that she Expired about 12 of the clock\nto the great amasement of all her Neighbours.\n\n\u201cAnother Evidence made Oath that Ellinor Shaw and Mary Phillips being one\nday at her house they told her she was a Fool to live so Miserable as she\ndid, and therefore if she was willing, they would send some thing that\nNight that would Relieve her, and being an ignorant Woman she consented;\nand accordingly the same Night two little black Things, almost like Moles\ncame into her bed ... repeating the same for two or three Nights after,\ntill she was almost frightened out of her Sences [sic] insomuch that she\nwas forced to send for Mr. Danks the Minister, to Pray by her several\nnights before the said Imps would leave her: She also added that she\nheard the said Prisoners say that they would be Revenged on Mrs. Wise\nbecause she would not give them some Buttermilk.\n\n\u201cMrs. Todd of Southwick deposed that Charles Ireland being a Boy of about\n12 years of Age, was taken with Strange Fitts about Christmas last,\ncontinuing so by Intervals till twelf Day last, at which time he Barked\nlike a Dogg, and when he was Recovered and come to himself, he would\nDistinctly describe Ellinor Shaw and Mary Phillips, affirming them two to\nbe the Authors of his Misfortunes, though he never saw them in his Life;\nso that Mrs. Ireland, the Boy\u2019s mother, was advised to Cork up some ... in\na stone Bottle filled full of Pins and Needles, and to Bury it under the\nFire Hearth; which being done accordingly, the two said Witches could not\nbe quiet till they came to the same House and desired to have the said\nBottle taken up, which was not granted, till they had confessed the\nMatter, and promised never to do so again; but for all this the Next night\nbut one, the said Boy was so violently Handled, that he Dyed in two Hours\ntime; and this Woman\u2019s Testimoney was confirm\u2019d by five or six other\nEvidences at the same time.\n\n\u201cThe said Witches were Try\u2019d a third time for Bewitching to Death\nElizabeth Gorham of Glapthorne on the 10th of February last, as also for\nkilling several Horses, Hogs, and Sheep, being the Goods of Matthew\nGorham, Father of the said Child aforesaid. The Evidence against them to\nprove all this, was William Boss and John Southwel; who deposed that being\nConstables of the said Town, they were Charged with the said Prisoners in\ntheir Custody, who threatning them with Death if they did not Confess, and\npromising them to let them go if they would Confess; after some little\nWhineing and Hanging about one another\u2019s Necks they both made this\nConfession:--\n\n    \u201c\u2018That living in one house together they contracted with the Devil\n    about a Year ago to sell their Souls to him, upon condition he would\n    enable them to do what Mischief they desired against whom they\n    pleased, either in Body, Goods, or Children; upon which the same Night\n    they had each of them three Imps sent them as they were going to Bed,\n    and at the same instant the Devil appeared to them in the shape of a\n    tall black Man, and told them that these Imps would always be at their\n    Service, either to kill Man, Woman, Child, Hog, Cow, Ship, [_i.e._\n    Sheep] or any other Creature, when they pleased to command them,\n    provided ... which being agree\u2019d to, the Devil came to Bed to them\n    Both.... And that the next morning they sent four of their Imps to\n    kill two Horses of one John Webb of the said Town of Glapthorne,\n    because he openly said they were Witches; and accordingly the Horses\n    were found dead in a Pond the same day; and two Days after this, they\n    Kill\u2019d four great Hoggs after the same manner, belonging to Matthew\n    Gorham, because he said they both look\u2019d like Witches, and not\n    thinking this Revenge sufficient, the next day after, they sent two\n    Imps a piece to destroy his Child, being a little Girle of about four\n    years of Age, which was done accordingly in 24 Hours\u2019 time,\n    notwithstanding all the Skill and Endeavour of able Doctors to\n    preserve it. They further confessed that if the said Imps were not\n    constantly imploy\u2019d to do Mischief they had not their Healths, but\n    when they were imploy\u2019d they were very Healthful and Well. They\n    further added, that the said Imps did often tell them in the\n    Night-time in a hollow whispering low voice, which they plainly\n    understood, that they should never feel Hell Torm\u0113ts, and they had\n    Kill\u2019d a Horse and two Cows of one Widow Broughton because she deny\u2019d\n    them some Pea-cods last year, for which they had also struck her\n    Daughter with Lameness, which would never be cured as long as either\n    of them Liv\u2019d, and accordingly she had continued so ever since.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe above said Evidence further deposed that having thus extorted the\nsaid Confession from the prisoners, they persuaded them to set their Hands\nto it, which was done accordingly, tho\u2019 with very much difficulty, upon\nwhich the said Confession was produced in Court, and the Witness\u2019s to it\nExamin\u2019d, who all deposed upon Oath that the said Confession was made in\ntheir Hearing, and that they saw the said reputed Witches set their Marks\nto it in the presence of ten Witnesses.\n\n\u201cUpon which the said Prisoners were desired by the Court to declare\nwheather they own\u2019d the said Confession and the Marks thereunto Affixed or\nnot, to which they both answered in the Negative; and thereupon made such\na Howling and lamentable Noise as never was heard before to the amusement\nof the Whole Court, and Deny\u2019d every particular that was laid to their\nCharge: but the Court having heard the matter of Fact so positively\nasserted against them by several Evidences, and above all by their own\nConfessions, that after having given a Larned [sic] Charge to the Jury\nrelating to every particular Circumstance, they brought them in both\nGuilty of wilful Murther and Witchcraft, and accordingly the next day the\nCourt was pleased to pronounce sentence of Death upon them, that is to\nsay, To be Hang\u2019d till they are almost Dead, and then surrounded with\nFaggots Pitch and other Combustable matter, which being set on fire their\nBodies are to be consumed to _Ashes_.\u201d\n\nIn the month of March, 1711-12, another woman, Jane Wenham by name[98]\n(formally charged with bewitching Anne Thorne, Anne Street, and others),\nwas tried at the Assizes at Hertford, and received sentence of death. The\ncase was heard before Sir Henry Chauncey. Before the grand jury the\ndepositions of sixteen witnesses were taken; one of whom deposed that Jane\nWenham confessed to him that she had practised Witchcraft during sixteen\nyears. On one occasion when the girl whom she had afflicted was in one of\nher paroxysms, we are informed that a very ingenious gentleman and able\nphysician happened to be present, his curiosity bringing him a little out\nof his way to inquire into the truth of the story of this witch, which he\nhad heard several ways told, as things of this nature generally are. When\nhe saw her in a fit, which was one of the least she ever had, he tried\nwhether he could bring her out of it without prayers. He took a great\nfeather, which burning he held under the maid\u2019s nose, and though the stink\nwas so great that we were not able to bear it in the room, yet the maid\nreceived the strong steam into her nose without being the least affected\nby it and without perceiving it, as far as we could perceive. The\nphysician then felt her pulse and assured them that \u201cit was no natural\ndisease under which the maid laboured, that it must be counterfeit or\npreternatural; but,\u201d observes the author of this account, \u201cthat she should\ncounterfeit even death itself one minute and restore herself to health the\nvery next, and that she should put herself to all this trouble for no\nmanner of pleasure or profit, is so very inconceivable and so wholly\nunaccountable, that I must needs say I shall never have faith enough to\nbelieve such a heap of absurdities.\u201d (p. 33.)\n\nThe undoubted insensibility of the girl was tested in a very practical but\nremarkably barbarous manner. One of the members of the Family of Chauncey\n\u201cran a pin into her arm six or seven times, and finding she never winced\nfor it, but held her arm as still as if nothing had been done to it, and\nseeing no blood come, he ran it in a great many times more; still no blood\ncame; but she stood talking and never minded it. Then, again, he ran it in\nseveral times more. At last he left it in her arm that all the company\nmight see it, run up to the head.\u201d (p. 19.)\n\nThe record of these cases also contains the following:--\n\n\u201cThere are also some things in which the fits of Mary Longdon and Anne\nThorn agree, particularly the great strength of the afflicted when in a\nfit, so great that three or four men could hardly hold \u2019em down, but there\nis one very remarkable difference, which I doubt not my readers have\nalready taken notice of, viz. that this Mary Longdon was always worse of\nher fits whenever Florence Newton came in the room; whereas Anne Thorn\nconstantly recovered from hers at the touch of the witch. And yet I think\nthese different appearances may be accounted for [in] different ways. It\nis not reasonable to suppose that either of those alterations in the\nafflicted came to pass by the consent or procurement of the witches\nthemselves, who could not but perceive that they served as strong\ncircumstances against them, but this was done by the overruling providence\nof Almighty God to convict these miserable creatures; and either of these\nways might do as well as the other, since it is equally surprising to see\none in perfect health fall into such terrible fits at the sight of any one\nperson, as to see another recover out of such fits by the bare touch of\nthe suspected witch, both of them tending only to the discovery of the\ncriminal.\u201d (pp. 17, 18.)\n\nAs to certain of the characteristics and evidences of Witchcraft, Increase\nMather in his \u201cCases of Conscience\u201d writes as follows. What he sets forth,\nand what is now to be quoted, serves to show not only the kind of evidence\nas to facts which was then forthcoming, but also to afford information as\nto the current sentiment of his own period: \u201cAs for that which concerns\nthe bewitched persons being recovered out of their agonies by the touch of\nthe suspected party, it is various and fallible; sometimes the afflicted\nperson is made sick instead of being made whole by the touch of the\naccused; sometimes the power of imagination is such as that the touch of a\nperson innocent and not accused shall have the same effect. Bodin relates\nthat a witch who was tried at Nantes was commanded by the judges to touch\na bewitched person, a thing often practised by the judges of Germany in\nthe Imperial Chamber. The witch was extremely unwilling, but being\ncompelled by the judges, she cried out, I am undone, and as soon as ever\nshe touched the afflicted person the witch fell down dead. I think,\u201d\ncontinues Mather, \u201cthat there is weight in Dr. Cottar\u2019s argument, viz.\nthat the power of healing the sick and possessed was a special grace and\nfavour of God for the confirmation of the truth of the Gospel; but that\nsuch a gift should be annexed to the touch of wicked witches, as an\ninfallible sign of their guilt is not easy to be believed. It is a thing\nwell known, that if a person possessed by an evil spirit is (as oft it\nhappens) never so outrageous whilst a good man is praying with and for the\nafflicted, let him lay his hand on them and the evil spirit is quiet.\u201d\n\nThe cases already referred to took place in England. A brief reference may\nbe here made to two examples which caused considerable sensation in\nScotland,--a country where the belief in Witchcraft was in times past\nalmost universal; and where, even still, the clear statements of Holy\nScripture on the subject are neither explained away, scoffed at, nor\ndisbelieved:--\n\nIn the year 1696 a commission was appointed in Scotland by the Lords of\nhis Majesty\u2019s Privy Council, to inquire into the case of Christian Shaw,\ndaughter of John Shaw of Bargarran, and the accused persons confronted\nbefore Lord Blantyre, the rest of the commissioners, several others\ngentlemen of note and ministers, the accused and in particular Catherine\nCampbell were examined in the presence of the commissioners. \u201cWhen they\n[the accused] severally touched the afflicted girl, says the Report, she\nwas seized with grevious fits and cast into intolerable agonies; others\nthen present did also touch her, but no such effects followed, and it is\nremarkable that when Catherine Campbell touched the girle she was\nimmediately seized with more grevious fittes and cast into more\nintolerable torments than upon the touch of other accused persons, whereat\nCampbell herself being daunted and confounded, though she had formerly\ndeclined to bless her, uttered these words, \u2018The Lord of heaven and earth\nbless thee and save thee both body and soul.\u2019\u201d[99]\n\nDuring these trials we are informed that the \u201cprisoners were called in,\none by one, and placed about seven or eight feet from the justices and\naccusers; then, stood between the justices and them, the prisoners were\nordered to stand right before the justices, with an officer appointed to\nhold each hand, lest they should herewith afflict them, and the prisoners\u2019\neyes must be constantly on the justices, for if they looked on the\nafflicted they would either fall into fitts or cry out they were much\nhurt by them.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn the trial of Bridget Bishops,\u201d it is further added that, \u201cthe\nindictment being drawn up according to form, it was testified at the\nexamination of the prisoner before the magistrates that the bewitched were\nextremely tortured. If she did but cast her eye on them they were\npresently cast down, and this in such a manner that there could be no\ncollusion in the business. But upon the touch of her hand upon them when\nthey lay in their swoones they would immediately revive, and not upon the\ntouch of anyone else. Moreover, upon the special actions of her body, as\nthe shaking of her head or the turning up of her eyes, they presently fell\ninto the same postures, and many of the like accidents fell out while she\nwas at the bar.\u201d[100]\n\nMost curious are the various details of the trials thus far referred to.\nAnd certain of them may be regarded as trivial, if not absurd and\nridiculous. Nevertheless it should be our careful aim to distinguish\nbetween those facts which were formally, regularly, and clearly\nestablished by positive evidence, and the personal fancies, superstitions,\nnotions and wild ideas which may possibly accompany the reports of them.\nOf course exaggerations may have been made, and impositions not\nunfrequently practised; but in the forcible words of Joseph Glanville, we\nshould remember that \u201cfrequency of deceit and fallacy will warrant a\ngreater care and caution in examining, and a greater scrupulosity and\nshyness of assent to, things wherein fraud hath been practised, or may in\nthe least degree be suspected; but to conclude that, because an old\nwoman\u2019s fancy hath abused her, or some knavish fellow hath put tricks on\nthe ignorant and timorous, therefore whole assizes have been deceived in\njudgment upon matters of fact, and that numbers of persons have been\nforsworn in things wherein perjury could not advantage them, I say such\ninferences are as void of charity as of good manners.... In things of fact\nthe people are as much to be believed as the most subtle philosophers and\nspeculators, since their sense is the judge, but in matters of notion and\ntheory they are not at all to be heeded, because Reason is to be the judge\nof these, and this they know not how to use.\u201d[101]\n\nIt must be frankly admitted that these records of trials--of which there\nare such numerous examples in print--often contain principles and details\nof a most disagreeable and offensive nature. They have been quoted at some\nlength, however, in order to point out exactly what for many years was\ncurrently believed with regard to Witchcraft; and whatever fanciful\nadditions were made, or whatever superstitious garnishings were added to\nsuch accounts, by the ignorant or half-informed, there can be little doubt\nthat, after all reasonable deductions had been made, there was a\nconsiderable substratum of truth underlying each of them, which ought not\nto be ignored, and which cannot, on any satisfactory theory, be reasonably\nexplained away.\n\nIn certain cases the subject of Witchcraft had a somewhat wide and vague\nmeaning. It not unfrequently covered the practices of all the so-called\n\u201coccult sciences,\u201d just as in the \u201cBook of Daniel,\u201d \u201cthe magicians, the\nastrologers,[102] the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers,\u201d classed together,\nwere together consulted; so it seems to have been in ancient times in\nplaces, and amongst people who practised Witchcraft and Necromancy.\nInvocations of the dead; the use of charms; watching the flight of birds;\n\u201creading the stars;\u201d interpreting dreams, and foretelling future events\nby the aid of evil spirits, were all practices which, in a somewhat vague\nbut popular phraseology, came under the class of sins of the nature of\nthose directly condemned in Holy Scripture.\n\nOne or two further remarks may be added upon the general subject. From the\namount of evidence which exists, it is impossible to deny that such a\npower as Witchcraft has been frequently exercised, and consequently may be\nput into practice again. It is idle to assert that it is a mere moral\nepidemic, at least for those who take up a Christian standing-point, and\ndo not deny both the Inspiration of Holy Scripture and the Indefectibility\nand Infallibility of the Church Universal, as well as, and in addition to,\nwell-authenticated historical facts. The practice of Witchcraft has, of\ncourse, been more ordinary in countries which are not Catholic;[103] for\nexample in Scotland, Sweden, Germany, and North America; though, of\nnecessity it prevailed very largely with many in England from the period\nof the Reformation until the beginning of the eighteenth century, as has\nbeen already sufficiently shown. Thus, many who refused to hear, and abide\nby, the message and guidance of Holy Church; who rejected the miracles and\nmercies of the Almighty, were sometimes too ready to accept as true, and\nparticipate in the weird works of necromancers, and sometimes to be duped\nby the Prince of darkness, through the active instrumentality of his human\nagents.[104]\n\nWithout, at this point of our general argument, trenching unduly on a\ndetail of the subject in its most recent developments, which is carefully\nconsidered at some length in later chapters, it may be well to give a\nsingle example perfectly accurate and most satisfactorily authenticated.\n\nHere it is:--The friend of a distinguished Scotch peer wished for certain\nimportant and valuable information, which in any ordinary, usual, and\ncommon modes he was, it appears, altogether unable to obtain. He therefore\nthought it right and proper to consult a \u201cspiritual medium,\u201d and so held a\nconsultation, made an inquiry, and obtained a response. The following is\nthe authenticated record of this action:--\n\n\u201cA friend of mine was very anxious to find the Will of his grandmother,\nwho had been dead forty years, but could not even find the certificate of\nher death. I went with him to the Marshall\u2019s[105] and we had a _s\u00e9ance_;\nwe sat at a table, and soon the raps came; my friend then asked his\nquestions _mentally_; he went over the alphabet himself, or sometimes I\ndid so, not knowing the question. We were told [that] the Will had been\ndrawn by a man named William Walter, who lived in Whitechapel; the name of\nthe street and the number of the house were given. We went to Whitechapel,\nfound the man, and subsequently, through his aid obtained a copy of the\ndraft; he was quite unknown to us, and had not always lived in that\nlocality, for he had once seen better days. The medium could not possibly\nhave known anything about the matter, and even if she had, her knowledge\nwould have been of no avail, as all the questions were mental ones.\u201d[106]\n\nThe specific features of this account are so obvious and well defined, and\nthe account itself is so remarkably clear in all its various parts, that\nnothing more needs to be added, than the simple remark, that if the old\nand false principles of Witchcraft and Necromancy are not here again\npresent and energizing (only appropriately and properly draped in a\nnineteenth-century garment, and carefully adapted to the tastes of refined\nand educated people), it would be well to find some other principle by\nwhich this, and thousands of other similar cases may be rationally and\nopenly explained and accounted for, and this from the standing-point of a\nfirm belief in Historical Christianity.\n\nFrom the point of view from which this book is written, it may be\nreasonably maintained that recent \u201cspiritual manifestations,\u201d as they are\ntermed, are very possibly only another mode by which in an age of superior\ncivilization the Prince of the Power of the air, adapting his delusions to\nthe less coarse tastes and sentiments of his anxious clients and inquiring\nfollowers, produces \u201clying wonders,\u201d false miracles, and delusive\nappearances; or unlawfully reveals secrets, affords information in the\npresent, and gives, or pretends to give, revelations as to the future.\n\nMany persons in the present day are ready enough (as well they may be,) to\nbecome eloquent on the trivial absurdities and vulgar (too often dark and\nobscene) contrivances of the Witchcraft of the seventeenth century. Be it\nso. But perhaps, after all, the system as then worked was both skilfully,\nintellectually, and well enough adapted for the purposes and aims which\nits author had in hand. If the coarse-minded and uneducated of those days\nso readily became its agents and workers, coarseness and ignorance were\nreasonably and suitably, and perhaps of necessity, used in its operations.\nNow, however, the persistent Enemy of mankind, \u201cthe Old Serpent,\u201d[107]\nappears to have adopted quite another course of tactics, less coarse it\nmay be, and less revolting (in some particulars) to the sentimental and\nshallow, but equally efficacious for his diabolical purposes and eventual\nsuccess. Where Witchcraft was formerly practised by ten persons, its new\nand more attractive phase, it is to be feared, is now accepted by\nthousands. All this, and more, may be gathered later on, when the subject\nof \u201cModern Spiritualism\u201d is duly considered.\n\n\n\n\nDREAMS, OMENS, WARNINGS, PRESENTIMENTS, AND SECOND SIGHT.\n\n\n\u201cAnd how will those modern wits, of which our age is so full, account for\nthis, who allow no God or Providence, no invisible world, no angelic kind\nand waking spirits, who, by a secret correspondence with our embodied\nspirits, give merciful hints to us of approaching mischief and impending\ndangers; and that timely, so as to put the means into our hands to avoid\nand escape them?\u201d--_History and Reality of Apparitions_, _by_ Andrew\nMoreton, Esq., p. 218. London: 1735.\n\n  \u201cThe Soul\u2019s dark cottage, batter\u2019d and decay\u2019d,\n   Lets in new light through chinks which Time hath made.\u201d\n                                                        Edmund Waller.\n\n\u201cAll who read this, I exhort in the Name of the Most Sacred Majesty of our\nMost Blessed King, Jesus Christ, to be extremely suspicious of all such\nextraordinary appearances, presentiments, trances and predictions; to\nexamine well and minutely everything; not to look upon those books, which\neven pious souls in such a state have written, unconditionally as a divine\nrevelation; and not to believe their predictions, but to be persuaded,\nthat though some things may be fulfilled, others may not.\u201d--J. H.\nJung-Stilling, _On Forebodings_. London: 1834.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nDREAMS, OMENS, WARNINGS, PRESENTIMENTS, AND SECOND SIGHT.\n\n\nThe subjects here set forth for consideration (by which no slight progress\nwill be made in exhibiting such facts as serve to unfold and make manifest\nmore plainly the purpose of this treatise), are very wide in their scope.\nA large volume might with no great difficulty be compiled upon each\nseparate subject; for the examples of remarkable dreams and supernatural\nomens which are already on record, are exceedingly numerous,[108] while\nthe warnings and presentiments of danger and death, which are still often\nvouchsafed, have been so notably providential in their purport, that many\nof the mercifully-bestowed Glimpses of the Supernatural, brought before\nthe Editor\u2019s notice, can only be attributed generally to the goodness of\nAlmighty God, and particularly either to the intercession of His Saints,\nthe effectual fervent prayers of those still in the flesh, or the direct\nintervention of His Holy Angels, the guardians and guides of Christians.\n\nSome dreams, especially those of an ordinary character, appear to consist\nof the mere revival of old memories and associations regarding persons and\nevents which have long passed out of the mind, and seem to have been\nforgotten. It is often quite impossible to trace the manner in which, or\nthe method by which, dreams arise; and certainly many of the facts\nconnected with them do not appear referable to any coherent principle with\nwhich it may truly be said that man is perfectly acquainted. They are\nmysterious; they are strange; they are supernatural. At the same time it\nis impossible not to remember how frequently the sacred and divine\nwritings record examples of dreams, by which the Will of God was directly\nmade known of old to some of His favoured servants. The case of King\nAbimelech, warned against taking Abraham\u2019s wife (whom he had untruly\ncalled his sister), is an early instance in point.[109] So, too, are the\nwarnings and directions given by Almighty God to Jacob and Laban. The\ndreams of Joseph likewise illustrate the principle which may be readily\ndiscovered and comprehended by the help of Scripture, viz. that some\ndreams, whatever others may be, are certainly from God, and ought not to\nbe disregarded. For the Almighty expressly pledged Himself to make known\nHis Will to His prophets both by dreams and in visions.[110] And it was by\nthe former that He appeared to Solomon, graciously and mercifully offering\nhim a response to any request he might make. \u201cAsk what I shall give thee.\u201d\nThe dreams and visions of Daniel, the Hebrew Prophet, likewise of S.\nJoseph of Nazareth, both with regard to the Blessed Virgin and the malice\nof Herod; the warning dreams of the Three Eastern Kings; that of Pilate\u2019s\nwife, and others equally remarkable, are familiar to us all. So that,\nwhatever theories may be excogitated by some, it is impossible for\nChristians to hold any novel and fantastic ideas, which would sweep away\nthose links which in dreams and visions may still bind together the\nnatural with the supernatural, and by which, from time to time, in the\npresent day, warnings and necessary lessons may sometimes be mercifully\nvouchsafed and imparted.\n\nA considerable difficulty has been experienced by the Editor, not only in\ntesting recent examples which have been brought before him, but in\ninducing those who supplied him with them, to allow the use and support of\ntheir names.[111] In the cases to be given, he has spared no reasonable\ntrouble in their investigation; and, where they are not matters of history\n(received and recognized by those who are satisfied with an application of\nthe ordinary laws of evidence), the reader may rely on the fact that they\nhave not been embodied in this volume without the most anxious inquiry and\ncareful sifting of their truth and accuracy.\n\nThus much as to his purport and intent. Now let the examples of remarkable\ndreams be put on record; after a brief reference has been made to the\nbelief and expressions of opinion of certain early Christian writers,\nobviously formulated upon the basis of scriptural assertions and sacred\nexamples of old.\n\nWhen the body sleeps, as Tertullian remarks,[112] it takes its own\npeculiar refreshment, but that refreshment not being adapted to the soul,\nwhich does not rest, she during the inactivity of the bodily members\nemploys her own. Then in his treatise \u201cOn the Soul,\u201d[113] he proceeds to\ndistinguish between the hallucination of dreaming and insanity. Dreaming\nis agreeable to the course and order of Nature, he maintains; but he\nrejects the doctrine of Epicurus, in which dreams are disparaged as idle\nand fortuitous. He further expresses his conviction that future honours,\ndignities, medical remedies, thefts and treasure have been revealed by\ndreams--testimonies to which are both numerous and strong. Many dreams,\nspecially those which are vain, frivolous, impure, and turbulent, may be\nattributed to demons. Others, again, proceed from God or holy angels, as\none portion of prophecy.\n\nLactantius, in a short passage of his well-known \u201cTract,\u201d[114] expresses\nhis conviction of divine agency in dreams. He maintains that the undoubted\ntestimony of History presents mankind with several most remarkable\nverifications of dreams; and he repeats what Tertullian had already\nmaintained, viz. that part of the economy of prophecy depends upon them.\nHe holds that Virgil\u2019s evidence may be admitted, that dreams are neither\nalways true nor always false.\n\nAgain, S. Cyprian states that he was divinely instructed in a dream to mix\na little water with the wine for the Holy Eucharist.[115] On the general\nsubject, S. Basil warns those who may be ready to attribute too great\nimportance to dreams, to rest contented with the written revelation of\nAlmighty God in Holy Scripture.[116] S. Bernard, the last of the Fathers,\ntreats of dreams at great length in his remarkable sermon \u201cOn Sleep,\u201d\nwhich is full of sage advice of the same nature as that set forth by S.\nBasil; and so does S. Thomas Aquinas, who discusses the subject with\nsingular breadth, fulness, and system, arriving at the conclusion that it\nis unreasonable to deny anything--the truth of which is affirmed by\ngeneral experience; and he adds that general experience affirms that\ndreams very frequently give indications of coming events; and therefore,\nconcludes that it is lawful to interpret and endeavour to comprehend\nthem.[117] But at this point, he goes on to maintain that only those\ndreams which are suggested by angels may be investigated and interpreted,\nthose suggested by demons and evil spirits being left alone. But\nunfortunately he provides no criterion by which the one class may be\nsafely and truly distinguished from the other; nor is it easy to supply\nthe deficiency.\n\nFrom another point of view, a thoughtful modern writer[118] has remarked\nthat \u201cdreams are uniformly the resuscitation or re-embodiment of thoughts\nwhich have formerly, in some shape or other, occupied the mind. They are\nold ideas revived, either in an entire state, or heterogeneously mingled\ntogether. I doubt if it be possible,\u201d he continues, \u201cfor a person to have\nin a dream, any idea whose elements did not, in some form, strike him at a\nprevious period. If these break loose from their connecting chain, and\nbecome jumbled together incoherently, as is often the case, they give rise\nto absurd combinations; but the elements still subsist, and only manifest\nthemselves in a new and unconnected shape.\u201d\n\nThis, and such as this, may be quite true; but yet whatever theories the\nscientific may propound which seem to oppose the facts of man\u2019s\nexperience, will not in the long run command that adhesion which for\nawhile they may possibly obtain. And now for examples:\n\nThe Dream of the so-called \u201cSwaffham Tinker\u201d[119] is singular, and may\nwell be here reproduced, because it represents an example of the practical\nresults of dreaming, which is quite worthy of consideration:--\n\n\u201cThis Tinker, a hard-working, industrious man, one night dreamed that if\nhe took a journey to London, and placed himself at a certain spot on\nLondon Bridge, he should meet one who would tell him something of great\nimportance to his future prospects. The Tinker, on whom the dream made a\ndeep impression, related it fully to his wife in the morning; who,\nhowever, half-laughed at him and half-scolded him for his folly in heeding\nsuch idle fancies. Next night he is said to have re-dreamed the dream; and\nagain on the third night, when the impression was so powerful on his mind\nthat he determined, in spite of the remonstrances of his wife and the\nridicule of his neighbours, to go to London and see the upshot of it.\nAccordingly he set off for the metropolis on foot, reached it late on the\nthird day (the distance was ninety miles), and, after the refreshment of a\nnight\u2019s rest, took his station next day on a part of the Bridge answering\nto the description in his dream. There he stood all day, and all the\nnext, and all the third, without any communication as to the purpose of\nhis journey; so that towards night, on the third day, he began to lose\npatience and confidence in his dream, inwardly cursed his folly in\ndisregarding his wife\u2019s counsel, and resolved next day to make the best of\nhis way home. He still kept his station, however, till late in the\nevening, when, just as he was about to depart, a stranger who had noticed\nhim standing stedfastly and with anxious look on the same spot for some\ndays, accosted him, and asked him what he waited there for. After a little\nhesitation, the Tinker told his errand, though without acquainting him\nwith the name of the place whence he came. The stranger enjoyed a smile at\nthe rustic\u2019s simplicity, and advised him to go home and for the future to\npay no attention to dreams. \u2018I myself,\u2019 said he, \u2018if I were disposed to\nput faith in such things, might now go a hundred miles into the country\nupon a similar errand. I dreamed three nights this week that if I went to\na place called Swaffham in Norfolk, and dug under an apple-tree in a\ncertain garden on the north side of the town I should find a box of money;\nbut I have something else to do than run after such idle fancies! No, no,\nmy friend; go home, and work well at your calling, and you will find there\nthe riches you are seeking here.\u2019 The astonished Tinker did not doubt that\nthis was the communication he had been sent to London to receive, but he\nmerely thanked the stranger for his advice, and went away avowing his\nintention to follow it. Next day he set out for home, and on his arrival\nthere said little to his wife touching his journey; but next morning he\nrose betimes and began to dig on the spot he supposed to be pointed out by\nthe stranger. When he had got a few feet down, the spade struck upon\nsomething hard, which turned out to be an iron chest. This he quickly\ncarried to his house, and when he had with difficulty wrenched open the\nlid, found it, to his great joy, to be full of money. After securing his\ntreasure, he observed on the lid of the box an inscription, which,\nunlearned as he was, he could not decipher. But by a stratagem he got the\ndescription read without any suspicion on the part of his neighbours by\nsome of the Grammar School lads, and found it to be--\n\n  \u2018Where this stood\n   Is another twice as good.\u2019\n\nAnd in truth on digging again the lucky Tinker disinterred, below the\nplace where the first chest had lain, a second twice as large, also full\nof gold and silver coin. It is stated that, become thus a wealthy man, the\nTinker showed his thankfulness to Providence by building a new chancel to\nthe church, the old one being out of repair. And whatever fiction the\nmarvellous taste of those ages may have mixed up with the tale, certain it\nis that there is shown to this day a monument in Swaffham Church, having\nan effigy in marble, said to be that of the Tinker with his Dog at his\nside and his tools and implements of trade lying about him.\u201d\n\nAmong the various histories of singular dreams and corresponding events,\nthe following, which occurred in the early part of the eighteenth century,\nseems to merit being here placed on record. Its authenticity will appear\nfrom the relation; and it may surely be maintained that a more\nextraordinary concurrence of fortuitous and accidental circumstances can\nscarcely be produced or paralleled:--\n\n\u201cOne Adam Rogers, a creditable and decent man of good sense and repute,\nwho kept an inn at Portlaw, a small hamlet nine or ten miles from\nWaterford, in Ireland, dreamed one night that he saw two men at a\nparticular green spot on the adjoining mountain; one of them a small,\nsickly-looking man, the other remarkably strong and large. He then saw the\nlatter man murder the other, upon which he awoke in great agitation.\n\n\u201cThe circumstances of the dream were so distinct and forcible that he\ncontinued much affected by them. He related them to his wife, and also to\nseveral neighbours next morning.\n\n\u201cIn some time he went out coursing with greyhounds, accompanied amongst\nothers by one Mr. Browne, the Roman Catholic priest of the parish. He soon\nstopped at the above-mentioned particular green spot on the mountain, and\ncalling Mr. Browne, pointed it out to him, and told him what had happened\nthere. During the remainder of the day he thought little more about it.\n\n\u201cNext morning he was extremely startled at seeing two strangers enter his\nhouse at about eleven o\u2019clock in the forenoon. He immediately went into an\ninner room, and desired his wife to take particular notice, for they were\nprecisely the two men he had seen in his dream.\n\n\u201cAfter the strangers had taken some refreshment, and were about to depart\nin order to prosecute their journey, Rogers earnestly entreated the little\nman at once to quit his fellow-traveller. He assured him that if he would\nremain with him that day he would accompany him to Carrick the next\nmorning--that being the town to which the travellers were proceeding. He\nwas unwilling and ashamed to tell the cause of his being so solicitous to\nseparate him from his companion. But as he observed that Hickey (which was\nthe name of the little man) seemed to be quiet and gentle in his\ndeportment, and had money about him, and that the other had a ferocious,\nbad countenance, the dream still recurred to him. He dreaded that\nsomething fatal would happen, and wished at all events to keep them\nasunder.\n\n\u201cHowever, the humane precautions of Rogers proved ineffectual, for\nCaulfield (such was the other\u2019s name) prevailed upon Hickey to continue\nwith him on their way to Carrick, declaring that as they had long\ntravelled together, they should not part, but remain together until he\nshould see Hickey safely arrived at the habitation of his friends. The\nwife of Rogers was much dissatisfied when she heard they were gone, and\nblamed her husband exceedingly for not being absolutely peremptory in\ndetaining Hickey.\n\n\u201cAbout an hour after they left Portlaw, in a lonely part of the mountain,\njust near the place observed by Rogers in his dream, Caulfield took the\nopportunity of murdering his companion. It appeared afterwards from his\nown account of the horrid transaction, that as they were getting over a\nditch he struck Hickey on the back part of the head with a stone, and when\nhe fell down into the trench in consequence of the blow, Caulfield gave\nhim several stabs with a knife, and cut his throat so deeply that the head\nwas observed to be almost severed from his body. He then rifled Hickey\u2019s\npockets of all the money in them, took part of his clothes and everything\nelse of value about him, and afterwards proceeded on his way to Carrick.\nHe had not been long gone when the body, still warm, was discovered by\nsome labourers who were returning to their work from dinner.\n\n\u201cThe report of the murder soon reached Portlaw. Rogers and his wife went\nto the place and instantly knew the body of him whom they had in vain\nendeavoured to dissuade from going on with his treacherous companion. They\nat once spoke out their suspicions that the murder was perpetrated by the\nfellow-traveller of the deceased. An immediate search was made, and\nCaulfield was apprehended at Waterford the second day after.\n\n\u201cHe was brought to trial at the ensuing assizes and convicted of the fact.\nIt appeared amongst other circumstances that when he went to Carrick he\nhired a horse and a boy to conduct him--not by the usual road, but by that\nwhich runs on the north side of the river Suir--to Waterford, intending to\ntake his passage in the first ship from thence to Newfoundland. The boy\ntook notice of some blood on his shirt, and Caulfield gave him a\nhalf-crown to promise not to speak of it.\n\n\u201cRogers proved not only that Hickey was last seen in company with\nCaulfield, but that a pair of new shoes which Hickey wore had been found\non the feet of Caulfield when he was apprehended; and that a pair of old\nshoes which he had on at Rogers\u2019s house were upon Hickey\u2019s feet when the\nbody was found. He described with great exactness every article of their\nclothes. Caulfield on the cross-examination, shrewdly asked him from the\ndock whether it was not very extraordinary that he, who kept a\npublic-house, should take such particular notice of the dress of a\nstranger accidentally calling there? Rogers in his answer said he had a\nvery particular reason, but he was ashamed to mention it. The court and\nthe prisoner insisted on his declaring it. He gave a circumstantial\nnarrative of his dream, called upon Mr. Browne, the priest, then in\ncourt, to corroborate his testimony, and said that his wife had severely\nreproached him for permitting Hickey to leave their house, when he knew\nthat in the short footway to Carrick they must necessarily pass by the\ngreen spot in the mountain which had appeared in his dream.\n\n\u201cA number of witnesses came forward, and the proofs were so strong that\nthe jury without hesitation found the prisoner guilty.\n\n\u201cIt was remarked as a singularity that he happened to be tried and\nsentenced by his namesake, Sir George Caulfeild, at that time Lord Chief\nJustice of the King\u2019s Bench, which office he resigned in the summer of the\nyear 1760.\n\n\u201cAfter sentence Caulfield confessed the fact. It came that Hickey had been\nin the West Indies two and twenty years, but falling into a bad state of\nhealth, he was returning to his native country (Ireland) bringing with him\nsome money his industry had acquired. The vessel on board which he took\nhis passage was, by stress of weather, driven into Minehead. He there met\nwith Frederick Caulfield, an Irish sailor, who was poor and much\ndistressed for clothes and common necessaries. Hickey compassionating his\npoverty, and finding he was his countryman, relieved his wants, and an\nintimacy commenced between them. They agreed to go to Ireland together;\nand it was remarked on their passage that Caulfield spoke contemptuously,\nand often said it was a pity that such a puny fellow as Hickey should\nhave money, and he himself without a shilling. They landed at Waterford,\nat which place they stayed some days, Caulfield being all the time\nsupported by Hickey, who bought some clothes for him. The assizes being\nheld in the town during that time, it was afterwards recollected that they\nwere both at the Court-house, and attended the whole of a trial of a\nshoemaker who was convicted of the murder of his wife. But this made no\nimpression on the hardened mind of Caulfield, for the very next day he\nperpetrated the same crime on the road between Waterford and\nCarrick-on-Suir, near which town Hickey\u2019s relations lived.\n\n\u201cHe walked to the gallows with firm step and undaunted countenance. He\nspoke to the multitude who surrounded him, and in the course of his\naddress mentioned that he had been bred at a charter-school, from which he\nwas taken as an apprenticed servant by William Izod, Esq., of the county\nof Kilkenny. From this position he ran away on being corrected for some\nfaults, and had been absent from Ireland six years. He confessed also that\nhe had several times intended to murder Hickey on the road from Waterford\nto Portlaw, which, though in general not a road much frequented, yet\npeople at that time continually coming in sight, prevented him.\n\n\u201cBeing frustrated in all his schemes, the sudden and total disappointment\nthrew him probably into an indifference for life. Some tempers are so\nstubborn and rugged that nothing can affect them, but immediate sensation.\nIf to this be united the darkest ignorance, death to such characters will\nhardly seem terrible, because they can form no conception of what it is,\nand still less of the consequences that may follow.\u201d\n\nThe record of the following dream is certainly curious and interesting,\nand is perfectly well authenticated, coming as it does from the pen of the\ngentleman\u2019s son more immediately concerned, who testified as to its\nliteral fulfilment:--\n\n\u201cIn the year 1768 my father, Matthew Talbot, Esq., of Castle Talbot, in\nthe county of Wexford, was much surprised at the recurrence of a dream\nthree several times during the same night, which caused him to repeat the\nwhole circumstance to his lady the following morning. He dreamed that he\nhad arisen as usual and descended to his library, the morning being hazy.\nHe then seated himself at his _secr\u00e9taire_ to write; when, happening to\nlook up a long avenue of trees opposite the window, he perceived a man in\na blue jacket mounted on a white horse coming towards the house. My father\narose and opened the window. The man advancing, presented him with a roll\nof papers, and told him they were invoices of a vessel which had been\nwrecked and had drifted in during the night on his son-in-law\u2019s, Lord\nMountmorris\u2019s, estate close by, and signed \u2018_Bell and Stephenson_.\u2019 My\nfather\u2019s attention was only called to the dream from its frequent\nrecurrence: but, when he found himself seated at his desk on the misty\nmorning, and beheld the identical person whom he had seen in his dream in\nthe blue coat riding on the grey horse, he felt surprised, and opening the\nwindow waited the man\u2019s approach. He immediately rode up, and drawing from\nhis pocket a packet of papers, gave them to my father, stating they were\ninvoices belonging to an American vessel which had been wrecked, and\ndrifted in upon his lordship\u2019s estate; that there was no person on board\nto lay claim to the wreck, but that the invoices were signed \u2018_Stephenson\nand Bell_.\u2019 I assure you that the above is most faithfully given by me as\nit actually occurred; but it is not more extraordinary than other examples\nof the prophetic powers of the mind or soul in sleep which I have\nfrequently heard related.\u201d[120]\n\nAnother remarkable dream, exceedingly well authenticated by an aunt of the\nEditor of this volume, is now set forth in detail and at some length:--\n\n\u201cOn the night of the 11th of May, 1812, Mr. Williams, of Scorrier House,\nnear Redruth, in Cornwall, awoke his wife, and exceedingly agitated, told\nher that he had dreamed that he was in the lobby of the House of Commons,\nand saw a man shoot with a pistol a gentleman who had just entered the\nlobby, who was said to be the Chancellor, to which Mrs. Williams naturally\nreplied that it was only a dream, and recommended him to be composed, and\ngo to sleep as soon as he could.\n\n\u201cHe did so, but shortly after again woke her; and said that he had the\nsecond time had the same dream; whereupon she observed that he had been so\nmuch agitated with his former dream that she supposed it had dwelt on his\nmind, and begged of him to try to compose himself and go to sleep, which\nhe did. A third time the same vision was repeated, on which,\nnotwithstanding her entreaties that he would be quiet, and endeavour to\nforget it, he arose, being then between one and two o\u2019clock, and dressed\nhimself.\n\n\u201cAt breakfast the dreams were the sole subject of conversation, and in the\nforenoon Mr. Williams went to Falmouth, where he related the particulars\nof them to all his acquaintance that he met.\n\n\u201cOn the following day, Mr. Tucker, of Trematon Castle, accompanied by his\nwife, a daughter of Mr. Williams, went to Scorrier House about dusk.\nImmediately after the first salutation, on their entering the parlour,\nwhere were Mr., Mrs., and Miss Williams, Mr. Williams began to relate to\nMr. Tucker the circumstances of his dream; and Mrs. Williams observed to\nher daughter, Mrs. Tucker, laughingly, that her father could not even\nsuffer Mr. Tucker to be seated before he told him of his nocturnal\nvisitation; on the statement of which Mr. Tucker observed that it would do\nvery well for a dream to have the Chancellor in the lobby of the House of\nCommons, but that he would not be found there in reality; and Mr. Tucker\nthen asked what sort of man he appeared to be, when Mr. Williams minutely\ndescribed him; to which Mr. Tucker replied: \u2018Your description is not at\nall that of the Chancellor, but is certainly very exactly that of Mr.\nPerceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and although he has been to me\nthe greatest enemy I ever met with through life, for a supposed cause\nwhich had no foundation in truth (or words to that effect), I should be\nexceedingly sorry, indeed, to hear of his being assassinated, or of any\ninjury of the kind happening to him.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. Tucker then inquired of Mr. Williams if he had ever seen Mr.\nPerceval, and was told that he never had seen him, nor had ever even\nwritten to him, either on public or private business; in short, that he\nnever had had anything to do with him, nor had he ever been in the lobby\nof the House of Commons in his life.\n\n\u201cAt this moment, whilst Mr. Williams and Mr. Tucker were still standing,\nthey heard a horse gallop to the door of the House, and immediately after,\nMr. Michael Williams of Trevince (son of Mr. Williams of Scorrier),\nentered the room and said that he had galloped out from Truro (from which\nScorrier House is distant seven miles), having seen a gentleman there, who\nhad come by that evening\u2019s mail from London, who said that he was in the\nlobby of the House of Commons, on the evening of the 11th, when a man\ncalled Bellingham had shot Mr. Perceval, and that, as it might occasion\nsome great ministerial changes, and might affect Mr. Tucker\u2019s political\nfriends, he had come out as fast as he could to make him acquainted with\nit, having heard at Truro that he had passed through that place in the\nafternoon on his way to Scorrier.\n\n\u201cAfter the astonishment which this intelligence had created had a little\nsubsided, Mr. Williams described most particularly the appearance and\ndress of the man whom he had seen in his dream fire the pistol, as he had\nbefore done of Mr. Perceval.\n\n\u201cAbout six weeks after, Mr. Williams, having business in town, went\naccompanied by a friend to the House of Commons, where (as has been\nalready observed) he had never before been. Immediately that he came to\nthe steps at the entrance of the lobby, he said: \u2018This place is as\ndistinctly within my recollection in my dream, as any room in my house,\u2019\nand he made the same observation when he entered the lobby.\n\n\u201cHe then pointed out the exact spot where Bellingham stood when he fired,\nand where Mr. Perceval had reached when he was struck by the ball, and\nwhere and how he fell. The dress, both of Mr. Perceval and Bellingham,\nagreed with the descriptions given by Mr. Williams, even to the most\nminute particular.\u201d[121]\n\nThe number of records in which it is believed that dreams have been the\nmeans by which murder has been discovered are so considerable; and some\nare so well authenticated, that it is impossible, as it certainly would be\npresumptuous, to endeavour to set them aside. The murder of Maria Marten\nof Polstead in Suffolk, by William Corder, a farmer, in May of the year\n1827, is a remarkable example:--\n\nThis unfortunate woman was induced to leave her home, and having\naccompanied the man who, under the promise of marriage, had betrayed her,\nto a certain barn, was there cruelly murdered and buried under the floor.\nFor nearly twelve months the murder was undiscovered; for Corder, who\nremained away, but still communicated with her parents, maintained that\nshe had married him; that circumstances prevented his bringing her back to\nhis father\u2019s home: but that in due course they would both come, though it\nwas implied that they were both on the Continent.\n\nThe mother of the murdered woman, however, about ten months after her\ndaughter\u2019s death, dreamed that her daughter had been murdered, and buried\nunder the floor of the barn. So strong and deep an impression did this\nmake both on her relations and the people of the village, that the girl\u2019s\nfather and others on April 19, 1828, took up the floor of the barn, where\nthey discovered the body of the murdered woman in a sack; and not so much\ndecayed but that obvious marks of violence were perceptible. The body was\nsuccessfully identified by the want of two teeth--one on the left side of\nthe upper jaw, and the other on the right side of the lower. In the\nmeantime Corder had married, and had gone to live in Essex, where he was\napprehended, tried, and condemned on the strongest circumstantial\nevidence. He made a full confession of the murder when in prison, under\nsentence of death, and was executed in August, 1828.\n\nThe following sets forth how an impressive, vivid, and twice-repeated\ndream induced a sailor to go to the place dreamed of, and rescue three\nsuffering fellow-creatures from a horrible death. It was related to a\nCornish friend, as a matter of fact, by a native of the island of\nAlderney, and is quite worthy of being here recorded:--\n\n\u201cSome few years before the erection of those well-known lighthouses called\nthe Caskets, near that island, an islander dreamed that a ship had been\nwrecked near those rocks, and that some part of the crew had saved\nthemselves upon them. This dream he related on the quay; but the sailors\n(although the most superstitious people in the world) treated it as an\nidle fancy. Yet the next night produced the same dream, and the man would\nno longer be laughed out of it; so he prevailed upon a companion the next\nmorning to take a boat and go with him to the rock, where they found three\npoor wretches half-starved with cold and hunger, and brought them on\nshore. This circumstance, and the supposed loss of the \u2018Victory\u2019 on this\nrock, the islanders give as a reason for erecting three lighthouses\nthere.\u201d\n\nStill more remarkable perhaps is the following, which, telling its own\nstory, and abundantly illustrating the reality of the Supernatural, needs\nno comment:--\n\n\u201cThe Rev. Mr. Perring, Vicar of a parish which is now a component part of\nLondon, though, about forty-five years ago it had the appearance of a\nvillage at the outskirts, had to encounter the sad affliction of losing\nhis eldest Son at an age when parents are encouraged to believe their\nchildren are to become their survivors; the youth dying in his seventeenth\nyear. He was buried in the vaults of the church.\n\n\u201cTwo nights subsequently to that interment, the father dreamed[122] that\nhe saw his Son habited in a shroud spotted with blood, the expression of\nhis countenance being that of a person enduring some paroxysm of acute\npain: \u2018Father, father! come and defend me!\u2019 were the words he distinctly\nheard, as he gazed on this awe-inspiring apparition; \u2018they will not let me\nrest quiet in my coffin.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe venerable man awoke with terror and trembling; but after a brief\ninterval of painful reflection concluded himself to be labouring under the\ninfluence of his sad day-thoughts, and the depression of past sufferings;\nand with these rational assurances commended himself to the All-Merciful,\nand slumbered again and slept.\n\n\u201cHe saw his Son again beseeching him to protect his remains from outrage,\n\u2018For,\u2019 said the apparently surviving dead one, \u2018they are mangling my body\nat this moment.\u2019 The unhappy Father rose at once, being now unable to\nbanish the fearful image from his mind, and determined when day should\ndawn to satisfy himself of the delusiveness or verity of the revelation\nconveyed through this seeming voice from the grave.\n\n\u201cAt an early hour, accordingly, he repaired to the Clerk\u2019s house, where\nthe keys of the church and of the vaults were kept. The Clerk after\nconsiderable delay, came down-stairs, saying it was very unfortunate he\nshould want them just on that very day, as his son over the way had taken\nthem to the smith\u2019s for repair,--one of the largest of the bunch of keys\nhaving been broken off short in the main door of the vault, so as to\nrender it impracticable for anybody to enter till the lock had been picked\nand taken off.\n\n\u201cImpelled by the worst misgivings, the Vicar loudly insisted on the\nClerk\u2019s accompanying him to the blacksmith\u2019s--not for a key but for a\ncrowbar, it being his resolute determination to enter the vault and see\nhis Son\u2019s coffin without a moment\u2019s delay.\n\n\u201cThe recollections of the dream were now becoming more and more vivid, and\nthe scrutiny about to be made assumed a solemnity mingled with awe, which\nthe agitation of the father rendered terrible to the agents in this\nforcible interruption into the resting-place of the dead. But the hinges\nwere speedily wrenched asunder--the bar and bolts were beaten in and bent\nbeneath the heavy hammer of the smith,--and at length with tottering and\noutstretched hands, the maddened parent stumbled and fell: his son\u2019s\ncoffin had been lifted from the recess at the vault\u2019s side and deposited\non the brick floor; the lid, released from every screw, lay loose at top,\nand the body, enveloped in its shroud, on which were several dark spots\nbelow the chin, lay exposed to view; the head had been raised, the broad\nriband had been removed from under the jaw, which now hung down with the\nmost ghastly horror of expression, as if to tell with more terrific\ncertainty the truth of the preceding night\u2019s vision. _Every tooth in the\nhead had been drawn._\n\n\u201cThe young man had when living a beautiful set of sound teeth. The Clerk\u2019s\nSon, who was a barber, cupper, and dentist, had possessed himself of the\nkeys, and eventually of the teeth, for the purpose of profitable\nemployment of so excellent a set in his line of business. The feelings of\nthe Rev. Mr. Perring can be easily conceived. The event affected his mind\nthrough the remaining term of his existence; but what became of the\ndelinquent whose sacrilegious hand had thus rifled the tomb was never\nafterwards correctly ascertained. He decamped the same day, and was\nsupposed to have enlisted as a soldier. The Clerk was ignominiously\ndisplaced, and did not long survive the transaction. Some years\nafterwards, his house was pulled down to afford room for extensive\nimprovements and new buildings in the village.\n\n\u201cAs regards the occurrence itself, few persons were apprised of it; as the\nVicar--shunning public talk and excitement on the subject of any member of\nhis family--exerted himself in concealing the circumstances as much as\npossible. The above facts, however, may be strictly relied on as\naccurate.\u201d\n\nA somewhat similar dream is recorded in the following statement, copied\nfrom the public prints, the fact of which has been authenticated by a\ncorrespondent in Scotland, who furnished the Editor with it. The\nparagraph, now to be quoted, appeared some years ago in the \u201cScotsman\u201d\nnewspaper, and was quoted in the \u201cTimes\u201d of Tuesday, April 25, 1865:--\n\n\u201cThe legal proceedings which lately took place in the Sheriff Court of\nClackmannanshire, with regard to the violation of a grave in the\nchurchyard at Alloa, and the unwarrantable exhumation of the body of James\nQuin, had their origin, it is stated, in a remarkable dream of the mother\nof the deceased. Young Quin died in September, 1863, and was buried in a\nlair in the churchyard, which was purchased by his father from William\nDonaldson, the Kirk Treasurer, it being agreed that the price was to be\npaid by instalments. About six months afterwards, Robert Blair, the sexton\nor grave-digger, took upon himself (without the authority, it would\nappear, of Donaldson) to sell the same lair to another person, and to\ninter therein a relative of the new purchaser, without, however, at the\ntime exhuming the body of Quin, the former tenant. Some considerable time\nafter this the mother of Quin being desirous of erecting a head-stone on\nthe grave of her son, made some inquiries with that view, in the course of\nwhich she heard something of another person having been buried in his\ngrave, this having, as she stated, been \u2018cast up\u2019 by Blair\u2019s nephew to a\nyounger son of hers on their way from Sunday-school. But the grave-digger\ndenied the truth of this story, and managed to pacify her. Feeling,\nhowever, that he had got into a scrape by the lair having been resold, he,\nsome weeks after Mrs. Quin had interrogated him on the subject, dug up the\nbody of her son during the night of Thursday, the 23rd of March last, and\nreinterred it in the other ground. Now, on that very Thursday night, as\nsworn to by Mrs. Quin, at the trial, she had this remarkable dream:--\n\n\u201cShe dreamt that her boy stood in his nightgown, at her bedside, and said\nto her, \u2018Oh, mother, put me back to my own bed.\u2019 She then awoke her\nhusband, and forgetting in her half-dreaming state that her son was dead,\nsaid to him, \u2018Jemmie is out of his bed; put him back into it;\u2019 after which\nshe fell asleep, and again had the same dream.\n\n\u201cA third time, during the same night, she dreamt that her son was standing\nbeside her bed; but on this occasion remembering that he was dead, the\nfigure of the grave-digger was mixed up with that of the boy, and he\nappeared to be shoving his spade into the body. Awakening in great\ntrepidation, and feeling certain that her boy had been taken out of his\ngrave, she went to the grave-digger and vehemently accused him of having\ndug up the body, which, after prevarication, he at last admitted. Hence\narose the action of damages against Donaldson, the Kirk Treasurer, and\nBlair, the grave-digger, which being restricted to twelve pounds was\nbrought in the Small Debt Court. The Sheriff, after a long proof,\nassoilzied Donaldson, and found Blair liable in damages, which, the\nparties not having settled the same extrajudicially, have since been\nassessed at five pounds.\u201d\n\nAnother dream, equally remarkable, by which a warning was given, and in a\nmeasure attended to by the dreamer, now follows; although not so weirdly\ntragic as that relating to the Perring Family, yet it efficiently serves\nto shadow forth the proximity of the spiritual world; and, it may be, in\nthis example, the direct intervention of a guardian-angel:--\n\n\u201cSome years ago a clergyman named W---- was visiting an old college\nfriend, Canon Hutchinson of Blurton Vicarage, near Trentham, and being a\ngood pedestrian, proposed to accomplish his journey home again from\nTrentham to Birmingham, which place he desired to reach by ten o\u2019clock one\nmorning, on foot. In order to do this he intended to leave Blurton at four\no\u2019clock a.m. on a certain day; and so retired to rest the previous evening\nat an unusually early hour. During the night he had a vivid and remarkable\ndream, which deeply impressed him. He dreamt that whilst he was on his\nwalking journey between Tamworth and Sutton, upon a very lonely road\nenclosed by tall hedges, he heard a rough voice cry out, \u2018Ah, Jack, are\nyou there?\u2019 and looking round saw two exceedingly ill-looking men jumping\ndown from an elevated part of the bank under the hedge, and alighting\nclose to him on the path below. Their countenances and suspicious bearing\nseemed to bespeak their evil intentions. Presently one of them all of a\nsudden presented a pistol at him. The clergyman imagined that he had only\na moment or two in which to commend his soul to God, which he did with\nearnestness, when the pistol was fired and his life thus taken away. Here\nthe dream ended and he awoke. It left an uneasy impression on his mind,\nbut being naturally of an undaunted spirit, and a firm believer in the\nprotection of Almighty God, he did not hesitate to leave his friend\u2019s\nhouse at the early period determined on. After walking for about an hour\nand a half, and when a few miles from Sutton Coldfield, where all of a\nsudden, as regards locality, he realized the minutest details of the\ndream, two men coming through the hedge suddenly overtook him. One\naddressed the other in the words already set forth. They were in every\nparticular, even to features, dress, and demeanour, identical with those\nwhom he had seen in the dream. They accompanied him, keeping close to his\nside, and watched him with very mysterious looks. He was deeply startled\nand alarmed, but lifted up his heart to God for guidance, direction, and\nprotection. Soon they all reached a broad and dreary common, upon the\nextreme distant edge of which stood a small inn, whither he resolved to go\nfor refreshment in the hope of shaking off his companions. Here for awhile\nthey separated; but, on entering the house and asking to be supplied with\ntea, he found that the two men had followed him, and were asking for\nrefreshments likewise. After waiting for some time, he determined on\nleaving the inn by a path at its back entrance, which, from knowing\nsomething of the locality, he believed would take him by a nearer way to\nSutton Coldfield. This turned out to be the case; for by his action he\nsuccessfully avoided the two tramps, who were afterwards taken up and\nimprisoned for some marked offence against the laws of the land.\u201d[123]\n\nA warning of a very similar character may now be narrated, in which the\ncurious point seems to be that it was given so many years before it was\nneeded, though its efficiency was fully made manifest when the actual\ndanger threatened:--\n\n\u201cThe Housekeeper of a county family in Oxfordshire dreamt one night that\nshe had been left alone in the house upon a Sunday evening, and that\nhearing a knock at the door of the chief entrance, she went to it, and\nthere found an ill-looking tramp armed with a bludgeon, who insisted on\nforcing himself into the house. She thought that she struggled for some\ntime to prevent him so doing, but quite ineffectually; and that being\nstruck down by him and rendered insensible, he thereupon gained ingress\nto the mansion. On this she awoke.\n\n\u201cShe at once mentioned her dream to some of her fellow-servants, and also,\na few days later, to the Master of the House. The latter, smiling,\npooh-poohed it; but remarked that \u2018all the greater care should be taken by\nthe servants to see that the fastenings were secure.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs nothing happened for a considerable period, the circumstance of the\ndream was soon forgotten; and, as she herself asserts, had altogether\npassed away from her mind. However, many years afterwards, this same\nHousekeeper was left with two other servants to take charge of an isolated\nmansion at Kensington (subsequently the town residence of the family),\nwhen, on a certain Sunday evening, her fellow-servants having gone out and\nleft her alone, she was suddenly startled by a loud knock at the front\ndoor.\n\n\u201cAll of a sudden the remembrance of her former dream returned to her with\nsingular vividness and remarkable force, and she felt her lonely isolation\ngreatly. Accordingly, having at once lighted a lamp on the hall\ntable--during which act the loud knock was repeated with vigour--she took\nthe precaution to go up to a landing on the stair, throw up the window,\nand there, to her intense terror, she saw in the flesh the very man whom\nyears previously she had seen in her dream, armed with a bludgeon and\ndemanding an entrance. With great presence of mind she went down to the\nchief entrance, made that and other doors and windows more secure, and\nthen rang the various bells of the house violently, and placed lights in\nthe upper rooms. It was concluded that by these acts the intruder was\nscared away. It turned out afterwards that the lodge-keeper, having left\ntwo children to guard the entrance, they had been terrified into admitting\nthe tramp into the garden; and that the latter had fastened them into the\nlodge, where they were found in a considerable state of alarm by the two\nservants on their return home.\u201d[124]\n\nAnother example of a warning attended to, which had been given in a dream,\nand acted upon immediately afterwards, comes to the Editor on conclusive\nevidence of its undoubted truth and authenticity:\n\nA Scotch lady, a relation of the late J. R. Hope Scott, Esq., of\nAbbotsford, dreamt that her nephew, a promising young student of the\nUniversity of Edinburgh, had been drowned with two companions with whom\nhe had made an engagement to take an excursion by boat on the Frith of\nForth. So much impressed was she by this dream, that she rose two hours\nearlier than usual in the morning, and sent off her man-servant at once to\nprevail upon her nephew to give up his engagement. On being pressed he did\nso. His companions (who had also been warned not to go,) went without him,\nand alone, that is, without an experienced sailor. The boat was capsized\nand they were both drowned.\n\nIn the case which is now to follow, the warning given, not having been\nacted upon at once, came too late. It was narrated to the Editor, _viv\u00e2\nvoce_, in 1866, by the late Dr. J. M. Neale:--\n\n\u201cIn the autumn of the year 1845, one of the maid-servants of the then\nrector of Shepperton, a village on the Thames, near Chertsey, dreamed that\nher brother, a respectable and steady youth belonging to that place, was\ndrowned. The dream was singularly vivid. In it she further imagined that\nshe actually went to search for her brother\u2019s body, and that, after\nseeking for some time, she found it at a certain part of the river, which\nshe knew well, near the brink, and in a particular position. This dream\ntook place on a Saturday night. When she awoke on the Sunday morning, she\nat once acquainted her fellow-servant (who saw how deep an impression the\ndream had evidently made), and remarked that she ought at once to obtain\nher master\u2019s leave to go home on the morrow, and warn her brother, who\nwas unable to swim, not to go out on to the river. The leave was given,\nand her home was soon reached, but alas! the warning had come too late.\nHer brother had gone rowing on the Sunday evening, the boat was\naccidentally upset, and he was drowned. The body was not recovered for\nsome time; nor was it found near the spot where the accident had happened.\nBut it was found by the poor youth\u2019s sister, lower down the river, and\nexactly in the same place and position as had been so forcibly and clearly\nprefigured in her impressive dream.\u201d\n\nThe following example of a dream which occurred about twenty years ago, by\nwhich the fact of a murder was made known, being likewise well\nauthenticated and of considerable interest, is now set forth:--\n\n\u201cOn Saturday, the 30th of July, 1853, the dead body of a young woman was\ndiscovered in a field at Littleport, in the isle of Ely. The body has not\nyet been identified, and there can be little doubt that the young woman\nwas murdered. At the adjourned inquest, held on the 29th August before Mr.\nWilliam Marshall, one of the coroners for the Isle, the following\nextraordinary evidence was given:--\n\n\u201cJames Jessop, an elderly, respectable-looking labourer, with a face of\nthe most perfect stolidity, and who possessed a most curiously-shaped\nskull, broad and flat on the top, and projecting greatly on each side over\nthe ears, deposed--\u2018I live about a furlong and a half from where the body\nwas found. I have seen the body of the deceased. I have never seen her\nbefore her death. On the night of Friday, the 29th of July, I dreamt three\nsuccessive times that I heard the cry of murder issuing from near the\nbottom of a close called Little Ditchment Close (the place where the body\nwas found). The first time I dreamt I heard the cry it awoke me. I fell\nasleep again and dreamt the same thing. I then awoke again and told my\nwife I could not rest, but I dreamt it again after that. I got up between\nfour and five o\u2019clock, but I did not go down to the close, the wheat and\nbarley in which has been since cut.\n\n\u201c\u2018I dreamt once about twenty years ago that I saw a woman hanging in a\nbarn, and on passing the next morning the barn which had appeared to me in\nmy dream, I entered and did find a woman there hanging, and cut her down\nin time to save her life. I never told my wife that I heard cries of\n\u201cmurder,\u201d but I have mentioned it to several persons since. I saw the body\non the Saturday it was found. I did not mention my dream to any one till a\nday or two after that. I saw the field distinctly in my dream and the\ntrees therein, but I saw no person in it. On the night of the murder the\nwind lay from that spot to my house.\u2019\n\n\u201cRhoda Jessop, wife of the last witness, stated that her husband related\nhis dreams to her on the evening of the day that the body was\nfound.\u201d[125]\n\nAnother case, deeply interesting, and certainly more dramatic in the\nnature and importance of the very practical results which followed from\nthe action taken upon it, than even that already recorded of the Perring\nfamily (for it greatly benefited the living), is now narrated. The\ninteresting account, which, with the greatest simplicity, and in the\nactual words of the persons advantaged, records the plain facts, tells its\nown story with considerable power. Frivolous and pointless as are so many\ndreams, without intelligible purpose or sequence of action, this is one\nwhich it may be reasonably held can only be explained by a firm belief in\na superintending Providence, in other words in Almighty God, Who, as an\nold writer asserts, \u201csometimes warneth and instructeth in dreams,\u201d and Who\nmercifully uses the ministry both of angels and men for carrying out His\nDivine purpose:--\n\n\u201cA Gloucestershire gentleman in good circumstances, who for many years had\nlived a retired life, quite apart from his relations, some of whom in a\nprevious year had been cast in a lawsuit with him for the recovery of\ncertain properties, suddenly died, and, as was supposed, died intestate.\n\n\u201cHe had long intended, at the advice of the Rector of the village in which\nhe dwelt, and with whom alone he was on terms of intimacy, to make certain\nprovisions by will on behalf of the relations in question, who had lost\nmuch by his successful lawsuit. However, this (as was believed by his\nfamily lawyer, residing in an adjacent country town, who proceeded to\nsettle his affairs) had not been done; and the whole of his property\nconsequently seemed likely to go to his heir-at-law, a man of property,\nalmost unknown to him.\n\n\u201cFive months after his death, however, the Rector of the parish in which\nhe had lived, had what he termed \u2018a waking dream,\u2019 in which he imagined\nthat the deceased gentleman came to him in sorrow, and solemnly conjured\nhim to obtain possession of a Will, which had been duly made by him in\nLondon a few months before his decease, and which was in the custody of a\nfirm of attorneys there, which Will was so drawn as that the relations in\nquestion should greatly benefit by the just and righteous disposition\ntherein of his property. Imagining the dream to be only a dream and\nnothing more, he took no notice of it, and regarded it as the mere result\nof his own imagination.\n\n\u201cIn about a fortnight, however, the identical dream occurred again--with\nthe simple difference that the deceased gentleman bore an expression of\ndeeper grief, and appeared to urge him, in still stronger terms, to obtain\nthe Will. The Rector was much impressed by this; but on careful reflection\nupon the following day, appeared indisposed, on such testimony, to\ninterfere with arrangements which were then being made for the settlement\nof the deceased person\u2019s affairs, on the supposition that he had left no\nWill. And consequently he did nothing.\n\n\u201cA third time, however, about eight days afterwards, he had the same\ndream, with certain additional details of import and moment. The deceased\nperson, as the Rector imagined, appearing once again, urged him most\nvehemently and solemnly to do as he wished, and to go and obtain the Will.\nA conversation took place as it were in the dream, and the clergyman set\nforth many cogent arguments why he should not be called upon to undertake\na work, which might not only be misunderstood, but might render him liable\nto misrepresentations, if not to trouble and annoyance.\n\n\u201cHowever, at last he consented, and, in his dream, accompanied the\ndeceased person to a certain lawyer\u2019s office at a certain number, on a\ncertain floor in Staple Inn, on the south side of Holborn, where the\ndrawer in a writing-table was opened, and he saw the packet containing the\nWill sealed in three places, with the deceased person\u2019s armorial bearings.\nThe whole room was before him vividly. It was panelled in oak, picked out\nwith white and pale green, and over the mantel-piece hung an engraving of\nLord Eldon.\n\n\u201cThe Rector awoke, and resolved without delay to do as he was enjoined.\nBefore proceeding, he mentioned the circumstance of the thrice-repeated\ndream to a clerical friend, who volunteered to accompany him to London on\nhis important errand.\n\n\u201cThey went together. Neither had ever been to Staple Inn before; nor did\nthey know its exact whereabouts. On inquiry, however, it was soon found.\nAnd so was the room and office, with the furniture and print of Lord\nEldon, which had been seen beforehand by the Rector in the dream, to his\nintense awe and wonderment. Even the peculiar handles of the\nwriting-table, which were of brass and old-fashioned, were those which had\nbeen clearly apparent. The identical drawer was opened, and the Will,\nsecured in an envelope of stout paper and sealed with three impressions,\nwas found, just as it had been seen in the dream. The lawyer, who at once\ngave every facility for inquiry, was a junior partner in the firm which\nhad drawn it up, and had only recently come to London, from a cathedral\ncity, where the firm in question had a branch office, on the death of the\nchief partner. The Will was found to be good and valid, and was in due\ncourse proved. Under it the relations, who had so suffered by the loss of\ntheir law-suit as to have been almost reduced to penury, obtained their\ndue. The whole of these facts are vouched for by a friend of the Editor of\nthis book.\u201d[126]\n\nThe following example of presentiment of death is also well authenticated.\nIt occurred on board one of the ships of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth in\nthe year 1850. From the MS. account, furnished by one thoroughly able to\ngive an exact record, the following is taken:--\n\n\u201cThe officers being one day at the Mess-table, a young Lieutenant\nR----suddenly laid down his knife and fork, pushed away his plate, and\nturned extremely pale. He then rose from the table, covering his face with\nhis hands, and retired from the room. The President of the mess, supposing\nhim to be ill, sent one of the young men to inquire what was the matter.\nAt first Mr. R---- was unwilling to speak; but, on being pressed, he\nconfessed that he had been seized by a sudden and irresistible impression\nthat a brother he had in India was dead. \u2018He died,\u2019 said he, \u2018on the 12th\nof August at six o\u2019clock, I am perfectly sure of it.\u2019 No argument could\noverthrow this conviction, which, in due course of post, was verified to\nthe letter. The young man had died at Cawnpore at the precise period\nmentioned.\u201d\n\nUnder the heading of \u201cSingular Prognostication,\u201d \u201cThe Times\u201d of April the\n17th, 1865, copies from the \u201cCornish Telegraph\u201d the narrative of a then\nrecent dream of a young clergyman of the county of Cornwall, which was\nalmost immediately followed by the accidental death of the dreamer:--\n\n\u201cOn Wednesday last, the Rev. Stephen Barclay Drury, an unmarried\nclergyman of twenty-six, who has for about twelve months acted as the\ncurate of Phillack and Gwithian, had a conversation with the brother of\nthe Rector of those parishes,[127] Mr. Charles Hockin, and related a\ndream, which he described as a very singular one, and as having made a\ndeep impression on him.\n\n\u201cHis words were: \u2018I dreamt I was to be buried, and I followed my coffin\ninto the church, and thence to the tomb. I took no part in the service,\nand when we came to the tomb, I looked into it, and saw it was very nice.\nI then asked the undertaker who was to be buried, and he answered, \u201cYou.\u201d\nI then said, \u201cI am not to be buried, I am not dead.\u201d The undertaker then\nsaid, \u201cI must be paid for the coffin,\u201d upon which I awoke.\u2019\n\n\u201cOn Sunday morning and afternoon Mr. Drury officiated at Gwithian, and\nafter the second service remained with the children to practise singing.\n\n\u201cReturning to his lodgings in Gwithian at half-past four, he waited a\nlittle, took with him Thomas \u00e0 Kempis\u2019 \u2018De Imitatione Christi,\u2019 and set\nout for a walk, accompanied by a Newfoundland dog. He asked for a bit of\ncord, as he might give the dog a dip, and started in his usually cheerful\nand happy mood. In an hour and a half the dog returned with the cord\naround his neck.\n\n\u201cMr. Drury was never again seen alive. His absence throughout the night\noccasioned no surprise, as he sometimes went to, and slept at Copperhouse,\ntwo miles off.\n\n\u201cOn Monday morning a Gwinear miner, in quest of seaweed at low water, near\nthe rocky shore of Godrevy, saw Mr. Drury\u2019s body in a pool seventy or\neighty yards from the sea.\n\n\u201cAn inquest, under the county coroner, Mr. John Roscoria, was held on\nTuesday at Gwithian, when these circumstances were elicited, and a verdict\nwas returned of \u2018Found Drowned.\u2019\n\n\u201cFrom the facts, however, that Mr. Drury had never shown the least signs\nof depression, that he started with the expressed intention of giving the\ndog a dip, and that he was very near-sighted, the general inference is\nthat the unfortunate gentleman slipped on the rocks, was stunned, fell\ninto the water, and so casually and singularly fulfilled his strange dream\nof a few days previously.\u201d\n\nA somewhat similar prognostication was had in the case of Captain Speer,\nwhich may properly be put on record, for, as in the case already narrated,\nit turned out to be a true warning of impending death:\n\nCaptain Speer, an officer of the 3rd Surrey Militia, and a magistrate for\nthe county of Surrey,[128] lately met his death under remarkable\ncircumstances. The \u201cQuebec Mercury\u201d says:--\u201cCaptain W. D. Speer passed the\nlast winter among us. During part of it, he had some fine sport on the\nnorth shore of the S. Lawrence, in company with Captain Knox and\nLieutenant Duthie, of the 10th Royal Artillery. This spring he made a tour\nthrough the States and West Indies, with Major Leslie, R.A., returning\nonly for a few days, to set out again on what has, alas! proved to be his\nlast expedition.[129] Strange to say, he stated to several gentlemen, just\nbefore setting out, that he had had a dream in which he distinctly saw a\ncoffin with the name of \u2018W. D. Speer, died June 17th, 1867,\u2019 on it; and in\nwriting to a lady three weeks previously,[130] he said in a joke that one\nreason for addressing her was his own approaching end. The date of his\ndeath is not known,[131] but it must have been on the day he named, or\nvery near it. It appears that he was going to his cabin on board the\nMississippi steamer, which was at anchor, and somewhere in the\nneighbourhood of the Indian disturbances; when in the middle of the night\nhe was shot dead by a sentry, who omitted to challenge him.\u201d\n\nOn this remarkable incident a Letter was written, from which the following\nextract may fittingly be put on record here:\n\n\u201cIt seems the account of the dream was true, as Major Terry told Mr.\nKempson, that he had heard the letter read in which he [Captain Speer]\nrelated the circumstance. Singular, was it not? I trust it may have taken\nsome little effect on his mind, but I fear he was not one to attach any\nimportance to such a warning. However, I do hope he did, for it is so\nawful to think of anyone in pure health and spirits being ushered into\nEternity without one moment\u2019s preparation.\u201d From a Letter, dated August\n10th, 1867, signed \u201cAnne M. Kempson, Richmond Hill, Surrey, S.W.\u201d\n\nAnother example of a warning given in a dream (but neglected) may now be\nput on record:\n\nA few years ago a serious accident occurred in the village of Bulmer, in\nYorkshire, to a pic-nic party going to Castle Howard. The party made the\njourney in an omnibus, and it seems that the wife of one of the men\nhesitated to join the others, and tried to persuade her husband not to go,\nbecause she asserted that she had dreamt a week before that they were in\nan omnibus, and were upset on going through a village and greatly injured,\nthe fright awakening her. The man and his wife however did go; but on\nreaching Bulmer, the woman became greatly excited. Not only, she remarked,\nwas the omnibus that which she had seen in her dream, but the village was\nthe one in which the accident she dreamt of appeared to happen. The words\nwere scarcely uttered when the omnibus was upset and a scene of great\nconfusion resulted. Those on the outside were thrown to the ground with\ngreat violence; one man was rendered insensible by the omnibus falling\nupon him, and several sustained rather serious injuries. The woman to whom\nthe accident was revealed beforehand, was herself badly hurt; but her\nhusband\u2019s was the worst case, he sustaining a dislocation of an ankle.\nMedical aid was quickly procured, the sufferers were relieved, and\nafterwards conveyed to their homes. Every incident of the accident seems\nto have been pictured in the premonitory dream.\n\nA remarkable presentiment by means of a dream is related in the second\nsection of the first volume of the \u201cMuseum of Wonders,\u201d and is to the\nfollowing effect. Though not new, it is so exceptionally curious as to be\nquite worthy of reproduction here:--\n\n\u201cA short time before the Princess Natgotsky, of Warsaw, travelled to\nParis, she had the following dream:--She dreamed that she found herself in\nan unknown apartment, when a man who was likewise unknown to her, came to\nher with a cup, and presented it to her to drink out of. She replied that\nshe was not thirsty, and thanked him for his offer. The unknown individual\nrepeated his request, and added that she ought not to refuse it any\nlonger, for it would be the last she would ever drink in her life. At this\nshe was greatly terrified and awoke.\n\n\u201cIn October, 1720, the Princess arrived at Paris, in good health and\nspirits; and occupied a furnished hotel, where soon after her arrival she\nwas seized with a violent fever. She immediately sent for the King\u2019s\ncelebrated physician, the father of Helvetius. The physician came, and the\nPrincess showed striking marks of astonishment. She was asked the reason\nof it, and gave for answer that the physician perfectly resembled the man\nwhom she had seen at Warsaw in a dream; but added she, \u2018I shall not die\nthis time, for this is not the same apartment which I saw on that occasion\nin my dream.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Princess was soon after completely restored, and appeared to have\naltogether forgotten her dream, when a new incident reminded her of it in\na most forcible manner. She was dissatisfied with her lodgings at the\nhotel, and therefore requested that a dwelling might be prepared for her\nin a convent at Paris, which was accordingly done. The Princess removed to\nthe convent, but scarcely had she entered the apartment destined for her,\nthan she began to exclaim aloud: \u2018It is all over with me; I shall not come\nout of this room again alive, for it is the same that I saw at Warsaw in\nmy dream!\u2019 She died in reality not long afterward in the same room, in\nthe beginning of the year 1721, of an ulcer in the throat, occasioned by\nthe drawing of a tooth.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis dream,\u201d observes Jung Stilling, from whose work the account of it is\ntranscribed, \u201cproceeded from a good angel, who wished to attract the\nattention of the Princess to her approaching end.\u201d\n\nA dignitary of the Church of England, of rank and reputation, courteously\nfurnishes the Editor with the following remarkable Dream, which occurred\nto himself,--alas! so completely fulfilled. Another account of the same,\nalmost identical in terms, was sent to him from another quarter. But he\nprefers putting on record the former:[132]--\n\n\u201cMy brother had left London for the country to preach and speak on behalf\nof a certain Church Society, to which he was officially attached. He was\nin his usual health, and I was therefore in no special anxiety about him.\nOne night my wife woke me, finding that I was sobbing in my sleep, and\nasked me what it was. I said, \u2018I have been to a strange place in my dream.\nIt was a small village, and I went up to the door of an inn, if so it\nmight be called, though it really was a decent public-house. A stout woman\ncame to the door. I said to her, \u2018Is my brother here?\u2019 She said, \u2018No,\nsir, he is gone.\u2019 \u2018Is his wife here?\u2019 I went on to enquire. \u2018No, sir, but\nhis widow is.\u2019 Then the distressing thought rushed upon me that my brother\nwas dead: and I awoke sobbing.\n\n\u201cA few days after, I was summoned suddenly into the country. My brother\nreturning from Huntingdon had been attacked with _angina pectoris_; and\nthe pain was so intense that they left him at Caxton (a small village in\nthe diocese of Ely), to which place on the following day he summoned his\nwife: and the next day, while they were seated together, she heard a sigh\nand he was gone.\n\n\u201cWhen I reached Caxton, _it was the very same village to which I had gone\nin my dream. I went to the same house, was met and let in by the same\nwoman; and found my brother dead, and his_ widow _there._\u201d\n\nOne of the most striking and well-authenticated cases of a Warning given\nin a Dream and acted upon, by which a grave temporal danger was actually\naverted, remains to be put on record now. The case is related with great\nsimplicity by one who has carefully investigated the circumstances of both\nthe dreams; and nothing is required on the Editor\u2019s part, either to\nenlarge on any detail of it or to point its moral:--\n\n\u201cKnowing as I do intimately,\u201d writes the correspondent in question, \u201cthe\nWidow of an Irish clergyman who was warned by a dream of the railway\naccident which took place a few years ago at Abergele, in North Wales, I\ngive you gladly the following particulars:--\n\n\u201cAbout a fortnight before the accident occurred, my friend, the lady in\nquestion, had a dream in which her husband, who had been dead for three\nyears, appeared to her, as she thought. This occurred on the night which\nfollowed the day on which she had settled and arranged with some friends\nto make a journey by railway. She dreamed that her husband was still\nliving, and that she and he were walking on the sea-shore of North Wales,\nclose to which the railway to Holyhead passes, when they came to a\ntunnel,[133] from which, all of a sudden, volumes of the blackest smoke\nwere pouring out, and which became so dense that the sky was quite\novercast. Alarmed at this, they hastily went forward together towards its\nmouth, when it seemed to be all on fire; the crackling and roar of which\nwas quite unusual. In a moment or two the sounds of frantic cries of men\nand women wildly shrieking seemed to come from out of the mouth of the\ntunnel; and then, as if to add to the horror of what had already appeared,\nanother train, full of people and at express speed, came up and dashed\nthrough smoke and flame into the tunnel itself. Upon this the lady awoke,\nand so deep an impression had the dream made (for it unhinged her for some\ndays), that she resolved to postpone her journey, which she did. Had she\ngone at the time appointed and arranged, she and her friends would have\ntravelled by the very train--the passengers of which were burnt by the\nexplosion of petroleum.\n\n\u201cThe most curious part of this interesting record has yet to be told. On\nthe same night upon which this lady had this dream-warning, her own\ndaughter, a child of nine years of age, who was staying with some\nrelations nearly sixty miles from home, had likewise a dream, in which she\nthought she saw two trains meeting each other on one line of railway, in\none of which her mother was seated, and in the other one of her mother\u2019s\nfriends (who was to have travelled with her). The trains seemed to be\ngoing at a great rate, and when the collision actually took place, the\nchild at once awoke. On the following morning she recounted her dream to\nher relations: but at the time they took no notice of it, though it formed\nthe subject of a general conversation regarding dreams. It was only when\n(as was afterwards discovered) her mother had possibly escaped the\nfrightful disaster of a railway accident, and probably a very painful\ndeath, that the fact of her child having had the dream on the night of her\nown warning and mentioned it, was specially remarked and noted down.\u201d\n\nA prognostication, or rather a personal Presentiment of impending death,\nand that death the result of an accident, will fittingly be recorded\nhere:--\n\nAt the village of Bloxwich, in the diocese of Lichfield, a miner resided,\nwell known to the person who communicated the following occurrence to the\nEditor of this volume:--\u201cOne morning in 1872, on his way to the pit\u2019s\nmouth, the miner had a strong presentiment that he should be killed at his\nwork. He returned home, communicated his impressions to his wife (who\nexpostulated with him for being so fanciful and superstitious), and then\ninsisted on seeing all his children. They were assembled. He took down his\nPrayer Book and Bible, read a chapter from the latter, and afterwards said\nsome of his accustomed prayers. Then affectionately greeting wife and\nchildren, he went to his work, with the same strange but vivid\npresentiment of approaching death upon him; as his wife so clearly\ntestifies. He had not been at work many minutes when he was suddenly\ncrushed to death by the fall of a rock.\u201d\n\nThese facts are duly authenticated by persons who obtained the account\nfrom the man\u2019s widow on the day of his burial, and have supplied them\ndirectly to the Editor.\n\nThe following cases, equally remarkable, are taken from the \u201cStandard\u201d\nnewspaper:--\n\n\u201cSir,--I beg to acquaint you of a very singular event which occurred here\nyesterday. On Saturday night a villager named Andrew Scott dreamed of\nbeing along the coast on S. Cyrus\u2019 Sands, and finding a man among the\nrocks under Whitson Houses. On Sabbath morning after breakfast he cleaned\nhimself, and told his wife he would go and see if there was anything in\nhis dream, taking another man with him to whom he made known his errand;\nand on arriving at the spot where he expected to find the man, sure enough\nthere was the drowned man, washing amongst the rocks, just as seen in his\ndream. He was taken ashore, reported to the S. Cyrus\u2019 authorities, and\nto-day he is to be interred. He is supposed to be one of the men belonging\nto the \u2018Providence,\u2019 wrecked on Dec. 19. I have the honour to be, sir,\nyour most obedient servant,\n\n  \u201cDaniel Hamilton.\n\n\u201cJohnshaven, Kincardineshire, Jan. 20.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt an inquest held on Monday afternoon at James Bridge, near\nWolverhampton, on the body of a collier named Samuel Tinley, who had been\nkilled in a pit there by a fall of rock strata, it transpired that during\nthe previous night he awoke, saying he had a ton of rock on his head,\nthough he had no headache. He was convinced it boded ill, and was\nreluctant to go to work. Upon being urged to go by his wife, he went to\nhis child and saying, \u2018Let me have my last kiss,\u2019 went to the pit and was\nkilled. It was further shown that a cousin of his, who is a close friend,\nwas returning home from working a night-shift, when he said he saw the\ndeceased standing before him in the road. Instead of going home to bed he\nwent to the deceased\u2019s house, to which place the news of the death had\njust been brought, but altogether unknown to the cousin.[134] At the\ninquest a yet more remarkable case, that had come before the same coroner\nin the same locality, was mentioned.\u201d\n\nSo much as to examples and records of extraordinary Dreams, Warnings by\nVisions, and Presentiments. The subject of Omens may now be briefly\ntouched upon. An \u201comen\u201d has been defined to be \u201ca token or sign of good or\nill;\u201d \u201ca boding or foreboding;\u201d \u201ca prognostic.\u201d Some of the following are\nof such a character as that they are very suitably considered both in\nconnection with events already described and with those yet to be\nnarrated.\n\nIt has been forcibly and appropriately remarked, though not perhaps in any\nmarked or specific Christian spirit, that Omens constitute the poetry of\nhistory. They cause the series of events which they are supposed to\ndeclare to flow into epical unity, and the political catastrophe seems to\nbe produced, not by prudence or by folly, but by the superintending\ndestiny.\n\nThe case of the Tichborne Prophecy, in connection with the well-known\nancient Dole of that family, is so curious (having been in part recently\nfulfilled), that it may not only be set forth in detail, but may\nreasonably find a place at this particular part of this book. For the\nfollowing version the Editor is indebted to a near connection of the\nfamily:--\n\n\u201cThe Tichbornes date their possession of the present patrimony, the manor\nof Tichborne, so far back as two hundred years before the Conquest. When\nthe Lady Mabella,[135] worn out with age and infirmity, was lying on her\ndeathbed, she besought her loving husband, Sir Roger Tichborne, as her\nlast request, that he would grant her the means of leaving behind her a\ncharitable bequest, in a Dole of Bread to be distributed to all who should\napply for it annually on the Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin\nMary. Sir Roger, her husband, readily acceded to her request by promising\nthe produce of as much land as she could go over in the vicinity of the\nPark while a certain brand or billet was burning, supposing that, from her\nlong infirmity (for she had been bedridden some years), she would be able\nto go round a small portion only of his property. The venerable dame,\nhowever, ordered her attendants to convey her to the corner of the Park,\nwhere, being deposited on the ground, she seemed to regain a renovation of\nstrength; and to the surprise of her anxious and admiring lord, who began\nto wonder where this pilgrimage might end, she crawled round several rich\nand goodly acres.\n\n\u201cThe field which was the scene of Lady Mabella\u2019s extraordinary feat\nretains the name of \u2018The Crawls\u2019 to this day. It is situated near the\nentrance to the Park, and contains an area of twenty-three acres.\n\n\u201cHer task being completed, she was re-conveyed to her chamber; and,\nsummoning her family to her bedside, predicted its prosperity while the\nannual Dole existed, and left her solemn Curse, uttered in God\u2019s most Holy\nName, on any of her descendants who should be so mean or covetous as to\ndiscontinue or divert it, _prophesying that when such should happen the\nold house should fall, and the family name would become extinct from the\nfailure of heirs male; and that this would be foretold by a generation of\nseven sons being followed immediately after by a generation of seven\ndaughters and no son_.\n\n\u201cThe custom thus founded in the reign of Henry II. continued to be\nobserved for centuries; and our Lady\u2019s Day, the 25th of March, became the\nannual festive-day of the family. It was not until the middle of the last\ncentury that the custom was abused; when, under the pretence of attending\nthe Tichborne Dole, vagabonds, gipsies, and idlers of every description,\nassembled from all quarters, pilfering throughout the neighbourhood; and,\nat last, the gentry and magistrates complaining, it was discontinued in\n1796. Singularly enough, the baronet of that day, Sir Henry\nTichborne,[136] had seven sons, and, when he was succeeded by the eldest,\nthere appeared a generation of seven daughters, while the apparent\nfulfilment of the prophecy was completed by the change of the name of the\nlate baronet to Doughty, under the will of his kinswoman. (This allusion\nis to Sir Edward Doughty, ninth baronet, who inherited the \u2018Doughty\u2019\nestate, then Mr. Edward Tichborne.)\u201d\n\nHere is the record of a weird and obvious Omen:--\n\n\u201cThe Duke of Somerset, the great sacrilegious nobleman of Henry VIII.\u2019s\nreign, who worked such mischief and perpetrated such robberies on God\u2019s\npoor, is said to have been more than once warned of his coming death upon\nthe scaffold, by the appearance of a Bloody Hand stretched out from the\npanelled wall of the corridor of his mansion; and it is also reported that\nthe Hand was visible to his duchess as well as to himself.\u201d\n\nAnd here is the narrative of a remarkable Dream, as well as of a singular\ncoincidence:--\n\n\u201cSir Thomas White, Alderman of London, was a very rich man, charitable and\npublic-spirited. He dreamed that he had founded a college at a place where\nthree elms grew out of one root. He went to Oxford probably with that\nintention; and discovering some such tree near Gloucester Hall, he began\nto repair the building of that community, with a design to endow it. But\nwalking afterwards by the convent where the Bernardines formerly lived, he\nplainly saw an elm tree with three large bodies rising out of the same\nroot; he forthwith purchased the ground, and endowed his college there, as\nit is at this day; except the additions which Archbishop Laud made near\nthe outside of the building, in the garden belonging to the President. The\ntree is still to be seen. He made this discovery about the year 1557.\u201d\n\nThe numerous tokens of the death of Henry IV. of France, who reigned from\n1589 until 1610, are finely tragical. Mary of Medicis, in her well-known\ndream, saw the brilliant gems of her crown change into pearls--the\nrecognized symbols of tears and mourning. An owl is said to have hooted\nuntil sunrise at the window of the chamber to which the King and Queen\nretired at S. Denis on the night preceding her coronation. During the\nceremony, it was observed with dread, that the dark portals leading to the\nroyal sepulchre beneath the choir, were gaping and expanded. The flame of\nthe sacred taper held by Her Majesty was suddenly extinguished, and it is\nsaid that her crown twice nearly fell to the ground.\n\nAn anecdote, which was current during the reign of King Charles I., and\nhas the support both of Archbishop Laud and Lord Clarendon, is said to\nhave thrown a sad gloom over the spirits of the royal friends, already\nsaddened by the fearful pestilence which inaugurated his reign. At the\ncoronation it was found that there was not in the whole of London, nor\nindeed in the whole of England, sufficient purple velvet with which to\nmake the customary royal robes and the corresponding furniture of the\nchair of state and throne. What was to be done? Rigid custom, coming down\nno doubt for long generations, possibly from the time of S. Edward,\nrequired that old traditions should be scrupulously observed and carefully\nfollowed. What was needed could not in all probability be had nearer than\nGenoa. To obtain it would have caused a delay of several months: and it\nwas agreed that the solemn anointing and coronation could not be properly\npostponed. So it was resolved to robe His Majesty in _white_ velvet, from\nwhich he was known afterwards as \u201cthe White King.\u201d But this was the colour\nin which victims were arrayed. So many persons maintained that the Council\nwhich had sanctioned such an innovation had unwittingly, perhaps, but\nefficiently established an agency of evil; and many more after the King\u2019s\nmartyrdom recalled the ominous change.\n\nAnother Warning, or supposed Warning, of approaching evil vouchsafed to\nthe King was equally striking and peculiar. It happened a short time\nbefore the disastrous Battle of Newbury, and is thus recorded:--\n\nThe King being at Oxford, went one day to see the Public Library, where he\nwas shown amongst other books, a Virgil, nobly printed and exquisitely\nbound. The Lord Falkland, to divert the King, would have his Majesty make\na trial of his fortune by the _Sortes Virgilian\u00e6_, which everybody knows\nwas not an unusual kind of augury some ages past. Whereupon the King\nopening the book, the period which happened to come up was part of Dido\u2019s\nimprecation against \u00c6neas, which Mr. Dryden translated thus:--\n\n  \u201cYet let a race untamed, and haughty foes,\n   His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose;\n   Oppress\u2019d with numbers in th\u2019 unequal field,\n   His men discouraged and himself expelled,\n   Let him for succour sue from place to place,\n   Torn from his subjects and his son\u2019s embrace;\n   First let him see his friends in battle slain,\n   And then untimely fate lament in vain;\n   And when at length the cruel war shall cease,\n   On hard conditions may he buy his peace;\n   Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,\n   But fall untimely by some hostile hand,\n   And lie unburied on the barren sand.\u201d\n                                    \u201c\u00c6neid,\u201d Book iv. 88.\n\nIt is said that King Charles seemed concerned at this accident, and that\nLord Falkland observing it, would likewise try his fortune in the same\nmanner, hoping he might fall upon some passage that could have no relation\nto his case, and thereby divert the King\u2019s thoughts from any impression\nthe other might have upon him. But the place that Falkland stumbled upon\nwas yet more suited to his destiny than the other had been to the King\u2019s;\nbeing the following expressions of Evander upon the untimely death of his\nson Pallas, as they are translated by the same hand:--\n\n  \u201cO Pallas! thou hast fail\u2019d thy plighted word,\n   To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword;\n   I warn\u2019d thee but in vain; for well I knew\n   What perils youthful ardour would pursue,\n   That boiling blood would carry thee too far,\n   Young as thou wert in dangers--raw in war!\n   O cursed essay in arms--disastrous doom,\n   Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come.\u201d\n                                    \u201c\u00c6neid,\u201d Book xi. 230.\n\nAgain, as regards the King\u2019s bust, the following record was current and\ncommonly discussed:--\n\n\u201cVandyke, having painted the King\u2019s head, in three different attitudes, a\nprofile, a three-quarters, and a full face, the picture was sent to Rome\nfor Bernini, the celebrated sculptor, to make a bust from it. This artist,\nbeing exceedingly dilatory over his work, and having had complaints made\nto him on the subject, said that there was something so unusually sad and\nmelancholy in the royal features, that if any stress might be laid on\nphysiognomy, he was sure that the person whom the picture represented was\ndestined for a violent end. When the bust arrived in England, the King\nbeing anxious to see it, it was taken immediately to Chelsea and placed on\na table in the garden, whither the King, attended by many, went to\ninspect it. While so doing a hawk, with a wounded and bleeding partridge\nin its talons, flew over the King\u2019s head, and some of the blood fell upon\nthe marble neck of the bust, where it remained without being wiped off.\nThe omen is said to have been marked by many.\u201d\n\nOn the day of the King\u2019s burial, when the coffin was borne to S. George\u2019s\nChapel, Windsor, by tried and trusted subjects and servants, it was\ncarried through a severe snow-storm, and the purple pall was covered with\nthe whitest snow, thus adding a fresh reason for the title by which His\nMajesty had been known.\n\nThere were also some remarkable Warnings in the life of the great\nArchbishop Laud, some of which were noted down in his \u201cDiary.\u201d For\nexample, he was elected Head of S. John\u2019s College, Oxford, on the Feast of\nthe Beheading of S. John the Baptist; and of course, when he as Head of\nthat college perished by a similar death, this more than remarkable\ncoincidence was noticed and remembered. Another likewise is certainly\ncurious. Not long before his martyrdom, on entering his study one day, he\nis said to have found his own portrait, by Vandyke, at full length on the\nfloor, the cord which fastened it to the wall having snapped. The sight of\nthis warning, as it was regarded, is said not only to have deeply\nimpressed that great man, whose obvious belief in the Supernatural was\nconsiderable; but also to have brought back to his memory the fact of a\ngreat disaster which occurred to one of his barges, on the very day of his\ntranslation to the See of Canterbury, which boat sank with his coaches and\nhorses into the Thames.\n\nThere was an Omen attached to the ancient Ferrers family, of Chartley Park\nin Staffordshire. The large possessions of this family were forfeited by\nthe attainder of Earl Ferrers, after his defeat at Burton Bridge, where he\nled the rebellious barons against Henry III. The Chartley estate having\nbeen settled in dower was alone reserved and handed down. In the Park is\nsaid to be preserved an indigenous Staffordshire cow, small in stature, of\nsand-white colour, with black ears, muzzle, and tips at the hoofs. In the\nyear of the Battle of Burton Bridge a black calf was born; the downfall of\nthe house of Ferrers happening at the same period gave rise to the\ntradition, which to this day is said to be commonly current through\nobservation of past events, viz., that the birth of a parti-coloured calf\nfrom the wild herd in Chartley Park is a sure omen of death within the\nsame year to a member of Lord Ferrers\u2019 family. By a noticeable coincidence\na calf of this description has been born whenever a death has happened of\nlate years in this noble family.[137] The decease of the late Earl and\nCountess, of his son Lord Tamworth, and of his daughter, Mrs. William\nJoliffe, as well as the deaths of the son and heir of the present\nnobleman, and his daughter, Lady Frances Shirley, has each been preceded\nby the birth of an ominous calf. In the spring of the year 1835 an animal\nperfectly black was calved by one of this weird tribe; and it was soon\nfollowed by the death of the amiable Countess.\n\nThe Omen connected with the ancient gentle family of Oxenham, co.\nDevon,[138] may now be suitably referred to. The following, describing it,\nis copied from a rare and ancient pamphlet:[139]--\u201cIn the parish called\nSale Monachorum, in the county of Devon, there lives one James Oxenham, a\ngentleman of good worth and quality, who had many children, one whereof\nwas called John Oxenham, a young man in the vigour, beauty, and flower of\nhis age, about 22, who was of stature comely and tall, being in height of\nbody sixe foote and a half, a very proper person.... This young gentleman\nfell sicke, who being visited by many of the neighbours during the time of\nhis sickness, departed this transitory life on the 5th day of September\n1635, to whom, two days before he yielded up his soul to God, there\nappeared the likeness of a Bird with a white breast hovering over him.\u201d\nThe pamphlet in question states that the White Bird also appeared\npreviously to the deaths of Thomasine, Rebecca and Thomasine the\nyounger,[140] facts formally testified to, on the oaths of divers\neyewitnesses before the Lord Bishop of Exeter (Dr. Joseph Hall).\n\nIn Howell\u2019s \u201cFamiliar Letters,\u201d a communication dated \u201cJuly 3, 1632,\u201d\nstates that the writer saw, at a stonecutter\u2019s shop in London, a marble\nmonument commemorating several examples of this curious omen; and gives\nthe following as the inscriptions:--\n\n\u201cHere lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man, in whose chamber as he was\nstruggling with the pangs of death, a Bird with a White Breast was seen\nfluttering about his bed, and so vanished.\n\n\u201cHere lies also Mary Oxenham, the sister of the said John, who died the\nnext day, and the same apparition was seen in the room.\n\n\u201cHere lies hard by, James Oxenham, the son of the said John, who dyed a\nchild in his cradle a little after, and such a Bird was seen fluttering\nabout his head a little before he expir\u2019d, which vanish\u2019d afterwards.\u201d\n\nAt the bottom of the stone there is:--\n\n\u201cHere lies Elizabeth Oxenham, the mother of the said John, who died\nsixteen years since, when such a bird with a white breast was seen about\nher bed before her death.\u201d[141]\n\nThen come the following remarks:--\n\n\u201cTo all these there be divers witnesses both squires and ladies, whose\nnames are engraven upon the stone. This stone is to be sent to a town hard\nby Exeter where this happen\u2019d. Were you here, I could raise a choice\ndiscours with you hereupon. So hoping to see you the next tirm, I rest,\netc.\u201d\n\nFrom an old MS. letter of the eighteenth century, written on the fly-leaf\nof a copy of Howell\u2019s book already referred to, it seems that the\nappearance of the omen was regarded as a fact at that period. The Letter\ndated \u201cDecember 29th, 1741,\u201d contains the following statement:--\n\n\u201cI have received an answer from the country in relation to the strange\nBird which appeared to Mr. Oxenham just before his death, and the account\nwhich Dr. Bertie gave to Lord Abingdon of it, is certainly true. It first\nwas seen outside the window, and soon afterwards by Mrs. Oxenham in the\nroom, which she mentioned to Mr. Oxenham, and asked him if he knew what\nbird it was. \u2018Yes,\u2019 says he, \u2018it has been on my face and head, and is\nrecorded in history as always appearing to our family before their deaths;\nbut I shall cheat the Bird.\u2019 Nothing more was said about it, nor was the\nBird taken notice of from that time: but he died soon afterwards. However\nodd this affair may seem, it is certainly true; for the account was given\nof it by Mrs. Oxenham herself: but she never mentions it to anyone unless\nparticularly asked about it; and as it was seen by several persons at the\nsame time, I cannot attribute it to imagination, but must leave it as a\nphenomenon unaccounted for.\u201d\n\nMy friend, the Rev. H. N. Oxenham, of this family, writes to me A.D.\nOctober, 1874, as follows:\n\n\u201cThe tradition about the White Bird has certainly existed for so long a\ntime--I believe for centuries--in our family, that I have every reason to\nbelieve there are well-authenticated accounts of its appearance before the\ndeath of the head of the family; and that certainly a white Bird was seen\nat the window a few days before my late uncle\u2019s death (who was the head of\nthe family) last Christmas\u201d [_i.e._ in 1873].\n\nHere a singular account of the possession of a charm, or amulet, and of a\nCurse connected with it, may be fittingly set forth:--\n\n\u201cThe family of Graham of Inchbrachie, county Perth, are said to possess a\nsmall blue, uncut stone, set in an antique ring, of which the following\nstory is told. Some two centuries ago, as the Head of the Family was\npassing by a hill near or at Crieff, he discovered a large crowd, presided\nover by one of the Campbells of ----, preparing to execute a witch. On\napproaching the crowd, he found that the unhappy victim (who had for some\nyears lived in a rocky cave, still known by her name), was none other than\nhis old nurse, Katherine Nivens. Charged with witchcraft, she had been\ncondemned and was about to be executed. Graham, addressing the mob, urged\nthem to prevent Campbell from carrying out his purpose. In acknowledgment\nof his generous help on her behalf, the poor creature threw him a small\nblue stone like a bead, which she had kept in her mouth, and desired him\nto keep it for her sake; adding that as long as it was preserved in his\nfamily good fortune should ever attend them; while to the Campbells of\n---- (whom she solemnly cursed), she predicted that there never should be\nborn an heir male, and cited him to appear before God\u2019s judgment-bar,\nwhere justice should be done.[142] The strange feature in the story is\nthat (as a correspondent avers) _both promise and prediction have turned\nout to be true_. The stone is said to be an uncut sapphire. Other Scotch\nfamilies possess similar amulets or charms: amongst these the\nMacdonald-Lockharts of Lee in the county of Lanark.\n\nThe sound of the Beating of a Drum is said to betoken death to a noble\nScotch family--one which has been a staunch, good old loyalist clan for\ncenturies, and suffered sorely for having been \u201cleal and true\u201d to their\nRoyal House and their own consciences. Some years ago the then head of it\nwas paying a visit in England, when, one day, sitting outside in the\ngarden with the lady of the house, his lordship exclaimed suddenly,\n\u201cListen! here comes a band of music.\u201d\n\n\u201cMusic!\u201d she replied, \u201coh, impossible.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t you hear it? it is coming this way.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I hear nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen!\u201d he retorted; \u201cdon\u2019t you hear the Drum?\u201d\n\nShe assured him that there was nothing, that it was a fancy, and that no\nband of music could come near enough to the house to be heard, on account\nof the unusual extent of the grounds and park.\n\nOn this the nobleman turned pale, and becoming much agitated, remarked\nthat he felt sure it must be the sound of the family \u201cDrum,\u201d--an omen that\nalways preceded death, and feared that something had happened to one of\nhis relations.\n\nThe next post brought him the sad and melancholy news of his wife\u2019s\nunlooked-for death, through giving birth prematurely to a child.\n\nThe origin of this omen, as far as the Editor can discover, appears to be\nunknown.\n\nIn another family of rank a female figure, dressed in brown clothes,\nappears as a warning of death. To the members of an old knightly family in\nthe West of England there always comes, before the death of its chief, the\nsound of a heavy carriage with many horses driven round the paved\ncourtyard of the Elizabethan mansion.\n\nIt is equally notorious that in a certain noble English family, the form\nof a spectral head appears as a sign of death to any member of it, and\ninvariably so, when the chief of it dies,--a fact which the Editor has\nbeen assured of in writing (A.D. 1872) from a member of a junior branch of\nthe same.\n\nTo another family, living in the East of England (of the rank of gentle\npeople), appears an Omen, equally, if not more disagreeable. The\nappearance of a spectral Black Dog is also a portent of death. About\ntwenty years ago, A.D. 1853, the then head of the family married, and\nthough he himself (by no means superstitious) could not reject the\ntradition of the unpleasant omen, having heard so much about it on its\nprevious appearance, he said nothing to his wife. Some years afterwards,\nin 1861, their eldest child was taken ill. The illness, however, (as the\nphysician asserted,) was slight, and not at all likely to prove dangerous;\nso little, in truth, was this anticipated that there were several persons\nstaying in the house at the time. Just before dinner was announced one\nevening, the wife of the head of the family asked to be excused for a\nmoment or two, while she looked into the night nursery to see how the sick\nchild was. She went, but returned almost immediately, saying, \u201cDarling\n---- is fast asleep; but there\u2019s a large black dog lying under the bed; go\nand drive it out.\u201d The father, at once calling to mind the omen, was\nsorely terrified. He went at once to the sick room. Neither under nor near\nthe bed, nor (as was afterwards discovered) on the premises, was there, or\nhad there been, any dog, but the poor child\u2019s sleep was found to be the\nsleep of death.\n\nTo revert to Omens in general. There is a widely-spread and singular\nprejudice, (which with many is deeply rooted,) that if thirteen people sit\ndown to dinner one of them, at least, shall die within a year.[143] It\nseems to have originated from the fact of Judas having been the thirteenth\nat the Paschal Feast, when our Lord instituted the Holy Sacrament.\n\nAgain, Friday has from time immemorial been considered an unlucky\nday;[144] because the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour took place on\nthat day--a day of fear and trembling, of darkness and of earthquakes--a\nday of awe, when even some of the Pagan oracles were silent, and\nindications of the decay and weakening of their powers were by their\nimpotence made manifest. Plutarch in his book on the \u201cCessation of\nOracles,\u201d makes mention of the voice which, near Paxos, the pilot of a\nvessel heard in the spring of the nineteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius,\ncrying out, \u201cGreat Pan is dead.\u201d Now we know that in the spring of that\nyear, and possibly on the afternoon of that very day, our Divine Lord\novercame death by dying, conquered Satan, and opened the gates of\neverlasting life to mankind. Can we be surprised that after that victory\non the first Good Friday, the power of the Evil One was largely and surely\ncurbed?\n\nSecond Sight, indications of the existence of which have already been\ngiven, appears to be a power or property of seeing beforehand events which\nare still in the future, and such sight claimed by several[145] is said\nto belong to many persons in Scotland. In a \u201cDescription of the Western\nIsles,\u201d a popular writer of the last century somewhat amplified the\ndefinition. He maintained as follows: \u201cThe Second Sight is a singular\nfaculty of seeing an otherwise invisible object, without any previous\nmeans used by the person that sees it for that end; the vision makes such\na lively impression upon the seers, that they neither see nor think of\nanything else, except the vision, as long as it continues; and then they\nappear pensive or jovial, according to the object which was represented to\nthem.\u201d He further points out generally that when persons gifted with\nSecond Sight \u201cactually behold something unusual, the eyelids of the person\nare erected, and the eyes continue staring until the object vanish.\u201d In\nthe case of a certain person in the Island of Skye, \u201cwhen he sees a\nvision, the inner part of his eyelids turns so far upwards, that after the\nobject disappears, he must draw them down again with his fingers.\u201d The\nsame writer maintains that the property of Second Sight does not\nnecessarily descend in a family, as some persons hold and assert. \u201cI know\nseveral parents,\u201d he writes, \u201cwho are endowed with it, but their children\nnot, and _vice versa_; neither is it acquired by any previous compact.\nAnd, after a strict inquiry, I could never learn from any among them that\nthis faculty was communicable any way whatsoever.\u201d\n\nSeveral volumes have been written on the subject, and examples almost\nwithout number provided.\n\nIn John Aubrey\u2019s \u201cMiscellanies\u201d[146] is recorded a remarkable escape from\ndeath of Dr. William Harvey, the celebrated discoverer of the circulation\nof the blood through Second Sight:--\u201cWhen Dr. Harvey, one of the\nPhysicians\u2019 College in London, being a young man (in 1695), went to travel\ntowards Padua, he went to Dover with several others, and showed his pass\nas the rest to the Governor there. The Governor told him that he must not\ngo, but he must keep him prisoner. The Doctor desired to know \u2018for what\nreason? how he had transgressed?\u2019 \u2018Well, it was his will to have it so.\u2019\nThe pacquet boat hoisted sail in the evening, which was very clear, and\nthe doctor\u2019s companions in it. There ensued a terrible storm, and the\npacquet boat and all the passengers were drowned. The next day the sad\nnews was brought to Dover. The Doctor was unknown to the Governor both by\nname and face; but the night before the Governor had a perfect vision of\nDr. Harvey in a dream, who came to pass over to Calais, and that he had a\nwarning to stop him. This the Governor told the Doctor the next day. The\nDoctor was a pious, good man, and has several times directed this story to\nsome of my acquaintance.\u201d\n\nThe following, from a rare and curious volume of the last century,[147]\ncontaining nearly two hundred cases, authenticated mainly by ministers of\nthe Scotch Establishment, is a good example:--\n\n\u201cAlexander Macdonald, of Kingsborough (when living in the possession of\nAird, in the remote end of Trotternish), dreamed that he saw a reverend\nold man come to him, desiring him to get out of bed, and get his servants\ntogether, and make haste to save his fields of corn, as his whole cattle,\nand his tenants\u2019 cattle also, had got out of the fold, and were in the\nmiddle of a large field behind the house. He awaked and told his wife,\nwith whom he consulted whether he would rise or not; and she telling him\nit was but a dream, and not worth noticing, advised him to lie still,\nwhich he obeyed; but no sooner fell asleep, than the former old man\nappeared to him, and seemed angry, by telling Mr. Macdonald (then of\nAird), he the old man was very idle, in acquainting him of the loss he\nwould or had by this time sustained by his cattle, and seemed not to heed\nwhat he said, and so went off. Mr. Macdonald awaking the second time, told\nhis wife, but she would not allow him, and ridiculed him for noticing the\nfolly of a confused dream; so that, after attempting to get up, he was, at\nhis wife\u2019s persuasion, prevailed upon to lie down again; and falling\nasleep, it being now near break of day, the old gentleman appeared to him\na third time, with a frowning countenance, and told him he might now lie\nstill, for that the cattle were now surfeited of his corn, and were lying\nin it; and that it was for his welfare that he came to acquaint him so\noften, as he was his grand-uncle by his father; and so went off. He\nawaking in about an hour thereafter, arose and went out, and actually\nfound his own and his tenants\u2019 cattle lying in his corn, after being tired\nof eating thereof; which corn, when comprised, the loss amounted to eight\nbolls of meal.\u201d\n\nTwo quite recent cases of Second Sight are here given, and are each\nsomewhat remarkable. Both have been furnished to the Editor by those who\nknew the cases, and the accuracy of each has been vouched for by trusty\nand courteous correspondents.\n\nThe first has reference to the murder of a policeman at Cardiff:--\u201cAn\ninquest was formally opened on the body of William Perry, a constable of\nthe Cardiff police force, who was fatally stabbed on Tuesday by a butcher,\nnamed Jones. The medical evidence went to show that the murderer was in a\nvery excited state at the time, but was neither insane nor suffering from\n_delirium tremens_. The further hearing was adjourned. The \u2018Western Mail\u2019\nsays:--The deceased man Perry was a well-known and very efficient officer.\nHe joined the borough police force on the 5th of July, 1865, and from that\ntime had always conducted himself in a praiseworthy manner, having\nattained to the position of a first-class constable some time ago.\nPrevious to 1865 he was employed in the Merthyr division of the county\npolice. He was 36 years of age. The superstitious will probably feel\ninterested in the following story, which our reporter heard last night\nfrom the lips of the widow herself. Strange as it may seem, it is no less\nstrange than true; and mournful as the circumstance is in itself, those\nwho believe in the efficacy of dreams as prognosticators of future events,\nwill perhaps derive some gratification from it. On Sunday night Mrs. Perry\n(who resides at Melrose-cottage, Heath-street, Canton), had a dream, which\nbut too faithfully predicted the sad tragedy of yesterday. In the midst of\nher sleep she saw, to use her own words, a large crowd following her\nhusband down the Cowbridge-road, in the direction of the Westgate hotel,\nwhere the murder was committed. She saw, in the horror of her dream, a\nknife plunged into the breast of her husband, and drawn out again,\nblood-stained and grimy, by some cruel but unknown hand. She saw, too,\nthe murdered form of her husband borne away, and little thought, when\nbrooding over her awful dream, that it was a \u2018dark presage,\u2019 and the\nprecursor of what was soon to be a terrible reality. The dream occasioned\nher great uneasiness, but she mentioned it to no one until the dreadful\ntidings of her husband\u2019s death reached her yesterday morning, when the\ncircumstance forced itself vividly upon her recollection.\u201d (A.D. 1873.)\n\nThe second example is equally remarkable:--\u201cA singular case of Second\nSight is reported from the neighbourhood of Marlborough. A labourer named\nDuck, employed by Mr. Dixon, of Mildenhall Warren Farm, was in charge of a\nhorse and water-cart on the farm, when the animal took fright and knocked\nhim down. The wheel went over his chest, and the injuries he received were\nsuch that his death occurred shortly afterwards. However, the singular\npart of the story remains to be told. Duck resided at Ramsbury, and\nimmediately after the accident Mr. Dixon despatched a woman to acquaint\nhis wife of the fact. On arriving at her home the messenger found her out\ngathering wood; but shortly afterwards a girl who was her companion\narrived, and, without being told of what had occurred, volunteered the\nstatement that \u2019Ria (Mrs. Duck) was unable to do much that morning, that\nshe had been very much frightened, having seen her husband in the wood.\nShortly afterwards Mrs. Duck returned, without any wood, and, being\ninformed by a neighbour that a woman from Mildenhall Woodlands wished to\nsee her, ejaculated immediately, \u2018My David\u2019s dead, then.\u2019 Inquiry has\nsince been made by Mr. Dixon of the woman, and she positively asserts that\nshe saw her husband in the wood, and said, \u2018Holloa, David, what wind blows\nyou here, then?\u2019 and that he made no reply. Mr. Dixon inquired what time\nthis occurred, and she replied about 10 o\u2019clock, the hour at which the\nfatal accident took place.\u201d (A.D. 1874.)\n\nBefore this chapter is closed, the following account, which created the\ndeepest impression in the town and neighbourhood of Devizes, is embodied\nin terms which plainly enough set forth its point and purpose. It is an\nawful example of God\u2019s summary judgment, recorded by the local authorities\nboth as a memorial of the Supernatural and as a warning to all:--\n\n\u201cThe Mayor and Corporation of Devizes avail themselves of the stability of\nthis building [the Market Cross,] to transmit to future times the record\nof an awful event which occurred in the Market Place in the year 1753,\nhoping that such record may serve as a salutary warning against the danger\nof impiously invoking Divine vengeance, or of calling on the Holy Name of\nGod to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud:\n\n\u201cOn Thursday, the 25th of January, 1753, Ruth Pierce, of Potterne in this\ncounty, agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the\nmarket, each paying her due proportion towards the same. One of these\nwomen, in collecting the several quotas of money, discovered a deficiency,\nand demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the\namount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and said: _She\nwished she might drop down dead if she had not._ She rashly repeated the\nawful wish; when, to the consternation and terror of the surrounding\nmultitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money concealed\nin her hand.\u201d\n\nThe narrative of this solemn event was by order of the authorities\nrecorded on a tablet and hung up in the Market house (a row of sheds near\nthe Cross). When the building was taken down, Mr. Halcombe, who kept the\nBear Inn, in order that the remembrance might not be lost, caused it to be\ninscribed on the pediment of a couple of pillars which stood opposite his\ninn, supporting the sign of the Bear.\n\nThe sign was removed in 1801, and a few years after Lord Sidmouth having\npresented to the town the New Cross, which forms the central ornament of\nthe Market Place, the Mayor and Corporation \u201cavailed themselves,\u201d to use\ntheir own language, \u201cof the stability of the new structure to transmit to\nfuture time a record of the awful death of Ruth Pierce in hope that it\nmight serve as a salutary warning against the practice of invoking the\nSacred Name to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud.\u201d\n\nAnd now to conclude this portion of the subject. Each example already\nrecorded has, no doubt, told its own story sufficiently well. Some cases\nmay appear to certain minds to be as trivial as they certainly are, to\nothers, marvellous and inexplicable; other examples, again, cannot fail to\nleave a deep impression on the reader, as well from the remarkable\ncharacter of the presentiments and dreams themselves, as from the\nreasonable testimony by which their truth is supported by persons of\nrepute and credibility. The Editor has intentionally avoided the making of\ncomments, either prolix or the reverse, preferring to present to the\nreader each recorded narrative, as received or obtained by himself,\nwithout dissertations, theories, or explanations.\n\n\nEND OF VOL. I.\n\n  CHISWICK PRESS:--PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,\n  TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.\n\n\n\n\nGENERAL INDEX.\n\n\n  A Discerner of spirits, i. 81\n\n  Abimelech\u2019s dream, i. 210\n\n  Aerolites, i. 24\n\n  After-vision of a suicide, ii. 75\n\n  Alexander Macdonald\u2019s dream, i. 285\n\n  Amulet of the Grahams, i. 277\n\n  ---- of the Macdonald Lockharts, i. 278\n\n  Ann Thorne bewitched, i. 194\n\n  Apparition at Ballarat, ii. 61\n\n  ---- at time of death, ii. 59\n\n  ---- in the Jewel House, ii. 105\n\n  ---- near Cardiff, ii. 114\n\n  ---- of a college friend, ii. 71\n\n  ---- of a crow, ii. 131\n\n  ---- of a dying father, ii. 58\n\n  ---- of a dying lady to her children, ii. 64\n\n  ---- of a father to his son, ii. 58\n\n  ---- of a friend, ii. 60\n\n  ---- of a sister, ii. 59\n\n  ---- of a son to his mother and another, ii. 73\n\n  ---- of an officer, ii. 10\n\n  ---- of Dr. Ferrar\u2019s daughter, ii. 25\n\n  ---- of Philip Weld, ii. 51\n\n  ---- of Rev. W. Naylor, ii. 7\n\n  ---- of S. Stanislaus, ii. 51\n\n  ---- seven years after death, ii. 71\n\n  ---- to a gentleman, ii. 119\n\n  ---- to a lady and her child, ii. 113\n\n  ---- to a lady and her child, ii. 117\n\n  ---- to a sentry, and his death thereupon, ii. 108\n\n  ---- to Lord Brougham, ii. 68\n\n  ---- to Lord Chedworth, ii. 35\n\n  ---- to Mr. Andrews, ii. 41\n\n  Apparitions at Oxford, ii. 209\n\n  Arrowsmith, Trial of Rev. E., i. 91\n\n  Arrowsmith\u2019s Hand preserved, i. 95\n\n  Authentication of Lamb\u2019s cure, i. 96\n\n\n  Barony of Chedworth, ii. 34\n\n  Belief in God universal, i. 5\n\n  Benediction, The principle of, i. 90\n\n  Beresford apparition, The, ii. 11\n\n  Bird, The Spectral, ii. 128\n\n  Bisham Abbey, Ghost at, ii. 91\n\n  Bishop Joseph Hall on temporal punishment, ii. 89\n\n  Bishop Ken\u2019s hymn, ii. 82\n\n  Blessing and cursing, Power of, i. 90.\n\n  Bosworth\u2019s testimony, Mr. T., ii. 146\n\n  Bridget Bishop accused of witchcraft, i. 198\n\n  Bull of Pope Innocent VIII. against witchcraft, i. 162\n\n\n  Captain William Dyke, ii. 22\n\n  Cardan, Jerome, i. 282\n\n  Case of Annie Milner, i. 169\n\n  ---- of Martha Brossier, i. 165\n\n  Catharine Campbell accused of witchcraft, i. 197\n\n  Catholic claim to exclusive use of exorcism, i. 163\n\n  Causation, The law of, i. 3\n\n  Chamber, John, on \u201cJudiciall Astrologie,\u201d i. 200\n\n  Charles I., Omens concerning, i. 267, 271\n\n  Charles Ireland bewitched, i. 186\n\n  Chevalier\u2019s testimony concerning Spiritualism, Mr., ii. 180\n\n  \u201cChrist is coming\u201d quoted, ii. 136.\n\n  Christian Shaw bewitched, i. 197\n\n  Christian writers on the Supernatural, i. 31\n\n  Christianity, Morse on the decline of, ii. 137\n\n  Citation, Remarkable case of, i. 90\n\n  Club, The Hell-Fire, ii. 207\n\n  Colgarth, The Philipsons of, i. 90\n\n  Collins\u2019s Sermon, Rev. H., i. 135\n\n  Cometism, The Trinity of, i. 19\n\n  Constantine victorious, i. 38\n\n  Creslow, Haunted chamber at, ii. 92\n\n  Criticism upon Mr. Congreve, i. 20\n\n  Crookes, Mr. W., on Spiritualism, ii. 159, 162, 164\n\n  Cross of Constantine, The, i. 35\n\n  ---- fire seen in France in 1826, A, i. 16\n\n  Cure, Miraculous, i. 95\n\n  ---- Miraculous, by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 121, 125\n\n\n  Daimonomagia, i. 174\n\n  Dale-Owen, Mr., quoted, ii. 183, 185\n\n  Death of Captain Speer, i. 253\n\n  ---- of Rev. S. B. Drury, i. 251\n\n  De Lisle\u2019s, Miss, death, Supernatural music at, i. 135\n\n  De Lisle, Mr., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54\n\n  ---- Mr. Edwin, on Strauss, i. 2\n\n  Demons, Belief in, ii. 212\n\n  Denial of the Supernatural, i. 1\n\n  Details of the Supernatural, i. 8\n\n  Discovery of a lost will, i. 204\n\n  Disease of witchcraft, i. 174\n\n  Double apparition at time of death, ii. 55\n\n  ---- in the West Indies, ii. 58\n\n  Dr. Lamb, the sorcerer, i. 202\n\n  Dr. Newman on ecclesiastical miracles, i. 36\n\n  Dr. Samuel Johnson on the Lyttelton story, ii. 45\n\n  Dr. William Harvey\u2019s escape from death, i. 284\n\n  Dream of a child, Warning given in the, i. 260\n\n  ---- of a dignitary realized, i. 257\n\n  ---- of a housekeeper realized, i. 240\n\n  ---- of a widow lady, i. 258\n\n  ---- of Adam Rogers, i. 219\n\n  ---- of Andrew Scott, i. 261\n\n  ---- of Mr. Matthew Talbot, i. 225\n\n  ---- of Mr. Williams of Scorrier, i. 226\n\n  ---- of the Princess Natgotsky, i. 255\n\n  ---- of the Swaffham tinker, i. 215\n\n  ---- Prognostication of death in a, i. 250\n\n  ---- Remarkable, of a clergyman, i. 247\n\n  ---- Warning given in a, i. 254\n\n  ---- Warning neglected, i. 244\n\n  Dreams and visions, i. 211\n\n  Dreams, Nature of, i. 210\n\n  ---- of James Jessop, i. 244, 245\n\n  ---- recorded in Scripture, i. 211\n\n  ---- reproduction of thoughts in, i. 215\n\n  ---- supernatural, i. 210\n\n  Dunbar\u2019s testimony, Rev. Dr., ii. 218\n\n  Dungeon at Glamis Castle, The, ii. 114\n\n\n  Early Popes martyrs, The, i. 31\n\n  Eastern form of exorcism, i. 162\n\n  Ecclesiastical miracles, i. 32\n\n  Effect of the Supernatural, i. 7\n\n  Elimination of God, The, i. 19\n\n  Elizabeth Gorham bewitched, i. 187\n\n  ---- Style accused of witchcraft, i. 177\n\n  ---- Tibbots bewitched, i. 178\n\n  ---- Treslar hung for witchcraft, i. 181\n\n  Ellinor Shaw and Mary Philips, i. 182\n\n  Emperor Julian thwarted, The, i. 42\n\n  English canon concerning exorcism, i. 164\n\n  ---- statutes against witchcraft, i. 163\n\n  \u201cEternal,\u201d The term, i. 5\n\n  Execution of Frederick Caulfield, i. 223\n\n  ---- of Lamb\u2019s servant, i. 203\n\n  Exhumation of James Quin, i. 236\n\n  Exorcism, Power of, i. 57, 69, 82\n\n  ---- Latin form of, i. 138\n\n  ---- Oriental form of, i. 162\n\n\n  Facts of witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164\n\n  Faculty of Jerome Cardan, i. 283\n\n  Fall of aerolites, i. 25\n\n  False reasoning, i. 26\n\n  Ferrers family, Omen concerning, i. 272\n\n  Florence Newton accused of witchcraft, i. 180\n\n  Friday an unlucky day, i. 282\n\n\n  Ghost of Bisham Abbey, ii. 91\n\n  God and His creatures, i. 4\n\n  ---- The elimination of, i. 19\n\n  Guesses of Science, The, i. 14\n\n\n  Hand of Arrowsmith preserved, i. 95\n\n  Hanmer, Mr. C. L., on an apparition, ii. 60\n\n  Hannah Green\u2019s testimony, i. 242\n\n  Haunted houses and localities, ii. 82\n\n  ---- chamber at Creslow, ii. 92\n\n  ---- Glamis Castle, ii. 114\n\n  ---- house at Barby, ii. 109\n\n  ---- house at Berne, ii. 126\n\n  ---- house in Cheshire, ii. 116\n\n  ---- house in Scotland, ii. 123\n\n  ---- place at York Castle, ii. 96\n\n  ---- places, ii. 84\n\n  ---- police cell, ii. 121\n\n  ---- road near Cardiff, ii. 114\n\n  ---- room at Glamis Castle, ii. 112\n\n  ---- room in the Tower, ii. 104\n\n  ---- spot in Yorkshire, ii. 100\n\n  Hell-Fire Club, The, ii. 207\n\n  Henry Spicer\u2019s testimony, Mr., ii. 75\n\n  ---- IV. of France, Omen of death to, i. 267\n\n  Herder on Witchcraft, ii. 210\n\n  Heresies of the modern Spiritualists, ii. 185, 191\n\n  Home, Mr. Daniel, ii. 151, 153\n\n  Hospitals, Christian in their origin, i. 10\n\n  Howell, Mr. J., on Spiritualism, ii. 176, 177\n\n  Howitt, Mr. W., on eternal punishment, ii. 186, 188\n\n  Hume on miracles, i. 23\n\n\n  Increase Mather on the tests of demoniacal possession, i. 173\n\n  ---- Mather\u2019s \u201cCases of Conscience,\u201d i. 195\n\n  Inquiries regarding Wynyard, ii. 33\n\n\n  Jane Brookes accused of witchcraft, i. 175\n\n  ---- Wenham accused of witchcraft, i. 192\n\n  Johnson, Dr. Samuel, on the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 45\n\n\n  Kostka\u2019s, S. Stanislaus, apparition, ii. 53\n\n  ---- picture at Stonyhurst, ii. 53\n\n\n  Labarum, The, i. 37\n\n  Lactantius on dreams, i. 213\n\n  Lady Betty Cobb, ii. 15\n\n  Lancashire demoniacs, The, i. 171\n\n  Lane, Mr., on Modern Necromancy, ii. 215, 217\n\n  Laud, Omens concerning Archbishop, i. 271\n\n  Law of causation, The, i. 3\n\n  Lecky, Mr. W. H. E., on the Oxford Movement, ii. 232\n\n  Legion, The Thundering, i. 34\n\n  Longdon, Mary, bewitched, i. 194\n\n  Lord Falkland, Omen concerning, i. 270\n\n  Lord Litchfield\u2019s note of a presentiment, i. 281\n\n  ---- testimony, i. 281\n\n  Lord Westcote\u2019s testimony, ii. 42\n\n  Lyttelton Ghost story, ii. 36, 42, 46\n\n\n  Macdonald\u2019s, A., case of second sight, i. 285\n\n  Macknish on dreams, i. 215\n\n  Major George Sydenham, ii. 22\n\n  Marquis de Marsay on Spirits, ii. 86\n\n  Mary of Medicis, Omen of death to, i. 267\n\n  Media, Table of Spiritual, ii. 143\n\n  Mines, Haunted, ii. 84\n\n  Ministry of Angels, ii. 82\n\n  Miracles at Rome in 1792, i. 17\n\n  ---- Bishop Hall on, ii. 230\n\n  ---- examination of at Rome, ii. 227\n\n  ---- of our Lord, i. 30\n\n  ---- of Prince Hohenlohe, i. 17\n\n  ---- wrought by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 123, 126\n\n  Miracle at Garswood, i. 96\n\n  ---- at Metz, i. 128\n\n  ---- at Typasa, i. 42\n\n  ---- under Marcus Aurelius, i. 33\n\n  Miraculous cure at Pontoise, i. 83\n\n  ---- facts, Tradition of, i. 32\n\n  ---- of Joseph Lamb, i. 95\n\n  ---- of Mary Wood, i. 114\n\n  ---- of Winifred White, i. 116\n\n  Mediumship, ii. 143\n\n  ---- Clairlative, ii. 146\n\n  ---- Clairvoyant, ii. 150\n\n  ---- Developing, ii. 148\n\n  ---- Duodynamic, ii. 148\n\n  ---- Gesticulating, ii. 144\n\n  ---- Homo-motor, ii. 147\n\n  ---- Impersonating, ii. 145\n\n  ---- Impressional, ii. 150\n\n  ---- Manipulating, ii. 145\n\n  ---- Missionary, ii. 149\n\n  ---- Motive, ii. 144\n\n  ---- Neurological, ii. 146\n\n  ---- Pantomimic, ii. 145\n\n  ---- Pictorial, ii. 148\n\n  ---- Psychologic, ii. 147\n\n  ---- Psychometric, ii. 148\n\n  ---- Pulsatory, ii. 145\n\n  ---- Speaking, ii. 150\n\n  ---- Symbolic, ii. 147\n\n  ---- Sympathetic, ii. 146\n\n  ---- Therapeutic, ii. 149\n\n  ---- Tipping, ii. 144\n\n  ---- Vibratory, ii. 144\n\n  Miss Weld\u2019s testimony, ii. 54\n\n  Modern scientific methods, i. 10\n\n  Monsignor Patterson\u2019s testimony, ii. 52\n\n  More\u2019s \u201cAntidote against Atheism,\u201d i. 173\n\n  Mr. De Lisle on Miracles, i. 15\n\n  Mr. De Lisle\u2019s testimony, ii. 54\n\n  Mr. Edwin De Lisle in reply to Strauss, i. 4\n\n  Mr. E. Lenthal Swifte\u2019s testimony, ii. 104\n\n  Mr. George Fortescue\u2019s declaration, ii. 43\n\n  Mr. Henry Cope Caulfeild\u2019s testimony, ii. 115\n\n  Mr. Herbert Spencer answered, i. 11\n\n  Mr. J. G. Godwin\u2019s declaration, ii. 68\n\n  Mr. Laxon\u2019s wife tormented, i. 189\n\n  Mr. M. P. Andrews\u2019 declaration, ii. 43\n\n  Mr. Ralph Davis on the Northampton witches, i. 182\n\n  Mr. Rutherford\u2019s declaration, i. 263\n\n  Mr. William Talbot\u2019s testimony, i. 226\n\n  Mrs. Baillie-Hamilton\u2019s testimony, ii. 66\n\n  Mrs. George Lee\u2019s testimony, i. 230\n\n  Mrs. Kempson\u2019s testimony, i. 254\n\n  Murder discovered by a dream, i. 221\n\n  ---- of Maria Martin discovered, i. 231\n\n  ---- of the crippled and imbecile, i. 9\n\n\n  Naturalistic materialism, i. 10\n\n  Nature of God, i. 6\n\n  ---- dreams, i. 210\n\n  Necromancy recognized by the fathers, i. 161\n\n  ---- in China, ii. 220\n\n  Northamptonshire witches, The, i. 182\n\n  Notions, reintroduction of Pagan, i. 13\n\n\n  Old traditions generally accepted, ii. 90\n\n  Omen concerning Archbishop Laud, i. 271\n\n  ---- concerning King Charles I., i. 268, 269, 270\n\n  ---- concerning Lord Falkland, i. 270\n\n  Omens and prognostications, i. 263\n\n  ---- The subject of, i. 263\n\n  Opinions of Strauss, i. 3\n\n  Oracles, The cessation of, i. 282\n\n  Ostrehan\u2019s, Captain, testimony, ii. 218\n\n  Oxenham omen, The, i. 273\n\n\n  Pagan notions, Reintroduction of, i. 13\n\n  Patterson\u2019s, Monsignor, information, ii. 52\n\n  Perrone, Father, on Spiritualism, ii. 184\n\n  Philipsons of Colgarth, The, i. 90\n\n  Planchette, Use of, ii. 220, 222\n\n  Plumer Ward\u2019s, Mr., account of the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 46\n\n  Plutarch on the \u201cCessation of Oracles,\u201d i. 282\n\n  Popes martyrs, The early, i. 31\n\n  Portrait of S. Stanislaus, ii. 53\n\n  Power and malice of Satan, ii. 83\n\n  ---- of blessing and cursing, i. 90\n\n  ---- of exorcism claimed exclusively, i. 163\n\n  Presentiment of Lieutenant R----, i. 250\n\n  ---- of death, i. 262\n\n  ---- to Lady Warre\u2019s chaplain, i. 281\n\n  Principle of benediction, The, i. 88\n\n  Principles of the Broad Church party, ii. 137\n\n  Prognostication of death in a dream, i. 250\n\n  ---- of death to Captain Speer, i. 252\n\n  Prognostications and omens, i. 263\n\n  Propriety of a revelation, i. 5\n\n  Purbrick, Rev. E. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54\n\n  Purport of dreams, i. 212\n\n\n  Rebuilding of the Temple, i. 42\n\n  \u201cReport on Spiritualism\u201d quoted, ii. 153\n\n  Rev. Dr. Cox\u2019s testimony, ii. 54\n\n  Rev. Dr. J. M. Neale\u2019s testimony i. 243\n\n  Rev. Edward Price on the World of Spirits, ii. 82\n\n  Rev. G. R. Winter on the Swaffham tinker, i. 215\n\n  Rev. H. N. Oxenham\u2019s testimony, i. 277\n\n  Rev. J. Richardson\u2019s testimony, i. 253\n\n  Rev. John Wesley on evil spirits, ii. 85\n\n  Rev. Joseph Jefferson\u2019s testimony, ii. 100\n\n  Rev. Mr. Perring\u2019s dream realized, i. 234\n\n  Rev. T. J. Morris\u2019s testimony, i. 240\n\n  \u201cRules for the Spirit Circle\u201d quoted, ii. 151\n\n\n  S. Augustine on miracles, i. 30\n\n  S. Bernard on dreams, i. 214\n\n  S. Cyprian on dreams, i. 214\n\n  S. Cyril on dreams, i. 214\n\n  S. Iren\u00e6us on miracles, i. 41\n\n  S. John\u2019s College, Oxford, Founding of, i. 267\n\n  S. Pacian on miracles, i. 41\n\n  S. Thomas Aquinas on dreams, i. 214\n\n  Sacrilege discovered by a dream, i. 232\n\n  \u201cSadducismus Triumphatus\u201d referred to, i. 199\n\n  Satan, power and malice of, ii. 83\n\n  Science and faith, Rev. R. S. Hawker on, ii. 239\n\n  Science of the Pagan oracles, i. 161\n\n  \u201cScientific View of Modern Spiritualism\u201d quoted, ii. 143\n\n  Scott, Dream of Andrew, i. 261\n\n  Scripture on witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164\n\n  S\u00e9ance at the Marshalls\u2019, i. 203\n\n  ---- record of, from \u201cSpiritual Magazine,\u201d ii. 169\n\n  Second sight, Treatise on, i. 285\n\n  ---- at Cardiff, i. 286\n\n  ---- at Ramsbury, i. 288\n\n  ---- Jerome Cardan\u2019s gift of, i. 283\n\n  Sexton, Dr. G., on spiritualism, ii. 225\n\n  Shakespeare\u2019s conception of the supernatural, ii. 89\n\n  Singular prognostication, i. 250\n\n  Sir Christopher Heydon on astrology, i. 200\n\n  Sir George Caulfeild, i. 223\n\n  Sir Henry Chauncy trying witches, i. 193\n\n  Sir Henry Yelverton and his death, i. 95\n\n  Sir Martin Beresford, ii. 13\n\n  Sir Matthew Hale\u2019s evidence as to witchcraft, i. 163\n\n  Sir Thomas Brown\u2019s evidence against witchcraft, i. 163\n\n  Slade\u2019s, Sir Alfred, testimony, ii. 218\n\n  Somerset omen, The, i. 266\n\n  Sorcery of Dr. Lamb, i. 202\n\n  _Sortes Virgilian\u00e6_, The, i. 269, 270\n\n  Sound of a drum, The, i. 278\n\n  Southey on haunted localities, ii. 84\n\n  Spectral dog, The, i. 280\n\n  Spectre of Lady Hobby, The, ii. 91\n\n  Spedlin\u2019s Tower haunted, ii. 97\n\n  Spirits, perturbed, ii. 87\n\n  ---- World of, ii. 82\n\n  Spiritualism despised, ii. 139\n\n  ---- modern, ii. 135, 169\n\n  ---- Mr. W. Crookes on the phenomena of, ii. 159\n\n  ---- Origin of, ii. 141\n\n  Spiritualistic manifestations, i. 205;\n    ii. 151, 153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 169, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178,\n        180\n\n  Statement of Lord Lyttelton\u2019s valet, ii. 45\n\n  Stigmatization, i. 98, 100, 101, 102, 105, 109\n\n  Strauss, Opinions of, i. 2\n\n  Successful exorcism by an English clergyman, i. 80\n\n  Sudden death of Ruth Pierce, i. 289\n\n  Supernatural banished, The, ii. 140\n\n  ---- basis of life, i. 12\n\n  ---- its work, i. 2\n\n  ---- noises at Abbotsford, ii. 99\n\n  ---- religion, i. 18\n\n  Surey demoniac, The, i. 177\n\n\n  Tertullian on dreams, i. 213\n\n  Testimony to the fulfilment of a solemn Curse, i. 117\n\n  The Chester-le-Street apparition, ii. 3\n\n  The Christian system, i. 26\n\n  The Lyttelton ghost story, ii. 35\n\n  The Misses Amphlett, ii. 39\n\n  The Oxenham omen, i. 274\n\n  The result of a solemn Curse, i. 117\n\n  The sound of a drum, i. 278\n\n  The spectral dog, i. 280\n\n  ---- bird, ii. 128\n\n  The use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4\n\n  The white bird of the Oxenhams, i. 274\n\n  Theories concerning dreams, i. 210\n\n  Thirteen to Dinner, i. 281\n\n  Thomas Aquinas on miracles, S., i. 28\n\n  Three men rescued by a dream, i. 231\n\n  Tichborne dole, The, i. 264\n\n  ---- Curse and Prophecy, The, i. 265\n\n  ---- Mabella, Lady, i. 264\n\n  ---- Sir Henry, i. 265\n\n  ---- Sir Roger, i. 264\n\n  Tinley, Dream of Samuel, i. 262\n\n  Tradition of miraculous powers, i. 32\n\n  Treatise on second sight, i. 285\n\n  Trial of Rev. E. Arrowsmith, i. 91\n\n  Trinity of Comteism, The, i. 19\n\n  Twice-repeated dream of a sailor, i. 231\n\n  Tyrone apparition, The, ii. 11\n\n\n  Unalterable experience, i. 24\n\n  Use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4\n\n\n  Wallace, Mr. A., on spiritualism and science, ii. 193\n\n  Wandering souls, ii. 87\n\n  Ward\u2019s account of the Lyttelton ghost, Mr., ii. 46\n\n  Warning given in a dream, i. 238, 254\n\n  ---- given to a lady by a dream, i. 242\n\n  ---- to a lady, i. 258\n\n  ---- to a little child, i. 260\n\n  ---- to two persons in dreams, i. 258\n\n  \u201cWeekly Register,\u201d The, on Mr. Wallace\u2019s theories, ii. 197\n\n  Weld ghost story, The, ii. 49\n\n  ---- Philip, drowned, ii. 50\n\n  ---- Very Rev. Alfred, S. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54\n\n  Weld\u2019s, Philip, apparition, ii. 53\n\n  Westcote, Lord, on the Lyttelton ghost, i. 33\n\n  White\u2019s Dream, Sir Thomas, i. 266\n\n  Witchcraft and necromancy, i. 152\n\n  ---- and sorcery, Canon Melville on, i. 156\n\n  ---- common in non-Catholic countries, i. 201\n\n  ---- condemned in Scripture, i. 152, 155\n\n  ---- Definition of, i. 174\n\n  ---- Examples of, i. 176-201\n\n  ---- George More on, i. 171\n\n  ---- Herder on, ii. 210\n\n  ---- Jane Wenham accused of, i. 192\n\n  ---- Joseph Glanville on, i. 175\n\n  ---- recognized by the Fathers, i. 161\n\n  ---- Rev. John Wesley on, i. 160\n\n  Witches, The Northamptonshire, i. 182\n\n  \u201cWonders of the Invisible World,\u201d i. 198\n\n  World of spirits, The, ii. 82\n\n  Wynyard ghost story, The, ii. 26\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] \u201cWestminster Review,\u201d July, 1872.\n\n[2] Acts xvii. 27.\n\n[3] The idea of the eternal enters largely into the stock arguments of\nunbelief; for it is through the asserted \u201ceternity of matter\u201d that the\nunbeliever shifts away the ideas of creation and a creator.\n\n[4] Articles of Religion, No. 1, Book of Common Prayer.\n\n[5] Christianity, as we know, exhorted men and women to the care of the\naged, the suffering, and the infirm. Our Blessed Saviour\u2019s promise,\nregarding the gift of a cup of cold water and its reward, was not\nforgotten. Christian love resisted and cast out Pagan selfishness.\nHospitals were built where the diseases of the poor might be cured; where\nthe sore distress of hopeless pain and slow wasting-away might be soothed;\nand asylums were provided where the weak and imbecile might be tended. Now\nif the Pagan theories of \u201cscientific people\u201d are applied, the chief duty\nof physicians in the future will be to poison their patients. Such a\nconception would be ludicrous were it not so utterly revolting.\n\n[6] A writer in an influential organ of opinion connected with the\nAmerican Church puts forth the following vigorous protest:--\n\n\u201cIt is quite as well that we should be accustomed to the logical\nconsequences of some of our philosophies. The tradition of Christianity is\nso strong upon the most \u2018advanced\u2019 of our wise men that it holds them back\nfrom the carrying-out of their principles. But here and there is one, and\nwe should all be thankful to him who is so intellectually constituted that\nhe must carry \u2018a law\u2019 to its issue, and by the issue let us see the nature\nof the law. The hint of what may be is given in the revival of the\nadvocacy of suicide for the wretched, and the putting to death of the\nhelpless. Naturalism carried out comes to that conclusion. Mr. Herbert\nSpencer had been patiently laying down principles which scores who think\nthey think are accepting, without the slightest idea, on his part\napparently or on theirs, that they are simple savagery and pure Paganism,\nand that the man who dines off his aged mother has been acting on them,\nthough Mr. Spencer\u2019s name had never been heard in his native speech.\n\n\u201cIn some sense of the supernatural, in some faith in the unseen, in some\nfeeling that man is not of this world, in some grasp on the Eternal God,\nand on an eternal, supernatural, and supersensuous life, lies the basis of\nall pity and mercy, all help and comfort and patience and sympathy among\nmen. Set these aside, commit us only to the natural, to what our eyes see\nand our hands handle; and while we may organize society scientifically,\nand live according to \u2018the laws of nature,\u2019 and be very philosophical and\nvery liberal, we are standing on the ground on which every pack of wolves\ngallops.\n\n\u201cOne may safely say, \u2018If you will show me, on any principle of naturalism,\nor any rule of what you shallowly in these days call \u2018philosophy,\u2019 on any\nlaw of nature, why I should not strangle my deaf and dumb child, smother\nmy paralytic father, or drown my hopelessly insane wife, then I will turn\nmaterialist also.\u2019 We are far from believing that these gentlemen know how\nthey have been undermining the foundations of civilized and social life. A\nlurid glare cast across these speculations, like this English discussion\nof Euthanasia, may startle some whom Mr. Tyndall\u2019s discussion of the\nscientific absurdity of prayer might not startle, though both are locked\nin one, and stand or fall together. But however it be, we are sure that\nman will find that society stands on supernatural ground, that the Family\nand the Nation are divine, and that \u2018Naturalism,\u2019 modified or disguised as\nit may be, is only isolated savagery--\u2018every man for himself, and the\nweakest to the wall.\u2019\u201d\n\n[7] A writer in the \u201cChurch Journal\u201d of New York puts the case well and\nfairly as follows:--\u201cThe scientific people have taken up the lost weapons\nof bigoted theological polemics, and assail with the rough sides of their\ntongues and pens any man who calls for further evidence, or presumes to\nbring their assumptions to the test of examination. But having no more\nreverence for the unsustained _dicta_ of Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. Proctor,\nor Professor Tyndall, than for the same sort of _dicta_ from a Middle Age\nmonk, we shall go on calling for proof. Our credulity is incapable of\nsaying \u2018we know\u2019 about a thing of which, when we examine, nobody \u2018knows\u2019\nanything, except that some scientific man asserts it in his book.\n\n\u201cWe are not \u2018enemies to science;\u2019 we only want science, and not guesses.\nAnd the thoroughly unscientific, uncritical, and credulous way in which\nmen like Mr. Proctor are declaring \u2018we know\u2019 about things of which they\nknow nothing, is one of the greatest obstacles with which science has to\ncontend.\u201d\n\n[8] \u201cLa Croix de Mign\u00e9 veng\u00e9e de l\u2019incr\u00e9dulit\u00e9 du si\u00e8cle.\u201d Published at\nParis, in 1829.\n\n[9] \u201cAccount of the Miraculous Events at Rome in the years 1792 and 1793.\u201d\nPublished in London, by Keating and Brown, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square.\n\n[10] Hume\u2019s \u201cEssays and Treatises on Various Subjects,\u201d second edition,\nvol. ii. p. 122. London, 1784.\n\n[11] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 133.\n\n[12] Take for example the subject of meteoric stones. Marked changes with\nregard to a belief in these, have existed in the past. The scholar can\ntestify that antiquity is undoubtedly in favour of their existence.\nPlutarch, for example, in his \u201cLife of Lysander,\u201d describes a celebrated\naerolite which fell in Thrace, and History testifies unmistakably to\nsimilar events--more particularly to the preservation of such in ancient\ntemples. Yet it was not until the year 1803, when meteoric stones fell at\nL\u2019Aigle in Normandy, that the Academy of Sciences in Paris appointed a\ncommittee to investigate the case, and their report determined the\nquestion. Mr. W. G. Nevill, F.G.S., of Gresham Street, City, London,\ncomprises the above in the following testimony to facts which appeared in\nthe \u201cStandard,\u201d of Feb. 25, 1873. \u201cWith reference to a paragraph headed\n\u2018An Exercise of Credulity\u2019 in your paper of the 24th instant, allow me to\noffer a few observations, as the circumstance narrated therein of the fall\nof an aerolite on board the Seven Stones light-vessel, as narrated by the\ncrew, is of extreme interest. The men in the light-vessel service are\ncarefully selected by the elder brethren of the Trinity House and trained\nto make observations on the weather and record them in books at the time,\nwhich books are received as evidence in the Admiralty Court. Their account\nagrees in the main with the details given in other cases. My father, Mr.\nW. Nevill, of Godalming, has a collection of specimens of 226 distinct\nfalls of such bodies. These take place in all parts of the world. I\nbelieve only one instance has before been recorded in England. That\noccurred at Wold Cottage, Thwing, Yorkshire, on Dec. 13, 1795. One of the\nearliest recorded falls took place at Guisheim, in Alsace, during a\nbattle, Nov. 7, 1492, and was preserved in the neighbouring church. A\nlarge shower of stones took place at L\u2019Aigle, in north of France, on April\n26, 1803 (not very far from the Seven Stones). These stones are of a grey\nashy colour and invariably coated with black enamel; other meteorites are\ncomposed of solid native iron, and are sometimes of large size, as the one\nat Bitburg in Rhenish Prussia, which weighed several tons.\u201d\n\n[13] \u201cAthen\u00e6um,\u201d for March 12, 1859, p. 350.\n\n[14] Testimonies to the Supernatural amongst Christian writers are\nabundant. The following may be instanced as a few concerning such events,\nboth in the second and third centuries:--Justin Martyr, Ap. ii. cap. vi.;\nDial. cum Tryph. cap. xxxix. and lxxxii.; Iren\u00e6us, ii. 31 and v. 6;\nTertullian \u201cApolog.\u201d cap. 23, 27, 32, 37; \u201cOrigen against Celsus,\u201d book i.\np. 7 and book vii. pp. 334-335, Ed. Spencer; Dionysius of Alexandria, in\n\u201cEccl. Hist.\u201d of Eusebius, vi. 40; Minucius Felix Octav. p. 361, Ed.\nParis, 1605; S. Cyprian, \u201cDe Idol. Vanit.\u201d p. 14.\n\n[15] S. John xiv. 12.\n\n[16] \u201cHist. Eccles.\u201d cap. v. Chronicon. p. 82.\n\n[17] The following version by Dio. Cassius, translated from the \u201cAnnals\u201d\nof Baronius, affords no slender testimony to the account by Eusebius given\nin the text:--\u201cWhen the barbarians would not give them battle, in hopes of\ntheir perishing by heat and thirst, since they had so surrounded them that\nthey had no possible means of getting water; and when they were in the\nutmost distress from sickness, wounds, sun, and thirst, and could neither\nfight nor retreat, but remained in order of battle and at their posts in\nthis parched condition, suddenly clouds gathered, and a copious rainfall,\nnot without the mercy of God. And when it first began to fall, the Romans,\nraising their mouths towards heaven, received it upon them; next, turning\nup their shields and helmets, they drank largely out of them, and gave to\ntheir horses. And when the barbarians charged them, they drank as they\nfought, and numbers of them were wounded.... And while they were thus\nincurring heavy loss from the assault of the enemy, because most of them\nwere engaged in drinking, a violent hailstorm and much lightning were\ndischarged upon the enemy. And thus water and fire might be seen in the\nsame place falling from heaven, that some might drink refreshment and\nothers be burnt to death.\u201d--Dion. Cass. \u201cHist.\u201d lxxi. p. 805.\n\n[18] The treatise of Apollinaris, it should be added, is lost; and there\nseems to be some ground for believing that a particular Legion bore the\nname \u201cThundering\u201d as far back as the days of Augustus. This latter\nassertion, however, even if proved, cannot set aside the leading facts\nrecorded in the text.\n\n[19] \u201cLife of Marcus Antonius,\u201d chap. xxiv.\n\n[20] \u201cHistoria Romana,\u201d lxi. 8.\n\n[21] Mosheim\u2019s \u201cEcclesiastical History\u201d (Ed. Stubbs), vol. i. pp. 99-101.\nLondon, 1863.\n\n[22] \u201cTwo Essays on Scripture Miracles and on Ecclesiastical,\u201d by J. H.\nNewman, pp. 273-4, Second Edition. London, 1870.\n\n[23] Socrates, Philostorgius, Gelasius, and Nicephorus declare that the\nCross was in the sky. Sozomen, too, on the authority of Eusebius, makes a\nsimilar statement. So likewise does Rufinus.\n\n[24] This standard was known by the name of the \u201cLabarum\u201d--a word the\netymology of which is very uncertain. It was a pole plated with gold, upon\nwhich was laid horizontally a cross-bar, so as to form the figure of a\ncross. The top of the perpendicular shaft was adorned with a golden crown,\nornamented with precious stones. In the middle of this crown was a\nmonogram representing the name of Christ by the two Greek initial letters\n\u03a7 and \u03a1. A purple veil of a square figure hung from the cross-bar, which\nwas likewise spangled with jewels. Gretser, \u201cDe Cruce,\u201d Lib. i. cap. iv.\n\n[25] S. John v. 20.\n\n[26] Liber cont. H\u00e6r. c. xxxi.\n\n[27] Daniel ix. 20-27.\n\n[28] These miraculous interventions are testified to by S. Gregory\nNazianzen, S. Chrysostom, and S. Ambrose, as well as by Rufinus, Socrates,\nSozomen, and Theodoret. They are also recorded by Philostorgius the Arian,\nand by Ammianus the Pagan. Bishop Warburton published a volume entitled\n\u201cJulian\u201d in proof of their miraculous character, and they are acknowledged\nas such by Bishop Halifax on p. 23 of his \u201cDiscourses.\u201d\n\n[29] Those who testify to the truth of this miracle are firstly a\nChristian prelate, Victor Vitenus, \u201cHist. Pers.\u201d sec. Vandal, iii. p. 613,\nwhose words are translated above; the Emperor Justinian (who declares that\nhe had seen some of the sufferers, \u201cCodex Justin.\u201d Lib. I. Tit. xxx. Ed.\n1553); the Greek historian, Procopius of C\u00e6sarea, who asserts that their\ntongues were cut off as low down as their throat, and that he had\nconversed with them, Lib. I. \u201cDe Bell. Vand.\u201d cap. viij. and x. 1. \u00c6neas\nof Gaza, a Platonic philosopher, who, having examined their mouths,\nremarked that he was not so much surprised at their being able to talk, as\nat their being able to live. He saw them at Constantinople. Mosheim,\namongst Protestants, and Dodwell, the nonjuror, amongst English writers,\nfrankly admit the miracle. The most lucid and exhaustive account, however,\nmay be found in Section ix. of Dr. J. H. Newman\u2019s \u201cEssays on Miracles,\u201d\npp. 369-387 (Second edition, London, 1870), where the ancient evidence is\nset forth at length.\n\n[30] On this subject a volume has recently been published, entitled \u201cThe\nTongue not Essential to Speech: with Illustrations of the Power of Speech\nin the African Confessors.\u201d By the Hon. Edward Twistleton. London: 1873.\nThis book has been carefully and exhaustively criticized in \u201cThe Month,\u201d\nfor September, 1873. It will be sufficient here to remark that the modern\nscientific objections to this miracle, that, because in a certain case, by\nthe skill of an operator, a tongue was so removed with marked dexterity in\nrecent times, therefore the power of speech retained by the African\nConfessors was an ordinary event, are objections at once inconsequential\nand invalid.\n\n[31] \u201cDe Civitate Dei,\u201d Lib. xxii. p. 8.\n\n[32] \u201cEpist. Sti. Greg.;\u201d \u201cHist. Bed.\u201d Lib. i. c. xxxj.\n\n[33] _Vide_ \u201cSti. Bernardi Vita,\u201d _in loco_, published by Mabillon.\n\n[34] They were examined on the spot, by virtue of a Commission from John\nIII. King of Portugal, and were generally acknowledged, not only by\nEuropeans, but also by native Mahometans and Pagans. The important and\nconclusive testimony of three Protestant writers--Hackluyt, Baldens, and\nTavernier--is set forth in Bouhours\u2019 \u201cLife of Francis Xavier,\u201d which our\nown poet, John Dryden, translated and published.\n\n[35] S. Matthew xv. 22-28.\n\n[36] S. Mark iii. 11. _Ibid._ iii. 15, 22-30.\n\n[37] S. Mark v. 2-15. See also S. Luke viii. 26-40. Instances of such\npower bestowed and exercised over unclean or deaf and dumb spirits may be\nfound in the following:--S. Mark vi. 13; vii. 25-30; ix. 17-29. S. Luke\niv. 33-37; ix. 38-42; xi. 14-26. Acts v. 12, 16; xvi. 16-18; xix. 13-20;\nxxviii. 3-6.\n\n[38] One of the most distinguished physicians in London recently assured\nthe Editor that, in his judgment, numerous peculiar and remarkable cases\nboth of epilepsy and madness could only be duly and rationally accounted\nfor by the Christian theory of possession; and he himself declared that if\nthe Church\u2019s spiritual powers on the one hand, and the virtue of faith on\nthe other, were more commonly put into practice than they are, many cures,\nby God\u2019s blessing, might be looked for.\n\n[39] \u201cThe History of Cornwall,\u201d by Fortescue Hitchins, Esq., in 2 vols.\n4to. Helston, 1824. Vol. ii. pp. 548-51.\n\n[40] The parish of Little Petherick is six miles north of S. Columb, and\nthree due south from Padstow.\n\n[41] Bishop Seth Ward, D.D.--Editor.\n\n[42] \u201cNo minister or ministers shall ... without the license and direction\n(_mandatum_) of the Bishop ... attempt upon any pretence whatsoever either\nof possession or obsession, by fasting or prayer, to cast out any devil or\ndevils, under pain of the imputation of imposture or cosenage, and\ndeposition from the ministry.\u201d--Canons of 1604, No. 72.\n\n[43] Mr. Hawker quotes from the Diary of Mr. Ruddle for July 10th, 1665,\nthe following triumphant entry:--\u201cHow sorely must the infidels and\nhereticks of this generation be dismayed when they know that this Black\nDeath, which is now swallowing its thousands in the streets of the great\ncity [London] was foretold six months agone, under the exorcisms of a\ncountry minister, by a visible and suppliant ghost! And what pleasures and\nimprovements do such deny themselves who scorn and avoid all opportunity\nof intercourse with souls separate, and the spirits, glad and sorrowful,\nwhich inhabit the unseen world.\u201d--pp. 123-4.\n\n[44] In the act of exorcism, of course it is not necessary that the\nexorcist be a clergyman, in other words, in holy orders. An \u201cexorcist\u201d\ntechnically so called, when formally ordained, is only in \u201cminor\u201d and not\nin \u201choly\u201d or \u201csacred orders.\u201d Any Christian layman, with faith and a\nhearty desire and readiness to abide by the rules of the Church, can\nperform the act of exorcism, if no duly-ordained exorcist can be had; just\nas a layman (in the absence of a priest), can validly baptize. By baptism\nthe \u201cold man\u201d is cast out, and the work of regeneration formally effected.\nBy exorcism, some evil spirit or devil is expelled from a person\npossessed, in the Name of our Adorable Redeemer, Who triumphed over death\nand hell, and Who delegated Divine powers to the Church which He\ninstituted. \u201cIt belongs to an exorcist,\u201d writes a distinguished Western\ndivine, \u201cby exorcisms to deliver energumens and catechumens from the\nvexations of demons.\u201d--\u201cAxioms concerning the Sacraments,\u201d No. lxviii. of\nAugustinus Hunn\u00e6us. On this point, the same theologian, sometime Professor\nof Theology at Louvain, writes thus:--\u201cIn adults catechism, whereby the\ndoctrine of faith is delivered, ought to precede baptism; but exorcism,\nwhereby evil spirits are expelled, and the senses opened to the perception\nof the mysteries of Salvation, ought to precede catechism. _Both, as well\ncatechism as exorcism, pertain to the office of a priest_; but in\ncatechizing he uses the ministry of a reader: _in exorcism that of an\nexorcist_.\u201d--\u201cAxioms concerning the Sacraments,\u201d No. xii.\n\n[45] This clergyman, whose name the Editor is not at liberty to mention,\nis known to many to be \u201ca discerner of spirits.\u201d He is now a dignitary of\nthe English Church in the colonies.\n\n[46] \u201cThe same has been attested to myself by M. Denison, nephew to the\ncelebrated Morand, whom I saw at that time at Maubuisson-les-Pontoise. He\nran the same career as his uncle, and was also distinguished for his\nmerit. F. G. P.\u201d\n\n[47] Deut. x. 8; Numb. vi. 22-26, a form which the Christian Church has\nadopted and retained.\n\n[48] Heb. vii. 7.\n\n[49] Another version of this conversation gives the report as follows:\n\u201cAnd should I die unjustly and undeservedly, my lord, in that case, you,\nmy lord, shall soon die too, and follow me; yea within the compass of a\nyear.\u201d--_MS. Letter of Very Rev. Dr. Husenbeth._\n\n[50] \u201cThat _dead_ dog Arrowsmith\u201d stands in another version of this\nportion of the narrative.--Editor.\n\n[51] They went in company with Thomas Cutler and Elizabeth Dooley. The\nabove facts were formally authenticated by the parents of Lamb, as also by\nthe Rev. Thomas Sadler, of Trafford, near Manchester; and the Rev. J.\nCraythorne, of Garswood. A friend who resides in Lancashire informs the\nEditor that this miracle is firmly believed by thousands (A.D. 1873).\n\n[52] It was on this day that formal and sufficient testimonies were put\ninto writing of the fact of the cure narrated above; and duly signed by\nthose who from their own personal knowledge could testify to the truth of\nthe same.\n\n[53] The event recorded above, Arrowsmith\u2019s sufferings and death, and its\ndetails are taken from Dod\u2019s \u201cChurch History,\u201d Challoner\u2019s \u201cMemoirs of\nMissionary Priests,\u201d vol. ii. pp. 130-146; a \u201cRelation of the Death of E.\nArrowsmith,\u201d published A.D. 1630; a Latin MS. of his life, preserved at\nDouay; and special traditional information given to the Editor by the late\nVery Rev. Dr. Husenbeth, Provost of Northampton.\n\n[54] This wonderful mystery is frequently represented in Christian Art,\nboth with beauty and effect.\n\n[55] See a rare and remarkable pamphlet, by Mr. De Lisle, with etchings by\nJ. R. Herbert, R.A., now out of print, containing an account of his visit\nto the subject of this miraculous occurrence. London: Dolman, 1841.\n\n[56] The following is the full title of the volume from which the above\nnarrative and the extracts given are taken:--\u201cLouise Lateau of Bois\nd\u2019Haine, her Life, her Ecstasies, and her Stigmata.\u201d A medical study, by\nDr. F. Lefebvre. Translated from the French. Edited by Rev. J. Spencer\nNorthcote, D.D., President of S. Mary\u2019s College, Oscott. To which the\nfollowing explanatory note may be added:--The name of Dr. Lefebvre is\nsufficient guarantee of the importance of any work coming from his pen.\nDuring twenty years that he has filled the chair of General Pathology and\nTherapeutics in the University of Louvain he has gained a world-wide\nreputation by his investigations in the wide and, to a great extent,\nunexplored field of medical research. Add to this moral qualities of the\nfirst order, and ardent zeal in the cause of religion, and we have a\ncharacter which commands our admiration and esteem in the highest degree.\nThe book, translated into English under the superintendence of Dr.\nNorthcote, is a medical inquiry into the case of Louise Lateau, the\nBelgian _stigmatizata_. The medical features of the case are all that Dr.\nLefebvre proposes to treat, leaving, of course, to the proper\necclesiastical authorities the theological investigation. An abridged\naccount of this case has been published, entitled \u201cLouise Lateau, the\nEcstatica of Bois d\u2019Haine,\u201d by Dr. Lefebvre, translated from the French by\nJ. S. Shepard. London: Richardson and Son. 1872.\n\n[57] This account was written in 1874.\n\n[58] Affidavits of the truth of the above narrative have been made by the\nphysician and clergyman who witnessed the miraculous intervention, as also\nby the person more immediately concerned--Miss Collins.\n\n[59] Among the spectators were the following: Mr. R. Tobin and family, Mr.\nJohn Sullivan and wife, Mr. C. D. O\u2019Sullivan and wife, Mr. J. A. Donahue\nand wife, Mr. George Hooper and wife, Mrs. Emmet Doyle, Mr. D. J. Oliver,\nand many others. Dr. Polactri was standing by Miss Collins\u2019s bedside,\ntaking notes on the condition of the patient. He confessed the case was\nbeyond the reach of medical science. Her head moved from side to side with\nthe intensity of her agony, and her tongue was parched and swollen.\n\n[60] Mr. D. J. Oliver writes from San Francisco, in a private letter, as\nfollows: \u201cI was awe-stricken whilst beholding the miracle. I know both the\nyoung girls, and the account is correct in every particular, except that\nthe stigmata was on both sides of the hands and feet, and not on one side\nonly. I spent an hour with them last evening, and saw them at communion at\nearly mass this morning.\u201d\n\n[61] The account up to this point is copied from a Letter to Miss F. T.\nBird, dated September 3, 1809, by Mr. Woodford, an eminent surgeon of\nTaunton, who attended Mary Wood upon her accident.\n\n[62] Certain stated prayers and devotional exercises continued throughout\n_nine_ days.\n\n[63] The authentic documents of the examination, and of the whole process\nof the cure, are contained at length in a work entitled \u201cThe Miraculous\nCure of Winifred White,\u201d by the Rev. John Milner, D.D., published by Grace\nof Dublin, and reprinted, on several occasions and in different forms, in\nEngland. It may be added that Winifred White departed this life on the\n13th of January, 1824, nineteen years after her cure. She died of\nconsumption.\n\n[64] A well-known clergyman of the Church of England.\n\n[65] The account from which the above was compiled was a formal and\nauthentic statement of the Cur\u00e9 de S. Martin, at Metz (A.D. 1865).\n\n[66] The account given above is taken from a small tractate entitled \u201cThe\nMiracle of Metz, wrought by the Blessed Sacrament, June 14, 1865,\u201d\ntranslated from the French, by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. With the\nimprimaturs of His Grace the Archbishop of Westminster and the Bishop of\nMetz. London: Burns and Co., 1865.\n\n[67] See a series of most interesting letters, entitled \u201cIs God amongst\nus?\u201d by a Clergyman of the Church of England, published in the \u201cUnion\u201d\nnewspaper, for 1857, vol. ii. pp. 262, 329-330. London: Painter.\n\n[68] \u201cThe Measure of Christian Sorrow for the Departed,\u201d a Sermon preached\nat the funeral of Mary Lisle Phillipps de Lisle, by the Rev. Henry\nCollins, M.A. Loughborough: J. H. Gray, 1860, pp. 11-13.\n\n[69] \u201cIndulgenced prayers are prayers to the recital of which is attached\nby the Church the grant of _indulgences_. By indulgences Catholics\nunderstand a remission of sin, that is, of all those temporal pains which\nGod inflicts for sin committed by His servants after baptism; and the\nChurch teaches that the power of remission was conferred by Jesus Christ\nwhen He said to the Apostles, \u2018Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall\nbe loosed in Heaven.\u2019\u201d S. Matt. xvi. 19.\n\n[70] An anonymous seventeenth-century writer reasons as follows:--\u201cTo know\nthings aright and perfectly is to know the causes thereof. A definition\ndoth consist of those causes which give the whole essence, and contain the\nperfect nature of the thing defined; where that is therefore found out,\nthere appears the very clear light. If it be perfect, it is much the\ngreater; though if it be not fully perfect, yet it giveth some good light.\nFor which respect, though I dare not say I can give a perfect definition\nin this matter, which is hard to do even in known things, because the\nessential form is hard to be found, yet I do give a definition which may\nat the least give notice and make known what manner of persons they be of\nwhom I am to speak:--A witch is one that worketh by the Devil, or by some\ndevilish or curious art, either hurting or healing, revealing things\nsecret, or foretelling things to come, which the Devil hath devised to\nentangle and snare men\u2019s souls withal unto damnation. The Conjurer, the\nEnchanter, the Sorcerer, the Diviner, and whatsoever other sort there is,\nare indeed encompassed within this circle. The Devil doth (no doubt) after\ndivers sorts and divers forms, deal in these. But no man is able to show\nan essential difference in each of them from the rest. I hold it no wisdom\nor labour well spent to travel much therein. One artificer hath devised\nthem all.\u201d\n\n[71] \u201cThou shalt not suffer a witch to live.\u201d--Exodus xxii. 18. \u201cNeither\nshall ye use enchantment.\u201d--Levit. xix. 26. \u201cRegard not them which have\nfamiliar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by\nthem.\u201d--Ibid. ver. 31. \u201cWhen thou art come into the land which the Lord\nthy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of\nthose nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his\nson or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or\nan observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a\nconsulter with familiar spirits, or a necromancer. For all that do these\nthings are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations\nthe Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.\u201d--Deut. xviii.\n9-12. Of Manasseh is recorded, that \u201cHe caused his children to pass\nthrough the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed\ntimes, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a\nfamiliar spirit, and with wizards.\u201d--2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. Lastly, S. Paul\nmentions \u201cwitchcraft\u201d amongst such \u201cworks of the flesh\u201d as \u201cadultery,\nfornication, heresies, drunkenness, and murders.\u201d--Galat. v. 19-21.\n\n[72] Many of the heathens cordially defended magic and Necromancy. For\nexample, Asclepiades, who lived in the time of Pompey the Great, cured\ndiseases by magic, _enjoining upon his patient, in the case of the falling\nsickness, to bind upon his arm a Cross with a Nail driven into it_.\nJulianus, the magician, is reported to have driven the plague out of Rome\nby magical power. Apuleius, a disciple of Plato, wrote at length on magic.\nTo him may be added Marcellus and Alexander Trallian. Pliny asserts in\nvery plain language that Necromancy was so prevalent in his day, but was\ncondemned by the wisest, that it was classed with treason and poisoning.\nAnd it is notorious that magic was long used as a convenient though\ninefficient weapon against Christianity.--Vide, likewise, Livy i. 20, and\nStrabo, lib. vi.\n\n[73] \u201cFuga Satan\u00e6. Exorcismus, ex sacrarum Litterarum fontibus, pioq\u0303 S.\nEcclesi\u00e6 Instituto exhaustus. Authore Petro Antonio Stampa, Sacerdote\nClavenense. Cum privilegio. Venetiis. M.D.C.V. Apud Sebastianum Combis.\u201d\n\n[74] \u201cTouching the antiquity of Witchcraft, we must needs confess that it\nhath been of very ancient time, because the Scriptures do testify so much,\nfor in the time of Moses it was very rife in Egypt. Neither was it then\nnewly sprung up, being common, and grown into such ripeness among the\nnations, that the Lord, reckoning by divers kinds, saith that the Gentiles\ndid commit such abominations, for which He would cast them out before the\nchildren of Israel.\u201d--\u201cWhat a Witch is, and the Antiquities of\nWitchcraft,\u201d A.D. 1612.\n\n[75] See note to this effect on page 152.\n\n[76] The following passage, from a sermon by the late Canon Melville,\nbears out the above statement:--\u201cIt is unnecessary for us to inquire what\nthose arts may have been in which the Ephesians are said to have greatly\nexcelled. There seems no reason for doubting that, as we have already\nstated, they were of the nature of magic, sorcery, or witchcraft; though\nwe cannot profess accurately to define what such terms might import. The\nEphesians, as some in all ages have done, probably laid claim to\nintercourse with invisible beings, and professed to derive from that\nintercourse acquaintance with, and power over, future events. And though\nthe very name of witchcraft be now held in contempt, and the supposition\nof communion with evil spirits scouted as a fable of what are called the\ndark ages, we own that we have difficulty in believing that all which has\npassed by the names of magic and sorcery may be resolved into sleight of\nhand, deception, and trick. The visible world and the invisible are in\nvery close contact: there is, indeed, a veil on our eyes, preventing our\ngazing on spiritual beings and things, but we doubt not that whatsoever\npasses upon earth is open to the view of higher and immaterial creatures.\nAnd as we are sure that a man of piety and prayer enlists good angels on\nhis side and engages them to perform towards him the ministrations of\nkindness, we know not why there cannot be such a thing as a man whose\nwickedness has caused his being abandoned by the Spirit of God, and who,\nin this his desertion, has thrown open to evil angels the chambers of his\nsoul, and made himself so completely their instrument, that they may use\nhim in the uttering or working strange things, which shall have all the\nair of prophecy or miracle.\u201d--\u201cSermons on certain of the less prominent\nfacts and references in Sacred Story.\u201d By Henry Melville, D.D. In two\nvolumes. London: Rivingtons, 1872. Vol. i. pp. 57, 58.\n\n[77] The above definitions are taken from the literary productions of\ncertain of the most recent \u201cphilosophers\u201d and \u201cthinkers\u201d already referred\nto in the text.\n\n[78] \u201cThe works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery,\nfornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, _witchcraft_, hatred,\nvariance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,\nmurders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.\u201d Galat. v. 19-21.\n\n[79] This took place in England in the year 1736, in the teeth of the\nprotests of many, who felt that a modification of laws founded on an\nexplicit principle of Scripture would have been both wiser and safer than\ntheir total and absolute abolition. Amongst others, Mr. John Wesley wrote\nand preached to this effect. Quite recently a distinguished Liberal\nstatesman remarked that if the practices of the so-called \u201cSpiritualists\u201d\nstill developed, as for some time they had been developing, some\nre-enactment of the laws against Witchcraft might become necessary. It\ncertainly seems one-sided and unfair that ignorant women should be\npunished for \u201cfortune-telling,\u201d and that the paid professional mediums\nshould go scot free.\n\n[80] The following bears out the remarks in the text:--\u201cThe influence of\nChristianity upon magic could not be small; material changes would\nundoubtedly be brought about through its influence.... At the epoch of\nChrist\u2019s appearance, faith in demons, and particularly in evil spirits,\nwas not only general amongst the heathen, but also among the Jews to an\nincredible extent; and unbounded powers, even as great as those of the\nDivinity, were ascribed to them, which not only were supposed to influence\nthe mind, but also Nature and physical life.\u201d--Ennemoser\u2019s \u201cHistory of\nMagic.\u201d Translated by W. Howitt. London, 1854. Vol. i., pp. 340, 341. One\nparticular fact may be here put upon record, as being, to say the least,\nmore than remarkable: To the Roman Emperor Augustus, who, according to\nSuidas and Nicephorus, sent to a renowned Oracle to inquire what successor\nhe should have, it was answered, \u201c_The Hebrew Child, Whom all the gods\nobey, drives me hence_.\u201d No other response was vouchsafed.\n\n[81] The Editor is indebted to the Rev. Dr. Littledale for the following\nnote:--\u201cThere is an authorized Form of Exorcism in the Greek\n\u2018Euchologion.\u2019 It begins with the Trisagion, and Psalms, _Domine exaudi_,\n_Dominus regit me_, _Dominus illuminatio mea_, _Exurgat Deus_, _Miserere_,\n_Domine ne in furore_, and _Domine exaudi precem_. Then follows the\nConsolatory Canon, with a long Hymn addressed to our Blessed Lord, the\nBlessed Virgin Mary, and All Saints. At the close of this the priest\nanoints the patient, saying a brief prayer over him, and so the office\ncloses.\u201d See also Appendix to Chapter iii. pp. 138-148.\n\n[82] John Selden, in his \u201cTable Talk,\u201d in the article upon \u201cDevils,\u201d\nsomewhat scoffingly asserts that the Roman Catholics affirm that \u201cthe\nProtestants the Devil hath already, and the Papists are so holy, he dares\nnot meddle with them.\u201d\n\n[83] \u201cThe Question of Witchcraft debated.\u201d By John Wagstaffe. London:\n1669. Second edition, 1671.\n\n[84] \u201cA True Discourse upon the Matter of Martha Brossier, of Romorantin,\u201d\ntranslated out of French into English, by Abraham Hartwell. London:\nimprinted for John Wolfe. 1599.\n\n[85] \u201cThe Copy of a Letter describing the Wonderful Worke of God in\ndelyviring a maydene within the city of Chester from a horrible kind of\ntorment or sicknesse, 16 February anno 1564.\u201d Imprinted at London for John\nJudely, dwelling in Little Britayne Street beyond Aldersgate, 23 March\n1564.\n\n[86] \u201cA Briefe and True Discourse, contayning the certayne possession and\ndispossession of seven persons in one familie, in Lancashire.\u201d By George\nMore, Minister and Preacher of the Word, and now (for bearing witness unto\nthis, and for justifying the rest,) a prisoner at the Clinks, where he\nhath continued almost for two yeares. A.D. 1600.\n\n[87] It is asserted by several authorities that no less than three\nthousand persons were executed for Witchcraft during that dark period of\nheretical pravity, the Great Rebellion. Now, as \u201cRebellion,\u201d according to\nthe express assurance of the Prophet Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 23) \u201cis as the sin\nof Witchcraft,\u201d no hearty believer in God\u2019s revelation can be at all\nsurprised to find that both Witchcraft and Rebellion in an atmosphere of\nheresy flourished together, under that odious tyrant and hypocritical\nfanatic, Oliver Cromwell: when the altar was thrown down and both King and\nArchbishop were murdered.\n\n[88] \u201cAn Antidote against Atheism: or an Appeal to the Natural Faculties\nof the Mind of Man.\u201d By Henry More, Fellow of Christ\u2019s College, Cambridge.\n1655.\n\n[89] \u201cCases of Conscience concerning Evil Spirits personating Men.\u201d By\nIncrease Mather. Printed at Boston, and reprinted in London for John\nDutton at the Raven in the Poultry, 1693.\n\n[90] \u201cSadducismus Triumphatus: a Full and Plain Evidence concerning\nWitches and Apparitions.\u201d By Joseph Glanville, Chaplain in Ordinary to\nKing Charles II. London: 1726.\n\n[91] A careful deposition as to the above facts was made before the\nJustices of the Peace mentioned, who added the following formal\nattestation: \u201cThe aforesaid passages [_i.e._ occurrences] were some of\nthem seen by us, and some other remarkable ones, not here set down, were\nupon the examination of several witnesses taken on oath before us.\n\n  \u201c(Signed)  Robert Hunt.\n             John Carey.\u201d\n\n[92] \u201cThe Surey Demoniack; or, an Account of Satan\u2019s Strange and Dreadful\nActings in and about the Body of Richard Dugdale of Surey, near Whalley in\nLancashire.\u201d London: 1697.\n\n[93] The following curious extract from a \u201cCoventry News-Letter,\u201d dated\nNov. 2, 1672, certainly tells a wonderful story, in some respects not\nunlike that recorded in the text. It serves at all events to show what\nwere the popular notions concerning occurrences which, to say the least,\nwere very remarkable; and it is reprinted here _verbatim_:--\n\n\u201cAll our wonder here about is employ\u2019d at the strange condition of a maid\nneare us, one Elizabeth Tibbots of about 18 yeares of age liveing with her\nunkle one Thomas Crofts at a place cal\u2019d Hust (?) in ye parish of Stonely\n(Stoneleigh) about two miles hence. Ye maid for about this 3 weekes past\nhas bene taken with strange fitts in which shee has vomitted up severall\nthings incredible, as first severall Peble stones neare as big as eggs,\nknives, sissers, peices of glass some of them two or 3 Inches square,\npeices of Iron, an Iron Bullet of at least 8 Inches round, and 2 pound &\nhalfe weight, a black drinking pot of neare halfe a pint, peices of cloth\n& wood, a pockett pistoll, a paire of Pincers, Bottoms of yarne and\nseverall other things many whereof are now at our majors, and have bene\nevidently seene to come out at her mouth, by many credible witnesses, nor\nshould I my selfe venture to give you this Relation, which seemes soe\nunlike truth, had I not my selfe beene an eye wittness, with my most\ncunning observation of soe much of it, that I am confirmed in ye beleife\nof the whole, all which is imputed to some diabollicall practices of one\nWatson a strang kind of an Emperick, to whom shee was some tyme a Patient,\nwho had it seemes soe wrought with her as that shee had promis\u2019d him\nmarriage, & to goe with him (though shee knew not whither,) But afterwards\nrefused it. Immediately upon which shee fell into these fitts, yet has\nshee her respites, dureing which shee appeares reasonable well, & I have\nheard her discourse very rationally of her selfe & condition, a full\naccount whereof would be too long to give; \u2019tis said that for these 4 or 5\ndayes past (in which tyme I have not seene her) somewhat appeares to her\nin ye shape of a dogg. Now, whether shee be bewicht or whether shee be a\nwitch, or whether ye Divell be in her, (as well as some others of her\nsex,) I know not, but that what I have told you seemed to ye most vigilant\neye to be infallibly true is not doubted, so that if it be not really soe,\nI can onely say the Divell\u2019s in\u2019t, who you perhaps may fancy to be in him\nthat gives you this seemingly incredible Relation, which be pleased to\naccept for better, for worse from,\u201d &c.\n\n[94] \u201cWitchcraft further Displayed.\u201d London: Printed for E. Curl at the\nDial and Bible. 1714.\n\n[95] In the \u201cOverseer\u2019s Accounts\u201d for the parish of S. Giles, Northampton,\nthere is an item for the purchase of faggots for the purpose of burning a\nwitch. A.D. 1705.\n\n[96] \u201cAn Account of the Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of Ellinor\nShaw & Mary Phillips (Two Notorious Witches) at Northampton Assizes on\nWednesday the 7th of March, 1705, for Bewitching a Woman & Two children,\nTormenting them in a Sad and Lamentable Manner till they Dyed. With an\naccount of their strange Confessions about their Familiarity with the\nDevil, and How They Made a wicked Contract with him to be revenged on\nseveral Persons, by Bewitching their Cattel to Death, &c. And several\nother Strange and Amasing Particulars.\u201d London: Printed for F. Thorne,\nnear Fleete-street.\n\n[97] The following \u201cLetter\u201d from Mr. Ralph Davis, of Northampton,\naddressed to Mr. William Simons, merchant in London, is reprinted almost\nverbatim, certain passages, by reason of their extreme coarseness, being\nalone suppressed. It was published by Thorne, of Fleet Street, in 1705,\nand had a very large circulation. It is entitled \u201cThe Northamptonshire\nWitches:\u201d--\n\n\u201cAccording to my word Promise in my last I have sent you here Inclosed a\nfaithful Account of the Lives and Conversations of the two notorious\nWitches that were Executed on the North side of our town on Saturday the\n17th instant, and indeed considering the extraordinary Methods these\nwicked women used to accomplish their Diabolical Art, I think it may merit\nyour Reception, and the more since I understand you have a friend near\nFleete Street who being a Printer may make use of it in order to oblige\nthe Publick; which take as followeth; viz:--\n\n\u201cTo proceed in order, I shall first begin with Ellinor Shaw (as being the\nmost notorious of the two) who was Born at Cotterstock within a small Mile\nof Oundle in Northamptonshire, of very obscure Parents, who not willing,\nor at least not able, to give their Daughter any manner of Education, she\nwas left to shift for her self at the age of 14 years; at which time she\ngot acquainted with a Partener in Wickedness, one Mary Phillips, Born at\nOundle aforesaid, with whom she held a frindly Correspondence for several\nyears together, and work\u2019d very hard for a Livelihood; but when she\narriv\u2019d to the age of 21 she began to be a very lude [lewd] sort of a\nPerson ... which wicked and loathsom Actions were not only talked of in\nthe Town of Cotterstock where she was Born but at Oundle, Glapthorne,\nBenefield, Southwick and several Parts adjacent; and that as well by\nChildren of four or five years of Age as persons of riper years; so that\nby degrees her Name became so famous or rather infamous that she could\nhardly peep out of her Door but the Children would point at her in a\nScoffing manner ... [so] that she Swore she would be revenged on her\nenemies tho\u2019 she pawn\u2019d her Soul for the Purchase; and then Mary Phillips\nbeing her Partner in Knitting and Bedfellow also, who was as bad as\nherself in the Vices aforesaid, she communicated her Thoughts to her,\nrelating to a Contract with the Devil, in order to have the Wills of those\nwho Slandered them.... In fine as these two Harlots agreed in their other\nWickedness so they were resolv\u2019d to go Hand in Hand in this, and\nconsequently go to the Devil together for Company, but out of a Hellish\nkind of Civility he saved them that Trouble at present, for ... he\nimmediately waited upon \u2019em to obtain his Booty on Saturday the 12th of\nFebruary 1704 about 12 a Clock at Night according to their own\nConfessions, appearing in the shape of a black tall Man, at whose approach\nthey were very much startled at first, but taking Ellinor Shaw by the Hand\nhe spoke thus--Says he, Be not afraid, of me for I am one of the Creation\nas well as your selves, having power given me to bestow it on whom I\nplease, and do assure you that if you will pawn your Souls to me for only\na Year and two Months I will for all that time assist you in whatever you\ndesire. Upon which he produced a little piece of Parchment on which by\ntheir Consents having prick\u2019t their Fingers\u2019 ends, he wrote the Infernal\nCovenants in their own Blood which they signed with their own Hands and\nthe same Night.... In the Morning he told them they were now as\nsubstantial Witches as any were in the world, and that they had power by\nthe assistance of the Imps that he would send them to do what Mischief\nthey pleased.\n\n\u201cI shall not trouble you with what is already mention\u2019d in the Tryals of\nthese two persons because it is in print by your Friend already but only\ninstance what was omitted in that as not having room here to contain it\naltogether but as to their general confessions after their Condemnations,\ntake as followeth:--\n\n\u201cThe day before they were Executed, Mr. Danks the Minister visited them in\nPrison, in order if possible to bring them to a State of Repentance, but\nseeing all pious Discourse prov\u2019d ineffectual, he desired them to tell him\nwhat mischeivous Pranks they had Play\u2019d and what private Conference they\nhad with the Devil from time to time, since they had made that fatal\nBargain with him: To which Ellinor Shaw with the Consent of the other told\nhim that the Devil in the Shape of a tall black Man appear\u2019d several times\nto them and at every visit would present them with new Imps some of a Red\nCoulour others of a Dun and the third of a black Colour and that ... by\nthe Assistance of these Hellish Animals they often Kill\u2019d Men Women and\nChildren to the great surprise of all the towns thereabouts; she further\nadding that it was all the Delight they had to be doing such wicked\nActions and they had Kil\u2019d by their Inchantments and Witchcraft in the\nspace of nine Months time 15 children eight Men and six Women tho\u2019 none\nwas suspected of being Bewitch\u2019d but those two Children, said the Woman,\nthat they Dy\u2019d for; and that they had Bewitch\u2019d to Death in the same Space\nof Time 40 Hoggs of several poor People, besides 100 Sheep, 18 Horses, and\n30 Cows, even to the utter Ruin of several Families: As to their\nparticular Intreagues and waggish tricks I have not Room to enumerate,\nthey are so many; only some remarkable Feats they did in Prison which was\nthus, viz:--one Day Mr. Laxon and his wife coming by the Prison had the\nCuriosity to look through the Grates and seeing of Ellinor Shaw told her\nthat now the Devil had left her in the Lurch, as he had done the rest of\nhis Servants; upon which the said Ellinor was observ\u2019d to Mutter strangely\nto herself in an unknown Language for about two Minutes; at the end of\nwhich Mr. Laxon\u2019s Wife\u2019s Cloathes were all turn\u2019d over her head Smock and\nall in a most strange manner ... notwithstanding all the Endeavours her\nHusband could use to keep her Cloathes in order; at which the said Ellinor\nhaving Laughed Heartily and told her She had prov\u2019d her Lyer, her Cloathes\nbegan to come to their right order again. The keeper of the Prison having\none Day Threatened them with Irons, they, by their Spells, caused him to\nDance almost an Hour Naked in the Yard to the Amazement of the Prison:\nnay, such Pranks were Play\u2019d by them during their Confinement that no one\ndurst give them an ill Word, insomuch that their Execution was the more\nhastened in the regard of their frequent Disturbances and great Mischief\nthey did in several places of the Town notwithstanding their Imprisonment.\n\n\u201cThey were so hardened in their Wickedness that they Publickly boasted\nthat their Master (meaning the Devil) would not suffer them to be\nExecuted: but they found him [a] Lyer; for on Saturday Morning being the\n17th instant they were carried to the Gallows on the Northside of the Town\nwhither numerous Crowds of people went to see them Die, and being come to\nthe place of Execution the Minister repeated his former pious endeavours\nto bring them to a sense of their Sins but to as little purpose as before:\nfor instead of calling on God for Mercy nothing was heard from them but\nD----g and Cursing. However a little before they were ty\u2019d up; at the\nrequest of the Minister, Ellinor Shaw confessed not only the Crime for\nwhich she Dyed, but openly declared before them all how she first became a\nWitch, as did also Mary Phillips; and being desired to say their Prayers\nthey both set up a very loud Laughter, calling for the Devil to come and\nhelp them in such a Blasphemous manner as is not fit to Mention, so that\nthe Sherif seeing their presumptious Impenitence caused them to be\nExecuted with all the Expedition possible; even while they were Cursing\nand raving; and as they liv\u2019d the Devil\u2019s true Factors so they resolutely\nDyed in his service, to the Terror [of] all People who were eye-Witnesses\nof their dreadful and amazing Exits.\n\n\u201cSo that being Hang\u2019d till they were almost Dead the Fire was put to the\nStraw, Faggots and other Combustable matter till they were Burnt to Ashes.\nThus Liv\u2019d and thus Dyed two of the most notorious and presumptious\nWitches that ever were known in this Age.\n\n\u201cTo conclude: I heartly wish that these wretched Women\u2019s Sad and\nLamentable Fates may be a warning to all Proud, Lustful and Malicious\nPersons whatsoever, least they be brought Step by Step before they are\naware unto the Devil\u2019s Slaughterhouse of Confusion and Misery to all\nEternity.\n\n\u201cI am promised a Copy of the Sermon that was Preached by Mr. Danks at the\nChurch of All Saint\u2019s the next day after the said Witches were Executed\n(being Sunday) upon that very Occasion, which I hope to send you by the\nnext Post.\n\n  \u201cI am Sir, Your humble Servant, Ralph Davis.\u201d\n\n[98] \u201cA Full and Impartiall account of the Discovery of Sorcery and\nWitchcraft, practised by Jane Wenham,\u201d etc. London: 1712.\n\n[99] \u201cSadducismus Debellatus: or a True Narrative of the Sorceries and\nWitchcraft exercised by the Devil and his Instruments upon Mrs. Christian\nShaw in the county of Renfrew, in the West of Scotland, from August 1696\nto April 1697, &c.\u201d Collected from the Records. London: Newman and Bell,\n1698.\n\n[100] \u201cAnother Brand Plucked out of the Burning: or More Wonders of the\nInvisible World.\u201d London: 1700.\n\n[101] \u201cSaddvcismus Triumphatus,\u201d pp. 20-37.\n\n[102] Two remarkable works for and against what was termed \u201cJudiciall\nAstrologie,\u201d were published in the latter years of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s\nreign. One, attacking the system, from the pen of John Chamber, Prebendary\nof Windsor and Fellow of Eton College (London: John Harrison, Paternoster\nRow, 4to., Lambeth Library, 78 F. 22); the other defending it, in reply to\nthe above, by Sir Christopher Heydon, Knt., printed at Cambridge, by John\nLegat, printer to the University in 1603 (Lambeth Library, 78 F. 12). The\nformer is a treatise of very considerable vigour and power of reasoning:\nthe latter is somewhat laboured, eminently pedantic, overburdened with\ntedious and irrelevant quotations, and altogether very inferior from a\nliterary point of view.\n\n[103] In almost all Heathen or Pagan countries, Witchcraft, Necromancy and\nSorcery are recognized and established institutions.\n\n[104] There was a notorious sorcerer and reputed necromancer in King James\nthe First\u2019s reign, a certain Dr. Lamb. In Baxter\u2019s \u201cCertainty of the World\nof Spirits\u201d (A.D. 1691), he records a curious instance of Lamb\u2019s\nmiraculous performances. This sorcerer, meeting two of his acquaintances\nin the street, they, expressing a wish to witness some example of his\nspiritual skill, were invited to his house. There they were conducted to\nan inner room, where to their intense surprise they saw a growing-tree\nspring up slowly in the middle of the room. [It may be here remarked that\nthe Oriental jugglers and sorcerers work a similar manifestation of their\npowers, often witnessed and frequently described.--Editor.] In a moment,\nas this record informs us, there appeared three diminutive men, who with\nlittle axes felled the tree; and then the doctor dismissed his guests, who\nhad been duly impressed by his powers. On that very night, however, a\ntremendous hurricane arose, causing the house of one of the guests to rock\nfrom side to side, with every probability that the house would fall, and\nbury him and his wife in its ruins. The wife in an agony of fear inquired,\n\u201cWere you not at Dr. Lamb\u2019s to-day?\u201d The husband admitted that it was true\nthat he had been. \u201cAnd did you not bring something away from his house?\u201d\nThe husband confessed that he had done so. When the little men were\nfelling the tree, he had picked up some of the chips and put them into his\npocket. Nothing, therefore, as his wife pointed out, remained to be done\nbut to produce these chips, and get rid of them as fast as possible. When\nthis was done, the tempest ceased, and the rest of the night was perfectly\ncalm. It may be added that this sorcerer became so odious, because of his\nnecromancy and other infernal practices, that in 1640 the populace rose\nupon him and tore him to pieces in the streets; while, thirteen years\nafterwards, a woman who had been in his service was apprehended upon a\ncharge of Witchcraft, was tried on what seems to have been very strong and\nconclusive evidence, found guilty, and in expiation of her crime was\nexecuted at Tyburn. [The contemporary literature extant, relating to this\ncase of Lamb and his servant, would fill a large volume.--Editor.]\n\n[105] These persons are reported and reputed to be professional mediums,\nand are said to be very largely patronized by people of all ranks and\nclasses, more especially the higher.\n\n[106] \u201cReport on Spiritualism.\u201d Examination of the Master of Lindsay, p.\n215. London: Longman, 1871.\n\n[107] Genesis iii. 1; Revelation xii. 9; Ibid. xx. 2.\n\n[108] The Editor, while avoiding the reproduction of examples which are\ntolerably well known, has generally aimed at setting forth cases which\nhave not yet been put into print; though in some records which follow, a\nfew have been selected which have already been published, in order that\none example, at least, of all the particular kinds of warning and dreams,\nmay be here presented to the reader.\n\n[109] Genesis xx. 3; Ibid. xxxi. 11, and (to Laban) ver. 31. As to\nPharaoh\u2019s dream of a coming famine, see Genesis xli.\n\n[110] Numbers xii. 6; 1 Kings iii. 5-15; Daniel vii. to the end of the\nbook. S. Matthew, 1-20; Ibid. ii. 12 (as to S. Joseph), ver. 13. and\nverses 19 and 20; Ibid, xxvii. 19.\n\n[111] Two valued correspondents respectively write as follows:--\u201cOne could\nrelate many such family incidents as you suggest, but everyone shrinks\nfrom allowing them to be verified by name. I imagine that this reticence\narises from the natural dread and dislike to having what is sacred to\none\u2019s own faith and feelings submitted to the ridicule of sceptical and\nrationalistic minds.\u201d\n\nAnother:--\u201cI send you the enclosed--a record of the supernatural\nappearance which is always seen immediately prior to the death of the head\nof our family. But I do not wish it printed; and absolutely forbid the\nmention either of place or person, lest it should be identified, which\nmight cause annoyance to our friends.\u201d\n\n[112] De Anima, c. 45-47.\n\n[113] Ibid.\n\n[114] De Opificio Dei, s\u00e6c. xviii.\n\n[115] Epist. Sti. Cypriani, lxiii.\n\n[116] Epist. Sti. Basilii, cxx.\n\n[117] Opera Thom. Aquin., Tom. ii., Qu\u00e6st. xcv., Art. vi.: Tom. iii.,\nQu\u00e6st. lxxx., Art. vii.\n\n[118] \u201cThe Philosophy of Sleep.\u201d By Macknish.\n\n[119] The Rev. George R. Winter, M.A., Vicar of Swaffham and Rural Dean,\nthus most obligingly writes to the Editor (A.D. 1874):--\u201cThe story of the\nDream is popularly believed, and there was a good foundation for it. In\nthe upper portion of the windows of the north aisle is some old painted\nglass, which is supposed to represent the man and his family; but the\nchief monument of his identity is a piece of old carving representing a\npedlar with a pack on his back, and also his dog, forming part of the\nwesternmost stalls of the choir. This, I believe, was at one time in the\nnorth aisle, which the man is supposed to have built.\u201d The dream is\nrelated at length in Blomfield\u2019s \u201cHistory of Norfolk.\u201d\n\n[120] The above was written at Alton Towers, Cheadle, on the 23rd of\nOctober, 1842, and duly signed by Mr. William Talbot, a relation of John,\nEarl of Shrewsbury.\n\n[121] \u201cThe account here given of the Dream which occurred in Cornwall, is,\nas I personally testify, true and accurate. (Signed) Rachel L. Lee\n(daughter of the late Benjamin Tucker, of Trematon Castle, Esquire, and\ndaughter-in-law of the late Rev. T. T. Lee, Vicar of Thame), Kentons, near\nHenley-on-Thames, May 14th, 1873.\u201d\n\n[122] A friend who provided the above example writes to the Editor:--\u201cI\nknew the family, and the circumstance of Mr. Perring\u2019s singular dream; and\ncan certainly testify to its truth.\u201d\n\n[123] From a Letter dated Nov. 1, 1872, in the handwriting of the Widow of\nthe Clergyman in question, kindly communicated to the Editor by the Rev.\nTheodore J. Morris, Vicar of Hampton in Arden, near Birmingham.\n\n[124] The following document was drawn up about thirteen years ago, and\ngiven to the Editor with the above account by an Oxford friend:--\n\n\u201cThis is to certify that in 1840 I dreamt the Dream about the strange man\ncoming to the front door and forcing himself in; and that seven years\nafterwards, that is in 1847, what I had seen in my dream occurred in\nLondon, when, having heard knocks at the door when I was alone in the\nhouse, I saw the man outside the door whom I had seen in my dream seven\nyears before.\n\n  \u201cHannah Green.\n\n\u201cWootton, Oxfordshire, August 5, 1861.\u201d\n\n[125] \u201cNotes and Queries,\u201d Sept. 24, 1853.\n\n[126] \u201cI have carefully read the account which you have so nicely written\nout from my own and my brother\u2019s Letters; and have also twice read the\nsame to my mother and brother. Both join with me in testifying to its\nabsolute truth and perfect accuracy. Our account was taken down from the\nlips of the Rector of ---- himself. We, indeed, have reason to believe in\nthe Supernatural.\u201d\n\n[127] The Rector of Phillack and Gwithian, near Hayle in Cornwall, is the\nRev. Frederick Hockin, M.A. and Rural Dean.\n\n[128] He is described as \u201cWilfred D. Speer, Esq., of West End Lodge,\nThames Ditton, a magistrate for the County of Surrey, and a captain in the\nMilitia of that county.\u201d\n\n[129] \u201cStatement of the Circumstances attending the Death of Wilfred D.\nSpeer, Esq., with copies of Testimony and Correspondence.\u201d London,\nOntario: John Cameron, Dundas Street, West, 8vo. pp. 12, 1867.\n\n[130] \u201cIf my dream come true, I am certainly approaching my latter end,\nand have only a little time longer in this world.\u201d Attested copy of\nCaptain Wilfred Speer\u2019s Letter, given to the Editor by the Rev. John\nRichardson, of Warwick.\n\n[131] He was shot dead on the night of the 17th of June, 1867, on board a\nsteamboat on the Missouri.\n\n[132] The following Letter has been received by the Editor from the\ndignitary in question:--\u201cNov. 6, 1874. Rev. and dear Sir, I only wish that\nmy name should not be published. The statement, as written out by me, is\nentirely at your service.... To the Rev. Dr. Lee.\u201d\n\n[133] It seems that as a matter of fact there is no tunnel near the scene\nof the accident, but a long, level line of railway, very near the margin\nof the sea. At least so a correspondent who knows the locality well has\ninformed me.--Editor.\n\n[134] \u201cHaving made enquiries regarding the fact of Tinley\u2019s remarkable\ndream, which seemed to foreshadow his death by the well-known accident, I\ncan testify to the truth that he had such a dream, and that he regarded it\nas a sign of coming death.\n\n  \u201cA. Rutherford, Wolverhampton.\n\n\u201cJuly 14, 1874.\u201d\n\n[135] Sir Roger Tichborne, Knt. of Tichborne, flourished in the reign of\nHenry II. He married Mabella, daughter and sole heiress of Ralph de\nLamerston, in the Isle of Wight.\n\n[136] Sir Henry Tichborne, born in 1756, married in 1778 Elizabeth\nPlowden, and had seven sons, viz. 1. Henry, 2. Benjamin, 3. Edward, 4.\nJames, 5. John, 6. George, and 7. Roger. His eldest son Henry, who married\nAnne, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, had seven daughters, viz. 1. Eliza, 2.\nFrances, 3. Julia, 4. Mary, 5. Katherine, 6. Lucy, and 7. Emily.\n\n[137] \u201cStaffordshire Chronicle,\u201d July, 1835.\n\n[138] Lysons in his \u201cMagna Britannia,\u201d vol. vi. describing the parish of\nSouth Tawton, about five miles from Okehampton, co. Devon,\nsays:--\u201cOxenham, in this parish, gave name to an ancient family who\npossessed it, at least from the time of Henry III. to the death of William\nLong Oxenham, Esq., in 1814.\u201d The mansion, as the Editor learns, has long\nbeen occupied as a farm-house. It may here be added that it is believed\nthat Drake\u2019s friend, Captain John Oxenham, who lost his life in an\nengagement with the Spaniards in South America (A.D. 1575), was a member\nof this family. Mr. Canon Kingsley, in \u201cWestward-Ho,\u201d has introduced the\nomen of a Bird with a white breast in connection with this gentleman.\n\n[139] \u201cA True relation of an Apparition in the likeness of a Bird with a\nWhite Breast, that appeared hovering over the deathbeds of some of the\nchildren of Mr. James Oxenham, of Sale Monachorum, Devon, Gent. Confirmed\nby Sundry witnesses. London, printed by I. O. for Richard Clutterbuck, and\nare to be sold at the figure of the Gun in little Britain, near St.\nBotolph\u2019s church. 1641.\u201d British Museum, Press-Mark E. 205-9.\n\nA copy of this pamphlet is also to be found amongst Gough\u2019s collection in\nthe Bodleian. The British Museum copy contains a curious and very\neffective engraving, representing the actual appearance of the Bird to a\nperson dying in bed.\n\n[140] It is also stated in this pamphlet that the clergyman of the parish\nhad been appointed by the bishop of the diocese to inquire into the truth\nof these particulars, and that a monument had been put up with his\napprobation with the names of the witnesses of each apparition of the\nBird. The pamphlet states that those who had been sick and had recovered,\nnever saw the apparition. It further came out in the evidence tendered,\nthat the same Bird had appeared to Grace, the grandmother of John Oxenham,\nwho died in 1618.\n\n[141] Lysons states that these monumental inscriptions _do not now_ exist\neither in the church or churchyard of Tawton or Sale Monachorum. But,\nconsidering the shameful destruction of monuments in late years by\nso-called \u201cChurch Restorers,\u201d this is not to be wondered at.\n\n[142] It has been shrewdly and perhaps not untruly observed, that \u201ca\ngenuine and solemn citation may tend to work its own fulfilment in certain\nminds, who, by allowing the thing to prey upon their spirits, enfeeble the\npowers of life, and perhaps at the critical date arouse some latent or\ndormant disease into deadly action.\u201d\n\n[143] The following is from a MS. note of a member of the Editor\u2019s\nfamily--George Henry Lee, Lord Litchfield, who was Chancellor of the\nUniversity of Oxford in the latter part of the last century. Lord\nRochester, it should be added, was allied to that family through his\nmother, Anne, Countess of Rochester, previously the widow of Sir F. H.\nLee:--\n\n\u201cLord Rochester told me of an odd presage that one had of his approaching\ndeath in the Lady Warre his mother-in-law\u2019s house. The chaplain had dreamt\nthat such a day he should die, but being by all the family put out of the\nbelief of it, he had almost forgot it till the evening before at supper,\nthere being thirteen at table, according to a fond conceit that one of\nthese must soon die, one of the young ladies pointed to him that he was to\ndie. He, remembering his dream, fell into some disorder; and the Lady\nWarre reproving him for his superstition, he said he was confident he was\nto die before morning; but he being in perfect health, it was not much\nminded. It was Saturday night, and he was to preach the next day. He went\nto his chamber, sat up late, (as appeared by the burning of his candle,)\nand he had been preparing his notes for his sermon, but he was found dead\nin his bed next morning. These things he said made him inclined to believe\n[that] the soul was a substance distinct from matter, and this often\nreturned into his thoughts.\u201d\n\n[144] The Registrar-General in his last Report writes thus:--\u201cSeamen will\nnot sail, women will not wed on a Friday so willingly as on other days of\nthe week. It has been ascertained that out of 4,057 marriages which took\nplace during a certain period in the midland district of England, not two\nper cent. were celebrated on a Friday, while thirty-two per cent. were\nentered as having taken place on a Sunday.\u201d\n\n[145] Jerome Cardan, the strange sixteenth-century physician, who dealt so\nextensively in horoscopes, and is said to have sought the assistance of\nspirits, professed to own and exercise some specific and supernatural\ngifts:--1. The power of throwing his spirit out of his body, by which he\ncould see things at a distance. 2. _His faculty of Second Sight, or of\nseeing whatever he pleased with his eyes, \u201cOculis, non vi mentis.\u201d_ 3. His\ndreams, which, as he maintained, uniformly foretold to him what was about\nto occur, and by which he truly predicted the day of his own death, and 4.\nhis \u201cunerring astrological knowledge.\u201d\n\n[146] \u201cMiscellanies, collected by J. Aubrey, Esq.\u201d London: printed for\nEdward Castle, 1696.\n\n[147] \u201cA Treatise on the Second Sight, Dreams, and Apparitions,\u201d by\nTheophilus Insulanus. Dedicated \u201cTo the Honourable Sir Harry Monro, of\nFoulis, Baronet.\u201d Pp. 107-108. Edinburgh: 1763.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nThe General Index was not a part of the original text. It has been copied\nfrom Volume II of the series.\n\nPassages in italics are indicated by _italics_.","title":"The Other World; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural (Vol. 1 of 2): Being Facts, Records, and Traditions Relating to Dreams, Omens, Miraculous Occurrences, Apparitions, Wraiths, Warnings, Second-sight, Witchcraft, Necromancy, etc.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":76528}