{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74156/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74156","id":"gutenberg_74156","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74156","summary":null,"tags":["Apparitions","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Immortality","Spiritualism"],"text":"IMMORTALITY PROVED\n\n                                BY THE\n\n                          TESTIMONY OF SENSE:\n\n                       IN WHICH IS CONTEMPLATED\n\n                       THE DOCTRINE OF SPECTRES,\n\n                                AND THE\n\n                  EXISTENCE OF A PARTICULAR SPECTRE.\n\n                        ADDRESSED TO THE CANDOR\n\n                                OF THIS\n\n                           ENLIGHTENED AGE.\n\n                    [Illustration: decorated line]\n\n                         BY ABRAHAM CUMMINGS.\n\n                    [Illustration: decorated line]\n\n                               PORTLAND:\n                      PUBLISHED BY J. L. LOVELL.\n            N. A. Foster, Printer, No. 58 Exchange Street.\n                                 1859.\n\n\n\n\n                          IMMORTALITY PROVED,\n\n\nBy phenomena that were witnessed by hundreds, in the town of Sullivan,\nMaine, in the year 1800. Published by an eye-witness, the REV. ABRAHAM\nCUMMINGS, a man eminent in learning and piety--a graduate of Harvard\nUniversity.\n\nRepublished, _verbatim et literatum_, by J. L. LOVELL, Yarmouth, Me.\n\n\n\n\n                          IMMORTALITY PROVED\n\n                                BY THE\n\n                          TESTIMONY OF SENSE.\n\n                    [Illustration: decorated line]\n\n                               SECTION I.\n\n   _The arguments considered which oppose the doctrine of Spectres._\n\nAmong the opinions of the present day, which render it neither clear\nnor dark, is that of materialism, which maintains the position that\nall exercises of the mind are the exercises of matter more or less\nrefined and organized: Therefore, when this material organization\nceases, all cogitation must cease: Body and soul, life and intelligence\ndie together. Thought, and the capacity of thought have no existence\nbetween death and the last day. Now if this position and inference\nbe true, the doctrine of Spectres is overthrown at once. Sure we may\nbe that what never exists can never really appear, however I may be\ndeluded by my own imagination, or the artifice of others. This position\ntherefore, before we proceed, demands particular discussion.\n\nIf thought be the entire effect of material form, and excellent thought\nof excellent form, as these philosophers seem to suppose, it follows\nthat the more excellent the body is the more excellent will be the\nmind. But facts shew the contrary. The goose, which sometimes appears\nin elegant human form, we despise; while we admire the fables of \u00c6sop\nand the sublime verse of that poet, who was told what is the mark of\ninterrogation. \u201cBut although the externals of body may be deformed,\nyet the internals of it may be well organized and refined.\u201d What says\nthe anatomist respecting the ourang outang? \u201cNot only the externals,\nbut the internals of his body resemble those of man, particularly\nthe tongue and the brain. There appears no difference between them;\nyet the animal is dumb and has not so much sagacity even to provide\nfor herself as the elephant or the beaver.\u201d However certain laws\nand dispensations of Divine Providence, accommodated to the rude\napprehensions of mankind in early ages, punished the posterity of\nsinners; yet it is one of the first dictates of reason as well as\nof a better covenant, that justice does not require any person to\nbe rewarded or punished for the virtues or vices of another.[1] If\nsoul and body die together; if all intelligence and cogitation cease\nfrom that moment to the last day, what becomes of personal identity\nand accountability? The essence of personality is intelligence.\nEvery intelligent being is a person, and every person an intelligent\nbeing.[2] Therefore the uninterrupted continuation of any particular\nintelligence, necessarily implies his personal identity; whatever body,\nor whatever garment he may, or may not, happen to wear. Therefore,\npremising deference, personal identity does not necessarily comprise\nthe whole man, soul and body, as Dr. Watts supposes, nor is it the mere\nconsciousness of my past and present experience compared, as Mr. Locke\nsupposes; for this my very consciousness presupposes that existence\nof which I am conscious. I may have committed faults and performed\nvirtuous actions in time past, which now I do not remember, and\ntherefore not conscious of them; still those actions were mine, whether\nI am conscious of them or not, and so far as any one can prove them to\nbe mine, so far he can prove me to be the same person that I was in\nthe time when those actions were performed. For more instruction, the\nreader may consult that excellent dissertation of Bishop Butler, on\nthis topic; from which I extract a few lines: \u201cAs upon two triangles\nbeing compared or viewed together, there arises to the mind the idea\nof similitude; or upon twice two and four, the idea of equality--so\nlikewise upon comparing the consciousness of one\u2019s self in any two\nmoments, there immediately arises to the mind the idea of personal\nidentity. And as the two former comparisons not only give us the ideas\nof similitude and equality, but also shew us that two triangles are\nalike, and twice two and four are equal--so the latter comparison not\nonly gives us the idea of personal identity, but also shows us the\nidentity of ourselves in those two moments, that is, the present and\nthat immediately past; or the present and that of a month, a year, or\ntwenty years past. Or in other words, by reflecting upon that which\nis myself now, and that which was myself twenty years ago, I discern\nthey are not two, but one and the same self. But the consciousness of\nwhat is past, does thus ascertain our personal identity to ourselves,\nyet to say that it _makes_ personal identity, is to say that a person\nhas not existed a single moment, nor done one action but what he\ncan remember, and none but what he reflects upon. And one should\nreally think it self evident that consciousness of personal identity\npresupposes, and therefore cannot _constitute_ personal identity, any\nmore than knowledge in any other case can constitute the truth which it\npresupposes.\u201d\n\nIf this account of personal identity be just, then, by the doctrine\nhere opposed, death puts an end to it. Affection, thought,\nintelligence, consciousness, all are no more, and therefore the person\nis no more. And as he is no more, nothing can be his. Now existence is\nentitled to no reward, deserves no punishment: is guilty of nothing\nand accountable for nothing. In a future day something may be raised\nup just like him in body and natural faculties of mind. But for this\nsomething, creation, not resurrection, is the appropriate term. Now can\nwe conceive that the person struck entirely out of existence a thousand\nyears ago, and this person newly created in his likeness, should be\none and the same? No, we can as well conceive that two small houses\nbuilt a thousand miles apart, and entirely resembling each other, are\none and the same house. These new persons, if they reason, as some of\nus do, will think it somewhat strange that they should be accountable\nfor crimes said to have been committed by them long before they were\ncreated. This doctrine, however, affords comfort and encouragement to\nall distinction of sinners in this world. Our punishment in a future\nstate, say they, will not be inflicted upon _us_, (for after death we\nshall exist no more) but upon our representatives who shall bear our\nnames, and be made to think that they were we. Let us then eat and\ndrink, for to-morrow we die. Let us imitate those noble animals around\nus, which innocently deceive, kill and take possession; for to-morrow\nwe shall exist no longer. What a foul reproach then does this doctrine\nexhibit against the wisdom and equity of the righteous Governor of\nthe world? We now attend to the language of scripture respecting this\nopinion. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is grounded on the\nhypothesis that some persons are happy or miserable in the separate\nstate, while others are living in the present world. The text, \u201cAbsent\nfrom the body and present with the Lord,\u201d by the subtle philosophy\nof this enlightened age, signifies that after we, as persons, have\nbeen annihilated for some ages, a number of new persons, just then\ncreated, who shall be our very selves, will be present with the Lord.\nBut in view of the simple christian, who knows but little, the plain\nmeaning of the text is, that in the very same hour and minute, while\nwe are absent from this corruptible body, we are present with the\nLord. Such an ignorant christian is not able to conceive how a person,\nand a similar person residing on the two opposite shores of the vast\nduration of nihility, can be one and the same person, any more than to\nconceive how a person and a similar person, residing at the same time\non the opposite shores of the vast Atlantic, can be one and the same\nperson. Our Lord said to the penitent thief, \u201cThis day shalt thou be\nwith me in paradise;\u201d that is, before the close of this natural day\nthou shalt be with me in heaven. So the penitent thief in his state\nof ignorance would naturally understand it. But Priestlian subtilty\nrequires this paraphrase, \u201cThis day shalt thou die, soul and body,\nand remain personally annihilated about two thousand years.\u201d Then\na person entirely new shall begin to exist, and shall erroneously\nimagine that within a few months he had committed a theft, that within\na few hours he had been crucified, and obtained a promise which was\nnow completely fulfilled. All this deception will take place, because\nhe will be you. However, by intercourse with others, he and you will\ndiscover these chronological errors, and that those things which you\nhad done, suffered and enjoyed, took place about two thousand years\nbefore you, that is, before the second you, existed. It was well\nfor the thief that he knew not, and believed not, this paraphrase;\notherwise that promise would have been a poor, cold consolation to\nhim. The Sadducees denied the resurrection, and the existence of angel\nand spirit, and their denial of the former was grounded on their\ndenial of the latter. They seemed to admit, that, if spirits existed\nin a separate state, they might assume bodies. But as there _were_ no\nsuch spirits in their view, the inference was certain, that no such\ntransition could take place. Therefore the argument of our Saviour\nattacked the very foundation of their theory, by shewing that the\npatriarchs, though dead for many years, and their bodies not raised,\nwere still alive, while Moses stood at the burning bush.[3] Our Lord\ncited these words, addressed to Moses at that time, \u201cI am the God\nof Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;\u201d and then says,\n\u201cGod is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto\nhim.\u201d That is to say, they do not live unto man. In his natural view,\nthey are dead in every respect. They see no life in his body, nor any\nwhere else; still they live unto God. In his view they have life,\nthought, affection and intelligence. Therefore those dead patriarchs\nwere alive at the time when Moses beheld the burning bush. \u201cFear not\nthem which kill the body, saith our Lord, but are not able to kill the\nsoul.\u201d[4] But why? What is the reason they are not able to kill the\nsoul? If soul and body die together--if death destroys the essential\nproperties of the soul as well as of the body, certainly they, who are\nable to kill the body, are able to kill the soul. But the words now\ncited were uttered by him who could not err; and for the writer it is\nimpossible to conceive how words could be framed to make a proposition\nmore plain and intelligible. But in this age of light and darkness,\nmany, who believe in immortality and the separate state, utterly deny\nthat any departed soul ever returns or becomes visible to our bodily\neyes. Of this persuasion are the authors of the American Cyclopedia.\nTheir arguments, which demand attention, are the following: The first\nargument contemplates the ignorance and vulgarity associated with the\nopinion which maintains the existence of Spectres. \u201cIt is true there\nwere many Christians in former times, who gave full credit to such\nnarratives; these were times of great ignorance and superstition. But\nsince philosophy and christianity have walked hand in hand, the faith\nof ghosts has been more and more renounced, invariably.\u201d So it seems\nthat if a pious man has learning enough, he is perfectly secure from\nall such delusions. But is this representation entirely consonant with\nfacts? That christian literature has invariably renounced this opinion\nis by no means correct. Not only was the faith of Spectres supported\nby some of the most learned and eminent characters of antiquity, but\nmoderns, illustrious both in theology and philosophy, even since the\nProtestant Reformation, have given their decided opinion in favor\nof this doctrine. Among others, are Doctor Lightfoot, Mr. Flavel,\nMr. Hervy, Mr. Addison, Doctor Samuel Johnson, and the excellent Mr.\nSwedenbourg. Will it be proved that all these modern names are entirely\nignorant either of theology or philosophy?\n\n\u201cWhat more frequent in times of popery than apparitions? Says President\nMather, it would fill a volume to rehearse them; yet we may not run\ninto the other extreme, that all such reports have no reality.\u201d But\nwhat do philosophers know respecting this affair more than other\npeople? What lesson in the whole circle of science has ever determined\nthe question, whether sounds or forms were ever produced by unembodied\nspirits? What ancient Sadducee or modern materialist has ever yet\nproved that the human thoughts have not a separate existence by\nvehicle, or in some other way?\n\nHad our authors told us that the belief of Spectres has been rejected\ninvariably wherever philosophy and modern infidelity have gone hand in\nhand, the sentence would have been perfectly accurate. The christian\nworld affords no infidel who would not ridicule the following letters.\n\nWe see an age of light and darkness--of improvement and misimprovement.\nIgnorance is supported, when we believe too much, or when we believe\ntoo little. And a wise mariner will stand aloof both from Scylla and\nCharybdis--from the prejudice of superstition and the prejudice of\nmodernism.\n\nThe foundation of theology is the Sacred Scriptures, and there we find\nthe doctrine of apparitions. Samuel appeared to Saul when he applied\nfor advice to the witch of Endor.[5] There is however no proof that his\nappearance was the effect of her own power. Two things terrified her:\none was the discovery of Saul; the other was, Aliem, a god, rising out\nof the earth. How could she be terrified merely by the expected effect\nof her own invention? It is most reasonable to suppose that the event\nexceeded her expectation--that Samuel really appeared--not to flatter\nSaul by a sentence of double meaning, like the heathen oracles; but to\nspeak like himself--to reprove Saul for coming there, and to denounce\nthat terrible sentence upon him and his house, which might naturally be\nexpected from that faithful prophet.\n\nWhen the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea, they were troubled,\nsaying, it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear; but his answer\nwas, \u201cBe of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid.\u201d Here we see the\ndisciples believed the existence of Spectres, and here was a fair\nopportunity for our Lord to teach them the contrary. But he did not\nthus improve it: for after his resurrection they discovered the same\nopinion. He asked one of them to handle him; not to disprove their\nopinion, but to prove his resurrection. Some time after this, Peter,\nmiraculously delivered from prison, knocked at the house of Mary, where\nmany were gathered for prayer. The damsel Rhoda, constantly affirmed to\nthem that she heard Peter\u2019s voice. Then said they, \u201cIt is his angel.\u201d\nThus their opinion continued the same through the fairest opportunities\nof their being taught otherwise by unerring wisdom. But they had never\nread Voltaire, nor Hume\u2019s observation on the Sprights of the British\nFathers.\n\nARG. 2. \u201cWhen the Scriptures were written and published, and the\nchristian religion fully established, revelation ceased, and miracles\nand heavenly messages were no longer requisite.\u201d\n\nHow do they know? How _can_ they know these matters, unless by the\nScriptures? And where do they say, that after the establishment of\nchristianity, miracles and heavenly messages should be no longer\nrequisite? It is believed that no such passage can be found.\n\nIt was the full persuasion of Mr. Addison, that the power of working\nmiracles continued in the church many years after the Apostolic age. He\ninforms us that learned christians of those times, \u201cConfidently assert\nthis miraculous power; nay, tell us that they themselves had been eye\nwitnesses of it at several times and in several instances. Nay, appeal\nto the heathen themselves for the truth of several facts they relate;\nnay, challenge them to be present at their assemblies, and satisfy\nthemselves, if they doubt it; nay, we find that pagan authors have in\nsome instances confessed this miraculous power.\u201d[6]\n\nDoubtless the Scriptures contain rules sufficient for salvation. And\nevery opposite rule, though preached by an angel, must be rejected; and\nthe same was true of the Old Testament before the New was revealed.\nBut it will by no means follow that no succeeding age of the world\ncan afford an occasion for any miracle or heavenly message which is\n_consistent_ with the Scriptures. That \u201cthe whole will of God is\nrevealed in the Scriptures,\u201d as it respects our general conduct, is\ndoubtless true; and the same was true of the law of Moses, as it\nrespected the general conduct of Israel in the days of the Judges. He\nwas pronounced cursed, who took away or added thereunto. But hence it\ndid not follow that an angel could not appear to Manoah and his wife,\npromise them a child, and give directions concerning his education. To\nsay that the whole will of God is so revealed in the Scriptures, that\nno case whatever can require any extraordinary exhibition of his will,\nis to say what is never said in that sacred volume, and is no better\nthan begging the question.\n\nThere may be miracles and heavenly messages without innovation of\nScripture doctrine or worship. \u201cTo say that God does not send his\nangels to any of his saints to communicate his mind unto them, as to\nsome particulars of their own duty _according to his word_, seems in my\njudgment, says the great Doctor Owen, to limit unwarrantably the Holy\nOne of Israel.\u201d\n\nARG. 3. \u201cCan we suppose that the all-wise Governor of the world would\npermit his angels to render themselves visible to the eye of man, for a\npurpose which might have been equally well accomplished without their\ninterposition?\u201d\n\nThis question is very easy. Another might appear more difficult. Have\nour authors such perfect knowledge of the universal system, that they\ncan certainly tell us what purposes can be equally well accomplished\nwithout the interposition of angels, as with it?\n\nThe hairs of the head and the smallest animalcul\u00e6 are numbered; so are\nall events. Small events by connection are frequently great events. If\ntherefore, the purposes for which a spirit is said to appear, are as\nsmall and trivial as can be conceived of, it would by no means follow\nthat the message did not come from the invisible state. That which\nappears very trivial in our view, may appear vastly important in the\nview of those seven eyes which survey the whole system of Providence,\nand destroy the wisdom of the wise.\n\nARG. 4. \u201cDeath is as great a change as that of our birth. And is it\nnot as improbable that a man should visibly return after death, as\nthat he should return from a state of manhood, to that which preceded\nhis birth?\u201d That is to say; Is it not as improbable that a species\nof miracle should take place, the existence of which has been taught\nand believed in all ages and nations, and is the manifest lesson of\nthe Scriptures; as that a species of miracle should take place, which\nnobody ever believed or heard of?\n\n_Is it not as improbable that a man should rise from the dead at the\nlast day, as that he should return from a state of manhood to that\nwhich preceded his birth._\n\nThis question of the infidel demands some attention, as well as the\nquestion in view.\n\nARG. 5. \u201cThere is a strong objection against the probability of\nSpectres, which is sufficient to prove that they are not intelligent\ncreatures; or at least, that they possess so small a degree of\nintelligence, that they are unqualified to act with prudence, to\npropose any end to themselves, or use the proper means to accomplish\nthat end. Ghosts often appear in order to discover some crime; but\nthey never appear to a magistrate, or person in authority, but to some\nilliterate clown, who happens to live near the place where the crime\nwas perpetrated: to some person who has no connection with the affair\nat all, and who, in general, is the most improper in the world for\nmaking the discovery.\u201d\n\nIn Glanville\u2019s Saducismus Triumphatus, we have the following story:--\n\n\u201cJames Haddock, a farmer, was married to Eleanor Welsh, by whom he had\na son. After the death of Haddock, his wife married one Davis, and both\nagreed to defraud the son by the former marriage, of a lease bequeathed\nto him by his father. Upon this the ghost of Haddock appeared to one\nFrancis Tavernor, the servant of Lord Chichester, and desired him to\ngo to Eleanor Welsh and inform her that it was the will of her former\nhusband that the son should enjoy the lease. Tavernor did not at\nfirst execute this commission, but he was continually haunted by the\napparition in the most hideous shapes, which even threatened to tear\nhim in pieces, till at last he delivered the message. Now had this\nSpectre the least common sense, it would have appeared first to Eleanor\nWelsh and her husband, Davis, and frightened them into compliance at\nonce, and not have kept poor Tavernor in such constant disquietude, who\nhad no concern in the matter.\u201d\n\nHere we find several propositions with regard to Spectres in general,\nwhich demand credit only for one short story, the truth of which\nmight be as consistently disputed by the apparitionists, as by the\nEncyclopedia. It does not appear that this apparition was seen or heard\nby any one except Tavernor. What evidence then have we that Tavernor\nwas not the dupe of one who personated Haddock out of pity to the\norphan son?\n\nCould our authors imagine that Mr. Addison, Doctor Johnson, or even Mr.\nGlanville himself, built the faith of Spectres, only on such feeble\nevidence as this story affords?\n\nWill that mode of conduct adopted by Tavernor\u2019s Spectre, teach us what\nis the conduct of Spectres in general, till we, who believe the reality\nof Spectres, can be satisfied whether Tavernor ever saw a Spectre or\nnot?\n\nCircumstances unknown to us, however, might be so attached to that\naffair, as to render it credible to Davis and his wife, if not to\nothers.\n\nTherefore, admitting the supposition of our believing it a reality, how\nhave our authors proved that this very Spectre conducted imprudently,\nproposed no end to himself, or used no proper means to accomplish that\nend? \u201cBecause, say they, he did not first appear to Eleanor Welsh and\nher husband, and frighten them into compliance at once.\u201d But how does\nit appear that this summary method, all things considered, would have\nbeen the most eligible. Doubtless some infidels are bold enough to\nsay that the angel, who sent Moses to Pharaoh from Horeb, would have\nconducted much more prudently and rationally, if he had first appeared\nto Pharaoh, and frightened him into compliance at once, than to have\nkept Moses in such disquietude, who had less concern in the matter\nthan any man in Egypt, for he was now married and peaceably settled\nin another land. The end proposed by the ghost appearing to Tavernor\nwas, that the son of Haddock should enjoy the lease, and this end was\nsubordinate and absolutely necessary to other ends of far greater\nmagnitude, for any thing which the Cyclopedia has shewn to the contrary.\n\nWe find in the Scriptures such a connection of means and ends as the\nwisdom of some moderns would never dictate: as that of Ezek. 4: 15, and\nthe marriage of Hosea transacted, either in reality or in vision. These\nmeans, doubtless, would not have appeared the most decent and eligible\nto some of those who seem capable of dictating for apparitions, the\nproper mode of their procedure.\n\nBut suppose Tavernor\u2019s ghost had first appeared to Eleanor Welsh and\nher husband, and frighted them into compliance at once, would the\nexistence of Spectres be any more believed than it is at present?\nWould not the objection have been that Eleanor Welsh had the maternal\naffection for her son? Had never really consented to the crime--that\nher own fear was feigned, and that the ghost was some friend employed\nby her to frighten and deceive her husband?\n\nOr if the ghost had first appeared to a magistrate: should we not have\nbeen told how much more probable it was that a magistrate should bear\na part in some artifice which afforded him profit, than that a miracle\nhad happened equal to the transition from a state of manhood to that\nwhich preceded our birth? It is no dishonor to the most illustrious\nof mankind that they frequently entertain the same opinion as that\nof their inferiors. On the mode of conduct proper for a Spectre, our\nauthors agree in sentiment with that Heroine of a famous English\nballad,[7] who with the habiliments there described, frightened\na person into compliance at once. She gave him no opportunity to\ndeliberate or to authenticate her mission. Compliance, or immediate\nruin were his only alternative. Her name was honored by three queens,\nand the favor of Henry the eighth.\n\nSpectres from heaven are rational creatures, and come down from the\nfountain of reason, and will therefore deal reasonably with us, by\nallowing us a fair opportunity to ascertain the reality of their\nmission. But for this examination, the mind is incapable when terrified\nby a sudden surprise.\n\nEleanor Welsh being the mother of the injured, must have been\ninterested, and therefore, if the Spectre had first appeared to her and\nher husband, there certainly would have been less evidence of reality\n(coct. par) than there was by its first appearing to Tavernor, who, by\nthe very supposition of our author, was a disinterested person, and\n\u201chad no concern in the matter.\u201d\n\nWe find in the next place several naked assertions, and then the\ninference that, \u201cThe evidence of Spectres is destroyed.\u201d They tell us\nthat Spectres appear only to one person at a time--that they are seen\nonly in the night, and visible only to the illiterate and credulous. \u201cA\nman must be prejudiced in favor of this opinion beforehand, say they,\nor he will never see a ghost.\u201d\n\nI must not offend the reader by needless detention. He may easily\nfind instances to disprove these assertions. As to the last, besides\nDoctor Scott, several persons of distinguished abilities, probity and\nliterature, who have seen ghosts, have declared to the writer, that\ninstead of previously believing their existence, their minds had been\nstrongly prejudiced against it.\n\nOur authors desire to know why Spectres should appear in the night,\nand \u201cwhy they could not deliver their messages with as much ease and\nmore success in the day time.\u201d And doubtless Bolingbroke had a similar\nenquiry respecting the angel who appeared to the shepherds in the night.\n\n\u201cTo render the testimony of any person credible, say these writers,\nhe must not only be a man of veracity, but of sufficient ability to\njudge of the subject to which he is to bear witness. It is not on the\nevidence of an ignorant, illiterate person, who has more fancy and fear\nthan judgment, that we are to rest our belief of what is supernatural.\u201d\nHere again their weapon is from the arsenal of those who oppose our\nSaviour\u2019s resurrection, known first to some of \u201cthe timorous and\npious sex,\u201d as Hume has termed them, and then to illiterate, ignorant\nfishermen, who, say the deists, had more fancy and fear than judgment.\nThe truth is, some ignorant men have no more fancy nor fear than the\nlearned, and a much better judgment than many of the latter. The\ncorporeal senses of the illiterate are as infallible as those of the\nlearned. The former can see and hear a ghost or an angel as distinctly\nas the latter, and can attempt to handle a ghost with as much composure\nof mind, and so are capable of knowing whether they can feel a\nsubstance or not, as a Locke or a Newton.\n\nOn the whole, it appears that the reason why mankind in this\nenlightened age, must believe that apparitions are a mere fiction,\nis not because this negative thesis was ever established by any\nsolid demonstration, but because the unanimity of modern names, the\nsubstitute of argument, has given it popularity.\n\nDoubtless the counterfeit apparitions which duped the popish ages, were\nnumerous; but counterfeits will never prove that there is nothing to be\ncounterfeited.\n\nAmong the greatest impositions of this nature, where shall we find one,\nwhich will compare with the late events of Sullivan, in the county\nof Hancock, Maine. In that place has never been found any theatrical\nrepresentation, or magic glass, or lantern, or ventriloquist, or\nspeaking automaton, or Phantasmagoria, or Statue of Kircher: and\nwere all these means of imposition found there, they would afford no\nrational explanation of the subsequent phenomena. How easy of solution\nwas that fraud in the city of Bern, mentioned by Mosheim,[8] as imposed\nupon one Jetzer, by four Dominicans, to confirm their doctrine of\noriginal sin. The apparition was indeed terrific, and exhibited false\nmiracles, but never offered to appear in the day time, nor predict any\nevent, which could not be foreknown by other means, nor was there any\naddress to the sense of feeling to satisfy Jetzer that the Spectre was\na Phantom.\n\nThe Encyclopedia have related a wonderful artifice from Doctor\nPlot, performed undoubtedly by a number of persons at Woodstock, in\nEngland, soon after the death of king Charles the first, while certain\ncommissioners appointed to survey his property there, were engaged to\naccomplish their business. But in all that marvelous story, we find\nno comparison with the events we are about to contemplate. The only\napparition seen there, was that of a dog! none of them observed the\nmanner of his being introduced among them. They saw no changes of shape\nor magnitude, nor does it appear that any of them saw him vanish.\nThey heard no articulate voice, much less any declaration of truth,\nunattainable by other means.\n\nAs to the Cocklane ghost, which produced so much noise and credit in\nLondon; there was neither articulate voice, nor any kind of apparition.\nAll these artifices, and a thousand more which history commemorates,\nare swallowed up by the subsequent phenomena, as Aaron\u2019s rod swallowed\nup the rods of the magicians.\n\nPause then, reader, and consider a few moments what evidence would\nconvince you of the existence of a Spectre. Before you stands a\ncreature encircled with radiance resembling the sun. Through the rays\nyou behold a personal form as plainly as possible. This form speaks to\nyou. The same is seen and heard by thirty others at the same time and\nin the same manner, so that your experience and theirs are uniform;\nwhile two or three other persons with the same ocular advantages, and\nlooking in the same direction, hear the voice, but see nothing, having\nbeen previously told by the Spectre that they should only hear and not\nsee.\n\nWith a voice distinct from that of the living, so that none of you\ncan perceive the least manifestation of breathing, this personal form\ntells you not to be afraid--that nothing will hurt you--to stand as\nnear as you please, and handle him that you may know whether or not he\nis flesh and bones. You comply with the request, and find no material\nsubstance. Now what would be your conclusion? Would you feel sure\nthat these matters were all the effect of your own fancy and that of\nothers? Can you produce a single instance out of all history, in which\nso many persons were thus impressed, while in reality they saw and\nheard nothing? But suppose further, that this Spectre informs you of\nevents which you cannot possibly know by other means, what then would\nbe the inference? \u201cI make a distinction, says Doctor Johnson, between\nwhat a man may experience by the mere strength of his imagination,\nand what imagination cannot possibly produce.\u201d Thus, suppose I should\nthink I saw a form and heard a voice cry, \u201cJohnson, you are very\nwicked--and unless you repent, you will certainly be punished;\u201d my own\nunworthiness is so deeply impressed on my mind, that I might imagine I\nthus saw and heard, and therefore I should not believe that an external\ncommunication had been made to me. But if a form should appear and a\nvoice should tell me that a particular man had died at a particular\nhour--a fact which I had no apprehension of, nor any means of knowing,\nand this fact, with all its circumstances, should afterwards be\nunquestionably proved; I should in that case be persuaded that I had\nsupernatural intelligence imparted to me. By this it appears, that had\nDoctor Johnson been an eye and ear witness of only a small part of what\nis now to be related, he would have believed that he had seen the form\nand heard the language of a Spectre. \u201cHe had a very philosophical mind,\nsays Mr. Boswell, and such a rational respect for testimony, as to make\nhim submit his understanding to what was authentically proved, though\nhe could not comprehend why it was so.\u201d[9] And the same will be the\ndisposition of every pious and reasonable mind. But if you reject the\nevidence of experience, the evidence of substantial testimony and the\nevidence of predictions, where are you? On the billows of scepticism,\nwithout a helm, and your lee shore is infidelity.\n\nIt is frequently asserted, and that by multitudes, that the true origin\nof the following letters is a gross artifice. ASSERTED I say: for that\nis all. Twenty-six years\u2019 time they have had to look round, search and\nprove that they are not mistaken. And for this purpose, means and pains\nhave not been wanting. Nothing however has yet transpired to make good\nthe assertion; but remarkable events have disproved it.\n\nIt is well known that some of the witnesses have been prosecuted for\nmountebanks; but nothing even to form an indictment could be found\nagainst them. Do I misrepresent? Do I mislead the credulous? Then let\nme be convinced? yea, let me be exposed. Let the cause be fully and\nfairly tried by friendly discussion; not in a future century, when we\nshall dwell in silence, but now, while the means of evidence are at\nhand--while the witnesses and their opponents are yet living.\n\nIf we love our neighbors, we prize their characters, and forbear\nneedless censure, especially in a case like this. \u201cJudge not that ye be\nnot judged.\u201d\n\nFor our conclusion, the words of the celebrated Mr. Addison and of\nMr. Hartly are not impertinent: \u201cI think a person who is terrified\nwith the imagination of ghosts and Spectres, much more reasonable\nthan one, who, contrary to the report of all historians, sacred and\nprofane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all nations,\nthinks the appearance of Spirits fabulous and groundless. Could not I\ngive myself up to this general testimony, I should to the relations of\nparticular persons, who are now living, and whom I could not distrust\nin other matters of fact.\u201d[10] \u201cCertain it is, says Mr. Hartly, that\nSpirits can become visible and converse with us, as man with man; and\nso innumerable are the instances hereof, as also of their discoveries,\nwarnings, predictions, &c., that I may venture to affirm with an appeal\nto the public for the truth of it, that there are few ancient families\nin any county of Great Britain, who are not possessed of records or\ntraditions of the same in their own houses, however the prevailing\nSadducism of these times, may have sunk the credit of them.\u201d--_Preface\nto Swedenborg\u2019s treatise of heaven and hell, p. 18._\n\nHis whole discussion of this topic demands our peculiar attention.\n\nAs the glorious descent of New Jerusalem is at hand, and perhaps\nalready begun, it is not improbable that henceforth these phenomena\nwill exceedingly multiply, and then destroy the wisdom of the wise. New\nJerusalem will descend, i. e. the saints will descend from heaven and\nmake visible their spiritual bodies. While those heavenly doctrines are\ninculcated, which establish a church new and glorious; so that the old\nchristian church has no glory by reason of the glory which excelleth.\nThen Universalism, Socinianism, Arianism, and the grossly absurd\ndoctrine of Divine tri-personality will deceive the nations no more for\na thousand years.[11]\n\n                    [Illustration: decorated line]\n\n                              SECTION II.\n\n    _Recent proofs of the doctrine by the existence of a particular\n                     Apparition._--IN SIX LETTERS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                               LETTER I.\n\n     In reply to a friend, who had expressed his desire and that\n     of others, that the account of the Spectre might not be\n     made public.\n\n_My Dear Sir_:--In our last interview, you favored me with the suspense\nof your judgment with regard to the Spectre, which has produced so much\naltercation in this part of the land.\n\nI am therefore encouraged to ask your further attention to this\naffair, contemptible as it must appear, if you believe but a part of\nthe misrepresentation now propagated. These, with modern incredulity,\nnow form the general opinion of the wise and unwise, the learned and\nunlearned, that this whole affair is mischief and artifice, practised\nby one or more of Mr. B\u2019s family, and particularly by the young woman,\nwhose marriage was responsive to the prediction and direction of the\nSpectre. Thus stands the vision of Hosea in the view of our Deists.\nThey consider it a thousand times more probable that the good man was\nsome how or other deceived by those licentious women, than that he ever\nreceived such direction from the invisible world. Now while my own\nopinion is entirely the reverse--while I view that family and their\nneighbors who vindicate them as unjustly censured; shall I appear the\nsang froid spectator? Perish rather my own reputation with theirs.\n\nBut this notwithstanding, dear sir, you will not fail to mention the\nardent sensations of gratitude and esteem which I entertain for those\npious and judicious persons, who have expressed their generous anxiety\nfor my character and usefulness.\n\nIt is not so much the matter or style of the pious discourse of the\nSpectre which demands our attention, as the enquiry whether there was\nany Spectre or not. She taught the same truth which we find in our\nBible. She proclaimed no new doctrine. Had she done this, it would have\noccasioned a great objection against her.[12] She exhorted the young\npeople to read the Bible as their sure guide to eternal life. And her\nrequirements were defended by the Scriptures whenever the propriety of\nany of them was doubted, to shew that her directions agreed with the\nlaw and the testimony.\n\nIn the style of her discourse, there was nothing of elegance or\nsublimity, more or less than we observe among common people in that\npious and familiar conversation in which passages of Scripture are\nfrequently introduced.\n\nThis, they say, is a great objection: a person from the invisible\nstate would never have conversed with the people in such an ordinary\nstyle. But had she excelled in the _elegant_ or _sublime_, objection\nwould not have been silent. It would have been said that she was not\nthe person she professed to be: for the employment of that person had\nnever been the study of Sheridan or Longinus: on earth she was below\nit, in heaven above it. The Spectre came not with the excellency of\nspeech, which man teaches, nor with the sublimity of those prophecies\nwhich describe the rise and ruin of empires; for empires were not her\nsubject; and there was perfect propriety in her using such language as\nwould subserve two of her designs: which were to manifest who she was,\nand to render herself as familiar as possible to those common people\nwith whom she conversed. Accordingly her mention of certain articles of\nproperty which she had left, was by no means an ultimate design, as she\nherself declared; but this, and her reasonable disposal of them, were\nmore clearly to convince her family that she had been their daughter\nand sister. For the same reason the features of her face were observed\nto be like those of the person she professed to be, by some who knew\nher in her life time. And though her voice had no indication of breath\nand was inimitably distinct from any voice of the living, yet it had\nthe same sound which she had uttered in her last hours, as they, who\nattended her in her last sickness have testified. Sometimes a part of\nthe company could understand her words without the least difficulty;\nwhile others with advantages of hearing, every way equal, perceived\nonly a sound, without the least articulation whatever. Thus the men who\nwere with Paul at the time of his conversion, heard a voice, but saw no\nman, and they saw the light, but heard not the articulate voice of the\nspeaker.\n\nSuch was the various experience of the people on these occasions.\nSome of them heard and understood plainly, but saw nothing: others\nheard a voice, but no speaking voice: others again saw a light, but\nno person: while they had no impediments natural or accidental; yet\nfar the greater number heard the words distinctly, and clearly saw a\npersonal form. And the very same persons, who could not see, nor hear\nintelligibly at one time, would at another time, and even at a greater\ndistance see, hear and understand without the least difficulty: while\nothers of the company, who had clearly seen and understood at the\nprevious interview, could now only see a light and hear a sound.\n\nIt was to render herself familiar that she frequently introduced\nherself, as we do, by the token of knocking.\n\nWhen Peter knocked at the house of Mary, the disciples thought it\nwas his angel, that is to say, they thought that a Spirit might come\nto the house and knock. They more easily believed that a Spirit was\nat the door, than that Peter had escaped from prison. We should in\nthis age more easily believe the contrary. But the disciples were no\nphilosophers.\n\nFor the same reason she endeavored to dispel the fears of those who\nconversed with her. \u201cDo not be afraid,\u201d she would say, \u201cI have not\ncome to hurt you. You need not be afraid at all.\u201d Utterly opposite,\nyou observe, to the conduct of those who personate apparitions. They\ngenerally aim to keep their dupes in fear and at a convenient distance.\n\nSo the angel addressed the shepherds, \u201cFear not.\u201d \u201cI do not stand too\nnear you, do I?\u201d said a person unsuspected. \u201cNo,\u201d was the reply, \u201cstand\nas near as you please.\u201d\n\nHence also the reason why she did not commonly begin to speak, till\nshe was addressed. I say, _commonly_, for there were some exceptions.\nThe voice of a Ghost responsive, is not so unexpected, and, of course,\nnot so suddenly terrific as the same voice would be without previous\naddress. This may serve to remove that objection of the Encyclopedia:\n\u201cIt is an odd circumstance, say they, that ghosts have no power to\nspeak till they are addressed.\u201d But this odd circumstance is not\noccasioned by their want of power; but by their tenderness for the\npersons who receive their messages. This was the very reason she once\nexpressly gave for not speaking where she once appeared. Hence we may,\nif we choose, see one reason why she spoke so frequently in the cellar.\nIt is easy to see, if we choose, that the idea of a Spectre coming into\nthe room where the family commonly resided for labor, sleep, or other\nrefreshment was distressing to them: for this was their refuge, their\nplace of retreat. Accordingly when, upon a certain day, she appeared\namong them in one of the lower rooms, they all left the house. The\nSpectre, therefore, out of tenderness to them, _commonly_, though not\nalways, conversed in the cellar, that they might seem to have a place\nof retreat. The next question is, why then did she not commonly speak\nin one of the chambers or in the open field? But the chambers were the\napartments of repose, and the field was inconvenient by the weather.\nShe did however, sometimes speak in the chambers, and in the lower\nrooms, and in other houses of the neighborhood, and several times in\nthe open field.\n\nA cellar, such as that was, is a place where deceivers, imitating her\nrealities would find difficulty. A ventriloquist might indeed speak\nthere. But how? Not so that a part of the company shall hear and\nunderstand distinctly, while the other part with advantages of hearing\nevery way equal, and giving equal attention, shall not understand a\nsingle word. If a ventriloquist could perform this, we should have\nknown it before this time.\n\nNo white garments can appear white in a dark cellar at midnight, and\nsuppose any lucid substance could have been used, then, when it first\nappeared a mere shapeless mass, who formed it in a moment into personal\nshape, face and features? Who caused it to speak and desired to be\nhandled? and when this desire was complied with, why did not the hand\nundeceive the eyes? Now admit the possibility of a magic lantern, where\ndid it move, and where stood the upright plane for the representation,\nwhen by the order of the Spectre, the company of about twenty persons\nformed an Ellipsis within which she passed and re-passed from end to\nend several times. You must inform me too how some eyes saw the form\nso clearly, while others with advantages of sight every way equal, saw\nnothing.\n\nHowever, it is not even pretended that any such mediums of delusion\nwere ever seen here.\n\nFor an argument which vindicates this conduct of the Spectre still\nmore, I am indebted to Professor Stewart. \u201cIt appears to me to be no\nslight confirmation of these remarks,\u201d[13] says he, \u201cthat, although\nin the dark, the illusions of imagination are much more liable to be\nmistaken for realities, than when their momentary effects on the belief\nare continually checked and corrected by the objects which the light\nof day presents to our perception; yet even total darkness is not so\nalarming to a person impressed with vulgar stories of apparitions,\nas a faint and doubtful twilight, which affords to the conceptions\nan opportunity of fixing and prolonging their existence by attaching\nthemselves to something which is obscurely exhibited to the sight.\u201d\nHence it follows, that in a dark cellar at midnight, a person was not\nso much exposed to deception, either by his own imagination, or by the\nartifice of others, as if there had been some degree of light. Had the\nghost been wholly confined to a cellar, kitchen, or garret, or even to\nall these, the objection would appear more plausible; but this was by\nno means the case.\n\nAccompanied by two persons she walked, or rather moved in elevation\nfrom the ground, nearly two miles, discoursing with them as they went\nalong. \u201cFor what purpose?\u201d you ask. Doubtless an important one. But to\nwhat purpose could I tell you; while you reject the possibility of it\nfor any purpose.\n\nThis little journey was soon published through the town, but was no\nmore believed than this luminous age now believes the writer. What was\nthe consequence? \u201cGo,\u201d said the Spectre, \u201cto one of those two persons,\ncollect all those in the neighborhood, who give the best evidence of\npiety and veracity. Let them hear and see: for they will tell the\ntruth.\u201d He complied, and fifty people were convened at the time and\nplace appointed for the interview.\n\nAfter conversing with them several hours on the most serious topics,\nby which they were exceedingly affected and delighted, she reminded\nthem of their credulity, and informed them that if they would walk on\ntwo and two in the solemn order observed at a funeral, she would walk\nwith them, accompanied by one of those persons, who had accompanied\nher before, for evidence that they might have declared the truth. The\ncompany complied, and walked with her about half a mile in the manner\nnow described.\n\nBut after all, I hear you inquire, \u201c_admitting that the whole affair\nis genuine and free from illusion, how can the belief of it become\nbeneficial to me and others?_\u201d\n\nBut certainly truth is better than error. And do we know that this\ntruth will never be wanted hereafter, for purposes which do not at\npresent appear? Do you know how soon your own or other families may\nsuffer unjust reproach, like the family and vicinity who are now so\nliberally censured? Do we know the length and weight of the chain of\nwhich this link is a part?\n\nThe Scriptures teach the doctrine of the separate state, and oppose\nmaterialism. What then? Is the evidence of Scripture injured by\nother evidence declaring the same truth and urging the study of the\nScriptures, as our sure guide to eternal life? The ancient medals\nand other monuments of antiquity, which afford so much rational\nentertainment for the curious, never diminish in their eyes the\nevidence of value of the Roman, Grecian or Egyptian History. Why then\nshould this medal before us, diminish in our eyes the value of the\nScriptures? What distinction of men are they, who stand most secure\nfrom the peril of illusion by the superstitious belief of Spectres?\nSpeak ye illuminees! ye Paines who keep no Bible!\n\n                  With unvaried sentiments of esteem,\n                                            I continue yours.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                               LETTER II.\n\n     The circumstances of the marriage related in vindication of\n     Mrs. Butler and others.\n\n_Dear Sir_:--To compare great things with small, the unbelieving Jews,\nwho heard and saw the first christian miracles to be really such,\nviewing them as the effects of magic or some other secret influence\nof satan; but modern infidels say they were no miracles at all: so\nthe opponents of the Spectre in this place, who have heard and seen,\ngenerally allow that the performances of the ghost were miraculous,\nbut accomplished by evil agency; while distant opponents pronounce the\nwhole an artifice.\n\nThus distance of place has occasioned the same variations among the\nopponents of the Spectre, as distance of time among the opposers of\nchristianity. By this comparison you must not imagine that I have\nreference to criminality; but my design is to show that the friends\nand foes of the Spectre in this place are both opposed by those\ndistant people who pronounce the whole an artifice. It is a mixture of\nsupernatural agency and artifice in the view of the opponents here:\nnot because the least motion of the latter was ever really discovered;\nbut because they judge, (and feel capable of judging) that no case of\nmarriage in any age of the world, since the finis of the Scriptures,\ncan possibly require the interposition of an heavenly messenger.\n\nWe, on the contrary, are so poorly qualified to determine how the world\nought to be governed, that we know not what events should take place by\nordinary means, or what by extraordinary means; and therefore we know\nnot but there might be such a circumstance in some place or period of\nthe world.\n\nWe are too as much at a loss to account for the advent of an evil angel\nsinging alleluias, in order to join a couple mutually attached in a\nrelation which is honorable in all; as to account for the advent of an\nholy angel for the same purpose.\n\nIt is necessary without all doubt, that such an extraordinary\ndispensation should be connected with an important consequence and a\nspecial reason why it took place. But it is not necessary that this\nconsequence and reason should at present be universally known, though\nthey certainly will be known hereafter, and probably in part to many in\nthis world. The performances of the ghost are so connected with other\nevents of Providence, as to form a connected whole, the beauty of which\ncannot be known even in part without much examination.\n\nThe Spectre had a number of extraordinary messages, of which the\nmarriage was but one, and that a subordinate one; and accordingly did\nproduce extraordinary credentials.\n\nThe very first notices of anything unaccountable were given at the time\nwhen Mrs. Butler, the supposed authoress of the whole delusion, was at\nthe point of death, by a disease which soon became external and proved\nits reality. Was that the time for her, to commence the enterprise for\na husband, when she must have been under the greatest disadvantage for\nthe prosecution of it, and when there was no rational expectation that\nshe would ever need a husband?\n\nAbout twenty-four hours after her marriage, the Spectre foretold that\nshe would become the parent of one child and then die. For what purpose\n_could_ she, or any person for her, contrive this prediction and its\nfulfilment. Her walk of two miles in company with the Spectre and her\nfather, was undertaken with great reluctance, if anything could be\nknown by the correspondence of words and behaviour. But the small voice\nof one who had made the house tremble, informed them by message, that\nlives were in danger, if they refused. By the same voice the Scripture\nwas quoted to shew that her direction was not inconsistent with it.\nWhat could have been done in this case more than was done by the most\npious or prudent on earth? The Scriptures were consulted. The family\nprayed together, that, if there was deception in this extraordinary\ninjunction, the Lord would make it known to them, and that, if the\ncause was of God, they might be preserved: for the storm, the evening,\nand especially the weakness of the ice, had rendered the way difficult\nand very perilous. When to these considerations we add the grievous\noffence and explicit repulse, which the whole family had that day\nreceived from the person to whom her father was, out of her hearing, to\ncommunicate the message, we cannot admit the idea of artifice in Mrs.\nButler, without detaching from her all fear of danger--all sense of\nresentment--all respect due from a child to the parent--all rationality\nof conduct, and all consistency of character.\n\nBut further, the greatest and most conspicuous of these miracles\nappeared after the marriage. Could she, would she, or any person for\nher, perform these impossibles to obtain a purpose which was obtained\nalready? But admitting the plea for a minute, and but a minute, that\nthey were possibles intended to establish the farce and multiply dupes\nfor the preservation of character; a question then urges incessantly:\n_For what purpose was the child dug up and buried in another grave?_\nThis was not a mere accident, but a deliberate and public transaction,\nappropriated by no _pretence_ of any reason, but the mere order of the\nSpectre. Eighty people from four different towns were assembled and\noffered prayer to the Supreme Being on this occasion, and all by the\ndirection of the ghost, declaring that the child would rise at her\nright hand at the last day. This was horrid wickedness in the ghost, if\nshe was only such by profession. And our opponents must for their own\nsakes, allow that she possessed a great degree of subtilty, if not of\nwisdom: since for twenty six years past, they have for the most part\nscarcely ventured to conjecture, much less to prove who she was; though\nby their own acknowledgment she has talked among twenty of them, from\ntime to time, within a foot of their faces.\n\nDoubtless then some special design was concealed in this rare\ntransaction. What was it? The continuation and extension of the fraud?\nNo: for she must have known that the least of those miracles already\nexhibited, would better answer this purpose, were it now presented only\nbefore a small part of these eighty people. But the reinterment was not\nconnected with even the pretence of miracle. What was the consequent\nimpression on the minds of mankind? Just what any person with half\nan eye would easily foresee. It was such as rendered Mrs. Butler\u2019s\ncharacter in the eye of mankind, neither better nor worse. What could\nshe think to gain or lose in character or anything else, whether\nthat other woman\u2019s child rested in its first grave, or in another\nabout thirty feet from it? The whole affair was considered by mankind\nin general, as a solemn, mysterious parade, without any apparent\nconsequence of injury or utility.\n\nBut this practical oath, as already shewn, was not without design:\nwhat was it? Was it to convince the assembly _at that time_, that Mr.\nBlaisdel and Capt. Butler, who acted the most distinguished and solemn\npart in it; believed the Spectre and her performance to be realities?\nNo: for this they were completely convinced already. The question\ntherefore with our opponents stands unresolved. When we consider too\nthe inimitable sound of the voice, most nearly resembling the dying\nvoice of Capt. Butler\u2019s first wife, at certain times: And how often the\nghost has appeared since Mrs. Butler\u2019s death, all suspicion of artifice\nmust be utterly groundless, and cannot be indulged by those who love\ntheir neighbors as themselves, and exercise that constant tenderness\nfor their characters which the gospel requires.\n\nIt has been objected against the Spectre, that in obtaining parental\napprobation the mothers were not sufficiently respected. But as the\nhusband and wife are one, the message to the father was virtually sent\nto the mother. It was necessary in this case that three families should\nbe consulted by the Spirit; that which had been her own family and\nthose of the parties.\n\nBut with whom began this consultation? Not with Eve, like that of\nthe devil. She did not, like a deceiver, first frighten and convince\nthe timorous sex that they might assist her, either to delude or\nafflict their husbands. No, her conduct was fair and above-board. Her\nfirst application was to the fathers of these families: What was it?\nCertainly not that which is recommended by the Encyclopedia and the\nballad poem; but that of deliberation. She at first neither appeared\nnor spake to them immediately to frighten them into compliance at once;\nbut as she had dealt with the son,[14] so she dealt with the fathers.\nShe sent messages to them.\n\nBy this fair mode of conduct, they had opportunity to reflect, to\nexercise reason--to consult one another, and to watch and pray against\ndeception. Her first message sent only to the two fathers of this\ncouple, contained that passage in Mark 10: 2 to 9, by which they might\nlearn that, as the condition of ancient Israel at a certain time,\nrequired a precept with respect to marriage, somewhat distinct from the\ncommon law, which had existed from the beginning: so now the condition\nof this little branch of society might, for aught they knew, require\na precept with respect to marriage, somewhat distinct from the common\nregulation, which had obtained from the beginning, though not contrary\nto it: even as a by-law may be consistent with the public code.\n\nSuch, she declared, was the precept now revealed for the particular\nregulation of those families, and her proofs to be produced, were her\nmiracles. A strange, unexpected, unheard of message indeed! But not\nmore strange, unexpected, or unheard of, than the credentials. By this\nprecept she declared the parties must and would be joined. \u201cAnd what\nGod hath joined together let not man put asunder.\u201d\n\nThe father of the young lady, who had ever been most obstinately\nopposed to this connection, by whose means it had been once interrupted\nalready, and who was no less capable than the other of discovering\nimposition, and ever watchful against it; was the first who obtained\nconviction. Him the Spectre sent to the other father (Mr. Butler) and\nhis son to declare this conviction, and that the latter must conduct\naccordingly. The response was repulse, and he returned.\n\nBy the same extraordinary counsel, after praying and reading for light,\nhe went again, and his daughter with him, crying and wringing her\nhands. After they had proceeded a small distance, they were accompanied\nby the Spectre the rest of the way, whose delightful voice uttering\nexpressions full of love and tenderness, consoled the daughter as they\nwent along.[15] This prepared her for acquiescence when coming to the\nhouse of the Spectre, as decency required, directed; that, while the\ndaughter should tarry with her abroad, the father should go in and tell\nMr. Butler\u2019s family that the Spectre had come with them, and that, if\nthey chose a miracle for further confirmation, it should be granted.\n\nAfter Mr. Butler had performed this, they invited the daughter to\ncome in, and the question of suspicion being proposed, she solemnly\nprotested, that if there was mischief in hand, she was as ignorant of\nit as they were.[16]\n\nHere we see what abundant opportunity was given them to deliberate and\nconsider for themselves in what way they would choose to be convinced:\nwhether by miracle or common providence.\n\nMessage, protestation and miracle being rejected, Mr. Blaisdel and his\ndaughter returned without delay, but had no sooner reached home than\na new order from the Spectre, consistent with Scripture, required that\nMr. Hooper, who had been her father, and who lived about six miles off,\nshould be conducted here the next morning.\n\nWe now return to Mr. Butler\u2019s family; not to see miracles, but their\nconfirmation by the voice of common Providence.\n\nAfter Mr. Blaisdel and his daughter had left them, his conduct was\nnaturally the subject of their discussion; and the more they reasoned,\nthe more unaccountable it appeared. His notorious and inflexible\nopposition to this connection, which had continued several years,\nrendered him the most unlikely person in the world to pass a river, now\nthe brink of death, for such a purpose. Their result was the necessity\nof further advice, and they unanimously chose Mr. Hooper, the young\ngentleman\u2019s father in law, as the person best qualified to give it.\nAccordingly the son, Capt. Butler, went the next morning to consult\nwith him on this affair; but to his great surprise found himself\nintercepted by messengers sent by the ghost for the same purpose, who\nhad just finished their business with success. Capt. Butler asked what\nhe should do. \u201cThe case is such,\u201d said Mr. Hooper, \u201cthat I can have no\nadvice to give.\u201d\n\nMr. Hooper, according to his promise, went off with the messengers;\ndiscoursed with the Spectre, and by the tokens which she gave him,\nidentified his daughter.\n\nAfter the deliberation of several days, he, by the desire of the\nSpectre, went to Mr. Butler\u2019s family, declared his conviction, and\nclosed the message by solemn exhortation. Thus was the very man, whose\nadvice they had preferred to a miracle, qualified by the Spectre to\ngive it.\n\nBut to recede: Mr. Hooper\u2019s interview with the Spirit at Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s\nhouse was immediately succeeded by the arrival of Capt. Butler there.\nHe soon acquired evidence that the Spirit was that of his deceased\nwife, and declared that her will was his.\n\nBut now to what purpose was all this labor and all these messages? For\nMiss Blaisdel was then asked if the same was her will? The reply was\ncategorical and indignant; the purport of which was, that if she must\ndie for her refusal, she desired to submit--that servile attentions,\nhowever miraculous the compulsion, would afford no satisfaction to\nher--that her trials were already intolerable by those false and wicked\ncalumnies, which her compliance would now invigorate and render her\nlife more bitter than death. That her attachment to his person was\npeculiar, she did not deny; but his credulous attention to these\ncalumnies had rendered his society a burden.[17] At length, however,\nCapt. Butler\u2019s unreserved and honorable confession, and his renewed\nassurances that his _own_ will was his, as well as that of his deceased\nwife, did, with the words of the Spectre prevail.\n\nThe design of marriage was made public, and round her increased the\nstorm of accusation abroad, and opposition at home. For, though her\nfather had constant and unwavering conviction that the precept was from\nheaven, it was only at certain intervals that he enjoyed the least\ndegree of reconcilement; and it must not be concealed that Capt. Butler\nreceived very ill treatment from him.\n\nWorn out by unjust reproaches abroad and these vexations at home, she\nat last told Capt. Butler, offering him a golden token of her constant\naffection, that she could bear these miseries no longer, and that they\nmust separate. He pleaded the impropriety of her conduct after such\nevidence that the appointment was divine. His plea was the waste of\nwords. She dismissed him utterly and forever. This I had by the favor\nof Capt. Butler himself. Here Mr. Blaisdel, Mr. Butler, their families,\ntheir friends and every body else had another fair opportunity allowed\nthem by Miss Blaisdel herself, to search, examine, reflect, deliberate\nand investigate the deception, if there was any.\n\nA vessel was now in the river, bound to a port about two hundred miles\nfrom this place, where lived some of her near kindred. Thither she was\ndetermined to go, and made preparation for the voyage, that if possible\nshe might find repose on some distant shore. But the miraculous voice\nsolemnly warned her in the hearing of several witnesses, that her\nefforts were vain, and that her affliction would sail with her.\n\nBy the direction of the Spectre given to one of those witnesses, the\ndismissed was recalled. Not long after, the nuptials were celebrated:\nand thus the Spectre obtained one of those ends, which were only\nsubordinate to other ends of far superior magnitude and importance.\n\nThese superior ends you will know hereafter; but they cannot--they must\nnot be written.\n\n                          I remain yours, &c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                              LETTER III.\n\n    _Further evidence deduced from the appearances of the Spectre._\n\n_My Dear Sir_:--In compliance with your request, I proceed in the\nargument that some persons among us have seen and conversed with\nthe dead. Of the five corporeal senses, only three are capable of\ninformation by events of this nature. These are seeing, feeling and\nhearing. To all these three senses, evidence has been addressed in\nfavor of the Apparition in this place. I would now contemplate the\nevidence obtained by the senses of seeing and feeling.\n\nThe times, places and modes of her appearing were various. Sometimes\nshe appeared to be alone, as the events which followed bore witness:\nfor the testimony of events is sometimes more valid than that of\npersons. Sometimes she appeared to two or three; then to five or six;\nthen to ten or twelve; again to twenty, and once to more than forty\nwitnesses. She appeared in several apartments of Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house,\nand several times in the cellar. She also appeared at other houses, and\nseveral times in the open field, as already observed. There, white as\nthe light, she moved like a cloud above the ground in personal form and\nmagnitude, in the presence of more than forty people. She tarried with\nthem till after day-light, and vanished: not because she was afraid\nof the sun: for she had then several times appeared when the sun was\nshining. Once in particular, when she appeared in the room where the\nfamily were, about eleven o\u2019clock in the day, they all left the house;\nbut convinced of the impropriety of their conduct they returned.\n\nAt another time, when several neighbors were at the house, and were\nconversing on these remarkable events, a young lady in the company\ndeclared that though she had heard the discourse of the Spectre, she\nwould never believe that there had been a Spectre among us, unless she\ncould see her.\n\nIn a few minutes after, the Spectre appeared to several persons and\nsaid she must come in the room where the company was. One of those\nwho saw her, pleaded that she would not. The Spectre then asked, \u201cIs\nthere a person here, who desires to see me?\u201d The young lady was then\ncalled, who, with several others saw the Spectre. \u201cHere I am, said she,\nsatisfy yourselves.\u201d The lady owned she was satisfied. It was now about\ntwo o\u2019clock in the day. In short the ghost appeared or conversed, or\nperformed both almost as frequently in the day, as in the night.\n\nBut will christians argue that the appearance of an angel to the\nShepherds was a fiction because it happened in the night?[18]\n\nIn all the appearances of the Spectre she was as white as the light,\nand this whiteness was as clear and visible in a dark cellar and dark\nnight, as when she appeared in the open field and in the open day. At a\ncertain time, August 9-10, 1799, she informed a number of people that\nshe meant to appear before them, (for she frequently conversed without\nappearing at all) that they must stand in order and behave in a solemn\nmanner: \u201cFor the Lord,\u201d said she, \u201cis a God of order.\u201d Accordingly she\nappeared and vanished before them several times. At first they saw a\nsmall body of light, which continually increased till it formed into\nthe shape and magnitude of a person.\n\nThis personal shape approached so near to Capt. Butler, that he put\nhis hand upon it and it passed down through the apparition as through\na body of light, in the view of six or seven witnesses. There were now\nthirteen persons present, who all saw the apparition except two.[19]\nAnd five others, whether they were looking another way, or were\nprevented by some standing before them, or whatever might be the cause,\ndid not see this attempt of handling the apparition.\n\nBut I attend to your reasoning. \u201cIf this extraordinary fact be true,\nwhat a pity it is that there were no more witnesses! would not the\nevidence have been greater had it been acquired by all the eleven.\u201d The\nmore extraordinary the fact, the more numerous should be the witnesses.\nThis is the opinion naturally entertained by mankind every where. Hence\nit follows that _all_ of those eleven persons were not then practising\nartifice: for then they would all have seen this extraordinary fact.\n\nThe five who did not see it, saw that which was very little short of\nit. They saw that which rose into personal form, face and features in\na moment. Returned to a shapeless mass in a moment, resumed the person\nin a moment, and vanished again in a moment. They saw that which was\nnot _afraid_ to be handled by them: For she passed slowly by them near\nenough for that purpose.\n\nThe transfiguration of Christ was a very extraordinary fact. Out of all\nhis twelve disciples, why chose he only three to be eyewitnesses of it?\n\nAs to the six witnesses, not one of them has ever been accused or even\nsuspected of being concerned in the supposed artifice. Some of them are\naged, others young. They had, and still have, professions, employments\nand interests widely different and belong to four different families.\nIt is the fixed and settled opinion of our opponents here, that two of\nthem are not only persons of integrity, but were ensnared by others\nthrough the whole scene.\n\nThese two persons soon after confirmed what they had now seen and\nexperienced by solemn, practical and most deliberate oaths in the\npresence of eighty people. For one of them made a prayer at the\nreinterment, expressing his belief of what he had seen, and the\nother solemnly declared to all the assembly, as soon as the prayer\nwas finished, that this solemnity was ordered by the Spectre, to be\nobserved by his means. He also confirmed the same by an express verbal\noath before the civil magistrate.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                               LETTER IV.\n\n          _Evidence produced by the discourse of the Spectre._\n\n_Dear Sir_:--I would now present to your consideration the conversation\nof the Spectre. But I shall first observe the objection urged against\nsome part of it.\n\nAt the time when she appeared to several persons at two o\u2019clock in the\nday, she said, she must come into the room, where the company were; but\nwas prevented by earnest entreaty. This, they say was a falsehood.\n\nAt another time when she walked in company with forty people, she went\nwith them only to one house, though she had informed them that she must\ngo to two houses. She indeed went forward in order to visit the other\nhouse, but was again prevented by earnest entreaty. This was a fault\nlike the other.\n\nObserve a similar case in Gen. 19: 2, 3. \u201cAnd he said, behold now, my\nlords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant\u2019s house, and tarry all\nnight and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early and go on your\nways: and they said, _nay, but we will abide in the street all night_.\nBut he pressed upon them greatly, and _they turned in unto him and\nentered into his house_.\u201d\n\nSeveral credible persons say, \u201cshe promised nearly fifty people to\nconvince them of her being such as she professed to be, if they\nwould comply with a certain condition. They complied, and went off\nunconvinced.\u201d But credible persons are sometimes mistaken, and so,\nperhaps, they were now: because other persons, as credible and as\nnumerous, who stood nearer to and had better advantage of understanding\nthe voice, declare that it was not the Spectre, but Mr. Blaisdel, who\nsaid that the company, by complying, would be convinced. But he was\nmistaken. They went off, in general, unconvinced at that time. The\nSpectre uttered but few words and withdrew. This was the night of\nAugust 9, 1799. In that company were the best of people, conducting\nin a sober manner; but others uttered such profanity and derision as\nrendered them unworthy to obtain conviction. On this account the Spirit\nafterwards declared that she could not manifest herself among them.\nChrist himself, in a certain place, could not do many mighty works\nbecause of their unbelief. It is early enough to treat any affair with\nderision when we have fully discovered what it is.\n\nA scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not.\n\nThis company in general went off with the full persuasion that the\nwhole affair was mere legerdemain, and that the few words of the\nSpectre, which they had heard, were only the words of Mrs. Butler\nherself. Though they had been expressly told by an unsuspected person,\nwho held her by the hand when the words were uttered, that she did\nnot speak--that the voice was at a distance from her. But they were\nmoderns, and the witness was rejected; and, as it was plainly a\ndifferent voice from that of Mrs. Butler, or any other that ever\nthey had heard, necessity, the mother of invention, produced their\nhypothesis that Mrs. Butler had used some sounding instrument.\n\nBut several of the company still remained at the house. To them Mrs.\nButler complained of the unjust reproach which encompassed her. \u201cWhat\nhave I done,\u201d said she, \u201cthat I must suffer all this.\u201d \u201cNothing, dear,\nyou have done nothing,\u201d answered a voice immediately in the vacant\nspace of the room. Then about fourteen persons, by the direction of\nthe Spectre, went into the cellar. As soon as they were there, the\nSpectre said to Mrs. Butler, \u201cGo up and sit with others on the kitchen\nhearth,[20] that this company may know that it is not you who speaks.\u201d\nAfter she was gone up the ghost conversed with the company on several\ntopics, suited to authenticate her mission.\n\nShe mentioned several incidents of her past life, known only to her\nhusband, as he declared, and asked him if he remembered them. He said,\nyes: she asked him if he had told them. He answered, no: and of such a\nnature were those incidents as to render it utterly improbable that he\never should have mentioned them before. This was at the time when he\nattempted to handle the apparition.\n\nIt is objected against her, that she told who was in heaven and who was\nin hell.\n\nShe indeed mentioned the world of misery, as the eternal portion of\nthe finally impenitent; but I find not the least evidence of her\nparticularizing any person, or persons as being in that miserable state.\n\nShe indeed mentioned several deceased persons as being in a state of\nhappiness: and who can prove the impropriety of this? though indeed it\nis not what we should have expected.\n\nOnce when she conversed with about fourteen persons, Mr. Blaisdel\nhaving heard that his father was sick, asked the Spectre whether she\nknew any thing or not, concerning him? \u201cYour father,\u201d she replied, \u201cis\nin heaven, praising God with the angels.\u201d He afterwards found that his\nfather, two hundred miles distant, died seven days before this answer\nof the ghost. True, the news might come from thence in that interval.\nBut his friends at York, where his father lived, utterly deny that\nthey sent the news in the course of these days. Suppose however, the\nnews did some way or other come: could any deceiver, improving the\ncircumstance, know what questions Mr. Blaisdel would ask, so as to be\nsure they could all be answered? Or was Mr. Blaisdel himself in the\nplot? \u201cNo,\u201d say our opponents, \u201chis piety, his veracity, and his utter\naversion to the purpose of it, forbid the suspicion.\u201d It is therefore\n_probable_ that the same creature, who appeared and disappeared so\noften in the view of the people, and could tell them where they should\nbe and what they would say and do in future time, was the true author\nof this information.\n\nAt a certain time, when thirty people were convened to hear her\nconversation, the name of a certain woman, who was absent, happened to\nbe introduced. \u201cThat woman,\u201d said the ghost, \u201chas enjoyed a revival\nlately.\u201d Immediately one of the company went to her and asked what had\nlately been the state of her mind. She related it to him, and he told\nher that her information and that of the Spectre agreed. Upon this she\ncame and saw the Spectre; heard her conversation for several hours, and\nexpressed abundant satisfaction and delight.\n\nAt the time when fifty people heard her discourse, while more than\nforty saw her; to some of them, who had no more believed these\nextraordinary events than mankind now do in general, she mentioned\nseveral occurrences of her past life known to them and her, but not\ndivulged, in order to satisfy them that she was the very person she\nprofessed to be. Almost all this company had been acquainted with her\nin her lifetime, and a considerable number of them very intimately. She\ndesired that any of them would ask what questions they pleased, for the\nremoval of any doubts respecting her, which might exist in their minds.\nAccordingly certain persons did propose several questions respecting a\nnumber of events in her past life not divulged, which were so minute\nand circumstantial as to render the hypothesis of their being all so\nexactly rehearsed, as now to become the medium of artifice, utterly\nabsurd and irrational. To all these inquiries she gave complete,\nsatisfactory answers.\n\nBut not to detain you, I will now only ask, _How shall I judge of these\nfacts?_ Shall I suppose that some artful girl personating that deceased\nwoman, could present herself before forty people, well acquainted with\nthat woman in her lifetime? Tell them by a voice inimitable not to be\nafraid--to stand as near as they pleased, and ask as many questions as\nthey pleased, and all without fear of discovery? What subtle person\nwould not be subtle enough to avoid such a perilous situation?\n\n                            I remain yours.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                               LETTER V.\n\n              _The evidence deduced from her predictions._\n\n_Dear Sir_:--I must now ask your attention to the arguments furnished\nby her predictions.\n\nShe foretold what the opinion and conduct of mankind would be with\nregard to her, and the ill treatment which Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family\nwould receive on her account. She not only declared the necessity,\nbut foretold the certainty of the marriage, at an hour when both the\nparties and both their families opposed it, if there was any thing to\nbe known by the harmony of words and actions; yet the attachment of the\nparties seems to have been mutual from first to last. The pasara of the\nparadox is future: for mankind have more than one character, and the\nalector of \u00c6sop will despise what a jeweller would prize.\n\nShe not only predicted the prosecution, but named a particular person\nas one who would certainly be present at the court for a witness,\neleven months before these events took place.\n\nShe named another particular person, as one who should be present at\nthe trial by the Grand Jury, and foretold what kind of language he\nwould utter in their presence, eleven months before the accomplishment.\n\nIn about a month after, that is, ten months before the accomplishment,\nan oath of its existence was given before a magistrate. The person too,\nwho is the subject of this prediction, and fulfilled it, was never a\nfriend, but invariably the foe of the Spectre from first to last. She\nforetold to forty people the issue of that trial, eleven months before\nthe accomplishment. To the genuine friends of literature in this\nplace, who were sincerely opposing superstition and legerdemain, this\nprediction was made known.\n\nThey were warned of the disadvantage which they must suffer, if they\npersisted.\n\nThey disbelieved the prediction, despised it, and became the\ninvoluntary subjects of its fulfillment at the time appointed. Within\nthirty hours after Mrs. Butler\u2019s marriage, the Spectre predicted\nthat she would become the parent of but one child and then die. Ten\nmonths after this her child was born, and she died the next day. The\nsafe return of one bound to the West Indies was also foretold and\naccomplished.\n\nThese predictions are all fulfilled and were previously and\nsufficiently known in this vicinity for evidence that they _were_ such.\nShe uttered several other predictions now accomplished. But as these\nevents might possibly be foreknown or strongly conjectured by other\nmeans, the mention of them is omitted. Not only her words but her\nbehaviour too, manifested the spirit of prophecy. The reinterment of\nthe child was a practical oath, and never would have been thought of\nbut for her direction. Friends and foes were all in one condition--all\nunable to conceive or even to conjecture the design of it, till it was\nmanifested eighteen months afterwards, by certain, special, unexpected\nevents of divine Providence. If then we take an impartial and\nconnecting view of these and all the preceding evidences, how absurd\nis the hypothesis that all these evidences could be the effect, either\nof imagination or artifice! How much more rational is the opinion\nwhich has obtained credit in all ages and nations, that the spirit\nof deceased persons do sometimes appear, however incapable we are of\nlearning all the purposes for which such events are designed!\n\nBy misapprehension and misinformation, piety and veracity may give you\nan account very different from mine. But ask those people of piety\nand veracity, who were present when the greatest of these events took\nplace, I tell you they will not deny these facts. I am yours, &c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                               LETTER VI.\n\n                             _Miscellany._\n\n_Dear Sir_:--If the preceding arguments can be received, perhaps you\nwill not indulge distrust, if I subjoin something of my own experience,\nconfirmed by two other persons who saw the apparition in the same\nfield in the same half hour.\n\nSometime in July, 1806, in the evening, I was informed by two persons\nthat they had just seen the Spectre in the field.\n\nAbout ten minutes after, I went out, not to see a miracle, for I\nbelieved that they had been mistaken. Looking toward an eminence,\ntwelve rods distance from the house, I saw there, as I supposed, one of\nthe white rocks. This confirmed my opinion of their spectre, and I paid\nno more attention to it. Three minutes after, I accidentally looked\nin the same direction, and the white rock was in the air; its form a\ncomplete Globe, white with a tincture of red, like the damask rose, and\nits diameter about two feet.\n\nFully satisfied that this was nothing ordinary, I went toward it for\nmore accurate examination.\n\nWhile my eye was constantly upon it, I went on four or five steps, when\nit came to me from the distance of eleven rods, as quick as lightning,\nand instantly assumed a personal form with a female dress, but did not\nappear taller than a girl seven years old. While I looked upon her,\nI said in my mind, \u201cyou are not tall enough for the woman who has so\nfrequently appeared among us.\u201d Immediately she grew up as large and\nas tall as I considered that woman to be. Now she appeared glorious.\nOn her head was the representation of the sun diffusing the luminous,\nrectilinear rays every way to the ground. Through the rays I saw the\npersonal form, and the woman\u2019s dress. Then I recollected the objection\nof the Encylopedia, that, \u201cGhosts always appear to one alone.\u201d Now,\nsaid my mind, I see you as plainly as ever I saw a person on earth; but\nwere I to converse with you an hour, what proof could I produce that\nI ever conversed with you at all. This, with my fear, was the reason\nwhy I did not speak to her. But my fear was connected with ineffable\npleasure.\n\nLife, simplicity, purity, glory, all harmonizing in this celestial\nform, had the most delightful effect on my mind. And there appeared\nsuch a dullness afterwards upon all corporeal objects as I never\nperceived before. I went into the house and gave the information, not\ndoubting that she had come to spend some time with us, as she had\nbefore. We went out to see her again; but to my great disappointment,\nshe had vanished. Then I saw one of the great errors of my life. That I\nhad not spoken to her has been the matter of my regret from that hour\nto this.\n\nMy word without witness has not been tedious. Believed or rejected, it\nmay do you no harm.\n\nOn the more sure ground of attestation, I will now relate some\ninstances of her appearing or conversing, or performing both in the day\ntime.\n\nSometime in March, 1800, she talked a few minutes without appearing,\nat eight o\u2019clock in the morning, and promised to come again that day.\nAt two o\u2019clock, performed her promise, and talked with four people\ntwo hours. It was then she uttered these words: \u201cThough my body is\nconsumed, and all turned to dust, my soul is as much alive, as before I\nleft the body.\u201d\n\nThis conversation was indeed in the cellar, but the place was\nenlightened by her radiance.\n\nMay 21, at ten o\u2019clock, she appeared to two persons, and sent a message\nto another.\n\nMay 25, 10 o\u2019clock. Appeared and conversed with two witnesses, while a\nthird person only heard the conversation; and revealed that by which\nthe same was proved to others.\n\nMay 26. She appeared at eight o\u2019clock in the morning, and talked with\nfour persons an hour and a half. In half an hour after, she appeared\nand talked with the same four persons, while two others only heard a\nvoice without knowing what was said.\n\nMay 27. Talked with two persons, and promised to be present at a\nmeeting of about twenty people, which was to be held the next day\nin the evening.[21] Accordingly she appeared at this meeting to two\nother persons, who were ignorant of the promise. The assembly were\nimmediately interrupted by the declaration, that \u201cthe spirit is come.\u201d\nNone however, could distinctly see her, but those two persons. The\nnext evening after, she conversed with a third couple of persons in\ncompany with the first two; mentioned her promise as being fulfilled,\nand told them by her inimitable voice to whom she had appeared. As a\nfurther confirmation that she had been really present on this occasion;\nshe did about two months afterwards talk several hours in the midst of\nthe assembly of forty-eight people, while she was visible to two, and\nonly two, of that number.[22] These two people were a fourth couple\ndistinct from the other six. Such is the testimony of these eight\npersons.\n\nHer conversation was always with grace, seasoned with salt, very\naffecting and delightful.\n\nAugust 13, at 10 o\u2019clock, she talked with three persons invisibly. At\ntwo o\u2019clock the same day, she appeared and talked to three people in\nthe hearing of five other persons.\n\nThus have you received a general, but very imperfect account of these\nextraordinary events.\n\nAnd now because a juggler will appear to check a musket ball with the\npoint of his knife, form animals, and perform a thousand other idle\nwonders, will any lover of truth indulge the inference that all the\npreceding phenomena are of the same nature? Do these magicians reveal\nand establish truths, the knowledge of which is of great importance\nto certain persons now, and of public utility hereafter? No: Their\nmiracles are without meaning, and their design is pecuniary profit,\nor else to shew what they can do to gratify the vain curiosity of\nspectators.\n\nMountebanks do not _commonly_ unite their employment with religious\norder, prayer and praise, or with solemn admonitions of life and death,\nblessing and cursing: Nor do their idle exhibitions so harmonize with\nthe common operations of Divine Providence as that the former and the\nlatter have manifestly the same ultimate purposes. This harmony is more\nthan artifice can produce. Besides, who ever knew an instance like\nthis in view, which, with all its circumstances, was afterwards fairly\nproved to be a deception? And if mountebanks never did exhibit such a\nvariety in such circumstances, without the least partial discovery, we\nmay be sure they never could. For doubtless they have done all they\ncould do to impose on mankind by this species of iniquity.\n\nIt would perhaps afford you some satisfaction to know what other\npersons here would say respecting these transactions. I shall therefore\nimprove the first opportunity to send you a copy of the oaths and\nattestations, which have been given by those who favor the cause, and\nby those who oppose it.\n\nI continue yours to serve for the promotion of truth.\n\n\n\n\n                             SECTION III.\n\n                  _The Proofs produced by Testimony._\n\n     The following pages, for brevity\u2019s sake, present only the\n     extracts from some of the oaths and numerous testimonies of\n     those who oppose and of those who favor the cause. With all\n     these witnesses I am intimately acquainted. I took these\n     testimonies from their lips, for the most part, separately.\n     I wrote them; read them in their hearing, and obtained\n     their approbation of what I had written. I made but little\n     alteration in their language, because I chose that their\n     testimonies should appear in their own native simplicity.\n     Therefore the philological critic has no employment here.\n     Among the testimonies of the opponents, I have left nothing\n     unextracted, which, in my apprehension, could seem to\n     afford any argument in their favor; or from which, to\n     my recollection, they themselves have ever deduced any\n     argument for their purpose. If, however, I have failed\n     here or in any other respect, they will doubtless have\n     opportunity to make it known.\n\n     For the most remarkable occurrences, I have generally\n     selected only two or three witnesses, not for the want of\n     more, by any means, but because the patience of the reader\n     must not be exercised by tedious repetition more than is\n     necessary for the present design.\n\n\n                        EXTRACTS FROM THE OATHS.\n\n                   _Deposition of Capt. Paul Simson._\n\nAbout the first of August, 1800, Mr. H. and his wife came to my house\nand desired me to go to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s with them. After we got there,\nthey said the Spirit sent for me.\n\nI went down into the cellar, and soon after it rapped. I asked what it\nwanted. It told me that I had done wrong; I had become hard against\nher--that I had disbelieved. I told her I had. She said that satan had\ntempted me and that I had sinned. I asked her if she loved Christ. She\nsaid, yes, I do. I told her the work of the saints was to praise God.\nYes, she said, and Christ too, and broke out in singing alleluias.\n\nAt another time she ordered us to place ourselves two and two, and\nshe would follow us to Capt. M\u2019s, and ordered us to sing a Psalm as\nwe went. In going there I never saw her. As we walked back, I walked\nbehind. I looked back and saw her. She appeared to me dressed all in\nwhite; as bright a white as ever I saw, and had the appearance of a\nwoman and bigness.                                PAUL SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                 _The Deposition of Mrs. Sarah Simson._\n\nOn August 7, Mr. Blaisdel came to my house and said the voice had sent\nhim for more witnesses, and that Mr. Simson and I must go to his house.\nI was very much affrighted, and could not think what he wanted. He\nsaid the Spirit had sent him for more witnesses, and that I must go.\nI then told him that Mr. Simson said the apparition had appeared at\nour house the night before. My husband and I then went with him. After\nwe had been there some time, there was a knocking--some spoke to her.\nShe then asked if we wanted to know who she was. It was answered, yes.\nShe then said three times, \u201cI was once N---- B----.\u201d There were many\nquestions asked, which she answered very directly. I asked, are you\nfrom happiness or misery? To which she answered. \u201cI am from above, and\nam come on God\u2019s message;\u201d and fell to singing alleluias.\n\nAfter discoursing some time, she said she was going to appear to us,\nand we must place ourselves two and two and come into the cellar, and\nshe would shew herself. We complied. I was of the last couple who went\ninto the cellar. It was my desire not to see her. She said, those who\ndid not desire to see her, should not. I saw nothing. And though she\nwas so near to me, as I was told by P---- B----, as that I could touch\nher if I had put out my hand, and I looked to see her; yet, as I had\nsaid I did not want to see her, I could not see her. I also, while in\nthe field looked to see her, yet I did not see her.      SARAH SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n     The next deposition was given by one who looks upon the\n     whole scene to be a great deception, some how or other.\n\n                  _The Deposition of Mr. Thomas Uran._\n\nIn August 11, 1800, I was at the house of A. Blaisdel. I went on\npurpose to hear and see what I could concerning a Spirit which was\nsaid to be there. In the evening there was a knocking round the house;\nbut nothing spake. We all concluded there would be nothing said or\nseen. The next morning about day-break, there seemed to be knockings\nround the house, and in the chamber, and round my bed. We immediately\ngot up, and going down I took a candle, lighted it, and went into the\ncellar alone, examining if there was no one there to deceive us. I\ncould not see any body. I came back. Mr. Blaisdel, with all in the\nhouse went down cellar--we heard a knocking. Some one spake in the name\nof God, and asked what she wanted. She asked if we wanted to know who\nshe was. We answered, yes. She told us she was once N---- B----. She\nthen said to me, \u201cyou have often said that I am a devil or a witch.\u201d\nI then asked her, if she was from the God of heaven or from misery.\nShe answered, \u201cI am from above, praising God and the Lamb;\u201d she then\nbroke out in praise. She then told us that she had come to warn us from\nsin, and that if there was not a change before the soul left the body,\nwe should be forever miserable. She then told us the danger a sinner\nwas in, out of Christ, and told us that she should rise in the day of\njudgment against us. I told her I had a great desire that she should\nappear. And then she appeared to us all who had a desire to see her.\n\nShe appeared like a person who was wrapped in a white sheet, appearing\nand disappearing several times. It was near sun rise at this time.\n\nShe then told us that was the day that Christ rose from the dead, and\nthat it was God\u2019s precious time, and must be kept unto him.\n\nLydia, (Mrs. Butler) was not in the cellar while the foregoing talk\nwas. The Spirit asked me if I would not clear Lydia; I answered I\nwould, for it was not she who talked.                    THOMAS URAN.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                  _Deposition of Capt. George Butler._\n\nWhen I was called to talk with this voice, I asked, \u201cwho are you?\u201d\nIt answered, \u201cI was once your wife.\u201d The voice asked me, \u201cDo you not\nremember what I told you when I was alive.\u201d I answered, \u201cI do not\nreally know what you mean.\u201d The voice said, \u201cDo you not remember I told\nyou I did not think I should live long with you. I told you that if you\nwas to leave me I should never wish to change my condition; but that if\nI was to leave you, I could not blame you, if you did.\u201d\n\nThis passed between me and my first wife, while she was alive, and\nthere was no living person within hearing, but she and myself, and I am\nsure that this was never revealed to any person, and no living person\ncould have told it to me before the voice did. As Lydia (Mrs. Butler)\nand I stood side and side alone,[23] she had her left arm round me\nand her right hand hold of the forward part of my waistcoat, her head\nleaning against my breast. There was something appeared to my view\nright before me, like a person in a winding sheet and her arms folded\nunder the winding sheet, and on her arm there appeared to be a very\nsmall child. By this appearance I did not know possibly but I might\nbe deceived. I reached out my left hand to take hold of it. I saw my\nhand in the middle of it, but could feel nothing. The same evening it\nappeared and disappeared to me three times.             GEORGE BUTLER.\n\n     _Hancock, ss._--_Sullivan_, August 6, 1800. Personally\n     appeared Paul Simson, Sarah Simson, Thomas Uran and George\n     Butler, who, being carefully examined as to the truth\n     of the above declarations, made solemn oath that the\n     statements were true.\n\n\n     The Testimonies by difference of opinion have naturally two\n     parts, that of the opponents and that of the adherents.\n\n     The first part presents the attestation of those who\n     consider these phenomena as a scene of wickedness.\n\n\n                              TESTIMONY I.\n\n                       _Testimony of Miss H. G._\n\nAugust 9, 10. I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdel, by the persuasion of\nothers; for as to myself I made very light of the matter, supposing\nthat the whole was the contrivance of certain persons, and I believe\nstill that nothing good appeared there.\n\nWe heard rappings, and these sounds were spoken to, but no answer\nobtained. After much altercation (which is needless to rehearse) we all\ncame out of the cellar, and all went off, except a few persons, of whom\nI was one. Some of Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family uttered severe expressions\nagainst those who went off and did not believe. \u201cWhat do you want\nthey should believe,\u201d said I; \u201cfor my part I see nothing to believe.\u201d\nImmediately Mrs. Butler came in from the entry very much affrighted,\n\u201cIf any one desires to be convinced,\u201d said she, \u201clet him look there in\nthe entry.\u201d I looked there and saw nothing. Soon after this, while Mrs.\nButler was sitting on the foot of a bed, we heard a sound right against\nher on the outside of the house. Mr. Butler told her to speak to it. At\nfirst she refused. They told her she must. Then she said to it, \u201cIf I\nam guilty stay away; if I am clear in the name of the Lord clear me.\u201d\nThe Spirit then rapped very hard, so as to shake the house. Some of the\ncompany said she must go into the cellar. \u201cSo I must,\u201d said she; \u201cif I\ndo not, she will come into the room: and if she does, I shall die.[24]\nWho will go with me.\u201d D---- A---- said she would go. They went,[25]\nand soon after we all went down. Then I plainly heard the voice say\nto Mrs. Butler, \u201cGo up, that the people may not think it is you who\nspeaks.\u201d I saw her go up into the room, and heard at the same time the\nvoice in the cellar. Mr. Blaisdel asked the Spirit whence she came.\nShe answered, \u201cI am from heaven. I am with God and with Christ--angels\nand seraphim, praising God. Glory, glory, glory.\u201d Mr. Blaisdel asked\nwhy she did not manifest herself in the fore part of that night to all\nthe people. She answered, \u201cI was not permitted to come where there was\nso much sin.\u201d The Spirit then said to Mr. Blaisdel, \u201cAsk the people\nif they are convinced.\u201d He did so; and I among the rest answered that\nI was. But I think otherwise now. God knew who would be there the\nforepart of that night. Why did he send her? Then the Spirit said, \u201cI\nmust appear;\u201d and by her direction we placed ourselves in order. Then I\nsaw a white appearance, at first not more than a foot in height, but it\nappeared larger and larger, and more plainly, and when it came nearer\nto me, I was struck with fear and left the cellar; but others told me\nthat afterwards they saw the Spirit plainly.\n\nAugust 13-14, I again went to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s with forty-seven persons.\nThe Spirit now told us again that she was from heaven, and that she was\nonce N---- H----. After much conversation the Spirit said that some of\nthe people were faint, and could not hear all that was to be said, and\nthat we must go up and refresh ourselves. \u201cYou must go with me to two\nplaces this night,\u201d said she, \u201cand you must be ready at one o\u2019clock.\u201d\n\u201cWhat o\u2019clock is it now,\u201d said Mr. Blaisdel; she said, \u201ctwelve, twelve,\ntwelve.\u201d We went up immediately and looked on the watch, and it was\nexactly twelve. In a short time, hearing the usual sign, we returned.\nAmong many other words which I do not remember, Mr. Downing asked the\nSpirit if she knew him; she answered, \u201cyes,\u201d and called him by name.\nHe asked if she was ever at his house. She answered that she had been\nonce there with her mother. At length she told us that we must go up\nand she would walk with us behind, with Mrs. Butler. But you must walk\nin order, two and two, said she, singing a Psalm: for God is a God of\norder. Some person asked when she would be ready. She said, \u201cI will let\nyou know.\u201d Some person again asked what o\u2019clock it was. She answered,\n_one_. We went up and again looked on the watch and it was _one_. We\nattended prayer, and immediately after she knocked. A Psalm was chosen,\nwhich the greatest number of us could best remember, and it was sung\nas we walked. I was now far forward and did not see the Spirit. When\nwe came to Capt. Millar\u2019s, the Spirit rapped there, and Capt. Millar\nwith Capt. Paul Blaisdel and some others, went into the cellar, and\nI heard them talk, but could not understand what was said to them.\nThen word came to us that we must stand out in the field before the\nhouse--that she would appear before us, and walk with Mrs. Butler, that\nthe people might be convinced that Mrs. Butler had told the truth in\nrelating that she had walked with her before. Then we all stood before\nthe house. Mrs. Butler put on a black cloak, and when she had walked\na little distance from us, as before directed by the Spirit, I heard\nher groan bitterly, and soon after I saw the appearance of a woman in\nwhite, walking with her. Suddenly Mrs. Butler sung a part of that hymn\ncalled New Jerusalem. Then she came to us and we all went back in order\nto Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s. I then looked back and saw a person in white walking\nwith Mrs. Butler. After we returned to the house, Mrs. Butler appeared\nvery weary and exhausted. I asked her at what time the Spirit came to\nher. She told me it was after she had walked a little distance from the\npeople. \u201cWhen you heard me groan, said she, then I saw it coming toward\nme. I am always more afraid when I only see it, than I am after it has\nspoken to me:[26] and she now told me not to be scared; that she was\nnot come to hurt me, and that if I would sing a hymn, it would expel my\nfears.\u201d                                                HANNAH GATCOMB.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                             TESTIMONY II.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mr. Paul Simson, Jun._\n\nAugust 9, 1800. I was at Mr. A. Blaisdel\u2019s, with many more, and heard\nthe sound of knocking. It was addressed, and a voice answered, but\nI could not understand it. Several persons spoke, but received no\nsatisfactory answer. The people generally concluded that the whole\naffair was some deception. Therefore they went off and I among them.\nBut my reflections on that singular knocking, induced me to say to two\nyoung men, \u201cIf you will go back, I will, and find out something more,\nif possible; for I am no more satisfied now, than I was before I went\nto that house.\u201d We went back. Mr. Blaisdel asked us why we returned.\nI told him that we had all gone off with the opinion that the whole\naffair was a scheme contrived by his daughters, and nothing more, and\nI meant if possible, to find them out. \u201cYou must think as you please,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cI am clear, and I believe my family is.\u201d I told him I wished\nto see all his family sitting in one part of the room. They complied.\nThen I took a candle and stood in the midst of the room. After several\nminutes, something rapped near where two of us stood, and from thence\nremoved to several parts of the house. \u201cWhat do you think of it,\u201d said\nMr. Blaisdel? \u201cIt appears, said I, to be strange.\u201d \u201cWe will go into\nthe cellar,\u201d said Mr. Blaisdel, \u201cand, if you think any body is there,\nsearch the cellar through with a candle;\u201d we did so. I came out last\nand was careful and watched, so that I was sure that no person went\ndown. Also the outer door was fast. Then again we heard the sound of\nknocking. It was addressed, and conversation followed, in the midst of\nwhich Mr. Blaisdel said to me, \u201cIf you think any living person talks,\ngo forward and grasp that person.\u201d I went forward a few steps, but was\nso convinced that no body was there, that I considered all further\nattempts as useless.\n\nAfter much discourse, which I cannot remember, the Spirit told us that\nwe must go up and come down again in order, two and two, and she would\nappear to us. We did so, and I saw the apparition at first about two\nfeet in height; but, as it drew nearer to me, it appeared as tall as a\nperson. I saw this appearance passing _close by me and from me five or\nsix times_. At last it diminished to about a foot in height and then\nvanished.                                            PAUL SIMSON, Jun.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY III.\n\n                   _Testimony of Miss Sally Martin._\n\nAugust 13, 1800, I was at Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house, with more than forty\npeople, besides their own family, and heard knockings. We all wondered,\nwhen we heard a sound on one side or corner of the house; the next\nsound on the opposite side or corner, and a third sound equally distant\nfrom the second, and so on for a number of sounds, while the succession\nwas as rapid as one sound could be clearly distinguished from another.\nWe were sure that no person, nor even several persons, could make\nsounds so distant from each other in such quick succession, even were\nit possible for them to be in or near the places of these sounds,\nwithout discovery. By the desire of the Spirit and Mr. Blaisdel, we\nwent into the cellar. Mr. Blaisdel told the people to stand back and\ngive the Spirit room, and not crowd so near her, \u201cdon\u2019t crowd her,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cshe cannot talk if you crowd her.\u201d\n\nWhen we were placed, Mr. Blaisdel ordered the candle to be blown out,\nand stood before the company next to the Spirit.[27] When these things\nwere done, the affair was become as dark to me, as the cellar was. I\nheard much conversation with several people by a voice which I never\nheard before. This voice at last told us to go up and go to a certain\nhouse and she would go with us. We did as the voice told us: and, as\nwe went, I saw a personal form, as white as any thing could possibly\nappear, walking by Mrs. Butler\u2019s side, with locked arms. When we came\nto the only outer door of the house, I saw this form at a distance\nfrom me, abroad, though near the house, I went in and heard a knocking\nimmediately under the floor. In two or three minutes I heard the same\nvoice that I had heard before, talking with Capt. Millar.\n\nBy the desire of the voice, we stood before the house that she might\nappear to us. There I saw the personal form as plainly as ever I saw a\nliving person: and I saw the same form vanish before me in a moment.\n\n                                                         SALLY MARTIN.\n\n     On this testimony a few observations must detain the\n     reader. We are liable to be deceived two ways: by the\n     appearance of truth where it is not, and by the appearance\n     of deception where it is not.\n\n     Did not such an occasion as this require order? The Spectre\n     was about to communicate to the assembly an important\n     message. Could they enjoy the best advantage to hear and\n     attend to it, while they were changing places,--crowding\n     and interrupting one another? Is not a voice better\n     understood by any auditory, if there be some intermediate\n     space between the speaker and hearer? What did they want a\n     candle for, unless they wanted to be deceived? The Spectre\n     was white; so is a deceiver by a candle. The Spectre told\n     them the exact time of night; so could a deceiver by a\n     candle. Did they want a candle in order to see her? They\n     had learned, or might have learned already, that she could\n     make herself as visible without a candle, as any person\n     living could with it. Four nights before this, she appeared\n     to fourteen persons in this very place, and six persons saw\n     the hand pass through the apparition.\n\n     Two nights before this, she appeared to about twenty\n     people, forming an ellipsis, within which she slowly passed\n     round so near the circumference several times, that every\n     one of them might have handled her with deliberation, and\n     she had also expressed her desire to give satisfaction by\n     this experiment.\n\n     Therefore it was not because she was afraid to be seen or\n     handled, that Mr. Blaisdel made this arrangement; but for\n     reasons possibly unknown to us. But _probably_ one of them\n     was this: On the night of this testimony, August 13, it\n     was one design of the Spectre to confirm what was past,\n     by conducting as she had before, May 28.[28] That is: by\n     appearing only to two or three persons, while to all others\n     in the assembly, though conversing with her, she should\n     remain invisible. This, we are assured, by testimony 11 and\n     14, part 2nd, was now performed. On the above May 28, a\n     third person thought he saw her, but was not sure; for he\n     supposed he might be deceived by some change of the candle\n     light.\n\n     Hence we easily see that those two persons who saw her on\n     this night of August 13, while she invisibly discoursed\n     with the assembly, obtained more satisfaction for others,\n     if not for themselves, that what they saw was reality, than\n     if there had been a candle; especially if we consider that\n     several women of the assembly were dressed in white.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY IV.\n\n                   _Testimony of Capt. James Millar._\n\nAugust 7. Mr. Blaisdel came to my house and desired me to go to his\nown, where I might hear and see for myself. He also went to Capt.\nSamuel Simson\u2019s with the same request. Capt. Simson and his wife,\nS---- B----, and N---- G----, who were there, came with him to my house,\nand we all went to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s. When we had been there some minutes,\nCapt. Simson, by desire, prayed. His prayer was immediately followed by\na knocking, and we all went into the cellar. Mr. Blaisdel asked what\nwas wanted, and who it was. It answered, \u201cI was once N. H.\u201d I asked,\n\u201cHow was man made?\u201d \u201cOut of the dust,\u201d said the voice, \u201cDust thou art,\nand unto dust thou shalt return. You have the Bible, and that is God\u2019s\ntruth, and do you abide by it. Love God and keep his commandments.\u201d\nAfter some conversation with Mrs. Simson and others, she said, \u201cI must\ngo,\u201d and we heard no more. It was now broad day-light, the outer cellar\ndoor being open, and utterly impossible that any living person should\nbe there, but those whom we could see and know. The voice was about six\nfeet from me.\n\nAugust 9. I went to that house with many people, among whom I observed\nmuch disorderly behaviour. The Spirit spake but little, and I returned\nwith a resolution to go no more to that house on such an errand.\n\nAugust 14. Just before day-light, I heard singing, as I lay in bed,\napproaching to my house. Presently, by my leave, my house was filled\nwith people, and I heard knockings on the floor. By the desire of\ncertain persons, I went into the cellar with Capt. P---- B----. After\nsome discourse of the voice with him, which I understood not, I heard\nsounds of knocking near me. I asked, what do you want of me. It\nanswered, \u201cI have come to let you know that I can speak in this cellar\nas well as in the other.[29] Are you convinced?\u201d I answered, \u201cI am.\u201d\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the voice, \u201cthe company must be solemn and stand in order\nbefore your door, I am going to appear. Now do you remember that I was\nonce N. H.\u201d We went up and complied with her direction, and I saw a\npersonal shape coming toward us, white as the light. By the Spectre\u2019s\norder, as I was informed, Mrs. Butler went toward her. \u201cLydia,\u201d said\nthe Spectre, \u201cyou are scared. You must sing.\u201d Then she sung an hymn.\nThe Spirit came almost to us; then turned, and Mrs. Butler with her,\nand went several rods towards Capt. Simson\u2019s and appeared to take her\nby the hand to urge her on further; and disappeared in our sight.\n\nMrs. Butler returned and informed the company, as I was told, that\nif they would walk to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s solemnly as to a funeral, the\nSpirit would walk with Mrs. Butler behind them. The company did so.\nBut I being far forward, saw nothing. Mrs. Butler had expressed\nher unwillingness to go to Capt. Simson\u2019s, and was excused, as she\nafterwards told us.                                      JAMES MILLAR.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                              TESTIMONY V.\n\n                       _Testimony of Mrs. M. G._\n\nOn the 4th of August, 1800, about two hours before day-light, while I\nslept in Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house, I was waked by the sound of knocking.\nI got up, and with about twenty others went into the cellar. There I\nheard such a voice speaking to us as I never heard before nor since. It\nwas shrill, but very mild and pleasant.\n\nMr. Blaisdel, in addressing the voice, said that several persons, (of\nwhom I was one) had come from a distance to obtain satisfaction, and\ndesired that she would tell us who she was, and the design of her\ncoming. She answered, \u201cI was once N. H. and after I was married, I\nwas N. B.\u201d After much conversation upon the design of her coming, she\nappeared to us. At first the apparition was a mere mass of light: then\ngrew into personal form, about as tall as myself. We stood in two ranks\nabout four or five feet apart. Between these ranks she slowly passed\nand repassed, so that any of us could have handled her. When she passed\nby me, her nearness was that of contact; so that if there had been a\nsubstance, I should have certainly felt it. The glow of the apparition\nhad a constant tremulous motion. At last the personal form became\nshapeless--expanded every way, and then vanished in a moment.\n\nThen I examined my own white gown and handkerchief, but I could no more\nsee them than if they had been black.\n\nNothing more being now seen or heard, we were moving to go up, when\nthe voice spake again and desired us to tarry longer. We did so, and\nthe Spirit talked with us another hour, even till broad day-light.\nShe mentioned to us the ill treatment which Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family had\nsuffered by reproach and false accusation, and told us that they would,\non her account, be more despised and ridiculed in time to come, than\nthey had been already.\n\nHer discourse concluded by a solemn exhortation to the old, the middle\naged and the young. The present life, she said, was but a moment, in\nwhich we must be renewed or be miserable forever.\n\nIn her address to the youth she observed that it was now the Lord\u2019s\nday, and that we must retire to our homes, read the Bible, pray and\nkeep the day holy. It was then she uttered these lines of Dr. Watts.\n\n   \u201cThis is the day when Christ arose\n    So early from the dead;\n    Why should I keep my eyelids closed,\n    And waste my hours in bed?\u201d\n\nAfter speaking much more which I cannot remember, she sang praises and\nleft us.\n\nHer notes were very pleasant. Her words were in no higher style than\ncommon, yet were they exceedingly impressive.             MARY GORDON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY VI.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mrs. Sally Wentworth._\n\nOn the 2d of January 1800, Hannah Blaisdel came to Mr. Butler\u2019s house\nand informed me that the extraordinary voice which they had heard, had\ndeclared itself to be that of my sister, and that I must go to her\nfather\u2019s house.\n\nI told her to her face that I did not believe it.\n\nThe next day I received the same message by three other persons, two\nof which belonged to two other families, and returned the same answer.\nNevertheless, to give satisfaction, Capt. Butler, Mr. Wentworth and I\nwent with them to that house. Capt. Butler and I examined the cellar\nwith a candle, and in a few minutes after, Lydia and I went down\nthere. Capt. S----n and some others, went with us, but none of them\nstood before us. While I held Lydia by the arm, we heard the sound\nof knocking. Lydia spoke, and a voice answered, the sound of which\nbrought fresh to my mind that of my sister\u2019s voice, in an instant; but\nI could not understand it at all; though it was within the compass of\nmy embrace, and, had it been a creature which breathed, it would have\nbreathed in my face, and I had no impediment of hearing. But Lydia\ntold me that it said, \u201cWe must live in peace and be united.\u201d Then we\ncame up. But Capt. S----n with Lydia and others, went down again. I\npassed through the room which led to the cellar into another room, and\nthere I was much surprised when I plainly understood by the same kind\nof voice, still speaking in the cellar, these words, \u201cI am the voice\nof one crying in the wilderness;\u201d and other sentences, which I cannot\nremember. This is testified by several others who were with me.[30]\n\nFrom this time I cleared Lydia as to the voice, and accused the devil.\n\nAugust 8, I was there again with about thirty others, and heard much\nconversation. Her voice was still hoarse and thick, like that of my\nsister on her death bed,[31] but more hollow. Sometimes it was clear,\nand always pleasant. A certain person did, in my opinion very unwisely,\nask her whether I was a true Christian. The reply was, \u201cShe thinks she\nis, she thinks she is. She is my sister.\u201d\n\nAugust 13-14, I heard the same voice in the same place, and did then\nbelieve it was that of my sister. She talked much with Capt. S----n,\nand exhorted the people. Mr. Sp----r asked her if I believed that she\nwas my sister. The answer was, \u201cShe believes now.\u201d By the direction of\nthe Spirit we went to Capt. M----r\u2019s, but I never saw her.\n\nSometime after this, Mr. Butler brought to me from the Spectre,\nthe private conversation which I know I had with my sister in her\nlifetime, at a certain hour, when we were alone together, and which he\ndeclares he never knew before; as a token that I was her sister. It\nis true I had never revealed it to any person, and I do not believe\nthat my sister ever did; but could not some evil spirit hear that\nconversation, and afterwards personate my sister, and reveal it to\nCapt. Butler? For what purpose should my sister become visible to\nus?--There was certainly no dispute nor difficulty in my father\u2019s\nfamily or that of Mr. Butler\u2019s, which could be any reason for her\ncoming.                                               SALLY WENTWORTH.\n\n     Mrs. Wentworth had now an opportunity to hear the voice of\n     Lydia and the voice of the Spectre in the same time and\n     place, that she might have the best advantage to judge\n     whether or not there was the least agreement between them.\n     And that Lydia had never learned to utter two voices in the\n     same minute, the one her natural voice, the other the dying\n     voice of this woman\u2019s sister, appears from the certainty\n     that through all the time of the Spectre\u2019s last sickness\n     and death, Lydia was two hundred miles distant from her.\n\n     When Mrs. Wentworth heard in the east room that sentence\n     of the ghost, \u201cI am the voice of one crying in the\n     wilderness;\u201d this was the only time in which the ghost\n     uttered these words for that day, as several witnesses\n     (nem. con.) declare. Hence it follows that this was the\n     exact minute when Captain Simson, in the cellar, within\n     eight feet of the voice, and free from deafness, heard only\n     a sound, while they who stood by him understood the words\n     plainly. (Compare this with a sentence in Test. 4, 2d part.)\n\n     The reality of the token appears from the undoubted\n     veracity of Mrs. W., her inflexible opposition and the oath\n     of Capt. Butler, the reputed dupe of the whole business.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY VII.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mr. Jeremiah Bunker._\n\nOn August 9, 1800, I went to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s, where there were about\ntwelve people.\n\nAfter hearing the discourse of the Spectre, she appeared before us\nand disappeared several times. She came close by me and three or four\nothers several times, so that each of us could have handled her. The\npersonal shape, when it disappeared, first changed to a substance,\nwithout form, and then vanished in a moment where it was: and after a\nshort space, the full personal form appeared again in a moment. These\nchanges I observed several times. I thought then and ever since that\nthe whole was a deception. For I cannot see how there could be such a\nclear personal shape, where no living person was. She was in the shape\nof a person as much as any person could be.           JEREMIAH BUNKER.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n     The second part presents the attestation of those who favor\n     the cause, or at least have not appeared openly against it.\n\n\n                              TESTIMONY I.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mr. Abner Blaisdel._\n\nMay 29, 1800. The Spectre conversed with three of my family. To dispel\ntheir fears, she introduced her conversation by these words: \u201cI have\ncome again,[32] be not afraid, I will not hurt you, I did not come here\nto hurt you, I am a friend to you all.\u201d One of them answered, \u201cI cannot\nhelp being afraid.\u201d \u201cYou need not be,\u201d said the Spectre, \u201cyou need not\nbe. I never did hurt you, did I?\u201d No: it was answered: \u201cAnd I shall not\nhurt you,\u201d said the Spectre. \u201cPut your things in place.[33] Conduct as\nformerly: for nothing will hurt you.\u201d\n\nTo Capt. Butler the Spectre said, \u201cBe kind to your wife: for she will\nnot be with you long. She will have but one child and then die.\u201d It was\nnow that the Spirit sent a token to Mrs. Hooper, her mother, by which\nMrs. Hooper declares she must have been her daughter.\n\nAugust 6. I had for some time heard that my father was sick, but had\nsince received no news from him. I ventured to ask how my father\ndid; \u201cHe is in heaven,\u201d said she, \u201cpraising God with the angels.\u201d I\nafterwards found by other means, that my father died seven days before\nthis. He lived two hundred miles from me.\n\nWhen she left us at this time, the voice sounded in the air further and\nfurther from us, uttering these words: \u201cI am in heaven, praising God\nand the Lamb with angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim. Glory,\nglory, glory to God and the Lamb. I am going, I am going, I am going\nto Christ.\u201d\n\nAugust 8. About thirty people came to my house. That night the Spectre\nhad much solemn conversation with them on religious subjects. Mr. N.\nH----n expressed his desire to handle her, and she gave him liberty.\nSome times the inimitable voice would sound ten or twelve feet from us,\nthen close to our face, then again at a distance: and these changes\nwere instantaneous. After broad day-light, the outer door being open,\nwhen we could plainly see each other, the voice spake to all, and said,\n\u201cLet any one who pleases, come and handle me: for Christ says that a\nspirit hath not flesh and bones.\u201d\n\nSome person then said to Mr. H----n, \u201cNow if you want to handle her why\ndon\u2019t you go?\u201d\n\nThen he crowded through the people to the place where the voice was\nstill speaking, and said, \u201cI find nothing here to handle.\u201d\n\nAugust 9, 1800. We placed ourselves in order, according to the\ndirection of the Spectre; and a white appearance, at first very small,\nrose before me and grew to a personal stature and form. It stood\ndirectly before Capt. Butler, while he and his wife stood beside each\nother. I saw him put his hand on the apparition, and I saw his hand\npass through it. Then it vanished. There were now about twelve persons\nhere.\n\nOn August 11, she discoursed with about twenty persons, of whom I\nwas one. \u201cI come,\u201d said she, \u201cto warn you against sin, and if there\nis not a change before the soul leaves the body, you will be forever\nmiserable.\u201d\n\nAfter the Spirit had spoken many things of this nature, Mr. U.\nexpressed his desire to see her, \u201cYou shall see me,\u201d said she, \u201cI will\nappear to you all.\u201d She appeared and disappeared before us several\ntimes, and talked while she appeared. She came close to us, and some\nsaid they saw the child in her arms. My son P. observed it, and said,\n\u201cHer child is now in her arms;\u201d \u201cSo it is,\u201d said she, \u201cso it is.\u201d\n\nWhen it was day-light, she told us that this was the day when Christ\nrose from the dead--that it was God\u2019s precious time and must be kept\nholy, and that she must return to carry on the work of praise, and then\nsang praises and left us.\n\nNext morning, while I was at work in my field, I was told that the\nSpirit had sent for me. I went into my house, heard a voice, but saw\nnothing.\n\nThis voice, which declared itself to be N. H. said, \u201cCall for my\nparents, P. S. S. C., his wife and others, who appear to you to know\nChrist, that they may hear and see; for they will tell the truth.\u201d\nI performed the errand, and those persons came with more than forty\nothers that night. I went into the cellar and asked who should come.\n\u201cThey must all come,\u201d said she, \u201cleave not a soul behind.\u201d I gave the\ninformation and they complied. The Spirit first asked her parents\nwhether they believed she was her daughter: and they said, \u201cyes.\u201d \u201cDo\nyou want to see me?\u201d said she. And they said, \u201cNo.\u201d She asked her\nfather if he was ready to go with her, if the Lord should call him.\n\u201cI am afraid I am not,\u201d said he, \u201cbut the Lord can make me willing.\u201d\n\u201cThat is right,\u201d she answered. Then after conversing with her mother,\nin a very affecting manner, she said to both, \u201cYou were my dear parents\nonce; but now you are no more to me than others.\u201d Then to Capt. P. S.\nshe said, \u201cYou have become hard against me.\u201d \u201cSo I have,\u201d said he.\n\u201cDo you love Christ?\u201d \u201cYes, I do,\u201d said she, \u201cyes I do.\u201d P. S. \u201cThen\nyou love me.\u201d \u201cYes, I do. Do you not remember that soon after I was\nmarried, you told me that I was married to G. B. and how happy I should\nbe, if I was married to Christ: and I said I was not; but I wished\nI was.\u201d P. S. \u201cYes, I remember it very well.\u201d \u201cNow I am married to\nChrist,\u201d said she, \u201cnow I am married to Christ, now I am married to\nChrist.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou used to meet with us at my house, and once, at the time of a\ncertain prayer, I observed you to be much affected.\u201d \u201cYes, I was,\u201d said\nshe, \u201cand the Lord was then breaking my heart.\u201d\n\nI then spake to her myself, and said, I never knew that you experienced\na change of nature before you died, and I should be glad if you would\ntell when you experienced it. It was, said she, when I laid upon my\ndeath bed. Then she spake to her parents, and reminded them of the\nconversation which had passed between them at that time, respecting the\nloss of her child. Then it was, said she, that I received my change.\n\nAfter much other conversation, which I do not remember, the Spirit said\nto us, \u201cThere is one of this family, who is not here.\u201d Some person\nasked if we should go and call him. She said, \u201cNo; I am going where he\nis. They say I can appear no where but here; but I mean to convince\nthem that I can appear in other places. I must appear before you all\nthis night, and go to the next house and to another. You must all go\nup and be ready to walk with me. But you must walk in order, two and\ntwo, solemnly, as if you were following a friend to the grave. For the\nLord is a God of peace and not of confusion. Sing a Psalm as you walk,\nand I will walk with Lydia after you.\u201d We all went up, and in about an\nhour after, we heard the token, and placed ourselves before the door,\nand hearing it again, we walked on to Capt. M\u2019s, and the Spirit knocked\nunder his floor. He and my son went down and, after conversing with my\nson, she told Capt. M. who she was, and the purpose of her coming to\nhis house, and asked him if he was satisfied, and he told her that he\nwas. Then she directed him to go up and tell the people to stand in\norder before the door and she would appear before them in the field.\nThey did so, and she appeared to them and disappeared, as some of them\ninformed me. By her direction we walked back to my house in the same\norder, and then I saw her plainly about thirty feet from me, in the\nform and stature of a person; white as the light and moving after us\nlike a cloud, without ambulatory motion.               ABNER BLAISDEL.\n\n     I have discoursed with all these persons, except two or\n     three, whose names are mentioned in this testimony, and\n     they all attest to almost all the facts which are here\n     related, as being known to them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY II.\n\n                     _Testimony of Miss Mary Card._\n\nI am not only a witness to many things in the preceding relation, but I\nfurther declare that, on August 13, about two o\u2019clock in the day, while\nMr. Blaisdel was gone for evidence, the Spirit knocked, and M. M. and I\nwent near to the place of the sound and asked what was wanted.\n\nThe Spirit answered \u201cI have come, I have come. Make room for I am\ncoming among you.\u201d[34] I pleaded that she would not. I must, I must,\nsaid she, don\u2019t be scared. I answered we were poor sinful creatures,\nand could not help it, and again earnestly entreated her not to come.\n\nI now plainly saw her appear in shining white; and she asked me if any\nperson in the house wanted to see her. I then called on Miss P. C. who\nin the same hour had said that \u201cthough she had heard the voice speak,\nshe would not believe it was that of a ghost.\u201d I asked her now to come\nand see her, and she did. Now, said the ghost, satisfy yourselves. Here\nI am, here I am, satisfy yourselves. Miss P. C. answered that she was\nsatisfied.[35] The ghost then spake several other things which I cannot\nremember.                                                     M. CARD.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY III.\n\n                  _Testimony of Miss Margaret Miller._\n\nI was present at the same time, and heard all that is here declared by\nMiss Mary Card. I saw the apparition, and heard her speak at the same\ntime.                                                       M. MILLER.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY IV.\n\n                   _Testimony of Capt. Paul Simson._\n\nJanuary 3, 1800, I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdel. His son P. desired\nme to go with him into the cellar. I went down with him and his two\nsisters, and Mrs. C. M.\n\nI heard a rapping, and asked in the name of Christ what it wanted. I\nheard a voice considerably loud, but could not understand it. But some\nwho were present, told me that it said, \u201cI am the voice of one crying\nin the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths\nstrait. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him while he\nis near.\u201d\n\nAfter some silence it rapped again. I spake to it in the name of\nChrist, and said, if there was any thing it could utter for peace, to\nutter it. It answered, \u201cI am not to be trifled with. I am not to be\ntrifled with. I am not to be trifled with. Peace, peace, peace.\u201d[36]\n\nThen they all went up, except Lydia and myself, and I held her by the\nhand. She was much terrified, and said, \u201cI feel so I cannot stay: I\nmust go up.\u201d Stay awhile, said I, perhaps it will speak again. \u201cI\ncannot,\u201d said she, and began to urge me away. I consented, and when we\nhad come up, she told me what I had myself perceived, that the cellar\nbegan to grow light, where the voice was uttered and that she heard a\nrushing noise.\n\nSometime after I was in the same cellar with a number of people and\nheard a plain voice; clearly understood by others, but not at all by\nmyself, though as near to it as others and free from deafness. The\nvoice appeared to me inimitable.\n\nAugust 8, I was there again with thirty others and heard the\nconversation of the Spectre with several persons. Mr. N. H. mentioned\nhis desire to handle her. \u201cHandle me and see,\u201d said she, \u201cfor Christ\ntells you that a spirit is not flesh and bones.\u201d\n\nMr. T. U. said, \u201cif you are a happy soul, intercede for me.\u201d The\nreply was, \u201cNone but Christ intercedes.\u201d \u201cThere are among us,\u201d\nsaid Mr. U., \u201cseveral denominations of Christians: Presbyterians,\nCongregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. Which of all these are\nright?\u201d The voice answered, \u201cThere are good and bad of all these sorts\nfor the elect\u2019s sake.\u201d[37]\n\nIn August 13-14, while I was at the same house, the Spirit informed\nus that she could not speak freely in the night of August 9, because\nthe behaviour of the people had been so rude, but expressed her joy\nin discoursing with christians. You know, said I, a thousand times\nmore than any of us. Yes I do, said she. Mr. Blaisdel said to me, you\nstand too near her. Then I asked, do I stand too near you? No, said\nshe, stand as near as you please. I felt surprised, and said, it was\na wonderful event. Yes, the spirit replied, it is a wonderful event\nindeed--do you not remember what you told me, just after I was married\nthat if I was married to Christ, how happy I should live? Yes, I\nanswered, I remember it very well. She exhorted the young people and\ntold them that without a change they would be miserable.\n\nAfter this, the spirit expressed her resolution to convince us that Mr.\nBlaisdel and his family were clear of the evils alleged against them.\n\nThey say I am a witch and a devil, said she; and they said that Christ\nwas a devil. The spirit said other things, which I remember not.\n\nAt last she told them she was about to appear in order to convince\nthem. Then by her direction we went up, and having prayed together, and\nheard the token, we walked on to Capt. M\u2019s, singing the 84th Psalm. I\nwas one of the foremost of the company and did not see it then; but the\ngreatest number of those who were behind me, said they saw it plainly.\n\nWhen we were at Capt. M\u2019s house, we stood in the field, while Mrs.\nButler, in great fear, walked with the Spirit before us,[38] a few rods\ntoward Capt. Simson\u2019s; and then returned and told us that we must walk\nback, two and two, to her father\u2019s house singing, and the spirit would\nfollow us back. We did so. Mr. D. and I walked behind all, except Mrs.\nButler, in order if possible to see the apparition. When we had walked\nabout fifteen rods, I saw a white appearance forward of us to the left\nhand. As we passed by it, it fell in after us and walked with Mrs.\nButler.\n\nMr. D. and I turned and looked upon them, and heard them talk. We\nwalked a little way further, stopped and looked upon them, and heard\nthem talk again; but they spoke with so low a voice we could not\nunderstand them. The spirit appeared in personal form, white as snow,\nabout as tall as Mrs. Butler.\n\nIt was now day-break. I turned my eyes from the object, and in half a\nminute looked toward it again, but it was gone. Mr. D. then told me he\nsaw it disappear.                                         PAUL SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                              TESTIMONY V.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mr. Samuel Ingalls._\n\nAugust 13-14, 1800. I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdel in the evening,\nwith about forty people: went into the cellar with a candle, which\ndiscovered to us the whole cellar, so that no person here could be\nconcealed from us. The light being put out, we heard a knocking. It was\nspoken to, and a voice shrill and pleasant, like what I never heard\nbefore, answered, (and talked with us.) Mr. Downing asked her if she\nknew him, she said, yes: and called him by name three times. She often\nuttered her sentences three times. He asked the Spirit if she had never\nbeen at his house. The answer was that she had been there once.\n\nCapt. P. S. said, \u201cYou know as much as a thousand of us;\u201d \u201cYes, yes;\u201d\nshe answered, \u201cbut it will not be long before some here will know as\nmuch.\u201d\n\nMr. Blaisdel asked the Spirit when she experienced her change. She\nanswered that it was on her death bed; and then uttered the words,\n\u201cGlory, glory, glory. Alleluia.\u201d\n\nAfter some silence, some person asked the Spirit, \u201cAre you about to\nleave us?\u201d She answered, \u201cI must go when Jesus calls. I must appear\nand walk with you this night; but you must walk in order. I will walk\nbehind with L. and told us that she had walked with her before.\u201d If\nyou do, said Mrs. Butler, I shall faint away. No, said the Spectre,\nyou shall not faint again; and then said to the people, \u201cIf she faints\nagain,[39] don\u2019t you believe me.\u201d[40]\n\nMrs. Butler never fainted after this. We went to Capt. M\u2019s, and stood\nthere. Mrs. Butler walked, as I was told she was before ordered,\nseveral rods from us, and I saw something appear white by her side,\nbut no personal form. I heard Mrs. Butler say that when the Spirit was\nwith her and talked with her, she was not so much afraid, as when she\nexpected her coming.                                   SAMUEL INGALLS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY VI.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mr. James Springer._\n\nAugust 13, 1800. After much conversation with the Spectre, she told us\nthat she must talk and appear at the house of Capt. M. because he had\nreported that she could not be any where but at Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house.\nAnd L. must walk with me, said she, that you may all see that she is\none person and I another.\n\nWe walked in order to that house, and I saw the Spirit as plainly as\never I saw any person. I saw the Spirit appear and disappear several\ntime that night. * * * * * *                           JAMES SPRINGER.\n\n     A part of this testimony is lost.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY VII.\n\n                    _Testimony of Mr. John Simson._\n\nAugust 8, 1800. I heard the discourse of the Spectre, in company with\nabout thirty other persons. The sound of her voice was sometimes\nhoarse and faint, but for the most part it was clear and free from any\nimpediment, and then it was inimitable, and the most delightful that\never I heard in my life. In discoursing with her parents, she said,\n\u201cMy dear parents, if the Lord should call you to go away with me this\nnight, are you willing.\u201d I fear I am not, said her father, but the Lord\ncan make me willing. Yes, she answered, and none but he.\n\nWhile Mr. U. was talking with her, he observed that there were among\nus various distinctions of christians, as Baptists, Presbyterians and\nMethodists, and asked which of all these are right. There are good\nand bad of all these sorts, said she, for the elect\u2019s sake. Mr. N. H.\nexpressed his desire to handle her. Handle me and see, said she: for\nChrist tells you that a Spirit hath not flesh and bones. Accordingly,\nafter it was broad day-light, and we could all plainly see each other,\nthe outer cellar door being open, he extended his arms round the space\nin which the voice was then speaking, and exclaimed, \u201cO, there is\nnothing here.\u201d The voice and this experiment were about four feet from\nme, so that I am sure that no living person could be concealed from\nme.[41]                                                   JOHN SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                            TESTIMONY VIII.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mr. Richard Downing._\n\nAugust 9, 1800. I went to the house of Mr. Blaisdel with a number more.\nAfter sometime we heard a knocking. Then four persons with me went\ninto the cellar. A light was called for and brought. We searched the\ncellar to see if no person or thing might be found there whence that\nknocking might proceed. Then the light was carried up, and immediately\nthere was the sound of knocking. Mr. Blaisdel and Mr. D----ns several\ntimes asked what was wanted. At length a voice answered, that, if we\nwould all go into the cellar, we should be satisfied;[42] we then all\nwent down.[43] There was then in my hearing, much disorder and much\nprofanity among the people. Nothing remarkable being heard, all but\nthree or four of us left the cellar. Then again there was a knocking\nseveral times, we spoke, but obtaining no answer, I also went up.\n\nSoon after I was informed that the voice had spoken to those who\nremained there, declaring that we must all return, and we went again.\nImmediately there was a knocking all round the cellar by several\npersons there, as they afterwards owned to me. Mr. Blaisdel desired\nthem to be peaceable and give room. After a few minutes, Mr. D----ns\nexpressed his sorrow that so many should be deceived, and advised us to\npray and return home. We therefore returned as unsatisfied as we went.\n\nOn the 13th, while I was very much engaged in business, I felt very\nmuch concerned for Mr. Blaisdel, on account of his troubles, and\nthought I would go and see him, and advise him to a settlement, to\nprevent the expense of the law. I went, and he asked me the cause of\nmy coming. I answered, to visit him as a friend. I am glad to see you,\nsaid he, you went away the other night very unsatisfied. You did not\nthen appear to be afraid: would you not be daunted now? I told him\nI did not think I should. Providence, said he, has sent you here, I\nbelieve, and you must tarry all night. I told him I would. Then he\ninformed me that he had talked with the Spirit in the forenoon, which\ndirected him to persuade certain people to come to his house. About an\nhour after sunset, the Spectre knocked; and being addressed, answered,\n\u201cI have come to satisfy you all; who is now speaking to me?\u201d It was\nanswered, Mr. Blaisdel. Let him and every one of this family, said the\nSpectre, go out from here.\n\nThey went out. The voice then said that Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family were all\nclear of what was alledged against them.\n\nAfter this, the voice talked with me. To know what answer would\nbe made, I asked, to whom are you speaking? It answered, \u201cRichard\nDowning.\u201d I asked again, was you ever at my house? It answered, \u201cYes, I\nwas there once with my mother, Mrs. M. and others, when your wife was\nsick.\u201d I had not then told any person what the Spectre now told me, and\nwhich I and my family know to be true. Her mother asked[44] how long\nbefore her decease, she experienced her change. She answered, when I\nwas on my death bed.\n\nSoon after the Spirit said to the whole company, I will walk with you\nto the next house, if you will walk in order, two and two, singing a\nPsalm as you go; for God is a God of order. I asked her what Psalm\nwe should sing? Any, said she, which may suit best. We then left\nthe cellar, sang and prayed, and immediately the token was given by\nknocking. We then placed ourselves in order and walked on toward Capt.\nM\u2019s house.\n\nAnxious to unveil the deception, if there was any, I walked near those\nwho were foremost, and was first at the door and knocked. Capt. M. came\nto the door and asked what all this meant. I answered, they are come to\nvisit you. Immediately I went and stood on the trap-door--the only door\nof the cellar, that no person might go into it without my knowledge.\nSome of the company told Capt. M. our design, and he made us welcome.\nThen hearing the miraculous sound under the floor, Capt. M. with\nothers, went down and talked with a voice, which I heard and understood\nnot; but was informed by them that she told them she had come there\nto give evidence that she could be and talk at other houses, as well\nas that of Mr. Blaisdel; and that if the company would properly stand\nin the open field, she would pass before them, so that they might see\nher. The company did so. The Spirit then appeared and walked back and\nforth, two or three times, in view of the company and by the side of\nMrs. Butler. This my eyes saw. The apparition, with Mrs. Butler, having\nadvanced a few rods, disappeared. Mrs. Butler then came and told us\nthat if we would return to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house, she would walk behind\nus. The company complied. Having a desire so be as near the apparition\nas possible, I walked with Capt. P. S. behind the whole company. Mrs.\nButler walked behind Capt. P. S. as she had been ordered by the\napparition. When we had walked about twenty rods, Mrs. Butler said,\n\u201cthere it is now.\u201d Where, said I. There, said she, pointing to the left\nside of the company forward. I looked there and saw the dark appearance\nof a person, and kept my eye upon it till we passed by it, and till I\nsaw it come in next after me, and by the side of Mrs. Butler. Thus it\nfollowed us. But now this object was become as white as the light. As\nwe walked, I kept my eye upon this object almost without intermission,\nthat I might see it disappear. It followed us by one direct motion,\nlike a cloud. The motion was not ambulatory in the least degree. In\nthis manner the apparition followed us about twenty rods, and then\ndisappeared in my view. It opened into two parts and vanished.\n\n                                                      RICHARD DOWNING.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY IX.\n\n                  _Testimony of Capt. Samuel Simson._\n\nAugust 5, 1800. In the evening after I had prayed, I looked toward\nthe opposite side of the room, and saw a white personal form, having\non a woman\u2019s cap, and the same countenance and features which Mrs.\nN. Butler had when she was alive and in health, so that I knew her\nimmediately. In the name of the Lord, said I, for what purpose are you\nhere?--But there was no answer. I spoke again--\u201cIn the name of the\nLord Jesus Christ, who are you, and what do you want here?\u201d My wife\ngreatly surprised, and seeing nothing, asked what was the matter. I\ntold her I saw an apparition. No, she replied, you are deranged. It is\nthe moon you see. At that moment the apparition disappeared. When we\nwere composed, we agreed to mention the matter to no person, and we\nconducted accordingly.\n\nTwo nights after, Mr. Blaisdel called us up about two o\u2019clock, and\ninformed us that the Spirit had been at his house, and sent him to call\nfor more evidence. He desired that we would go with him to his house.\nWell, said my wife, she appeared here the night before last. Then\nperhaps she has performed the message before me, said Mr. Blaisdel. We\nwent to his house. Hearing nothing for some time, by the desire of Mr.\nBlaisdel I prayed with the company who had collected there. Immediately\nafter, we heard the usual sound on the side of the house. We all went\ninto the cellar, and heard an articulate voice unlike any sound which I\never heard before.                                      SAMUEL SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                              TESTIMONY X.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mrs. Sarah Simson._\n\nI can attest to the truth of what my husband has now related, and\nfurther, that when we were in the cellar, the spirit told us that she\nwas once N. H. N. B. repeating the words three times, \u201cyou have done\nright,\u201d said she, \u201cyou have united in prayer: and it is true what that\nman said, who made the prayer, he did see me with a cap on.\u201d I am sure\nMr. Blaisdel could have told no one of it, for we had not told him,\nnor any one else that the apparition had appeared with that article\nof dress. I asked the spirit, are you from happiness or misery? She\nreplied, \u201cI am from above, I am not from beneath. I have come on God\u2019s\nerrand.\u201d Then she sung alleluias, and mentioned the cherubim and\nseraphim. She told me that my child which I had lost was in heaven,\npraising God with the angels. I should have spoken to that man, said\nshe, the other night, if some person had not been affrightened. I\nasked, who was it? She answered, it was his wife. Mr. Blaisdel and\nCapt. M. asked several questions, and the answers were wonderful.\n\nAugust 9-10. I tarried after the people in general went off with the\nopinion that the words of the spirit were in reality the words of Mrs.\nButler. I was much surprised with the sound of knocking, which made\nthe house tremble. I then heard Mrs. Butler say, \u201cIf I am guilty, let\nher stay away. If I am clear, let her come and clear me.\u201d In a few\nminutes after, she arose from a bed on which she had sat, and stood\nwringing her hands in distress. What have I done, said she, that I must\nbe accused of all this. \u201cNothing, dear, you have done nothing, but you\nmust go into the cellar,\u201d answered a voice in a vacant space where no\nperson was--a voice the most delightful that ever I heard.\n\nSome of the people then told her that she must do as the spirit had\nsaid. So I must, said she, if I don\u2019t she will come into the room, and\nif she does, I shall die. She then went down with a number of others,\nand immediately came up, and told me that she was released. I was soon\nafter informed, that the spirit was about to appear, and that we must\nall be present. I went with the rest, but prayed that I might not see\nher. She had promised that none should see her but those who desired\nit. Accordingly I did not see her, though I looked directly before me,\nwhere they said she was.\n\nAugust 13. I was again at the same house, and while I was sitting in\nthe room, near a candle, two persons came and looked upon a watch, and\nfound it twelve, and said it was exactly what the spectre had just\ntold. At one o\u2019clock they came again, and found the same agreement.\n\n                                                         SARAH SIMSON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XI.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mrs. Abigail Abbott._\n\nAugust 10, 1800. I was at Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house, with many more. In\nthe first part of the night there was much indecent conduct, and some\nprofanity. The spirit knocked sometimes, but uttered only a few words.\nThe company in general having in vain waited to see or hear something\nextraordinary, withdrew; but I tarried with several other persons. Soon\nafter they were gone, the spectre knocked several times very loud, and\nwe went into the cellar. After saying many things to us, she appeared\nin the shape of a person and moved before us, without stepping, passing\nand repassing several times. She gave so much light that we could see\nother persons and other things in the cellar, which we could not see\nbefore her appearance, nor afterwards. I saw her appear and disappear\nseveral times. At last the apparition came to Capt. G. Butler, and then\nhe appeared to be immersed in her radiance so that he appeared white\nand shining like the apparition. And I did particularly see his hand in\nthe midst of the apparent body of the apparition. He cried in surprise,\n\u201cLord Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nAugust 13-14, I was there again, and heard much conversation of the\nghost, with several other persons in the cellar, concerning several\nevents known only to her and them in her life time. To all their\nquestions she gave satisfactory answers.\n\nOnce while she was speaking, I saw a bright shining appearance in that\npart of the space from whence the voice proceeded.\n\nHer conversation and exhortation continued four hours. One of the\ncompany observed to her that we were an hardened people. \u201cYes,\u201d she\nanswered, \u201cBut the Lord will call in his elect in his own time.\u201d I went\nto Capt. M\u2019s with the company, but did not then see her at all.\n\n                                                        ABIGAIL ABBOT.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XII.\n\n                   _Testimony of Miss Dorcas Abbot._\n\nI can attest, as an eye and ear witness, to all that is declared under\nAugust 9th, in the last testimony.\n\nI plainly saw Capt. Butler\u2019s hand go through the apparition.\n\n                                                         DORCAS ABBOT.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                            TESTIMONY XIII.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mr. Frederic Housoff._\n\nI was an eye and ear witness of all the facts declared in the last\ntestimony, and can attest particularly that I plainly saw Capt. Butler\nput his hand on the apparition, and saw his hand pass through it,\nglowing with the light of it.                        FREDERIC HOUSOFF.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XIV.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mr. Joseph Blaisdel._\n\nI was present when the important transaction took place on the night\nof August 9, 1800, and saw Mr. Butler\u2019s hand pass through the body of\nthe apparition, while he uttered the words, \u201cLord Jesus.\u201d He afterwards\ninformed me and others, that while his hand passed through the breast\nof the Spectre, he felt nothing.                      JOSEPH BLAISDEL.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XV.\n\n                  _Testimony of Capt. Paul Blaisdel._\n\nI have seen and discoursed with the apparition several times. In the\nlatter part of January, 1800, I saw her in the field; first at a\nconsiderable distance from me: then she came to me, and I particularly\nobserved that she never touched the ground. Her raiment appeared as\nwhite as possible. The next evening she reproved me in the hearing of\nseveral persons, because I had not spoken to her, and because I had\nspoken against her. She told me she had come on God\u2019s errand, and that\nif I opposed her, I opposed him who sent her.\n\nThe Spirit asked me if I lived in such a manner as I would wish to\ndie.[45]\n\nI have from time to time heard the voice speak in open space, where I\nam sure no living person existed, as others can testify who were with\nme.[46] And upon August 9-10, I was present and saw the Spectre when\nshe appeared, and I plainly saw Capt. Butler\u2019s hand pass through the\napparition.\n\nAugust 11, I saw her again, and heard her pious discourse, with nearly\ntwenty other persons. To those who were present, I said, \u201cShe has her\nchild now in her arms.\u201d \u201cYes, I have,\u201d she answered, \u201cyes I have.\u201d She\ncame so near to me and others, that either of us could have handled her\nwithout changing our places.\n\nAugust 13. Being informed that the ghost had promised to come this\nnight, I left my father\u2019s house, and went to Capt. M\u2019s that I might not\nsee nor hear her. Just before daylight, she came to this house with\nmore than forty people, and reproved me again for speaking against her\nin the presence of six or seven persons. This is the second time, said\nthe voice, that you have been warned.--Beware of the third time. She\nasked me several times to handle her, to see whether she had material\nsubstance or not. I confessed to her that I believed her to be the\nspirit of N. H. Then I went back with the company to my father\u2019s house.\nBefore she vanished she came and stood within three feet from me.[47]\nThe personal shape was all light, the particles of which had constant\nmotion. But I was afraid to put my hand upon her.       PAUL BLAISDEL.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XVI.\n\n                    _Testimony of Mr. David Hooper._\n\nJanuary 2, 1800. By the request of the spectre, sent by two messengers,\nI went to Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s house, and by conversing with her, obtained\nsuch clear and irresistable tokens of her being the spirit of my own\ndaughter, as gave me no less satisfaction than admiration and delight.\n\nShe gave a reason satisfactory to me why she put me to the trouble of\ncoming there instead of her coming to my house.\n\nBy her request I went in a few days after to Mr. Butler\u2019s family and\nexpressed my conviction to them.\n\nAugust 8, I was there again, with my wife and many others. I again\nasked the ghost who she was. The voice answered, \u201cI was once N. B.,\nyour dear child. If the Lord should call you this night, are you\nwilling to go with me?\u201d I said the Lord can make me willing. Yes,\nshe replied, and none but he. Then she mentioned certain articles of\nproperty which she had left, as belonging to us. I hope, said I, these\nmatters do not disturb you. \u201cNo, no,\u201d she answered, \u201cNo, no. Peace.\nThere must be peace.\u201d                                    DAVID HOOPER.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                            TESTIMONY XVII.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mrs. Joanna Hooper._\n\nHer next words were spoken to me in particular. \u201cDo you not remember\nwhat I said on my death bed?\u201d I answered, yes, I do remember that\nyou then said you desired peace while you lived. Yes, I did, said\nshe, yes I did.--Sometime before this the spectre had sent this\ntoken to me, which, though not certain, had yet been attended with\nsuch circumstances, as rendered the use of it for deception utterly\nimprobable.\n\nAugust 13, we went again. The spirit then asked if we wanted to see\nher, and we both said no. Did I ask you in your last sickness, said I,\nwhether you was willing your child should live? The voice answered,\n\u201cyes, yes, and I told you I should be a vile creature to desire the\nlife of the child.\u201d [For that was the time in which it was God\u2019s will\nit should die.[48]] I asked this question for further satisfaction,\nknowing that this very question and answer had passed between us.\n\nThe spirit then told us that she had not freedom to converse on the\nnight of August 9, by reason of disorder and profanity, and expressed\nher liberty and joy in discoursing with christians. In the midst of her\ndiscourse with others, I silently indulged my painful reflections on\nthe distress of her last sickness. Suddenly I was surprised with these\nwords of the voice to me, \u201cMourn not for me, for I am a happy soul.\u201d\n\nCapt. P. S. observed that her free conversation with us was a great\nwonder. \u201cYes, a miracle, said she, such as never was since Christ was\nupon earth.\u201d[49] When she had told us that without a change of heart,\nmankind would be miserable, I desired Mr. Blaisdel to ask her when she\nexperienced her own change. He asked, and she answered, \u201cWhen I was on\nmy death bed.\u201d Mr. D. proposed this question, \u201cDo I believe that you\nare such as you profess to be?\u201d Her reply was, \u201cYou have believed, and\nyou have not believed, and satan will tempt you again.\u201d[50] Then he\nasked, \u201cWas you ever at my house in your lifetime?\u201d \u201cYes, once, yes,\nonce,\u201d said she. I knew the time of this visit, for Mrs. M. and I were\nthere with her. By my desire therefore, Mr. D. asked, \u201cWho was there\nwith you.\u201d \u201cMy mother and Mrs. M., said she, when your wife was sick.\u201d\nThen Mr. D. told the people that he remembered she had been there at\nthat time. Have you been any where but here, said he, since your death.\nYes, she answered, to five places.\n\nMr. Blaisdel\u2019s family being now excluded from that apartment where the\nspirit was, she told us that Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family were innocent. \u201cThey\nsay I am a witch and a devil, said she, and they said that Christ was a\ndevil. It is reported that some of this family have raised me, but it\nis not in the power of man or devil to fetch a soul from heaven.\u201d\n\nAfter much more conversation the spirit told us that she would walk\nwith us to Capt. M\u2019s, and to another house beyond it; but she only\nwalked with us to Capt. M\u2019s, and there talked with him and Capt. P. B.\nto convince them who she was.\n\nWhen we had come within twenty rods of the house, the company stopped.\nThen we two looked round and saw a white shining appearance by the side\nof Mrs. Butler, and about as tall as she.[51] After this, we observed\nnothing worthy of particular notice.                    JOANNA HOOPER.\n\n     Did Mrs. Hooper assist in the work of personating her\n     own daughter? If not, how could the deceiver know what\n     questions she would ask? Do some of these things appear\n     small? _Maxima minimis gaudent._[52]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                            TESTIMONY XVIII.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mrs. Eunice Scammons._\n\nAugust 11, 1800. I was at the house which the ghost had so often\nvisited, and was one of seventeen people or more, who were present\nwhen she appeared and conversed with us. After she had discoursed\nparticularly with several persons, she said, \u201cI am the voice of one\ncrying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his\npaths strait. But you who are sinners, do not make them strait. Some of\nyou say that I am not a Spirit. Others, that I am an evil Spirit. The\nwords which I have spoken unto you, have been misimproved, perverted\nand turned to ridicule. But I shall see you all when you will not\nlaugh.\u201d\n\nIn the intervals of conversation, she sang praises.\n\nBeing asked who she was, she said, \u201cI was once N. H. and when I died\nI was N. B.,\u201d and mentioned several circumstances which attended her\ndeath to confirm her declaration.\n\nAfter much other conversation, she appeared in the midst of us and\ntalked while she appeared. She came so near me that I could have laid\nmy hand upon her. She had before solemnly entreated us to stand round\nseparate and in such order that all might see her while she moved\nin the midst of us.[53] Within our two ranks she slowly passed and\nrepassed from end to end three times, and passed by me six times. There\nwere several persons in the company dressed in white; but I could not\nsee them at all, while the Spectre was as white as any thing could\npossibly be. She moved in such nearness to every one of us, that every\none might have handled her. I saw her vanish instantly in the midst of\nus. After this, she spake to us again by exhortation. I am sent, said\nshe, to warn you against sin. I was myself a great sinner when I lived\nin this world. In my last hours, I received mercy. But if you go on in\na course of sin and waste your time as I did, it may not be so with\nyou. One half hour now gives me more happiness than this whole world\ncan give you through your whole lives.\n\nIt was now daylight, and she observed to us that it was the Lord\u2019s day,\nthat we must retire to our homes and keep it holy. She desired Mr.\nBlaisdel to pray with us before we parted.\n\nAfter many other words, she left us singing alleluias to God and the\nLamb. I heard the voice of her praises sounding further and further\nfrom us, for a considerable time before it entirely ceased uttering the\nwords, \u201cAlleluia, alleluia. Glory, glory to God and the Lamb.\u201d Her\nnotes were solemn and exceedingly delightful. Then we all went up, and\nMr. Blaisdel\u2019s prayer was our dismission.             EUNICE SCAMMONS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XIX.\n\n                   _Testimony of Mrs. Mary Bragdon._\n\nSometime in January, 1800, I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdel, and\nheard such a voice as I never heard before among the living; and they\ntold me it was that of the Spirit, talking with Mr. and Mrs. Butler.\n\nAugust 7. At the same house we heard a knocking on the partition next\nto the chimney, where no person could be. Then several persons with me\nwent into the cellar, and the Spirit told us she was once Nelly Butler.\nShe told me that I must not be scared.\n\nAugust 13. I was again at the house with forty-eight others, besides\nchildren. The Spirit, after her conversation with several persons,\nexhorted the youth: \u201cI was once young and vain as you, said the voice,\nand, if the Lord had taken me away in that condition, how miserable I\nshould have been! Now is the time, while you are young, to seek the\nLord. Delay not till it is too late.\u201d Then it was that I saw a white\npersonal form shining in the space from whence the voice proceeded; and\nI afterwards saw the same appearance in the field.       MARY BRAGDON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n                             TESTIMONY XX.\n\n                  _Testimony of Mrs. Dorcas Johnson._\n\nI was present at the house, and at the time dated, August 13, by other\ntestimonies. There I heard and saw the Spectre. Her voice was distinct\nfrom any other, and her music the most delightful that I ever heard.\nWhen she walked with us, she moved without stepping. And when we\narrived at the house, by direction of the Spectre given to my brother,\nJames Springer, and by him to the company in our hearing, we opened to\nthe right and left, so that the Spectre and Mrs. Butler passed together\nbetween our two ranks. Then she vanished from my view and I saw her no\nmore.                                                  DORCAS JOHNSON.\n\n\n\n\n                      MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS.\n\n                    [Illustration: decorated line]\n\n\nTwo Inferences naturally arise from this topic: one is that of caution.\n\u201cJudge not that ye be not judged.\u201d\n\nThe above witnesses are exhibited, not for the want of more, (for more\nthan a hundred have seen the Spectre, or have heard her words,) but\nbecause repetition is tedious.\n\nOur opponents now, we expect, will admit our inquiry of what they have\nto say against these attestations, whether any thing false--whether\nany thing even wearing a deceptive color has been presented to public\nnotice.\n\nIt would have been my peculiar pleasure to have given more satisfaction\nwith regard to the superior ends of the messages, subservient, no\ndoubt, to still greater ends, if it had been lawful. But for the\npresent, they are immediately interesting only to a few persons. The\nknowledge which many would improve, others would abuse. If the answer\nof the oracle intended for the personal safety of David and his men, is\nimmediately published, Saul will know it.\n\nWhen a creature professedly brings us a message from God, be this\nmessage ever so small, ever so strange, ever so unexpected; yet, if\nit does not oppose his word, we have not the least evidence that the\nprofession is counterfeit, unless we obtain it by other means; because\nwe are as yet ignorant of its connections, and God\u2019s thoughts and plans\nare not like ours.\n\nSome say, if the message appear not in the scriptures, that\nwill sufficiently condemn it and the messenger too, whatever\nbe the credentials, \u201cI will obey nothing but what I see in the\nscriptures.\u201d[54] But may I not say, with Doctor Owen, that they\nunwarrantably limit the Holy One of Israel? In absolute monarchies the\npeople dare not say, \u201cI will obey no precept from the king, unless I\nfind it in the public code.\u201d Such language would breathe rebellion.\nAnd dare we treat thus the King of kings, who is an absolute monarch,\nand by his propriety in the universe has a right to be such? Will\nthe scriptures themselves warrant this behavior? Can we despise\nthe message and them who heard it, and them who obeyed it, and the\nangels who brought it, and yet stand guiltless before Him who sent\nit? until we obtain proof that he did not send it, and that the\ncredentials are forgery? And are we one inch nearer to this point,\nthan we were twenty-six years ago? Do we perceive _now_ any more than\ntwenty-six years ago, how the deceiver talked in open space, by a voice\ninimitable, clearly understood by some, and not at all by others, with\nmeans of intelligence every way equal? Our blessed Lord, to prove that\nhe was not a Spectre, said, \u201cHandle me and see.\u201d That is implicitly to\nsay, if you handle me and find no substance, then you may conclude that\nI am a spirit. Our Spectre said, \u201cHandle me and see.\u201d And earnestly\ninsisted on this experiment time after time. Can we tell _now_, why\nthat very argument and mode of evidence which Christ himself used, is\nnot valid and genuine, any more than we could twenty-six years ago? If\nnot, let me be cautious, whatever be the conduct of this enlightened\nage, how I accuse my neighbors of folly or villainy, merely because\nthey enjoyed interviews with a departed friend; lest I be found among\nthose who speak evil of things which they understand not.\n\nThe Jews, besides their public code of revelation, had their Urim\nand Thummim for the particulars of duty. Is it certain? Is it even\nrational to suppose that the few answers of that oracle mentioned in\nthe scriptures, are the only ones ever communicated? Prophets, too,\nwere sent to manifest the particulars of duty, and angels, some of whom\n_might be_ the spirits of just men. And we have no reason to doubt\nbut Moses was a Spectre when he conversed with Christ on the Holy\nMount; notwithstanding that old fiction of his resurrection, which has\ndishonored the antiquities of Josephus.\n\nNow the question is, what person ever yet demonstrated that no such\noccasional revelation was ever wanted in any hour since the completion\nof the scriptures? Certainly this completion never precluded spectral\nmissions in the view of the christian fathers. And their continuation\nhas been the constant faith of christians in general, down to this day\nof deism. And the war of the deists against this opinion is easily\naccounted for: because the admission of Spectres is the admission of\nmiracle; and the admission of occasional revelation, brings a question\nto their door which would be a troublesome neighbor. _Why then should\nnot a revelation be needful for the public?_ Great is their obligation\nto modern christians for their assistance in this warfare. It may be\nasked, if these missions have been thus continued, why have they\ngenerally been attended with so few witnesses? But if there be evidence\nenough for him, or those who are interested in the message, it is\nsufficient for their purpose, whether others believe it or not.\n\nWhen David was told by the Urim that the men of Keilah would deliver\nhim into the hand of Saul, no person appears to have been present but\nAbiather; but if the oracle was attended with the evidence described by\nJosephus, there was evidence enough for the purpose of David and his\nmen, whether five other persons in the whole nation believed it or not.\n\nAfter all, it is not our duty to expect apparitions, for they never\ncome to gratify curiosity; nor to pray for their coming, unless our\ncase be peculiar as that of Manoah; nor to entertain the idea that\ntheir speaking to us, would make a more durable impression than the\npreaching of the living. Such conduct and apprehensions are erroneous,\nand expose us to greater delusion. Our Lord has expressly taught us\nthat, if we believe not Moses and the prophets, neither shall we\nbe persuaded, though one rose from the dead. And accordingly the\naffectionate and persuasive addresses of the Spectre in this place,\nwhich drew tears from every eye, had no happy, durable influence on the\nunregenerate character in a single instance.\n\nIt was necessary that religion should appear in all her conduct\nand conversation, otherwise her profession would have been justly\nsuspected. But on that Lord\u2019s day morning, mentioned in several\ntestimonies, she did not say to the people, _Tarry and hear me_. No,\nbut \u201cRetire to your homes, read the bible, pray and keep the day\nholy.\u201d[55] That is to say, attend to those ample and most suitable\nmeans of grace which God has appointed for you in his written word.\n\nThe preaching of the gospel was not her design; but she had other\ndesigns which appropriate the sentence, \u201cI am not to be trifled with.\u201d\n\nIn some old fashioned minds, her familiar conversation may excite\nthe suspicion of necromancy and divination, by a _familiar_ spirit,\nso plainly forbidden in the law of Moses: and then doubtless Mrs.\nButler must bear the accusation. But there is no evidence that this\nangel conversed more familiarly with her than with others who were\nnever suspected. She conversed familiarly with all those who had much\nconversation with her.\n\nThe ancient idea of a familiar spirit appears not to have been obtained\nfrom the familiar conversation of any person with a spirit, (though\nsometimes the inquirer might be deceived by the artificial resemblance\nof it) but from the opinion that certain persons had a spirit foreign\nto their own, residing in them and uttering oracles from their\nbodies.[56] These persons were a sort of ventriloquists. Their conduct\nis described by Rollin in his account of the Grecian Oracles. The\nspeech of their familiar spirit was imagined to proceed, not from the\nlips of any person, but from a part of their own bodies, in some manner\nartificially swollen. This is confirmed by their very name _Abefeth_,\nin the Hebrew language, which has the signification of swelling. The\nfamiliar spirit itself was called _Afeb_, which is the same noun in the\nsingular number. The swollen part and the familiar spirit, which was\nimagined to reside in it, had one name. \u201cDivine unto me by the Afeb,\u201d\nsaid Saul, 1 Sam. 28: 8. Divine unto me by the _swelling_, and bring me\nup whom I shall name unto thee. But it does not appear that the woman\nhad any time for divination. She saw Samuel unexpectedly, and cried out\nfor fear:[57] and Samuel, instead of being familiar with her, never\nspake a single word to her. Now it is not even pretended that any such\ntoken of Afeb or necromancy, have appeared among us.\n\nDoubtless this wickedness among the ancients, was for the most part\nlegerdemain,[58] and their predictions always uncertain, as appears\nnot only from their ambiguity, but from the public estimation of some\noracles in preference to others, and of the Delphic oracle above all\nthe rest.\n\nFrom the observations now made, we learn the criminality of witchcraft\nor legerdemain, for there is no essential difference between them.\n\nTo counterfeit the royal seal was ever a capital crime. How\npresumptuously criminal then are they, who counterfeit the royal seal\nof heaven! The certificate of divine revelation, such is the conduct\nof every mountebank, while the spectator is left ignorant of his art.\nHis false miracles spread a cloud of uncertainty over the minds of\nmen, so that many are at loss how to distinguish the true miracle, the\ntrue seal of the King of heaven, from its counterfeit. And they who\ncountenance and encourage such persons, are guilty of far greater evil\nthan the great evil of wasting time and property. But such behaviour is\nthe food of infidelity. No wonder it is so common at the present day.\n\nWhether the writer is one who gives such countenance and encouragement,\nis for the next writer on the subject of these pages to shew,[59] not\nby pointing out inaccuracies here and there, for this any person may\neasily do, but by presenting to the public a complete, satisfactory\nanalysis of this whole mystery.\n\nTo his particular notice, I ask leave to offer a few cautionary\nobservations; if needless for him, they may assist another.\n\nAmong so many of us who have heard and seen the Spectre, it would\nbe very strange, if, in the course of twenty-six years past, no one\nshould have deviated from the strait line of perfect rectitude. If\nimperfection should be found among us, and the publicity of it will\ncast any light upon this subject, by all means let it come forth: if\nnot, let him, who is without sin, cast the first stone.\n\nThe question is not, _How have we conducted_, unless our conduct be\nsuch as invalidates our evidence: for we are liable to evil every day;\nbut, _How has the Spectre conducted?_ and _who could she be?_ It has\nbeen frequently reported among people at a distance from this scene,\nfor more than twenty years, that the whole business was an artifice,\nand fairly proved to be such. We who believe the existence of the\nSpectre, have thought that this inaccurate on dit has had currency long\nenough. Our respondent, therefore, will not fail to shew our mistake,\nby demonstrating that this report is indeed correct. Suppose then, (no\nmatter how distant the supposition is from what has really happened)\nsuppose then, I say, that, in the course of his zealous inquiries, our\nrespondent should find that he, who pretends to have discovered the\nplot, is a witness in favor of the Spectre, and that his testimony was\nconnected with a solemn and public profession of his firm belief that\nthe Spectre was really such as she professed to be. Suppose further,\nthat in contemplating the dates of these events, our respondent should\nfind that the discovery preceded that testimony and that solemn, public\nprofession: to say nothing of the numerous other witnesses who might\ncontradict him. In such a case I should imagine that a discerning, wary\nand unprejudiced reader would give but a cold assent to his process of\ndemonstration.\n\nIt is my earnest desire that the reply may honor the author by the\nexpressions of candor, philanthropy and grand thought. If his talent\nbe that of a Swift or a Juvenal, his temptation will be great to adopt\nthe loose style of the infidel. Let not compliance deceive the unwary.\nBetween ridicule and reasoning the distinction is eternal. The most\nimportant and solemn truths have been the subject of both. The sober\nschool of Socrates furnished a comedy for the Athenian stage. And\nVoltaire could tell us from the Apocalypse, how incommodious their\nsituation will be who shall inhabit the upper story of New Jerusalem.\n\nUnhappy man! thy fruits of genius furnished a feast of intellectual\ndainties. But the figs of Cleopatra covered the basilisk, and a world\nwas ruined by the tree of knowledge. The termination of Satyre was\nhorror; and the pure day of awful truth now glaring upon thee from\nevery point has impressed sobriety eternal.\n\nThe result of this whole inquiry is that of consolation. Our death will\nnot be total. Our souls will survive our bodies. We shall think and\nreason and know the moral conduct of this world, and perhaps the very\nnames of particular persons, after our bodies are turned to dust.\n\nAmong us are a considerable number of people who say that the Spectre\nknew and told them their thoughts past, present or future, or all\nthree; and such thoughts as she could not have known or conjectured by\nordinary means. To one of them, whose veracity is doubted by none, she\nforetold the time, before several witnesses, when his mind would be\nstruck with horror for opposing her messages.\n\nWhen the time was come, which was about six months after the\nprediction, his mind at first, as he informed me, was calm as usual. To\ndisturb him he saw nothing, expected nothing, and was about to reject\nthe prediction as nothing. Instantly he was surprised by a new train\nof ideas. The evil of his conduct was set in order before him, and his\ndistress was apparent to others, as some of them, whose witness cannot\nfor a moment be suspected, informed me.\n\nNow this instance alone, would prove but little; yet, when connected\nwith ten or twelve others, of undoubted credibility, attesting the\nsame kind of experience, while they have no visible combination by\nkindred, employment, age or interest, it is certainly worthy of some\nconsideration.\n\nIf one departed saint is capable of knowing our thoughts, so may\nothers. That uncorporeal spirits are witnesses of the conduct of this\nworld, appears not only from that of Spectres, but from the scriptures,\nas in Dan. 8: 13. Rev. 6: 10. Eccl. 5: 6. 1 Tim. 5: 21. No reason can be\nassigned why our conduct may not be as visible to a saint made perfect,\nas to an angel: for neither of them can know us by bodily organs, such\nas we now possess, and their knowledge of our thoughts without these\norgans, is just as easily accounted for, as their knowledge of our\nexternal conduct. The spirits of just men, when they leave this world,\nare made perfect. \u201cBut when that which is perfect is come, then that\nwhich is in part shall be done away. Now I know in part; but then\nshall I know, even as also I am known.\u201d This cannot mean that I shall\nknow other souls and even Christ himself as _perfectly_ as he knows\nme; but I shall know them in the same manner. I shall know other souls\n_intuitively_ as Christ knows me. Indeed, what idea can we have of mere\nspirits seeing each other, and being present with each other, but that\nof the mutual intuition of thoughts?\n\nIf that day should find the saints as ignorant of the human character\nas they are at the hour of death, their judgment will be of small\naccount for their own satisfaction or that of others.\n\nAnd should evasion tell us that Christ and his angels will then reveal\nto the saints the character of this world; still this character would\nbe only the object of faith, not of sight, and satan and his adherents,\ncould say that the saints had condemned them for the most part by\nhear-say, and that of those who had always opposed them from the\nbeginning.\n\nNow it does not seem probable that the enemies of Christ will ever find\noccasion for such a plea as this. Every mouth will be stopped. And\nthe mouths of wicked men will be stopped, not merely by the testimony\nof foreign angels, but by witnesses taken from their own family, and\nsuch too as have been the greatest and most constant friends that ever\nthey had in the world: such as had counselled and warned them--had\nexperienced the most cordial and warmest zeal for their salvation and\nhad often wept for them in secret places. Thus mankind will be judged\nby their peers. Their quarrel with God and each other, will be decided\nin their own family. \u201cThe Father judgeth no man, but hath committed\nall judgment to the Son,\u201d in union with his spiritual members, and\nthere must be knowledge in them for this purpose. And what better\nmethod of acquiring it can we conceive so easy and natural as that of\ntheir contemplating the moral conduct of mankind through all ages of\nthe world. May we not then indulge the idea that, when the humble and\nafflicted leave this body of sin and death, they hear the voice of the\nBeloved saying, \u201cCome ye blessed of my Father:\u201d possess in perfection\nmy spirit of holiness and unerring wisdom, to know as you as are known.\nGreat is the work for which you are ordained. You have been faithful\nover a few things, I will make you ruler over many. You must judge the\nworld with me. Henceforth watch their conduct, know their character,\nand prepare for it.\n\nHence it follows that we do nothing in secret. All our behaviour is\nknown, not only to Christ, but to the watchers, his holy ones. With\nthem is the book of God\u2019s remembrance.\n\nO gracious Redeemer, shed abroad thy love in our hearts. May faith and\npatience have their perfect work. Beautify us with thy moral likeness,\nthat we may be fair in thine eyes and in the eyes of our kindred\nwho dwell with thee. With them at last may we behold thy glory and\ncelebrate thy love forever.                                  ALLELUIA.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n      [1] Christ laid down his life for his sheep; but mere law\n          and justice never required this of him.\n\n      [2] Even the divine Trinity, existing from everlasting, to\n          speak with accuracy, is the Trinity of Person, not of\n          Persons.\n\n      [3] It is the opinion, not only of Mr. Swedenbourg, but of\n          many other pious and learned men, of other persuasions,\n          that when the pious soul has left the body, he occupies\n          a vehicle or spiritual body which may be considered as\n          the resurrection commenced, and to be perfected in the\n          last day, when the trumpet shall sound and the dead\n          shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.\n\n      [4] Matthew 10: 28.\n\n      [5] 1 Samuel, xxviii, 15.\n\n      [6] Eviden. of Christianity, Sect. 7.\n\n      [7] Kate with a hide and horns.\n\n      [8] Ecclesiast. Hist. Vol. 4. sect. 1. c. 1.\n\n      [9] Life of Dr. Johnson, pp. 364.\n\n     [10] Spectator, No. 110.\n\n     [11] Since the Deity has assumed our nature, his being\n          comprises Divine intelligence and human intelligence.\n          The former is intuitive; the latter reasons sometimes\n          for the investigation of truth; yet being in a sense\n          made Divine, is the infallible source and medium of\n          all our spiritual knowledge, grace and happiness. Now\n          as intelligence is the very essence of personality,\n          distinction of intelligence must be the distinction\n          of personality. Therefore the Divine Intelligence is\n          the Divine Person, and the human intelligence, is\n          the human person. The Divine breathing, too, called\n          the Holy Ghost, is a person in the figurative sense;\n          several personal pronouns being applied to this\n          Divine afflatus in the Scriptures. Our meaning thus\n          explained, we may truly say that there are three\n          Persons in the Deity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,\n          all comprised in our glorious Saviour, in whom dwells\n          all the fulness of the Deity bodily. But the doctrine\n          of there being literally three distinct personal\n          divinities in the Deity, has no foundation in the\n          Scriptures.\n\n     [12] The personal pronouns _she_ and _her_ are here used\n          with reference to the sex to which the ghost belonged\n          in this world.\n\n     [13] i. e. On the distinction between the original and\n          required perceptions of sight.\n\n     [14] To him she had before sent several messages by several\n          persons of different families.\n\n     [15] I hear your objection. \u201cThere was a reason for her\n          being consoled. Make me believe, if you can, that,\n          if her professed ignorance of the affair was real;\n          the appearance and discourse of a ghost by her side,\n          would not augment her fears and distress.\u201d But\n          remember, dear sir, that experience in this case is\n          the best teacher. More than thirty witnesses of both\n          sexes, are against you; all declaring that though\n          at first the ghost excited terror; yet, after a\n          little discourse with her, their fears were entirely\n          dissipated, and succeeded by peculiar pleasure: so\n          familiar and delightful was the mode of her address\n          and conversation. At this time Mr. Blaisdel heard the\n          conversation distinctly, but saw nothing. His daughter\n          both saw and heard.\n\n     [16] This was ordered by the ghost.\n\n     [17] That all these reasons were assigned at _that\n          juncture_, I pretend not to say. Probably they were\n          not; but certain it is, that she expressed them all to\n          her friends at different times.\n\n     [18] Voltaire, in his philosophical dictionary, treating\n          the Bible and ghosts with equal ridicule, says that\n          the latter, \u201cused to hie away at the crowing of the\n          cock.\u201d The same was the idea of Shakespeare in his\n          ghost of Hamlet, \u201cAdieu, the glow worm shews the\n          morning to be near.\u201d But this we now see, is not\n          always the case.\n\n     [19] These two, by their own desire, had obtained a promise\n          that they should not see her. There were several such\n          instances at different times.\n\n     [20] A place in the house most distant from that of the\n          Spectre.\n\n     [21] This meeting was the wedding. He who is able to\n          receive it, let him receive it. One infinitely greater\n          than this Spectre, attended the marriage at Cana in\n          Galilee.\n\n     [22] In about an hour after she appeared to forty of this\n          assembly. But I must here also insert a particular\n          observation of Dr. Rush in his chapter of illusions;\n          \u201cWhen a person fancies that he hears voices and sees\n          objects, which do not exist, he has these sensations\n          alone. The voice supposed to be heard, says he, and\n          the objects supposed to be seen, are never heard nor\n          seen by two persons, even when they are close to each\n          other.\u201d--_Disease of the Mind, chapter 15._\n\n     The inference then is certain, with respect to those\n          witnesses, that no mental disease could be the true\n          origin of their hearing and vision.\n\n     [23] This only means that they were together at a little\n          distance from the rest of the company in the same\n          apartment.\n\n     [24] She then expressed not only her own feelings but those\n          of the family. The idea of a Spectre coming into the\n          room, where they commonly were, was distressing to\n          them, as already observed.\n\n     [25] I find no evidence that these two went without others.\n\n     [26] This experience is testified by all who saw and heard.\n\n     [27] This, however, he denies, but suppose it were true,\n          why was it improper that in his own house he should\n          choose the place where he would stand? If they knew\n          where he was, that was sufficient.\n\n     [28] See the date in the last letter, page 39.\n\n     [29] He had said that Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s family could not\n          raise the Spirit any where but in their own house, as\n          several testified.\n\n     [30] That is, that they heard the same words.\n\n     [31] There was not only this similarity in voice, but the\n          same phrases, which she was accustomed to use, and\n          which were peculiar to her in her life time, she\n          uttered now, as several of her intimate acquaintances\n          have informed me.\n\n     [32] She had come several times before, as the preceding\n          letters show. Five months before this, Mr. Blaisdel\u2019s\n          son P. and his sisters, were sent by the ghost to\n          a house where several young people were met for\n          amusement; not for this purpose, but for terminating\n          a difference between them and one of that company.\n          The ghost strictly charged them to go and return in\n          peace, and to abstain from all appearance of evil.\n          The propriety of this small errand appears by its\n          connections and the events which followed. But, as it\n          stands insulated before the eyes of pride and folly,\n          how despicable it must appear! Had such eyes looked\n          on, when the first silk worm was formed, it would\n          have appeared a trivial and useless contrivance.\n          \u201cAs the heavens are higher than the earth; so are\n          my ways higher than your ways, saith the Lord, and\n          my thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d It would be very\n          strange indeed, if a messenger from heaven should\n          have much to perform in such a world as this, and yet\n          meet with no opposition; and equally strange, if that\n          messenger should perform nothing but what mankind\n          would naturally expect, especially in a period when\n          christians themselves have not escaped the contagion\n          of infidelity.\n\n     [33] The children, through fear, had moved their beds into\n          the room where their parents lodged.\n\n     [34] These words were heard by eight persons.\n\n     [35] This answer she now denies; but owns she saw the\n          apparition.\n\n     [36] These enigmatical warnings were some of the first\n          words which the voice uttered, and they appeared\n          strange to us all. They appeared void of instruction,\n          impertinent and utterly inapplicable to any thing\n          which was seen, remembered, or expected among us.\n          None were then trifling with her; all wondered, and\n          many were solemnized. Nor was there any remarkable\n          contention among us. But after she had produced her\n          strange, unexpected, unheard of message, our behaviour\n          soon fixed the meaning of these enigmas, and rendered\n          them like apples of gold and pictures of silver. Her\n          speaking so much in a by-place (a cellar) separate\n          from the common dwelling of man, like John in the\n          wilderness, has offended us. If her paths were the\n          Lord\u2019s, instead of making them strait, we have made\n          them crooked by misconception, misrepresentation, and\n          falsehood. While the ghost was then speaking, one of\n          the company was near eternity. Therefore \u201cseek the\n          Lord while he may be found.\u201d\n\n          With what contempt and ridicule has the ghost been\n          treated on account of the marriage! Therefore \u201cI am\n          not to be trifled with,\u201d was pertinent. What violent\n          contentions, occasioned by her messages, appropriate\n          the terms \u201cPeace, peace,\u201d or \u201cthere must be peace,\u201d as\n          she more plainly said to another person about the same\n          time.\n\n     [37] Here we see that the direct answer was entirely\n          avoided. It was no design of her mission. We have the\n          Bible by which even the angels must be tried. To the\n          law and the testimony. If they speak not according to\n          this word, it is because they have no light in them,\n          from whatever world they may profess to come. She\n          accordingly took this ground, and reasoned with the\n          people out of the Scriptures as the standard of truth\n          by which she would be tried.\n\n     [38] It was matter of trial to some christians among us,\n          that the Spirit should thus associate with one who\n          never gave the least evidence of piety: But the Spirit\n          informed them, out of her hearing, that Mrs. Butler\n          was one of the elect, and would repent before she left\n          the world.\n\n     [39] She had several times fainted before.\n\n     [40] \u201cDon\u2019t you believe a word of all that I have told\n          you,\u201d say some who heard it.\n\n     [41] She now talked without appearing. It was the next\n          night after this, that the attempt was made to handle\n          her while she appeared.\n\n     [42] The last member of this sentence is matter of dispute.\n\n     [43] This shews that this witness was not in the cellar,\n          when the preceding sentence was uttered. They who\n          were there, say that it was the Spectre who said,\n          _they must come down_, and Mr. Blaisdel who added that\n          _they should be satisfied_. Others tell us that the\n          sentence was, \u201cCome down _in order_, and you shall be\n          satisfied.\u201d\n\n     Make the worst of it; it was but innocent inaccuracy, like\n          what is recorded of angels in the scriptures. Possibly\n          the ghost did not foresee this confusion. Certain it\n          is, that she constantly and strictly insisted upon\n          order and solemnity, as indispensably requisite to\n          her manifestations. After all, if the ghost has ever\n          uttered one falsehood, or _one_ false accusation,\n          with the manifest design of injurious deception; or,\n          if she has ever committed or ordered the commission\n          of _one_ crime; we must, without hesitation, condemn\n          her as an evil angel. But then we must remember that\n          her criminality should first be proved, not by our\n          surmises or conjectures, but by substantial, plenary,\n          and indubitable evidence.\n\n     [44] Here is a little mistake. It was not her mother,\n          but Mr. Blaisdel who proposed this question, by her\n          mother\u2019s desire expressed to him.\n\n     [45] This sentence was uttered at another time. It is\n          believed by some, among whom is the writer, that\n          several interviews mentioned in the last letter were\n          not those of N. H., but of another Spectre. This may\n          be somewhat difficult, and doubtless not essentially\n          necessary to prove.\n\n     [46] That is, that they experienced the same.\n\n     [47] \u201cBefore she vanished.\u201d That is, before she vanished\n          for the last time that morning, for this was after\n          she had vanished in the view of Mr. Downing, as in\n          Testimony 8.\n\n     [48] These last words declared to me by other witnesses\n          are not in the original testimony of Mrs. H. I have\n          therefore enclosed them.\n\n     [49] Her messages were probably such as never were since\n          Christ was on earth. Some of them are contrary to all\n          expectation, and exposed the families of Mr. Blaisdel,\n          Mr. Hooper, Capt. Butler, and Mrs. Butler, in\n          particular, to unjust reproach. Therefore the loving\n          kindness of the Lord to these families, made the\n          proofs as extraordinary as the messages, that whoever\n          shall calumniate either of those families, on account\n          of these events, may do it at their peril.\n\n     [50] Mr. D. has since declared that he had found all these\n          words to be true.\n\n     [51] They saw no personal form.\n\n     [52] The greatest things are from among the least.\n\n     [53] The order was nearly elliptical; for the two ranks\n          were joined by certain persons at each end.\n\n     [54] Whatever message enlarges or diminishes their doctrine\n          or worship, must undoubtedly be rejected and the\n          messenger too. But beware of extremes.\n\n     [55] There was no preacher in the town that day.\n\n     [56] _To have a familiar spirit_, as expressed in the Old\n          Testament, and, _To have a demon_, as expressed in the\n          New; seem to be phrases of the same import, and the\n          idea of it was that of criminality. But we find no\n          person in the New Testament justly accused of it.\n\n          Demoniacs were of another description. They were esteemed\n          innocent, and pitied, as being afflicted by the demons.\n\n          Possibly this in part was the true evil which afflicted\n          part of our land in 1692, and which our pious\n          ancestors unhappily mistook for witchcraft.\n\n     [57] The original of verse 11-12, is strictly thus: \u201cAnd he\n          said, bring me up Samuel. And the woman saw Samuel and\n          cried out.\u201d This strongly intimates that Samuel came\n          unexpectedly and without any previous divination. The\n          word _when_, in our translation has no responsive in\n          the original.\n\n     [58] Not altogether such, why else should the oracles cease\n          at the time of our Saviour\u2019s birth? Legerdemain found\n          no more difficulty afterwards than before. God did in\n          his righteous judgment, choose the delusions which\n          they had chosen for themselves. He sometimes fulfilled\n          their predictions, Deut. 13: 1, 2, 3. Ezek. 21: 22 to\n          25; and might sometimes, though very seldom, suffer\n          such real miracles as were either vain, or injurious;\n          but never those of benevolence. Compare the magic of\n          Egypt with Rev. 16: 14. The demons drowned the swine,\n          but never gave rain; Isa. For satan must not oppose\n          satan.\n\n     [59] Should they appear worthy of such painful notice.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note\n\nThis book was written in a period when many words had not become\nstandardized in their spelling. Words may have inconsistent hyphenation\nin the text. Jargon, dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings were\nnot changed. Misspelled words were corrected.\n\nNew original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the\npublic domain.\n\nWords and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like\nthis_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the\nend of the book. Obvious printing errors, such as partially printed\nletters and punctuation, were corrected. Final stops missing at the end\nof sentences and abbreviations were added. Duplicate letters at line\nendings were removed. The text employs non-standard use of quotation\nmarks and Biblical references.\n\nThe following items were changed:\n\n  who believe on [in] immortality\n  August 0 [10], 1800","title":"Immortality proved by the testimony of sense : $b In which is contemplated the doctrine of spectres and the existence of a particular spectre","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":34543}