Psychomancy : spirit-rappings and table-tippings exposed
vy.?*E«0! Mm jCHBtjiOC t •^^2" <■ ^* •y fl^B rar^st^M "Mp^r ' 'r3^- ■3fcaWCZ ■"'•>*E- ■' - 5 *Sfcv\S «L S. S^<iS.I«12iS..VkM*ii^.^^^^^ 5T*,<, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. %./(/]3F]Z^ T *& x* I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. UflEj '«&€-' t m c -m:m ^:*mmmtmM: «c ^!iflilKcf< V C«Si.Ui$Lc* <J i m WLL t CC «3C C€ i Us S^ csc r ^c tfTC 4S <BT C* ^ ft»y lAV^ CC <*■> <^<a« LMct <<sSBpr & -\3 si 4M '^■■xctmmtfmzct iEZJl ItMQLCpSL^E «««xij«ra9u *m«'€M X[*^«M IffXtCl -^x*Caai c «c c *. v^«s»ws,- v va««B& itiCt ccicc ~ 5jc *g: tic uol tCHC t •<( <9B Htt\ t < . « (TTi PSYCHOIANCY. SPIRIT-RAPPINGS AND TABLE-TIPPINGS EXPOSED. BY PEOF. CHAELES G. JPAQE, M. D.; Etc. NEW-YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. y ? Entered according to Act of Congress, in the ye'ar 1853, by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New- York. SPIRIT-RAPPINGS. The wide-spread and alarming mania of Spirit- rappings and table-tipping s of the present day, is only a modification, or new garb, of devilish instrumentalities, operating through human machi- nations, which have infested society from time immemorial. We start with this proposition, harsh as it may sound to some, and if we should fail to sustain it by facts, reasoning, and common sense, to the entire satisfaction of all, we still say to the unbelievers in our doctrine, show us the proof to the contrary ; and with a confidence firm as our belief in Holy Writ, and the unfailing laws of God, we challenge the exhibition to our senses of any performance with spirit-rappings, or table-tippings, which cannot be explained upon natural, and well known natural laws. We will here premise, that 4 Spirit-Kappings. we do not attribute to Satan any direct agency in this matter other than has always been ascribed to • him in the crimes and misdeeds of man from the fall down to this present time. That neither the "prince of the power of the air/' nor his imps (unless they be in human shape), rap out intelli- gence by sounds, get under tables and tip them over, swing them round, or perform any of these extraordinary feats, which so many among us are determined to invest with supernatural character and origin. Nor do we consider that the arch- enemy of man has brought any new power or agency into operation to further his mischievous designs. Far from it. A new power? It would frustrate his schemes in their very inception. A new power ? It is a lawful subject of pursuit, to the very exhaustion of mental resources. A new power? Its bare mention is an arousing signal to the devotees of science, and upon the first scintillation of plausibility, the midnight lamp will burn throughout Christendom, till its capabilities and subserviency to man's actual wants are unfolded. No ! the tempter knows his game and tools, and perhaps his own limits, all too well Spirit-Rappings. 5 to give to man a new and legitimate object of research, and thus divert investigation from hallu- cinating and mercenary sorceries to that which is lawful and truthful. He works with his own and old tools, upon and through that most successful instrumentality, over which, by long and dire ex- perience, he has acquired such mighty ascendency — the human soul. This is his pliant tool, and here his stronghold. To those who regard the Scriptural account of the devil's existence and agency as allegorical, our argument, in its cardinal character and bearing, will apply with the same force, for they have only to invest the mind of man with all the force and attributes that the allegory gives to both combined, and we address ourselves to them with the same interest and hope of success as with those who believe the Scripture implicitly to the letter. To all alike, the deep, untiring, un- ending wiles of the human soul are familiar themes, and it matters but little to our present purpose, whether these impious transactions proceed from the main-spring of unaided, uninspired thought, or whether the unheeding thought is impressed by supernal powers. There is in the mind a strong 6 Spirit-Raspings. and often morbid appetency for tiie supernatural and marvellous ; a proneness to inquire beyond what is actually revealed ; and, worse than this, a prurience of power, either real or specious, to exalt one above his fellow mortals, and give the weight of Divine authority to his words and acts. From this desire originates priestcraft, astrology and sorcery, and in the former habitude of the mind lies the secret of their success and perpetuation. It has been a real source of distress to us, to see professing Christians, even among our immediate friends, pushing their inquiries beyond the confines of realities into the spirit-world, forgetting or mis- apprehending the injunctions of Scripture forbid- ding us to look into such things, and unconscious of the fact, that their well-meant invocations of spirits by the tipping of tables and rappings, was, in every step and act of repetition, lending encour- agement to the mercenary and nefarious schemes of a certain set of vile impostors, who originated the cheat, and were continuing its practice for the sake of filthy lucre. To them, and to all, we say Stop ! ere this temerity be visited with the right- eous judgments of an offended Deity, who has pro- Spirit-Kappings. *J nounced, in his holy oracles, in clear and unmis- takable language, his malediction of sorcery and witchcraft ; has set the bounds of human inquiry where time stops and eternity begins, and sealed up the future in impenetrable mystery ; who has refused to the yearning hearts of fond and bereaved parents all knowledge of their dear departed, save the hopes and consolations of the Scripture. What ! shall the Great Judgment be anticipated, and the archives of eternal retribution be read by the knocking of sticks upon the floor, or the upsetting of tables ? Shall eternity be made subordinate to time ; the immortal to the mortal ? Shall the silence of the grave be disturbed by grovelling mountebanks, or its stern abodes become vocal through these gross mediums of rappers and tip- pers? Impious! Impious! We need not quote Scripture against this unholy pursuit, for its anath- emas are full and loud, and he who runs may read. We know there are those who are innocently en- gaged in the invocation of spirits, and who seem to take delight in holding converse with their departed friends, as they suppose. We ask them to pause, and consider well what they are doing ! 8 Spirit-Rappings. to look around, and see the devastation of human intellect, the fearful swellings of the madhouse rolls, the frightful deeds of blood and violence, and the stupendous frauds, all begotten of this monster mania ! Are these the fruits of legitimate and holy deeds ? Are these your consolations while at your spiritual shrines ? Do they not bear evidence in themselves of their diabolical origin, and are they not warnings to you to beware, lest in your attempts to enter beyond the veil into the u Holy of Holies" you be struck down also ? If these pests of society are beyond the reach of earthly tribunals, will you countenance and encourage their career ? Shall we be met here with the as- sertion that there are religious maniacs, that re- ligious excitement makes madmen, and leads to deeds of violence ? We spurn the fallacy ; and with proud defiance, armed with the Eock of Ages, we hurl back the apology in the very teeth of the casuist who made it, and, fearless of his replication, triumphantly assert that the true re- ligion of Jesus Christ, whose first fruits and very essence is peace to the soul, never drove any BODY MAD. Spirit-Rappings. 9 We profess a profound reverence for all that is holy, and from our earliest recollection have been imbued with a deep dread of profanity in any shape, and approached this mockery of high Heaven with some reluctance, unwilling that our veneration should suffer so much violence. But we felt justified, in the full assurance that this thing was not of Heaven, but of men. For the sake of unravelling this imposture and illusion, for this purpose alone, we have put ourselves fre- quently in the attitude of dupes of these impos- tors, and feigning for a time conviction and conver- sion, have led them on till they were completely baffled in every attempt to perform their tricks, and the spirits became powerless and silent as the mor- tal tenements they once actuated. When we first sat down to a table with a few well-meaning and particular family friends to conjure spirits, we con- fess to a momentary feeling of horripilation, not from fear of meeting a visitor from another world, but from the impression that the very act was heav- en-daring and profane. But when we came to utter the Bapper's Shibboleth, " If there are any spirits present , will they please to signify it by tip 1* 10 Spirit-Rappings. ping the table?" the thoughts of sacrilege vanished, and were immediately supplanted by an irresistible sense of the ridiculous, and the smile and the laugh rose above all convictions of solemnity or irrever- ence. "Will the spirits please to tip the table?" was again and again reiterated, but no table tipped for us. Perhaps we are not " mediums/' said one. " The spirits have declared that I am a medium," said another ; but that Great Exorcist, common sense, was present and prevalent on this occasion; and the spirits would not communicate, and the table would not tip, certainly not, of itself. We introduced every variety of manipulation of cross- ing hands, interlocking fingers, and, in spite of all, and the most patient persistence, the table proved true to its lifeless character, and the universal law that " matter is inert, and cannot move of itself'' What could have been the cause of this abortive conjuration ? Were the spirits present, and not disposed to gratify a certain class of dilettanti who were present ? Were they jesting and teazing, or in bad humor with our persons, our fixtures, or our espionage ? For we had heard from very respect- able sources, of the spirits jesting and taunting Spirit-R appings. 1 1 those present on such occasions. Or were they far away on some errand of duty, or busy and monop- olized for some special tippings elsewhere ? This last idea seems to be precluded by the fact that certain great spirits, such as Channing, Webster, Clay and Calhoun, who figure so largely on these occasions, rap and tip in different places at the same time. What mummery is all this to the mind that believes in the omnipresence of the Great God himself, who cannot look upon such practices but with abhorrence. Are you, Chris- tian man or woman, one whit better for these doings than that woman with the familiar spirits, the Witch of Endor?* Are you not rather her disciple ? and is she not held up to you for an ex- ample and a warning ? Do you think that rap- pings and table-tippings give respectability to witchcraft? Is reading the future and the invisi- ble world by rappings and tippings any better than * This witch of Endor it seems was the only woman with a familiar spirit that had escaped death under the royal edict of Saul, and how successfully she bewitched or juggled Saul our readers all know. We refer them one and all to the 19th Chap. Leviticus, 31st verse Ed. 12 Spirit-Eappings. the doings of yonder wretched crone, who works out in her concealed abode the same problems by packs of c^ids and mystical incantations ? Are you not ministering encouragement to her hag- ship, and pursuing her very vocation, though under another name ? Shall not this veritable beldame rise up in judgment, and plead in justification of fortune-telling the example of the Christian Church in spirit-rapping and table-tipping ? Per- haps you think that these seeming wonders are fraught with more interest, novelty, and mystery, than the magical demonstrations of old. Why, in very truth, they are contemptibly insignificant when compared with the witcheries of old. Eead Upham's letters on the witchcraft of the New England Colonies, Sir Walter Scott's demonology and witchcraft, and see how the rappings and tippings dwindle before the performances of the witches of yore. After reading these, study well Sir David Brewster's Natural Magic — a book that should be in the hands of every one who takes in- terest in these marvels of the day. There you will see how phenomena, at first sight inexplicable, are solved by the touch-stones of science and com- Spirit-Rappings. 1 3 mon sense. You will there find that sorcery was not to be stopped entirely by the gibbet, the gal- lows or the stake, but that the light of reason and science were most effectual in promoting its over- throw. Sir Walter Scott says of the opposers of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, that the " pursuers of exact science to its coy retreats were sure to be the first to discover that the most re- markable phenomena in nature are regulated by certain fixed laws, and cannot be rationally re- ferred to supernatural agency" (meaning, of course, supernatural interference), "the sufficing cause to which superstition attributes all that is beyond her own narrow power of explanation. Each advance in natural knowledge teaches us, that it is the pleasure of the Creator to govern the world by the laws which he has imposed, and which in our times are not interrupted or sus- pended." In all ages, the Church has attributed sorcery to the agency of the devil. If this is his work, he certainly proceeds upon the same general modus operandi as ever. As one artifice wears out, or is exploded by the power of science, he resorts to 14 Spirit-Rappings. another ; that is, he prompts new tricks by his own unseen influences, upon the minds of those who become his willing instruments. The most gross of all is spirit-rapping, and next, the subtle delusions of mesmerism, and table-tippings. We cannot stop here to discuss mesmerism, for what- ever there may be in it of lawful inquiry, surely the sending of clairvoyant spirits to the portals of heaven or hell, to bring back descriptions of those abodes and their inhabitants, is sorcery of the most impious character. Some years ago said a distin- guished poet, " Satan now, is wiser than of yore ; " doubtless he has advanced a few degrees in stra- tegy, since Pope's time, and as the light and power of science and wisdom increase, so does he deepen his plots and shift his points of attack. Now we will repeat here, that it is entirely immaterial to our purpose whether our readers believe in the seen or unseen, direct or indirect influences of the devil upon mind or matter, or in neither one nor the other. If they do not believe that he " goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour/' if they do not believe in the existence of such a malignant being, they have only this alter- Spirit-Rappings. 15 native, that they must find the devil's equivalent in the human heart, which though a less palatable doctrine, will answer the design of this argument, which is to show that these pretended wonders of knocks and table movements are illusory, nefari- ous and mischievous, originating chiefly from evil- minded persons, and perpetuated by the indiffer- ence of careless observers, the connivance of others, and mainly by the fanaticism, ignorance, and credu- lousness of a large class of persons found in every community. These have been recognized in all ages* as the principal ingredients in sorcery, but there is yet another element which is doing much to foster this crime, and although not a new fea- ture, yet is quite prevalent at this time, and less excusable than it w^as in the days of Bacon and Napier. says, " The learned and sensible Dr. Webster, for instance, writing in the detection of the supposed witchcraft, assumes, as a string of undeniable facts, opinions which our more experienced age would reject as frivolous fancies ; for example, the effects of healing by the weapon-salve, the sympathetic powder, the curing of various diseases by appre- hensions, amulets, or by transplantation." "All of which undoubted wonders he accuses the age of desiring to throw on the devil's back — an unneces- sary load, certainly, since such things do not exist, and it is therefore in vain to seek to account for them. It followed, that while the opposers of the ordinary theory might have struck the deepest blow at the witch hypothesis by an appeal to com- mon sense, they were themselves hampered by articles of philosophical belief, which, they must have been sensible, contained nearly as deep draughts upon human credulity as were made by the demonologists, against whose doctrine they protested. This error had a doubly bad effect, both as degrading the immediate department in which it occurred, and as affording a protection for falsehood in other branches of science. The Spirit-Eappings. 1 7 .champions who, in their own province, were obliged by the imperfect knowledge of the times to admit much that was mystical and inexplicable ; those who opined, with Bacon, that warts could be cured by sympathy — who thought, with Napier, that hidden treasure could be discovered by the mathe- matics—who salved the weapon instead of the wound, and detected murders as well as springs of water by the divining-rod, could not consistently use, to confute the believers in witches, an argu- ment turning on the impossible or the incredible. " Such were the obstacles arising from the vanity of philosophers and the imperfection of their sci- ence, which suspended the strength of their appeal to reason and common sense, against the condemn- ing of wretches to a cruel death, on account of crimes, which the nature of things rendered in modern times impossible." Thus learned men seeking to unravel mysteries, for want of sagacity and full knowledge, may be- come the apologists of sorcery and witchcraft. Bacon was obliged to be a philosopher for the whole enlightened world ; but, in our day, so vast has each branch of science become, that any one 18. Spirit-Eappings of them would be full enough for a Bacon's grasp, and philosophers hardly dare to venture outside of their own boundaries, lest they become, or be con- sidered johilosopliists. We hear men of science abused because they take such obstinate, inexorable positions against these "fooleries." This they are bound to do. Familiar with the laws of nature, all real phenomena are alike marvellous to their minds, and those which claim to be miraculous, su- pernatural, and, par excellence, the maeyellous, they repudiate summarily as absurdities, knowing that if they cannot disabuse the popular mind, they can prove their irrationality to their own entire satis- faction, at least. Formerly fortune-tellers were sometimes styled Philomaths, but we think that as fortune-telling has degenerated into such disre- pute, the name is unworthily applied, and we pro- pose to transfer it to that class of learned writers of the present day, who seek to trace these tricks of raps and tips to the direct agency of the devil, or evil or good spirits ; — supposing these spirits to make the sounds or movements, and to give the communications ; — and to that class specially who attribute these phenomena to electricity, magnet- Spirit-Rappings. 19 ism, or to the action of some power or fluid hither- to unknown ; in short, to all, who look upon these things as any thing else than impostures and illu- sions. These are the philomaths of the present day, and while they thus stand in the way of ad- vancement in true knowledge, they are, in effect, fostering error, superstition, and sorcery. We boast in our day of the enlightenment of the mass- es, the spread of education and the diffusion of knowledge ; but for all this, necromancy is not dead nor stifled ; and is now like a baleful poison run- ning rife through our land, upon the most prepos- terous foundations and pretexts. Since the first discoveries in electricity and mag- 20 Spirit-Rappings. netism, these agents have had to take the pater- nity of every rare and inexplicable phenomenon. This is much more the case now than when Sir Walter Scott wrote his letters on witchcraft, though he says that the divining-rod, and other remark- able and misconceived phenomena, were assigned to the agency of electricity and magnetism. At the present times these subtle agents are the common scape-goats for mesmeric, electro-biological, psy- chological, and every other kind of phenomenon, the cause of which eludes the senses, and the new- fangled farce of "rappings and tippings " must fain take advantage of the same subterfuge in or- der to make its way to popular credence. Unfor- tunately, in this case an accurate knowledge of the laws of electricity is possessed by comparatively few persons ; and the electric fluid, or power of magnetism, becomes a very clever instrument in the hands of charlatans and empirics, through which to enforce upon the popular mind the reality of their tricks and impostures. To one who has an adequate knowledge of the laws of electricity and magnetism, it is more than amusing to see with what pedantic gravity these latter philomaths des- Spirit-Rappings. 21 cant upon electricity and magnetism, contorting and butchering their established laws all the while, to explain some vile juggle, or unravel the psycho- mancy of rappers and tippers ; and also to see with what avidity their inflated arguments are gulped by gaping crowds, who apparently are unwilling or unable to swallow a single naked truth. It is often said that "men love to be deceived/' This is true to some extent, and it is sometimes the case that a quack will draw crowds around him where a truly learned man could not get a foothold. The truth however is mighty, and will prevail, and the power of learning always has been, and will be felt, though it may be somewhat slow to assert and maintain its supremacy. In verity, there is not one property, condition, or law of elec- tricity or magnetism, so far as they have been estab- lished by experiment and science, that would ex- plain rappings and tippings without doing violence to philosophy. A few years ago, a medical friend and brother came to our house late at night, in considerable trepidation, and wished us to go and see a woman who was bewitched in an extraordi- nary manner. At intervals she would be seized 22 Spirit-Rappings. with convulsions, and while the fit was on her she pulled pins out of the hands, arms, and legs of by- standers, and tossing the pins into her mouth, swallowed them. We remonstrated with him, but though highly intelligent, and excelling in his pro- fession, our friend the Doctor would not give it up. He had seen it, believed it, but could not account for it, and came to us specially to ascertain if " electricity had not something to do with it." Knowing that the witches of old had a special fancy for pins, and fully prepared to see nothing more than a dexterous feat of legerdemain, we con- sented to go, late as it was, and as soon as the pretty little elf, who was lying upon a pallet upon the floor, had become convulsed, and pulled a pin from our person, and swallowed it, we discovered the quomodd, and the next day, with a little prac- tice, we were able to go into very fair convulsions, and could draw out pins and swallow them as skilfully as the witch herself. Our good friend, the doctor, had not even noticed that t*he convul- sive movements were all confined to the voluntary actions upon the muscles, so engrossed was he with the idea of the supernatural character of this per- Spirit-Rappings. 23 formance. It is remarkable to notice how the scrutinizing powers of the most astute, fail as soon as they entertain the remotest idea of the super- natural in these cases. This girl was visited by hundreds of respectable and intelligent persons in our community, and notwithstanding a publication which was made exposing the trick, but few were able to discover it for themselves, and the greater portion believed it to be a genuine performance, and alms were freely given in sympathy for her un- fortunate condition. Our sympathies were enlisted for those whom she bewitched, and we must give the enchantress credit for more shrewdness than her customers, and we believe she reaped quite a rich harvest for her skill in legerdemain. We cite this case to show what violence is done to science to account for modern sorceries. Remember, we are called on to decide if electricity played any part in this extraordinary exhibition. Many years ago a person of the name of Han- nington came to Salem, Massachusetts, then the place of our residence, to exhibit the so-called mysterious lady. This lady had the power of naming and describing various things which she 24 Spirit-Rappings. could not see, declare names written upon bits of paper handed to persons promiscuously in the audience, and a variety of performances, which completely astounded her visitors. Their pro- gramme announced that they had visited the prin- cipal cities in this country and Europe, and that her extraordinary gift of divination had baffled the ablest researches. We were invited to see this great modern Pythoness, and specially for the pur- pose of judging whether it was an auricular illu- sion. In a word, whether it might not be an extraordinary case of ventriloquism, for this seems to have been the last resort for a solution of the problem, with those who repudiated witchery. Electricity would not answer this time, and the science of sound had to be mutilated for the occa- sion. Being ourselves expert in the performance of ventriloquism, and familiar with the laws of acoustics, it needed but a moment to decide that ventriloquism was utterly inadequate to the solu- tion of the puzzle, and before we left the room we discerned the whole trick, disconcerted the per- formers very essentially, and the next day pub- lished a full exposure, after which the whereabouts Spirit-Rappings. 25 of the mysterious lady was a greater mystery than her performances had been. A few years since; an account was published throughout this country and Europe, of a prodigy in the shape of an electrical girl in Paris, who was indued with an extraordinary power — electrical of course — by which, when she attempted to sit down in a chair, it was thrown from her with great violence. This was one of the wonders of the day, and after having deceived multitudes, and become an object of universal interest and sympathy, she fell into the hands of a select committee of the Academy of Sciences, with Arago at their head. Does any one suppose that Arago ever entertained for a moment the idea of electrical action in this connection? Not at all ! Arago immediately set himself to the examination of the girls heels, and soon found that she moved the chairs by muscular effort. By long practice she had acquired such skill and power of kicking, or thrusting the chair away from herself, that it was always done without exhibiting any motion exterior to her dress, or the slightes disturbance of her person. So much for electricity or the " new fluid " in this case. This kicking 2 26 Spirit-Rappings. girl was styled the Electrical girl, or the Electrical ivonder. Of course she belonged to the new fluid class, for no one acquainted with the laws of elec- tricity^ would have entertained a suspicion that electricity had any thing to do with the phenome- non. We may be accused of being somewhat dogma- tical in this treatise, and perhaps we are so, while we have to deal with so many fanatics and prag- matical philomaths. For the superstitious and ignorant, we have some charity, but we confess that we have little or no patience for those among educated men, who are wearers of the amulets of electricity, magnetism, or neiv fluids. They evince more pedantry than penetration, and are inexcus- able disseminators of sophistry and error. They are exactly in the category of the believers in per- petual motion, and, in fact, the ascription of such phenomena as table-tippings to electricity, magnet- ism, or some new fluid, goes a step beyond perpet- ual motion, if that is possible. Most of the plod- ders after perpetual motion expect to get, by some new adjustment, a machine that will barely move of itself without any great surplus of power ; but Spirit-Rappings. 27 according to this new table-tipping philosophy, we certainly should look for any amount of horse power, without any consumption of material, and no other expense than that of keeping a clever me- dium at hand. On the principle of touching a heavy table lightly (for the touch must be light according to rule), and thus causing by incanta- tions the table to tip, rise up, whirl about, etc., it would cost but little to move a church or a moun- tain, and mediums should be in great demand for mechanical purposes, as being cheaper and safer than steam engines. How strange it does appear, that these pseudo-philosophers have entirely lost sight of the one great radical principle of all dyna- mic science, viz., that action and reaction are equal, and never have attached the least value to the fact, that when persons put their hands lightly upon tables, their hands always follow the motion of the table, whichever way the table moves. It certainly appeared to us a very significant fact, when we first saw the performance, and if con- sidered in connection with electricity, or the new fluid, is sufficiently anomalous to require a careful analysis. But more of this anon, as we propose 28 Spirit-Rappings. to examine the rappings first. This imposture originated with two girls, by the name of Fox, from Bochester, New-York, who are now, with their mother, travelling through the country, and exhibiting their art for money. A few weeks ago, the Fox-mother gave us an account of this wonder- ful development of noises or rappings about the two daughters, and from her we learned that the noises were kept up for a long time before they dis- covered the cause. At first they were annoyed by them, but, after a while, they became so familiar with the sounds, that they took but little notice of them, until they discovered the mode of com- municating with their authors, and ascertained that the sounds were made by spirits of the de- parted. According to her account, the spirits then rapped at points remote from the girls, but it seems that the spiritual habit has changed some- what, for since the girls have been on exhibition,* the spirits rap nowhere except directly under the girls, and about their feet, or upon something with which their persons or dresses are in contact. We had no desire to see these creatures, except to discover the precise means by which they made tho * In Washington. Spirit-Rappings. 29 raps, and although fully prepared to condemn them before we paid them a visit, we preferred not to condemn them unseen, lest, on that ground, the clique of rappers should have some advantage over our argument. It amuses us greatly at times, when discussing these matters with our friends, to be told that our " opinions are all made up beforehand," " that we are prejudiced/' &c. We admit the charge, and say frankly we are prejudiced, and mean to pre- judge any effort to make black appear to be white, and white, black ; and declare the pretensions of these rappers and tippers to be as grossly absurd and silly, as any monstrosity in the shape of a proposition, that ever emanated from a crazy or evil designing brain. When we are told that a table is moved by the mere effort of the will, that it moves about when it is not touched, we deny the statement flatly at once, and challenge the repro- duction of the miracle, and when we are told that spirits rap upon tables, floors, doors, walls, or any thing else, we deny the statement, and challenge the production of any kind of rap or sound in these cases, which is not clearly traceable to human 30 Spirit-rappings. agency. Perhaps it will be inferred that we either do or should take ground against supernatural -in- terference and miracles altogether, seeing that we are prepared to condemn a priori, these manifes- tations, claiming for themselves supernatural origin. We confess that one of the greatest obstacles we have to encounter in the course of this exposition, is the deep-rooted belief in the existence, at the present day, of miraculous powers, agencies and deeds, and the readiness with which many per- sons ascribe every thing which eludes their judg- ment or senses, and especially whatever savors in the least of religion, to superhuman agency. We do not mean to draw upon Holy Writ for argu- ments in support of our decision, upon these rap- pings and tippings, but anticipating the reception we shall meet, with this class of persons, we must advert briefly to the grounds of their belief and objection, and at the same time define our own po- sition. We here find ourselves arrayed against learned divines of the present day, who, failing to account for these strange doings upon the suppo- sition of human agency, resort to their belief in *he superhuman, and consistently with their pro- Spirit-Rappings. 3 1 fessional calling, must evidently found their views upon scripture. Failing to discern the Ci [finger of God" they have come to their last resort, " that these manifestations are the work of the devil, or of evil spirits/' Without claiming any depth in biblical lore, we ask them where is the authority for any such conclusion in the Bible ? The Bible teaches plainly of the devil's agency, of his opera- tions upon the heart of man, and so far would such a construction be justifiable, but no farther. There is not one instance recorded, in which Satanic agency was recognizable by man as immediate. u By their fruits ye shall know them/' is a suffi- cient rule of judgment for any deeds, pretensions, or manifestations whatsoever ; and here they should rest content, and instead of going beyond the re- cord, might safely administer the general caution, that these "lies are of their father, the devil," without introducing the whole Pandemonium into our houses, to overturn our tables and upset the laws of gravity and mechanical philosophy. We believe that miracles were performed of old, for holy purposes, and no other ; that they were necessary to enforce the truth of revelation ; that 32 Spirit-Rappings. the day of miracles has gone by, and that tfiey ceased when their necessity ceased. We have our own mode of fixing that period, but the discussion would be too far from our present purpose, and we have digressed too much already. We take the ground that every witch, wizard, magician, astrolo- ger, sorcerer, necromancer, and fortune-teller, from the earliest, down to the present time, has had no more power over matter, or the laws of nature, than any other person, and that whoever lays claim to fami- liar spirits, foresight, or any direct communication with the invisible world, through raps and tips, is either witch, wizard, conjurer, or sorcerer de facto * * The Bible teache sof witches and wizards with familiar spirits, and that they were to be put to death ; of magicians, astrologers sorcerers, soothsayers, and false prophets ; but the only account of a miraculous performance by the devil, is that of his first great and momentous fraud upon our race in the garden of Eden, and this is by some considered as alle- gorical. Through that act he got possession of the human heart, and he needs now no external manifestations to further his intrigues. Pharaoh's magicians were able,, by their arts, to imitate to a certain extent only, the miracles of Moses and Aaron. They turned their rods into serpents^ the river into blood, and caused frogs to come out of their hiding-places, but when it came to the conversion of the small dust into lice, their magic Spirit-Rappings. 33 The prime movers in all these marvels are impos- torSj and their disciples, dupes. While the former are filling their coffers at the expense of the latte^ they must often indulge in secret merriment at th was baffled, and "then the magicians said unto Pharaoi This is the finger of GodP The raising of Samuel's spirit, and his prophecy of the re suit of the battle, was a professional trick of the witch oi Endor, and no more remarkable than many of the doings related of the rappers and tippers, and of mesmerizers who send clairvoyants to explore the Unknown World. Con- sidering all the circumstances, we think that many hits, or conjectures of false prophets, or fortune-tellers of the present day, have been quite as successful, and even more wonderful, than this feat of the witch of Endor. We know that some Commentators regard the raising of Samuel's ghost, and the" prophecy of the result of the battle, as the work of God, and not of the witch herself, or her master ; and to such a con- clusion they seem to be forced, if they admit any thing super- human about it, for it would not answer to accord so much powe.r to a witch, accursed of the law. How such an expla- nation can be reconciled with Divine attributes and teachings, we are at loss to conceive. The account tells us that Saul had sought the Lord in vain. The Lord had refused to com- municate with him. Shall it be said then that the Almighty is capable of trifling '? (for this seems to be the alternative.) That he made known his will through a witch ; and that, in Saul's (the Lord's anointed) last extremity, the Lord forced him to believe a lie or an accursed witch ? Is not this the in- ference, the inevitable conclusion ? How readily all difficulty 2* 34 Spirit-Rappings. credulity of their adherents, and particularly at the grave discussions of the learned clergy and others upon electricity, magnetism, the new fluid, the ner- vous fluid, or the devil's immediate agency, as prob- vanishes by expounding this transaction upon the very same principles that we apply to spirit-rapping, viz. : that it was a juggle, and like all witchcraft of whatsoever kind, was of hu- man immediate instrumentality. To affirm of such perform- ances that they are inexplicable, and amazing, is no argument in favor of their superhuman character. They are not more wonderful or difficult of explanation, than hundreds of tricks which we see, and of which we read every day, as performed by jugglers. To the great mass of mankind these latter are equally puzzling, and would undoubtedly pass for miracles, were it not for the fact that they are 'professedly tricks. "We believe in the all- pervading, all-controlling, all-sustaining power of God, in Divine interposition, special Providences, and the efficacy of prayer, as taught in the Scriptures, after our own interpretation. We believe that miracles are God's pre- rogative^ and believing thus, we conclude that the working of miracles by the devil, or evil spirits, would furnish an excuse for man's unbelief or infidelity. Most earnestly, therefore, do we deprecate the advancement of any theory (for it can be but theory at the best), which attributes these and kindred delusions, to the direct agency of the devil, or evil spirits. Such teachings are mischievous in their tendency, and militate with the true interests of Christianity, just as far and as long as they have no better foundation than theory, speculation, or conjecture, and are wanting in proof positive, invincible and overwhelming, of their correctness. — C.G.P., Ed. Spirit-Rappings. 35 able causes of these strange phenomena. Surely the " children of this world are wiser than the children of light." The juggler with his legerdemain far outstrips any thing that has ever been accom- plished by rappers and tippers, but then he tells you that he performs by sleight of hand, and that unless your eyes are quicker than his hands, you will be deceived. If certain of his performances were to be introduced with some religious jargon and pretext, his success in infatuating the mass of the people, would put the rappers and tippers en- tirely in the shade, for the tricks of these latter are clumsy and poorly done at the best. Mr. An- derson, the professed juggler, known as the Wizard of the North, has, to his great credit, published a series of communications, in which he boldly avers that these rappers are all impostors, and has con- trived a system of rapping and spiritual communi- cations, quite as successful as those of the original fraternity. He has failed, however, to elucidate the whole subject, from the fact that he has been contented with a mere imitation, which the rappers will of course pronounce a counterfeit. Our first visit to the rappers, was in company with a gen- 36 Spirit-Rap pings. 