was nowhere to be found in all Jerusalem. They rushed into the house, and with threats accosted a delicate lady" who was then solitarily brooding over her misery. They demanded the instant surrender of the dish of savoury meat she must have feasted on. With a feeble voice, and an eye of maniacal indifference, she said her good friends had come in time, for that she had just eaten one half and placed the rest aside; and then uncovering the dish, behold the remains of her roasted infant! The robbers gazed on the food and then on the mother, with horror, wonder, and pity-they were wholly speechless! "Eat!" cried the distracted lady, "for I have eaten!-and are ye more delicate than a woman-more tender-hearted than a mother?-or, if ye are too devoutly scrupulous to partake of such fare, leave the rest to me--and begone !" The robbers withdrew in awe and silence.

'Poor Mary of Perea! I knew thee well in the day of thy might-in the day of thy luxury-of thy great beauty-and of thy delicateness. Oh, thrice wretched daughter of my valued friend, Eleazar of Bethezob! thy youth and loveliness and wealth, and even thy devoted love toward thy first-born, could not save thee from the loathing act thou hast done. Thy husband too, more fortunate than thou, went before thee and thy tender offspring, and escaped this terrific sight,' &c. &c.-P. 433. One more extract will show how curiously a conjectural interpretation is given of an obscure passage of the New Testament:

'Now this Paul, in his then trouble, had, by an epistle from his prison, lately reminded my Nero that if death must come, it should be by decapitation, and not by crucifixion-he being a Roman citizen, possessed of the jus civitatis by succession; and moreover, as being of Tarsus in Cilicia, free-born and well-born. He made that appeal for his privilege with strong right, and with confidence that it would be allowed; and hence also he had forthwith written to Troas for his mantle, his parchments, and his books, that he might appear in judicature, not in a less seemly attire, and with his proofs of citizenship, than of right he could, and thus to die the death of a Roman. Paul ever had great and just repute for learning, and for an ardent and most winning eloquence; both well suited for those who were to witness his mock trial and cruel exit; and yet, as all knew, of no avail with Nero or his judges-but possibly of great avail with the multitude, and if not now, in future ages; for Paul's death seemed to him but the antepast of heaven.'

It is then added in a note

This portion of the "Chronicles" affords an interesting explanation of a verse, 2 Tim. iv. 13, in which, after he knew his fate was soon to die, he still manifests solicitude in regard to matters seemingly of so little moment as obtaining his cloak, parchments, and books. After a solemn exhortation to Timothy as to his care and diligence in the faith, and after some touching allusions to his own approaching death and preparedness, his then loneliness, the perfidy of Demas, and that no one was with him save Luke, he says: "The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments." Now this anxiety respecting the three things asked for has been somewhat carped at by the sciolous, and especially the infidels, as being unsuited to the decorum of his then condition-or by the pious, probably wholly misapprehended as to the true motive.

That St. Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman citizen, and was successful in that plea, in that he was beheaded, whilst St. Peter (at another time, when and where we know not of a certainty) was crucified, can in nowise be questioned; and that Paul should be solicitous to appear on his trial not only in his national dress, but with his proofs of citizenship, and, if need were, with his books to establish his exemption from crucifixion, are matters extremely probable and natural-and hence he requests the cloak, parchments, and books to be sent. The mantle or cloak had by this time superseded the Roman toga, which perhaps had been little if at all worn since the reign of Augustus. It may be here remarked that none of the Biblical commentators have given this explanation of Paul's request to Timothy; but the desire of having the named articles is considered by them as being merely for his comfort during his remaining imprisonment, and that the parchments he so especially needed were only his commonplace books! We presume that this verse has nowhere received the illustration which the above passage of Cartaphilus sustains,

except in the two instances, first of the enlightened author of the Pursuits of Literature, who, though so emphatically a layman, has the merit of originating this view of the matter; which, secondly, has been entirely approved by the eloquent and learned Edward Miller, of Bognor, Sussex (see his Sermons, 1848, p. 107).'— P. 219.

Table-turning; the Devil's modern Master-piece, being the result of a course of Experiments. By the Rev. N. S. GODFREY, S.C.L. of St. Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and Incumbent of Wortley, Leeds; author of Table-moving tested, &c. London: Seeleys, 1853. We should think the Journal of Sacred Literature demeaned itself by noticing the essentially low and ignorant delusion of Table-turning,' were it not that it begins to trench on sacred ground, and mix its ridiculous conjurations with Christian texts and doctrines. In this point of view, duty demands that we should warn our readers against its pernicious tendency, especially when we see a grave clergyman of the Church of England maintaining its supernatural character, and giving the whole subject a religious turn. Mr. Godfrey adopts as his motto the expression, Hear me when I speak, and after that I have spoken mock on, intimating that there is no other alternative than between believing his theory, and laughing him to scorn.

We have read his book, but do not feel inclined to mock. Nothing is easier than to apply satire to this production, and indeed it is scarcely possible to treat its contents in any other way.

It seems that Mr. Godfrey has for some time been a patron of tablemoving and table-turning, and not only so, but that his curate and the 'lay-agent' of his parish have assisted him in various experiments on the subject. He introduces the professed devilry of this book by telling us, 'On the evening of Monday, the 4th July, a few persons assembled at the apartments of Mr. R- the lay agent here, and after a short time succeeded in getting the table to turn, and also to lift up the leg in answer to questions. [We assure our readers, nothing but a sense of duty makes us allow ourselves to copy out such stuff, or inflict it upon them.] They immediately sent for me, and four of us, two ladies, my curate, and myself, went down to Mr. R- -'s house.' Rather questionable employment, we venture to think, of an Incumbent in the parish of Leeds, his curate, and the lay agent!' Surely three persons identified with the Church of England might be more profitably engaged than in this formal and serious manner meddling with a popular delusion, which will, through all ages, reflect discredit on England in the nineteenth century. We do not blame a clergyman for taking a part in a little nonsense when it comes in his way, but we had rather he should not seek after it, and join his curate, and the lay agent,' in assisting to stimulate morbid imaginations, and, as we cannot but think, crafty deceptions. Nor is this waste of time and influence a single case, for Mr. Godfrey gives several instances of a similar misappropriation. Thus, On the afternoon of Saturday, July 9th, (strange preparation for the Sunday!) at the Parsonage, three persons placed their hands, &c.' 'On the evening of Monday

6

the 9th of July, a few persons were again assembled at Mr. R―'s ("the lay agent"). I was there two hours.' "The following experiments were conducted at the National School Room, Wortley, on the evening of Monday, July 18.' A worse use of a National School room we do not often hear of. Surely the Bishop of the diocese will see to this, and the other strange things of this book. We say this calmly and deliberately, and without being daunted by the sarcastic misapplication of a text of Scripture,-Hear me when I speak, and after that I have spoken, mock on.

Well, after these influential parties were gathered together, in conjunction with a few persons,' who are anonymous, between them they raised the dead from the grave—or, horrible to relate, they brought up a spirit from hell, to tell its history, not in a language spoken by mortals or immortals, but in a way never yet chronicled in history-even by the dumb eloquence of a table and its leg! Lest we should be thought to be exaggerating we must quote a passage from the book, although we need make an apology to our readers, for such a mixture of the almost blasphemous with the ludicrous which we place before them :

"I now wished to ascertain something concerning the spirit itself, and the following is the result of the cross-examination; and none but those who witnessed it and saw the table can form any idea of the varied expression thrown into the answers by the mode of rising sometimes nearly overturning itself, sometimes rising up a long way very slowly, sometimes quickly and decidedly, giving a sharp rap as it descended; sometimes its answer was so faint as to be little more than the heaving of the table, and always according to the nature of the question. I asked:

Are you an evil spirit?—Yes. [A meek spirit, or it would have resented such a reflection on its character.]

'Are you one cast out by Jesus?—No answer.

'Are you one of Legion?-No answer.

'Were you one of those who entered into the swine ?-No answer.

'Are mad men possessed by devils ?—Yes.

Is epilepsy possession ?—Yes.

"Can you break this table?-No.

Can you move the table without our hands?—Yes.

"We took our hands off and commanded it to move.

It did not. We replaced

our hands, and I asked, Is it necessary to place our hands on the table?—No.

'Why don't you move the table when our hands are off? Are you restrained?

Yes.

By whom? By the devil?—Yes.

'Are you one of those seducing spirits spoken of by St. Paul?—Yes.

'Are you in suffering ?—Yes.

'Are you the spirit of a dead person?—Yes.

Have you been in hell ?—Yes.'

So it seems 6 the great gulf' is passed which Dives in vain requested Lazarus to cross, and lost spirits in the nineteenth century can do what those in the first could not accomplish. They can come back to their father's home, and warn their brethren, lest they also should go to the place of torment ! But we anticipate, and will rather take the above choice morsel of divinity and philosophy bit by bit, analysing and commenting as we go on.

First, we are anxious that the table should be carefully preserved, to be kept in the national Museum, along with the last veritable witch

bestridden broomstick. A small subscription from table-turners would accomplish that desirable object, provided the lay agent' would sell it.

Secondly, the new ideas of what constitutes eloquence and oratory are worthy of being hailed as modern discoveries and improvements. If a table can be pathetic and emphatic, why not the dullest preacher that ever mounted a pulpit? We certainly did not expect to see the day when a wooden table at Leeds should teach to the clergy the art of moving an audience. But Mr. Godfrey it seems is less fortunate than a certain German professor, whose table became so plastic and expressive that the ladies complained that it was painful to see the torture inflicted on that poor cherry-tree table; on asking if it were in pain it answered in the affirmative.' Mr. Godfrey says the table was more sagacious than a dog, more obedient than a child;' and ' we feel that there was almost human pathos in the movements of the table.' p. 43.

Thirdly, there is a mysterious and yet undiscovered law which regulated the negations and affirmations of this lone wanderer from a lost world to the place of its former probation. It readily confesses that it is one of those seducing spirits mentioned by St. Paul, and yet is silent when asked whether it was one of legion, or had entered into the swine. How can this be accounted for? We suggest as a probable solution of the enigma, that being a fallen spirit its infirmities had not been washed away (though some of them had, according to Mr. Godfrey), and its pride was touched by these questions. To be a seducing spirit has a Miltonic air about it, and Beelzebub himself would probably at once say Yes, when asked if he possessed that character; but to be the tormentor of a poor lunatic, or an inhabitant of a hog, is infra dig.

Fourthly, the table never moved except when a motive power, the hands of the operators, was on it. We venture to affirm that it never will, and as long as human beings are necessary to set it going, so long we shall adopt the very natural conclusion that they move it, however they may deny it, or even believe in their excitement that they exert no influence. But in the above extract it is curious to notice how ingeniously this refusal of the table is attributed not to its own vis inertia, but to the devil, who will only allow it to be oratorical when touched by human hands--thus depriving himself and his coadjutors (for such, wince as they may, are the operators, on the confession of Mr. Godfrey) of the only valid proof that table-turning is supernatural.

Fifthly, the difficulty in the way of Scripture interpretation in relation to dæmoniacal possession is set at rest for ever- -if the table is to be believed; and, in that case, the future treatment of epilepsy and madness will be by exorcism, not by medicine and moral influence.

Sixthly, that mere matter remains stationary is not owing to the will of God as expressed in a natural law, but to the volition of Satan, for he prevented the table moving in a particular instance, and again took off the veto when it pleased him. That our houses do not fall on our heads is thus, by a natural inference, owing not to the providence of God, but to the forbearance of the devil, for to make a table move without the application of external force, is certainly as difficult a task

VOL. V.-NO. IX.

as to move a mountain. (Corollary, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are now no mystery, as 'literal fire and brimstone are the punishment of hell,' p. 54.)

But we must hasten to conclude these observations, which we have extended far enough to enable any judicious reader to see how fatally opposed are these gross delusions to anything like Biblical science, or enlightened exegesis. That these things should occur among those destitute of education is bad enough, but we were not prepared to find such superstition in a clerical circle at Leeds. But the acme of morbid hallucination is not attained till the close of the book, when the evoked spirit bears testimony to the exorcising power of a clergyman:

a

This forms a fit accompaniment to the grave opinion thus delivered :'My impression is that the placing the hands on the table is a sort of incantation. By it the sitters signify their wish to be brought into communication with the spirit-world. They sit until they are observed by some one of the wandering spirits, who thereupon enters the table, making it crack at the moment of its entering in. The reason why it will not obey any commands, unless hands are placed on, has suggested an idea, which, if it be true, is a very solemn one. It occurred to me, while writing, that the table "moved simply by the laying on of hands." L.H. (before referred to) says, 'This moral nothing' (the table) 'on the imposition of your hands begins to live!' Can it be that this is the beginning of Satan's last struggle, that on the imposition of hands the table is endued with power from the devil, as the Lord's servants, on the imposition of hands, were, in the Apostles' days, endued with power from on high? I merely ask, Can it be?' And we merely ask, Can it be that there is no power in the Church of England to lay hands on and restrain the utterance of such revolting perversion of all theology as this? Are things more easy to be explained than many sleights of hand by wandering showmen, to be allowed to overturn all our delightful faith in the persistance of natural laws, and leave us a mere physical prey to Satan and his angels? We also merely ask how, on his own hypothesis of incantation, Mr. Godfrey dared to publish this book?

We must do what we can, although that may be little, to prevent our own countrymen from becoming as irreverent of Divine Revelation as this delusion has made many in America. In a work published in that country, spirit-rapping is asserted to be a phenomenon of the same character as the hand-writing on the wall seen by Belshazzar, and the

Extremes meet. From a hymn-book used by a congregation of fanatics in Northamptonshire we ourselves heard the following verse given out and sung, from which it appears Satan has now changed his tactics;-then he cracked as a sign of defeat, now as a token of power: