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  GIFT OF TONGUES
  by Alexander Mackie
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Mackie's analytical study of the glossolalia phenomenon in Christianity,
examining the gift of tongues from historical, biblical, and experiential
perspectives. Written by a Presbyterian minister in 1921 during a period of
renewed interest in charismatic gifts.

  Chapters: 13

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00 Mackie - Gift of Tongues
    2. 01 Gift of Tongues in Apostolic Church
    3. 02 Related Physiological & Psychological Phenomena
    4. 03 Urusilne Nuns and Devils of Loudun
    5. 04 Camisards or French Prophets
    6. 05a Shakers and Millennial Church 1
    7. 05b Shakers and Millennial Church 2
    8. 06a Edward Irving, Cath. Apostolic Ch. Irvingites
    9. 06b Edward Irving, Cath. Apostolic Ch. Irvingites
   10. 07a Mormons Church Latter Day Saints
   11. 07b Mormons Church Latter Day Saints
   12. 08 Physiological-Psychological Aspects of Gift
   13. 09 Ethical Aspects of Gift

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  CHAPTER 1: 00 MACKIE - GIFT OF TONGUES
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The Gift of Tongues: A Study in Pathological Aspects of Christianity

(1921) by Alexander Mackie Minister of the Tully Memorial Presbyterian Church of
Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania

New York George H. Doran Company O grant us light, that we may see Where error
lurks in human lore, And turn our doubting minds to Thee, And love Thy simple
word the more.

Laurence Tuttiett.

PB.50

THEOL, STAGS Copyright, 1921, By George H. Doran Company

Nov 22, 1953 Printed in the United States of America TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD
AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF ALEXANDER JOHN HOWIE MACKIE

1859-1913

PREFACE The science of Pathology has contributed in no inconsiderable degree to
the physical and physiological well-being of the human body. A science of
Pathology in the realm of those things which are popularly called spiritual can
contribute in like and, perhaps, in even greater degree to the well-being of the
human soul.

It ought to be a matter of popular knowledge that some states of mind and some
states of action which are called spiritual, and which are claimed to be
spiritual, are called spiritual and claimed to be spiritual simply because they
are unusual. It ought to be a matter of common knowledge that such states of
mind and action are the expressions of diseased minds and diseased bodies, that
when we are dealing with an extraordinary religious experience we are very
likely to be dealing with disease.

It ought to be a matter of common knowledge that historically such religious
experiences are practically always associated with anti-moral conduct, and more
particularly with transgressions of accepted moral standards in the vita
sexualis.1 This discussion of the gift of tongues is certainly not exhaustive.
The present day tongues people, for example, have not even been discussed. But
the mental traits and the physiological traits of the Shakers, the Irvingites
and the primitive Mormons are the mental traits and the physiological traits of
the present day tongues people, and, in fact, of that increasing group of
earnest but unthinking Christians who are convinced of the present revival in
their various aspects of the apostolic charismata.

If this book shall serve to shed even a faint ray of light upon the kingdom of
truth, I shall be profoundly grateful.

A. M.


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  CHAPTER 2: 01 GIFT OF TONGUES IN APOSTOLIC CHURCH
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Chapter 1 The Gift of Tongues in the Apostolic Church

THERE is no wholly satisfactory solution of the problems raised by the accounts
of the gift of tongues as those narratives appear in the New Testament. Any
solution which we adopt involves difficulties. The most easy solution of all New
Testament problems is, of course, the purely arbitrary but not unpopular one of
regarding as textual interpolations such New Testament passages as involve
difficulty in exegesis. But such a position in reference to the manifestations
of the tongues in the New Testament record involves a multiplicity of
contradictions and difficulties so great that we are obliged to look in another
direction for the solution of our problem.

If we accept a late date for the writing of the Acts, and eliminate from our
consideration the references to the tongues in the Corinthian Epistles, it is
possible to recognize in the account of Pentecost a tradition, modified by an
idealizing and myth-making tendency. Just as, according to Rabbinic tradition,
the giving of the old law on Mt. Sinai was characterized by the speaking of
Jehovah in a divine language, a language which could be understood in seventy
different tongues, so the establishing of the new church and the beginning of a
new spiritual order might fittingly and desirably be accompanied by a
supernaturally-directed speaking in other tongues. Such an interpretation of the
narrative of Pentecostal tongues has the merit of being well within the realm of
psychological possibilities. It involves, however, the task not only of
disproving an early date for Acts, and the interpreting of the later cases of
glossolalia on some other basis than the basis adopted for interpreting the
Pentecostal tongues, but it involves also all the gratuitous assumptions and
arbitrary exegeses which are inextricably involved in a mythological
interpretation of the New Testament, making the myth indeed the child of the
wish, not in this case, however, the wish of the myth-maker, but the wish and
even caprice of the New Testament interpreter and exegete. A third solution of
the problem is to be found in regarding the narrative of Pentecost as history.
But merely to say that we are dealing with history, with events which occurred,
not with events which ought to have occurred to have afforded what is conceived
to have been a proper setting for the early days of the Christian Church, does
not by any means solve the problem. We are still obliged carefully to study our
text in order to arrive at some conclusion as to what actually happened at
Pentecost:

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were
confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And
they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all
these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born?

Parthians, and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in
Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia.

Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and
strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes.

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
God."1 What is the real nature of the event that is thus described? The most
common interpretation of the passage is found in the postulating of a miracle as
a result of which all or some of the Christians present were enabled to speak in
foreign languages which they had never studied and in which they had never
before spoken. The question then arises as to whether this endowment was
temporary or permanent. The theory of a permanent endowment with ability to
speak heretofore unknown languages involves several objections. One is based on
the tradition that the apostles in their missionary journeys were accompanied by
men who acted for them as interpreters. The case of Mark acting as interpreter
for Peter is particularly cited in this connection. 2 Another objection is based
on the experience of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, 3 where the missionaries were
certainly unaware of what was being said "in the speech of Lycaonia," until
their attention was attracted by the visible preparations for doing sacrifice in
their honor. To avoid these difficulties, it has been suggested that the
Pentecostal endowment was not permanent but temporary, that the gift was not to
facilitate the preaching of the gospel to the heathen world, but as a
demonstration of the power of God. We deal in this case, then, with an
epideiktic miracle. For the world of to-day an epideiktic miracle can have
little value. For the world of the apostles, with its exceedingly primitive
mental traits in spite of its veneer of civilisation, it is altogether 1 Acts
2:4-11. 2 Cf. Eusebius: "Church History," III, xxxix, 15. 3 Acts 1:1-18.
conceivable that an epideiktic miracle could possess an element of value. When
we deal with the primitive church, it is well to remember, whether it be in
matters ecclesiastical or psychological, we are dealing with primitive men. The
theory that the Pentecostal gift of tongues was not a miracle of speaking but a
miracle of hearing found among some of the thinkers of the Christian church, an
early and ready acceptance. Stress was laid upon verse 8 and particularly upon
the word "hear”:

"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" The
miracle, according to this view, was wrought in the hearers, not in the
speakers. This interpretation has nothing about it which either specially
commends or condemns it. It does away with the historical difficulty involved in
the theory of a permanent endowment with an ability to speak foreign languages.
It involves, however, the vague objection that it may seem to be both artificial
and contrary to the general sense of the entire passage.

Stress is laid by other students of the phenomenon upon the fact that the
element of praise seems to be conspicuous in the account of the tongues at
Pentecost:

"We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."

It is praise which forms the content of the tongues. It has even been suggested
that definite ascriptions of praise might have constituted that which was said.

"We most naturally, I believe," writes Chase, 1 "picture the Apostles, like
Zacharias in much earlier days when he was ’filled with the Holy Ghost’ (Luke
1:67 ff), 1 Chase, Frederic Henry: "The Credibility of the Book of the Acts of
the Apostles," London, 1902, pp. 38-40. as bursting forth into ’benedictions’
drawn from the rich liturgical store of the Jewish Church such as we find, for
example, in that most ancient service of praise and prayer, the Eighteen
Benedictions. But the Apostles spoke the praises of God in different languages.
That is, plainly, the writer’s meaning. Now there is evidence that the
authorities in Palestine sanctioned the use of any language whatever in
repeating the Shema, the Eighteen Benedictions, and the Grace at Meals. At
other, feasts, then, the Apostles had heard strangers of the Dispersion reciting
these doxologies in the various languages most familiar to them. Now they in
turn themselves, seeing before them Jewish worshippers from many countries, with
memories supernaturally quickened, recall and rehearse in the different
languages the accustomed words of praise.

"Here, too, St. Luke discerned a symbolical meaning. The new spiritual endowment
of the Church inaugurates a reversal of the curse of separation. What we may
term the very accidents accompanying the advent of the Spirit are a pledge of
the catholicity of the Church a sign that the Church should be the one home of
men of every language and race (comp. Colossians 3:11). The historian recalls
the language of the ancient story which told of the confusion of tongues
(Genesis 11:7 ff); and it is plain that his language in recording the events of
Pentecost is moulded by the remembrance."

Similar to such a theory is the general notion frequently expressed that the
words spoken were archaic, figurative and unusual, and for that reason might be
called "other tongues."

Another interpretation has been found in regarding the eteraij glwssaij as
figurative. The tongues are other tongues because they are now controlled by the
Spirit of God. Before the bestowing of the gift, each man controlled his own
tongue. After the bestowal, God controls the tongue directly. The tongue is
independent of the will of man and is directly dependent upon the will of God.
So far, we have tended to ignore the fact that the New Testament contains
references to the appearance of the gift of tongues, not only at Pentecost, but
in connection with the conversion of Cornelius, in connection with the advent of
the Holy Ghost at Ephesus, and in connection with the church at Corinth. If we
eliminate the account of the tongues at Pentecost on the ground of a textual
interpolation, or if we treat the Pentecostal narrative as the expression of a
myth-making tendency, we have still failed to deal with the subsequent
appearances of the same phenomena. We are forced then to a second explanation
and a second theory for the interpreting of our data.

There is, however, very good reason to believe that the phenomena described as
tongues in the New Testament are in their general nature everywhere
substantially the same. By his express statement: ,

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, Its on us at the
beginning," 1 St. Peter seems to identify the manifestations at Cassarea with
the Pentecostal occurrences. It requires a very arbitrary and artificial
exegesis of Acts 19:6 to suppose that except from the point o view of
grammatical construction elaloun glwssaij in that passage means something
different from lalaountwg n lisjaws in Acts 10:46. In like manner also, we are
guilty of an arbitrary and artificial exegesis, for which there is no foundation
in the text or in logic, and no foundation in psychology, except the a priori
desire on our part to substantiate a theory, when we insist that

1 Acts 11:15. lalwn glwsh or laelin glwssaij or glwssaij lalwn in 1 Corinthians
14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:4-5, means anything fundamentally different from the
accepted meaning of similar terms when they are used in the Acts. In the
Corinthian account, two definite characteristics of the tongues stand out
clearly. The first is that the tongues are not a known or understandable
language and require, that they may be used for edification, the gift of the
interpretation of tongues. The second is that to the person not familiar with
these phenomena and therefore not inclined to interpret the tongues on the basis
of a theory that the tongues are spiritual in their nature, those speaking in
the tongues seem to be mad. The word used by St. Paul and translated as meaning
mad is a form of a verb used frequently to signify Bacchic or prophetic frenzy.
To the observer, unprejudiced by notions which had grown up in the Christian
church as to the nature of the tongues, the behaviour of a person speaking with
tongues was no different from the familiar conduct of the mantij. It is of
further significance that it was only in Corinth, a centre of Greek religious
influence, that the tongues attained to so great a degree of prominence in the
Christian church, as to demand extended discussion in an apostolic epistle. The
association of ecstasy and immorality in the Corinthian church might here also
be justly remarked.

Let us turn back to the account of events at Pentecost. The opening words of St.
Peter’s sermon are the familiar ones, “For these are not drunken as ye suppose.”
1 The verb mequskw here used in its passive voice to denote drunkenness, is a
verb of connotations not unrelated to Bacchic frenzy. The charge of drunkenness
at

1 Acts 2:15.

Pentecost may justly be regarded as of the same nature as the charge of madness
at Corinth.

Consideration also must be given to the use of the verb lalein in describing the
speaking with tongues in connection with the Pentecostal phenomena at Caesarea,
at Ephesus and at Corinth. lalein is an onomatopoetic word, the primary
significance of which is found in the English equivalent "lalling." It is a word
sometimes applied to birds, and may mean to chirp, or to twitter. It may be
taken to mean to babble, or to chatter. The suggestion that the word glwssa
might be taken in the sense of an archaic language has already been noted. It
has also been suggested that the use of the word connotes a special stress upon
the organ of speech itself rather than upon speaking. The phrase lalein
glwssaij, using this latter sense of glwssa, may well be taken therefore to
involve the notion of the disconnected, unmeaning use of the tongue for the
making of sounds. The word fwnh used in Acts 2:6, is also to be taken into
consideration, and the possibility of translating the phrase in which it occurs
as "when this became a noise," to be reckoned with. In other words, the terms
used in the accounts of the tongues are words such as would suggest disorderly,
rather than orderly speaking, and the uttering of sounds rather than words, or
at best words which were not connected with other words in such a manner as to
express coherent thought. A further difficulty may here present itself, in the
interpretation of the phenomenon at Pentecost and at Corinth on the same basis
of a disorderly ecstasy. In the account of the Pentecostal gift, stress is laid
upon the speaking in the languages of a number of countries. It has been
suggested that some one of three languages, the East Aramaic, the West Aramaic,
and the Greek would have been understandable in each of the countries named. It
is not unreasonable psychologically to suppose that the disorderly speaking at
Pentecost included fragments of all three of these languages released by the
subconscious minds of men speaking in a state of great excitement. In view of
considerations which will appear in our further discussion of the gift of
tongues, and in accord also with such evidence as we have concerning the
phenomena in New Testament times, it is possible to defend the position that the
gift of tongues was and is similar to the ecstasies associated with the Greek
mystery religions. It is possible to suggest that at the very beginning of the
life of the Christian church, it was face to face with the struggle which it
still must wage the struggle against pagan ideas and pagan practices within its
own doors.


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  CHAPTER 3: 02 RELATED PHYSIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA
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Chapter 2 Some Forms of Related Physiological and Psychological Phenomena IN
patristic literature there is no considerable record of the manifestation of the
gift of tongues. Ireneus believed that he was familiar with cases of genuinely
miraculous appearances of some forms of the charismata, included in which he
mentions the gift of prophecy and the gift of healing. He goes so far in the
latter case as to write:

"Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead, even have been raised up, and remained
among us for many years." 1

Whether we are justified in interpreting in this case the statement just quoted
as meaning that Ireneus believed himself to have been an eye-witness to a
resurrection or resurrections, or whether he writes on the authority of another,
or whether he is simply here referring to the miracles of the apostolic age, we
are not justified in concluding absolutely from the text. In the following
familiar passage, Ireneus refers to the gift of tongues:

"In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess
prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as
He used Himself also to speak.

1 Ireneus: "Against Heresies," II: 32:4. 2 Same: V: 6:1.

Tertullian also refers to the charismata of his day and demands of Marcion as a
supernatural attestation of his mission that he "produce a psalm, a vision, a
prayer only let it be by the Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture,
whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him. . . ."

"Now all these signs of spiritual gifts," Tertullian adds, "are forthcoming from
my side without any difficulty." 1 From patristic times until the power of the
reformation had made itself distinctly felt the gift of tongues is an almost
forgotten phenomenon. The attention which the Reformation drew to the Scriptures
is the reason for the reappearance of the gift. Men do not usually have the gift
of tongues unless they know there is a gift of tongues. The revival of the Bible
made also necessary in some minds a revival of states of mind and actions such
as were those of the men who lived in Bible times and who were esteemed holy.
During the long silence of those weary centuries there was evidence, however, of
those psychological and physiological tendencies and actions which we find go
hand in hand with the appearance of the gift in the history of the Corinthian
church, or in the history of all of the more modern sects which we shall
discuss. Simply because the ages preceding the Reformation were deficient in a
Scriptural vocabulary we fail to find these phenomena described and classified
as related to the gift of tongues.

Let us note the psychological evidences of states of mind analogous to the
mental attitude of modern tongues people. There is ever present that
superstitious reverence which is to be observed among the ignorant and primitive
for those who speak in other tongues. Those who spoke in other tongues are
eminent in the common 1 Tertullian: "Against Marcion." V: 8. mind of the Middle
Ages either for their saintly lives, or for the fact of their servitude to the
devil. To be learned seems to connote a gift, either of God or of the devil. St.
Francis Xavier and other of the great missionary saints are said to have been
able to speak "the languages of many different nations without having studied
those languages." The knowledge even of letters was sometimes bestowed by a
miracle upon the saintly. Matthew Paris, writing of the rise to fame of St.
Hildegarde, in the year 1240, notes that she was first a recluse, and afterwards
an abbess a lady of remarkable sanctity into whom, in her lifetime, "during a
sleep of four days’ continuance, the Lord instilled the spirit of prophecy, and
a complete knowledge of letters, during the pontificate of Pope Alexander." 1 On
the other hand, the scholars, the alchemists, and their children, the scientists
of the Renaissance, were looked upon as being under a special compact with the
devil, from whom came their mysterious knowledge of other tongues. Men like
Robert of Lincoln and Michael Scott, 2 both eminent through the thirteenth
century for a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew in the one case, and Arabic in the
other, were popularly regarded as sorcerers. So also were Raymond Lulli and
Arnold de Villeneuve, both eminent linguistic scholars of the fourteenth
century, popularly feared as men skilled in sorcery. Robert of Lincoln, another
of the alchemists, is said to "have made a head of brass expressly constructed
in such a manner as to be able to answer such questions as were propounded to
it, and to foretell future events."

Roger Bacon was also reputed to be in league with the powers of darkness, and to
have made with Friar

1 Paris, Matthew: "English History from the Year 1235 to 1273." Translated from
the Latin by J. A. Giles (in the Bohn Library). London, 1852-4. Vol. I. 2
Godwin, William: "Lives of the Necromancers." London, 1834; pp. 2523-4, 263,
282.

Bungay a brazen head which also spoke when its makers were asleep, tired out
with their long labours. The story; of the speaking brazen head is one of the
familiar stories of the Middle Ages, and the making of such a head is attributed
to many great men of learning. But not only could these men who, in faith and
never-stinted labour, lighted the torch, the blazing flame of which at last
illumined the morning sky of the Renaissance and the Reformation, speak the
ancient languages, but such was their power that they could cause even the
inanimate to speak. 1

Fluency of speech and the speaking of mysterious words are often looked upon as
a sign of possession by an evil spirit. One of the charges brought against
Elizabeth Barton, the Maid of Kent, famous in the annals of sixteenth century
witchcraft, was based upon her speaking in what was described as a manner above
her usual discourse. Similar charges were common against witches and the
bewitched. The ability to speak other languages was viewed sometimes not only as
an evidence of a Satanic possession, but as a possession analogous to a
distemper, which could sometimes be remedied by the use of drugs.

"Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, savetier of Mantua, spoke
divers languages, and was cured by Calderon, a physician, famous in his time,
who gave her a portion of Hellebore. Erasmus says also that he had seen an
Italian, a native of Spoletta, who spoke German very well, although he had never
been in Germany; they gave him a medicine which caused him to eject a quantity
of worms, and he was cured, not to speak German any more." 2

1 See Purchas, Samuel: "Hakluytas Posthutnus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, etc."
Glasgow, 1905. Vol. XVII, p. 360. Godwin: op. cit., p. 232.

2 Calmet, Augustine: "The Phantom World." London, 1880. Vol. I, p. 185.

Sometimes words from foreign languages were used as a means of warning men
against impending calamity, and by the mysterious way in which they were
conveyed, indicated their relation to magic.

"A man who did not know a word of Greek came to M. de Saumaise, senior, a
counsellor of the parliament of Dijon, and showed him these words, which he had
heard during the night as he slept, and which he wrote down in French characters
on awakening: ’Apithi ouc osphraine ten sen apsychian.’ He asked him what that
meant M. de Saumaise told him it meant, ’Save yourself; do you not perceive the
death with which you are threatened?’ Upon this hint, the man removed, and left
his house, which fell down the following night.

"The same story is related, with a little difference, by another author, who
says that the circumstances happened at Paris; that the genius spoke in Syriac,
and that M. de Saumaise being consulted, replied, ’go out of your house, for it
will fall in ruins to-day, at nine o’clock in: the evening/ " 1

Evil spirits are frequently endowed in popular legend with the ability to speak
and understand a great many languages. Dupouy, citing J. Boudin of Angers, an
ancient authority on demonology, says that Boudin "pretends that the devil may
speak through the mouth of the possessed, and use all the idioms, known and
unknown." 2

Those who were bewitched frequently talked in other languages, certainly at
least in Latin. Thus Dr. Hutchinson, in his account of Richard Dugdale, the
Surrey Impostor, as he calls him, writes:

"Here is a young Man, about twenty years old, is said to have given his soul to
the Devil, that he might be the

1 Calmet: op cit. Vol. I, pp. 205-6. 2 Dupouy, Edmond: "Medicine in the Middle
Ages." Cincinnati, 1889; p. 43. best Dancer in Lancashire; but instead of
dancing in the way he hoped to have done, he seems to be possessed. He stands
upon his Head, dances upon his Knees, and runs on all Four like a Dog, and
barks. He seems sometimes extreme heavy, and at other Times light; hath a
swelling run from the calf of his leg up to his Neck; he talks shreads of Latin,
ran into the Water, and told things at a Distance, and was thought to be
possessed with a merry ludicrous Spirit.’” 1

Dr. Hutchinson does not seem to have had an overwhelming respect for the
Presbyterian clergy as exorcists. Perhaps he has a predilection against them. At
any rate he tells how the Presbyterians failed to cure the aforesaid Richard
Dugdale, and Richard taking some money given him by "some honest gentlemen of
the Church of England,"

’*Went to one Dr. Chew, and never had a fit after his Physick, tho’ he had a
severe one the Day before." 2 The notion of one’s speaking as a result of
demoniac possession we will find recurring frequently in, for example, the case
of Mr. Baxter and the Irvingites, who ascribed their mistakes to a lying spirit.
The popular idea of the cunning and wisdom of Satan is revealed in the belief in
his ability to speak and understand all kinds of language. Nothing could ever be
gained by trying to deceive him by any effort to speak in a foreign language; he
understood everything. Gassner, a celebrated Swiss therapeutic of the eighteenth
century, spoke chiefly Latin in his profession, and the devil is said often to
have understood him perfectly. 3 May we presume to suggest that even in the
modern medical profession we face the survival of a primitive

1 Hutchinson, Francis: "An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft." London,
1718; p. 125. 2 Same: p. 126. 3 Howitt, William: "History of the Supernatural."
Philadelphia, 1863. Vol. I, P- 123 superstitious practice in the scribbling off
in illegible handwriting in the Latin tongue, that mysterious something called a
prescription? Why all these mysteries? Why all this atrocious Latinity? Only
because even our physicians are still primitive in some of their intellectual
traits. They still cling desperately to the mysterious power of a mysterious
word. It is a comfort, however, to some of us, to know that not only ministers
of the gospel, not only lawyers with their monstrous Latin, and not only the
Roman Church with its archaic universal language, but also and as well our
physicians who have always without fail scouted all superstition still cling to
the habits of mind of the dark ages. The magic value of a name, to bless or to
curse, is a phenomenon met with throughout the whole history of witchcraft and
superstition. It is evident in the Old Testament in the unwillingness of the
Jewish writers to use the word Jehovah. That word was holy; it was taboo. An old
tradition of the lovers of the occult tells us that among some Jewish teachers
there was no attempt to deny the fact of the miracles of Jesus. They "attribute
them to his having stolen the Holy Name out of the Temple, cut a gash in his
thigh and there enclosed this omnipotent name, by which he possessed the power
to do any miracle." 1 The writing of a name upon an object gave it a special
spiritual value, and the writing of a person’s name upon an object gave that
object a sort of spiritual ascendency over the person concerned an idea which we
encounter frequently in dealing with magic. Resort was often had to this
principle by persons desirous of causing harm to others. Thus, when Germanicus,
nephew of Tiberius, died, 1 Howitt: op. cit. Vol. I, p. 235. See also p. 24.

"there were found in Corners of his Lodgings Charms, Curses, his Name upon
Leaden Tables, Pieces of Man’s Flesh, and Ashes and other things used in
witchcraft.’ * * Under date of the year 1578, it is stated:

"A man taken at Islington with Three Waxen Images, designed for the killing of
Queen Elisabeth, and two of her counsellors: they were buried in a Dunghill,
with their names upon them, in hopes the parties would pine away as the Pictures
wasted." 2 The widespread and primitive nature of the concept of the inherent
power or value of names is dwelt upon at considerable length by Dr. Frazer in
"The Golden Bough":

"Thus, to begin with the savages who rank at the bottom of the social scale, we
are told that the secrecy with which among the Australian aborigines personal
names are often kept from general knowledge, ’arises out of the belief that an
enemy who has your name, has something which he can use magically to your
detriment/ . . . On Herbert River the wizards, in order to practise their arts
against some one, ’need only to know the name of the person in question, and for
this reason they rarely use their proper names in addressing or speaking of each
other, but simply their class names.’ . . . Every Egyptian received two names,
which were known respectively as the true name and the good name, or the great
name and the little name, and while the good or little name was made public, the
true or great name appears to have been carefully concealed. Similarly in
Abyssinia at the present day it is customary to conceal the real name which a
person receives at baptism and to call him only by a short nickname which his
mother gives him on leaving the church. The reason for this concealment is that
a 1 Hutchinson: op. cit., p. 16. 2 Same: pp. 29-30. sorcerer cannot act upon a
person whose real name he does not know." 1

Traces of this fear of the power of a name are to be found in various forms
among practically all primitive peoples. The prohibition laid upon the use of
names sometimes applies to a man’s own name, to the names of relatives, of kings
or chiefs, of the dead, and of gods. 2 This taboo is sometimes extended to
common words in such pursuits as fishing and fowling. 3 The bestowing of a name
in baptism, circumcision, confirmation, or upon the entrance into a religious
life, as well as the promise in the Apocalypse of a new name, may all be
regarded as related to the notion of the spiritual value of a name. The use of
special names and words in ceremonies of initiation into secret societies might
also in this connection be considered.

Some names are looked upon as very dangerous to pronounce. The name of Satan,
for example, in some cases was believed, when pronounced by a woman, to admit
into her an evil spirit. In the trial of Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, both
widows, on the charge of witchcraft, Samuel Pacy, a merchant who had been called
as a witness, stated of the two children who were alleged to have been bewitched
by the women:

"that they would read (in the New Testament) till they came to the Name of Lord
or Jesus; and then before they could pronounce either of the said Words they
would suddenly fall into fits. But when they came to the Name of Satan or Demi,
they would clap their Fingers upon

1 Frazer, J. G.: "The Golden Bough." London, 1900. Second edition, Vol. I, pp.
404, 406. 2 Frazer: op. cit., pp. 407-450. See also Crawley, Ernest: "The Mystic
Rose." London, 1902; pp. 48, 131, 270-3. 3 Frazer: op. cit., pp. 451-64. the
Book, crying out, This bites, but makes me Speak right well." 1

Turner, in his "Mormonism in All Ages" gives an account of the superstitious
idea that there is a healing power in a name, in his story of Austin, the
Vermont Healer, a story, not of the twelfth century, but of the nineteenth:

"In the year 1808, a Mr. Austin, in the town of Colchester, Vermont, gave out
that he was gifted with the art of healing, and that whoever would describe to
him, by word of mouth, or by letter, the symptoms of his malady, should receive
"a healing word," if, indeed, his disease were curable. His obscure retreat was
soon thronged by invalids from all sections of the country. Ballston and
Saratoga seemed, for the time, forgotten. Barrooms and postoffices were deluged
with floods of letters to the ’prophet at Colchester.’ Mail carriers groaned
under burdens of the kind of diseases described. Hawkers and vagrants traversed
the country to procure and carry letters of symptoms to the prophet, for only
fifty cents a letter. The deaf soon heard, the blind saw, dropsies and
consumptions stood aghast, and multitudes were found to amend at the precise
time their letters were supposed to have reached the prophet. Such fame was,
however, too glorious for long continuance." 2 A story of a similar nature is
told by Anthony Knivet, a voyager and explorer. The event occurred about 1591.
Knivet’s feet had been frozen. Some of the toes had dropped off and the feet
were infested with lice. At Penguin Island, he informs us, "the Generall tooke a
Chirurgeon who cured with words; This man comming aboord our ship, said some

1 From Pamphlet: "A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds,
etc., March 10, 1664." Reprinted, London, 1838. 2 Turner, J. B.: "Mormonism in
All Ages." New York, 1842; p. 294. words over my feet and I had feeling in my
legges and feet which I had lost before, for the space of a fortnight. Many
times before this man came I had hot Irons laid to my feet, but I had no feeling
were they never so hot." *

Various phrases were used for the exorcising of demons. He who knew the right
word to use was specially blest. The Lord’s Prayer was looked upon as having a
special value as a test for discovering the existence of a witch. The Rev. Mr.
Barrel, a Puritan divine of the seventeenth century, found that

"Stinted Prayers, read out of a book (the Common Prayer Book) had little effect
upon the Spirits; but at conceived Prayers, the Parties were much troubled." 2

It is interesting, by the way, to note that this was the same Mr. Barrel who
felt called to the ministry by a certain "sluggishness" on his part in the study
of English common law.

Evil spirits had a persistent objection, in fact a fear, of the Pater and Ave.
The spirits objected to their being repeated. Calmet tells us of a returned
spirit named Humbert, who

"was made to say the Pater and Ave; he recited them with difficulty, saying that
he was prevented by an evil spirit, who would not let him tell the cure many
other things." 3

Sometimes it was a verse of scripture which checked the demon. One of the demons
who is said to have possessed one of the Ursuline nuns is represented as stating
that, 1 Purchas: op. cit., Vol. XVI, p 188. 2 Hutchinson: op. cit., p. 244. 3
Calmet: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 287.

"When Lucifer tempted Jesus Christ in the Wilderness, his design was to
penetrate into that Secret (i. e. How the Motherhood of Mary could be joined
with her Virginity) but those words, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God,
left him in blindness as to that mystery." * Belief was also current in a magic
language known only to the initiated:

"One ground of the charge (against John Trithemius, Abbot of Spenheim, born
1462, died 1516) of necromancy, was a work of his, entitled ’Steganographia, or
the art, by means of a secret writing, of communicating our thoughts to a person
absent.’ He says, however, that in this book he had merely used the language of
magic, without in any degree having had recourse to their modes of proceeding."
2 The reputed use by witches of unmeaning formulae or of formulae of unmeaning
sounds is related to the theory of a magic language. Elizabeth Style, who
confessed to the charge of witchcraft in 1664, deposed inter alia:

"Before they (the witches) are carried to their meetings, they annoint their
Fore-heads and Hand-Wrists with an Oyl the Spirit brings them, which smells raw,
and then they are carried in a very short time, using these words as they pass,
Thout, Tout, a tout, tout, throughput and about. And when they go off from their
Meetings, they say Rentum Tormentum" 3 In the following account of the execution
of a witch, we note the same psychological tendency:

1 Aubin: "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists Discovered in
the History of the Devils of Loudun." (Translated into English.) London, 1703;
p. 263. 2 Godwin: op. rit., p. 263. 3 Glanville, Joseph: "Sadducismus
Triumphatus, etc." London, 1726.

"One of the persons executed at the first burning, a prostitute, was heard
repeating the exorcism, which was supposed to have the power of raising the arch
enemy in the form of a goat. This precious specimen of human folly has been
preserved by Horst, in his ’Zauberbibliothek.’ It ran as follows and was to be
repeated slowly, with many ceremonies and waivings of the hand:

"’Lalle, Bachera, Magotte, Baphia, Dajam, Vagoth Heneche Ammi Nagaz, Adomator,
Raphael Immanuel Christus, Tetragrammaton Agra Jod Loi. Konig! Konig!’

"The two last words were uttered quickly, and with a sort of scream, and were
supposed to be highly agreeable to Satan, who loved to be called a king. If he
did not appear immediately, it was necessary to repeat a further exorcism. The
one in greatest repute was as follows, and was to be read backwards, with the
exception of the last two words:

"’Anion, Lalle, Sabolos, Sado, Pater, Aziel Adonai, Sado Vagoth Agra, Jod,
Baphra ! Komm ! Komm !’

"When the witch wanted to get rid of the devil, who was sometimes in the habit
of prolonging his visits to an unconscionable length, she had only to repeat the
following, also backwards, when he generally disappeared, leaving behind him a
suffocating smell:

"’Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub Dax!
Komm! Komm!’"i The primitive nature of this meaningless use of words, or this
use of meaningless words, is apparent when we note that it belongs to the same
stage psychologically 1 Mackey, Charles: "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular
Delusions." Philadelphia, 1850. Vol. I, pp. 329-330. as many of the songs in
common use among savages. ’The following," says Tylor, "is a translation of a
New Zealand song:

Thy body is at Waitemata, But thy spirit came hither, And aroused me from my
sleep.

Chorus Ha ah, ha ah, ha ah, ha!’

"This last shows a feature extremely common in barbaric songs, the refrain of
generally meaningless syllables. We moderns are often struck with the absurdity
of the nonsense-chorus in many of our own songs, but the habit is one which
seems to have been kept up from the stages of culture in which the Australian
savage sings, ‘Abang! Abang!’ over and over at the end of his verse, or a Red
Indian hunting party enjoys singing in chorus, ’Nyah eh ua! nyah eh ua!’ to an
accompaniment of rattles like those which children use with us." 1 The love of
words because of their sounds is a trait which we encounter on every hand. The
fondness of the American negro for words which he does not understand, but which
he seems to enjoy repeating, is familiar. In poets of the neuropathic type like
Blake or Poe, we meet with the same phenomenon. In the fondness of small boys
for what they call "hog-Latin," we encounter a similar tendency. That Joseph
Smith, Jr., the Mormon prophet, was in no sense free from primitive traits is
not only in evidence in his "peep-stone," but equally so in his fondness for
high-sounding words, to which we shall have occasion later to refer.

Hepworth Dixon tells a story illustrative of the same tendency in giving an
account of his visit to the "Agape 1 Tylor, Edward B.: "Anthropology." New York.
1881; p. 288. mone," the home of the Princites. Those who lived within the
protecting walls of the "Agapemone" had each received a new name. Dixon was very
curious to know the names which these people had borne "in the world":

"Once when Sister Zoe was lifting up her voice to address me, as all the Sisters
had done in turn, I asked by what name I should speak to her. ’Zoe/ she replied.
. . . ’ ’But think/ I urged, ’I am a layman, and a stranger; how can I use these
sweet, familiar names?* ’Tray do so,’ answered Zoe; ’it is very nice.’

’ ’No doubt, if I were here a month; meantime it would be easier for me to call
you Miss ’ .

’ ’Call me Zoe,’ she answered with a patient smile: ’Zoe; nothing but Zoe.’

"Looking towards Prince, I said, ’Do your people take new names on coming into
residence, like the monks and nuns of an Italian convent?’

" ’Not like monks and nuns/ said Prince; ’we do not put ourselves under the
protection of saints. We have no saints. We simply give ourselves to God, of
whom this mansion is the seat. At yonder gates we leave the world behind; its
words, its laws, its passions; all of which we hold to be things of the devil’s
kingdom. Living in the Lord, we follow his leading light, even in the simple
matter of our names; you will hear them all in time. They call me Beloved. I
call this lady Zoe, because the sound pleases me. I call Thomas Mossoo, because
he speaks French so well.’ " 1

Grassett remarks upon the same phenomenon as characteristic of the semi-insane
and the semi-responsible. Thus he writes of Gorky:

"Although Gorky has chiefly depicted vagabonds, one 1 Dixon, William Hepworth:
"Spiritual Wives." London and Philadelphia, 1868; pp. 172-3. nevertheless meets
the semi-insane in his works, especially in Les-Bas-fonds, which the Theatre de
1’OEuvre has lately presented. Was it not Satine who loves, without knowing why,
the ’incomprehensible’ and ’peculiar’ words ’macrobiotic’ and ’transcendental’?"
1

Grassett also calls attention to the fact that "in certain verses of Victor Hugo
one finds a curious collection of words sounding alike, such as is found in the
poems of the insane." 2 In the argot of criminals we are dealing with the same
conditions. While the practical reason given by criminals for the use of this
peculiar slang is the desire to elude the police, the psychological reason is
the love of unusual and peculiar sounding words. 3 The Middle Ages were
characterised by a number of religious movements, all of which had motor
characteristics which are akin to the tongues movement, and all of which would
in modern days doubtless have been characterised by speaking in tongues. "The
Master of Hungary," a leader in the Pastoureaux movement, which began about 1251
in Flanders, was said to have spoken as the result of a miracle in all
languages. 4 He claimed to be under the special protection of the Virgin. The
dancing manise which spread all over Europe were motor expressions of the same
neurotic conditions which in later times have been associated with the tongues
movement. The Flagellants may also be classified under the same general head.

1 Grassett, Joseph: "The Semi-Insane and the Semi-Responsible." New Yoric, 1907;
p. 17. 2 Op . cit., p. 231 (foot-note). 3 See Ellis, Havelock: "The Criminal."
London and New York, 1903; PP. 4 Blunt, John Henry: "Dictionary of Sects,
Heresies, etc." Philadelphia. 1874. Art.: "Pastoreaux," p. 410. In 1566 an
epidemic broke out among the children of the Orphan House at Amsterdam:

"These children climbed up the walls and over roofs like cats, made the most
horrible grimaces, and spoke foreign languages, relating things done at the same
moment in other places, even in the courts of justice. Similar to these were the
disorders amongst the children, boys and girls, in the Orphan House at Horn in
Holland, as related by Franz Kneiper. Sometimes they became cataleptic, were as
stiff as trunks of trees, and might be carried about in the same manner." * A
few years before (1550) a very similar neurosis occurred, Dupouy tells us,

"among the nuns at St. Brigette’s Convent. In their attacks the nuns imitated
the cries of animals and the bleating of sheep. At chapel one after the other
were taken with convulsive syncope, followed by suffocation and oesophageal
spasms which sometimes persisted for the space of several days and condemned the
victims to an enforced fast. This epidemic commenced after an hysterical
convulsion occurred in one of the younger nuns, who had entered the convent on
account of disappointment in love." 2

Accounts of women worshipping in church, or of nuns who barked like dogs, meowed
like cats or imitated the cries of other animals, are very frequent, and are
reported as occurring in such widely distributed localities as in a German
convent, in Oxford, England, and in Paris. At the convent of Auxonne, where a
similar epidemic broke out, "The Bishop of Chalons reports that all the before 1
Howitt: op. clt., Vol. I, pp. 504-5. 2 Dupouy: op. tit., p. 57 mentioned girls,
secular as well as regular, to the number of eighteen, had the gifts of
language, and responded to the Exorcists in Latin, making at times their entire
conversation in the classical tongue." 1 An incident reminiscent of the
disorders, apparently distressingly frequent in convents, is related in
connection with the Salem witchcraft, when it is stated that the children of
John Goodwin, of Boston, "barked like dogs, purred like cats, at times
complained that they were in a red-hot oven, and again that cold water was
thrown on them." 2

Evelyn, in his Diary, refers to the preaching of one Rev. John Mason, and under
date of April 24th, 1694, records the following:

"A great rising of people in Buckinghamshire, on the declaration of a famous
preacher, till now reputed a sober and religious man, that our Lord Christ
appearing to him on the 1 6th of this month, told him he was now come down, and
would appear publicly at Pentecost. . . . Great multitudes followed this
preacher, divers of the most zealous brought their goods and considerable sums
of money, and began to live in imitation of the primitive saints, minding no
private concerns, continually dancing and singing Hallelulia night and day." 3
The phenomena which we have been expected to look upon as special signs of
divine presence, and which were associated in later years with what have been
called "The Great American Revivals," were in evidence under the preaching of
such men as George Fox and John Wesley.

1 Dupouy: op. cit., pp. 759-60. See also Hecker, J. F. K.: "The Epidemics of the
Middle Ages." Philadelphia, 1837; London, 1844; p. 127, foot-note. 2 Dupouy: op.
cit., p. 62. 3 Evelyn, John: "The Diary of." Edited by William Bray (in
Everyman’s Library). London and New York. Vol. II, pp. 331-2.

Fox frequently had his meetings interrupted by those who cried out and groaned.
At times his own preaching took on that rhapsodic form which would have been
called prophecy in Irving’s church, and which, had his attention been turned
very forcibly toward the Pentecostal phenomena, might easily have led him to
speak with tongues. John Wesley seemed inclined at first to countenance the
bodily manifestations which occurred under the spell of his preaching. How
frequent they were is illustrated" from the following extracts from his Journal
for the year 1739:

"April 17. At Baldwin Street, we called upon God, to confirm his word.
Immediately, one that stood by cried out aloud, with the utmost vehemence, even
as in the agonies of death. But we continued in prayer, till a new song was put
into her mouth, a thanksgiving unto our God. Soon after, two other persons were
seized with; strong pain, and constrained to roar for the disquietude of their
heart. But it was not long before they likewise burst forth into praise to God
their Saviour. The last who* I called upon God, as out of the belly of hell, was
a stranger * in Bristol; and, in a short space, he also was overwhelmed with joy
and love, knowing that God had healed his backslidings.

"April 21. At Weavers* Hall, a young man was suddenly seized with violent
trembling all over, and, in a few minutes, sunk to the ground. But we ceased not
calling upon God, till He raised him up full of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
. . .

"April 26. At Newgate, I was led to pray that God would bear witness to His
word. Immediately one, and another, and another sunk to the earth; they dropped
on every side as thunderstruck. One of them cried aloud. We besought God in her
behalf, and He turned her heaviness into joy. A second being in the same agony,
we called upon God for her also; and He spoke peace unto her soul. In the
evening, one was so wounded by the sword of the Spirit, that you would have
imagined she could not live a moment. But immediately His abundant kindness was
shown, and she loudly sang of His righteousness. 1 Charles Wesley had the same
difficulties to contend with, but dealt with them after another fashion:

"June 4th. I went on at five expounding the Acts. Some stumbling-blocks, with
the help of God, I have removed, particularly the fits. Many no doubt were, at
our first preaching struck down, both soul and body, into the depth of distress.
Their outward affections were easy to be imitated. Many counterfeits I have
already detected. To-day one who came from the ale-house drunk was pleased to
fall into a fit for my entertainment, and beat himself heartily. I thought it a
pity to hinder him; so instead of singing over him, as had often been done, we
left him to recover at his leisure. Another girl, as she began her cry, I
ordered to be carried out. Her convulsion was so violent as to take away the use
of her limbs, till they laid and left her without the door. Then immediately she
found her legs, and walked off. Some very unstill sisters, who always took care
to stand near me, and try which should cry loudest, since I had them removed out
of my sight, have been as quiet as lambs. The first night I preached here, half
my words were lost through their outcries. Last night, before I began, I gave
public notice, that whosoever cried, so as to drown my voice, should, without
any man’s hurt, or judging them, be gently carried to the farthest corner of the
room. But my porters had no employment the whole night; yet the Lord was with
us, mightily convincing of sin and righteousness." 2

1 Tyerman, L.: "The Life and Times of Rev. John Wesley, M.A.," etc. New York,
1872. Vol. I, pp. 255-6. 2 Jackson, Thomas: "The Life of the Rev. Charles
Wesley, M.A.," etc. London, 1841. Vol. I, pp. 333-4.

It is rather to the by-products of the preaching of the Wesley s than to the
immediate circle of their followers that we must look for evidences of
conditions very similar to those of the tongues movement. The Band-room
Methodists, an organisation which had its origin in Manchester in 1806, was
probably of this tendency. Its leaders were John and E. Broadhurst, Holland
Hoole, Nathaniel Williamson and Thomas E. Painter. They were noted, it is said,
for their noisy prayer meetings. It is to be remembered that it is only a step
from noisy prayer meetings to speaking in the tongues. In Wales a sect arose
popularly called the "Jumpers -" They were a sort of Methodist sect, and seemed
to have belonged to Lady Huntingdon’s connection. The leaders in the movement
were Harris Rowland and William Williams. They began their work about 1760, in
the county of Cornwall. John Evans, who took occasion to attend one of their
meetings, has given us the following account:

"About the year 1795 I myself happened very accidentally to be present at a
meeting, which terminated in jumping. It was held in the open air, on a Sunday
evening, near Newport, in Monmouthshire. The preacher was one of Lady
Huntingdon’s students, who concluded his sermon with the recommendation of
jumping; and to allow him the praise of consistency, he got down from the chair
on which he stood, and jumped along with them. The arguments he adduced for this
purpose were, that David danced before the ark, that the babe leaped in the womb
of Elizabeth, and that the man whose lameness was removed, leaped and praised
God for the mercy which he had received. He expatiated on these topics with
uncommon fervency, and then drew the inference that they ought to show similar
expressions of joy, for the blessings which Jesus Christ had put in their
possession.

He then gave an impassioned sketch of the sufferings of the Saviour, and thereby
roused the passions of a few around him into a state of violent agitation. About
nine men and seven women, for some little time, rocked to and fro, groaned
aloud, and then jumped with a kind of frantic fury. Some of the audience flew in
all directions, others gazed on in silent amazement! They all gradually
dispersed, except the jumpers, who continued their exertions from eight in the
evening to near eleven at night. I saw the conclusion of it; they at last
kneeled down in a circle, holding each other by the hand, while one of them
prayed with great fervour, and then all rising up from off their knees,
departed. But previous to their dispersion, they wildly pointed up towards the
sky, and reminded one another that they should soon meet there, and be never
again separated! I quitted the spot with astonishment. . . . The reader is
referred to Bingley’s and Evans’ Tour Through Wales . . . where, as many
particulars are retailed respecting the Jumpers, his curiosity will receive a
still further gratification." 1 A movement of a similar character began in a
Methodist chapel at Redruth, where

"A man, during divine service, cried out with a loud voice, ’What shall I do to
be saved?’ at the same time manifesting the greatest uneasiness and solicitude
respecting the condition of his soul. Some other members of the congregation,
following his example, cried out in the same form of words, and seemed shortly
after to suffer the most excruciating bodily pain. This strange occurrence was
soon publicly known, and hundreds of people, who had come thither, either
attracted by curiosity or a desire, from other motives, to see the sufferers,
fell into the same state. The chapel remained open for some days and nights, and
from that point the new disorder spread

1 Evans, John: "A Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World," etc.
Burlington, 1812; p. 219 et seq. See also Tyerman, op. cit. t Vol. II, pp.
480*1. itself, with the rapidity of lightning, over the neighbouring towns of
Camborne, Halston, Truro, Penryn, and Falmouth, as well as in the villages in
the vicinity. Whilst thus advancing it decreased in some measure at the place
where it had first appeared, and it confined itself throughout to Methodist
chapels. It was only by the words which had been mentioned that it was excited,
and it seized none but people of the lowest education. Those who were attacked
betrayed the greatest anguish and fell into convulsions; others cried out, like
persons possessed, that the Almighty would straightway pour out his wrath upon
them, that the wailings of tormented spirits rang in their ears and they saw
hell open to receive them. The clergy, when in the course of their sermons they
perceived that persons were thus seized, earnestly exhorted them to confess
their sins, and zealously endeavoured to convince them that they were by nature
enemies to Christ, that the anger of God had therefore fallen upon them, and
that if death should surprise them in the midst of their sins, the eternal
torments of hell would be their portion. The over-excited congregation upon this
repeated their words, which materially must have increased the fury of their
convulsive attacks. When the discourse had produced its full effects, the
preacher changed his subject; reminded those who were suffering of the power of
the Saviour, as well as of the grace of God, and represented to them in glowing
colours the joys of heaven. Upon this a remarkable reaction sooner or later took
place. Those who were in convulsions felt themselves raised from the worst
depths of misery and despair to the most exalted bliss, and triumphantly shouted
out that their bonds were loosed, their sins were forgiven, and that they were
translated to the wonderful freedom of the children of God. In the meantime
their convulsions continued, and they remained, during this condition, so
abstracted from every earthly thought, that they stayed two and sometimes three
days and nights together in the chapels, agitated all the time by spasmodic
movements, and taking neither repose nor nourishment. According to a moderate
computation, 4,000 people were, within a short time, affected with this
convulsive malady."

Then follows an account of the bodily conditions, symptoms, etc.:

"Others shouted aloud, leaped about, and threw their bodies into every possible
posture until they exhausted their strength. Yawning took place at the
commencement in all cases, but as the violence of the disorder increased, the
circulation and respiration became accelerated, so that the countenance assumed
a swollen and puffed appearance. When exhaustion came on, patients usually
fainted, and remained in a stiff and motionless state until their recovery." l
In the "Great Awakening" in this country, such scenes were frequent. Under the
preaching of Gilbert Tennent, crying out, shouting and falling occurred so often
that they attracted the attention of Tennent’s critics and became a basis for
attacks against him. 2

It is in the Kentucky Revival T however, that we have probably the most
remarkable scenes of physiological phenomena ever known in this country to have
been associated with Christianity. The people who were its subjects were of all
classes, but, for the most part, they were ignorant, superstitious backwoodsmen.
The revival was a series of camp meetings, the first of which was held for four
days and three nights, beginning May 22, 1801.

"The scene was awful beyond description; th crying out, praying, exhorting,
singing, shouting, etc., exhibited such new and’ striking evidences of a
supernatural power, that few, if any, could escape without being 1 Hecker: op.
cit., p. 144. 2 See Tennent, Gilbert: "The Examiner Examined," etc.
Philadelphia, 1743. affected. Such as tried to run from it, were frequently
struck on the way, or impelled, by some alarming signal, to return; . . . No
circumstance at this meeting appeared more striking than the great numbers that
fell on the third night: and to prevent their being trodden under foot by the
multitude, they were collected together, and laid out in order, on two squares
of the meeting-house; which, like so many dead corpses, covered a considerable
part of the floor." *

Similar scenes occurred at Concord, Eagle Creek, Pleasant Point, Indian Creek,
Caneridge (where three thousand are said to have fallen). In addition to this
"falling" exercise there were other manifestations of an unusual sort, of which
there were, according to McNemar, three principal types:

"The rolling exercises, the jerks and the barks, 1. The rolling exercise, which
consisted in being cast down in a violent manner, doubled with the head and feet
together, and rolled over and over like a wheel, or stretched in a prostrate
manner, turned swiftly over and over like a log. This was considered very
debasing and mortifying, especially if the person was taken in this manner
through the mud, and sullied therewith from head to foot.

"2. Still more demeaning and mortifying were the jerks. Nothing in nature could
better represent this strange and unaccountable operation, than for one to goad
another, alternately on every side, with a piece of red hot iron. The exercise
commonly began in the head which would fly backward and forward, and from side
to side, with a quick jolt, which the person would naturally labour to suppress,
but in vain; and the more any one laboured to stay himself, and be sober, the
more he 1 McNemar, Richard: "The Kentucky Revival," etc. New York, 1846; pp.
staggered, and the more rapidly his twitches increased. He must necessarily go
as he was stimulated, whether with a violent dash on the ground and bounce from
place to place like a football, or hop round, with head, limbs and trunk,
twitching and jolting in every direction, as if they must inevitably fly
asunder. And how such could escape without injury, was no small wonder to
spectators. By this strange operation the human frame was commonly so
transformed and disfigured as to lose every trace of its natural appearance.
Sometimes the head would be twitched right and left, to a half round, with such
velocity, that not a feature could be discovered, but the face appear as much
behind as before; and in the quick progressive jerk, it would seem as if the
person was transmuted into some other species of creature. Head dresses were of
little account among the female jerkers. Even handkerchiefs bound tight round
the head, would be flirted off almost with the first twitch, and the hair put
into the utmost confusion. . . . Such as were seized with the jerks, were
wrested at once, not only from under their own government, but that of every one
else, so that it was dangerous to attempt confining them, or touching them in
any manner, to whatever danger they were exposed; yet few were hurt, except it
were such as rebelled against the operation, through wilful and deliberate
enmity, and refused to comply with the injunctions which it came to enforce.

"3. The last possible grade of mortification seemed to be couched in the barks,
which frequently accompanied the jerks; nor were they the most mean and
contemptible characters, who were the common victims of this disgracing
operation; but persons who considered themselves in the foremost rank, possessed
of the highest improvements of human nature, and yet in spite of all the effort
of nature, both men and women would be forced to personate that animal, whose
name, appropriated to a human creature, is counted the most vulgar stigma
forced, I say, for no argument but force could induce any one of polite breeding
in a public company to take the position of a canine beast, move about on all
fours, and growl, snap the teeth, and bark in so personating a manner as, to set
the eyes and ears of the spectator at variance. It was commonly acknowledged by
the subjects of these exercises, that they were laid upon them, as a
chastisement for disobedience, or a stimulus to incite them to some duty or
exercise, to which they felt opposed. Hence it was very perceivable that the
quickest method to find releasement from the jerks and barks was to engage in
the voluntary dance; and such as refused, being inwardly moved thereto as their
duty and privilege, had to bear these afflicting operations, from month to month
and from year to year, until they wholly lost their original design and were
converted into a badge of honour, in the same manner as the first outward mark
of human guilt."1

Peter Cartwright tells us that there was considerable discussion as to the
nature of the "exercises" in the Kentucky Revival and thus describes the
manifestation of the "jerks":

"Just in the midst of our controversies on the subject of the powerful exercises
among the people under preaching, a new exercise broke out among us, called the
jerks, which was overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the
people. No matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under
a warm song or sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which they
could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the more they
jerked. If they would not strive against it and pray in good earnest, the
jerking would usually abate. I have seen more than five hundred persons jerking
at one time in my large congregation. Most usually persons taken with the jerks,
to obtain relief, 1 McNemar: op. cit., pp. 63-8. as they said, would rise up and
dance. Some would run, but could not get away. Some would resist; on such the
jerks were generally very severe.

"To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies, dressed in their silks,
jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe, take the jerks, would often excite my
risibilities. The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps and
combs fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of the head that their long, loose
hair would crack almost as loud as a wagoner’s whip." 1 In spiritualism we find
also the phenomena which are found in connection with the tongues. Not only are
the same physiological conditions present, and not only are mediums to be
classed under the same general head as all the tongues people as persons of
neurotic tendencies, but trance-speaking, involuntary utterances, together with
speaking in foreign languages, all encountered in spiritualism, are stigmata
which entitle spiritualists to be classed under the same general head as those
who speak in tongues.

There was a curious vein of spiritualism which ran through the thinking of many
of the communistic societies which flourished in the United States during the
first half of the nineteenth century. Converse with departed spirits was also a
striking element in the Shaker worship. Charles Nordhoff calls attention to the
spiritualistic element in the "Amana Community":

"They (the Amana Community) regard the utterances, while in the trance state, of
their spiritual head, as given from God; and believe . . . that evils and wrongs
in the congregation will be thus revealed by the influence or, as they say, the
inspiration or breath of God. . . .

1 Cartwright, Peter: "Autobiography." Edited by W. P. Strickland. New York,
1857; pp. 48-9.

"When the ’instrument’ falls into inspiration, he is often severely shaken Metz,
they say, sometimes shook for an hour and thereupon follows the utterances which
are believed to proceed from God. The ’instrument’ sits or kneels, or walks
about among the congregation. ’Brother Metz used to walk about in the meeting
with his eyes closed; but he always knew to whom he was speaking, or where to
turn with words of reproof, admonition, or encouragement’ so I was told." 1

Andrew Jackson Davis is certainly not the most profound of thinkers, and, for
the most part, what he has to say is tiresome and verbose, but what he has to
say on the subject of the nature of trance-speaking and its relation to revival
phenomena is none the less true:

" The outpouring of the Holy Spirit’ in a Methodist medium, while lying
insensible upon the ground or floor, or while in ecstasies, shouting, ’I have
found peace,’ ’I have found Jesus,’ etc., is analogous to, and is exactly the
same thing as, that which is experienced by the Spiritualist medium when moved
to speak in many tongues, or while (externally unconscious) expressing the
exalted sentiments and poetic delights imparted by enthusiastic ’spirits and
angels’ who were once our earthly acquaintances, friends, neighbours, brothers,
and sisters." 2

Automatic writing or inspirational writing on the part of mediums belongs to the
same class. With it may be classified trance preaching. Of the latter, the
following is a typical example:

"Almost fifty years ago, a very remarkable case of preaching ecstasy, or, as it
would now be called by some, trance-mediumship, occurred in this city in the
person of

1 Nordhoff, Charles: "The Communistic Societies of the United States." New York,
1875; pp. 47-8-9, 58. 2 Davis, A. J.: "Diseases of the Brain and Nerves." New
York, 1871; p. 211. a maiden lady, of delicate health, named Rachel Baker. Dr.
S. L. Mitchell took great interest in her case, and had her sermons reported by
a stenographer and published. Miss Baker was the daughter of a respectable
farmer in Onondaga County, New York, and had received a plain but substantial
education. About the age of twenty she became much exercised on the subject of
religion, and at length her mind became seriously affected, and she fell into
the habit of trance-preaching. Her parents were at first impressed at what they
regarded as a most extraordinary gift, though they afterward became convinced
that it was the result of disease, and accordingly brought her to the city of
New York, in order that she might have the benefit of the best medical skill.
Crowds flocked to hear her preach at the houses of different medical
practitioners. Her discourses were highly respectable in point of style and
arrangement, and were interspersed with Scripture quotations. After her health
was restored, she lost the faculty of trance-preaching, and never regained it.
She died in 1843."

Mediumistic utterances or writings are on record in which the medium, ignorant
of any language except English, has used language even as unusual as Sanscrit.
Judge Edmonds says:

"I have heard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French words, when I
knew they had no knowledge of any language but their own; and it is a fact that
can be attested by many, that often there has been speaking and writing in
foreign languages and unknown tongues by those who were unacquainted with
either." 1 He further states:

"I have heard an illiterate mechanic repeat Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Chaldaic,
and describe the customs and 1 Edmonds, John W., and Dexter, George T.:
"Spiritualism." New York, 1853. Vol. I, p. 75. See also p. 35. habits of men
living on the earth thousands of years ago. ... I have been present when a
medium answered many questions in the Italian language, of which she was
ignorant, and then gave me the name of an Italian gentleman of whom she had
never heard." * Of Charles H. Foster, "the Salem Seer," it was said:

"Mr. Foster could give a communication in any language. He would make mistakes,
speak slowly, and sometimes not very accurately, but could in nearly all cases
be understood by the questioner. In this connection I remember one remarkable
experience which occurred in New York City. Two gentlemen called on Mr. Foster
and inquired if he could answer some questions in a foreign language. He replied
that he had usually been able to do so, and if the gentlemen would kindly be
seated and write their questions on slips of paper, he would see what the result
would be. I am quite sure that the mental strain was very severe on Mr. Foster
during this seance, for beads of perspiration could be seen on his forehead
frequently. It was quite a lengthy seance, and he answered numerous questions,
but in a language which he said he had never before spoken. Consequently he
pronounced many of the words with some difficulty. The gentlemen were surprised
and delighted. In justice to Mr. Foster, and to show what a wonderful test he
had given them, one of the gentlemen made this explanation: Some years ago he
was shipwrecked, and drifted to an unknown island, where he was treated kindly
by the natives, and where he was compelled to remain for three years before
being rescued. It was there he learned this strange language. A young native,
who was his most intimate companion, died a few weeks before he was rescued, and
it was the spirit of this young man from whom he was supposed to have had the
communication, and as there was not another man in New York City, 1 Edmonds,
John W., and Dexter, George T.: "Spiritualism." New York, 1853. Vol. I, p. 87.
or in any part of Europe, who knew a word of the language, it certainly was a
capital test, and shows, it seems to me conclusively, that no fraud could have
been practised, and shows also, beyond a doubt, that there is such a thing as
genuine mediumistic phenomena, which has not in the past, and cannot at present,
be satisfactorily explained." 1

It is a long journey from the dark lands of fear in which the savage of to-day
lives, that land in which the peoples of Europe spent their dark ages, to the
spiritualism of to-day with its easy access to the supernatural, and with the
comfort that it brings to those whose notion of heart’s ease is not in activity,
but in passivity. But it is a path which leads always to the same country.
Whether we listen to the anguished cries of the bewitched, to the great cry of
the multitude whose groans and shouts of salvation are filling the revival air,
or to the still, small, silly voice of the medium, we are ever in the same
country the land of the savage, of the puerile, of the semi-insane, the
semi-responsible; the land where fear is, but the land where God is not.

1 Bartlett, George C: "The Salem Seer" (Charles Foster). New York, 1891; pp.
64-5.


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  CHAPTER 4: 03 URUSILNE NUNS AND DEVILS OF LOUDUN
========================================================================

Chapter 3 The Urusline Nuns and the Devils of Loudun IN the account of the
famous "Devils of Loudun," one history of which is called by the Protestant
minister who wrote it "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and
Exorcists," 1 the ability to speak in other languages is much in evidence as a
sign of demon possession. ’

It is a sad story a tragic story. But all these stories which we are telling are
pitifully sad stories of human ignorance and sin. Loudun had long enjoyed that
popularity and that prosperity of a material nature which is the privilege of
the miracle-making.

"The Carmelites of Loudun heretofore had been possessed of the power of working
Miracles; they had an image of our Lady, call’d our Lady of Recovery, who fail’d
not any one of those in what they required of her devoutly, and in the requisite
form. But since the image of Ardilliers came to be set up at Sawmmw, in the
Neighbourhood of the former, as if she had been her Rival, she usurped all her
Power and Credit; and ’tis f no great wonder; for doubtless there’s no body in
the World, who does not agree, that the Priests of the Oratory are more able and
cunning People than the Carmelites. At that time all one Quarter and a suburb of
Loudun, I which was fill’d with Inns for Pilgrims, remain’d unpeopled and
desolate, and the Carmelites without Presents, Votaries, and Gospel-money." 2

1 Aubin, Nicolas: "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists,
Discovered in the History of the Devils of Loudun." (Translated into English.)
London, 1703. 2 Same, p. 188. In Loudun also was a convent of Ursuline nuns,
founded in 1626, likewise under the depressing influence of poverty. The women
who were its inmates were of good families, but brought no considerable portions
with them to enrich the convent. The confessor of the convent in the year 1632
was one Canon Mignon. At the time this honour was bestowed upon Mignon, the name
of Urban Grandier had also been suggested and had received some considerable
support. It is said that Grandier’s name had been urged at the request of some
of the nuns. For this request there was a reason obvious in the moral ideas of
the time. Grandier not only opposed the dogma of the celibacy of the clergy,
but, like the vast majority of his fellow clergy, maintained notorious sexual
relations with a number of women. 1 When later he was burned at the stake, a
treatise which he had written against the celibacy of the clergy, and which his
inquisitors found among his papers, was burned with him. It is not to be doubted
that Grandier, because of his prominent position, his personal charm, his
heretofore inaccessibility, and his well-known sexual experiences, had for some
of the nuns of the convent that fascination and charm which a roue has always
for a type of adolescent female mind. This is especially evident when we realize
that in these young women the idea of sex had been exalted unduly by the fact
that their vows constituted a prohibition against anything which seemed to be a
normal expression of the vita sexualis.

Grandier was both an able man and a successful man.

"He perform’d the course of his Studies under the Jesuits of Bourdeaux, who,
observing in him very con1 See Lea, Henry Charles: "History of Sacerdotal
Celibacy in the Christian Church." Third Edition. New York, 1907. Vol. II, p.
297. siderable Endowments, took an affection to him, and procur’d to him the
parsonage of Saint Peter, in the Market of Loudun, which is in the presentation
of the Jesuits of Poictiers. He had also obtain’d a Prebend in the Chapter of
the Church of Saint Crosse. The uniting of these two Benefices in one Person,
who was not of that Province, expos’d him to the Envy of many Churchmen, who
would have been well satisfied with one of the two. This he was sufficiently
sensible of, when he saw himself accus’d, for he often said to his Friends, that
one part of those of that Order, who had declared themselves against him, had a
Quarrel with his Benefices, rather than his Person." * He is described by Aubin
as

"Of a tall Stature, and of a good Presence, of a steady Mind, and subtil Wit,
always Comely and well drest, never going but in a long Garment; this outward
neatness was accompanied with a polite Wit; He exprest himself with much Ease
and Eloquence." 2

It is to be expected that he was a man with enemies. His amours, his successes
and the fact that he was a man of independent thought soon raised up for him
many enemies. That he was not always a man of discretion is evident in the story
told by his friendly biographer, Aubin, 3 that after he had been acquitted of a
charge of immorality, he rode back to Loudun, openly proclaiming his triumph
over his enemies by carrying a branch of laurel in his hand.

Rumours had been current for some time in the town, of something unusual in the
Ursuline convent, and it had been whispered about that demons had entered into
some of the nuns. The whispered rumour seemed only too 1 Aubin, op. cit., pp.
5-6. 2 Op cit., p. 6. 3 Op. cit., p. 18. true. The new father confessor, Mignon,
the appointee of the Mother Superior, who had indignantly refused to appoint the
scandalous Grandier, had learned with horror (feigned or unfeigned) that not
only one of the lay sisters, the daughter of one Maignoux, but the Mother
Superior herself, was under demoniacal possession. This had occurred after "the
Nuns had been disturbed for fifteen Days with Apparitions and frightful
Visions." 1 The first public, or semi-public, exhibition of the phenomena of
possession was in the presence, inter alia, of two magistrates, William de
Cerizai de la Gueriniere, Bailiff of the Loudunois, and Lewis Chauvet,
Lieutenant Civil. These found the Superior and the lay sister lying in bed:

"The Superior had no sooner discovered the two Magistrates, but she had violent
Commotions, and perform’d strange Actions; She made a noise which was like to
that of a Pig; She sunk down into the Bed, and contracted herself into the
Postures and Grimaces of a Person who is out of his Wits; A Carmelite Friar was
at her right Hand, and Mignon at her left, the last of these put his Two Fingers
into her Mouth, and presupposing that she was possess’d, us’d many Conjurations,
and spake to the Devil, who answer’d him after this Manner, in their First
Dialogue. Mignon demanded, Propter quam Causam ingressus es in Corpus hujus
Virginis? For what Reason hast thou entered into the Body of this Virgin? Answ.
Causa animositatis; Upon the Account of Animosity. Q. Per quod Pactum? By what
Pact? A. Per Flores. By Flowers. Q. Quales? What Flowers? A. Rosas. Roses. Q.
Quis misit? Who sent them? A. Urbanus. Urban. She pronounc’d not this Word
before she had stammer’d many times, as if she had done it by constraint. Q. Die
Cognomen. Tell his Surname. A. Grandier.

1 Aubin: op. cit. p. 22. This was again a Word which she pronounced not till she
had been very much urged to Answer. Q. Die qualitatum. Mention his Quality. A.
Sacerdos. A Priest. Q. Cujus ecclesiaef Of what Church f A. Sancti Petri. Of
Saint Peter’s. She utter’d these last Words very boldly. Q. Qua Persona attulit
Floresf What Person brought the Flowers? A. Diabolica. A Diabolical Person.” 1
In view of the fact that these women had been under the care of Mignon for some
time before they were permitted publicly to be interrogated, it is not to be
wondered at that the demonized Superior was able to answer these set questions
put to her only by him. The learning of these rote answers would be certainly no
very great feat. Enough had been accomplished, however, in publicly accusing
Grandier of the responsibility for the possession. The general public, however,
was not easily convinced, and showed an inclination to look upon the whole
matter as a pious fraud. In spite of the accusations against Grandier, however,
his enemies were able to accomplish nothing for some time. At length pressure
was brought to bear upon Cardinal Richelieu and through him upon the King. By
this time the possession had so spread that a great number of the nuns were now
involved.

"Louis XIII, naturally pious and just, perceived the greatness of the evil, and
deemed it his duty to put a stop to it. He appointed M. de Laubardemont to
investigate the matter without appeal; with orders to choose in the neighbouring
jurisdictions the most straightforward and learned judges." 2

1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 23-4. 2 Des Nian: "The History of the Devils of Loudun,"
etc. (Translated by Edmund Goldsmid.) Edinburgh, 1887 (a Poitiers, 1634). II, p.
7.

These judges began the hearing of witnesses on December 17th, 1633, after they
had first imprisoned Grandier and robbed him of every means of defense. The nuns
who were heard

"deposed that Grandier had introduced himself into the convent by day and night
for four months, without anyone knowing how he got in; that he presented himself
to them whilst standing at divine service and tempted them to indecent actions
both by word and deed; that they were often struck by invisible persons; and
that the marks of the blows were so visible that the doctors and surgeons had
easily found them. 1 . . . In a word, 2 besides the nuns and six lay women,
sixty witnesses deposed to adulteries, incests, sacrileges, and other crimes,
committed by the accused, even in the most secret places of his church, as in
the vestry, where the Holy Host was kept, on all days and at all hours."

Aubin gives us a little more explicit account of the charges: 3

"Amongst the Witnesses of this Accusation there were Five very considerable,
viz. Three Women; the First whereof said, that one Day, after she had receiv’d
the Communion from the Person accus’d, ^ho earnestly looked upon her during that
Action, she was instantly seiz’d with a violent Love-Passion for him, which
began with a little Shivering through all the Parts of her Body: The other said,
that having been stop’d by him in the Street, he press’d her Hand, and that
immediately she was seiz’d with a vehement Passion for him; The Third said, that
after she had seen him at the Door of the Church of the Carmelites, when he
enter’d with the Procession, she felt very great Commotions, and had 1 Des Nian:
op. cit., II: pp. 10-14. 2 Same, pp. 19-21. 3 Aubin: op. cit., p. 161. such
Inclinations, that she willingly desir’d to lie with him. . . ." Of the other
two witnesses, one deposed that he had seen Grandier reading the works of
Agrippa, and therefore studying magic. The other deposed that in Grandier’s
study he had seen "a Book upon the Table open’d at the Place of a Chapter, which
treated of the Means to make Women in Love." 1 The examinations of witnesses
were further continued, and all the evidences of possession were easily found by
those who had determined to find them. One of the first tests of possession,
that of an ability to speak or understand a foreign language, was especially in
evidence:

"Acquaintance with unknown tongues first showed itself in the Mother Superior.
At the beginning, she answered in Latin, the questions of the Ritual proposed to
her in that language. Later, she and the others answered in any language they
thought proper to question in.

"M. de Launay de Razilli, who had lived in America, attested that, during a
visit to Loudun, he had spoken to them in the language of a certain savage tribe
of that country, and that they had answered quite correctly, and had revealed to
him events that had taken place there.

"Some gentlemen of Normandy certified in writing that they had questioned Sister
Clara de Sazilli in Turkish, Spanish and Italian, and that her answers were
correct.

"M. de Nismes, Doctor of the Sorbonne, and one of the chaplains of the Cardinal
de Lyon, having questioned them in Greek and German, was satisfied with their
replies in both languages.

"Father Vignier, Superior of the Oratory at La 1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 162.

Rochelle, bears witness in his Latin Narrative, that, having questioned Sister
Elizabeth a whole afternoon in Greek, she always replied correctly and obeyed
him in every particular.

’The Bishop of Nimes commanded Sister Clara in Greek to raise veil and kiss the
railings at a certain spot; she obeyed, and did many other things he ordered,
which caused the prelate to exclaim that one must be an Atheist or lunatic not
to believe in ’possession.’

"Some doctors questioned them also as to the meaning of some Greek technical
terms, extremely difficult to explain, and only known to the most learned men,
and they clearly expressed the real signification of the words." 1

We have just read one account of the linguistic abilities of the demonised. It
is not, however, the only account of the same phenomena. On one occasion

"A Scotchman named Stracan, who was Principal of the College of Loudun, . . .
requir’d that the Devil should say Aqua in the Scots language, for the
convincing of all the Assistants, that there was not any Suggestion by anyone
whatsoever. . . . But the Nun answer’d ’Nimia Curiositas,’ Tis too great a
Curiosity, and after she had repeated it Twice or Thrice, she said Dens non
volo; Some cry’d out that this was ill Syntax." This was not the only occasion
when the demon showed that his education, even in Latin, had been exceedingly
superficial, to say the least. But when the demon had refused to answer in
Scotch, replying "Deus non volo"

"The Exorcist reply’d, that the Devil knew this language very well, but he would
not speak it. But if you 1 Des Nian: op. cit. II, pp. 27-8. Aubin: op. cit., pp.
46-8. will, added he, that I command him to tell presently your Sins, he shall
do it. . . .

"In the meantime, the Assistants being very eager to know if the Devil
understood strange languages, the Bayliff upon their importunities proposed the
Hebrew Tongue as a dead Language and the most ancient of all Languages, which
the Devil ought to know better than any other, which being followed by a General
Applause the Exorcist commanded the possess’d to say in the Hebrew tongue the
word Aqua, Water. She answer’d not; but some understoood that she pronounced
very low these Words, ’Ah ! je renie, Curse on’t.’ It was affirm’d by a
Carmelite, who was a little way from her, that she did say Zaquaq, and that it
was an Hebrew Word, which signifies Effudi aquam, I have pour’d out water;
although they who were nearest her, unanimously attested that she said Ah! je
renie, which caused the Superior of the Carmelites to reprove publicly the
Friar." On another occasion, 1 after testing the demon in Latin, which proved
itself as bad as usual, the exorcist commanded the devil to state in Greek what
had already been stated in Latin.

"She made no Answer, though the Adjurations were often repeated, and she also
presently return’ d to her natural State. . . ." When the Duke of Lauderdale
asked as a test for witchcraft that one of the demons should speak a strange
language, a Jesuit, to whom he made the request,

"asked, ’What language?’ I told him, ’I would not tell; but neither he nor all
those devils should understand me/ He asked, ’If I should be converted upon the
tryal/ (for he had discovered I was no papist). I told him 1 Aubin: op. cit., p.
42.

’that was not the question, nor could all the devils in hell pervert me; but the
question was, if that was a real possession, and if any could understand me, I
shall confess it under my hand/ His answer was, ’These devils have not travelled
and this I replied to with a loud laughter, nor could I get any more
satisfaction." x

Enough has been said, however, to indicate very clearly that as far as the
devils of Loudun are concerned in the speaking of unknown languages, we are
dealing with a pious fraud. The other tests were equally valueless. When Sister
Claire was in "convulsions,"

"She was pricked in the Arm by a Pin which pinn’d her sleeve. It did not at all
appear that the Devil had made her insensible of bodily Pains, for she cry’d
out, ’Take away this Pin, it pricks me.’ When she was recover ’d out of her
Convulsions, She said to the Assessor of the Provostship, that she remembered
all that was past" 2 The devils made frequent promises which remained
unfulfilled.

"In the beginning of May, one of the Devils of the Superior had promis’d to
raise her up Two feet high; Lactance call’d upon him often to perform his
Promise, which he did not however, because the Nun having been willing to dazzle
the Eyes of the People, by trying one time to do something near it, There was
one of the Spectators who lifted up the Bottom of her Garment, and made all the
others see that she touched the Ground with the End of one of her Feet. The
Devil Eazas had 1 Quoted in Des Nian: op. cit. First Appendix, p. 37. * Aubin:
op. cit., p. 43. also promised to raise tip la Nogeret Three Foot from the
Ground, and another Devil nam’d Cerberus, to lift up his Nun Two Foot; but
neither the one nor the other were Devils of their Word." * In short, there was
nothing in this whole case of demon possession which might not have been
simulated with the aid of a few hysterical nuns as dramatis persona. When we add
to this the fact that the Mother Superior 2 and several of the nuns 3 confessed
that their accusations against Grandier had been untrue, as well as the fact
that the chief movers in the plot against Grandier took special pains to call
maledictions down upon themselves 4 if they had conjured up false charges and
thus confessed to their own mental conflicts, 5 we know that we are dealing with
a case of fraud. The Duke of Lauderdale, who went to see the great sight of the
possessed nuns, wrote of them 6 that he "could hear nothing but wanton wenches
singing bawdy songs in French." And he told the truth.

It was an obvious fraud, and yet Grandier, after cruel tortures, was burned to
death. It is said 7 that Grandier, turning to Lactance, who had played a
perfidious and despicable part through the whole tragedy, as the fire was
lighting up before his face, said:

’There is a God in heaven who will Judge thee and me. I summon thee to appear
before Him within a Month.’

1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 96. 2 Same, p. 165. 3 Same, pp. 120-1. 4 Same, p. 45. 5
See Healy, William: "Mental Conflicts and Misconduct." Boston, 1917. 6 Quoted in
Des Nian: op, cit. First Appendix, III, p. 36. 7 Aubin: op. cit., p. 156.

Then addressing himself to God, he utter’d these Words, Deus meus, ’ad tc
Vigilo, miserere mei Deus." And in a month, to the very day, we are told that
Father Lactance was dead.


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  CHAPTER 5: 04 CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS
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Chapter 4 The Camisards or French Prophets

CHRISTIANS of a romantic turn of mind have found considerable satisfaction in
dwelling upon the heroic battles fought out in the name of religion in the
country of the Cevennes towards the close of the seventeenth and in the
beginning of the eighteenth century. But when we sweep away romance and a great
accretion of lies, we face some sad and bitter facts. The Camisards, the heroes
of the Cevennes and they were heroes were neither Huguenots nor Roman Catholics.
They were, rather, a sect of ecstatic Protestants with all the fighting
qualities of Puritans and Covenanters. The origin of their name, Camisar or
Camisard, is given as follows:

"These Rebels were call’d Camisards for three Reasons. The first, because at the
beginning of their Insurrection, which happened in the Heat of the Summer,
almost all of them wore Linnen Coats. The 2d, in regard they generally went upon
all their Enterprizes by Night, which in Martial Terms has been call’d a
Gamisade, from Men often putting on their Shirts over their coats, to know one
another in the dark, and lastly, from their lying on the Highways which in the
vulgar language of those Parts, are called Camis." 1 Later, in England, they
were popularly called the French Prophets.

1 "Fanaticism Revived," etc. (collected from the letters of the Mareschals de
Montrevel and Villars, etc.), London, 1707, p. 213.

We will quote the story of their origin from one * of the many pamphlets
published in England against them. Their first leader was a man of prophetic
gifts in the ecstatic sense and his gifts were the beginning of a contagion.

"They first began in the Month of June, 1688, and the first that laid claim to
these extraordinary Gifts was one William du Serre, who dwelt in a village
called Dieu-lefit, in Dauphine."

Du Serre soon gathered so considerable a following that

"the Valleys swarm’ d with them, and the Dioceses of Ujez, Viviers, Alais,
Nismes, Montpelier, and Mende, were over-spread with such a Number oi Prophets,
that in the Cevennes, and the lower Langitedoc only, they were computed at Eight
Thousand Souls."

One very noticeable fact about many of the prophets was their extreme youth.
Indeed, the place of a child in the Kingdom of God was taken by them as express
authority for the prophesying of children even so young as "a Child in the
Cradle of about fourteen or fifteen months old." The prophetic spirit among them
seems to have been induced. The modus operandi is described as follows:

"They turn’d round with great Violence, till being quite giddy they fell upon
the Floor. When so fallen, they roll’d their Eyes frightfully, look’d wild and
ghastly, work’d their lips in divers Figures, drivel’ d and foam’d at the Mouth,
held their Breaths, heav’d their Breasts, pufFd and swell’d their Throats, and
sometimes lay as if

1 Kingston, Richard: "Enthusiastick Impostors. No Divinely Inspir’d Prophets,"
etc. London, 1707, pp. 2-3. they were in a Trance. Then on a sudden they would
start up, shake their Heads, Gulp, and Hiccup Strangely, clap their Hands, move
their Feet oddly, shake their whole Bodies into Contortions, in the nature of
Convulsions. Then they would quake, groan, laugh, belch, sigh, sing, shriek
hideously; and at last, stretching their Mouths open, in a yawning, distorted,
dreadful manner, in a doleful Tone, and as loud as they were able, would utter
their Prophecies." And in this connection we may well quote, in passing, John
Humfrey, 1 in one of his published letters to John Lacy, a leader among the
French Prophets in London:

"Alas, that a Person of such Reason in Discourse and Writing should think that
to be transformed into a Brute for an Hour or more should be the way to become a
Prophet."

It was not long before the Camisards were in conflict with the Romish church
authorities, and a war of persecution began, marked on both sides by all the
villainous savagery of which the Christian mind of the late seventeenth century
was capable. Camisards were broken at the wheel, Catholic priests were murdered
in cold blood; and men, women and children on both sides barbarously put to
death in a series of savage reprisals. For a long time the Camisards were able,
under the leadership particularly of Cavalier, to maintain a successful guerilla
warfare even against the troops of the French government.

Cavalier, who was about twenty-three years of age when he became the Camisard
commander, proved himself a man of great courage and a successful leader.
Finally, however, a treaty of peace was concluded with

1 Humfrey, John: "An Account of the French Prophets and their Pretended
Inspirations in Three Letters. Sent to John Lacey, Esq." London, 1708, p. 5. the
authorities, and some of the prophets went into exile. Of these, three arrived
in London in September, 1706: namely, Elias Marion, John Cavalier, a cousin of
the great general, and Durand Page. John Cavalier is described as making

"a great deal of Noise; He is the youngest of ’em, and the most vigorous. Never
a one of the three Operators, performs better, what depends purely upon the
Body: But he is not capable of that vast Gravity, which makes) the Decorum of
the Piece. Sometimes, upon the Return | of his Inspirations, he has not been
able to forbear! Laughing himself: A Comick part would suit him better. But
Monsieur Marion has more of the Serious, and a better Memory. He has a Capacity
of Learning and of acting large Parts." 1 The manner of Cavalier’s conversion
savours so strongly of the ad hominem methods of the revival or of spiritualism
that the story is well worth the quoting:

"His curiosity led him to a numerous Meeting in Barre, where a little Boy lying
on his Back, with surprizing Agitations that frighted him, mark’d him out for a
Scoffer; and another Boy falling into an Exstasie, commanded the Door to be
watch’ d, lest he should go away, and discover the Assembly. ... A third Boy
fell into violent Agitations and discovering to him the very Thoughts of his
Heart, and pressing him to amend his Life, it had, as he says, such Effect upon
him, that as soon as the Sermon was ended, there seem’d a beating like a Hammer
in his Breast, which Kindled a Fire in his Veins, and was followed by violent
Agitations of his Head and Body which continue upon him to this very Day. At
length, after three Quarters of a year’s Hiccup and Agitations, without Speech,
he fell into an extraordinary

1 "Clavis Prophetica or a Key to the Prophecies of Mons. Marion, and the Other
Camisars," etc. London, 1707; p. 9.

Extasy; God open’d his Mouth, and he became a Prophet also." 1

Only a short time elapsed before Marion, Cavalier and Page had interested in
their ecstasies two men of means whose pleasant duty and privilege it was to
play the same part which Drummond later played among the Irvingites that of
paying the bills. At least, this can be well said of Sir Richard Bulkeley. John
Lacy, Esq., who had been a man of standing, and apparently of some wealth, was
at the same time a man whose nervous system made it possible for him not only to
witness, but himself to enjoy, the prophet ecstasies. 2 It was not long before
he became in fact the leader in London of the French Prophets.

Sir Richard Bulkeley, on the other hand, is a pathetic figure. He is in the
inner circle, and yet not of it. He sees no visions. He does no miracles. He
only believes and pays.

"Sir Richard Bulkeley has the Misfortune to be of the shortest Size, in respect
of his Bodily Stature, and is very Crooked. ... A Friend of Sir Richard’s
observing, that since he associated with these pretended Prophets and their
Abettors, he wore very mean Clothes; ask’d him why he did not buy him new ones;
Sir Richard told him, that the Spirit had declared he should be made strait, and
that he would stay till the Spirit had fulfilled his Promise, for to buy new
ones now, would be Money thrown away to no Purpose, because they would not fit
him when he was strait." 3 Poor Sir Richard! But he is only one of a great
multitude, a great multitude, of those whom no man can

1 Kingston: op. cit., p. 6. 2 Cf. Calamy, Edmund: "A Caveat against New
Prophets," etc. London, 1708; pp. 6-7. Kingston: op. cit., pp. 113-4. number,
who have hoped in the hopeless and gone down to that bitterest disappointment
the disappointment of unanswered faith because with simple, uncritical minds
they have believed one who has blasphemed against the Holy Ghost.

Elias Marion was best known for his prophecies. Marion seems never to have
learned the real art of the oracle indefiniteness. He made definite prophecies,
which were not fulfilled, with the result that his fellow prophets were obliged
to fall into the method of symbolic interpretation to explain the non-fulfilment
of such prophecies as named specifically persons, places, days and dates. It is
always the part of wisdom for that group of gloomy Christians, whose happiness
seems to consist in the assurance that "one shall be taken and the other left,"
and who feel sure that the times are waxing worse and worse, to tell us that we
are in the end of the age, rather than to name the cataclysmic year.

Some of the prophecies are listed in a pamphlet 1 published in 1708 as follows:

"In 1706, they predicted the Fall of Pharaoh 2 to be Speedy, at farthest in
Three or Four years; that every campaign till then should be more and more
successful each than the other, till his final Downfall. That this Year, before
the Campaign ended, a great Man in the French Court should declare himself a
Protestant; that Thoulon should be taken, and the Tower-Guns go off in a Week:
But of late, for very weighty Reasons, they say little on that Subject. . . .

"One of them pretended an Order from the Spirit to fast a Week, and so on in
different Periods, till he should be able to live without victuals altogether.
The Upshot of this was, that in the Space of about Three Days, he 1 "An Appeal
from the Prophets to their Prophecies, etc." London, 1708; PP- 5-7. 2 The King
of France. pretended a Counter-Order of the Spirit forthwith to eat, and that he
did to purpose. And this ended this miraculous Dispensation.

"Last Winter, they predicted most destructive pestilential Fogs or Mists, that
shou’d sweep away, like a Plague, a vast Number of the Inhabitants of this City.
. . .

"One of them set a Period when he shou’d receive the Gift of Miracles. . . . The
Period assigned is now Expiring, and he is still as far from Wonder-working as
ever."

It is to be noted that in these prophecies are references to the working of
miracles. The stories of the Cevennes abound in miracles. It is only to be
expected that John Lacy and the London French Prophets would expect and would
attempt to perform miracles. In Lacy’s miracles, however, the element of fraud
is so obvious that even credulity stands aghast.

Elizabeth Gray or Betty Gray was a woman of rather low station whom Lacy had
attached to himself. One day she pronounced a blessing on Mr. Lacy, very much
after the fashion of a Shaker or Mormon blessing of later days:

"Rising off her seat, she laid her Hand upon Mr. Lacy’s Head, saying, Thou my
child art Happy above all the rest, that I have made use of to do my blessed
work this Day. This Day shall be the beginning of the Miracles with you: This
Day you shall make the Blind to see: This Day I will begin to shew you, in what
manner I will have it done in: Go in Peace. It is observable, that she did
confess, when she heard the words of making the Blind to see f pronounced out of
her own mouth, she had not faith to believe it would be.

"About two a Clock the same Day . . . at Dinner . . . on a sudden Betty Gray
clap’d her Hands upon her Eyes, and said in a great Fright, God bless me, and
the more she rub’d her eyes, the blinder she grew, and in two Minutes she found
herself quite dark; and so after many Tryals being made, as to her Blindness,
Dinner being ended, she was led into another Chamber, where after she had sat on
the Bed side about twenty Minutes, she turned about, kneeled on the Ground, and
soon was in Extasie. And then the Spirit spake by her mouth, these words: O now
you do believe it, do yon? She continued Praying at the Bed side, seventeen
Minutes. Then her Agitations returned again." * This is followed by some
dialogue between Betty and Mr. Lacy, during which Mr. Lacy is also manifestly
"seized with the Spirit." Then "he streaked her eyes three times with his
Thumbs, and her Sight was restored." With the gift of prophesying and the gift
of healing, we naturally expect and we are not disappointed the gift of tongues,
The manner of a manifestation of the tongues is given as follows:

"Mr. Fage had Warnings of an Extasie; but being awed by the presence of some
Clergymen, he stifled it; but Mr. Facio (according to Facio’ s own account)
following him to another House, Fage immediately fell into an Extasie, and spoke
to this Effect: Mon Enfant, je mfenvaie repandre sur les Ennemis mes Jngements
terrible, & ma dernier Sentence sera, Tring, Trang, Swing, Swang, Hing, Hang.
Thus in English, My Child, I am going to pour out my terrible judgments upon my
Enemies, and my last Sentence shall be, Tring, Trang, Swing, Swang, Hing, Hang.
Which unintelligible Jargon so stumbled Mr. Facia, that had been conversant in 1
Kingston: op. cit., pp. 79-80.

Languages, that he returned home under the greatest Concern imaginable; being
under Apprehensions, that hitherto he and his Friends had been scandalously
mock’d, abus’d and impos’d on.

"Here he paus’d, and gave me room to ask him, how he surmounted his Difficulty;
which he said was by applying himself to Prayer, in which he was directed not to
reject the Prophets. . . .

"I cannot be positive, whether it was at this time or a former, that Mr. Fage
said, that the Nation that spoke this Language should in a Short time receive
the gospel." 1

Fage, however, was not alone in speaking in unknown tongues. Before the French
Prophets had come to England, the phenomenon had been known, and it had been
counted no small wonder that a Camisard child 2 could speak while in a trance
good French "which at another time she could not."

Lacy also was known to have spoken in other languages. At Chelsea 3 he spoke in
Latin, although "he could not speak in Latin before, nor had read a Latin Book
this Six and Twenty years."

"But Mr. Lacy’s Spirit delights in Absurdities," says Richard Kingston, the
writer of "Enthusiastick Impostors,"

"And therefore at another Meeting gave his blessing in English to Frenchmen that
could not understand it." 4 Mr. Kingston also describes 5 a scene which he
himself witnessed at one of the meetings held at the home of

1 Kingston: op. cit., pp. 22-23. 2 Same: p. 12. 3 Humfrey: op. cit., p. 8. 4
Kingston: op. cit., p. 52. 5 Same: pp. 110-2.

"Mrs. East, a Quaker, over against the Black Horse in Crutchet-Fryars, London,"
on October 5, 1707:

"I observed four young Men and two Women alternately Gulping, Grunting
hideously, and nodding their Heads as low as their Breasts, which turning the
hinder parts of their Perukes over their Faces, made them look frightfully. When
the last had done, the first began again in his turn. I went to him, felt his
Pulse, and his Wast-coat being unbuttoned, as all those that acted were, I
apply’d my Hand to his Heart; but could find no Disorder in his Pulse or Breast,
but a violent Heaving in his Midriff and the Bottom of his Stomach, to cause the
Gulping and loud Hiccuping; And so I attended all the Men-Actors round the Room,
as their Fits successively came upon them; which they very quietly suffered me
to do. ... None of the Men in Agitations spoke at all."

Then "the Person I sat next to on the Bench, who had been quiet all the time
before, fell into violent Agitations from Head to Foot, more noisie than all the
other Four, but kept his Seat. I felt his Pulse and Breast as the rest but could
find no Kind of Alteration, or that the Vitals were more concerned than they are
in common Actions. He started up in a strange and unintelligible Vociferation in
this manner, Yaugh Daugh Faugh Raugh Raugh Faugh Daugh Yaugh, and sometimes
intermixing them with very bad French, reflecting upon such as came thither out
of Curiosity, whom he said God would suddenly destroy, and then sat down.

"I asked him his Name, and if he was in Health, and in his Right Mind? He
answer’d, His Name was Cavalier, that he was in Health, and never better in all
his Life. I reply’d, Then you must be under some sort of a Delusion. He said,
How will you prove it? I told him I was ready to attempt it, if he would give me
leave; and as I was beginning to say something to that purpose, he fell
immediately into violent Agitations, insomuch that, standing very near him when
we spoke together, I was forc’d to start back, lest he Should strike me in the
Face with his Hand. In this Inspiration he began as before, just like a Dumb
Man, with Yaugh-Dcutgh, &c. And then repeated verbatim what we had privately
discoursed, and after denouncing some heavy judgments upon me, ended with the
same inarticulate sounds he began with. When among other things, he said / was
rich in this World’s Goods, but God would plague me till I was poor in Spirit.
Having some reason to know he was a false Prophet in that, I could not forbear
smiling; upon which an English woman came and whisper’d in my Ear, saying Do not
Mock, God will strike thee Dumb....

"The three English Gentlemen I mention’d before, 1 came to me, and ask’d whether
Mr. Cavalier spoke French, and what he said. I told him some of it was
Gibberish, some bad French, and spoken so Thick and Passionately that I could
not understand him but by Snatches. Another gentleman said, I understand and
speak French, but not one Word of what this Man has said all this time. Then the
three First shaked their Heads and went away."

Visions and voices play also a considerable part in the story of the French
Prophets, but about them there is nothing new or distinctive. On the ethical
side we are face to face with the vagaries in the vita sexualis which we will
learn to look upon as our study continues, as an invariable associate of the
tongues movement. In the Cevennes, the charges of immorality against the
Camisards were of the usual sort which the persecutor invariably directs against
the persecuted. The Romish writer, a member of a priesthood then about as
corrupt morally as it could dare to be, describes their meetings as "being no
better than Stews 1 Three English gentlemen had come in while these things were
going on. or Public Places of Prostitution, as manifestly appeared by their
Incests, Adulteries, Fornications." 1 That charge may be a lie out of the whole
cloth, but in all probability there is some basis for it.

Among the French Prophets in London, immorality is clearly evident, especially
in the relation existing between Lacy and Betty Gray. Lacy’s embracing Betty
Gray "under inspiration," 2 Betty’s public exhibition of her breasts, 3 her
willingness to play the leading part in the symbolic drama called "The Whore of
Babylon," 4 together with an alarming array of direct evidence of a more
specific nature, 5 all point in the same general direction in which ecstasy
always points an utter indifference to, or shall we say, a transcending of, the
seventh commandment in all its implications.

It may be that a mystic may feel that he is nearer heaven than a Christian who
lacks his assurance of an "inner light." But let the mystic be well assured that
he is perilously nearer to sin.

1 "Fanaticism Reviv’d," p. 56. See also pp. 20, 22, 35, 58. 2 Kingston: op.
cit., p. 70. 3 "The Honest Quaker: or the Forgeries and Impostures of the
Pretended French Prophets and their Abbetors Exposed in, a Letter," p. 3. 4
Kingston: op. cit. t p. 65. 5 Same: pp. 45-8.


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  CHAPTER 6: 05A SHAKERS AND MILLENNIAL CHURCH 1
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Chapter 5 The Shakers and the Millennial Church

AMONG the proselytes made by the French Prophets were James Wardley and Jane,
his wife, of Bolton in Lancashire. Wardley was a tailor by trade, and, together
with his wife, had been a member of the Society of Friends. Finding, however,
greater satisfaction for their religious instincts in the ecstasies of the
French Prophets, the Wardleys became the leaders of a group of persons living
near their home who "joined with them in testifying against all the churches in
standing." 1 The result was that

"In 1747 they were formed into a small society, without any established creed or
particular manner of worship, as they professed to be only beginning to learn
the new and living way of complete salvation, which had long been the subject of
prophecy; and therefore they professed to be resigned to be led and governed,
from time to time, as the spirit of God might dictate." 2 A short time
afterwards the Wardleys moved to Manchester, to live with the Townleys, who had
joined their society. John Townley was a mason by trade and was looked upon as
considerably better off financially than the majority of the members of the
organization at Manchester.

1 Brown, Thomas: "An account of the people called Shakers; Their Faith,
Doctrines, and Practices, etc." Troy, N. Y., 1812; p. 311. 2 Brown: op. cit., p.
311.

"Meetings were frequently held under the ministry of Wardley and his wife.
Wardley’s wife was called Mother; to her confessions of sins were made, though
it was not so much insisted upon. She had the principal lead in their meetings,
which were generally held at Townley’s, at which meetings they sometimes sat
silent a short space, then they would be seized with violent and tremulous
motions, during which they would express their detestation against sin, and its
contrariety to the divine nature. Sometimes their whole bodies would shake as if
forcibly agitated by a strong hand; then they would sing and shout for the
downfall of the antiChristian powers, and make signs, and walk swiftly and
jostle against one another; they would jump violently, and shiver for a
considerable length of time. Hence as appropriate names for them, they were
called shiverers by some, and jumpers by others." 1 The person destined to the
greatest fame among these worshippers was Ann Lee, who joined the society in
1757. She was then about twenty-one years of age. The date of her birth is given
variously as 1735 and 1736. She was one of the eight living children of John Lee
and his wife. 2 Lee was a blacksmith and is said 3 to have been a brother of
General Charles Lee, of American Revolutionary fame. Another brother is also
said to have attained a position of distinction as sheriff of London. The
immediate family of John Lee was apparently poor and illiterate. Ann Lee was

"Employed during her childhood and youth in a cotton factory in preparing cotton
for the looms, and in cutting velvet. It has been said that she was also
employed as

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 312. 2 "Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations of
Mother Ann Lee," etc. Second Edition. Albany, N. Y., 1888; 1:8. The other
children are stated to be Joseph, JameSj Daniel, William, George, Mary and
Nancy. 3 Brown: op. cit., p. 312. Cf. Haskett, William T.: "Shakerism Unmasked,"
etc. Pittsfield, 1828; p. 14 (footnote). a cutter of hatter’s fur, but this was
probably afterward." * At an early age she was married to Abraham Stanley. 2
Stanley was a blacksmith and worked for her father. She bore him eight children,
"who all died in infancy mostly occasioned by hard labour; her last child was
extracted by forceps, after which, for several hours, she lay with but little
appearance of life." 3 Another account 4 has it that a Caesarean section was
necessary for the birth of her last child. By 1770 she had attained to the
acknowledged leadership of the society founded by the Wardleys. It was about
this time that she professed to receive that revelation which in time became the
cornerstone of Shaker theology and polity. The account of that revelation is
given by Shaker writers as follows:

"After a scene of deep tribulation, and the most excessive sufferings and cries
to God, she received a full revelation of the root and foundation of human
depravity, and of the very transgression of the first man and woman in the
garden of Eden. Then, she clearly saw whence and wherein all mankind were lost
and separated from God, and the only possible way of recovery.

"By the immediate revelation of God, she henceforth bore an open testimony
against the lustful gratifications of the flesh, as the source and foundation of
human corruption. Her testimony was delivered with such power of God and
accompanied with the word of prophecy, in such a marvelous and searching manner,
that it entered into the very secrets of the heart; by which means the

1 "Testimonies": 1 13. 2 Or "Standley" as it is sometimes spelled. Cf. Dyer,
Mary M.: "The Rise and Progress of the Serpent from the Garden of Eden to our
Present Day with A Disclosure of Shakerism," etc. Concord, N. H., 1847, p. 17.
See also Haskett: op. cit., p. 14. 3 Brown: op. cit., p. 313. 4 Haskett: op,
cit., p. 14. most hidden abominations were brought to light! She testified in
the most plain and pointed manner, that no soul could follow Christ in the
regeneration, while living in the works of natural generation and following in
their lusts." 1

It was not long before the preaching of her doctrine against sexual intercourse
marital or extra-marital as well as the unusual fashion of conducting religious
exercises adopted by the Shakers, drew the attention of the constituted
authorities to their leader with the result that Ann Lee was cast into prison.
Of one of her imprisonments the following account is given:

"For fourteen days she was kept without food, nor was her cell door once opened
during that time. The cell was so small that she could neither stand nor sit nor
even straighten herself. James Whittaker, then a young man, felt so strongly for
her that he succeeded in conveying to her nightly a small quantity of wine and
milk by means of a pipe stem inserted in the keyhole of the door. This was all
the nutriment she received. At the end of a fortnight her brutal captors opened
the door, expecting to drag out her dead body. To their utter amazement, she
arose and walked off, looking nearly as well as ever." 2

Thomas Brown, in his "History of the Shakers," gives the following account of
the reminiscences of Mary Hocknell of those days of persecution:

"As to my knowledge of mother Ann Lee, I was very intimate with her from the
time I was eight or ten years old till she died. ... At all times it appeared to
be her greatest labour and delight to serve God, and to promote

1 "Testimonies": 1:13-14. 2 White, Anna, and Taylor, Leila S.: "Shakerism, Its
Meaning and Message." Columbus, Ohio, 1905; p. 26. the good of mankind. She was
a great enemy to, and hater of sin; and at all opportunities testified against
it. ... At one time, the worldly authority held a trial respecting her; when she
was so endued with the spirit and power of God, that she spake before the court
and a large concourse of people in twelve different languages, to the
astonishment of many present; particularly some of the learned who understood
her when she spoke in French, Hebrew, Greek and Latin: also some being present
who understood other languages. Thus it was a time like unto the day of
Pentecost, where every man heard the apostles speak in his own language (Acts
11:6). Concerning her so speaking there was much talk and wondering for some
time.

"About this time, she was confined two or three months in prison; most of the
time she had no other subsistence than milk, which I conveyed to her by means of
a quill through the key-hole; for they would not open the door to let any of her
friends see her. They said she was a witch, and I know not what all." 1

Considerable stress is laid by the Shakers upon what they conceived to be the
supernatural element in Mother Lee’s life. The following, taken from
"Testimonies of Mother Ann Lee," a book based upon the recollections of early
Shakers, is a typical account of some of the mental aspects of her life:

"In watchings, fastings, tears and incessant cries to God, she labored, day and
night, for deliverance from the very nature of sin. And under the most severe
tribulation of mind, and the most violent temptations and buffet ings of the
enemy, she was often in such extreme agony of soul as caused the blood to
perspire through the pores of her skin. . . . Sometimes for whole nights
together, her cries, screeches and groans were such as to fill every soul around
her with fear and trembling, and 1 Brown: op. cit., pp. 44-7. could be compared
to nothing but the horrors and agonies of souls under sufferings for the
violation of the laws of God, whose awful states were laid upon her, and whose
various agonies she was, by turns, made to feel.

"By such deep mortification and sufferings, her flesh was wasted away till she
became like a mere skeleton. Elder John Hocknell, who had been a member of the
society under James and Jane Wardley, and was well acquainted with Mother Ann
through all her sufferings, testified that he had known her to be under such
power and operations of God, attended with such severe sufferings, for six weeks
together, that her earth-tabernacle was so reduced that she was as weak as an
infant; and was fed and supported by others, but utterly incapable of helping
herself; though naturally of a sound and strong constitution, and invincible
fortitude of mind.

"Though Ann was wrought upon in this manner, more or less, for the space of nine
years, yet she had intervals of releasement, and was, at times, filled with
visions and revelations of God. By this means the Way of God and the nature of
His work, gradually opened upon her mind with increasing light and
understanding." l On the nineteenth of May, 1774, Mother Ann, Elder William Lee
(her brother), Elders James Whittaker and John Hocknell, Richard Hocknell, son
of John Hocknell, James Shepherd,2 Mary Partington, and Nancy Lee (a niece of
Mother Ann), set sail from Liverpool ( for America. Abraham Stanley, husband of
Mother Ann, was also one of the party. They arrived in New York on August 6.
Mother Lee and her husband lived for over a year in New York City at the house
of one "Smith" in Queen Street. Here Stanley fell sick and was nursed faithfully
1 by his prophetic wife. But

1 "Testimonies"; 1:9-13. 2 Cf. Brown: op. cit., p. 46, where Mary Hocknell is
reported as saying. Twelve of us came; three or four of which were but children,
and settled here in the wilderness."

"Abraham at length recovered, so as to be able to walk the streets, and by
associating with the wicked, he soon lost all sense of the gospel, and began, in
a very unworthy manner, to oppose Mother’s faith, and finally refused to do
anything for her, unless she would live in the flesh with him, and bear
children. This proposition Mother utterly and positively rejected, which caused
a final separation between her and Abraham Stanley." 2 In the early part of
1776, Mother left New York City and came to Niskayuna (now Watervliet), where
some of her followers had already settled. During the Revolutionary War, the
Shakers were subject to some degree of persecution, due to their pacifist
tendencies and to the fact that, having recently come from England, they were
suspected of being British spies. No doubt, also, their well authenticated
offences against public decency had something to do with public feeling against
them. From May, 1781, to August, 1783, Mother Lee, accompanied by some of the
Elders (apparently Father William Lee and Father James Whittaker), "traversed
the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, visiting thirty-six towns and
villages, some of them several times, zealously preaching the Gospel committed
to their charge. Their course was attended by great displays of God’s presence
and the power of the Holy Spirit. Wherever they went, numbers accepted the
revelation. Their coming to Enfield aroused the inhabitants like an inroad of
pestilence. At Harvard, the vision of a mob in black warned Mother Ann of
threatening danger; but two angels in white were seen to pass safely through the
mob and enter the Square House, and this gave her assurance of protection. ...
In Petersham, in December, 1781, a dastardly attack was made upon the Shakers at
the 1 "Testimonies": lI:3. house of David Hammond, where the most inhuman
personal abuse was inflicted upon Mother Ann and others. Father James Whittaker
was believed to have been killed, but he recovered and prayed for his
persecutors, ’Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.’ The saintly
forgiving spirit of Mother Ann so broke down these wretches that they begged
forgiveness for their cruelty." 1

Persecutions followed also during the same winter (1781-2) at Harvard and
Enfield, Massachusetts, and various other places. At Harvard the Shakers made
their headquarters at the so-called "Square House." This house had formerly been
the home of Shadrach Ireland, who had given himself out to be an incarnation of
the Deity, and at the same time had practised and taught a form of free love.
The Shakers suffered possibly somewhat from the odium already attached to the
house. The missionary journey, during which converts were made in the states of
Massachusetts and Connecticut, ended in September, 1783. Within eighteen months
Mother Ann and Father William Lee had passed away. 2

Just what Mother Ann did and how she conducted herself upon these missionary
journeys is a matter of considerable controversy the nature of the account
depending in large part upon whether the narrator was friendly or unfriendly to
the Shakers. The Shakers picture Mother Ann and Father William as going about
from place to place, working miracles, preaching the pure gospel, and calling
forth great signs and wonders. The opposite accounts abound in an appalling
series of charges of drunkenness, unnatural sexual practices, and obscenities.
According to the one, Mother Ann is an angel of light; according to the other, a
woman of grossly immoral life. Shaker tradition sees in her a prophetess and a 1
White and Taylor: op. cit., p. 48. 2 Same: p. 71. miracle-worker as well as a
great teacher of the truth heretofore hidden.

It is exceedingly difficult for the modern student of the life of Mother Ann to
see anything extraordinary, either intellectually or spiritually, in those
statements of Mother Ann’s which are looked upon by her followers as prophetic.
For example, the Shaker records tell us that she told Joseph Meacham, on his
arrival on one occasion at Watervliet, "I saw you before you crossed the river"
l a not very remarkable statement in view of the fact that Meacham could not
have reached Watervliet without crossing the river. The same paragraph in the
"Testimonies" tells us:

"At another time while Mehetabel (Farrington) was there, Mother said she felt
that there was a number of people coming, and bade the Sisters prepare food for
them; as soon as the meal was prepared, a number of needy people came in, and
were made welcome; not only to the victuals, but to the gospel." Her prophecies
dealt also with the spread of the gospel as she proclaimed and understood it:

"Mother Ann prophesied to Samuel Fitch, at the time of his first interview with
her, saying, ’After I have done my work in this world, there will be a great
increase of the gospel. It will be like a man’s beginning in the world and
raising up a family of children, gathering an interest, then dying, and leaving
the interest with his children, who will improve thereon and gather more/ . . .
2

"She also said, ’After my departure there will come grievous wolves, who will
destroy many of the flock.’ " 3 To Mother Ann is attributed in like manner a
remarkable insight into the characters and thoughts of others:

1 "Testimonies": XXIV: 5. 2 "Testimonies": XXIV: 11. 3 "Testimonies": XXIV: 12.

"When Mother Ann visited Joshua Birch’s, at Stonington, there was a young woman
then living in the family, who was thought to be very honest, and chaste. Lois
Birch manifested her feelings to Mother in favor of the girl’s character; to
which Mother replied, ’Are you a Christian, and think that girl is chaste and
honest? You are deceived; she lives in whoredom, with married men, young men,
black men and boys.’ This declaration almost staggered Lois’ confidence in
Mother, believing that she knew the girl’s character. But, soon after, Mother’s
charges against the girl were proved to a demonstration; by which Lois’ faith in
Mother was strengthened, beyond a doubt, that Mother had the revelation of God,
and was able to see what creatures had in them. 1

"While Mother Ann was at Enfield there came a woman to see her by the name of
Tryphena Perkins, who made a great profession of Christianity. But, in the
hearing of a number of people, Mother Ann reproved her for her wickedness, and
said, ’You are a filthy whore/ This greatly offended her, and she went away and
complained that she had been abused, which furnished Mother’s enemies, as they
supposed, with sufficient cause to prosecute her. They now began to flatter
themselves that they were able to prove Mother a false prophetess, and
determined to prosecute her for defamation. They said they could prove to a
certainty, that Tryphena’s organization was such that she could not, possibly,
be guilty of the charge of whoredom; she was called a great Christian, and, of
necessity, a pure virgin. But, behold,, she was soon found to be with child, by
a married man I This was well known throughout the town of Enfield,, and
Mother’s enemies were greatly abashed and confounded." 2 1 "Testimonies": XXV: 1
2 "Testimonies": XXV:12. The record of miracles worked by Mother Ann is large.
The following are typical illustrations: In the year 1780, Noah Wheaten, of New
Lebanon, "dislocated his ancle outwardly, and split or broke the outer bone of
his leg, just above the ancle joint. . . . After groaning and wallowing in this
situation a while, he crawled to the spring and back to the place where he had
been at work. ... At length he crawled home on his hands and knees, and although
under extreme mortification of spirit for this misfortune, yet he was full of
faith and confidence in the gift of miracles, which he had before strongly
testified to his unbelieving neighbors. . . . Feeling full confidence in the
gift of God, he refused to have a doctor called, or any attempt to set the bone,
or even any outward application for the mitigation of his pain. That,
consequently, his ancle and leg swelled greatly, turned black, and was
excessively painful. . . . Thus he continued from about two o’clock in the
afternoon till the evening of the following day; during which time his mind was
in agonizing labor to God for a miraculous cure; which, with his extreme pain,
forced the sweat in plentiful effusions, from every pore of his body.

"At length, as his family, consisting of ten in number, were assembled at their
evening worship, in the room where he was then sitting upon a chest, the power
of God came suddenly upon him, and he was instantly hurled from his seat, and
set upon his feet, and whirled swiftly about like a top, for the space of two
hours, without the least pain or inconvenience. That he then retired to rest,
well and comfortable, and the next morning, arose in health, took his team and
went to plowing. " 1 Phebe Spencer, of New Lebanon, aged seventy-three years,
testifies 2 that in the year 1781 she broke her ribs,

1 "Testimony of Christ’s Second Appearing," etc. Albany, N. Y., 1856. Fourth
Edition, pp. 416-8. Book VIII, Chap. X: 15-20. Same: 28-31 (pp. 419-20). refused
medical aid and sent for the elders, among whom were Hezekiah Hammond and others
of the Believers.

"They entered the room, where she sat bolstered up in her bed. . . . Hezekiah
took hold of her hand and bade her labor for the power of God and take faith. .
. . She was immediately seized with a shaking, like one in a strong fit of the
ague, which so far released her, that she was able to speak and breathe without
difficulty; . . . her pain still continued, and she was yet unable to move or
help herself. . . . She, however, rested some that night. . . . The next
morning, after breakfast, Hezekiah came again in the room and assembled all the
family that were then at home, consisting of her husband, two sons, and seven
daughters, and desired them all to kneel down with him. . . . After continuing
on their knees a few minutes, they arose, and Hezekiah came to the bed side,
took her by the hand, and desired her to get up. ... With some difficulty, she
got up and sat in a chair. . . . They again kneeled in a circle round her, after
which Hezekiah bade her stand up; which she accordingly did. . . . He then put
one hand upon her head, and the other upon her side, at which she felt such a
glow of the power of God, as she was unable to describe, which first struck her
head, and then ran down her right side; instantly she felt her ribs sensibly
press outward against his hand, and her side was immediately healed."

Over against these records of the putative supernatural powers of Mother Ann and
the tribute which Shakers of all ages pay to her abilities and character, is a
record of an entirely different sort. Charges of the practice of immorality have
been brought "against practically every great leader in both religious and civil
life. It is not to be wondered at that such charges were brought against Mother
Ann. Among these charges appear the claim that, when in England, Mother Ann was
a prostitute, 1 that in New York she suffered from a venereal disease, 2
contracted as a result of her loose way of living, and that she was guilty of
incestuous relations 3 with her brother, William Lee.

All of these charges may be, in the main, untrue. But that she was the leader in
practices under the name of religious rites which were in their psychological
nature perversions of the sexual instinct, is without the least doubt true. In
connection with the dancing, which became an essential part of Shaker worship,
the practice of dancing naked was developed under the leadership of Mother Ann.
There seems to be no definite evidence of this practice on the part of the early
Shakers before their coming to this country. There is very clear evidence of the
practice in the early days of the church in this country. 4 So common was the
practice that Eunice Stanton, who joined the Shakers under the influence of her
husband and later withdrew, summed up the Shaker religion by stating that,

"Their religion consisted in confessing sin to the leaders, dancing and
whirling, speaking in their unknown tongues, as they called it, stripping and
dancing naked together, men and women." 5

One of the best known of the early books against Shakerism is by Thomas Brown. 6
Brown had been, as is likely to be the case with persons who connect themselves
with sects like the Shakers, a sort of religious wanderer.

1 Dyer, Mary M.: op. cit., pp. 20-24. 2 Same: pp. 22-4. Also p. 85. 3 Same: pp.
46-7. 4 The Jumpers were accused of the same practice. See Tyerman: op. cit. t
Vol. II, pp. 480-1. 5 Dyer: op. cit., p. 62. 6 Op. cit., supra.

He had been brought up a Quaker and had later become a sort of itinerant
Methodist preacher. Then he attached himself to the Shakers, largely on account
of his interest in the Millennium. For a time he was zealous in winning
proselytes to the new cause, but ultimately fell away. Brown had heard about the
reports that the earlier Shakers had danced naked, and in his conversation with
Mary Hocknell, to which reference has been made, 1 had brought up the subject. 2
After she has told the story of the small beginnings of Shakerism and of its
rapid spread in America, Brown says:

"I replied, it is admirable; and the hand of God appears so conspicuous, that it
is needless to regard any reports to invalidate it. But that I may be able to
satisfy honest, inquiring minds, who may have heard false reports, not knowing
but what they were true, and be able to contradict them, or represent things in
a true light, from good authority, and information received from eye, and ear
witnesses, I make free to ask thee a question concerning a report which has
been, and still is asserted to be a fact by many who have been among the people,
and have left them; which is, that these people, in Mother’s day, by her gift,
or by order of some of the other Elders, were repeatedly in the practice of
dancing naked, men and women together, in their meetings.

"She answered, ’I am sure Mother was a very modest woman; and if there had been
any such conduct, I should have seen, or known it, which I never did. There were
many operations by the power of God, and wonderful gifts; as speaking in unknown
tongues, trembling, groaning, and sometimeFTuTnm^r61m3;on account of which,
people would report we were drunk, as they did formerly about the apostles who
had similar gifts and operations (Acts, chap. II). And because the brethren
pulled off 1 Brown: op. cit., p. 46. 2 Op. cit., pp. 46-7. their coats, or
outside garments, to labour, or as the world call it, dancing; and in warm
weather the sisters being lightly clothed, they would report we danced naked/ ’
On the strength of this conversation, Brown vehemently denied 1 the charge
against the early Shakers of dancing naked when it was made in his presence. But
on account of the frequent repetition of the charge, he raised the question
again with one of the Elders, whom he calls Elder Hezekiah 2:

"Elder Hezekiah answered me: ’I never saw any such conduct, neither do I believe
there ever has been any such conduct.’ And he intimated to me that he did not
wish me to give people the lie; the person I had mentioned might have seen such
conduct, which, if he did, must have been by some out of order, or that the
church had no union with."

Later on, in talking with Elder John Meacham, at Niskayuna, he states 3 that,
after conversation on various subjects, "I told him at last, I desired to open a
matter wherein my faith was hurt, and wherein I had reason to be dissatisfied;
and that is, said I, respecting Elder Hezekiah and also several of the old
believers having denied that they had ever danced naked."

After some discussion on the part of both, Elder Meacham finally replied:

"If Elder Hezekiah, or any of the old believers have said or done wrong, they
will have to answer for their wrongs themselves. Therefore, you should not let
wrongs and failings in others hurt your faith; but confess and forsake your own
wrongs."

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 84. 2 Op. cit., p. 108. Probably Elder Hezekiah Hammond. 8
Op. cit., pp. 171-2. See also p. 170.

Brown goes on to state further 1:

"In a few months after this conference (some time in February, 1805), I was at
Lebanon; and the first conference I had was with Elder Hezekiah, respecting my
charge of falsehood. . . . Now, said I, Elder Hezekiah, I know the old
believers, or church brethren and sisters have danced naked repeatedly, under an
idea, or with intention, to mortify the fleshly nature, and you have danced so
with them.

"He replied, ’Yea, once; and I did not tell you there never had been such
conduct, but that I did not know of nor believe there was any such conduct now.’
’ When pressed further, the Elder finally stated:

"Since I have been called to be an Elder and minister I have been sorry I ever
saw such conduct among the people; for I have been often asked the question by
young believers, and people of the world; and often I have known not what answer
to give, as it would not do to tell them we had danced naked, admitting it to
have been a real gift of God; it would have been so out of their sight, they
could not see it nor receive it as such." 2 In these dances as many as thirty
persons 3 sometimes took part. Sometimes men and women danced naked together. At
other times the women danced by them’ selves; at still other, the men danced by
themselves. Brown tells us on the authority of Daniel Rathbone, Jr., of the
following incident which is said to have occurred in the first days of the
church:

"One day, said he, in the afternoon, William Lee, having drunk very freely, fell
asleep; when he awoke,

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 173. 2 Op. cit., p. 174. 3 Dyer, Mary: op. cit., pp.
47-52, 94-5, 140 (footnote), 145. See also Haikett: op. cit., pp. 38, 54, 76
(footnote), and Brown: op. cit., p. 293. he ordered the brethren (in number
about twenty) to be assembled, I being one with them. William Lee then informed
us that he had a gift to rejoice and ordered us to strip ourselves naked; and as
we stood ready to dance, Mother Ann Lee came to the door of the room with one of
the sisters. William Lee requested her to stay out, as he had a gift to rejoice
with the brethren. Still she persisted. He said to her again, Mother, do go out
/ have got a gift to rejoice with the brethren; ’and why can’t you let us
rejoice? You know if any of the sisters are with us, we shall have war, that is,
have to fight against the rising of nature. But as she would not retire, he
pushed her out, and shut the door against her. Then she went round the corner of
the house, and attempted to get in at a window. Lee prevented her. She came to
the door again, with a stick of wood, and stove it open. Lee met her at the
door. She struck him with her fists in the face. He said, the smiting of the
righteous is like precious ointment. She then gave him several blows in quick
succession, at each of which he made the same reply. At last, the blood
beginning to run, he lost all patience, and exclaimed, ’Before God you abuse
me’; and presented his fists and struck her, and knocked her almost down." 1 The
practice of both sexes bathing naked 2 together was another of the rites
inaugurated in the church in Mother Ann’s day. Reuben Rathbone, who published
one of the earliest attacks upon the Shakers a pamphlet which he wrote prior to
1801, entitled "Reasons offered for leaving the Shakers," had been charged with
immoral relations with the woman whom he subsequently made his wife. She also
had been a Shaker and had left the Shakers to marry Rathbone. In defending
himself against the charge, Rathbone wrote, inter alia:

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 290. 2 Dyer, Mary: "A Portraiture of Shakerism," etc.
1822; p. 141. See also Haskett: op. cit., pp. 45-54.

"From the time I first professed Christianity (which was a year or two before I
heard of the people called Shakers), to this day, I never have had any unlawful
connection with any woman; and from the time I first knew the Shakers to this
time, I never defiled myself with what is called among you effeminacy; neither
did I ever know, by any certain knowledge, while I lived with you, that there
was any females in the church or anywhere else, except it was at the time when
there was a gift for men and women to strip naked and go in the water together,
I was sometimes a spectator, and perhaps; might observe the difference." 1 That
the practices of dancing naked and of bathing promiscuously were akin to sexual
perversion is suggested in the following statement 2:

"I have seen the Mother at Niskeuna, in the State of New York, in times of her
intoxication, come into a room where many were gathered for a meeting and were,
by her own orders, stript naked; I have seen her slap the men rub -- her hands
on all parts of their bodies press the men to her bosom and make them suck a dry
breast all this time she would be humming and making an enchanting noise."

There is a very considerable amount of testimony to other practices of a
distinctly sexual nature. William Skails, a member of the society, on one
occasion 3

"stripped himself naked and testified his faith before Lucy Wright, the present
mother of the church, Samuel Fitch, John Truesdell and several other believers,
saying,

1 Brown: op. cit., p. in (footnote). 2 Brown: op. cit., pp. 90-91 (footnote).
For similar incidents, see Dyer: "Rise and Progress," p. 81. 3 Brown: op. cit.,
pp. 327-8. For similar occurrences, see Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 189. For
practices of this sort among the early Quakers, see Bowden, James: "The History
of the Society of Friends in America." London, 1850. Vol. I, pp. 272-3.

’Naked came I into the world and naked must I go out; and naked must my soul
stand before God, as naked as my body stands before you.’ ’

Skails is said later to have left the society, and to have become its bitter
enemy. Later he is said 1 to have become "somewhat delirious."

John Woods, who lived with the Shakers for about seventeen years, tells a
similar story 2:

"A man I knew, who had fallen so frequently in this way, and so frequently
confessed it, that he at length thought he felt a gift which might answer the
purpose to mortify this propensity. In a room where a number of us were
assembled, both brothers and sisters, without giving any previous notice, he
openly and clearly exposed a certain part, which he said was to him as Alexander
the coppersmith was to Paul, having done him much harm. While he exhibited he
exclaimed, This is my god.’ No one in the room seemed at that time to doubt the
fact, nor his honest intention to mortify the flesh." The efforts to "mortify
the flesh" are suggestive of Roman Catholic efforts after sacerdotal celibacy.

"After working hard days, we were ordered into the dance, or labor as it was
then called, for hours, and urged to labor more zealously to overcome sin. . . .
Then, after dancing with vehemence through the greater part of the night,
instead of reposing their weary bodies upon a bed, by further penance, lie down
upon the floor, chairs, ropes, sticks, and every humiliating and mortifying
posture they could devise." 3

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 328. 2 Woods, John: "Shakerism Unmasked," etc. Paris, Ky.,
1826; p. 10. 3 See Woods: op. cit., p. 37. Dyer: "Rise and Progress, p. in.
Haskett:

Another practice for the mortification of the flesh was flagellation 1 a
practice to which a stop was put through the influence of Mother Lucy Wright and
Father Meacham. 2 In Mother Ann’s time it was common.

"Though Elder Whittaker did not fully unite with this stripping naked, and would
often leave the room, he said those gifts of Mother which he could not see into,
he would not condemn. Several were whipped, and some were ordered to whip
themselves, as a mortification to the flesh. A young woman by the name of
Elizabeth Cook was stripped and whipped naked, by Noah Wheaton, for having
desires towards a young man Abiel Cook, her father, hearing of it, prosecuted
Noah Wheaton for whipping his daughter naked. Hannah Cook, sister to Elizabeth,
who was present at the time, was called for a witness. She went to Elder
Whittaker and asked him what she should say.

"He answered ’I cannot tell you what you must say, for I don’t know what
questions will be asked you; but,’ says he, ’speak the truth, and spare the
truth, and take care not to bring the gospel into disrepute.’

"She accordingly testified before the court that her sister, who was whipped,
was not naked. Thus she obeyed Whittaker’s orders; for, strictly speaking, she
was not naked, for she had at the time a fillet on her head. 3

"The last instance of stripping naked, and of corporal punishment, was at
Niskeuna about the year 1793. Two young women, by name Abigal Lemmons, Saviah
Spires and another who has since left the people, and had rather her name should
not be publicly mentioned, amused themselves by attending to the amour of two
flies in the window: they were told by Eldress Hannah Matterson for thus
gratifying their carnal inclinations, and as a mortification to the same, they
must strip themselves naked 1 See Haskett: of. cit., pp. 43, 56-8. 2 Haskett:
op. cit., p. 139. 3 Brown: op. cit., pp. 322-3. and take whips she had provided
and whip themselves, and then whip each other; two happened at once, to strike
the third, when she cried murder! They were then ordered to stop and to plunge
into a brook near by; all this was done in the presence and under the
approbation of Elder Timothy Hubbard and Jonathan Slosson, one of the brethren."
1 A study of literature hostile to the Shakers, as well as literature friendly)
to that people, brings to light the fact to be expected that the Shakers, no
more than the Roman Catholic priesthood or any other celibate sect or order,
have been able to eliminate the sexual instinct as a tremendous factor in life.
The sort of sexual gratification which is an expression of an abnormal mind was
definitely in evidence in the days when Shakerism was making great numbers of
converts, and all types of people united with the movement. In like manner,
there are frequent references to sodomy, 2 bestiality, 3 and other expressions
of the sexual instinct which may readily be expected from those who are denied,
through a religious or any other motive, a normal sexual life. There are
frequent references to sexual familiarity among the elders and the eldresses, 4
to the use of contraceptives, 5 to spiritual marriage, 6 and to "conduct
shocking to modesty." 7

Ann Lee was succeeded in the headship of the church by James Whittaker, who died
in 1787. Whittaker’s successors were Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright. Meacham,
who had been a Baptist preacher, brought to his task a mind trained along
theological lines, and a

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 335. See also Dyer: "Rise and Progress," pp. 49, 66, 73-4.
Haskett: op. cit., pp. 136, 161. Dyer: "Portraiture," pp. 90-2, 105-6. 2 Woods:
op. cit., p. 51. 3 Woods: op. cit., p. 51. Dyer: "Rise and Progress," p. 36.
Haskett: op. cit., "Sealed Pages, 19*." "Testimonies," XXVII 121 (p. 191). 4
Dyer: "Rise and Progress," pp. 38-9, 102-3, 231. 5 Same: p. 89. 6 Haskett: op.
cit., p. 224. Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 236. T Woods: op. cit., p. 20. valuable
ability for the effecting of organisation. It is Meacham who played probably the
most considerable part in the development of Shaker theology, as well as in the
development of the Shaker hierarchy and the Shaker communistic system. The first
of the Shaker permanent communities was established in 1787 at Mt. Lebanon, N.
Y. Before many years had passed, societies had been established at Watervliet,
N. Y.; Hancock, Mass. (1790); Harvard and Shirley, Mass.; Enfield, Conn.;
Enfield, N. H.; Canterbury, N. H.; Alfred, Maine; New Gloucester, Maine, and at
other places. Fertile soil for Shaker doctrines and ideas was found wherever a
revival had taken place. Particularly was this true of the Kentucky Revival.

"Repeated prophecies had been uttered by Mother Ann Lee, that the next opening
of the Gospel would be in a level country to the southwest. The meaning was not
understood, for but little was known of the region referred to, the country
being a wilderness, sparsely settled and covered with roving tribes of Indians.
In 1804 news reached the eastern societies of a wonderful work of God that had
been in progress, for several years, in Ohio and Kentucky. The stories were so
remarkable, the circumstances so like those known in earlier days in the east,
that believers recognised the fulfillment of the well remembered predictions.
The Church at Mount Lebanon, accordingly, sent out three brethren to bear, to
those who might be ready to receive it, the tidings of the establishment of what
was called, in the thought of the time, ’The Church of Christ’s Second
Appearing/

"John Meacham (brother of Joseph), Benjamin S. Youngs, and Issacher Bates
started from Mount Lebanon at 3 a. m. on the first of January, 1805, *P pursue
on foot this long journey of over one thousand miles. They had one horse to
carry necessary baggage." * 1 White and Taylor: op. cit. t p, 113. In the latter
part of March they came to Turtle Creek (now Union Village, Ohio) and were
entertained by a man named Worley, who, with his wife and also his pastor, the
Rev. Richard McNemar, a New Light Presbyterian, became converts to the Shaker
gospel. It is to Mr. McNemar that we owe a history of the Kentucky Revival. 1 In
a short time Shaker communities sprang into being at Buaro, Indiana; Shawnee Run
or Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, Turtle Creek, Ohio, and other places. The first
named, however, was, in 1826, abandoned. The Shaker conception of God is that of
a dual person a deity in His first manifestation male, Jesus; in His second
appearing, female, Ann Lee, It is logical to believe, they argue, that since
woman was first in the fall, she should be last in the work of redemption and
salvation.

Another argument is by analogy from the nature of man. It is based on a
conception, possibly analogous to biology’s conception of very rudimentary forms
of life the conception that Adam was dual as first created hermaphroditic, in
his sexual nature:

"The first man was created male and female jointly, but neither was male or
female separately, until the woman was taken out of the man. So in the first
appearing of Christ, that spirit of annointing which constituted Christ was male
and female jointly, but not separately in visible order: Nor could any abiding
and perfect spiritual union exist in order, between the sexes, until the woman
was raised up, in her appointed season, and anointed to complete the order in
the foundation of the new creation, for the redemption of both man and woman."

1 "Testimonies to Christ’s Second Appearing," etc. VIII:5-12 (p. 381).

All this, when summed up, amounts to saying that Ann Lee was the fulfilment of
the promise which our Lord made that He would come again. We are not to say,
"To! here," or "Lo! there." Christ has come. He is Ann Lee.

We are now in the Millennium, ushered in by the appearing of Ann Lee. Just as
Adam and Eve were our first parents after a carnal manner, so Jesus and Ann Lee
are the parents of the creation after a spiritual manner. Carnal generation must
in this new generation be done away with. Hence the physiological intercourse of
the sexes among the Shakers is prohibited. Those who become Shakers dedicate
themselves to a life of celibacy. The men live with men, the women with women.
Lightness, frivolity or undue friendship between individuals of the two sexes is
not merely discouraged, but forbidden. Children are adopted from the world. As
Ann Lee discovered through a vision, the sin of our first parents was in sexual
intercourse. Being crucified is simply denying oneself an expression of one’s
sexual nature through normal channels. Confession of sin to the elders and
eldresses is absolutely imperative and becomes an effective weapon in
maintaining discipline.

"In worship the exercises employed by the Shakers are said to be derived from
the inspiration of the Spirit. Elder, or Father, Joseph Meacham affirmed that he
was shown in vision the various exercises, saw the hosts of heaven worshipping
in these movements, and he taught them to the people. Modern experts in physical
culture have in some cases studied out scientifically the very movements which
marked the early Shaker worship. Of these, the only one that forms a part of
present-day worship is the march, accompanied by motions of the hands. Shakers
have been noted for their inspirational singing, the wordless songs practiced
for years giving place to hymns and anthems of peculiar but impressive sort." *
The dances of the early Shakers formed a very essential part of their religious
worship. Stress was laid upon the solemn nature of these exercises, and only
those who felt convinced that they were of pure heart were permitted to
participate.

"I have often heard the elders," Brown tells us, 2 "or the one who has the lead
of the meeting, after speaking a few words, conclude by one or the other of the
following sentences: ’All who feel justified or such as have not violated their
consciences or those who have no sin covered, may prepare to labour in the works
of God, or go forth in the works of God/

"And there is so much said and preached on the direful consequences of presuming
to join in this part of worship, with any sin unconfessed, or if they are in any
respect irreconciled to the Elders, or to the gifts they have had for them, or
irreconciled to any of the brethren, that many would not dare to join in the
dance, believing if they did, some judgment would fall on them. And they believe
the Elders see through and through them, and sin is not long hid from them.

"The following instance which was told me among many others, may clearly evince
the truth of this assertion: ’One of the young sisters committed sin in meeting,
by looking at a young man, a spectator. ... At this time James Whittaker, being
in a room in the upper part of the meeting house, and having a sense of what was
done, came down into the meeting room while they were dancing, and said, /God is
of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. There is sin committed and covered among
you, and your worship will not be owned until it is put 1 United States Census,
1910: Religious Bodies, II, p. 222. a Op. cit., pp. 1 00-101. away’ The young
woman was convicted, knowing herself guilty, fell on her knees, and confessed
she had sinned; after which, he told them they might proceed"

"The dance was of two kinds," according to John Woods 1:

"the step dance and the step and shuffle. The first was then by way of contempt
and derision called Bumbo, being more proper for the younger class, and such as
were yet full of laziness and lust. But after the people of the church began to
confess their sins, one to another, and to war against the devil, and if
possible to drive him out, their dances became more disorderly, and their
exercises more extravagant than ever. They were now seen throwing their arms
about, throwing themselves down, whirling like a top, tossing against one
another, stamping on each other’s feet, etc., till the meeting house floor and
many of their garments were marked with blood. On such occasions for a while the
ministry greatly encouraged them in this warring gift."

Another form of the exercises is thus described 2:

"Frequently all would assemble together in the meeting room there the sisters
would pull some one of the brothers into a large circle of females, and then
dance round him, and sleek his head with their hands, and cut so many monkey
capers that the whole assembly would laugh immoderately. When this gift was
finished, the brothers would pull one of the sisters into a large circle of the
males, and dance round her, and confine her there till she should look
pleasantly, and dance with them, and signify her fellowship with all their
antiques. After this alternate play we would run round the room, two and two,
with great rapidity, while some were singing, and 1 Op. cit., pp. 37-8. 2 Brown:
op. cit., pp. 70-1. others vociferating from the windows, and calling in a
hideous manner for others to come." The following description of Shaker life and
practices is from the pen of Charles Nordhoff 1:

"Their evenings are well filled with such diversions as they regard wholesome.
Instrumental music they do not generally allow themselves, but they sing well;
and much time is spent in learning new hymns and tunes, which they profess to
receive constantly from the spirit world. Some sort of meeting of the family is
held every evening. At Mount Lebanon, for instance, on Monday evening there is a
general meeting in the dining-hall, where selected articles from the newspapers
are read, crimes and accidents being omitted as unprofitable; and the selections
consisting largely of scientific news, speeches on public affairs, and the
general news of the world. They prefer such matter as conveys information of the
important political and social movements of the day; and the elder usually makes
the extracts. At this meeting, too, letters from other societies are read. On
Tuesday evening they meet in the assembly hall for singing, marching, etc.
Wednesday night is devoted to a union meeting for conversation. Thursday night
is ’a laboring meeting,’ which means the regular religious service, where they
’labor to get good/ Friday is devoted to new songs and hymns; and Saturday
evening to worship. On Sunday evening, finally, they visit at each other’s
rooms, three or four sisters visiting the brethren in each room, by appointment,
and engaging in singing and in conversation upon general subjects.

"In their religious services there is little or no audible prayer; they say that
God does not need spoken words, and that the mental aspiration is sufficient.
Their aim, too, as they say, is to ’walk with God as with a friend; and mental
prayer may be a large part of their lives with 1 Op. cit., supra, pp. 141-4. out
interruption to usual avocations. They do not regularly read the Bible.

"The Sunday service is held either in the ’meetinghouse’ when two or three
families, all composing the society, join together, or in the large assembly
hall which is found in every family house. In the meeting-house there are
generally benches, on which the people sit until all are assembled. In the
assembly hall there are only seats ranged along the walls; and the members of
the family, as they enter, take their accustomed places, standing, in the ranks
which are formed for worship. Then men face the women, the elder men and women
in the front, the elders standing at the head of the first rank. A somewhat
broad space or gangway is left between the two front ranks. After the singing of
a hymn, the elder usually makes a brief address upon holiness of living and
consecration to God; he is followed by the eldress; and thereupon the ranks are
broken, and a dozen of the brethren and sisters, forming a separate square on
the floor, begin a lively hymn tune, in which all the rest join, marching around
the room to a quick step, the women following the men, and all often clapping
their hands.

"The exercises are varied by reforming the ranks; by speaking from men and
women; by singing; and by dancing as they march, ’as David danced before the
Lord’ the dance being a kind of shuffle. Occasionally one of the members, more
deeply moved than the rest, or perhaps in some tribulation of soul, asks the
prayers of the others; or one comes to the front, and, bowing before the elder
and eldress, begins to whirl, a singular exercise which is sometimes continued
for a considerable time, and is a remarkable performance. Then some brother or
sister is impressed to deliver a message of comfort or warning from the
spirit-land; or some spirit asks the prayers of the assembly; on such occasions
the elder asks all to kneel for a few moments in silent prayer.

"In their marching and dancing they hold their hands before them, and make a
motion as of gathering something to themselves; this is called gathering a
blessing. In like manner, when any brother or sister asks for their prayers and
sympathy, they, reversing their hands, push toward him that which he asks.

"All the movements are performed with much precision and in exact order; their
tunes are usually in quick time, and the singers keep time admirably. The words
of the elder guide the meeting; and at his bidding all disperse in a somewhat
summary manner. It is, I believe, an object with them to vary the order of their
meetings, and thus give life to them." To the testimony of Nordhoff, a visitor,
may be subjoined the testimony of Lamson, a "young believer" of the sect. David
R. Lamson, who spent two years among the Shakers as a sort of unwelcome
neophyte, writes as part of his diary under date of February 23, I845 1:

"Meeting to-day at the meeting-house, a free and lively meeting. Commenced as
usual by singing. Many singers, sing loud, lively tunes, but there is very
little melody, or harmony in the singing. Speaking by David Terry. He hoped
every one, brethren and sisters, has ’sot’ out determined to persevere in the
way of God. Every one has got a work to perform. ’Tain’t’ something that we can
begin and labor a little while and then leave off; but we’ve got to labor for
it. Every one has got to strive for one. So I hope brethren and sisters, we
shall every one labor to become zealous in every good work. Labor to come to the
truth. The truth is worth more than all the news, and all the great histories,
and all of everything that has ever been printed by human hand. So brethren and
sisters, I hope we may be able to make some gain in the good things of the
Spirit."

1 Lamson, David R.: "Two Years’ Experience Among the Shakers," etc. West
Boyleston, 1848; pp. 85-8.

After another exhortation in much a similar vein, those present were invited to
"go forth in the travel manner." Lamson continues:

"The singers, about six or eight or more of them, then placed themselves in the
center of the room, in two ranks, the one facing the other, sisters facing
sisters, and brethren facing brethren, with the spit box in the middle. And the
remainder formed a circle around them, three abreast. The brethren by
themselves, forming one segment of the circle, and the sisters by themselves,
forming the other. The children form the inside file of the circle. The singers
then strike up a march, which they sing over four or five times, repeating once,
each part of the tune, every time; while the company march, and all, both
singers and laborers beat the time with their hands. Each placing his two hands
before him in a horizontal direction moves them up and down in time with the
tune. When the tune ceases all stop until another tune is struck. After a few
tunes in this way, Elder brother says, the brethren and sisters may take their
places to go forth in the quick manner.

"They then took their places; the sisters in the east part of the hall, and the
brethren in the west, leaving a space between. There is not much regularity to
this dance. Except that the singers form a line in front of a seat which runs
east and west on the north side of the hall, standing about middle way. The
company stand facing the singers, the elders being in front, and nearest the
middle of the hall from east to west. When a tune is struck up, they turn, the
brethren to the left, and the sisters to the right, and perform a sort of
trotting step, each company around its own division 01 the room until the set of
the tune, when all turn facing the singers and shuffle. This continues for about
three minutes; when there is a respite for half a minute or a minute. And
another tune is struck. At the intervals of the tunes, there is sometimes
speaking. Some brother, or sister, expresses their thankfulness for their
privilege in the Gospel, and express their determination to be obedient to their
beloved elders, and keep the way of God. Sometimes the elders exhort the
brethren and sisters to be zealous, and labor for the ’gifts and power of God.’
In these exhortations, the elders manifest great zeal and energy themselves.

"As these exercises continue, the zeal increases, the whole company frequently
clap their hands in concert. Some begin to turn around with great rapidity, some
leap and shout, throw up their hands, and perform all manner of gesticulations,
talk in unknown Jongues, sing in unknown tongues. Sometime, as to-day, for
instance, two or three times, all join in one concert of yelling, screaming,
shouting, shaking with all their might, thumping their feet upon the floor, with
great rapidity, altogether presenting a scene and making a noise which cannot be
described. Should a stranger come in at this moment, he must think it a perfect
bedlam; and would probably be frightened nearly out of his wits. When the din is
not so great that one cannot be heard, there is preaching, prophesying, speaking
in unknown_tongues, and singing songs by special inspiration. All time the young
sisters continue their turning so swiftly, that the air gathering under their
garments, raises them so as to expose their red petticoats, and other
underclothes, and even the fastening of their hose, and sometimes when their
clothes happen to brush against a sister near them, it exposes their person
still more. But they must not be checked in their gifts, for it is by the
inspiration of God, that all these things are done. They often fall prostrate
upon the floor, and all animation seems lost for a season. There is frequently
with them a crouching and bowing, as though affected with a shock of
electricity. When one ceases turning, she frequently embraces with her arms,
another sister, and continues crouching and bowing, for some time, and seems to
have a special gift for that sister. One who has had the gift of turning in a
high degree assured us they did this because they were too dizzy to stand up
alone. Others who have been gifted, have assured me that this is the reason why
they fell down. They cannot stand for dizziness, and that all their skill in
turning is acquired by practice.

"All their meetings are not carried to the same excess as the one which I have
described above. And never have I known them to have a meeting which made any
comparison with this, when any spectators are present from the world; these are
sometimes allowed to attend our meetings at home in the gathering family. None
are permitted to attend our meetings at the meetinghouse, since 1837, when this
revival commenced. Some who have been there since that time, assure me, that the
meeting I witnessed to-day, would not begin to compare with the meetings they
had in the commencement of the revival. In the commencement of the revival, many
went into the turning who were unaccustomed to turning; consequently they would
frequently fall down, become sick and vomit. Some would go out, others run to
the spitbox; some of the younger portion even bedaubed the floor." To these
accounts, we may add still another description. It is from Dr. W. A. Hammond’s
"Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derangement,"l and is
an abridgment from an earlier work2:

"There are many among them, who profess to see God, Christ, and Mother Ann. They
are taken to the spiritual world and introduced to good spirits, where they
often sit at table with the Godhead. At their meetings some one called the
visionist directs the proceedings. Standing at the head of the room, this
person, who professes to

1 Hammond, William A.: "Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous
Derangement." New York, 1876; p. 242. 2 "Extract from an Unpublished Manuscript
on Shaker History by an Eyewitness." Boston, 1850. see God, Christ, or Mother
Ann, and to be in communion with them, gives his orders to the assembled people.
He calls on one to step forth and shake. The victim comes forward, drops his or
her hands to the side and begins shaking the whole body and stamping with the
feet, while the visionist calls out at the top of his voice, ’Shake! Shake!
Shake! There is a great spirit on you, shake him off! shake him off! Christ
says, Shake him off!’ Another then takes up the cry, ’Down! down! come down;
Christ says come down! Low! low! low!’ At which every person in the room bends
and bows like willows in a high wind. Sometimes one of the gifted, will see the
devil come into the meeting, and like a faithful sentinel gives the alarm, when
every true believer opens the battery at once by drawing the right arm nearly to
the chin, placing the arm in the position as if to shoot, and then straightening
the body out with a jerk and a stamp of the foot, accompanied by a quick
bursting yelp in imitation of a gun, all being the work of a moment. ’There/
says the visionist, ’see him dart; he has gone down towards the chimney; shoot
him! shoot him! kill him!’ And a rush is made for spiritual weapons given by the
visionist from the spiritual armory.

"Sometimes Christ or Mother Ann enters the meetingroom, bearing such presents as
the band wants. These presents are ’spiritual/ and are handed round by Christ to
the faithful, who receive them as though they were real gifts. To one golden
potatoes are given; to another, oranges; to others, cake, puddings, jellies,
etc., with various other things not known to this world. . . . Mother Ann
superintends her own wine press, and often brings wine (’spiritual’ again) as a
present. The visionist pretends to take a waiter filled with wine-glasses;
everybody must have faith, and take one, as it is handed to them. Those who have
little or no faith are told by the visionist whether they have taken theirs.
Then they all raise their hands to their lips as in the act of drinking, and
presently they begin to reel and stagger around the room as though actually
drunk. Indeed, they act in all respects as drunken persons, stamping, shaking,
vomiting, etc., till finally, exhausted, they gradually sink away till all is
silent. Then, standing in a circle, they throw their handkerchiefs over their
shoulders, raise their hands to their heads, and make six solemn bows, saying
with each, T kindly thank Mother for this beautiful gift.’ . . .

"Sometimes young men and women are exercised by what they call the ‘jerks,’ for
two weeks at a time, during the whole of which period the head is kept in
continual motion by quick, convulsive motions of the shoulders and neck. The
author of the little book from which these particulars are quoted says she once
saw a young woman whose face was frightfully swollen, her eyes dilated and
bloodshot, and who had been exercised by the ’jerks’ for three weeks. Directly
after the ’jerks’ she began to talk in unknown tongues, and continued at short
intervals for three or four days; then she stopped suddenly, and remained
entirely mute for two weeks, no possible persuasion being sufficient to make her
say even yes or no. This experience is called the ’dumb devils.’ ’ The "gifts"
were sometimes a very severe tax upon both the mind and the "eye of faith." "At
a time, word was sent that there was a gift to be sent from the church to the
Shakers in our vicinity. The Elders came, the people were gathered and placed in
a half -circle their imagination was such that some shed tears for fear, while
others rejoiced in hope. The great attainment was one chestnut to each with
Mother’s love in it. Again the Elders came with another gift; that was, for them
all to kneel, the Elders at the head. The first elder crowed with the flopping
of his arms, the rest in union done the same." 1 1 Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 224.
In Dr. Hammond’s book, reference to which has already been made, an account is
given of the "laughing gift":

"Often some one will feel a ’laughing gift/ and will begin with he, he, he; ha,
ha, ha; ho, ho, ho. Another takes it up, and soon all in the room are engaged in
boisterous laughter. Once under full ’laughing gift,’ they will hold on to their
sides and reel in their chairs until they become exhausted. This gift ends in a
song:

"Ho, ho, ho; he, he, he; O what a pretty little path I see; Pretty path, pretty
play, Pretty little angels, Hay, hay, hay.

"The first and last lines are sung with a loud laugh." 1 The gift of tongues was
among the first of the charismata to be claimed by the Shakers. In England,

"Their exercises in their meetings were singing, dancing, shouting, shaking,
speaking tongues (or speaking what no one understood) and prophesying of the
downfall of all the anti-Christian churches, and the increase of that Kingdom in
which they professed to be." 2 In connection with her prosecution by the
authorities in Manchester, Mother Ann’s ability to speak in other languages was
put to a severe test by some learned scholars:

"At one time, to secure her conviction and suppression, she was accused of
blasphemy, and that the question might be settled, she was brought before four
clergymen of the Church of England, all noted linguistic scholars. The penalty,
if convicted, was to have her tongue bored 1 Hammond: op. cit., p. 244. 2 Brown:
op. cit., p. 314.


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  CHAPTER 7: 05B SHAKERS AND MILLENNIAL CHURCH 2
========================================================================

Chapter 5 The Shakers and the Millennial Church (part b) through with a red-hot
iron and to be branded on the cheek. The mysterious Presence which in a former
age, had said to the disciples of Jesus: ’Open thy mouth and I will fill it,’
did not desert this woman of whom it has been said that she could neither read
nor write. The power of God fell upon her, the gift of tongues was imparted and
she discoursed to these clergymen, speaking, as they testified, in seventy-two
different languages, speaking many of them, as they declared, Eetterthan they
had ever heard them spoken before. They advised her persecutors to let her
alone." 1

We have noted in the statement made by Mary Hocknell 2 that Mother Ann spoke
before the learned doctors in twelve different languages. Frequent statements
appear in the "Testimonies" to the effect that Mother Ann was often found
singing or praying in an unknown tongue. 3

"Timothy Hubbard was one of the first who visited Mother and the Elders at
Watervliet. While there, he saw Mother sit in her chair from early in the
morning, until afternoon, under great operations and power of God. She sung in
unknown tongues the whole of the time: and seemed to be wholly divested of any
attraction to material things. All her sensations appeared to be engaged in the
spiritual world.

"After she was released from these operations she spoke to the people present
and said, ’The way of God will grow straiter and straiter; so strait that if you
go one hair’s breadth out of the way, you will be lost. I felt my soul walking
with Christ, in groves and vallies, as really as if he had been here on earth.
It is good for a man not to touch a woman." 4

1 White and Taylor: op. cit., pp. 25-6. 2 Brown: op. cit., p. 46. 3 Cf.
"Testimonies": XXVII: 4 (p. 186), 22 (p. 191); XXXIV:12 (p. 241). 4
"Testimonies": XXIII: 12 (pp. 163-4).

"At another time, in the presence of Timothy Hubbard and others, Mother was
overshadowed with the power of God. She stood erect on the floor for the space
of an hour; her countenance was angelic and she seemed to notice nothing of
time. She sang, chiefly in unknown tongues, though sometimes she uttered
expressions in her own language. Among other expressions she made the following:
’Thou wilt keep them in perfect peace, whose minds are stayed on thee!’ When her
gift ceased, she spoke and said: *I saw Jesus Christ, and conversed with him,
face to face, as a man converseth with his friend.’" 1 This gift of tongues was
shared by others in the church, its presence was a mark of special divine
favour, and signalled out the one who thus spoke as a spiritual leader. Hannah
Cogswell testifies:

"While Elder Hocknell had the care of the people at Watervliet, in the summer of
1781, while Mother Ann was at Harvard, he came into meeting, one evening, under
great operations of the power of God, and, with his hand stretched toward the
fire, he spake in an unknown tongue, seemingly in great wrath. When his gift
ceased, he said, ’I saw the souls of three men, whom I knew while I was in
England. They came to hear the word of God, but they had not finished their
sufferings, and therefore were returned again to their suffering state/ He also
said, ’If you could see the glory of God that shines around you as I do, and the
angels that minister the power of God to you, your hair would rise on your
heads, and flesh would crawl on your bones.’" 2 Father William also spoke in
tongues:

"The next day, Eleazar Grant and Elisha Gilberts, Esq’rs, and Dr. Averill came
there and had a long 1 "Testimonies": XXXIIIna (p. 164). ’Same: XXV:i6 (p. 179).
conversation with Mother Ann and the Elders. The day following, several Indians
came, and Father William Lee was moved by the power of God, to speak to them in
their own native language, although he had no knowledge of it, but by the gift
of God; but the Indians understood and answered him." 1 The following account
appears in Brown’s "History of the Shakers," of an occurrence at Niskayuna in
the fall of 1800:

"On the third day after our arrival, there came an elderly man (by name Seth
Youngs) from Lebanon, who belonged to the backsliding order, whom I had heard
had the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, or in languages he did not
understand: in the afternoon he spent some time talking to my sister, respecting
the vanities of this life, the necessity and beauty of religion, and the
happiness to be derived from it. While he was thus speaking, he broke out, with
much earnestness, in an unknown, tongue, and spake about a quarter of an hour;
which appeared to me astonishing, as I was satisfied from the appearance of the
man, and previous conversation, that he was not a man of learning. Therefore I
believed and received it as an immediate inspiration, and concluded it was
miraculous, and thought I should have been very glad if it could have been taken
down in writing, that I might have found out what language it was, and what he
had spoken. It was said to be Greek by one of the believers (Seth Wells) who
professed to understand a little of the learned languages.

"In the evening we had a meeting of all the young believers, and three elders
with us, and a number of spectators. He then spoke again about half an hour,
breaking out while one of the Elders was speaking; at hearing which I was much
affected, really believing it to 1 "Testimonies": XX:17 (p. 140). See also White
and Taylor: op. cit, pp. 55-6-7. be immediate inspiration. It was said (by the
same person before mentioned) to be Hebrew, Greek and Latin, speaking part of
the time one language, and then another. After meeting, all the family sitting
round the fire, as he was talking concerning the happiness of a religious life,
suddenly his head shook, as if by a severe electric shock; he then closed his
eyes and sung half an hour, in some language said to be Hebrew. As soon as he
ended, he said, ’this was one of the songs of Zion,’ and exclaimed, ’how happy a
soul feels that has a sense of the love of God.’

"The same evening he spoke a few minutes in some Indian tongue, or it appeared
such by the gesticulations, etc. He told us that, ’he could only speak as he was
inspired by the power of God, and then he had no will or power to stop; and that
it often came upon him unexpected, and unthought of; and that he did not
understand what he said, except when he had a sense of it given to him.’

"I was informed of an illiterate sister at Lebanon, in the same order, that had
the gift of interpretation of tongues; and that she sometimes could state, or
explain languages thus spoken: and previously to that time, one of the young
believers (namely Seth Wells) who professed to understand Latin, informed me, in
company with several others, that he had heard this same man at Lebanon, speak
half an hour in Latin, which much strengthened his faith, and which he
translated into English; and that he had heard him speak in French, a Frenchman
being present at the same time. He further asserted that the forementioned
sister, who had the gift of the interpretation of tongues being present,
interpreted the same." 1 Brown tells us that he himself began to experience
manifestations of the tongues:

1 Brown: op. tit., pp. 58-9-60.

"About this time I began to have operations of shaking, trembling and stamping,
similar to some of my brethren and sisters at Nikeuna; and likewise a gift, as
it is called, of speaking languages, or unknown tongues. At one time I had a
gift to sing; but no one understood what I sung, nor myself neither. These
things I did not do as a sham, nor with intentions to make others think I was
under the influence of divine power; but I really, and sincerely believed I was
influenced by the power: of God. . . . They told me that some had gifts of
mortification, to bark like a dog, and crow like a cock, make a noise like a
squirrel, and mew like a cat. 1

“I was so strong in the faith, that one day as we were conversing, concerning
extraordinary gifts, I told the Elders I believed if I continued faithful, I
should be so endued with power in speaking languages, I should be able to speak
and preach to people in the different tongues, so that any nation or tribe of
Indians could understand me." 2 We are indebted to Brown also for the following
account of phenomena accompanying the manifestation of the tongues:

"One evening (during 1801) . . . being at a family meeting, a certain zealous
woman turned all the time the others were labouring, and when we kneeled (which
we generally did at the conclusion of the meeting) she prayed about fifteen
minutes in an unknown tongue. As soon as we arose, she was taken with the
operation of turning again, and continued it about fifteen minutes. She then
retired to her room, where she was directly taken with the operation again.
Being desirous to see everything that was going forward, I went into her room
and took a seat. She continued whirling rapidly about half an hour. I thought
she would have died under the 1 Brown: op. cit., p. 82. 2 Same: p. 89.
operation; for it appeared to me it was more than human nature could bear. She
broke out several times apparently in an unknown tongue, and spoke with great
energy and emphasis, using violent gesticulations, and shaking, to appearance,
sufficiently to dislocate every bone in her body. It was believed she was then
thundering the gospel to disobedient, damned spirits. When the operation was
over, she sat down. I then immediately entered into conversation with her, to
see if her mind was not affected; but I could perceive no alteration in her. She
told me what she uttered in prayer was on a sheet of paper held before her by an
angel. The man of the house told me that a few evenings before while they were
labouring, she spake and said, ’she saw an angel labouring by the side of him,’
and he believed it." 1 Brown makes also the following comments upon the tongues:

"Respecting such as speak in an unknown tongue, they have strong faith in this
gift; and think a person greatly favoured who has the gift of tongues; and at
certain times, when the mind is overloaded with a fiery, strong zeal, it must
have vent some way or other; their faith, or belief, at the time being in this
gift, and a will strikes the mind according to their faith; and then such break
out in a fiery, energetic manner, and speak they know not what, as I have done
several times. Part of what I spoke at one time, was: Liero, devo jurankemango,
and , fileabano, durem fubramo, deviranto diacerimango, jaffe vah pe cri
evanigalio, de vom grom feb crenom, os vare cremo domo." 2 A contemporary of
Mother Ann describes Shaker worship and comments upon the tongues as follows:

1 Brown: op. cit., pp. 1 53-3. 2 Same: p. 297.

"For there is a perpetual scene of trembling, quivering, shaking, sighing,
crying, groaning, screaming, jumping, singing, dancing and turning, which
strikes the animal part, operating on the nerves of the greatest opposers, in
following which the adherent finds an easy transition from pain with them to go
into their several exercises, to mourn and rejoice with them, to kneel, to leap
and dance, to turn and shake, and sometimes to utter forth their unknown mutter,
so gibberish that a person not deluded would imagine they were a company of
madmen, by whom their passions in different colours are artfully displayed; this
they call the gift of new tongues, by which their opposers oftentimes find
themselves severely scolded at, sometimes mocked, entreated, or flattered,
according to the operation of their several humours, frequently gathering round
some one of their own company who is not quite obedient enough for them, like
spiteful birds in fighting, and peck upon him in their unknown mutter, as if
they would pick his flesh from him." 1 Another contemporary account is quoted by
Mary Dyer:

"When I was in the region about Harvard, an aged man told me he had seen Ann
Lee, and that when she was in that place she made terrible havoc among families.
He said she seemed to have a power like witchcraft. He told of a case of one
Eleazar Rand and showed me the house where Rand’s folks lived, and said, ’Here
lived that young man, and he was called as likely as any among us. Rand said, if
others would go with him, they would take Ann and put her where she would make
no more trouble.

"They went to the place where Ann was, and Rand said to a Shaker that they
wished to see the Mother. The Shaker went into another room, returned, and said,
she 1 Taylor, Amos: "Narratives of the Shakers." Worcester, Mass., 1782. will
come in soon. She came, stood in the door, and fastened her eyes on Eleazar,
then stepped forward, singing,

’Wi, ooo, wi, o urn, wi o, o o, wi o um, Bamb bam, be iddle le dang, Dang doodle
ink e dong, doodle ink e dong.’

"She repeated this sing-song, walking moderately around Eleazar, until he lost
all presence of mind, got up and followed her. Those who went with him were
astonished, and told how she crazed Eleazar." 1

Lamson tells us that in connection with the administration of a "gift" called
the "gift of the Father and Son," a preparatory form of worship was prescribed
in detail in accordance with a special revelation. "The most important of the
directions," he writes,

"were, that we should kneel every time we assembled for worship. Should sing no
worded songs. That is, simply sing the tune without words, using instead of
words something like the following: lo lo lo liddle diddle dum, te hoot te hoot
te diddle te hoot, etc." 2 Lamson also writes:

"It is worthy of notice here that although the Shakers profess to speak in their
inspirations all the languages that were ever spoken on earth, yet in sending
out their gospel to the world, it was given to all the different nations in our
own language. Except as the English is here and there interspersed with what is
called ’unknown’ language. And indeed it is unknown, for I presume no linguist
on earth could find any meaning to it. Their unknown languages, which are spoken
at their meetings generally by their inspired ones, are indeed Unknown*;

1 "Rise and Progress," p. 259. 8 Op. cit. t p. 98. not being known even to the
speaker of them. They are the veriest gibberish which has no meaning." 1 Betsey
Looge of Loudon, New Hampshire, deposes and says inter alia:

"The Shakers had a strange power and that which I could not resist while with
them. At times in their meetings, I had strange exercises, and from the impulse
of Shakerism, I often whirled, and at times in agitation uttered inarticulate
sounds, which I understood not; the elders said they understood it, and
pretended to tell what it was. This they called speaking in other tongues. I
consider it the same power affecting the nerves of my hand and tongue, as at
other times caused me to whirl or fall. If I resisted, I was followed with
convulsive affects." 2 Eunice Chapman in her Narrative also deposes:

"In the evening the different families came in to attend a general meeting; I
was ordered out of their house, but did not obey; my children were dragged out
of the room where I was, and compelled to stay alone; and while I endured
fearful forebodings, I was surprisingly alarmed at the astonishing noise and
confusion. They sung, talked and jumped about the floor, and pronounced ’jub,
jub, jub, lobble, lobble, lobble, lobble, etc.’ Hannah told me that some had a
gift to speak in an unknown tongue." 3 A Dr. Dwight was detained among the
Shakers by a severe storm in 1783. "In their worship," he says, "these people
sang in what they called an "unknown tongue/ It was a succession of unmeaning
sounds frequently repeated, half articulated, and plainly gotten by heart, for
they all uttered the same sounds in succession. . . . They 1 Op. cit., p. 113. 2
Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 196. 8 Same: p. 236. practiced many contortions of the
body and distortions of the countenance. The gesticulations of the women were
violent, and had been practiced so often and to such a degree as to have fixed
their eyes in an unnatural position; made them goggle-eyed, suffused their eyes
with blood, covered their faces with sickly paleness, and made them appear like
persons just escaped or rather, just escaping, from a violent disease. The
motions of the men were very moderate, and seemed rather to be condescendingly
than earnestly made."

Dr. Blunt, 1 in the same article in which he quotes "Dwight’s Travells," cites
the authority of another visitor among the Shakers who describes the Shaker
exercises as follows:

"The men and women, all dad in grey cloth and wearing list slippers, occupied
distinct positions in the place of meeting. A short extemporaneous address was
delivered by an Elder of the party, who reminded his auditory of the mercies
they had all experienced during the past week, and bade them therefore unite
with him in ’cheerful expressions of gratitude to their heavenly Benefactor/
Upon the conclusion of this brief exhortation, twelve of the company arranged
themselves in two lines, back to back, in the centre of the apartment; the rest
of the congregation stood up in couples around them, the men forming one segment
of the circle, the women the other. Thereupon those in the middle commenced
singing in a loud voice some doggerel verses to a very lively tune:

"’I love to dance and love to sing, And, oh ! I love my Maker: I love to dance
and love to sing, And love to be a Shaker.” Etc.

1 Op. cit., supra, pp. 558-9. The second quotation is given as from "Notes and
Queries," and Series, XII:366.

"The several couples, perpetually smiling or giggling at each other, and
flapping their hands in mid-air, accompanied this strange kind of psalmody by a
quick, but monotonous shuffling of their feet, being an apology for a dance.
This grotesque scene was prolonged for an hour and a half."

Frequent mention has been made of the "wordless" songs of the Shakers.
Apparently these were tunes that were hummed, or songs of praise and worship in
the tongues. Some of the hymns used were entirely in English, some in the
tongues, and some in both English and the tongues. The following is a specimen
in both English and the tongues, the lines alternating:

"O we will praise our Maker, yes, we even will, Ki lo vin sa vo van vos onena
vil, Care van se neve cara van sa ve, I le vin se vo san vos onena va." 1 The
second stanza is entirely in the tongues:

"I lo le viteca vum vole os ca nere von, I lo le viteca vum se ra os ca nere
von, I le viteca vole vum se ra ca os ca nere von, I le viteca vole vum se ra os
ca nana." The song called "Vicalun’s Prayer" is another interesting specimen of
the gift of tongues. Vicalun was believed to have been the angel of repentance.
"Vicalun’s Prayer" is as follows:

"Hark! hark! my holy, holy, Vicalun seelen sor, I have come to mourn And weep
with you In low humiliation; Pray to the Silium sool, Whose hand can stay the
billows, And san si rulum sool."

1 Lamson: op. cit., p. 79.

"Vicalun’s Prayer," the song just quoted, "has a variety of changes, accompanied
by the following motions: At the first line the head is inclined forward, with
the forefinger pointing to the right ear, as in the act of listening. At the
third line the hands are brought forward with an earnest beckoning motion. At
the fourth line the hands are carried to the eyes as in the act of weeping, the
body gradually bending till it sinks on the knees and the face touches the floor
at the close of the fifth line. At the Commencement of the sixth line both hands
are brought up to the side of the head as in prayer; at the seventh the right
hand is thrown convulsively upward; at the word "Vicalun" both hands are
extended wide. At the last line, and at the last word, they are clasped over the
heart. The last four lines are repeated twice; appropriate motions accompany all
songs sung by them." 1 1 Hammond: op. cit., p. 245.


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  CHAPTER 8: 06A EDWARD IRVING, CATH. APOSTOLIC CH. IRVINGITES
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Chapter 6 Rev. Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church or Irvingites

ONE of the most pathetic and tragic figures among all the tongues people is that
of Edward Irving. Irving was a minister of the Church of Scotland and, as
minister of the Caledonian Church in London, at one time the most popular
preacher in that city. His birthplace was at Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland,
where his statue now stands. He was born on August 4, 1792, of parents who were
of the better-to-do sort of Scotch people. His father was a tanner. Irving
received his higher education from Edinburgh University, which institution in
1809 awarded him the degree of Master of Arts. After teaching school for a time
and pursuing during that period his studies in Divinity, he became assistant to
the then renowned Dr. Thomas Chalmers of Glasgow. In 1822 he was called to be
the minister of the Caledonian Church in Hatton Garden, London. This was a
considerable promotion ^or Irving, although the church numbered less than three
hundred members. These were Scotch people resident in London. Irving had not
long been there before he was the center of the religious public’s attention. By
chance a prominent member of the House of Commons had heard him preach, and
referred in glowing terms a few days later, in the course of parliamentary
debate, to the young preacher. Irving needed only this introduction; crowds went
to hear him, crowds of the most fashionable people in London and in those crowds
were included the greater part of the notables of that day. It became the
fashion to hear Irving preach. In the course of time Irving became interested in
the study of prophecy, and became convinced of the imminent nature of our Lord’s
return. Finally he came under the influence of a group of people who professed
to prophesy and to speak with other tongues, and the new church which Irving’s
congregation had been obliged to build to take care of the great multitude which
came to listen to his preaching was crowded no longer with the elite and the
fashionable, but with the curiosity-seekers and religious cranks of the day. The
"gifted" and the prophetic stood up in Irving’s church and publicly rebuked him,
and prophesied and contradicted each other until finally Irving was deposed on a
charge of heresy by his presbytery and excluded from his church.

Irving and a band of his followers then held services in a room in Gray’s Inn
Road, used on other occasions by Robert Owen. Later they moved to Newman Street.
In time a new church was organised by the prophets which they called "The
Catholic Apostolic Church." In the meantime the only great man in the movement,
Irving, was gradually stripped of his powers, and the real leadership of the
movement passed into the hands of a group of men of very ordinary ability, but
of very positive convictions. Irving died of tuberculosis on December 8th, 1834,
in the forty-third year of his age.

Thomas Carlyle had known Irving as a young man, and had kept up a more or less
close touch with him all through his London residence. In fact, Mrs. Carlyle,
according to common tradition, had been an old sweetheart of Irving’s. Thomas
Hitchcock, in hiis little book, "Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius," * makes the,
love of 1 Hitchcock, Thomas: "Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius." New York, 1891.

Irving for Jane Welsh Carlyle the subject of one of his essays. At any rate,
Mrs. Carlyle had been as a young girl one of Irving’s pupils, and he had found
her both interesting and attractive. Carlyle himself is unstinted in his praise
of Irving. Thus he writes, in his essay on the "Death of Edward Irving":

"Here once more was a genuine man sent into this our ungenuine phantasmagory of
a world, which would go to ruin without such; that here once more, under thy own
eyes, in this last decade, was enacted the old Tragedy, and has had its fifth
act now, of The Messenger of Truth in the Age of Shams" l And again in the same
essay:

. . . "He was so loving, full of hope, so simple-hearted, and made all that
approached him his. . . . But above all, be what he might, to be a reality was
indispensable for him." 2

Carlyle, with all his bombast and pessimism, not only loved, but understood
Irving. Be what he might, to be a reality was indispensable for Irving. He was a
reality. What he preached he lived. What he expressed as the great motive of a
life was the motive of his life "the ends of everlasting goodness":

"The most acceptable offering which we can present unto God, the author and
preserver of our being, and the most grateful return which we can make to the
world in which we have passed our days, is to live a life directed according to
our best perceptions of truth and devoted to the ends of everlasting goodness."
3

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Dei Essays," Vol. II, p. 223. Death of Edward Irving," in
"Crtiical and Miscellaneous 2 Same: p. 223. 3 Irving, Rev. Edward, M.A.:
Introduction to the "Life of Bernard Gilpin," by William Gilpin, M.A. Glasgow,
1830; p. 5.

James Bridges, Esq., at whose home Irving stayed while attending the General
Assembly at Edinburgh in 1828, wrote of him:

"Before his decay, it will be well remembered by all who knew him, with what
gravity, spirituality, and orthodox earnestness he preached; with what
benevolent assiduity he laboured; what gentle and amiable simplicity and
kindness marked his deportment in private life; what solid, brilliant, and
flowing variety, in all the shades of grave and gay, ever characterised his
conversation." l Nor are these words in reference to Irving out of place:

"The poet Procter (Barry Cornwall), who saw much of him in London, pronounced
him ’the most pure and hopeful spirit surely that Scotland has ever produced/
and wrote of him

’ ’If his manner had not been so unassuming I might have felt humble before him.
But he was so amiable and simple that we all forgot that we stood in the
presence of a giant in stature, with mental courage to do battle with any
adversary, and who was always ready to enter into any conflict on behalf of his
own peculiar faith. ... I never heard him utter a harsh or uncharitable word. I
never heard from him a word or a sentiment which a good man could have wished
unsaid. His words were at once gentle and heroic. No one who knew him intimately
could help loving him.’ " 2 Truly he was "the good Irving: so guileless, loyal
always, and so hoping and so generous." 3 The words of criticism and of
unkindness that have been spoken against Edward Irving are words that are

1 Bridges, James: Prefatory Notice to "Irvingism and Mormonism Tested by
Scripture," by Emilius Guers. London, 1854. 2 Hitchcock, Thomas: op. cit., pp.
192, 193. 3 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," Edited by James Anthony Froude.
New York, 1881; p. 351. spoken only by ignorant and in many cases more or less
jealous contemporaries. Those who criticised him have long been forgotten. Those
who love him are all those who study faithfully his life and character. There
are various ways of interpreting Irving, and particularly of explaining the
collapse of his latter days, but there is only one explanation possible, only
one explanation satisfactory, and that explanation is the simple but ^tragic one
of a lack of common sense. Simple as tms explanation "is, it is the explanation
of the tragedy of many of those who in earnestness and sincerity have,
nevertheless, concerning faith, made shipwreck. Reason, and particularly the
analytic processes of reasoning, need to be applied searchingly to those things
alleged to be spiritual, as well as to that class of things which we denominate
natural. The familiar and practical criticism of Irving is on the ground of his
undue sense of his personal importance. It was his gigantic conceit which, more
than anything else led to his downfall. Such a conviction led Dr. Meade C.
Williams to explain the tragic closing years of Irving’ s life as

"partly from conceit and an overweening sense of his own sufficiency which made
him impervious to criticism and proof against every friendly suggestion, and
partly from the ineradicable conviction that the whole Church had but an obscure
sense of the truth. . . .

"He was a good man, but marked by grievous infirmities. In public ministrations
he seemed utterly without prudence or practical wisdom." 1 Who, however, is
going to draw the line and tell us what is conceit and what is humility when a
man is a 1 Williams, Meade C. Article: "Edward Irving," in the Princeton
Theological Review, Vol. I, p. 7. mystic? Being conscious of an immediate
revelation from God, and being therefore incapable of error, is a heresy for
which many a man in good and regular standing remains as yet to be tried in our
church courts. When a man rings true, when he is so generous that he suffers
wrong for that generosity, when he seems persistently to seek first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness, then certainly we must look for some explanation
other than that of a lack of fundamental humility to explain his failures. But
even Carlyle felt that Irving’ s difficulties were the product in part an
unconscious part of the applause which had turned the preacher’s head:

"Unconsciously, for most part in deep unconsciousness, there was now the
impossibility to live neglected; to walk on the quiet paths, where alone it is
well with us. Singularity must henceforth succeed Singularity. O foulest Circean
draught, thou poison of Popular Applause! madness is in thee, and death; thy end
is Bedlam and the Grave." * In his "Reminiscences," however, it seems as though
Carlyle comes a little nearer to the real analysis of the situation. Irving had
lost his sense of proportion, his consciousness of the ultimate relation of
things, because of his eagerness for the spread of the Christian religion.
Perhaps he never had a sense of proportion.

"At sight of Canning, Brougham, Lady Jersey and Co., crowding round him and
listening week after week as if to the message of salvation, the noblest and
joyfullest thought (I know this on perfect authority) had taken possession of
his noble, too sanguine, and too trustful mind: ’that the Christian religion was
to be a truth 1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Death of Edward Irving," cit. supra, p. 224.
again, not a paltry form, and to rule the world, he unworthy even he, the chosen
instrument.’ " 1

Dr. Simpson suggests 2 that a great lack in Irving’s mental nature was the lack
of a sense of humour. Yet Irving was neither an ascetic nor a pessimist. He knew
the pleasure of life. He knew and practised the art of friendship; he could
mingle with people and be happy.

Carlyle speaks frequently of the preacher’s joy in life. At the time when they
were both teaching at Kirkcaldy, Carlyle says:

"He had a most hearty, if not very refined sense of the ludicrous; a broad
genial laugh in him always ready. His wide, just sympathies, his native
sagacities, honestheartedness, and good humour, made him the most delightful of
companions." 3

If, however, humour be the faculty of appreciating the unexpected, Irving had a
lack of humour. For him nothing was unexpected. "To him that believeth all
things are possible" was no empty phrase with Irving. Anything in the realm of
the supernatural, whether it was of any value or not, was for Irving not only
possible but imminent.

He was so anxious for the supernatural that he refused to go to school in the
natural. His utter want of common sense, the sense of the fitness of things, is
illustrated in a host of anecdotes told about him. There is none more
characteristic than the story which James Bridges tells in the following words:

1 Simpson, J. G. Article: "Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church.”
“Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics," Edited by James Hastings. New York, 1915,
Vol. VII, p. 426. 2 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 186. 3 Same, p. 82. See
also Story, Robert Herbert: "Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Robert Story, Late
Minister of Rosneath, Dumbartonshire." London, 1862; p. 60.

"Another characteristic trait. Walking by Whitehall one day, I met him arm in
arm with the late Dr. Gordon of the High Church of Edinburg. ’Oh, Mr. Bridges,’
said he, ’Dr. Gordon wishes to drink London porter in a London pot-house. Shew
us one,’ So we went to the York in Prince’s Street, Soho, where the public room
was crowded with dining parties in all the boxes. When our repast was ready,
Irving raised his arm perpendicularly over his head, and in that attitude
commenced a loud blessing. The clatter of knives, and corks and forks, and the
bustle of waiters, competed with him for a time, but gradually subsided, till
amidst deep silence, he made the assembled company hear in his prayer not a few
things strange to chop-house ears." 1 And Rev. Mr. Craig of Edinburgh tells of
another similar incident:

"A certain gentleman invited a party of Christian friends to his house. In the
course of the evening, before separating, a late supper was served. Some of the
guests had three miles to walk after the meal. But before sitting down Irving
was requested by the host to read the Bible and expound a little. He began, and
continued to discourse on and on. At last the clock struck twelve, and then the
host very gently suggested it might be desirable to draw to a close. ’Who art
thou/ replied Irving, ’who darest to interrupt the man of God in the midst of
his administration?’ He pursued his talk for some time longer, then closed the
.book, and waving his long arm over the head of his host, uttered a prayer that
the brother’s offence might be forgiven." 2 Perhaps what Irving needed was some
one to tell him that he did not have common sense. Perhaps Jane

1 Bridges: op. cit., pp. 10-11 (footnote). 2 Hanna, William: "Memoirs of the
Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D." Edinburgh and London, 1851.
Vol. IIL p. 276. See also OHphant, Margaret W.: "The Life of Edward Irving,
Minister of the National Scotch Church, London." New York, 1862; p. 97.

Welsh Carlyle was right when she said, "There would have been no ’tongues’ had
Irving married me!" 1

Dr. Chalmers’ phrase, "a prodigious want of tact" may be a phrase about as
suggestive of Irving’s limitations and eccentricities as well may be found. Dr.
Chalmers went down to London in the spring of 1827 to preach the sermon in
connection with the opening of Irving’s new church. This is what we find in Dr.
Chalmers’ Diary under date of May 11, 1827, in connection with the services on
that occasion:

"Friday Mr. Irving conducted the preliminary service in the National Church.
There was a want of tact in the length of his prayer, forty minutes, and
altogether it was an hour and a half from the commencement of the service ere I
began." 2

One of Irving’s most characteristic public addresses was made to the London
Missionary Society. This was an address in which he told the members of the
Society that their methods of procedure were utterly useless, and that the
missionaries ought to be sent out as they were in the days of the Apostles,
without any provision for their temporal needs. It took him over two hours and a
half to deliver the address, and he dedicated it to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. But
let Charles Lamb tell the story:

"I have got acquainted with Mr. Irving, the Scotch preacher, whose fame must
have reached you. He is a humble disciple at the feet of Gamaliel S.T.C. Judge
how his own sectarists must start when I tell you he had dedicated a book to
S.T.C., acknowledging to have learned more of the nature of Faith, Christianity
and the Christian Church from him than from all the men he ever conversed with.
He is a most amiable, sincere, 1 Quoted by Hitchcock: op. cit., p. 211. Hanna:
op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 160. modest man in a room, this Boanerges in the temple.
Mrs. Montague told him the dedication would do him no good. That shall be a
reason for doing it,’ was his answer. Judge now whether this man be a quack." l

Dr. Chalmers tells of a visit to Coleridge in company with Irving. This was the
day before the dedication of the National Scotch Church.

"Thursday. Irving and I went to Bedford Square. Mr. and Mrs. Montague took us
out in their carriage to Highgate, where we spent three hours with the great
Coleridge. . . . His conversation, which flowed in a mighty unremitting stream,
is most astonishing, but, I must confess, to me still unintelligible. I caught
occasional glimpses of what he would be at, but mainly he was very far out of
all sight and all sympathy. I hold it, however, a great acquisition to have
become acquainted with him. You know that Irving sits at his feet, and drinks in
the inspiration of every syllable that falls from him. There is a secret and to
me as yet unintelligible communion of spirit betwixt them, on the ground of a
certain German mysticism and transcendental lake poetry which I am not up to.
Gordon 2 says it is all unintelligible nonsense, and I am sure a plain Fife man,
as Uncle ‘Tammas,’ had he been alive, would have pronounced it the greatest heff
he had ever heard in his life." 8 Hanna, Chalmers’ son-in-law and biographer,
adds in a footnote to the above:

"Returning from this interview, Dr. Chalmers remarked to Mr. Irving upon the
obscurity of Mr. Coleridge’s utterances, and said, that for his part he liked to

1 "Correspondence of Leigh Hunt.” Edited by his eldest son. London, 1862. Vol.
I, p. 250. 2 The Rev. Dr. Gordon of Edinburgh. 3 Hanna: op. cit., Vol. Ill, p.
160. see all sides of an idea before taking up with it. ’Ha!’ said Mr. Irving in
reply, ’you Scotchmen would handle an idea as a butcher handles an ox. For my
part I love to see an idea looming through the mist.’’

Irving’s subsequent theological troubles with the Presbytery were not in toto
matters of theology. They were in part, as matters of heresy almost always are,
a matter of personality. Irving was not merely unsound; he was a greater, braver
man than many of those who were most extraordinarily and painfully sound. He did
not hesitate to do his own thinking without consulting any one as to the
acceptability of his thinking. He even went so far as to intimate that one
element which hindered the spread of the gospel was the manner in which the
gospel has been presented. Thus we find him writing in the preface to his first
published book:

"It hath appeared to the Author of this book, from more than ten years’
meditation on the subject, that the chief obstacle to the progress of divine
truth over the minds of men is the want of its being properly presented to
them." 1 Carlyle pretty clearly understood the theological Scotland of his day
when he wrote:

"Theological Scotland above all things is dubious and jealous of originality,
and Irving’s tendency to take a road of his own was becoming daily more
indisputable." 2

Even Irving’s critics were willing to pay him a deserved tribute as a preacher.
William Orme, who printed "An Expostulary Letter to the Rev. Edward Irving,

1 Irving, Edward: "For the Oracles of God. Four Orations. For Judgment to Come.
An Oration." 2 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 150.

A.M., Occasioned by his Orations for Missionaries after the Apostolical School,"
wrote:

"When I reflect on your powers of declamation on the extraordinary energy by
which you are distinguished on the oracular tone in which you intimate your
sentiments, on the anathemas with which you denounce those who cannot sympathize
with many of your views, and on the defiance which you hurl at the spirit of
this feeble, prudent, selfish, vain-glorious generation, I frankly own that I
feel little inclination lo approach within the sweep of your arm, or the frown
of your indignation." 1

There were of course different opinions as to Irving’s ability as a preacher;
the one that he was a great preacher and orator a judgment in reference to
Irving’s ability which was somewhere near the correct opinion and the other,
which was the opinion of unsympathetic minds which dismissed Irving at once from
consideration because of his eccentricities, that Irving was a sort of
mountebank and spiritual actor. To this class of opinions belongs that of J. G.
Lockhart expressed in a letter written during the year 1824 to Professor John
Wilson:

"Irving, you may depend upon it, is a pure humbug. He has about three good
attitudes, and the lower notes of his voice are superb, with a fine manly
tremulation that sets women mad as the roar of a noble bull does a field of
kine; but beyond this he is nothing, really nothing. He has no sort of real
earnestness; feeble, pumped up, boisterous, overlaid stuff is his stable." 2 For
the good folks of Dr. Chalmers’ congregation in Glasgow Irving had "ower muckle
gran’ner," 3 a fact

1 Orme, William: "An Expostulatory Letter to the Rev. Edward Irving, A.M..
Occasioned by his Orations for Missionaries after the Apostolical School.
London, 1825; p. 2. 2 Gordon, Mary Wilson (Mrs. J. T.): "’Christopher North/ A
Memoir of John Wilson." Edinburgh, 1862. Vol. II, p. 71. 3 Oliphant: op. cit.,
p. 60. which was undoubtedly true. They were accustomed to Dr. Chalmers, a
Scotch analyst, and Irving was the other type of Scot, the Scotch mystic.

According to Carlyle, "Irving’s discourses were far more opulent in ingenious
thought than Chalmers’, which indeed were usually the triumphant on-rush of one
idea with its satellites and supporters. But Irving’s wanted in definite head
and backbone, so that on arriving you might see clearly when and how." 1 A
visitor who heard Irving speak in Edinburgh when he was delivering a series of
lectures at St. Andrew’s Church, lectures which were delivered at six o’clock in
the morning to crowded houses, and which dealt in general with the subject of
the Second Advent, is quoted as saying that

"On the previous Sabbath I listened for nearly two hours and a half to what he
(Mr. Irving) termed an explanation, without being able to understand it." 2

While it is very true that an explanation requires not only an explainer, but
also one capable of understanding the explanation, it is not to be doubted but
that for the most part of us, Irving’s explanations would signally fail to
explain.

Many took exception to Irving’s most trivial mannerisms. "A writer in the
Saturday Evening Post, Edinburgh, for example, states that ’Irving’s
gesticulation, it seems, is studiously varied/ and the several parts of his
manner ’may be valuable requisites and auxiliaries of oratory, but are quite
incongruous with the dignity and sanctity of the pulpit." 3

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 128, vide infra. 2 "Reply to Various
Criticisms Which Have Appeared on the Course of Lectures Lately Delivered in
this City by the Rev. Edward Irving, together with a Statement and Defence of
the Scripture Doctrine of the Second Advent of Christ." Edinburgh, 1828: p. 8.
For another estimate of Irving as a preacher, see Hazlitt, William: "The Spirit
of the Age, or Contemporary Portraits." First American Edition, New York, 1849.
Article on Rev. Mr. Irving. 3 "Reply to Various Criticisms": cit. supra, p. 13.

Washington Wilks writes:

’’The Times’ fell upon the pulpit celebrity in its capacity of general guardian
of the public taste. There appeared, one July morning, an article commencing
’There is a fashion in everything in wigs and bonnets, in poetry and novel
writing; and lastly, in actors and preachers; and while things go on in the
ordinary way while wigs do not accumulate their curls into periwigs, nor bonnets
swell into coal scuttles while our popular poets scribble only one poem, and our
popular romancers only two novels a year while our actors are content with one
new reading in a play of Shakespeare, and our preachers aim at no praises beyond
those of the regular frequenters of fashionable chapels we are disposed to let
things pass, and allow the candid and enlightened public to have their own way.
But the case is different with Mr. Irving. His popularity absolutely frightens
us ’from our propriety/ We learn that statesmen and quack doctors, old ladies
and judges, young ladies and students of law, all flock with eagerness to hear
the Caledonian orator. We become somewhat anxious to know what are the
attractions to collect together such an heterogeneous mass; and, after a serious
consideration, we profess ourselves unable to discover. After hearing him, and
after reading what he has written, we are, in our own minds, fully convinced
that he is a man of very ordinary talents; that his understanding is weak in its
grasp, and limited in its observation; and that his taste is of the very lowest
order of badly instructed school-boys. He is an imitator of Dr. Chalmers, but no
more like his prototype than the inflated frog in the fable was like the bull
whom he strove to resemble; for the energy of thought of his original, he gives
us nothing but rumbling and distorted common-places; for the impressive and
impassioned diction of his master, he has nothing but antitheses without point,
and epithets without distinctness; while the poor and insignificant idea,
wrapped up in a heap of tinsel and clumsy phraseology, looks like ’the lady in a
lobster, or a mouse under a canopy of state.’ . . . We feel ashamed and begin to
distrust our own judgment, when weisee that we have one idea in common with such
a turgid and shallow declaimer. . . . Surely, surely it cannot be long before
this bubble bursts !" 1 On one occasion the London Times took the liberty to
conduct a trial of Edward Irving before the "Court of Common Sense. " The counts
of indictment, says Mrs. Oliphant, were as follows:

"First, For being ugly. Second, For being a Merry-Andrew. Third, For being a
common quack. Fourth, For being a common brawler. Fifth, For being a common
swearer. Sixth, For being of very common understanding. And Seventh, For
following divisive courses, subversive of the discipline of the order to which
he belongs, I and contrary to the principles of Christian fellowship and
charity.

"It will gratify our readers to know that Irving was not found guilty of
ugliness nor of any of the charges brought against him, except the last; and
that one of his principal assailants, the Times itself, the Thunderer of the
day, was convicted by its own confession of having condemned Sir Walter Scott as
"a writer of no. imagination," and Lord Byron as "destitute of all poetical
talent." 2 In spite, however, of all the thundering of the London Times, and in
spite of all the criticisms of small-minded critics, Irving was able to attract
and to retain friends and admirers. For example, in Fraser’s Magazine for

1 Wilks. Washington: "Edward Irving. An Ecclesiastical and Literary Biography.’
London. 1854; p. 144. 2 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 129.

May, 1831, appeared an article, "The Rev. Edward Irving and his Adversaries," in
which Irving is mentioned in terms of the highest praise. The article deals with
Irving’s Christological heresy and his trial before the Presbytery. It begins:

"It is now nine or fen years since the Reverend Edward Irving first attracted
that extraordinary attention in this country, as a pulpit orator, which has
since fixed the eyes equally of admirers and opponents, upon him and his doings
as a public character, and as public acts." 1 A statement from the pen of
Coleridge in reference to Irving is also given in the course of the article:

"That he (Edward Irving) possesses my unqualified esteem as a man, is only
saying, that I know him, and am neither blinded by envy nor bigotry. ... I have
no faith in his prophesyings, small sympathy with his fulminations... But I hold
withal . . . that Edward Irving possesses more of the spirit and purposes... of
the first Reformers, that he has more of the head, the life, the unction, and
the genial power of Martin Luther, than any other man now alive; yea, than any
man of this and the last century. I see in Edward Irving, a minister of Christ
after the order of Paul." 2

Preacher or no preacher, orator or no orator, Irving had the undoubted ability
to stir his hearers, and to stir them to action.

"Once in Kirkcaldy Kirk, which was well filled and all dead silent under Irving’
s grand voice, the door of a pew a good way in front of me (ground floor
righthand as you fronted the preacher), banged suddenly open, and there bolted
out of it a middle-aged or elderly 1 Fraser’s Magazine, May, 1831, Vol. Ill, No.
XVI, p. 423 et seq. 2 Same; p. 423. little man (an insignificant baker by
position) who with 1, long swift strides, and face and big eyes all in wrath, |
came tramping and sounding along the flags close past my right hand, and
vanished out of doors with a slam; Irving quite victoriously disregarding. I
remember the * violently angry face well enough, but not the least what the
offence could have been. A kind of Who are you, sir, I that dare to tutor us in
that manner, and harrow up our | orthodox quiet skin with your novelties?’ " 1 A
word might also be said as to Irving’s personal appearance. Dr. Addison
Alexander, who, while on a visit to London, went to hear Irving preach, says:

"He has a noble figure, and his features are not ugly, with the exception of an
awful squint. His hair is parted right and left and hangs down on his shoulders
in affected disorder. His dress is laboriously old-fashioned a black Quaker coat
and short clothes. His voice is harsh, but like a trumpet: it takes hold of one
and cannot be forgotten. In his youth his height, his long hair and his princely
bearing made him a conspicuous figure. Brown, Irving and Carlyle went one day to
see the Falls of Clyde:

"The Falls were very grand and stormful--nothing to say against the Falls; but
at the last of them, or possibly at Bothwell Banks farther on, a woman who
officiated as guide and cicerone, most superfluous, unwilling too, but firmly
persistent in her purpose, happened to be in her worst humor; did nothing but
snap and snarl, and being answered by bits of quiz, towered at length into foam.
She intimated she would bring somebody who would ask us how we could so treat an
unprotected

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 96. 2 Alexander, Henry Carrington: "The
Life of Joseph Addison Alexander." New York, 1875; p. 290. Cf. Carlyle:
"Reminiscences," p. 70. female, and vanished to seek the champion or champions.
As our business was done, and the woman paid, too, I own (with shame if needed)
my thought would have been to march with decent activity on our way, not looking
back unless summoned to do it, and prudently evading discrepant circles of that
sort. Not so Irving, who drew himself up to his full height and breadth, cudgel
in hand, and stood there, flanked by Brown and me, waiting the issue.

"Issue was, a thickish kind of man, seemingly the woman’s husband, a little
older than any of us, stept out with her, calmly enough surveying, and at a
respectful distance; asked if we would buy apples. Upon which with negatory grin
we did march." l

Irving’s difficulties began, not with his popularity, but with the fact that his
eagerness for the supernatural was L -, unhindered by any inhibitions. He had
not been preaching long in London before his interest turned toward prophecy.
For a man of his type an interest in prophecy was almost inevitable.

It was also inevitable that Irving’s type of mind should lead him to an eager
interest in the problem of the return of the Lord. While thus interested, and
engaged at the same time in the study of Spanish, he studied and translated into
English, during the summer of 1826, a Spanish work entitled "The Coming of the
Messiah, in Glory and Majesty."

"Irving was not alone in his interest in prophecy. There have always been groups
of men who have felt a special gift for understanding those aspects of reality
before which both reason and the Scriptures draw a veil. Such a group existed in
the days of Irving’s popularity under the leadership of Henry Drummond.

Drummond, who was six years older than Irving, was 1 Carlyle, Thomas:
"Reminiscences," p. 105. See also p. 246 and p. *59. a wealthy banker and a
member of the House of Commons. He was a man of no mean powers and abilities,
and a man of independent convictions. The Rev. Edward Miller, M.A., in his
admirable work on Irvingism, quotes the following description of Drummond:

"Every habitual reader of the debates must be familiar with Mr. Drummond’s style
of speech. But only the habitual attendant can adequately realize its attraction
and effect. The presence, the costume, the manner of the speaker were all
totally unlike what the reader would imagine. A tall, slender, white-haired
figure, perfectly upright, and scrupulously attired in black, rose from the
first seat on the first bench below the gangway, on the ministerial side,
whatever the ministerial politics. From a place thus significant of
parliamentary independence, there was delivered, slowly, almost inaudibly, and
with perfect gravity, a speech that proclaimed an equally independent position
in the world of opinion. Through lips that hardly seemed to part, there came
trickling forth a thin but sparkling stream of sententious periods, full of
humour and sarcasm, learning and folly, boldness and timidity, bigotry and
charity, and of everything antithetical. The strongest contrast of all seemed
that between the speaker and his hearers. Everybody but himself was excited by
laughter, or anger, or pleasure. He alone seemed perfectly unmoved a speaking
statue, shaking the sides of all men within hearing, and some who could not hear
caught the contagion of laughter, but the man himself was a paradox. His
strongly marked individuality ran into so many opposite extremes that his right
hand seemed always at war with his left hand. Some of his favourite notions
seemed utterly puerile, yet there was a ripeness of wisdom in him that made his
speeches abound with proverbial philosophy.

"But it was by his religious opinions that Mr. Drummond was chiefly known to the
general public, and yet least known. Sometimes a rash opponent would venture an
allusion to his connection with a Church whose head ministers ranked as
archangels, and whose services were in an unknown tongue. If Mr. Drummond
forebore to punish such coarse and blundering replies to the thrusts of his own
keen and polished blade, it was out of respect to a subject which he held too
sacred for such encounters. The really remarkable thing about what we may call
the parliamentary aspect of his religion was, that he constantly appeared as the
champion of essentially Roman Catholic doctrine, and yet as the fierce
antagonist of papal supremacy. His speeches equally offended Romanists and
Protestants. Against the latter, as in debates on the flaw of marriage, he was
the strict asserter of Church authority. Against the former, as in the debates
on the Ecclesiastical Tithes Bill, and on the inspection of convents, he
maintained the pope to be an usurper. He ’ provoked, by the fierceness of his
denunciations of these institutions, the uncontrollable feeling of Roman
Catholics; and he shocked Mr. Spooner by scornful disclaimers of the Protestant
right of private judgment.

"His social position was that of a link between the territorial and the moneyed
aristocracy; and though he perpetually railed at the political economists, he
founded at Oxford a professorship of ’the dismal science.’ He ridiculed the
opponents of capital punishment, and the advocates of humanitarian movements
generally. Yet much of his time, as well as of his money, was spent in actively
doing good. Nothing would have provoked him more than the association of his
name with radicalism and retrenchment, yet there are few passages in the
writings of financial reformers equal for severity to the speech in which he
turned into words Gilchrist’s forgotten caricature, representing the State as a
maternal pig, with the last of her progeny sucking at her tail. No other man
would have had the boldness to use such Rabelaisian wit as his with such
unsparing severity, applying to dukes and knights of the garter the same caustic
aphorism as to venal voters.

"But all this was but the rocking to and fro of a mind whose history was that of
a continual struggle to reconcile authority and freedom, truth and beauty,
religion and reason? 1 " In the early winter of 1826 Drummond invited a group
the members of which described themselves as "they who love His appearing" 2 to
his house, "Albury," to "deliberate for a full week upon the great prophetic
questions which do at present most intimately concern Christendom. The men
stayed at Drummond’s home for six days, and discussed questions dealing
especially with the imminence of our Lord’s return. The group numbered about
twenty.

"These meetings at Albury were continued annually for five years, the last being
held in 1830, generally about the season of Advent. Forty-four people 3 in all
attended one or more of them, but of these, nineteen were clergymen of the
Church of England, one was an English Moravian, two were Dissenting ministers,
four were ministers of the Established Church of Scotland, and eleven English
laymen, one Scotch Presbyterian layman, and six other Englishmen, whose adhesion
is unknown, made up the number.

"Amongst these were, besides Irving, Drummond, Wolff, and Hugh McNeile, Daniel
Wilson, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, Robert Story of Rosneath, a wellknown
Scotch minister, of whom we shall hear more in the course of this history,
Hatley Frere, Haldane Stewart,

1 Miller, Rev. Edward M. A.: "The History and Doctrines of Irvingism or of the
So-Called Catholic and Apostolic Church." London, 1878. Vol. I, pp. 33-4. Dr.
Miller quotes this description from "A Notice in the Morning Star quoted in the
Gentleman’s Magazine, for April, 1860, p. 414, as what ’appears to us on the
whole well considered and impartial.’ " See also Carlyle: "Reminiscences," pp.
246-7. 2 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 274. Quoted by Mrs. Oliphant from Irving’s
Preface to his translation of Ben Ezra. 3 For a complete list of those who
attended the Albury Conferences see Miller, Edward: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 41
(footnote).

Spencer Perceval, eldest son of the murdered minister, and afterwards one of the
’Apostles/ Mr. Tudor, afterwards editor of the Morning Watch, the late Duke of
Manchester, then Viscount Mandeville, who had married the only daughter of Lady
Olivia Sparrow, Mr. Strutt, the late Lord Rayleigh, and Dr. Dodsworth.

’The second meeting, in 1827, was attended by a larger number than the first.
Amongst these was Robert Story of Rosneath, who had not been present the year
before. The interpretations of prophecy appear now to have taken a more definite
turn, and to have been carried onwards from merely general notions about the
return of the Jews to Jerusalem, and the approaching coming of the Lord for his
millennial reign on earth, to a detailed application to the ’times and seasons’
of the current period. The Apocalyptic Vial was supposed to have been poured out
on Rome, in A. D. 1798; and it was concluded that the coming of our Lord would
take place in 1847. It is’ evident that in this method of precise interpretation
they had ventured upon unsafe ground, and an amusing incident occurred which
struck Story forcibly. 1 While they were in session, the news of the death of
the Duke of Reichstadt, the son of the first Napoleon, reached them. ‘That
cannot be true,’ said one of them, springing from his seat, ’for it would
overturn this whole interpretation.’ The young Napoleon had been taken for the
Beast of the Apocalypse.

"’The School of the Prophets,’ as Irving termed them, met again the next year. A
falling off had already commenced. Drummond came to the conclusion that ’some of
the people last year had not been very faithful,’ and consulted with Irving in
the summer whom he should invite. It is striking to see the stress then laid
upon passing events. The death of Mr. Canning, the formation of a Liberal
administration under Mr. Robinson, afterwards Lord Ripon, and a war with Turkey
seemed 1 Cf . Story, R. H.: op. cit. t p. 234. to the council to denote the near
approach of the end. Indeed, the sixth vial was supposed to foreshow the fall of
the Ottoman Empire. A speech of Canning’s, in which he expressed his
apprehension of a terrible conflict of opinions, when opposing principles would
become the groundwork of a general war, was eagerly seized upon as indicating
the nearness of the battle of Armageddon. It was thought that there would soon
be a general apostasy of the Church, and that the Jews would be the instruments
of Almighty God’s displeasure. It appeared to be almost taken for granted that
the Time-state 5 of the Church Militant would very soon close.

" Whether from any comparative failure, or through circumstances wholly
unconnected with the meeting yet interfering with the natural sequel to it, or
more probably from the sudden outbreak of supposed prophetical inspiration,
which outleaped and cast into shade the previous deliberations, we have no
authorized record of the last meeting in 1830.

’But we may glean the following particulars: The students of prophecy who still
held together met at Albury in July. Certain events in Scotland, where the
spirit of prophecy was supposed to have arisen, were among the chief subjects
discussed. On the last day of the meeting, the chairman, ’a clergyman of the
Church of England,’ delivered it as his opinion in which he was joined by the
members of the conference: That it is our duty to pray for the revival of the
gifts manifested in the primitive Church; which are wisdom, knowledge, faith,
healing, miracles, prophecy, discovery of spirits, kinds of tongues, and
interpretation of tongues; and that a responsibility lies on us to enquire into
the state of those gifts said to be now present in the west of Scotland.’ The
meeting was a short one, not extending over three days. From other causes the
movements had now made a sudden advance." 1 1 Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, pp.
40-46. In the parish of the Rev. Robert Story, of Rosneath, mention of whom has
been made in connection with the Albury prophetic group, was a family by the
name of Campbell, two of whom, Isabella and Mary, came in the course of time to
be regarded as women of singular piety and virtue. Isabella was an invalid and a
sufferer from a tubercular condition from which she finally died. During her
illness her religious experience was of such a nature as to attract and to hold
the admiration of Mr. Story. After her death, Mr. Story wrote a narrative of her
life which he called "Pggc^jn Believing. ’ ’ The book was tremendously popular.
In fact, the income from the work was large enough to permit Mr. Story and the
publishers generously to provide for some of the pressing needs of Mrs.
Campbell. 1 The nature of Isabella Campbell’s life may be judged from the
following extracts from Mr. Story’s work:

"Often she would fast for a whole day, that her mind, as she conceived it, might
be fitter for devotion." 2

"In her religious development she became tormented with fears. . . . The sin
against the Holy Ghost, for example, was charged upon her conscience with
resistless energy. 3

"In her struggle, she wandered into the fields, on the side of the mountain, or
along the solitary shore, seeking rest, and finding none. She fasted and she
prayed. Her soul, as it were, ’abhorred all manner of meat.’ ’Wearisome nights’
were appointed to her. No sooner did she lie down in her bed, than she would
rise again, venting her agonies in piteous moanings; or if she found herself
falling asleep, she would start from her pillow, terror seizing upon her, lest
her awakening should be in a place of torment.

1 Story, R. H.: op. cit., p. 224. 2 "Story, Robert: "Peace in Believing, or a
Memoir of Isabella Campbell," etc. New York, Boston, 1830; p. 43. 3 Same: pp.
51-2.

"Her bodily strength decayed; while her mind seemed to
reTalnnts^stfelipn^oWy’nfor the endurance of greater suffering. But no words can
more fitly express her condition than those which she herself once used in her
sister’s presence. One of her cousins had been observing, ’How miserable
Isabella is ! What can be the matter with her? She has a look of such great
anguish.’ And Mary, a little afterward approaching where she was, heard her thus
mournfully express herself, rather in the way of soliloquy than in the form of
an address to her: ’O sin ! Sin is just hell. I can understand well that which
David said, "The pains of hell took hold of me." For one to experience a little
more of this awful enmity towards God would make life insupportable. I feel it
to be almost so as it is.’ . . .

"She began to think that it was sinful in one with so much conscious hatred to
God and all things holy, to dare to hold communion with him or to examine the
revelations of his will. She seems, accordingly, at this time, to have abandoned
altogether the reading of the Bible, and refrained from intercessory prayer;
although she continued to deplore and confess her guiltiness."

Mr. Story continues:

"It may be recorded also as very remarkable, that the passages of Scriptures,
which she had got by heart, entirely faded from her remembrance. She likewise
absented herself from church." 1 So scrupulous was she to avoid even the least
appearance of evil that "she would not, for example, exchange the ordinary
salutations with any person she met on the road, lest she should be tempted to
utter vain words, or expend foolishly one of those ’moments upon which eternal
results seemed to depend. When in society she was generally silent and
thoughtful, listened eagerly to any religious conversation; and when she did
speak, it was with great earnestness and solemnity; while at all 1 Story,
Robert: op. cit., pp. 56-7. New York, Boston, 1830. times, she seemed to regard
with sacred horror any approach to cheerfulness and gayety. 1 . . .

"At length, she returned to the services of the Church and in great anticipation
went again to the Communion.

"She ate, however, the body and drank the blood of her Lord, without realizing
what she had been anticipating; so that she might have said to the promises of
her deceiving hope, ’Where is the blessedness ye spake of?’" 2 As a result:

"Groaning and lamenting, night after night, she literally watered her couch with
her teaiS: the house continually resounding throughout the silent watches with
the voice of her weeping. Long would her mother lie sleepless, listening to
expressions of grief, for which she had no remedy or comfort; or when awakening
from slumbers, which, through weariness of nature, she could not avoid, finding
Isabella absent, she would thus be filled with alarm, lest some new calamity
should visit her beloved child. Thus, at dead of night, had she tQ rise and
leave the house, and search for her in the fields or where she often found her,
and that during the depth of winter, careless of any of its storms, weeping and
praying in her little garden. *O, then it was pitiful to see her/ she has said
to me; ’not like an earthly creature. I could give her no help, and she could
find none where she was seeking it. She looked so pale and wo-begone, it was
easily seen that her misery could not be told.’ " 3 Mary Campbell, in writing of
her sister, said:

"I have known her run through the room, almost in very despair, exclaiming, ’I
am lost! I am ruined forever! The pains of hell have taken hold of me! What 1
Story, Robert: op. cit., pp. 61-2. 2 Same: p. 66. 3 Same: p. 69. shall I do?
Whither shall I flee from His presence? Nowhere, nowhere; there is no place
where the Almighty is not. O ! that I could tear this awful heart from within me
or escape from myself/ . . .

"I have seen her, if calling at any place, and if offered anything to eat or
drink, occupy eight or ten minutes in soliciting a blessing, ere she would
venture to take any of it.

After the death of Isabella, many visitors came to Fernicarry, attracted by
reading the Memoir of Isabella Campbell, and much of the interest which attached
itself to the older sister gradually was directed towards the younger sister,
Mary.

Let us read now from the biography of Mr. Story, written by his distinguished
son, Rev. Robert Herbert Story, later principal and vice-chancellor of the
University of Glasgow:

"In Isabella’s Memoir, reference is made to a peculiar sorrow of her sister
Mary’s, in which she was called to sympathize. This was the death of a young man
to whom Mary was engaged to be married, and with whom she had intended to go
abroad on a mission to the heathen. His death frustrated the accomplishment of
her design, but did not abate her desire to carry it out; and her mind continued
to dwell upon it with intense interest, hopeless though the project seemed. She
was in ill health, and exhibited obvious symptoms of the disease which had
carried off her saintly sister. Her malady, however, was not of a nature to
render society dangerous, or impossible to her. And society she had in
abundance. The interest excited by Isabella’s Memoir drew many to Fernicarry, to
see the sister whose name was so often on its pages; and that interest, attached
to the memory of the one, ere long transferred itself to the 1 Story, Robert:
op. cit., p. 76. living presence of the other. She was a woman of great personal
attractions, had a beautiful face, and soft eyes with drooping lids, which she
seldom raised. She was very clever, and, considering her obscure circumstances,
was well informed. Her character, however, lacked the moral strength of
Isabella’s, and her enthusiastic imaginative mind was not so strictly controlled
as might have been desired, by keen and clear instincts of perceptions of right
and wrong. There was in her, in fact, much of the nature and disposition which
have, from age to ’ age, furnished the Church with mystics.

"A young, beautiful, not highly educated, and withal excitable invalid, could
not but suffer a certain distortion of the morale of her nature, and be led
insensibly, it may be towards the borders of delusion and vanity, when she found
herself the cynosure of the eyes of a large portion of the religious public, and
beheld some company of its pilgrims ever and anon resorting to her shrine. Among
those who thus came to Fernicarry were some whose minds were much engaged with
the idea to which, at the time, Mr. Irving’s teaching had directed public
attention, viz. that bodily disease was the direct infliction of Satan, and
that, therefore, faith and prayer, and these only, should be employed as the
means of deliverance from it; and that, moreover, by the due exercise of these,
the power of effecting miracles of healing and other wonderful works would be
restored to the Church -- a power hitherto kept in abeyance, because of the
Church’s faithlessness.

"The subject of missions was also profusely talked about in Mary’s sick-room^
and the idea of a due preparation for evangelistic work was more or less bound
up with the new notions regarding the restoration of spiritual gifts. To Mary,
herself, the central point in all the discussions and speculations that went on
around her, was the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen. A small band of
intended missionaries gathered at Fernicarry funds were collected clothes
provided and prayer was made to God continually that their way might be directed
according to His will. This was in the winter of 1829-30.

"To Mrs. Campbell, whose, eldest son had for months past been on his death-bed,
the constant stream of visitors which the discussions and arrangements about
this projected enterprise conducted to Fernicarry, became excessively trying.
She frequently complained to her minister of the hardships to which the
ceaseless influx of Mary’s admirers and coadjutors subjected her. At last, on
one occasion, when he found her on a bleak cold day rinsing clothes at the
’burn,’ near the house, she told him that, though she never went to bed ’the day
she rose,’ yet, so great was the burden cast on her by these visitors, that she
was utterly unable to give the attention that was indispensable to the comfort
of her dying son. There were, she said, at that moment two young men in the
house, one of whom had been there for some days, and there was no hint of his
much-longed-for departure. Mr. Story at once went in, and on entering the little
parlour, he found the pair, of whom she had spoken, comfortably seated beside
the fire with books and writing materials on a small table before them. Stung
into quick wrath at the contrast between their comfort and Mrs. Campbell’s
forlorn washing operations under the wintry sky, he at once told them that they
ought immediately to be gone; that they had no right to oppress their hostess
and idly eat the bread of charity, as they were doing, instead of attending to
their ordinary avocations. To this, one of them starting up and stamping his
foot, replied ‘Get thee behind me, Satan’; and, Mr. Story remaining unmoved by
this exorcism, the other proceeded to explain that they were in their present
position by the Lord’s command, in order to be prepared for this work, and that
it was an honour to Mrs. Campbell to be permitted to minister to the Saints.

"Why, then, said Mr. Story, if preparing for missionary work, were they not
acquiring a knowledge of the languages in which the Holy Scriptures were
written, and of the people to whom they meant to proclaim the Gospel. No
preparations of that kind, he was assured, were needful; and unbelief alone
could suggest the thought of such carnal preliminaries.

"If so, pursued the inexorable minister, why not cross over to Corval? There
were thousands of Gaelic-speaking people there, who knew very little of the Glad
Tidings: why not try their virgin powers on them? To such a rash experiment, it
need hardly be said, they felt the Lord did not call them.

"On Mr. Story’s going from thence to Samuel Campbell’s room, the sick man
reiterated the complaints which had been made by his mother, and he added that
his rest was night after night entirely destroyed by the continual talking and
psalm-singing in his sister’s chamber above him.

"To her Mr. Story related all that had passed, and urged upon her that it was
her obvious duty to send away these foolish young men, and to discourage the
renewal of the visiting and noise, which were so grievous to her mother and
dying brother." 1 The connection between Irving and the Campbells is brought out
in Washington Wilks’ account of Mary Campbell and the Rev. A. J. Scott, the
greater part of which is taken from an account written by Edward Irving for
Fraser’s Magazine:

"The Rev. A. J. Scott, a man widely revered as a master of learning and
especially as a teacher of religious truth; and envied to Manchester by many in
London, as the principal of its Owen’s College was, up to the middle of 1830,
the missionary of the Caledonian Church in Regent Square, to the poor of the
city; and was thus 1 Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., pp. 194-7. in close
contact with Edward Irving one of whose felicities it was to draw about him
spiritual excellencies of every sort. Mr. Scott seems to have been more decided
than his more eminent friend ’on this head/ indeed, to have expected what the
latter only desired. Towards the end of 1829, he was on a visit to his father,
in the west of Scotland; and was ’led to open his mind to some of the godly in
these parts, and among others to a young woman who was at that time lying ill of
a consumption, from which afterwards, when brought to the very door of death,
she was raised up instantaneously by the mighty hand of God.’ Being a woman of a
very fixed and constant spirit, he was not able, with all his force and
argument, which is unequalled by that of any man I have ever met with, to
convince her of the distinction between regeneration and baptism with the Holy
Ghost; and when he could not prevail, he left her with a solemn charge to read
over the Acts of the Apostles, with that distinction in her mind, and to beware
how she rashly rejected what he believed to be the truth of God. By this young
woman it was that God, not many months after, did restore the gift of speaking
with tongues and prophesying in the church. In the intervening months a
remarkable mental change was accomplished. The study of Scriptures produced the
conviction which Mr. Scott . . . had failed to produce. The young woman . . .
had actually come to ’conceive the purpose of a mission to the heathen/ and
wrote long letters for the persuasion of others to that purpose." 1 How the
tongues appeared is told in Mr. Story’s biography:

"On a Sunday evening in the month of March, Mary, in the presence of a few
friends, began to utter sounds to them incomprehensible, and believed by her to
be a 1 Wilks: op. tit., pp. 208-210. tongue such as of old might have been
spoken on the day of Pentecost, or among the Christians of Corinth. This was the
first manifestation of the restored ’gift’ for such it was imagined to be. She
desired to ascertain what the tongue was, in order that she might, if
strengthened to do so, repair to the country where it was intelligible, and
there begin her long-contemplated labours. By and by she announced that she
believed it to be the language of a group of islands in the southern Pacific
Ocean; but as nobody knew the speech of the islanders, it was impossible either
to refute or corroborate her assertion; and, for the present at least, she was
unable to proceed in person in quest of the remote Savages, whose mother tongue
she held had been revealed to her." 1 Meanwhile, occurrences of a similar nature
were taking place in a family named Macdonald:

"On the other side of the Clyde, opposite the Gareloch, lay the town of
Port-Glasgow. A family of the name of Macdonald was living there at this time;
two twin brothers, James and George, with their sisters. The brothers,
shipbuilders, staid and orderly men, two years before had become exceedingly
devout. Their religion was of a quiet and unobtrusive type. Their doctrinal
knowledge was at first very limited. They procured no religious books, for years
they scarcely read one; the ministry under which they sat was unimpressive, and
if they did adopt peculiar views of divine truth, it was from no heretical
writings or preaching, but from the Bible alone that they derived them. For
instance, although they soon became classed among the disciples of Mr. Irving,
who at that time was beginning to be stigmatised as heretical, the fact was
that, so far as I can ascertain, they never read a single volume of his, or at
least not for years after their own views were established.

1 Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., pp. 204-5. And although after a time they
began to attend the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Campbell of Row, it was because
they had previously been taught of God the same truths, and were attracted to
Row by their love of them. . . . Until the eve of the miraculous manifestations
in them, the subject of spiritual gifts did not at all occupy their attention,
much less their expectations and desires; nor did it even when their prayers, in
common with those of other Christians, for an outpouring of the Spirit, began to
be answered by the pouring out of a very extraordinary if not marvellous spirit
of prayer upon themselves/ In March, 1830, an event occurred in this family
which one of the sisters thus describes: Tor several days Margaret had been so
unusually ill that I quite thought her dying, and on appealing to the doctor he
held out no hope of her recovery unless she were able to go through a course of
powerful medicine, which he acknowledged to be in her case then impossible. She
had scarcely been able to have her bed made for a week. Mrs. and myself had been
sitting quietly at her bedside, when the power of the Spirit came upon her. She
said, "There will be a mighty baptism of the Spirit this day," and then broke
forth in a most marvellous setting forth of the wonderful work of God; and as if
her own weakness had been altogether lost in the strength of the Holy Ghost,
continued with little or no intermission for two or three hours in mingled
praise, prayer, and exhortation. At dinner-time James and George came home as
usual, whom she addressed at great length, concluding with a solemn prayer for
James, that he might at that time be endowed with the power of the Holy Ghost.
Almost instantly, James calmly said, "I have got it!" He walked to the window,
and stood silent for a minute or two. I looked at him, and almost trembled,
there was such a change upon his whole countenance. He then, with a step and
manner of the most indescribable majesty, walked up to Margaret’s bedside, and
addressed her in- these words, "Arise and stand upright." He repeated the words,
took her by the hand, and she arose/

"The same evening James wrote to Mary Campbell at Fernicarry: ’My dear Sister,
Lift up your voice wun^ us; let us exalt His name, for He hath done great things
> for us, and Holy is His name. There is still power in the name of Jesus yes,
all power in heaven and on earth. Our beloved Margaret hath been made to hear
His voice, and to rise up, leap, and walk. Faith in His name has given her
soundness in the presence of us all. Mary, my love, lay aside unbelief, it is of
the devil; hear God’s voice to you also, "Rise up and walk; what hindereth?"

"Let Mary Campbell herself tell us of what happened on the receipt of this
letter: ’Two individuals who saw me about four hours before my recovery said
that I never would be strong, that I was not to expect a miracle being wrought
upon me, and that it was quite foolish in one who was in such a poor state of
health ever to think of going to the heathen. I told them they would see and
hear of miracles very soon, and no sooner had the last of the above-mentioned
individuals left me, than I was constrained of the Spirit to go and ask the
Father, in the name of Jesus, to stretch forth His hand to heal, and that signs
and wonders might again be done in the name of His Holy Child, Jesus. One thing
I was enabled to ask in faith, nothing doubting, which was, that by the next
morning I might have some miracle to inform them of. It was not long after this
that I received our dear brother James Macdonald’s letter, giving me an account
of his sister’s having been raised, and commanding me I to rise and walk. I had
scarcely read the first page when I I became quite overpowered, and laid it
aside for a few I minutes; but I had no rest in my spirit until I took it I up
again and began to read. As I read, every word came with power, but when I came
to the command to arise, it came home with a power which no words can describe;
it was felt to be indeed the voice of Christ; it was such


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  CHAPTER 9: 06B EDWARD IRVING, CATH. APOSTOLIC CH. IRVINGITES
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Chapter 6 Rev. Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church or Irvingites
(Part 2) a voice of power as could not be resisted. A mighty power was
instantaneously exerted upon me. I first felt as if I had been lifted up from
off the earth, and all my diseases taken off me. At the voice of Jesus I was
surely made in a moment to stand upon my feet, leap and walk, sing and rejoice.
O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to
the children of men/

"After her recovery Mary Campbell lived during the summer of 1830 at
Helensburgh. There meetings innumerable were held, manifestations extraordinary
were made. To the speaking was now added writing in the unknown tongues. When
the moment of inspiration came, Mary seized the pen, and with a rapidity ’like
lightning’ covered sheets of paper with characters believed to be letters and
words. The gift of prophecy, too, was largely exercised, a gift not to be
confounded with foretelling of future events or ordinary Christian teaching, but
consisting in inspired exalted utterances, opening up some obscure passage of
Scripture, or enforcing some neglected duty, or breaking forth ecstatically into
prayer and praise. Crowds gathered round the young, attractive enthusiast.
’Among their number/ says one who wrote in the midst of the excitement, ’they
can reckon merchants, divinity students, writers to the Signet, advocates. ... I
have known gentlemen who rank high’ in society come from Edinburgh, join in all
the exercises, declare their implicit faith in all Mary Campbell’s pretensions,
ask her concerning the times and seasons, inquire the meaning of certain
passages of Scripture, and bow to her decisions with the utmost deference as one
inspired by Heaven.’ In Port Glasgow the area of manifestation was enlarged. The
gift of interpretation was added to that of the tongues. By both brothers these
two gifts were in constant exercise. They were bestowed also upon others.
Prophetic utterances abounded. The excitement grew, the visitors from a distance
increased. ’Ever since Margaret was raised and the gift of tongues given,’
writes one of the sisters (May i8th, 1830), ’the house has been filled every day
with people from all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland,’ Special interest
was awakened where special hopes in this direction had for some time been
cherished. Five delegates came down from London, who stayed three weeks at
Port-Glasgow, and had every opportunity of seeing all that was going on, and of
becoming personally acquainted with those engaged in it. One of these, a
solicitor, recognised and quoted as an entirely competent witness by the writer
of an article in the Edinburgh Review, closes his description of what he
witnessed thus:

"‘These persons, while uttering the unknown sounds, as also while speaking in
the Spirit in their own language, have every appearance of being under
supernatural direction. The manner and voice are (speaking generally) different
from what they are at other times, and on ordinary occasions. This difference
does not consist merely in the peculiar solemnity and fervour of manner (which
they possess), but their whole deportment gives an impression, not to be
conveyed in words, that their organs are made use of by supernatural power. In
addition to the outward appearances, their own declarations, as the declarations
of honest, pious, and sober individuals, may with propriety be taken in
evidence. They declare that their organs of speech are made use of by the Spirit
of God; and that they utter that which is given to them, and not the expressions
of their own conceptions, or their own intention. I had numerous opportunities
of observing a variety of facts fully confirmatory of this.’" 1

Margaret Macdonald died not long after what has been believed to have been her
miraculous restoration to health. James Macdonald died of the same disease, 1
Hanna, William: "Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen." New York, 1877; pp.
176-180. tuberculosis, in the early part of 1835, an d George, also of X the
same disease, almost a year later. 1

It was on April 3Oth that the first manifestation of the tongues occurred in
London. Prayer meetings had been held for some time at the home of a Mr.
Cardale, who later on took a prominent part in the affairs of the Catholic
Apostolic Church.

"Mrs. Cardale spoke with great solemnity in a tongue and prophesied. There were
three distinct sentences in an unknown tongue, and three in English. The latter
were, The Lord will speak to His people The Lord hasteneth His coming The Lord
cometh.’ She repeated the last words several times ’with gradually increasing
and then diminishing strength and loudness.’ Soon after this, at one of the same
meetings, Mrs. Cardale spoke twice, and Miss Hall ’sang in the Spirit.’" 2 The
meeting of the General Assembly of this year was of unusual importance to
Irving, as one of its principal items of business was the trying of the Rev. Mr.
Campbell of Row and of the Rev. Mr. Maclean on charges of heresy arising from
their proclaiming the universal nature of salvation. It was the preaching of
Campbell which had been a contributing element in the engendering of the
religious ideas of the Macdonalds and Mary Campbell. Campbell was condemned by
the Assembly; Maclean escaped after a fashion. Incidentally a resolution
condemning some of the writings of Irving was passed. During the meetings of the
Assembly, Irving invited his congregation to meet at half past six each morning
to offer special prayers for the Divine guidance of the Assembly. After the
Assembly adjourned, the early morning prayer meetings were continued and prayer
was 1 Hanna: "Erskine"; p. 233. ’Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 66. offered
continuously for the outpouring of the gifts of the apostolic age.

"In course of time some young men of the congregation asked to be allowed to
meet in the vestry, which would contain about a hundred persons, for the purpose
of praying for the outpouring, besides the public service already instituted,
which, as has been just related, was started with another object. Irving
consented, and agreed to preside over their meetings; and, when the numbers
overflowed the vestry, held them in the church. They, too, waited for several
months: when one morning, Mr. Taplin, on beginning to read the forty-third
chapter of Isaiah, burst forth in a voice of thunder, uttering a few words ’in
an unknown tongue/ ending with ’Jehovah, hear us!’ in English. On the next
morning, the same speaker said with a superhuman shout, ’It is thou, O Britain:
thou art the annointed cherub/ On the third morning, ’The Lord hath come down.
He is in the midst of you. His eye hath seen, His heart hath pitied the
affliction of His people, and He will deliver them. He will not leave a hoof
behind/

"Mr. Taplin, who thus led the way in public utterances, was desHne3*fo exercise
a considerable influence over his co-religionists. He was the son of a
clergyman, who, after being in the ministry for upwards of fifty years, died at
the age of ninety. He was considered to be well acquainted with Hebrew, Greek
and Latin, and to be a good mathematician, as well as deeply versed in the Holy
Scriptures. There is no reason to suppose him to have been otherwise than
thoroughly honest and sincere in his belief; and afterwards, in order to devote
himself to the work, he gave up a considerable source of revenue for a small
income. He was possessed of strong powers of imagination, and was regarded as
the chief means of ’light’ to the community, many of whose doctrines were due to
his enunciation. At the same time he is said to have been at heart as humble as
he was upright and persevering." *

Speaking in tongues and prophesying at these morning meetings continued, but it
was not until Sunday, October 1 6th, 1831, that there was a manifestation in the
regular morning service of the church in Regent Square.

Irving’s problem in reference to the tongues and the prophets had become a
serious one. While he felt that they were supernatural in their nature, and
while he was singularly eager for their appearance, he did not seem to know just
how to treat them when they came. He felt at least the serious unwisdom of
permitting the manifestations in connection with the heretofore orderly public
services of the church. On Sunday morning, October i6th, 183 1, 2 just as Irving
finished the reading of the Scripture lesson, a Miss Hall, one of those in whom
the manifestations had been appearing,

"Finding she was unable to restrain herself, and respecting the regulation of
the Church, rushed into the vestry, and gave vent to utterance, while another,
as I understood from the same impulse, ran down the side aisle and out of the
church, through the principal door. The sudden, doleful, and unintelligible
sounds, being heard by all the congregation, produced the utmost confusion, the
act of standing up, the exertion to hear, see, and understand, by each and every
one of perhaps 1500 or 2000 persons, created a noise which may be easily
conceived. Mr. Irving begged for attention, and when order was restored, he
explained the occurrence, which, he said, was not new, except in the
congregation, where he had been for some time considering the propriety of
introducing it; but, though satisfied of the correctness of such

1 Miller: op. cit. Vol. I, pp. 67-8. 2 Some say "Early in November." Cf.
Oliphant: op. cit., p. 424 and p. 427. a measure, he was afraid of dispersing
the flock; nevertheless, as it was now brought forward by God’s will, he felt it
his duty to submit. He then said he would change the discourse intended for the
day and expound the 1 4th chapter of Corinthians, in order to elucidate what had
just happened. The sister was now returning from the vestry to her seat and Mr.
Irving, observing her from the pulpit, said, in an affectionate tone, ’Console
yourself, sister, console yourself/ " 1

Miss Hall had spoken after she had shut the door, first in an unknown tongue,
and then shouted in English, "How dare ye suppress the voice of the Lord?" Ye
being in the plural number grammatically, but in the singular number
prophetically. That the message was in the singular number was more clearly
evident after the morning service. In the presence of his elders and deacons,
Irving was reminded by the prophetess that

“‘Jesus hid not His face from shame and spitting; and that His servants must be
content to follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach.’ Poor Irving sunk
on a chair, and groaned aloud in. distress of spirit. Thenceforward, the
prophets had their way with him!” 2 The following description of the service
that evening, quoted by Mrs. Oliphant, is from Mrs. Hamilton:

"In the evening there was a tremendous crowd; the galleries were fearfully full,
and from the commencement of the service there was an evident uproariousness,
considering the place, about "the doors, men’s voices continually mingling with
the singing and the praying in most indecent confusion. Mr. Irving had nearly
finished his discourse, when another of the ladies spoke. The people heard for a
few minutes with quietness comparatively.

1 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 424. Quoted from Pilkington’s "Unknown Tongues." 2
Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 69. But on a sudden a number of the fellows in the
gallery began to hiss, and then some cried ’Silence!’ and some one thing and
some another, until the congregation, except such as had firm faith in God, were
in a state of extreme commotion. Some of these fellows (who, from putting all
the circumstances together, it afterward appeared, were a gang of pickpockets
come to make a row) shut the gallery doors, which I think was providential for
had anyone rushed and fallen, many lives might have been lost, the crowd was so
great. The awful scene of Kirkcaldy church was before my eyes, and I dare say
before Mr. Irving’s. He immediately rose and said, ’Let us pray,’ which he did,
using chiefly the words, ’O Lord, still the tumult of the people,’ over and over
again in an unfaltering voice. This kept those in the pews in peace, none
attempted to move, and certainly the Lord did still the people. We then sang,
and before pronouncing the blessing Mr. Irving intimated that henceforward there
would be morning service on the Sunday, when those persons would exercise their
gifts; for that he would not subject the congregation to a repetition of the
scene they had witnessed. He said he had been afraid of life, and that which was
so precious he would not again risk, and more to a like effect. A party still
attempted to keep possession of the church. One man close to me attempted to
speak. Some called ’Hear! hear!’ others, ’Down! down!’ The whole scene reminded
me of Paul at Ephesus. It was very difficult to get the people to go, but by
God’s blessing, it was accomplished. The Lord be praised! We were in peril,
great peril, but not a hair of the head of anyone suffered." l To quote further
from Mrs. Oliphant:

"The following version of the same occurrence, describing it from an outside and
entirely different point of view, appears in the Times of the iQth November, 1
Oliphant: op. cit., pp. 426-7. extracted from the World. It is headed,
’Disturbance at the National Scotch Church.’ It is curious as showing the state
of contemporary feeling out of doors:

" ’On Sunday the Rev. Edward Irving delivered two sermons on the extraordinary
gifts of the Spirit, on each of which occasions the congregation was disturbed
by individuals pretending to the miraculous gift of tongues. During the sermon
in the morning a lady (a Miss Hall) thus singularly endowed was compelled to
retire into the vestry, where she was unable, as she herself says, to restrain
herself, and spoke for some time in an unknown tongue, to the great surprise of
the congregation, who did not seem prepared for the exhibition. The reverend
gentleman resumed the subject in the evening by discoursing from, or rather
expounding, the I2th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Toward the conclusion of the
exposition he took occasion to allude to the circumstances of the morning and
expressed his doubt whether he had $one right in restraining the exercise of the
gift in the church itself and compelling the lady to retire to the vestry. At
this moment a gentleman in the gallery, a Mr. Taplin, who keeps an academy in
Castle Street, Holborn, rose from his seat, and commenced a violent harangue in
the unknown tongue. The confusion occasioned was extreme. The whole congregation
rose from their seats in affright; several ladies screamed aloud, and others
rushed to the doors. Some supposed that the building was in danger, and that
there had either been a murder, or an attempt to murder some person in the
gallery, insomuch that one gentleman actually called out to the pew-openers and
beadle to stop him, and not to let him escape. On both occasions the church was
extremely crowded, particularly in the evening, and it would be impossible to
describe the confusion produced by this display of fanaticism. There was,
indeed, in the strange, unearthly sound and extraordinary power of voice; enough
to appall the heart of the most stout-hearted. A great part of the congregation
standing upon the seats to ascertain the cause of the alarm, while the reverend
gentleman, standing with arms extended and occasionally beckoning them to
silence, formed a scene which partook as much of the ridiculous as the sublime.
No attempt was made to stop the individual, and after two or three minutes he
became exhausted and sat down, and then the reverend gentleman concluded the
service. Many were so alarmed, and others so disgusted, that they did not return
again into the church, and discussed the propriety of the reverend gentleman
suffering the exhibition, and altogether a sensation was produced which will not
be soon forgotten by those who were present." 1 This was only the beginning of
those scenes of disorder and distress which marked the turning of the tide
against Irving. Week after week there were tongues and prophesying. Week after
week there was confusion and disorder. The staid Scotch congregation at Regent
Square was aghast: "Most of the session disliked all this," wrote Irving 2 in a
letter to a friend, “and had I not been firm and resolved to go out myself
sooner, the voice of the Holy Ghost would ere this have been put down by one
means or another."

Irving was no longer master in his own church, or in his own pulpit. The
prophetic and gifted interrupted and disturbed the services as they pleased
until the London Times felt constrained to inquire:

"Are we to listen to the screaming of hysterical women and the ravings of
frantic men? Is bawling to be added to absurdity, and the disturber of a
congregation to escape the police and tread-mill because the person who occupies
the pulpit vouches for his inspiration?" 3 1 Oliphant: op. cit., pp. 427, 428. 2
Same: p. 429. Quoted from a letter from Irving to Mr. Macdonald. 3 Same: p. 433.

Irving had stated that he would forbid the manifestations again at the Sunday
services, but reflection led him to the conclusion that he must not dare to
forbid or to hinder what he considered to be the Spirit of God. We therefore
find Miss Emily Cardale speaking at a public service in the unknown tongue:

"She said, ’He shall reveal it! He shall reveal it! Yea, heed it! Yea, heed it!
Ye are yet in the wilderness. Despise not His Word! Despise not His Word! Not
one jot or tittle shall pass away!’ The minister then rose and called upon the
Church to bless the Lord for His voice, which they had just heard in the midst
of the congregation. " * Robert Bridges, Esq., tells us of a visit which he paid
to the church at Regent Square about this time:

"I was witness on one occasion to the power and authority exercised by the
prophets over Irving. Desirous to see the state of the church in its full blow,
I attended an early morning service at Regent Square, and there found a goodly
number of the faithful, with Irving in the pulpit, a devoted official in the
precentor’s desk, and the prophets and prophetesses assembled in their close
vicinity. After praise and prayer, the regular services were interrupted by a
loud scream proceeding, from a female in one of the pews, who jabbered and
gabbled for a time at the height of her voice in a tongue truly unknown, the
vocables sounding as if irreducible to grammatical construction, and mere
contorted varieties of odd arid fantastic syllables. I had been told previously
that there was an awful solemnity in this department of their worship, but I
felt at the time only the melancholy and ridicule which were its characteristic
results. The prophetess was broken in upon in her turn by a prophet, Mr. Taplin.
This gentleman was frantic in occasional 1 Oliphant: op. cit. t p. 435.

English, intermingled with his ’tongue,’ and as I could understand that, I
listened with earnestness, feeling that if he uttered anything false in
doctrine, he was thereby proved to be no prophet of the Lord. He did utter a
false doctrine; I noted it carefully on the moment; and, waiting for Irving at
the close of the service in the body of the church, I charged it publicly on the
prophet. Irving, brandishing his immense cane over his head, called out in an
excited voice, ’Mr. Taplin! Mr. Taplinl Hear what is said of you! Did you say so
and so (repeating my words) in your utterance this morning?’ So adjured, that
gentleman denied that he had used the words; Irving and he thus, it will be
noted, both agreeing that it was a false doctrine." 1 And so, Sunday after
Sunday, the prophets and the gifted spoke, and Irving offered up praise and
thanksgiving for the blessing. Meantime, "both at Liverpool and near Baldock in
Herts, in the Parish of Mr. Pym," 2 there were manifestations.

Considerable light is thrown upon the processes of? thought, the motives and the
character of the inner circle of the "gifted" persons who were associated with
Irving by a little work written by Robert Baxter, Esq., a solicitor. Mr. Baxter
was apparently an earnest layman, who devoted much of his time to religious
work. Baxter had heard of the manifestations in Scotland, his attitude toward
which he describes in his book as follows:

"Conceiving as I did, and still do, that there is no warrant in Scripture for
limiting the manifestations of the Spirit to the apostolic times; and deeply
sensible of the growth of infidelity, in the face of the church and of the
prevalence of formality and lukewarmness within it; I was ready to examine the
claims to inspiration, and

1 Bridges: op. cit. sup., pp. 18-19. 2 Oliphant: op. cit., pp. 433-4. Quoted
from a letter from Irving to Mr. Macdonald. even anxious for the presence of the
gifts of the Spirit, according as it seemed to me, to that apostolic command,
’Covet earnestly the best gifts/ Conscious that nothing but an abundant
outpouring of the Spirit of God could quicken the church into active life; and
that nothing less than the power of God, put forth in testimony, could stem the
torrent of infidelity which was flowing in upon us; I longed greatly, and prayed
much, for such an outpouring and testimony. When I saw, as it seemed to me,
proof that those who claimed the gifts were walking honestly, and that the power
manifested in them was evidently supernatural, and, moreover, bore testimony to
Christ come in the flesh, I welcomed it at once as the work of God, though it
was long before I publicly spoke of it." 1 In this frame of mind he went up to
London on professional business. While in London he attended one of the prayer
meetings held by Irving’s inner circle. He thus describes the meeting:

"After one or two brethren had read and prayed, Mr. T____ was made to speak two
or three words very distinctly, and with an energy and depth of tone which,
seemed to me extraordinary, and fell upon me as a supernatural utterance, which
I ascribed to the power of God; the words were in a tongue I did not understand.
In a few minutes Miss E. C. broke out in an utterance in’ English, which, as to
matter and manner, and the influence it had upon me, I at once bowed to as the
utterance of the Spirit of God. Those who have heard the powerful and commanding
utterance need no description; but they who have not may conceive what an
unnatural and unaccustomed tone of voice, an intense and riveting power of
expression with the declaration of a cutting rebuke to all who were present and
applicable to my

1 Baxter, Robert: "Narrative of Facts Characterising the Supernatural
Manifestations," etc. London, 1833; pp. 3-4. own state of mind in particular
would effect upon me and upon the others who were come together expecting" to
hear the voice of the Spirit of God. In the midst of the feeling of awe and
reverence which this produced I was myself seized upon by. the power; and in
much struggling- against it was made to cry out, and myself to give forth a
confession of my own sin in the matter for which we were rebuked; and afterward
to utter a prophecy that all messengers of the Lord should go forth, publishing
to the end of the earth, in the mighty power of God, the testimony of the near
coming of the Lord Jesus. The rebuke had been for not declaring the near coming
of Jesus, and I was smitten in conscience, having many times refrained from
speaking of it to the people, under a fear that they might stumble over it and
be offended.

"I was overwhelmed by this occurrence. The attainment of the gift of prophecy
which this supernatural utterance was deemed to be, was, with myself and many
others, a great object of desire. I could not, therefore, but rejoice at having
been made the subject of it; but there were so many difficulties attaching to
the circumstances under which the power came upon me, and I was so anxious and
distressed lest I should mistake the mind of God in the matter, that I continued
for many weeks weighed down in spirit and overwhelmed. There was in me, at the
time of the utterance, very great excitement, and yet I was distinctly conscious
of a power acting upon me beyond the mere power of excitement. So distinct was
this power from the excitement, that in all my trouble and doubt about it, I
never could attribute the whole to excitement." 1

Baxter described still another visitation of the power, and at the same time
gives us a picture of the distress of mind from which Irving now suffered
constantly.

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 4-6.

"Having been asked to spend the evening at a friend’s with the pastor, one of
the gifted persons (Mrs. J. C.) and three or four other persons, I went; and
whilst discoursing on the state of the church, some matter of controversy arose,
on which I requested the pastor to pray that we might be led into truth. After
prayer, Mrs. J. C. was made to testify that now was the time of the great
struggle and power of Satan in the midst of us. . . . The pastor observed that
this utterance taught us our duty as standing in the church to muster against
the enemy; and whilst he was going on to ask some question, the power fell upon
me, and I was made to speak; and for two hours or upwards the power continued
upon me; and I gave forth what we all regarded as prophecies concerning the
church and the nation. . . . The power which ’then rested on me was far more
mighty than before, laying down my mind and body in perfect obedience, and
carrying me on without confusion or excitement; excitement there might appear to
a by-stander, but to myself it .was calmness and peace. Every former visitation
of the power had been very brief, but now it continued, and seemed to rest upon
me all the evening. The things I was made to utter flashed in upon my mind
without forethought, without expectation, and without any plan or arrangement
all was the work of the moment, and T was as the passive instrument of the power
which used me.

"In the beginning of my utterances that evening some observations were in the
power addressed by me to the pastor, in a commanding tone; and the manner n and
course of utterance manifested in me was so far differing from those which had
been manifested in the members of his own flock, that he was much startled, and
in the first part of the evening doubting whether it was of God or of the enemy.
... He came up to me and said, ’Faith is very hard,’ I was immediately made to
address him and reason with him in the power, until he was fully convinced the
Spirit was of God, and gave thanks for the manifestation of it." 1 On another
evening, "whilst the people were departing, Mr. Irving called me, with Mr.
Brown, his missionary, into another room, and said he was in some trouble as to
what he should do on the morrow, which was Sunday; whether to allow me to speak
in the full congregation; he had found doubts creep over him during the evening,
though he scarcely dared to doubt. Mr. Brown’s advice, without any deep
consideration of the subject, was ’Don’t do it whilst you have a doubt.’ To this
Mr. Irving assented, but turned to me, and asked what I thought. Of course,
under the conviction which I had, I said he must not forbid it. Afterward the
power came on me, rebuking him, and reasoning with him, until he sat down, and
said he was greatly tried, and did not know what to do. I then told him to
consult the prophets who were with him, and immediately the power came upon Miss
H., who was wholly a stranger to me, but residing with him and then received as
a prophetess among them; and she was made to bear testimony that the work in me
was of God, and he must not forbid my speaking. This satisfied him, and he
yielded at once.

"The next day, after the morning prayer-meeting, Miss E. C, at the pastor’s
house, was made to give forth an utterance, enjoining upon all deference and
respect to the Lord’s prophets; which served, though she was not aware of what
had passed on the preceding evening, to confirm him in that which I had been
made to say to him. I was afterwards in the power, in the most fearful terms,
made to enjoin the most perfect submission to the utterances. . . . This was so
strongly put, that, as Mr. Irving, on a future occasion, observed to me, he was
tempted to doubt whether the Spirit, bearing testimony in such a 1 Baxter:
"Narrative"; pp. 12-14. manner to itself, was God’s method of teaching us
submission. . . .

"At the public services of the Scotch Church on this day, no utterance was given
me, but in the intervals of service, whilst sitting with Mr. Irving and one or
two other friends, the power was so abundant upon me, that almost every question
which was asked was answered in the power and the "wisdom and instruction which
was given forth from my lips was as astonishing to Mr. Irving as to myself. We
all felt as though the Lord was indeed resolving our doubts, and graciously
condescending, by His Spirit, to teach us by open voice. Mr. Irving seemed most
fully confirmed in the belief, and I was myself exceedingly composed and
strengthened." 1

Apparently two apostolic gifts had been restored, one of prophecy, and the other
that of speaking with tongues. Baxter belonged rather to the prophetic group
than to that group whose members spoke in unknown tongues, although he tells us
of an occasion on which he was impelled to speak "two words in an unknown
tongue, the meaning of which," he adds, "was not given me." 2 The character of
these prophetic utterances is profusely illustrated in Baxter’s Narrative. The
great burden of the prophecy seemed to have been the importance and imminence of
the Lord’s coming. "We were commanded" {in the course of a prophecy by Baxter
which lasted about two hours, he tells us), “to ’count the days, one thousand
three score and two hundred 1260 the days appointed for testimony, at the end of
which the saints of the Lord should go up to meet the Lord in. the air, and
evermore be with the Lord." 3 "The prophecy of the 1260 days testimony and going
up of the saints, set forth a period of three years and a 1 Baxter: "Narrative";
pp. 20-3. 2 Same: p. 68. 3 Same: p. 17. half, from the time of the delivery, up
to the translation of the saints. The words of the prophecy were most distinct,
to count from that day (viz., I4th January, 1832) 1260 days, and three days and
a half (Rev. XI: ii ); and on innumerable other occasions, by exposition and by
prophecy, was the same thing again and again declared, and most largely opened."
1

It is to be noted also that this prophesying not only dealt with the Second
Advent and the final rapture of the Saints, but there was evident no
inconsiderable element of unkindly criticism of one prophet towards another. How
often Irving was rebuked under the guise of prophetic utterance by men and women
who were unmistakably Irving’s intellectual, moral and spiritual inferiors, is
already painfully obvious.

"On the Saturday evening a large company assembled at Mr. Irving’s house, with
Mr. T. and Mrs. C, and the evening was passed in prophesying and expounding
divers parts of Scripture, and particularly of the book of Revelations. . . .
But at the close of the meeting, a scene occurred which baffles all description,
and on which, whenever I now think, the deepest feelings of horror and shame
creep over me. Mrs. C. was made, after our exposition was concluded, to cry out
in a most piercing utterance, that there was some one in the midst of us who was
provoking the Lord by jealousy, envy, and hard thoughts of His servants, the
prophets. Regarding this as we all did, as the Spirit of God, everyone was cast
back in examination of his own thoughts; and, as the gift of prophecy was a
general object of desire, many tender consciences converted their admiration of,
and longing after, the gift, into an envy and provocation. A feeling of dismay
seemed to run through the company, but no one answered. The accusation was
reiterated, 1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 18-49. Cf. p. 44. with a demand that the
person should step forward, and confess. Many present, one after another, came
forward, and, confessing some sin, enquired if they were any of them the
culprit. None of these, however, were recognized as such. The cry again went
forth, and my voice was mingled with Mrs. C.’s, declaring the person who was
meant was conscious of it. The agony expressed on many countenances was intense;
one man was so overcome, that his head fell on the chair, as though he were
paralyzed, uttering an unnatural moaning cry, which shewed the intensity of his
mental agony. I was made in power to pray the Lord to discover the offender, and
ease the consciences of his children. But after some time spent in this state,
seeing the person was not found, we prepared to go home. ... I turned round to
Mr. Irving, intending to ask all present to kneel down to pray, when Mr. Irving
silently pointed to a person who stood by, and looking to him I saw a power
resting upon him, and he struggling to give utterance. I paused, and when
utterance broke from him, instead of articulate words, nothing but muttering
followed, and with this an expression of countenance most revolting. Lifting up
a prayer to God to judge his own cause, and preserve us from judging unjustly of
a brother; almost at the same moment an utterance broke from Mrs. C. and from
myself: ’It is an evil spirit.’ A thrill of horror passed through the company,
and presently an utterance came from Mrs. C. ’Rebuke the unclean spirit, and
command him to enter no more into him/ The power came upon me, and I said, ’In
the name of Jesus, I adjure thee, thou foul spirit, to come out of the man, and
enter no more into him/ The man, however, continued muttering and speaking
nonsense. Again the command came from Mrs. C., and the power upon me, and I used
the same words over him again. Lady , who was present, and had before once or
twice spoken in the power; under an impulse of the power, rose up, and
stretching her hands toward me, cried out in power, ’Greater is he that is in
you, than he that is in the world/ and, repeating this several times, sank down
on the floor. We all paused. The muttering and disgusting utterances continued.
Mr. Irving suggested, This kind goeth not forth but with prayer and fasting/ We
were, however, confounded, and the only explication I could suggest was, that
the word of God had gone forth for the expulsion of the evil spirit, and we must
rest in faith, that in due time the effect would follow, and the man be
delivered; and so we parted." l

Various promises were made to the prophets through prophetic utterances. Thus
Baxter writes: "I was made in utterance to declare to my wife that she should be
baptised with fire." 2 He had also been promised 3 that he himself should be
caught away by the Spirit as Philip was, but for the confirmation of these
promises he waited in vain. For a time he was content to explain some of the
failures in fulfilment as "a mimicry by Satan of the Spirit of revelation," 4
but the time came when such explanations no longer gave satisfaction.

One more instance typical of the movement in its prophetic nature, and typical
of the embarrassing absurdities into which an assurance of the voice of prophecy
led the prophets is the story of Baxter and the Chancellor. Baxter tells it as
follows:

"After breakfast, when sitting with Mr. Irving, Mr. P., and a few others, Mr.
Irving remarked that Mr. T when in the Court of Chancery, had found the power
mightily upon him, but never a distinct impulse to utterance. Whilst he was
speaking on it I was made in power to declare, ’There go I, and thence to the
prison-house/ 1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 72-4. 2 Same: p. 64. 3 Same: p. 41. 4
Same: p. 41. This was followed by a prophecy setting forth the darkness of the
visible church, referring to the king as the head of the Church of England, and
to the Chancellor as the keeper of the conscience of the king. That a testimony
should that day be borne before him which should make the nation tremble at what
was coming to pass. That I was to go and bear this testimony, and for the
testimony should be cast into prison. . . . The power upon me was overwhelming.
I gave all present a solemn benediction, as though I was departing altogether
from among them, and forbidding Mr. Irving, who rose to speak to me as I was
going, I went out under the constraint of the power, and shaped my way to the
court of the Chancellor, to bear the testimony to which I was commanded.

"As I went on towards the court, the sufferings and trials I underwent were
almost beyond endurance. Might it not be a delusion? Ought I not to consider my
own character in the sight of the world, which would, be forfeited by such an
act; and the ruin of all worldly prospects, which would ensue from it, and from
my imprisonment? These and a thousand more subtle and trying suggestions were
cast in upon me; but, confident that the power speaking in me was of God, it
seemed my duty to obey at every sacrifice; and without counting the cost, I gave
myself up to God to do with me and use me as he should see fit. In this mind I
went on, expecting, as I entered the court of the Chancellor, the power would
come upon me, and I should be made to bear testimony before him. I knew not what
I was to say, but supposed that, as on all other occasions, the subject and
utterance would be together given. When I entered, no power came on me. I stood
in the court before the Chancellor for three or four hours, momentarily
expecting the power to come upon me, and as the time lengthened, more and more
perplexed at its absence. I was tempted to speak in my own strength, without the
power, but I judged this would not be faithful to the word spoken, as my
testimony would not have been in the spirit. After waiting this time I came out
of court, convinced there was nothing for me to say." 1

Baxter continues the Narrative by telling of his return to Irving whom he
greeted with the words, “We are snared, we are deceived. I had no message before
the Chancellor!" Afterwards the matter was explained 2 to his satisfaction by
one of the prophets who stated that the sealing of his mouth in the presence of
the Chancellor was typical of the binding of the Church.

Still another difficulty arose out of the fact that prophets disagreed an
indication of the fact that the prophecies had an origin no more supernatural
than the mental process, conscious or subconscious, of the prophets. It was the
fact that the prophecies failed, plus the fact that the prophets disagreed, and,
in addition, the fact that the prophecies fairly bristled with selfishness and a
sense of self-importance that finally led one after another of the more critical
minds to withdraw from the movement.

Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, who had looked upon the tongues movement at first
with considerable favour and had spent some time as a visitor in the home of the
Macdonalds in Port Glasgow, tells in a letter to Lady Elgin, under date of March
i8th, 1834, how he first came to doubt the supernatural nature of the
utterances:

"In two instances when James Macdonald spoke with remarkable power, a power
acknowledged by all the other gifted people there, I discovered the seed of his
utterances in the newspapers. He had read there a foolish rumour "about the time
of George IV’s death, that the Ministers would probably find it convenient to
conceal that event 1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 24-5. 2 Same: pp. 27-8. when it
took place, until they had made some arrangements. This had remained in his
mind, and it came forth at last as an utterance in power, but wrapped in such
obscurity of language as not to expose it to direct confutation; but on reading
the paragraph I recognised such a resemblance that I could not doubt it, and I
put it to him; and although he had spoken in perfect integrity (of that I have
no doubt), yet he was satisfied that my conjecture as to its origin was correct.
The other instance was a prophetic utterance of a war in the north of Europe the
language taken much from the 11th of Daniel; but the seed of it also was a
newspaper paragraph. I thus see how things may come into the mind and remain
there, and then come forth as supernatural utterances, although their origin be
quite natural. James Macdonald could not say that he was conscious of anything
in these two utterances distinguishing them from all the others; he only said
that he believed that these two were of the flesh. Taplin made a similar
confession on being reproved through Miss Emily Cardale for having rebuked Mr.
Irving in an utterance. He acknowledge that he was wrong; and yet he could not
say where the difference between that utterance and any other." 1 The prophecies
were characterised by the same bickerings, the same littlenesses, the same
eagerness for distinction which have ultimately characterised every mystical and
every antinomian sect. Baxter’s Narrative, and in fact every record of the
Irvingite movement, is a sad record of human frailty and human weakness, exalted
into the glory of a Divine message. On one occasion Baxter tells us he had been
made to declare to a Mr. F. the fact of his call to the spiritual ministry.
After having been out of town for some time Baxter returned to find that:

1 Hanna: "Erskine," etc. Cit. supra, pp. 209-210.

"Mr. F., who had spoken in power amongst us, had been found to speak by an evil
spirit, Mrs. C. and Miss E. C. having been made so to declare. This troubled me
greatly, for I had been made in power to declare to .him his call, to the
spiritual ministry. He had also been present, and spoke in power on the last
morning of my presence, at Mr. Irving’s, when two persons were sent out; and
when it was declared in the power that the Lord would not suffer an unbeliever
or unclean person to be present at that holy ordinance, as it was called. Here
were contradictions I could not explain away, and all I could do was to await
the Lord’s teaching on it.

"Next, after a short interval, came a letter from Mr. Irving, which yet more
perplexed me. He said, This moment the Lord hath sent me a very wonderful and
wonderfully gracious message, by our dear sister, Miss E. C., concerning the
time which you have been made so often to put forth. Rebuking me for having
repeated it, and counselling me not to do it any more, declaring the word to be
a true word, but containing a mystery; declaring that the day is not known, and
commanding me to write to you, to say that you must not repeat this in the
flesh, but suffer the Spirit to say it, how and when he pleaseth.’ ... I was
amazed at this message, for constantly had I been made in power to declare the
time, and to explain it, and enforce it; and more than once I had been made to
enjoin ministers publicly to preach it in the flesh, though they had no gift. I
had then nearly fallen into the persuasion, that my gift could not be a true
gift, or that I had so mistaken the leadings of it, as to be no more worthy to
exercise it." 1

Instances like this spontaneously multiply themselves. One more might be cited
from the later history of the Catholic Apostolic Church, showing that the lapse
of 1 Baxter: "Narrative"; op, cit., pp. 92-3. Cf. p. 104 and p. 138. time in no
sense freed the church from the baffling and baneful influences of contradictory
prophecies:

"Two words in prophecy came the same day, one in London, the other at Oxford,
both having reference to the services in the Tabernacle as types of the service
in the Christian Church, one of which said: ’The way to enter the house and upon
the service of God was with a song, and then to offer prayers, supplications,
intercessions and thanksgivings.

"The other word said: The way of the Lord for us in entering His house and on
His worship, was to kneel down, and to confess, and this to be followed by the
word of absolution.’ When these two words were brought before the ministers,
they were perplexed and they said they were contradictory. When they were
brought to the apostle, he at once found out that one had reference to the
service of the brazen altar in the outer court of the Tabernacle . . . and that
the other word had reference to the service of the golden altar in the inner and
holy place.” 1 The tongues were closely related to the prophecies. As already
has been stated, many of those who prophesied spoke with tongues, and many of
those gifted _with tongues prophesied. The manner of prophecy and the manner of
speaking with tongues seem to have been in large measure the same. Of the
physiological conditions and of the psychological conditions of the gifts we
will speak later. The question in which we are now interested is, What did they
say, and in what language did they speak?

Mary Campbell said that she spoke in Turkish, and also in the language of of the
Pellew Islands, a group of

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position of Prophets of the Whole Christian
Church." Printed for Private Circulation, 1885, pp. 199-200. 2 Miller: op cit.,
Vol. I, p. 73. Cf. Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., p. 210. islands in the
southern Pacific Ocean. Just what means she had to prove this is not stated. Dr.
Miller quotes from Pilkington’s "Unknown Tongues" the following specimens:

"Y this dilemma sumo, supposed to mean, ’I will undertake this dilemma’;
Hoseghin alta stare, ’Jesus in the highest’; Holimoth holif ’awthaw, ’Holy, most
Holy Father’; Hoze hamana nostra, ’Jesus will take our hands/ or ’direct us’,
Cass sora hastha caro, ’This house will still be in My care.’ The crashing
outbreak of Mr. Taplin’s utterances is described as if cras-cran-cra-crash were
violently shouted out with a stentorian voice. It was followed by such
expressions as ’Abide in Him! Abide in Him! Ye shall, behold His glory! Ye shall
behold His glory! Ye shall behold His glory/ Dr. McNeile distinctly heard Taplin
utter amongst other sounds more than once, amamini, amammor, words which
irresistibly remind us of the speaker’s scholastic duties in the ’academy’." 1

Dr. Addison Alexander’s description of his visit to ’London and of the tongues
which he heard in Irving’s church is well known:

"After the singing of the 66th Psalm, he then began to read the 39th of Exodus,
with an allegorical exposition. After a short prayer for Divine assistance, the
ouches of the breast-plate he explained to mean the rulers of the Church. While
he was dealing this out he was interrupted in a manner rather startling. I had
observed that the elders, who sat near him, kept their eyes raised to the
sky-light overhead, as if wooing inspiration. One in particular looked very
wild. . . . Just as Irving reached the point I have mentioned and was explaining
the ouches; this elder . . . burst forth in a sort of wild 1 Miller: op. cit,
Vol. I, p. 72. Cf. Hanna: "Erskine," pp. 185-6. ejaculation, thus: ’Tarenti
hoiti faragmi santi’ ’O ye people ye people of the Lord, ye have not the ouches
ye have not the ouches ha-a-a; ye must have them ye must have them ha-a-a; ye
cannot hear ye cannot hear!* . . . When he began Irving had suspended his
exhortation and covered his face with his hands." 1 In Blunt’s Ecclesiastical
Dictionary we read the following account of the tongues as spoken in London:

"They are of much the same character as those of Mary Campbell, allowing for the
difference between Scotch-English and London-English. Such were ’gthis dil emma
sumo/ ’hozeghin nita stare/ ’Holimoth holifsu-thau (holy, most holy Father)/
’hozehamenanostrajW mozehamenanostra, hosehamenanostra.’ (Oh! send men X and
apostles), ’casa sera hastre caro, yec cogo nomo,’ which look like scraps of
English broken up and spoken in an hysterical voice. Nine times out of ten, the
utterances of this ’unknown’ type were long-drawn ’ohs’ and ’ahs’ with a
fragmentary syllable interposed at rare intervals, the whole thing brought to a
close cadence which ended in a theatrical whisper." 2 Still another account is
quoted by Blunt from Mr. McKerrell’s "Apology for the Gift of Tongues":

"The words of the tongue, as written down by me, are widely scattered; none in
the order they were spoken, except those marked within inverted commas.
Hippogorosto Hippo Booros Senoote Toorime Rorion Hoopo Tanto Noostin’ Noorastin
Niparos Hipanos santos hin, Boorim. ’O Pinitos’ Elelastina Balirriun gitos
Dentitu Hampoolina Furini Arintus Harempos ’Epoongos Vangami’ Berossino Yereston
’. Sastinootino Alinoosia ’O Fastos Sunger O fastos 1 Alexander: op. cit., p.
291. 2 Blunt: op. cit. Article: "Irvingites" (p. 230).

Sunger’ Deripangito Boorinos Hypen Elstanteli Erstini Menati." 1 Carlyle’s
account of the tongues is frequently quoted:

"In the course of the winter sad things had occurred in Irving’s history. His
enthusiastic studies and preachings were passing into the practically
’miraculous,’ and to me the most doleful of all phenomena. The ’Gift of Tongues’
had fairly broken out among the crazed and weakliest of his wholly rather dim
and weakly flock. I was never at all in his church during this visit, being at
once grieved and angered at the course he had fallen into; but once or twice
poor Eliza Miles came running home from some evening sermon there was, all in a
tremor of tears over these same ’tongues’ and a riot from the dissenting
majority opposing them, ,. ’All a tumult yonder, oh me!’ This did not happen
above twice or so; Irving (never himself a Tongue’ performer) having taken some
order with the thing, and I think discouraged and nearly suppressed it as unfit
during church service. It was greatly talked of by some persons, with an
enquiry, ’Do you believe in it?’ ’Believe it? As much as I do in the high priest
of Otaheite!’ answered Lockhart once to Eraser, the enquiring bookseller, in my
hearing. Sorrow and disgust were naturally my own feeling. ’How are the mighty
fallen! My own high Irving come to this, by paltry popularities and Cockney
admirations puddling such a head!’ We ourselves saw less and less of Irving, but
one night in one of our walks we did make a call, and actually heard what they
called the Tongues. It was in a neighboring room, larger part of the
drawing-room belike. Mrs. Irving had retired thither with the devotees. Irving
for our sake had stayed, and was pacing about the floor, dandling his youngest
child, and talking to us of this and that, probably about the Tongues withal, 1
Blunt: Same article. See also Hanna: "Erskine," pp. 392-3. when there burst
forth a shrieky hysterical ’Lah lall lall !’ (little or nothing but l’s and a’s
continued for several minutes), to which Irving, with singular calmness, said
only, There, hear you, there are the Tongues!’ And we, too, except by our looks,
which probably were eloquent, answered him nothing, but soon came away, full of
distress, provocation, and a kind of shame. ’Why was there not a bucket of cold
water to fling on that lahlalling hysterical madwoman?’ thought we, or said to
one another. ’Oh, heaven, that it should come to this!’ I do not remember any
call that we made there afterwards. Of course, there was a farewell call; but
that, too, I recollect only obliquely by my Jeannie’s distress and disgust at
Mrs. Irving’s hypocritical final kiss; a ’kiss’ of the untruest, which really
ought to have been spared. Seldom was seen a more tragical scene to us than this
of Irving’s London life was now becoming!" 1

Associated with Mary Campbell’s speaking in tongues was a practice of automatic
writing. Mr. Story secured a specimen of the automatic writing which he sent to
Dr. Chalmers, who in turn submitted the writings to:

"Sir G. Staunton, Dr. Pusey and Dr, Lee. The opinion of all was against their
belonging to any language upon earth. The latter said: ’Whatever it (i.e., the
paper) contains if, indeed, it contains anything must forever remain a mystery
to me, for I am quite unable to attach any meaning, sound, &c., to the
characters in which it is written. My opinion is, that it contains neither
character nor language known in any region under the sun; and this, without
laying any claim to miraculous powers, I venture to predict will turn out the
case. If the authoress of these papers has indeed a miraculous gift of tongues,
why does she not at once make out the proof, by giving out a composition in some
tongue confessedly 1 Reminiscences, pp. 251-3. known to a few at least? This
would put an end to all possible doubt; and this, too, was the sort of proof
given in the apostolic times/ ’We do hear them,’ &c. This opinion has been amply
confirmed by subsequent experience."

All evidence therefore points to the conclusion that the Irvingite tongues can
be assigned to no known language. ’Here and there words from known languages
were interpolated, but they formed no connected whole. In the course of time the
Irvingites came to abandon the theory of a language or languages miraculously
bestowed, and adopted a theory of "unknown tongues.” ’The "unknown tongues"
constituted a spiritual language profitable only to spiritual beings, to such as
had spiritual discernment. It is frankly stated by the adherents of the Catholic
Apostolic Church in later years that

"There is therefore no evidence in Scripture of the gift of tongues being for
the purpose of preaching the Gospel. ... It is expressly and distinctly stated
that it was not given fp.r the purpose of speaking to man at all, but to God....

"But besides being for the purpose of glorifying God in a special manner, we are
told that the speaking thus in a tongue was to be for a sign to those that
believed not, i. e., believed not that God was speaking. ... It is a sign
another being, present though invisible, and not the man, is speaking; that
another has got hold of the organs of his speech; that another spirit and not
his own is empowering him, and impelling him to speak words which he knows not
the meaning of, yet which are full of meaning, as is shown when they are
interpreted. . . .

"Tongues are for a sign to unbelievers in more senses than one. They are a sign
to us, not only that God is 1 Miller, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 73. Cf. Story, Robert
Herbert: op. cit., p. 208 and footnote. speaking, but also that He has something
He longs to say, but which His Church is not ready for." 1 A characteristic of
the tongues was the loud tone in which they were uttered:

"Their utterances were often given forth in stentorian tones, and with an
appropriate adaptation of the action to the word, they were accompanied by
strange and uncouth attitudes and gestures. One of the members of the church, a
Mr. Tudor, having one day expressed a wish that the prophets would not speak so
loud, heard himself rebuked on the spot by Miss Hall, crying in the power, ’Know
you what it is to have the Word of God within you as a fire in the bones?’ " 2
Irving’s own description of the tongues is as follows:

"The whole utterance, from the beginning to the ending of it, is with power, and
strength, and fulness, and sometimes rapidity of voice altogether different from
that of the person’s ordinary utterance in any mood; and I would say, both in
its form and in its effects upon a simple mind quite supernatural. There is a
power in the voice to thrill the heart and overawe the spirit after a manner
which I have never felt. There is a march, and a majesty, and a,, sustained
grandeur in the voice, especially of those who prophesy, which I have never
heard even a resemblance to, except now and then in the sublimest and most
impassioned moods of Mrs. Siddons and Miss O’Neil. It is a mere abandonment of
all truth to call it screaming and crying; it is the most majestic and divine
utterance which I have ever heard, some parts of which I never heard equalled,
and no part of it surpassed, by the finest execution of genius and art exhibited
at the oratorios in the concerts of ancient music. And when the speech 1
"Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc., pp. 146-7. a Guers: op.
cit., pp. 4-5. utters itself in the way of a psalm or spiritual song, it is the
likest to some of the most simple and ancient chants in the cathedral service,
insomuch that I have been often led to think that those chants, of which some
can be traced up as high as the days of Ambrose, are recollections and
transmissions of the inspired utterances in the primitive Church. Most
frequently the silence is broken by utterance in a tongue, and this continues
for a longer or a shorter period, sometimes occupying only a few j words, as it
were, filling the first gust of sound; sometimes extending to five minutes, or
even more, of earnest and deeply-felt discourse, with which the heart and soul
of the speaker is manifestly much moved to tears, and sighs, and unutterable
groanings, to joy, and mirth, and exultation, and even laughter of the heart. So
far from being unmeaning gibberish, as the thoughtless and heedless sons of
Belial have said, it is regularly formed, well proportioned, deeply-felt
discourse, which evidently wanteth only the ear of him whose native tongue it is
to make it a very masterpiece of powerful speech." 1 In this description of the
prophecies and the tongues we have somewhat lost the thread of our narrative. To
tell the whole story of the vagaries and raptures and the disappointed hopes of
the next months would be too lengthy a task to undertake. It is obvious that no
such manifestations and extraordinary interpretations of worship could prove
acceptable to the officers and people of so staid a congregation as that of the
church in Regent Square. Finally, after useless expostulations with Irving,, the
trustees addressed a communication to the Presbytery of London, which concurred
with the trustees, after a trial of Irving, and dissolved the relation between
him and his church. In the sprang he was tried at Annan by his own Presbytery 1
Oliphant: op. cit., p. 431. and deposed from the ministry for his teachings in
reference to the human nature of our Lord. Carlyle describes the trial as

"A poor aggregate of Reverend Sticks in black gown, sitting in Presbytery to
pass formal condemnation on a man and a cause which might have been tried in
Patmos under presidency of St. John without the right truth of it being got at!
I knew the ’Moderator’ (one Reddick, since gone mad) for one of the stupidest
and barrenest of living mortals; also the little phantom of a creature Sloane,
his name who went niddy-noddying with his head, and was infinitely conceited and
phantasmal, by whom Irving was rebuked with the ’Remember where you are, sir!’
and got answer, ’I have not forgotten where I am; it is the church where I was
baptised, where I was consecrated to preach Christ, where the bones of my dear
ones lie buried.’ " 1 This was not all. The great Irving, the magnificent
Irving, was no longer the leader in the new cult, for which he had suffered
ecclesiastical martyrdom. He was their dupe, their victim. Not only did
Presbyterianism rebuke him, but the individuals who made up the group of the
"gifted" were each so eager for his own opportunity to lead and be some great
one that withjcmg accord they sought to brush Irving aside.

He died in December, 1834. It was the Sabbath.

"As the gloomy December Sunday sank into the night shadows, his last audible
words on earth fell from his pale lips. The last thing like a sentence we could
make out was, "If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen." And so, at the wintry
midnight hour which ended that last Sabbath on earth, the last bonds of mortal
trouble 1 Reminiscences, p. 256. dropped asunder, and the saint and martyr
entered into the rest of his Lord." l His body rests in the crypt of Glasgow
Cathedral. His statue stands in Anan. Upon the wall of the church in Regent
Square is a tablet erected through the influence of Dr. Dykes, to the memory of
the great Edward Irving. Only these memorials to powers to genius, to love, that
with common sense would have meant immeasurable wealth for the Kingdom of God.

We have noticed that Irving’s followers had become his leaders. Their
instability and the common, lack of an ability to appreciate and to practise the
nicer ethical distinctions, such as kindliness of judgment and even gratitude,
are in clear evidence everywhere. While Irving was still living the movement had
been going on for the establishing of a new church, The Catholic Apostolic
Church. With its history we are not much at present concerned. For a time it
flourished. It is now a religious nonentity. To it were attracted men from other
churches, both in Europe and America as well as in Great Britain. It was planned
to be an apostolic church after the model of the Catholic church in the days of
the apostles, its origin, in so far as those curiously interesting legends
called "apostolic succession" are concerned, was at least out of the ordinary--
something like that of the Mormon apostolate. Just as Joseph Smith, Jr.," and
Oliver Cowdery ordained each other, so the Irvingite prophets and apostles
favoured whom they would with the voice of honouring prophecy, receiving in
return therefore an appropriate honour bestowed through the voice of the prophet
already honoured. Here we have the interesting story of Cardale’s call to be the
first of the apostles:

1 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 559.

"At one of these meetings (those for prayer and study of Holy Scripture, etc.,
held in 1833 and 1834), while Mr. Cardale was praying especially for the pouring
out of the Holy Spirit as at the first on all the members of the body, the word
came through to Henry Drummond, ’Convey it then ! Art thou not an Apostle?’ No
further notice was at the time taken of his word, but it was in fact the first
recognition of the Apostolic ministry."

Here follows another account, this time that of the ordaining of an evangelist,
a Mr. Place:

"Thus was the duty and office of those called to be Apostles pointed out, and
the first Apostolic act in ordination was performed by one of those, and the
first who had been called to be an Apostle. He was bidden, through one of the
Prophets, to go and ordain as an evangelist a young man, who was full of zeal
and love, had long been labouring in the neighbourhood where he was then
residing, visiting the poor and preaching to them the glad tidings of salvation.
In obedience to this word he went, and on the Eve of Christmas-day, 1832, at a
prayer meeting held in the house of a godly man, . . . laid his hands on the
called Evangelist, and in words also supplied to him in the same supernatural
way, bid him to receive the Holy Ghost for the work of an Evangelist." 2

Mr, Drummond was ordained as an Angel, the Angel of the church at Albury. Edward
Irving was given "the same honour. He was not considered worthy to rank with Mr.
Cardale, an ex-solicitor, as an Apostle. Accordingly he was made Angel of the
Church in London, the church in Newman Street, now the place of worship of his
congregation. The ordination took place on Friday, April 5th, 1833. The
organisation of the church 1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc.,
p. 119. 2 Same: pp. 18-19. included Apostles, Angels, Evangelists, "Helps," and
other officers. An elaborate ritual * was formulated, and confession, holy water
and the burning of incense were introduced. It is an interesting fact, in view
of the Mormon development, to note that the priesthood of the Catholic Apostolic
Church was also "after the order of Melchizedek.” 2

Meantime the church had not lost sight of its principal doctrine, the return of
the Lord. From time to time days were set and times appointed. The days came,
and the end was not yet. Apostles were sent forth, testimonies dispatched to the
Pope3, the Emperor of Austria, the King of France, "and to those in places of
authority in the several parts of Christendom to which the Apostles were
severally sent," and missionaries were dispatched here and there. But one after
another, the Apostles, who had expected to be caught up into the air, went the
way of all flesh. The consummation of the hope as they had seen it, was not
theirs nor was it their children’s, and today the Catholic Apostolic Church lies
with the hand of death resting upon it, crushed under the weight of its own
ecclesiastical millinery.

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc.: p. 20. 2 Same: p. 26. 3
Same: p. 64.


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  CHAPTER 10: 07A MORMONS CHURCH LATTER DAY SAINTS
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Chapter 7 The Mormons or Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints

VISIONS, revelations, ecstasies and the gift of tongues play a considerable part
in the early history of Mormonism. The founder of the church, Joseph Smith, Jr.,
was born at Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, on December 23, 1805. About ten
years later the family moved to Palmyra, New York. His home was thus in the
Shaker country, as well as in the famous "burnt district" known in the history
of revivals as the centre of a widespread movement characterised by ecstatic
phenomena. Here also was the country of the beginnings of spiritualism, the home
of the "Rochester knockings" and the settlement of the Oneida Community.

Smith was the fourth child of Joseph Smith and Lucy Mack, his wife. There were
ten children born of the marriage. Lucy Mack was the daughter of Solomon Mack
who had been a soldier in the French and Indian War, and had later seen service
in the Continental Army. He is said to have been subject to the "fallickness.”1
One of Mrs. Smith’s sisters, Lovisa, a Mrs. Tuttle, is said to have been
miraculously restored to health after an illness of ten years, 2 but died three
years later. Another sister, Lovina, died of consumption. 3

1 Riley, I. Woodbridge: "The Founder of Mormonism." New York, 1903, pp. 14-15. 2
Smith, Lucy: "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his
Progenitors for Many Generations." Liverpool and London, 1853, pp. 24-6. 3 Same:
p. 26.

Mrs. Smith states that she also, shortly after her marriage,

"took a heavy cold, which caused a severe cough. . . . A hectic fever set in,
which threatened to become fatal, and the physician pronounced my case to be
confirmed consumption." 1 The Mormon prophet describes his father, Joseph Smith,
Jr., as a farmer, and by his father he was in boyhood taught 2 "the art of
husbandry." From many other accounts the father’s husbandry seems to have been
of the intermittent sort. The father’s farming seems to have been devoted to the
raising and crystallising of ginseng for export trade, in which venture a
considerable sum of money was lost through the dishonesty, according to Mrs.
Smith, 3 of persons in whom the Smiths confided. The reputation which both
father and son enjoyed was 4 not in any sense of the best certainly not so far
as industry, sobriety and general morality were concerned. Both spent
considerable time in hunting and fishing so much so that they did not even own
their own farm, but belonged to the "squatter" class. Both of them showed all
the traits of vagrants including also a marked tendency towards financial
irregularity, or, shall we say, indifference?

It has been stated that both father and son made considerable of what money they
did make through divination. They located buried treasure, advised farmers where
to sink wells, and rendered the usual services which those in touch with the
occult are able to render to those* who are credulous enough to pay for such
services.

1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 46. 2 Smith, Joseph: "Items of Church History," etc.
Salt Lake City, 1886. 3 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 49, 50, 51. 4 See the
collection of affidavits of neighbors of the Smiths in Howe, E. D.: "Mormonism
Unveiled," etc. Painesville, Ohio, 1834, pp. 231-269. See also Clark, John A.:
"Gleanings by the Way." New York, Philadelphia, 184*, PP. 342-3-4 No record of
any treasure found by the prophet or by his father is extant. On the other hand,
there are some interesting stories told of their efforts at finding treasure.
The following is taken from the history of Chenango County, New York, and tells
of an adventure in Afton:

"Joe Smith, the founder of Mormonism, operated quite extensively in this town
and vicinity during the early years of his career as a prophet. The reputation
of the family was very bad and Joe was considered the worst of the whole.
Somewhere about 1828 or 1829 Smith made his appearance in Afton and attended
school in District No. 9. Here his supernatural powers manifested themselves, by
telling fortunes or ’foretelling futurity.’ This was done by placing a stone in
his hat and then looking into it drawn over his face so as to exclude the light.
He first organized a society at the house of Joe Knight, on the south side of
the river, near the Lobdell House, in Broome County. Excavations were made in
various places for treasures and rocks containing iron pyrites were drilled for
gold. Previous to digging in any place a sheep was killed, and the blood
sprinkled upon the spot. Lot 62 was the seat of one of these mining operations."
1 An account of much the same nature appears in Emily C. Blackman’s History of
Susquehanna County (Pennsylvania).

"A straggling Indian who was passing up the Susquehanna, had told of buried
treasure. Joseph, learning of this, hunted up the Indian, and induced him to
reveal the place where it was buried. . . . He (Smith) induced a well-to-do
farmer by the name of Harper, of Harpersville, N. Y., to go in with him. They
commenced digging on 1 Quoted by Cake, Lu. B.: "Peepstone Joe and the Peck
Manuscript." New York, 1899, pp. 13-14. what is now the farm of Jacob I. Skinner
in Oakland Township. After digging a great hole, that is still to be seen,
Harper got discouraged, and was about abandoning the enterprise. Joe now
declared to Harper that there was an enchantment about the place that was
removing the treasure farther off; that Harper must get a perfectly white dog,
and sprinkle his blood over the ground, and that would prevent the enchantment
from removing the treasure. Search was made all over the country, but no
perfectly white dog could be found. Joseph said he thought a white sheep would
do as well. A sheep was killed and his blood sprinkled as directed. The digging
was then resumed by Harper. After spending $2,000 he utterly refused to go any
further. Joseph now said that the enchantment had removed all the treasure; that
the Almighty was displeased with them for attempting to palm off on Him a white
dog, and had allowed the enchantment to remove the treasure. He would sit for
hours looking into his hat at the round coloured stone, and tell of things far
away and supernatural. At times he was melancholy and sedate as often hilarious
and mirthful; an imaginative enthusiast constitutionally opposed to work, and a
general favourite with the ladies.

"Smith early put on the airs of a prophet, and was in the habit of ’blessing’
his neighbours’ crops for a small consideration. On one occasion a neighbour had
a piece of corn planted rather late, and on a moist piece of ground and feeling
a little doubtful about its ripening, got Smith to bless it. It happened that
that was the only piece of corn killed by frost in the neighbourhood. When the
prophet’s attention was called to the matter, he got out of the difficulty by
saying that he made mistake, and put a curse on the corn instead of a blessing.
Rather an unneighbourly act, and paid for, too." 1

1 Quoted in Blackman, Emily C.: "History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania,"
etc. Philadelphia, 1873. pp. 579-80. See also Smith, Joseph, Jr.: "The Pearl of
Great Price." Salt Lake City, 1891, pp. 66-7. Also Howe: op. c\t., pp. 238-9.

Both of Smith’s parents claim to have been the recipients of visions of a
religious nature. 1 When Smith himself began to be interested in religion
through the influence of a revival, he, in like manner, became subject to
visions and special revelations. 2

"I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father’s family was proselyted to
the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined that church, namely, my mother
Lucy, my brothers Hyrum, Samuel, Harrison and my sister Sophronia.

"During this time of great excitement, my mind was called up to serious
reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often
pungent, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended
their several meetings as often as occasion would permit; but in process of time
my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to
be united with them, but so great was the confusion and strife among the
different denominations, that it was impossible for a person, young as I was,
and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who
was right and who was wrong. . . .

"While I was labouring under the extreme difficulties, caused by the contests of
these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first
chapter, and fifth verse, which reads, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him. ... So ... I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the
morning of a beautiful clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and
twenty. . . .

"After I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to go,
having looked around me and finding 1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 54-6. 2 Same:
op. cit., pp. 56-9; 70-1. myself alone, I kneeled down and began to open up the
desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was
seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing
influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness
gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden
destruction. But exerting all my power to’ call upon God to deliver me out of
the power of this enemy which had seized upon me and at the very moment when I
was ready to sink into despair, and abandon myself to destruction, not to an
imaginary ruin, but to a the power of an actual being from the unseen, world,
who had such a marvellous power as Triad never before felt in any being. Just at
this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above
the brightness of the Sun, which descended gradually while it fell upon me. It
no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me
bound. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and
glory defy all description, standing above and in the air. One of them spake
unto me, calling me by name, and said (pointing to the other) ’This is My
Beloved Son. Hear Him.’

*’My object in going to inquire of the Lord, was to know which of all the sects
was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get
possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who
stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right . . . and which I
should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all
wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an
abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt.”.

"He again forbade me to join any of them; and many other things did he say unto
me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found
myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven." * On the 21st day of
September, 1823, Smith is again the recipient of a vision. An angel named Moroni
appeared at the prophet’s bedside:

"He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond
anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could
be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. . . . His whole person was
glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room
was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person.
. . . He said . . . that God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be
had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds and tongues. ~ . . He said
there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the
former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He
also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as
delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also that there were two
stones in silver bows (and these stones, fastened to a"breastplate, constituted
what is called the Urim and Thummim) deposited with the plates, and the
possession and use of these stones was what constituted Seers in ancient or
former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the
book. . . . He told me that when I got these plates of which he had spoken (for
the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled) I should not show
them to any person, neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to
those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did, I should be
destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates vision was opened to
my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and 1 "Pearl
of Great Price": pp. 58-9. that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place
again when I visited it.” 1 Twice again that same night the angel Moroni
appeared, and repeated over substantially the same revelations.

"Almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me the third
time, the cock crew, and I found that day was approaching." 2 The next day,
while walking with his father, Smith had another visit from the same angel, who
this time commanded him to impart the secret to his father.

"I obeyed, I returned back to my father in the field and rehearsed the whole
matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and to go and do as
commanded by the messenger. I left the field and went to the place where the
messenger had told me the plates were deposited, and owing to the distinctness
of the vision which I had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I
arrived there. Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario County, New
York, stands a hill.., of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the
neighbourhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a
stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box; this stone
was thick and rounding in the middle of the upper side, and thinner towards the
edge, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground., and the edge
all round was covered with earth. Having removed the earth, and obtained a
lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion
raised it up, I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim
and Thummim, and the breastplate as stated by the messenger. The box in 1 "Pearl
of Great Price": pp. 62-4. * Same: p. 65. which they lay was formed by laying
stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom Of the box were laid two
stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other
things with them." 1

Joseph was about to take the plates when he was forbidden and told to wait four
years. In the meantime he was to come back and meet the angel once a year at the
same place. In January, 1827, he married Miss Emma Hale, daughter of a Mr. Isaac
Hale of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The marriage was performed by "Squire
Tarbill, in South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York." 2 Mr. Hale opposed the
match, and Smith was obliged to elope in order to secure his bride. The
following is of interest as being an extract from a sworn statement Of Mr. Hale:

"I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in November, 1825. He was at
that time in the employ of a set of men who were called ’money-diggers’; and his
occupation was that of seeing or pretending to see by means of a stone placed in
his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover
minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at that time was that of a careless
young man not very well educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father.
Smith and his father, with several other ’money-diggers/ boarded at my house,
while they were employed in digging for a mine that they supposed had been
opened and worked by the Spaniards many years since. Young Smith gave the
’money-diggers’ great encouragement at first, but when they had arrived in
digging to near the place where he had stated an immense treasure would be

1 "Pearl of Great Price"; pp. 65-6. Cf. also Clark: op. cit., pp. 225, 228. For
another story of the Golden Bible, see Howe: op, cit., pp. 234-6. 2 "Pearl of
Great Price": p. 67. found he said the enchantment was so powerful that he could
not see.”1 On the 22nd of September, 1827, the prophet went to the prophet went
to the hill Cumorah, for that was the sacred name of the hill, to claim and
receive the plates. He took the plates with him to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and
took up his residence near his father-in-law. Mr. Hale says:

"I was shown a box in which it is said they were contained, which had, to all
appearance, been used as a glass box, of the common window glass. I was allowed
to feel the weight of the box, and they gave me to understand that the book of
plates was then in the box into which, however, I was not allowed to look." 2
While in Susquehanna County, the Prophet tells us:

"I commenced copying the characters of the plates. I copied a considerable
number of them, and by means of Urim and Thummim I translated some of them." 3

Martin Harris, who had been a man of easily shifting religious opinions and "a
firm believer in dreams, and visions, and of supernatural appearances, such as
apparitions and ghosts," was a farmer living in Palmyra Township, Wayne County,
New York. 4 He had become greatly excited over and interested in Smith’s Golden
Bible, and on the strength of his interest, had lent Smith fifty dollars with
which to go to Pennsylvania. Harris, according to Smith’s account, came down to
see Smith in February, 1828, and "got the characters which I had drawn off the
plates and started with them to the City of New York. For what

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 262-3. 2 Howe: op. cit., p. 264. 3 "Pearl of Great Price":
p. 68. 4 Clark: op. cit., p. 223. took place relative to him and the characters,
I refer to his own account of the circumstances as he related them to me after
his return, which was as follows:

" ’I went to the City of New York and presented the characters which had been
translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Anthon, a gentleman
celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the
translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the
Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said
that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyrian and Arabic, and he said that they
were the true characters. He gave me a certificate to the people of Palmyra that
they were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had been
translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket
and was leaving the house when Mr. Anthon called me back and asked me how the
young man found out that there were gold plates in the place where he found
them. I answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.

" ’He then said unto me, "Let me see that certificate." I accordingly took it
out, when he took it and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing
now as ministering angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him he would
translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, and that I
was forbidden to bring them; he replied, "I cannot read a sealed book." I left
him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said
respecting both the characters and the translation.’ " I This is one account.
The following is an extract from a letter by Professor Anthon himself:

"Many years ago, the precise date I do not now recollect, a plain looking
countryman called upon me with a letter from Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, requesting
me to ex3 "Pearl of Great Price": pp. 68-9. amine, and give my opinion upon, a
certain paper, marked with various characters which the doctor confessed he
could not decypher, and which the bearer of the note was very anxious to have
explained. A very brief examination of the paper convinced me that it was a mere
hoax, and a very clumsy one, too. The ^characters were arranged in columns, like
the Chinese mode of writing, and presented the most singular medley that I ever
beheld. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters, more or less distorted, either
through unskilfulness, or from actual design, were intermingled with sundry
delineations of half moons, stars, arid other natural objects, and the whole
ended in a rude representation of the Mexican zodiac. The conclusion was
irresistible, that some cunning fellow had prepared the paper in question, for
the purpose of imposing upon the countryman who brought it, and I told the man
so without any hesitation. He then proceeded to give me a history of the whole
affair, which convinced me that he had fallen into the hands of some sharper,
while it left me in great astonishment at his own simplicity.

"The countryman told me that a gold book had been recently dug up in the western
or northern part (I forget which), of our state, and he described this book as
consisting of many gold plates, like leaves, secured by a gold wire passing
through the edges of each, just as the leaves of a book are sewed together, and
presented in this way the appearance of a volume. Each plate, according to him,
was inscribed with unknown characters, and the paper which he handed me, a
transcript of one of these pages. ... A proposition had accordingly been made to
my informant, to sell his farm, and apply the proceeds to the printing of the
golden book, and the golden plates were to be left with him as security until he
should be reimbursed by the sale of the work. ... As Dr. Mitchell was our
’Magnus Apollo’ in those days, the man called first upon him; but the Doctor
evidently suspecting some trick, declined giving any opinion about the matter,
and sent the countryman down to the college, to see, in all probability, what
the ’learned pundits’ in that place would make of the affair. On my telling the
bearer of the paper that an attempt had been made to impose on him, and defraud
him of his property, he requested me to give my opinion in writing about the
paper which he had shown to me. I did so without any hesitation, partly for the
man’s sake, and partly to let the individual ’behind the curtain’ see that his
trick was discovered. The import of what I wrote was, as far as I can now
recollect, simply this, that the marks on the paper appeared to be merely an
imitation of various alphabetical characters, and had, in my opinion, no meaning
at all connected with them. The countryman then took his leave, with many
thanks, and with the express declaration that he would in no shape part with his
farm or embark in the speculation of printing the golden book." l

Harris’s resolution was not long kept. In a short time we find him assisting the
prophet in translating the plates. In this, Smith sat behind a curtain and read
the plates with the aid of his Urim and Thummim. Harris, on the other side of
the curtain, took down the words as they were dictated in English by the
prophet. After over a hundred pages had been dictated, Harris at his earnest
solicitation, was allowed to take them home and lost them. It is generally
believed that Mrs. Harris, who did not share her husband’s visionary ideas,
stole the manuscript. As Harris was one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon,
it might be well to note the following statement made under oath, by his wife:

"He is naturally quick in his temper, and in his mad fits frequently abuses all
who may dare to oppose him

1 Clark: op. cit., pp. 233-4-5-6. Substantially the same facts are told in a
letter from Professor Anthon to E. D. Howe. See Howe: op. cit., pp. 270-272. in
his wishes. However strange it may seem, I have been a great sufferer by his
unreasonable conduct. At different times while I lived with him he has whipped,
kicked and turned me out of the house. ... In one of his fits of rage, he struck
me with the butt end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen,
and was about the size of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat me on
the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of doors twice, and
beat me in a shameful manner. . . . His main complaint against me was, that I
was always trying to hinder him making money. . . . One day, while at Peter
Harris’s house, I told him he had better leave the company of the Smiths, as
their religion was false; to which he replied: ’If you would let me alone, I
could make money by it.’" 1 The loss of the first pages of the manuscript was no
small one to the prophet. Not only was his labour lost, but he was in a serious
quandary. If he should attempt to reproduce the lost pages, he knew that the
stolen copy would be produced and the discrepancies between it and the new
manuscript produced from memory pointed out. While in this difficult situation,
however, he received a special revelation in which he was told not to reproduce
the missing pages.

It was about this time that Smith began to make use of the services as a scribe
of Oliver Cowdery, a country school-teacher. Cowdery occupies an important place
in Mormon history as one of the witnesses as to the divine origin of the Book of
Mormon.

"Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 17th of April) I commenced
to translate the Book of Mormon, and he commenced to write for me.

"We still continued the work of translation, when, in 1 Howe: op. cit., pp.
254-6. the ensuing month (May, 1824), we on a certain day went into the woods to
pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, as we
found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed,
praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud
of light, and .Having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us. . . .

"Accordingly, we went and were baptised. I baptised him first, and afterwards he
baptised me after which I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the
Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to
the same Priesthood for so we were commanded. . . .

"Immediately upon our coming up out of the water, after we had been baptised, we
experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had
I baptised Oliver Gowdery than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and
prophesied many things which would shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I
had been baptised by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy; when standing up, I
prophesied concerning the rise of the Church, and many other things connected
with the Church and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with
the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation." 1

After the translation of the Book of Mormon had been completed, it was printed
with the financial assistance of Martin Harris, and hawked about. 2 It did not
immediately attain that financial success which had been expected. The contents
of the book were summarised by Smith, himself, as follows:

"In this important and interesting work the history of Ancient America is
unfolded, from its first settlement

1 "Pearl of Great Price," pp. 69-72. See also Howe: op. cit., p. 15. Cowdery is
said by Howe to have been a blacksmith by trade. 2 Cf . Smith, Lucy: op. cit.,
pp. 151-2 et seq. by a colony that came from the tower of Babel, at the
confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian
era. We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been
inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and
came directly from the tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the
city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally
Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the
time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the
inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in
battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that
now inhabit this country. This book also tells us that our Saviour made his
appearance upon this continent after his resurrection, that he planted the
gospel here in all its fulness, and richness, and power and blessing; that they
had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists; the same order, the
same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessing, as was
enjoyed on the Eastern continent, that the people were cut off in consequence of
their transgressions; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was
commanded to write an abridgment of their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide
it up in the earth, and that it should come forth and be united with the Bible
for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days. For a more
particular account I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be purchased
in Nauvoo, or from any of our travelling elders." 1

There has been a great deal of discussion on the part of those who do not
believe in the supernatural origin of the Book of Mormon, as to the source from
which Smith obtained his data for the Book. One theory was 1 "The Writings of
Joseph Smith, the Seer." New York, 1889, p. 7. that he came into possession of
the manuscript written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, but never published,
called the "Manuscript Found," and copied this manuscript word for word. As has
been pointed out, if the prophet had been in possession of such a manuscript,
the loss of the pages taken by Mrs. Harris would not have called for a special
revelation. It would have been a very simple matter for Smith to have dictated
again to Harris the contents of the lost pages. A great number of volumes and
pamphlets have been written x on this subject, both by Mormons and those who
opposed them, and the old debate is being constantly revived. The object of the
argument is, on the part of those who began it, to prove that on still another
count, the prophet is both a liar and a fraud. But this is so obvious from his
own conflicting statements, when we take time to wander through the maze into
which they take us, and from the overwhelming testimony of those who had to do
with him, that we need not be interested in obtaining any further evidence on
that point. Why all this discussion about the book? Is there anything in it so
eloquent or so noble that it challenges attention? Is there anything in it that
is so painstakingly historical that it bears upon its face, evidence of truth?
As a matter of fact, there is absolutely nothing in the Book of Mormon but what
any country schoolboy, fifteen years of age, with a vivid imagination and plenty
of confidence in himself, could have written.

We have noted Smith’s money-digging with the aid of a "peep-stone’* hidden in
his hat, and his translation of the Book of Mormon by the aid of Urim and
Thummim. The refusal of present day scholars of Mormonism to

1 Cf . Clark: op. cit., p. 246 et seq. See also Winchester, Benjamin: "Plain
Facts, Showing the Origin of the Spaulding Story," etc- Philadelphia, 1840 et
al. see anything but a divine instrument in the Urim and Thummim reflects no
credit upon their critical intelligence. "Peek-stones" or "Peep-stones" or Urim
and Thummim are all one and the same thing a survival of the superstitious
practice of crystal-gazing. The story of famous Dr. Dee and Edward Kelly is so
strikingly like the story of the Mormon Seer and Revelator that it will be worth
while to turn back the hand of time for four hundred years in order to note the
identity of the ideas underlying Mormonism with those characteristic of
witchcraft and necromancy. Dr. Dee was one of the great ones in the annals of
necromancy.

"As he (Dee) was one day in November, 1582, engaged in ... devout exercises, he
says that there appeared to him the angel Uriel at the west window of his
Museum, who gave him a translucent stone or chrystal, of a curious form, that
had the quality, when Intently surveyed, of presenting apparitions, and even
emitting sounds, in consequence of which the observer could hold conversations,
ask questions and receive answers from the figures he saw in the mirror. It was
often necessary that the stone should be turned one way and another in different
positions, before the person who consulted it gained the right focus; and then
the objects to be observed would sometimes shew themselves on the surface of the
stone, and sometimes in different parts of the room by virtue of the action of
the stone. It had also this peculiarity, that only one person, having been named
a seer, could see the figures exhibited, and hear the voices that spoke, though
there might be various persons in the room. It appears that the person who
discerned these visions must have his eyes and his ears uninterruptedly engaged
in the affair, so that, as Dee experienced, to render the communication
effectual, there must be two human beings concerned in the scene, one of them to
describe what he saw, and to recite the dialogue that took place, and the other
immediately to commit to paper all that his partner dictated. Dee for some
reason chose for himself^ the part of the amanuensis, and had to seek for a
companion, who was to watch the stone, and repeat to him whatever he saw and
heard.

"It happened opportunely that, a short time before Dee received this gift from
on high, he contracted a familiar intercourse with one Edward Kelly of
Worcestershire, whom he found specially qualified to perform the part which it
was necessary to Dee to have adequately filled. Kelly was an extraordinary
character, and in some respects exactly such a person as Dee wanted. He was just
twenty-eight years younger than the memorable personage, who now received him as
an inmate, and was engaged in his service at a stipulated salary of fifty pounds
a year. . . .

"The first record of their consultations with the supramundane spirits, was of
the date of December 2, 1581, at Lexden Heath, in the county of Essex, and from
this time they went on in a regular series of consultations with and enquiries
from these miraculous visitors, a great part of which will appear to the
uninitiated extremely puerile and ludicrous, but which were committed to writing
with the most scrupulous exactness by Dee, the first part still existing in
manuscript, but the greater portion from 28 May 1583 to 1608, with some
interruptions, having been committed to the press by Dr. Meric Cassubon in a
well-sized folio in 1659, under the title of ’A true and Faithful Relation of
what passed between Dr. John Dee and some spirits, tending, had it succeeded, to
a general alteration of most states and kingdoms of the world/ " *

1 Godwin, William: "Lives of the Necromancers." London, 1834, pp. 376380. For
the further use of the stone, see p. 382. See also Dixon, W. Hepworth: "New
America." Philadelphia, 1867, pp. 362-4. See also Smith, Lucy: op. tit., p. 211.
See also Howe: op. cit., pp. 215-6. The following addendum to the story is not
in any sense foreign to the story of the Mormon prophet:

"Kelly at length started a very extraordinary proposition. Kelly, as an
interpreter to the spirits, and being the only person who heard and saw
anything, we may presume made them say whatever he pleased. Kelly and Dee had
both of them wives. Kelly did not always live harmoniously with the partner of
his bed. He sometimes went so far as to say that he hated her. Dee was more
fortunate. His wife was a person of good family, and had hitherto been
irreproachable in her demeanour. The spirits one day revealed to Kelly that they
must henceforth have their wives in common. The wife of Kelly was barren, and
this curse could not otherwise be removed. Having started the proposition, Kelly
played the reluctant party. Dee, who was pious and enthusiastic, inclined to
submit. He first indeed started the notion that it could only be meant that they
should live in mutual harmony and good understanding. The spirits protested
against this, and insisted upon the literal interpretation." 1 On April 6, 1830,
a formal organisation for the Mormon church was effected at the home of Peter
Whitmer at Fayette, Seneca County, New York. We are told that according to Orson
Pratt it was just eighteen hundred years to a day after the resurrection of
Jesus. It was not long before persecution became so bitter that it was necessary
to remove to another section of the country. Joseph, who had been preaching in
various places in New York, had received a revelation commanding

"Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, Peter Whitmer, and Oliver Cowdery, to take a
mission to Missouri, preaching by the way. . . . On their route, they passed
through 1 Godwin: op. cit., pp. 387-8.

Kirtland, where they preached a short time, and roused up a branch of twenty or
thirty members. Before leaving this place, they addressed a letter to Joseph
desiring him to send an Elder to preside over the branch which they had raised
up. Accordingly Joseph despatched John Whitmer to take the presidency of the
Church at Kirtland; and when he arrived there, those appointed to go to
Missouri, proceeded on their mission, preaching and baptising as before." 1

It was not long, however, before Smith himself was summoned to Kirtland, to
which place he moved with his family and a number of adherents. Among the most
zealous of his new followers was the Rev. Sidney Rigdon, a preacher of
considerable power and fame, who had been associated formerly with the Disciples
or Campbellites.

"On Joseph’s arrival at Kirtland, he formed a Church consisting of nearly one
hundred members, who were, in general, good brethren, though a few of them had
imbibed some very erroneous ideas, being greatly deceived by a singular form,
which manifested itself among them in strange contortions of the visage, and
sudden unnatural contortions of the body. This they supposed to be a display of
the power of God. Shortly after Joseph arrived, he called the church together,
in order to show them the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of
the devil. He said, if a man arose in meeting to speak, and was seized with a
kind of paroxysm that drew his face o and limbs, in a violent and unnatural
manner, which made him appear to be in pain, and if he gave utterance to strange
sounds, which were incomprehensible to his audience, they might rely upon it,
that he had the spirit of the devil. But on the contrary, when a man speaks by
the Spirit of God, he speaks from the abundance of 1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p.
169. his heart his mind is filled with intelligence, and even should he be
excited, it does not cause him to do anything ridiculous or unseemly. He then
called upon one of the brethren to speak, who arose, and made the attempt, but
was immediately seized with a kind of spasm, which drew his face, arms, and
fingers in a most astonishing manner.

"Hyrum, 1 by Joseph’s request, laid hands on the man, whereupon he sunk back in
a state of complete exhaustion. Joseph then called upon another man to speak,
who stood leaning in an open window. This man also attempted to speak, but was
thrown forward into the house, prostrate, unable to utter a syllable.

"These, together with a few other examples of the same kind, convinced the
brethren of the mistake under which they had been labouring." 2 For some time
prior to Smith’s coming to Kirtland, the preaching of the Rev. Sidney Rigdon and
others of his type had been gradually arousing a state of religious excitement.
So great was the general public interest that people came from the surrounding
country much as they did although not in as great numbers in the days of the
Kentucky revival.

"On Sundays the roads would be thronged with people, some in whatever vehicles
they owned, some on horseback, and some on foot, all pressing forward to hear
the expounders of the new Gospel, and to learn the particulars of the new
Bible." 3

Frederick G. Mather in an article in Lippincott’s Magazine on "The Early Days of
Mormonism" gives an interesting account from the pen of John Barr of Cleve1

1 One of Smith’s brothers. 2 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 171-2. ’ 3 Linn, William
Alexander: "The Story of the Mormons." New York, 1902, p. 123. land, "an
authority upon matters of Western Reserve history," describing the magnetic
powers as a preacher of Sidney Rigdon, who proved himself, for a time at least,
a valuable asset to Mormonism:

"In 1830 I was deputy sheriff, and being at Willoughby on official business
determined to go to Mayfield, which is seven or eight miles up the Chagrin
River, and hear Cowdery and Rigdon on the revelations of Mormonism. Varnam J.
Card, the lawyer, and myself started early Sunday morning on horseback. We found
the woods crowded with people going in the same direction.

"Services in the church were opened by Cowdery, with prayer and singing, in
which he thanked God fervently for the new revelation. He related the manner of
finding the golden plates of Nephi. He was followed by Rigdon, a famous Baptist
preacher well known throughout the eastern part of the Western Reserve, and also
in Western Pennsylvania. His voice and manner were always imposing. He was
regarded as an eloquent man at all times, and now he seemed fully aroused. He
said he had not been satisfied in his religious yearnings until now. At night he
had often been unable to sleep, walking and praying for more light and comfort
in his religion. While in the midst of this agony, he heard of the revelation of
Joe Smith, which Oliver Cowdery had explained. Under this his soul suddenly
found peace. It filled all his aspirations.

"At the close of a long harangue in this earnest manner, during which every one
present was silent, though very much affected, he inquired whether any one
desired to come forward and be immersed. Only one man arose. This was an aged
dead-beat by the name of Cahoon, who occasionally joined the Shakers, and lived
on the country generally.

"The place selected for immersion was in a clear pool in the river above the
bridge, around which was a beautiful rise of ground on the west side for the
audience. On the east bank was a sharp bluff and some stumps, where Mr. Card and
myself stationed ourselves. The time for baptism was fixed at two p.m. Long
before this hour the spot was surrounded by as many people as could have a clear
view. Rigdon went into the pool, which, at the deepest, was about four feet, and
after a suitable address with prayer, Cahoon came forward and was immersed.
Standing in the water Rigdon gave one of his most .powerful exhortations. The
assembly became greatly affected. As he proceeded he called for converts to step
forward. They came through the crowd in rapid succession to the number of thirty
and were immersed, with no intermission on the part of Rigdon.

"Mr. Card was apparently the most radical, stoical of men; of a clear,
unexcitable temperament, with unorthodox and vague religious ideas. While the
exciting scene was transpiring below us in the valley and in the pool, the faces
of the crowd expressing the most intense emotion, Mr. Card suddenly seized my
arm and said, ’Take me away.’ Taking his arm I saw his face was so pale that he
seemed to be about to faint. His frame trembled as we walked away and mounted
our horses. We rode a mile toward Willoughby before a word was said. Rising the
hill out of the valley, he seemed to recover and said, ’Mr. Barr, if you had not
been there I certainly should have gone into the water.’ He said the impulse was
irresistible." 1 Another description is from the pen of Professor Turner:

"During the fall and winter of ’30 and ’31, Kirtland was continually crowded
with visitors, who came from all quarters to inquire after the ’New Religion.’
About this

1 Mather, Frederick S.: "The Early Days of Mormonism." Lippincott’s zine, 1880,
p. 206. Quoted by Kennedy: op. cit. t pp. 92-94. time, as we are informed by
credible historians and eyewitnesses, ’many in the church became very visionary
and had divers operations of the Spirit/ They saw wonderful lights in the air
and on the ground and had many miraculous visions and experiences. Their conduct
grew more and more eccentric and absurd. Sometimes they imitated the grotesque
antics of the wild Indian, in knocking down, 1 scalping and tearing out the
bowels of his victim, thus anticipating the hour of their fancied mission to
those lost sons of Jacob.

"Again they ran into the fields, mounted upon stumps, and while absorbed in
vision, and insensible to all around them, they plunged into the water of
baptism or harangued the imaginary multitudes by whom they thought they were
surrounded. Some professed to receive letters direct from heaven, written on
stones or parchment, in characters which they alone had power to translate, and
vanished as soon as the work was performed. Others fell into a trance, and
continued apparently lifeless for a long time, and woke only to relate the
wonders they had seen touching the future glory of the saints, and the
destruction of the unbelieving. Sometimes their faces, bodies and limbs were
violently distorted and convulsed, until they fell prostrate on the ground.
Indeed, it is reported by an eye-witness, that at first the laying hands on the
heads of their converts to confer the gift of the Holy Spirit, generally
produced an instantaneous prostration of both body and mind, often followed by a
wonderful gift of tongues, as was supposed, in Indian dialects; which7 Indeed,
none could understand except by direct inspiration. Some, in imitation of the
prophet, received magic stones, through which they professed to see and describe
not only the persons but the dress and employments of persons hundreds of miles
distant." 2

1 Cf. the Shaker "Warring Gift." 2 Turner: "Mormonism in All Ages." Pp. 27-8.
See also Howe: op. cit., p. 103.

Scenes like this were numerous. The preachers were fervent, the people "eager
for the supernatural," and the message definite and dogmatic. The Shakers, the
Campbellites, and a host of others, including Dilks, the "Leatherwood God," 1
who had declared himself as the Messiah, at a camp-meeting in Ohio in 1828 and
who had been received by many with enthusiasm, had paved the way for Mormonism.
The time was indeed at hand.

It was in February, 1831, that the prophet and his family came to Kirtland. He
had been busy with a new translation of the Old Testament. It was Smith’s
ability to translate the Scriptures from any language which to Sidney Rigdon’s
mind was one of the proofs of the supernatural origin of the prophet’s mission.
While busied thus apparently without the aid of the Urim and Thummim, he
received a revelation that Kirtland "is the place of gathering and from that
place to the Pacific Ocean, God has" declared to himself, not only in time, but
through eternity, and he has given it to us and our children, not only while
time lasts, but we shall have it again in eternity, as you will see by one of
the commandments received day before yesterday." 2 The expectations of the
Latter Day Saints ran at this time very high. Martin Harris, who had contributed
so liberally to the material welfare of the Golden Bible, went so far as to tell
a hotel man at Kirtland the proprietor of the Painesville tavern, in the bar
room of which he had established himself as a preacher of the new gospel that
"all who accepted Mormonism and believed, would see Christ in .fifteen years,
and all who did not would be damned," 3

1 Turner: op. cit., p. 98. 2 Kennedy, J. H.: "The Early Days of Mormonism," etc.
New York, 1888, p. 84. 3 Quoted from the Painesville Telegraph of March 15,
1831, in Kennedy: op. cit., p. 88. On another occasion Harris is said to have
prophesied two coming events, the first of which was

’That Palmyra would be destroyed, and left utterly without inhabitants, before
the year 1836. The other prediction was that before 1838 the Mormon Faith would
so extensively prevail, that it would modify our national government, and there
would be at that period no longer any occupant of the presidential chair of the
United States." 1

Smith now faced the very practical problem of authority, in view of the fact
that Harris, Cowdery and others began to claim the gifts of revelation and
prophecy and to exercise their gifts in such a manner as to suggest the
possibility of conflict with the revelations which he himself received. A timely
revelation received at this juncture by Smith was of considerable help in doing
away with the difficulty:

"Behold, I say unto thee, Oliver, that it shall be given unto thee that thou
shalt be heard by the church in all things whatsoever thou shalt teach them by
the Comforter, concerning the revelations and commandments which I have given.
But behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to
receive revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for
he receiveth them even as Moses, and thou shalt be obedient unto the things
which I shall give unto him, even as Aaron to declare faithfully the
commandments and the revelations, with power and authority over the church." 2
On January 22, 1833, the gift of tongues appeared. From then on, especially in
the making of proselytes, this gift played an important part in the history of
Mormonism.

1 Clark: op. cit., p. 348. See also Howe: op. cit., pp. 14-15. 2 Kennedy: op.
cit., p. 89.

"Whether the languages now introduced differed materially from those practised
two or three years previous (and pronounced to be of the Devil) we have not been
informed. It appears that this last device was all that was lacking to make the
system perfect. They had long before professed to be fully endowed with the
power of healing all manner of diseases, discerning spirits, and casting out
devils. But a succession of failures had rendered them rather stale, and given
distrust to many of the faithful. A new expedient was therefore indispensably
necessary, in order to revive the drooping spirits of the deluded, and at the
same time, insure a new crop of converts. The scheme proved eminently
successful. Hundreds were soon convinced of the truth of the whole, by hearing
of and seeing the manner in which the ’tongues’ were performed, although the
trick would seem more susceptible of discovery than any previous one. This gift
was not confined to the Elders and high priests, who in other respects were
supposed to have a superabundant share of ’the spirit’; but nearly all the
proselytes, both; old and. young, could show their faith by speaking with
tongues. And it would appear from all the facts which we have been able to
gather upon this subject, that if this gift were not supernaturally bestowed, it
required but a few moments’ instruction from a priest, to render his pupil
expert in various dead languages, which could never be understood by man or
beast, except a supernatural power was at the instant given to some one present
to interpret it. They sometimes professed to believe that these ’tongues’ were
the same which were ’confounded’ at the building of Babel.

"Some curious particulars are related respecting these blasphemous practices by
a Mr. Higby, who was eight months an Elder in the Mormon church. . . .

"About the tenth of April following, R. Cahoon and D. Patton came again to the
place. A meeting was called, and previous to the meeting, they said that some
one would speak with tongues, before they left the place. Accordingly he set
himself to work at that meeting to verify his prophecy. During the meeting he
said, ’Father H., if you will rise in the name of Jesus Christ, you can speak in
Tongues.’ He arose immediately, hesitated and said, ’my faith fails me I have
not faith enough.’ Said Patton, ’you have speak in the name of Jesus Christ make
some sound as you list, without further thought, and God will make it a
language.’ The old gentleman, after considerable urging, spoke and made some
sounds, I which were pronounced to be a correct tongue. Several others spoke in
a similar manner, and among them was myself. I spoke as I listed, not knowing
what I said, yet it was declared to be a tongue. The sound of the words used by
some in speaking in tongues, was a medium between talking and singing and all, I
am now convinced, a mere jibberish, spoken at random and without thought.

"We had another meeting shortly after, at which there were present several
others, besides those of the church Cahoon spoke in unknown tongues, as he
pretended, going on at considerable length, which Patton interpreted. . . . The
next time these men came among us, they gave us a rule for speaking in unknown
tongues, and also for interpreting what was spoken by others. . . . The rule ...
is this: ’rise upon your feet and look and lean on Christ; speak or make some
sound; continue to make sounds of some kind, and the Lord will make a correct
tongue or language of it."

Howe further adds:

"They would frequently sing in this gibberish, forming a tune as they proceeded.
The same songs, they said, would be sung when the lost tribes appeared in Zion,
in Missouri." 1

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 132-135. See also Turner: op. cit., p. 28. Kennedy: op.
cit., p. 43 et seq. Clark: op. cit., p. 328. A description of one of the
Kirtland meetings will convey some idea of the manner in which Mormon worship in
the inner circle was conducted. There were some fifteen or twenty Elders and
High Priests present. The meeting was held in a small room.

"After sundry exhortations by the priests, the Prophet himself arose and with
much seeming earnestness, warned his followers to be zealous, faithful in their
duties, saying ’It is our privilege to see God face to face yes, (says he) I
will prophesy unto you in the name of the Lord, that the day will come when no
man will be permitted to preach unless he has seen the Lord people will ask each
teacher, "have you seen the face of the Lord?" and if he say, nay, they will
say, away with this fellow, for we will have a man to teach us that has seen the
face of the Lord.’ After a short pause he added, ’the Lord is willing we should
see his glory to-day, and all that will exercise faith, shall see the Lord of
Glory/ They then concluded to spend the day in fasting and prayer. Each one kept
his seat with his eyes closed and his body inclined forward. Soon after Joseph
says, ’Sidney (Rigdon), have you seen the Lord?’ He answered, ’I saw the image
of a man pass before my face, whose locks were white, and whose countenance was
exceedingly fair, even surpassing all beauty that I ever beheld.’ Then Joseph
replied, ’I knew you had seen a vision, Sidney, but would have seen more, were
it not for unbelief.’ Sidney confessed that his faith was weak that morning.
Hiram said he had seen nearly the same as Sidney, which was pronounced by Joseph
to be the Redeemer of the world. Upon this, R. Cahoon fell upon his knees,
holding his hands in an erect position. In fifteen or twenty minutes he arose,
and declared that he had seen the temple of Zion, filled with disciples, while
the top was covered with the glory of the Lord, in the form of a cloud. Another
one then placed himself in the same position, but saw no vision, his faith being
weak. Joseph next passed round the room, and laid his hand upon each one, and
spoke as follows, as near as the narrator can recollect:

“’Ah, man oh son oh man ah ne commene en holle goste j| en haben en glai hosanna
hos anne esso milken, Jeremiah,; Ezekiel, Nephi, Lehi, St. John/ etc., etc.
After adminI istering the sacrament several of the brethren were called 1 upon
to arise and speak in tongues. Several of them peril formed with considerable
applause. Our informant says he was at length called upon to speak or sing ’in
tongues’ at his own option; preferring the latter mode, he sang, to the tune of
’Bruce’s Address’ a combination of sounds which ’astonished all present.’

"This gibberish for several months was practised almost daily, while they were
about their common avocations, as well as when assembled for worship." 1 The
speaking with tongues, however, sometimes had the opposite effect from that for
which it was intended:

"One apostate from the church at Nauvoo, in latter days, dates the first growth
of doubt in his mind from attendance upon a meeting where this ceremony was
being performed. Having thorough acquaintance with the Choctaw language he
suddenly arose and delivered a long address in that tongue and was followed by a
brother Mormon, who gravely translated it into an account of the glories of the
great temple then in course of construction.’ 2 Lieut. J. W. Gunnison, in
writing of the gift of tongues among the Mormons makes the following statement:

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 135-6. 2 Kennedy: op. cit., p. 117.

"This is not the ancient gift, whereby one addressing a people speaking a
different language from himself, was enabled to talk in their own words. It is,
that persons among themselves in their enthusiastic meetings, shall be ’moved by
the Spirit’ to utter any set of sounds in imitation of words, and it may be,
words belonging to some Indian or other language. The speaker is to know nothing
of the ideas expressed, but another, with the ’gift of interpretation of
tongues,’ can explain to the astonished audience all that has been said. Any
sounds, of course, then, are a language known to the Lord. If one feels a desire
to speak, and has difficulty to bring words forth from the thoughts of his
heart, or what the spirit is about to reveal through him, he must ’rise on his
feet, lean in faith in Christ, and open his lips, utter a song in such cadence
as he chooses, and the spirit of the Lord will give an interpreter, and make it
a language." 1 He also relates the following frequently quoted incident:

"Sometimes a ludicrous scene occurs in their meetings, arising from over-wrought
enthusiasm. One is related of a woman who sprang up and spoke ’in tongues’ as
follows ’Melai, Meli, Melee,’ which was immediately translated into the
vernacular by a waggish young man, f who first observed that he felt ’the gift
of interpretation of tongues’ sorely pressing upon him, and that she said in
unknown words to herself, ’my leg, my thigh, my knee.’ For this he was called
before the council; but he stoutly persisted in his ’interpretation’ being by
’the spirit,’ and they let him off with admonition." 2

Rev. Peter Cartwright, the great Methodist "backwoods preacher," after telling
the story of his meeting with Joseph Smith, Jr., continues:

1 Gunnison, J. W.: "The Mormons or Latter Day Saints," etc. Philadelphia, 1852,
p. 53. 2 Op. cit., p. 24.

"I then gave him the following history of an encounter I had at a camp meeting
in Morgan County, some time before with some of his Mormons, and assured him I
could prove all I said by thousands that were present.

"The camp meeting was numerously attended, and we had a good and gracious work
of religion going on among the people. On Saturday there came some twenty or
thirty Mormons to the meeting. During the intermission after the eleven o’clock
sermon they collected in one corner of the encampment, and began to sing, and
they sang well. As fast as the people rose from their dinners they drew up to
hear the singing, and the scattering crowd drew up until a large company
surrounded them. I was busy regulating matters connected with the meeting. At
length, according, I have no doubt, to a preconcerted plan, an old lady Mormon
began to shout, and after shouting a while she swooned away and fell into the
arms of her husband. The old man proclaimed that his wife had gone into a
trance, and that when she came to she would speak in an unknown tongue, and that
he would interpret. This proclamation produced considerable excitement, and the
multitude crowded thick around. Presently the old lady arose and began to speak
in an unknown tongue, sure enough.

"Just then my attention was called to the matter. I saw in one moment that the
whole manoeuvre was intended to bring the Mormons into notice, and break up the
good of our meeting. I advanced instantly toward the crowd, and asked the people
to give way and let me in to this old lady, who was then being held in the arms
of her husband. I came right up to them, and took hold of her arm, and ordered
her peremptorily to hush that gibberish; that I would have no more of it; that
it was presumptuous and blasphemous nonsense. I stopped very suddenly her
unknown tongue. She opened her eyes, took me by the hand, and said:

" ’My dear friend, I have a message directly from God to you.’

"I stopped her short and said, ’I will have none of your messages. If God can
speak through no better medium than an old, hypocritical, lying woman, I will
hear nothing of it.’" 1

Burton, the traveller, gives us the following explanation of the unknown tongues
in connection with an account of his visit to Salt Lake City:

"The gift of unknown tongues which is made by some physiologists the result of
an affection of the epigastric region, and by others an abnormal action of the
organ of language is now apparently rarer than before. Anti-Mormon writers thus
imitate the ’blatant gibberish’ which they derive directly from Irvingism: ’Eli,
ele, elo, ela come, come, como reli, rele, rela, relo sela, selo, sele, selum
vavo, vava, vavum sero, seri, sera, serum.’ " 2

We have noticed that in the early days of the tongues at Kirtland, the tongues
were looked upon not merely as the language of inspiration, unknown and
unknowable, but the tongues were frequently in a definite language. The matter
of these tongues came up frequently in the course of the debates which were held
from time to time by representatives of the Mormon church in her missionary
activities. One instance is reported of a man who delivered a long harangue in
the tongues, so long that the audience showed signs of weariness. Then one rose
and interpreted as follows: "Except ye repent, ye shall be lost," whereupon one
of the sons of Belial there

1 Cartwright, Peter: Autobiography. Edited by W. P. Strickland. New York, 1857,
PP. 343-42 2 Burton, Richard F.: "City of the Saints." London, 1862. Second
Edition, P. 325. present remarked that all he could say about the tongues was
that it was a very "wordy" language. In a debate held in France in 1851 at
Boulogne-sur-mer in which Elder Taylor defended the Mormon tenets against a Rev.
Mr. Robertson, a Mr. Cleeve and a Mr. Cater, the last named stated that a Mormon
teacher had told him

"That he had a little servant girl who spoke Hebrew to a Jew through the gift of
tongues, but unfortunately the Jew said there were two kinds of Hebrew, only one
of which he understood, and the child spoke the kind he did not understand." 1

We are told also that the high priest in the Endowment House ceremony, which was
a later development, "first prayed in an unknown tongue, and afterwards in
English." On March 27, 1834, the first Mormon temple, costing about fifty
thousand dollars, was dedicated at Kirtland, Ohio. In connection with the
dedicatory services Sidney Rigdon is reported to have spoken in the tongues. 2
We hear also on this occasion of Brigham Young, who:

"Not to be too far behind Joseph in the manifestations of spiritual powers, was
favoured with an eloquent outburst of tongues, and made an address which neither
he nor anyone else could understand, but which some brother made an attempt to
translate. A pillar of fire .was seen above the temple, and supernatural sounds
heard in the air.” 3 We are further told that

1 Pratt, Orson: "Series of Pamphlets." Liverpool, 1851. Last Pamphlet, p. 22. 2
"Doctrine and Covenants." Sees. I and 2, 43-51." 3 Kennedy: op. cit. t p. 152.


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  CHAPTER 11: 07B MORMONS CHURCH LATTER DAY SAINTS
========================================================================

Chapter 7 The Mormons or Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Part
b)

"During the evening of the day they first met, Joseph called upon Brother
Brigham to pray. While doing so, he spoke in tongues. The prophet declared that
he spoke in the pure Adamic language." 1

Brigham Young had formerly been a painter and glazier. John P. Green, a relative
of Young, also spoke in tongues, as did also, we are told, Smith himself. The
success of the Mormons in Kirtland came to an abrupt end with the failure of the
Kirtland Safety Society Bank, which Smith and his associates had founded. The
affairs of the bank at first appeared to be in a very prosperous condition. The
general respect in which the Mormons were at one time held in Kirtland is shown
in the fact, it has been pointed out, that the currency notes of the bank
circulated very readily at par in that town and its immediate vicinity and as
far east as Pittsburgh. It is believed that there was practically no reserve and
no capital back of the bank. It is stated by Cyrus Smalling of Kirtland that
when:

"The inhabitants holding their bills came to inquire into the Safety Society
precious metals, the way that Smith contrived to deceive them was this: he had
some one or two hundred boxes made, and gathered all the lead and shot that the
village had, or that part of it that he controlled, and filled the boxes with
.lead, shot, etc., and marked them, one thousand dollars each. Then, when they
went to examine the vault, he had one box on a table partly filled for them to
see, and when they proceeded to the vault, Smith told them that the church had
two hundred thousand dollars in specie, and he opened one box and they saw that
it was silver and they hefted a number

1 From Pamphlet Entitled "Death of President Brigham Young." Salt Lake City,
Utah, 1877. An extract copied from the obituary appearing in "The Deseret
Evening News" of Aug. 30, 1877. and Smith told them that they contained specie.
They were seemingly satisfied and went away for a few days." 1

Finally, however, when a banker from Pittsburgh presented a considerable
quantity of the notes for redemption, the prophet was unable to make settlement.
Troubles increased, with the result that in January, 1 838, Smith and Rigdon
were both arrested. Both, however, escaped, and joined the settlement at
Independence, Missouri where had gathered already the majority of the Latter Day
Saints. To Independence, another of the "stakes of Zion," Smith had been
gradually transferring the people and the things that belonged to his church
possibly anticipating the financial troubles at Kirtland.

Coming to Missouri, however, meant only a temporary refuge for the Mormons. Even
before Smith himself came there from Kirtland, persecutions had broken out and
resolutions had been adopted prohibiting Mormons forever from settling in this
"young and beautiful country." These resolutions adopted by the citizens of
Jackson County at a meeting held on the 20th day of July, 1833, further stated:

"That those who fail to comply with the above requisitions, be referred to those
of their brethren who have the gifts of unknown tongues, to inform them of the
lot that awaits them." 2

Various attempts were made by the Mormons at the making of a permanent
settlement. In Davies County, they established a city called "Far West." At Far
West, on the 2Oth day of April, 1838, the prophet received a revelation "making
known the will of God concerning

1 Clark: op. cit., p. 334. See also Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 210, and Hall,
William: "The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed." Cincinnati, 1852; pp. 18-22. 2
Howe: op. cit., p. 141. the building up of this place, and of the Lord’s House."
In this revelation it was stated that the saints should "let the beginning be
made on the 4th day of July next" (1838) and:

"Verily I say unto you, let not my servant Joseph, neither my servant Sidney,
neither my servant Hyrum, go in debt any more for the building of an house unto
my name/’ x But before the end of the year 1839, the Mormons had been driven out
of Missouri. Their next settlement was at a point on the Mississippi on the
Illinois bank, which they named Nauvoo. Stenhouse writes thus of the new
location:

"The east bank of the Mississippi, forty miles above Quincy and twenty miles
southwest of Burlington, Iowa, was the favoured spot. Here on a bend of the
river, upon rising ground that commanded a magnificent view of the winding
Mississippi, for many miles was to be the new home of the Saints. A group of
huts and houses called ’Commerce.’ was the place selected; but the name was an
every-day word. The ’Reformed Egyptian* of the Book of Mormon supplied a better
name ’Nauvoo/ the beautiful." 2

Here the Mormon cause prospered at first greatly and Smith enjoyed what might be
looked upon as the best years of his career. The church and the city grew
rapidly. As a result of the tireless preaching of Mormon missionaries in Great
Britain and in European countries, a constant stream of enthusiastic immigrants
poured into the city until its population grew to be about fifteen thousand.
Coupled with this growth in population there was in the

1 "Doctrines and Covenants." Sec. 115, 10 and 13. 2 Stenhouse, Thomas G. H.:
"Rocky Mountain Saints." New York, 1873; P. 123. early days a comparative
freedom from persecution due to the fact that the people of Illinois looked upon
the Mormons as having been wrongfully used by the Missourians. By special state
legislation unusual powers such as the right to organise the famous Nauvoo
Legion were conferred upon Smith and his associates.

Two important building projects were undertaken one that of a new temple, the
other that of a hotel or boarding-house, to be called Nauvoo House, in which by
revelation it was commanded that Smith and his family for all generations should
be given a home. The temple, which was built of light grey limestone, was, when
finally completed, 128 feet long, 88 feet broad, and 60 feet high. The towers
were 200 feet high. It had thirty hewn pilasters which cost about three thousand
dollars each. The whole cost of the building is said to have been a million
dollars. The Baptismal Font supported on twelve carved oxen was intended to be
gilded. The cornerstone was laid April 6, 1841. The building was subsequently
destroyed by fire. The Rev. Henry Caswell, M.A., who was in Nauvoo in April,
1842, tells us that he attended a Sunday morning service in a grove near the new
temple, then in course of building. There was singing and then followed a long
prayer by a man in a blue coat; then a sermon by a "stout, intemperate-looking
man ... in a thick jacket of green baize.

". . . Afterwards a tall, thin, New England Yankee, with a strong nasal twang
and a provincial accent, rose up, and leaning forward on the railing, spoke for
half an hour with great ease and volubility. He said that his office required
him to speak of business. They were all aware that God had by special revelation
appointed a committee of four persons, and had required them to build a house
unto his name, such a one as his servant, Joseph, should show them. That the
said house should be called the ’Nauvoo House/ and should be a house of
boarding: that the kings and nobles of the earth, and all weary travellers might
lodge therein, while they should contemplate the word of the Lord, and the
corner-stone, which he had appointed for Zion. . . . But only a small amount of
stock had hitherto been taken, and the committee appointed by the Lord have had
to go on borrowing and borrowing, until they can borrow no longer. In the
meantime the mechanics employed on the house want their pay, and the committee
are not able to pay them." 1

It was while at Nauvoo that Smith began to take an active interest in American
politics, addressing a questionnaire to the candidates for the presidency, and
finally announcing his own candidacy for that position. The famous revelation on
polygamy was granted at Nauvoo. There are well substantiated rumours as to
irregularities in the family life of Smith and some of his leading associates as
far back as when he lived in Palmyra. The same charges followed them to
Kirtland, to Missouri, and to Nauvoo. The charge that Smith in Nauvoo maintained
adulterous relationship with, or contracted spiritual marriages with between
twenty and thirty different women rests upon very substantial ground, in spite
of the interesting denial of this charge on the part of the Reorganized Church
of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ, the branch of the church founded by
Smith’s legitimate family and descendants. It was some years later after the
church had become firmly established in Utah that the system of polygamy and of
spiritual wives became the publicly avowed doctrine of the church.

1 Caswell, Henry: "The City of the Mormons, or Three Days at Nauvoo in 1842."
Second Edition. London, 184^ pf. 13-14.

Edmund De Leon, who visited Smith’s home in Nauvoo, informs us that

"At that time the Prophet had not publicly promulgated the doctrine of polygamy,
and professed to live with one wife only ’Sister Emma/ as she was called, a
gaunt, stern, hard-visaged woman of middle age. There were, however, several
young women in the house, whom he termed his nieces, but who probably bore a
closer relationship than was avowed at that time. The face of Sister Emma was
not a happy one, and her treatment of her nieces "that "of an unhappy, soured
and jealous woman.”1 A few pages further on in his autobiography, De Leon
continues:

"I even ventured when I became familiar with ’the Prophet,’ to comment on the
curious variety among his nieces and te want of any family resemblance among.
There was a sly twinkle in his prophetic eye, as he poked me in the ribs with
his forefinger, and rebuked me, exclaiming, ’Oh, the carnal mind!’ and I thought
it discreet not to press the subject.

"On another occasion he took us to see what he called the Mormon Temple, in
imitation of Solomon’s. But on my observing that the windows of the Temple bore
a suspicious likeness to the embrasures of a fort which the whole solid stone
structure resembled, dominating as it did the Mississippi River I again received
a poke in the ribs and a repetition of my possessing ’a carnal mind.’" 2

Nauvoo, the beautiful, the city of Smith’s glory, was to be in like manner the
scene of the beginning of the end. The "mysteries" of Mormonism, particularly 1
De Leon, Edmund: "Thirty Years of My Life." London, 1890. Vol. I, PP. 55-6. 2
Same: pp. 60-1. those relating to the vita sexualis, the prosperity of the
Mormons, their dishonesty, their confident and constant; assertions of their own
righteousness, all contributed to a growing opposition and hatred on the part of
neighbouring gentile settlers, with the result that the prophet was finally
lodged in Carthage jail, where he and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered by
Missouri militiamen. The story of the final migration of the Mormons to Utah is
well known. As in the Shakers, Mother Ann Lee found a successor to whom as much
of the success of her church is due as to herself Joseph Meacham, the organiser
and " theologian so in Brigham Young, Mormonism found a leader whose astuteness
and organising ability have done much to make Mormonism the power that it is
to-day. But it is absolutely safe to predict that just as Shakerism gradually
died out when it became no longer a haven of refuge for the sexually perverted,
so when polygamy is actually stamped out and Utah is no longer the safe harbour
for all to whom excess in venery is life’s summum bonum, the day of Mormonism
will be done.

"Joseph Smith, Jr., was at least six feet high’ according to P. H. Burnett,
"well formed and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. His appearance was
not prepossessing and his conversational powers were not extraordinary. You
could see at a glance that his education was very limited. He was an awkward but
vehement speaker. In conversation he was slow, and used too many words to
express his ideas, and would not generally go directly to a point. But, with all
these drawbacks, he was much more than an ordinary man. He possessed the most
indomitable perseverance, was a good judge of men, and deemed himself born to
command, and he did command. His views were so strange and striking, and his
manner was so earnest, and apparently so candid, that you could not but be
interested. ... He had "the capacity for discussing a subject in different
aspects, and for proposing many original views, even of ordinary matters. His
illustrations were his own. He had great influence over others. ... In the short
space of five days he had managed so to mollify his enemies that he could go
unprotected among them without the slightest danger." 1 The characteristics
which seem most apparent in Smith are his shrewd common sense and his ability to
handle men. We are indebted once again to De Leon for the following incident
which probably occurred only about six weeks before Smith was assassinated:

"We were sitting with him on the public green, where the people were amusing
themselves with rustic sports, and exhibitions of strength, when a man came up
and asked permission to use the courthouse for an exhibition of strength that
night.

’Do you want the people to pay you for seeing them?’ asked the Prophet. ’Yes’
was the answer. ’Do you know I never allow public exhibitions for pay?’ asked
the Prophet. The man muttered that this was not a show. ’Are you so much
stronger than other people?’ inquired the Prophet. The man replied in the
affirmative. ’Well, then,’ repeated the Prophet, ’if you can throw me right
here, in a wrestle on the green, I will give you permission.’ The man looked
anxiously at the girth and bulk of the head of the Mormon Faith, felt the
muscles of his arm, and declined the proposition. Then arose the Prophet in
great wrath, saying, ’You impostor! if you don’t leave this place right away, I
will make the boys duck you in the lake yonder.’ And the man departed without
further orders." 2

1 Burnett, P. H.: "Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer." New York,
1880; pp. 66-7. 2 De Leon: op. ctt., Vol. I, pp. 58-9.

Smith’s lack of education has often been noted. In contrast to this lack of the
sort of knowledge which schooling brings, stands out his claim, accepted by
Mormonism, to a knowledge by supernatural means, of all languages. The Rev. Mr.
Caswell tells us the now classic story of his own experience with the prophet.
In April, 1842, he went on business to St. Louis, Missouri. While there it
occurred to him that it would be of interest to visit the "City of the Saints."
With him he took a "venerable Greek manuscript of the Psalter." We will now let
Mr. Caswell tell his own story:

"Having arrived at the city, I passed along a straggling street of considerable
length, bordering on the strand. Perceiving a respectable looking store (or
shop), I entered it, and began to converse with the storekeeper. I mentioned
that I had been informed that Mr. Smith possessed some remarkable Egyptian
curiosities, which I wished to see. I added that, if Mr. Smith could be induced
to show me his treasure, I would show him in return a very wonderful book which
had lately come into my possession. The storekeeper informed me that Mr. Smith
was absent, having gone to Carthage that morning; but that he would return about
nine o’clock in the evening. He promised to obtain for me admission to the
curiosities, and begged to be permitted to see the wonderful book. I accordingly
unfolded it from the many wrappers in which I had enveloped it, and in the
presence of the storekeeper and many astonished spectators, whom the rumours of
the arrival of a strange book had collected, I produced to view the covers of
worm-eaten oak, its discoloured parchments, and its mysterious characters.
Surprise was depicted on the countenances of all present, and after a long
silence one person wiser than his fellows, declared that he knew it to be a
revelation from the Lord, and that probably it was one of the lost books of the
Bible providentially recovered. Looking at me with a patronizing air, he assured
me that I had brought it to the right place to get it interpreted, for that none
on earth but the Lord’s Prophet could explain it, or unfold i its real antiquity
and value. ’Oh/ I replied, ’I am going to England next week, and doubtless I
shall find some? learned man in one of the universities who can expound it. To
this he answered with a sneer, that the Lord had chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the mighty, that he had made foolish the wisdom of this world,
and that I ought to thank Providence for having brought me to Nauvoo, where the
hidden things of darkness could be revealed by divine power." 1

After some further conversation, Mr. Caswell states that he was led behind the
store in which they were talking to a room:

"on the door of which was an inscription to the following effect: ’Office of
Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Latter Day Saints/ Having introduced
me, together with several Mormons, to this sanctum sanctorum, he locked the door
behind him, and proceeded to what appeared to be a small chest of drawers. From
this he drew forth a number of glazed slides, like picture frames, containing
sheets of papyrus, with Egyptian inscriptions and hieroglyphics. These had been
unrolled from four mummies, which the Prophet had purchased at a cost of
twenty-four hundred dollars. By some inexplicable mode, as the storekeeper
informed me, Mr. Smith had discovered that these sheets contained the writings
of Abraham written with his own hand while in Egypt. Pointing to the figure of a
man lying on a table, he said, ’That is the picture of Abraham on the point of
being sacrificed. The man standing by him with a drawn knife 1 Caswell: op.
cit., pp. 20-1. is an idolatrous priest of the Egyptians. Abraham prayed to God,
who immediately unloosed his bonds and delivered him.’ Turning to another of the
drawers, and pointing to a hieroglyphic representation, one of the Mormons said,
’Mr. Smith informs us that this picture is an emblem of redemption. Do you see
those four little figures? Well, those are the four quarters of the Earth. And
do you see that big dog looking at the four figures? This is the old Devil
desiring to devour the four quarters of the Earth. Look at this person keeping
back the big dog. That is Christ keeping the devil from devouring the four
quarters of the earth. Look down this way. This figure near the side is Jacob,
and those are his two wives. Now do you see those steps?’ ’What?’ I replied, ’do
you mean those stripes across the dress of one of Jacob’s wives?’ ’Yes/ he said,
’that is Jacob’s ladder.’ " 1

It was not until the next day that the Rev. Mr. Caswell met the prophet himself.
But let Mr. Caswell continue the story himself:

"I met Joseph Smith at a short distance from his dwelling, and was regularly
introduced to him by the storekeeper. I had the honour of an interview with him
who is a Prophet, a Seer, a Merchant, a ’Revelator,’ a President, an Elder, an
Editor, and the Lieutenant-General of the ’Nauvoo Legion.’ He is a course,
plebeian sensual person in aspect, and his countenance exhibits a curious
mixture of the knave and clown. His hands are large and fat, and on one of his
fingers, he wears a massive gold ring, upon which I saw an inscription. His eyes
appear deficient in that open and straightforward expression which often
characterizes an honest man. His dress was of coarse country manufacture, and
his white hat was enveloped by a piece of black crape as a sign of mourning for
his deceased brother, Don Carlos Smith, 1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 22-3. the late
editor of the ’Times and Seasons.’ His age is about thirty-seven. He led the way
to his house, accompanied by many elders, preachers and other Mormon
dignitaries. On entering the house, chairs were provided for the prophet and
myself, while the curious and gaping spectators remained standing. I handed the
book to the prophet, and begged him to explain its contents. He asked me if I
had any idea of its meaning. I replied, that I believed it to be a Greek
Psalter, but that I should like to hear his opinion. ’No/ he said, ’it ain’t
Greek at all, except, perhaps, a few words. What ain’t Greek is Egyptian; and
what ain’t Egyptian is Greek. This book is very valuable. It is a dictionary of
Egyptian Hieroglyphics/ Pointing to the capital letters at the commencement of
each verse, he said: ’Them figures is Egyptian hieroglyphics; and them which
follows, is the interpretation of the hieroglyphics, written in the reformed
Egyptian. Them characters is like the letters that was engraved on the golden
plates.’ " 1

Mr. Caswell continues his narrative by stating that the prophet, after remarking
"That book ain’t of no use to you, you don’t understand it," took him into the
office where he had been the previous day.

"He produced the glass frames, which I had seen on the previous day, but he did
not appear very forward to explain the figures. I pointed to a particular
hieroglyphic, and requested him to expound its meaning. No answer being
returned, I looked up, and behold! the prophet had disappeared." 2

Mr. Caswell’s reference to the Egyptian mummies brings us to another remarkable
achievement of the prophet’s in the realm of languages his translation of the 1
Caswell: op. cit., pp. 35-6. 8 Same: p. 37.

Book of Abraham. While the Mormons were at Kirtland, a Mr. M. H. Chandler came
to town to exhibit some Egyptian mummies. These mummies, he said, his uncle had
secured with much personal danger, "in one of the catacombs near the city of
Thebes in Egypt, in the year 1831. . . . In his will he left these valued
remains of Egyptian art to his nephew." Attached to two of the bodies were rolls
of linen in which were enclosed rolls of papyrus, on which were Egyptian
hieroglyphics. Mr. Chandler came to Kirtland with his mummies on July 3, 1835.
The prophet in writing afterwards about the events says that a few days later:

"Some of the saints purchased the mummies and papyrus, and I with W. W. Phelps
and O. Cowdery as scribes, commenced the translation of some of the characters
or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of rolls contained the
writings of Abraham, another of the writings of Joseph the Egyptian." 1

These mummies were held in high esteem by Smith and his followers. So highly
were they valued that according to Lucy Smith, an effort was made in Kirtland to
attach them for the prophet’s debts. The late Protestant Episcopal Bishop of
Utah, the Rt. Rev. F. S. Spalding, D.D., took the trouble to have the
hieroglyphics which the prophet translated, submitted recently to prominent
Egyptologists both in this country and abroad, and published the results in a
pamphlet called "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." 2 The consensus of
scholarly opinion in the matter was that the Prophet, Seer and Revelator, knew
absolutely nothing about the language which he pretended to translate.

1 Reynolds, George: "The Book of Abraham," etc. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1879. 2
Spalding, F. S.: "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." Salt Lake City, Utah,
1912.

Smith appeared to have a fondness for unusual words, as well as a great
knowledge of the languages. Professor Riley comments:

"The form which the law of the Lord ultimately took reads like a page from
Gulliver’s Travels; it is worth quoting, if only to show that the fancy of the
Latter-day prophet was as weird as the mad dean’s Kingdom of Laputa:

’ ’Revelation given April 23d, 1834, to Enoch (Joseph Smith, Jun.), concerning
the order of the church, for the benefit of the poor. Let my servant Pelagoram
(Sidney Rigdon) have appointed unto him the place where he now resides, and the
lot of Tahhanes (the tannery) for the stewardship, for his support while he is
laboring in my vineyard, even as I will when I shall commend him;

" ’And let my servant Mahemson (Martin Harris) devote his moneys for the
proclaiming of my words, according as my servant Gazelam (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
shall direct.

" ’And let my servant Olihah (Oliver Cowdery) have the lot which is set off
joining the house, which is to be for the Laneshine-house (printing office),
which is lot number one, and also the lot upon which his father resides.

" ’After you are organized, you shall be called the United Order of the Stake of
Zion, the city of Shinehah (Kirtland).’" 1

Swartzel, in his Journal under date of June n, 1838, tells his story of the
naming of one of the Stakes of Zion. This was a place about twenty miles from
Far West, located on the north side of the Grand River, in Davies County,
Missouri. It bore, prior to the prophet’s revelation, the plebeian name "Spring
Hill."

1 Riley: op. cit., pp. 311-12.

"Brothers Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and myself," writes Swartzell, "went to
digging a spring and walling it in. . . ."

After prayer that:

"The spring might everlastingly send forth an abundance of good water," (in two
or three days the spring began to fail, and in about one week it went entirely
dry) "I observed to Joseph Smith that this city should have a new name. Brother
Joseph placed his back against a small shady tree near the spring, and then
said, ’we shall alter the name of this stake’ (every city being called a stake),
and looking towards heaven for a short time, said, ^It does not take me long to
get a revelation from heaven, and this stake, or city, shall be called
Adam-on-Diammon/ He assigned as a reason for calling it so, that there was no
place by that name under heaven." 1

Swartzell’s orthography, at least as far as names given by inspiration is
concerned, may have been a trifle irregular, or there may have been a great
variety of spellings for this important name, for we find it also appearing,
inter alia, as "Adam Ondi Ahman," 2 and "Adam-onDiahmon." 3 The translation of
these names is given as 4 "The valley of God in which Adam blessed his
children," and the place thus named is "said to be the identical spot where Adam
and Eve first sought refuge after their expulsion from Eden." When Swartzell was
initiated into what he calls the

1 Swartzell, William: "Mormonism Exposed, being a Journal of a Residence in
Missouri from the 28th of May to the 2oth of August," etc. Pekin, O., 1840; pp.
11-12. 2 Stenhouse: op. cit., p. 79. 3 Bennett, John C: "The History of the
Saints; or an Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism." Boston, 1842; p. 319. 4 Young,
Ann Eliza: "Wife No. 19," etc. Hartford, 1876; p. 47. See also Howe: op. cit.,
p. 199.

"Daranites," 1 he tells us, under date of July 21, 1838, that after various
ceremonies and the giving of the signs:

"He (the high priest) then gave us the pass-word which was to be spoken at the
moment of giving the hand of fellowship ’Who be you?’ Answer ’Anama! ’ This word
"anama" he further informs us, is, by interpretation, a "friend" The remarkable
etymological origin of the word "Mormon" is another familiar subject for
interest and notice. It is said that it was W. W. Phelps who evolved this
learned etymology, which is stated by Smith to be as follows:

"Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say, that the Bible,
in its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says, according to the Gospel
of John, ’I am the Good Shepherd’; and it will not be beyond the common use of
terms to say that good is among the most important in use, and though known by
various names in different languages, still the meaning is the same, and is ever
in opposition to bad. We say from the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goths,
goda; the German, gut; the Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, Kalos; the
Hebrew, tob; and the Egyptian, mon. Hence, with the addition of more, or the
contraction mor, we have the word Mormon, which means literally more good.

"Yours, "JOSEPH SMITH."

"Nauvoo, May 19, 1841." 2

Burton, 3 who spent a short time in the "City of the Saints," gives us an
account of the Deseret 4 alphabet to

1 Danites. For Danites see Hall: op. cit., pp. 30-1; 65-6-7. 2 Hyde, John, Jr.:
"Mormonism." New York, 1857; pp. 273-4- Cf. Stenhouse: op. cit., p. 421
(footnote). 3 Op. cit., p. 419. 4 By interpretation, "The Land of the
Honey-Bee." be used in the land of promise. Evidently the linguistic fondness of
the saints was of a persistent nature, something possibly of the "Esperanto"
sort recently perpetrated upon the kindly general public.

Much might be said about Mormon prophecies, about Mormon miracles, and about
Mormon theology. The same characteristics which we have seen appear in all the
sects which we have been studying, in respect to the charismata appear in
Mormonism. The miracles, when not actually fraud, are at least coincidences
capable of very simple explanations. Like the miracles of the French prophets,
they are substantiated only by interested parties. The theology, of later
development, is of interest to those who care to study theology. It will be
found to be characterised by an exceedingly materialistic millennial tendency.
In that theology, polygamy takes on an eschatological aspect which makes it
logical for a woman to consent to becoming a party to the relationship. But when
all is said that can be said in favour of Mormonism, when all the kindly words
that charity can command have been uttered, it still remains that, ethically
speaking, Mormonism is no purer than its source. He that is filthy is filthy
still.


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  CHAPTER 12: 08 PHYSIOLOGICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF GIFT
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Chapter 8 Physiological and Psychological Aspects of the Gift IN our review of
some of the historic appearances of the gift of tongues, certain facts of a
physiological and of a psychological nature have forced themselves upon our
attention.

We have noticed that the manifestation of the tongues has always begun with an
individual in whom the presence of some disease can definitely be traced. The
indisputable nature of this fact is obvious if we turn our attention toward the
leading characters in the three sects which we have discussed at length, the
Shakers, the Irvingites and the Mormons. The physiological life of Mother Ann of
the Shakers would afford an interesting study for those who are interested in
the bodily condition of the semi-insane. Mention, however, should be made of her
fastings and her ability to fast, her hallucinations, her bloody sweats, her
difficulties in childbirth, the early deaths of all her children, and her
poverty conditions all of which point in the direction of an unstable nervous
system. When we add to these considerations the fact of the statement made
repeatedly about her that she had acted "like a drunken squaw," that she was
insensible to fatigue in dancing, and a multitude of similar facts, we cannot
but be convinced that we are dealing not with spirituality per se, but with
disease.

We are to remember that Edward Irving never professed to have the gift of
tongues. We are to remember further that among the Irvingites the gift of
tongues began first with the Macdonalds and Mary Campbell, and that Margaret
Macdonald, her brothers, and Mary Campbell were tubercular. We have the further
right to infer from the case of Isabella Campbell and Story’s account of Mary
Campbell and her family, that Mary Campbell was of the hysterical type. We may
remind ourselves also in passing that the daughter of Robert Baxter was subject
to epileptic seizures.

Professor Riley has pointed out the pathological elements which are readily
discernible in the life of Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon prophet. The
shiftlessness and vagabondage of his father, the diseased blood of the Macks on
his mother’s side, do not constitute the sort of ancestry from which we might
expect health bodily or mental to spring. It is well also to call to mind the
part which the Rev. Sidney Rigdon played in the development of Mormon ecstacy,
and to take into account the fact that:

"He brought to his aid (in preaching while still a Campbellite preacher) the
eccentric and grotesque workings of a nervous and enthusiastic temperament,
which at times threw him into spasms and swoonings, similar to those nervous
agitations which have so often prevailed, not only in individual instances, but
raged as epidemics both in and out of the churches. These nervous fits he
interpreted into the agony of the Holy Spirit as multitudes had done before him,
and contended that the miraculous spiritual gifts of the apostolic age were now
about to be restored to the church." * Attention must also be called to the fact
that the tongues never occur as a solitary unusual motor phenomenon 1 Turner:
op. cit., pp. 24-5. regarded as having a supernatural origin. If we find the
gift of tongues, we find also the gift of the interpretation of tongues, the
gift of miracles, or the gift of prophesying, together with a great number of
"exercises" of a motor nature. Laying aside the question; of the interpretation
of tongues, which may be dismissed as a case either of downright fraud, or
possibly of pathological lying, 1 we deal invariably in the cases of the
subjects of the gifts and exercises with persons of diseased nervous systems.
The “falling exercise" was one of the phenomena of the Kentucky Revival as well
as of the tongues people. Those who were "stricken of the Lord" lay on the
ground as though dead. It is said that the numbers of those stricken ran into
the hundreds. The persons thus signally afflicted lay on the ground sometimes
for hours before regaining consciousness. Similar conditions could be observed
among the Shakers in connection with their worship. The spectacle of men and
women lying insensible on the floor was among them no unusual occurrence. In
connection with the Shakers a description has already been given of the "jerks,"
another of the Kentucky Revival phenomena. The literature on the Kentucky
Revival is rather meagre. It is interesting, however, to find among the accounts
of that excitement the observations of a young graduate in medicine who
discusses 2 the phenomena from the point of view of science and points out its
pathological nature. The "whirling gift" of the Shakers, which was the process
(spinning like a top, comes to the attention of the neurologist under the guise
of dervish dancing, as

1 Healy, William, and Healy, M. T.: "Pathological Lying, Accusation and
Swindling." Boston, 1915. 2 Robertson, Felix: "Essay on Chorea Sancti Viti;
Inaugural Dissertation." Philadelphia, 1805. does also the state known among the
Shakers as the "dumb devils" under the form of hysterical mutism. In the "barks"
of the Kentucky Revival and the "mortification gifts" of the Shakers, which
included the imitation of the cries of animals, we confront a possible atavistic
as well as a pathological condition. The tendency of nervous disturbances to
cause a deepening of the voice such as was in evidence in the case of the
"barks" is well known. The primitive nature of the imitation of the cries of
animals in connection with religious worship is also a fact which demands
consideration.

All through the study of the tongues movement the fact of tactile anaesthesia of
various degrees existing among those who were looked upon as the objects of
various operations of the spirit of God or of Satan, has been constantly
recurring. Particularly is this evident when we deal with the subject of
witchcraft, where we find the physiological conditions of the tongues without
the nomenclature. The unhappy part which tactile anaesthesia played in the
annals of witchcraft, however, is only one of the many parts played in what
becomes the tragedy of life when ignorance and superstition are the masters. The
"laughing" of the Shakers is not far removed from the camp meeting state of
"getting happy," and in either case we are not far removed from a mild hysteria.
The hearing of voices, the seeing of visions, the feeling of the separation of
the soul from the body, are all alike stigmata of degeneration. The atavistic
nature of the tongues phenomena is another aspect of the case which merits
attention. We have noticed the primitive nature of the love of words viewed
merely as sounds, and we have seen that love of words associated with religious
ideas. In the case of the tongues people we are probably facing the reappearance
of an idea still current among primitive peoples that there is a religious value
and power per se in a word or words. The, falling and crying, the grimaces and
the dances, together with the stress upon sex either in a positive or a negative
fashion, as well as the frequent imitation of the cries of animals, are all
primitive elements which still linger among the tongues people. The difficulty
of studying the tongues from the point of view of speech is greatly increased by
the fact that very few of the cases of tongues with which we meet, are
spontaneous. The elements of imitation and simulation enter so largely into the
utterances of the tongues that it is exceedingly difficult to pass judgment
directly upon the nature of the phenomena. We are obliged to recognise the fact,
however, that the possibility of speaking short, broken sentences or expressing
unmeaning sounds and words as the result of an inner inexplicable compulsion,
which compulsion it is possible to identify with the Spirit of God must be taken
into serious consideration. But in reckoning with such a possibility, we are
obliged to note that such a condition coexists only with some disturbance in the
mental life. The torrent of words, both in the tongues and in prophecy, as well
as the majesty of tone ascribed to those who thus speak, are also fully
consonant with a theory of mental abnormality and pathological physiology. A
factor of a psychological nature which cannot be ignored as pointing towards a
physiological condition which is fundamentally pathological, as the basis of the
tongues movement is the obvious disturbance in the vita sexualis of the tongues
people. The case appears in clearest outlines among the Shakers, although the
fact that the most characteristic doctrine of Mormonism is related to the vita
sexualis is evidence in point. A study of primitive Shakerism from the point of
view of the sexual life brings to light the fact of the existence of such sexual
perversions as may well be presumed to have their origin in physiological
conditions of a pathological nature. Just how far the enforcement of celibacy,
and just how far definitely pathological conditions are responsible for Shaker
exercises cannot be determined. But this much is certain that underneath the
great majority of the Shaker forms of worship, particularly the greater part of
the gifts, there is a definitely perverse sexual tendency. That the gifts for
dancing naked, for going into the water together naked, and certain
mortification gifts can be classified under the head of exhibitionism is
obvious. In John Farrington’s cry of "Love” "More Love," 1 in Father William’s
"The smiting of the righteous is like precious ointment," 2 we are undoubtedly
dealing with the presence of a masochistic tendency, while in the practice of
flagellation, we meet with the opposite, sadism. In the Shakers, as well as in
other people who have taught the ideal of celibacy and sought to repress the
sexual instinct, we find invariably that we hear most about and we deal most
frequently with the problems of sex. It is always in the foreground. In the
early Shaker discourses, there are noticeable references to sex uncleanness,
effeminacy, onanism, and to other terms having to deal with the sexual life. In
Shaker worship sexual ideas are everywhere present. The "hugging" gift and the
"warring" gift are not in this connection to be passed over. Nor are we to
ignore the sexual connotation of dancin- and the possibility of the attaining of
a diffused orgasm through this medium.

It is in the Shakers that the evidences of sexual 1 "Testimonies": XXII:10-11
(p. 155). 2 Brown: op. cit., p. 210. perversion are most clear. But the part
which the sexual impulse has played in Mormonism, among the French Prophets, in
witchcraft and, in particular, in connection with the devils of Loudun, is in no
sense to be ignored.

Religion has always been a fertile field for the expression of egomania. In
Christianity and its various aberrations and perversions the indefinite nature
of the doctrine of the third person of the Trinity has afforded a by no means
neglected opportunity for the claiming by individuals of particular spiritual
excellence due to their special personal relation to the Holy Ghost. How much
this is a well intentioned pious delusion, and how much this state of mind is
akin to egomania involves a very nice distinction. But there is certainly every
evidence of egomania in the statements attributed to Mother Ann.

Thus:

"To John Farrington, a young man who came to her and confessed his sins and to
whom she told still other things about himself, she said, ’Can you now go to
Lebanon and testify that you have found a woman that told you all things that
you have ever done? And is not this the Christ?’ He answered, ’Yea, truly I
can.’ ’

"Morrell Baker, senr., visited the Church at Watervliet, in 1784, and being
under great impression of mind concerning Mother’s calling, he spoke to her and
said, ’Thou art the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife !’ She answered, Thou hast rightly
said: for so I am ! Christ is my husband. I see now many souls who have left the
body, and have come to hear the gospel ! I now hear the hosts of heaven, singing
praises to God !’ " 1

Reference has already been made to the astounding conceit of Joseph Smith, Jr.
One fault of Edward Irving was his tendency to confuse his own ideas with 1
"Testimonies": XXIII: 1 7. the leadings of the Spirit of God. The claims and
presumptions of the prophets and the gifted among the Irvingites, particularly
in reference to their practical exclusion of Irving from the leadership and
councils of church, may also well be called to mind. That we are dealing with
pathological lying in many of the cases which have come under our observation is
sufficiently obvious. It is not to be doubted that either ’M other Ann or Joseph
Smith, Jr., believed, at least after time, in what they said about themselves
and about their revelations. The general shiftlessness of the Smith family, for
example, and their irregular financial condition, together with the incident of
the Kirtland Bank, further evidences of those characteristics which, together
with sexual irregularity, indicate rather clearly a ’pathological condition
existing on the part of the founder of Mormonism. The psychological factors
which may in like manner be looked upon as responsible for the appearance of the
tongues are psychological factors which have greater weight in the determining
of the conduct of persons who are abnormal or slightly abnormal than in
determining the conduct of those who approach normality more nearly. If we
assume as our starting point the involuntary ejaculation of broken fragments of
speech by persons the hysteroid type which utterances are at once seized as
modern recurrences of the apostolic phenomena, we have found the undoubted
physiological beginnings of the gift. The tracing of its spread is a very simple
matter.

Men are "eager for the supernatural." The ordinary way of morality as a school
for spiritual development is often irksome. The bringing in of the Kingdom of
God through patient toil is not an undertaking which commends itself to many
minds. Cataclysmic religion is far more interesting. Voices, visions and
miracles are a much more simple and attractive method of solving the problems of
life than is to be found along the bare and sometimes unattractive path of duty.
The lure of the presence of the supernatural is a will-o’-the-wisp that many
minds follow gladly, never stopping to investigate claims or pretensions as to
the reality of the supernatural. It is too much for some men to work. They must
wait for God. In fact, they would rather wait than work. When men thus eager for
the presence of the supernatural and anxious to see some new signs of the
presence of the Spirit of God in life find a religious and pious man uttering
incoherent sounds, it is obviously possible to interpret such sounds as "unknown
tongues," and to welcome the phenomenon as the gift of tongues. The endowment of
a man with this apostolic gift naturally marks him out as more highly favoured
spiritually than his fellows. It is a mark of distinction. We have noticed how
frequently the fact of the gift has been used in the effort to make proselytes
by the tongues people, and how it has been held up as the proof -positive of the
apostolic nature of the age and of the peculiar excellence spiritually of the
sect concerned. Even religious people are not utterly unsusceptible to the
promptings of the spirit of vanity. Indeed, it is altogether possible and
reasonable to suggest that the doctrine, of sanctification as it is sometimes
presented, the doctrine of the second blessing and the doctrine of the inner
light, all have a dangerous relation to vanity and to a species of selfishness.
The appearance of the tongues may be traced first to disease, second to an eager
expectancy of the supernatural, and in the third place to vanity and the desire
for spiritual distinction.

Imitation is still another factor in the tongues. While there do exist those who
utter, under the influence of an expulsive idea, which cannot be resisted,
disconnected sounds and words, the number of such persons is rare. Beginning
with the French Prophets, it is very easy to trace the factor of imitation in
the development of the tongues movement. In fact, tracing the love of words and
sounds and the speaking in unknown or unusual languages under the influence of
magic or witchcraft, and taking into consideration the cultural standing of the
French Prophets, we can readily understand how the French Prophets came first to
know of the tongues. Or we can very readily suppose that under the conditions of
distress and persecution under which the Camisards lived, spontaneous
manifestations of the tongues might have occurred. From the French Prophets to
the Shakers the line of descent indicates clearly the fact or at least the
possibility of imitation. The origin of the tongues among the Mormons can very
readily be traced to the Shakers. The home of Joseph Smith, Jr., and the country
of the Shakers were in the same neighbourhood. The origin of the gift among the
Irvingites may be attributed to the influence of the French Prophets. Mary
Campbell first spoke in the tongues under the influence of the suggestions
involved in Scott’s preaching. The Macdonalds followed the leading of Mary
Campbell. The American tongues people of to-day are apparently Irvingite in
their origin. The honour and the respect with which the gifted have been treated
among the various tongues people has made it at least worth while to attempt the
tongues, and, in itself, constitutes a suggestion from which the gift may
develop. The further fact that the gift of tongues is treated as an attainment
which is possible only for the inner circle, and that there is a possibility
that by agonising and praying for that gift it may be attained, constitutes a
very forceful psychological factor which may help to explain the gift.

Contagion is another psychological element which has something to do with the
appearing of the gift. The gift to-day is generally manifested in a crowd and in
a scene of confusion and tumult, which reflects no credit upon the Kingdom of
God. The excitement of revivals, and the general exuberance and disorders of
camp meetings, and particularly the "after meetings," are to-day fertile soil
from which we may expect the gift to spring.

We are not to forget the aversion to culture which sometimes exists on the part
of the tongues people. The folly of all the learning of the "world’s people" has
ever been a favourite topic for the thought and discussion of the tongues
people. The antagonism of the Shakers in their early days to learning is
notorious. While it is undoubtedly true that this antagonism to culture on the
part of the ignorantly religious and the religious ignorant is the expression of
a "suppressed desire” it is a fact with which, whatever its origin, we may
reckon. For a man or a woman destitute of all "book-learning" to be able to
speak, under what is conceived to be the influence of the Holy Spirit, in
languages which the learned of this world cannot understand, much less speak, is
an unmistakable triumph not only for the cause of religion but for the
individual thus gifted. As we have studied the history of the tongues people we
have found increasing difficulty in assigning the tongues to any known language
or languages. We have seen that Latin and Greek and Hebrew have been frequently
stated to be the tongues in which the speaking took place. When, however, the
matter has been further investigated, we found that the Latin was uniquely
deficient in grammatical construction, or that there are two kinds of Hebrew,
the one of which the person identifying the language spoken as Hebrew is unable
to translate. He is familiar with the other kind of Hebrew. "Indian" tongues
have frequently been stated to have been the languages in question, or we have
been told that the gift was in the language of the Pellew Islands or of some
savage tribe in the southern Pacific Ocean. There are doubtless cases in which
shreds of Latin, like the "amamimini" of Mr. Taplin, were part of the tongues as
well as shreds of Hebrew or Greek, or French, or Indian tongues. But in no case
is there substantial evidence of any sort that the persons who claimed to speak
by inspiration in other languages, actually used other languages. The testimony
is universally that of the person who claimed to have spoken in the "other
tongues" or of interested witnesses. Whenever men of any linguistic knowledge
have investigated the phenomena, they have united in testifying that the
language spoken was indeed unknown. This conclusion of learned doctors that the
language investigated was unknown has been seized triumphantly by the tongues
people as a proof of the supernatural origin of the gift. Here is something,
they tell us, in the presence of which the learned are helpless. And yet God
has, through the gift of the interpretation of tongues, raised up in their own
ranks those able to translate the language unknown and incomprehensible to
scholars. With an argument of this sort it is difficult to deal. The only
possible refutation of any gratuitous assumption in the field of religion is the
final refutation the ethical. The fruits of the tongues movement are ignorance,
selfishness, conceit, dishonesty, fornication, adultery, unnatural vices, and
blasphemy. If these be the works of the Spirit, then we know not what or who the
Spirit is, or what or who God is.

We might, however, call to mind what is believed to be said in the unknown
tongues, as revealed through the gift of the interpretation of tongues. It is
safe to say that the message of the tongues, is always eschatological. It deals
with the duty of repentance, and with the fact of impending judgment and
punishment, particularly for the enemies of the faith. It seems to be a warning
of evil to come as far as the messages given in the tongues have been translated
and the translation thereof recorded in English. The note of praise seems to
have been sounded in the Shaker hymns in the tongues, although it is just as
possible that they may have been songs celebrating the general worthiness and
excellence of the Shakers. Brigham Young’s prayer in the "pure Adamic language,"
as well as Mother Ann’s prayers in the tongues, seem never to have been
translated. It is difficult to judge of their thought-content if they had any.

It is possible, then, to sum up the tongues as far as definite meaning is
concerned by saying that they are a jargon language composed of sounds an exact
classification of which it is impossible to make. The sounds are sometimes
suggestive of echolalia. They are sometimes the products of memory- conscious or
subconscious, as are the shreds of Latin, or Greek, or other known foreign
languages which appear among the tongues. They are sometimes suggestive of the
fact that the gifted is trying to think of another sonorous word to use and is
compelled to fall back on shouting out words like "Ezekiel, Obadiah."

Whatever may be the meaning of the sounds actually uttered, there is certainly
some state of mind back of the utterance. It may be the simple desire to make an
impression, to give a demonstration of one’s spiritual powers and of one’s
intimacy with the divine. If this is the mental condition, then we are dealing
with fraud pure and simple; fraud that is actually fraud, whether it be a pious
fraud or a commercial fraud.

There are easels of the tongues which, however, must not be classified under the
head of fraud. Where we deal with those persons who are impelled by an inner
force over which they have no control, to involuntary utterances of broken
sounds, we deal with a problem psychologically different certainly from that of
the state of mind of one who is guilty of conscious fraud. The mental state here
is doubtless analogous to what St. Paul was thinking about when he spoke of
"whether in the body or out of the body." It seems to involve in it the elements
of exaltation and of highly pleasurable excitement. States of mind characterised
by exaltation and highly pleasurable excitement, accompanied by or followed by
the ejaculation of irregular vocal sounds, or disconnected words, can be found
associated with alcoholic intoxication, forms of epileptic seizure, and
sometimes with coitus. We are compelled, then, to recognise that in the state of
mind incident to spontaneous expressions of the tongues, we are dealing with a
state of mind which is associated with a pathological condition as in alcoholic
intoxication or in epilepsy, or we are dealing with a state of mind related to
the sexual instinct. In the latter case, the effort to repress the sexual nature
and entirely to eliminate it is, for the tongues people, a physiological and
psychological absurdity.

There is only one reason why we may look upon the tongues as a supernatural
manifestation, and that reason is to be found in our desire to do so. If we wish
to identify disease with the miraculous, there is no power to prevent our doing
so. It has been done before. But there is every evidence pointing to the fact
that the tongues in their origin are either a fraud or pathological, or both.


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  CHAPTER 13: 09 ETHICAL ASPECTS OF GIFT
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Chapter 9 Ethical Aspects of the Gift

IF ecstacy were a state of mind and nothing but a state of mind, and a state of
mind could exist without some sort of expression in conduct and character, we
could probably afford to ignore the ethical problems involved in the gift of
tongues, and we would probably be justified in looking upon the tongues people
as pious and well intentioned folks who are given a little to vagaries in their
religious lives. But religion is always related for better or for worse to
ethics. And where religion fails to find an ethical expression, it assuredly
falls short of any adequate definition of religion. It is certainly in the field
of ethics that we are to subject religion to its ultimate test. Where a religion
goes hand in hand with the development and expression of the noblest elements in
human character, we are justified in arguing for the metaphysical validity of
that religion. We are justified in commending it to mankind as a way of life.
Where the transgression, not merely of social conventions but of those
principles of righteousness upon which usefulness and happiness are builded, is
the invariable associate and must be expected to be the invariable associate of
a given form of religion, then we face the positive duty of the discouraging
and, as far as possible, the preventing of the spread of the ways of thought of
that type of religion. There is a difference to be distinguished between
tolerance towards religion and tolerance towards crime. Where the expression of
religion is anti-moral and positively criminal, the prevention of its
propagation becomes a positive duty, and that prevention means especially the
refusal to tolerate ecstatic ideas in the leadership of modern Christendom.

We have been startled by the appalling array of crimes with which the tongues
movement has been associated. When we realise that the sort of physiological
conditions which are responsible for speaking in tongues eliminating for the
moment any psychological factor from our consideration are responsible also for
crimes, we may come to realise upon what terrifically dangerous moral ground we
are treading. Christianity faces the menace and has always faced the menace of
the semi-insane and the semi-responsible within its own ranks.

It is a fact worthy of very serious consideration that, in identifying the
tongues movement with holiness, we are identifying with holiness the criminaloid
type of mind. Exactly the same type of mind and, for that matter, the same types
of skull that are to be met with in the tongues peoples, are to be met with
among criminals. There is no psychological and no fundamental physiological
distinction which can be made between the man with criminal tendencies and the
man with tendencies toward ecstatic religion. The same sort of people
psychologically and physiologically are to be met with among the tongues people
and in our penal institutions. It is a great deal better for society for a man
to be ecstatically religious than it is for him to be a criminal. But there is
always the psychological possibility of the great sinner becoming the great
saint and the great saint becoming the great sinner. And there is certainly the
obligation to prevent the theology of that type of mind from becoming the
theology of Christendom.

It is therefore of very considerable importance that we note with care the
ethical associations of the tongues movement. The most obvious moral dereliction
which we face among the tongues people is the variation from generally accepted
modern standards of sexual ethics. The charge of sexual irregularities against
forms of Christianity is an old charge and a frequently made charge. It is in
the vast majority of cases an utterly false charge. In the case of the tongues
people, however, it is a proved charge. Little need be said about the polygamous
practices of ancient or modern Mormonism. But we can remind ourselves of it as a
gross transgression of sexual ethics and of its origin among those leaders -of
the Mormons who were first also in ecstacies and visions. We can find also the
element of sexual irregularity facing us in the account of the Devils of Loudun
and, in fact, wherever we read the annals of witchcraft. The charge of
promiscuity was made with some degree of evidence against the Camisards. The
relation of Lacy and Betty Gray was a notorious scandal in the days of the
greatness of the French Prophets in London. We have seen the evidences which
suggest the existence of perverse sexual tendencies among the Shakers. Upon
whatever psychological or physiological grounds it may be possible to justify
forms of sexual perversion, if they can be justified, they still must be
regarded as distinctly anti-social practices, fraught with tremendous moral
danger for mankind.

Through all the histories of the tongues people there appears and reappears the
doctrine of free love or spiritual marriage. It appears in one form in the
Mormon practice of sealing as related to the dead. While it was apparently never
a definite article in the Shaker creed, it was apparently often present in
Shaker thought. It is also intimated as a possibility among some of the English
Irvingites. The Irvingite movement, among the more influential tongues
movements, contains in its historic appearance the least suggestion of sexual
irregularity. Yet it evidenced all the psychological characteristics which under
different social conditions might have found expression in gross immorality. Of
the three widespread modern movements which we have studied, Irvingism was alone
surrounded by the social conditions of civilisation. The primitive conditions
existing in America in the early days of Shakerism and the equally primitive
conditions under which Mormonism gained its ascendancy were conditions under
which there was an opportunity for such immorality as would not have been
tolerated, at least as an article of religion, in London and the other cities in
which Irvingism flourished. This is further evidenced in the fact that in the
days of the busy proselytising for Mormonism which characterised the first half
of the last century, the fact of polygamy was not publicly mentioned. The great
stress in preaching in connection with the Mormon missions in England, France
and Germany was laid upon the claim to apostolic gifts. Mormonism has always had
something about it of which it has not ethical backbone enough to be ashamed,
but of which it is afraid to speak when it is face to face with culture.

Another fact which might be looked upon as having an effect in preventing
Irvingism from manifesting itself upon the same moral plane as Shakerism and
Mormonism, is found in the type of men who were the early Irvingite leaders. The
Albury prophetic group stands upon much higher cultural and moral ground than
does Ann Lee or Joseph Smith, Jr.

Sexual irregularity is always related to family life. The early histories of the
Shakers contain constant references to the terrible injustices perpetrated by
the Shakers in their attempts to gain control of families. When a father became
a Shaker and his wife refused to, or vice versa, there was always the issue of
the control of the children and, what seemed especially to interest the Shakers,
the control of the family property. We have only to read accounts like that of
Mary Dyer to understand just how much of bitterness and heartache was brought
needlessly into life, and with what frequency lives were robbed of their joy and
sunshine because of the perversions of Christianity which Shakerism preached.

Another side of the picture and at least equally tragic is that painted by women
who have been the victims of Mormon polygamy. No one can ever tell the story of
the blighted hopes and bitter heartaches of the women upon whose lives Mormonism
has cast its shadow.

We do not here need to discuss the effects upon child life and in the upbringing
of children of the sex irregularities of Mormonism and Shakerism. It is
sufficient to call attention to the existence of those facts, and with those
facts to note also the tendency towards the extinguishing of sympathy, love and
idealism in the lives of the men and women who are responsible for those sins.

Sex crimes are not the only ethical transgressions which may be charged against
the tongues movement. The part which bigotry has played in the history of
Christianity is so familiar a one that it scarcely needs to be recalled. The
crimes of the Inquisition and the crimes of the Reformation cast so dark a
shadow upon the pages of the history of Christendom that they cannot but tell to
all the sadly familiar story that Christian morality is not as old as Christian
ethics. While there is an historical explanation of the crimes committed by
Christendom in the low level of contemporaneous moral standards, there is always
a psychological suspicion that in the most active spirits and instruments in
persecution we are dealing with degeneration. For that reason it is always to be
expected that, where religion rests upon a pathological basis ’ and where the
condition of civilisation is not such as to prevent crimes of violence, such
crimes will go hand in hand with bigotry. In the case of the Camisards and of
the Mormons, we find these facts notoriously to be true. The conditions of
civilisation under which the Shakers lived made crimes of violence impossible,
at the same time affording ample liberty for sex transgressions. The state of
society in general, and the state of society in Utah in particular in the
pioneer days of Mormonism, gave ample scope for all the criminal tendencies of
the Camisards and the Mormons, respectively. The wars waged by the Camisards
were wars waged for existence. But they were none the less characterised by the
most brutal and savage reprisals and by unnecessary atrocities. The charges of
violence against the Mormons are old and well known. The most familiar is the
story of the Mountain Meadows massacre, which is said to have been organised and
planned by leaders of the Mormon church. The statement is made that a party of
emigrants, making their way to the California gold fields, were decoyed by the
Mormons under a promise of protection, and later were attacked and destroyed by
a party of Mormons disguised as Indians. Previous to the massacre a Mormon
meeting was held.

"The meeting was then addressed by one in authority. He spoke in about this
language: ’Brethren, we have been sent here to perform a duty. It is a duty that
we owe to God, and to our Church and people. The orders of those in authority
are that all emigrants must die. Our leaders speak with inspired tongues, and
their orders come from the God of Heaven. We have no right to question what they
have commanded us to do; it is our duty to obey. . . . We must kill them all,
and our orders are to get them out by treachery. . . .’

"I, therefore, taking all things into consideration, and believing, as I then
did, that my superiors were inspired men, who could not go wrong in any matter
relating to the church, or the duty of its members, concluded to be obedient to
the wishes of those in authority. I took up my cross and prepared to do my
duty." 1

After the massacre, McCurdy, who was with Lee, from whose confession we are
quoting (Lee was executed subsequently for his participation in the crime):

"went up to Knight’s wagon where the sick and wounded were, and raising his
rifle, said: ’O Lord, my God, receive their spirits, it is for thy Kingdom that
I do this/ He then shot a man who was lying with his head on another man’s
breast: the ball killed both men." 2 When the work of slaughter was ended,
"Colonel Dame then blest the brethren and we prepared to go to our homes," 3

Lee informs us that his conscience greatly troubled him about the massacre, and
that he went to talk with Brigham Young about the matter:

"I went to see him again in the morning. When I went in, he seemed quite
cheerful. He said:

"’I have made this matter a subject of prayer. 7 went right to God with it, and
asked him to take the 1 Lee, John D.: "Mormonism Unveiled," etc. St. Louis, Mo.,
1891; p. 237, 2 Same: p. 241. 3 Same: p. 249. horrid vision from my sight, if it
was a righteous thing that my people had done in killing those people at
Mountain Meadows. God answered me, and at once the vision was removed. I have
evidence from God that he overruled it all for good and the action was a
righteous one and well intended." 1

Mention may also be made of the Mormon organisation known as the Danites, and
the multitude of atrocious crimes alleged to have been committed under the
direction of the organisation. When we are speaking of crimes of violence
committed in the name of religion, we must not forget the crimes of witchcraft.
The judicial tortures and the judicial murders committed because of a belief in
witchcraft are not to be ignored when we review the history of the crimes to be
written over against the account of Christianity. Many a woman whose only crimes
were poverty and ugliness and old age was tortured or put to death on charges
preferred by a lying or hysteroid boy or girl. Whenever hysteria has ruled
religion it has left behind it the horrid trail of crime and sin.

Dishonesty as a characteristic of religious movements and of religious leaders
is always the more painful and distressing because of the implicit trust very
often reposed in persons who claim to be religious. For those who make the nicer
and the fairer ethical distinctions there is something certainly immoral about
the relations of the early Shakers to property. Their settlements with persons
withdrawing from the society and their indifference to family welfare when the
possibility of getting control of a family inheritance was in question, savour
very distinctly of sharp practice.

One of the most notorious of the financial undertakings 1 Same: pp. 253-4. of
the tongues people was the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, the story of which we
have told in connection with our discussion of the history of the Mormons. The
financial relation of Joseph Smith, Jr., to Martin Harris is also here to be
noted, as are also the frequent charges made against the Mormons of cattle
stealing and similar crimes.

Pious frauds and their histories form no little part of the history of the
tongues movement. Laying aside the whole question of the Book of Mormon as a
piece either of direct fraud or pathological lying, the story of the mummies and
the Book of Abraham affords an amazing and interesting commentary upon Mormon
ethics. Betty Gray’s blindness and her subsequent restoration to sight belongs
to the same class of ethical phenomena. The eagerness of the Shaker leaders to
disown the practice of both sexes bathing together and the practice of dancing
naked is also to be classified under the same head. The relation of the Shaker
movement to the vita sexualis might well be regarded as an unconscious fraud.
The fact that their abstract and dogmatic principles denied the sexual life and
that their exercises and their forms of worship were fundamentally sexual brings
us into the realm of what well may be called psychological fraud. Is nothing to
be said about one of the saddest and bitterest of aspects of the tongues
movement? The greatest ostensible Lure of the tongues gospel has been the claim
of God’s special relation to the tongues people. It is because they have talked
holiness and claimed holiness, because they have been much given to Bible
reading and Bible quoting, and much given to their own kinds of prayer, that
many men and women of uncritical minds have been attracted to them. When
holiness is promised and nothing but selfishness, bigotry, and even positive
crimes can be found, surely not the least crime committed is the crime against
high ideals that have been dragged into the dirt, and glowing hopes that have
become the bitterness of broken hearts. The pathos of the Irvingite movement is
to be found in Edward Irving. If there is no other crime which we may charge
against the tongues people, this crime still stands. A man full of trust, of
promise, of love of God and lave of man, caught and carried to his destruction
in the "vortex of the supernatural"!

We do not need, either, to be silent as we face the crime against intelligence
which is the sine qua non of the tongues movement. Are we forever to listen to
ignoramuses, to men and women too lazy to read, to study and to think,
proclaiming that the way of salvation is the way of the repudiation of all
learning and all knowledge? Are we to turn back the hand of time until it marks
again those centuries of darkness when only Fear was God and every man’s hand
was against his brother?

There is a more serious duty than that involved in the simple obligation of
kindliness toward the uneducated and the unlearned. There is the positive duty
of preventing the unlearned and the unintelligent from dragging the darkness and
mists in which they have dwelt into the Kingdom of God and hiding in that
darkness the light of truth. There is a place for the unlearned man in the
Kingdom of God But there is no place for hostility to learning in the Kingdom of
God. There is a moral obligation to be intelligent. Let us be well assured that
the ignorance of the dark ages shall not again lead Christendom.

Religion is certainly more than a speaking about things holy. Religion is
certainly more than a claim to be holy. It is more than punctiliousness and care
in the minor moralities and in the details of worship. Religion is the way of
life which brings man up to God and brings God down to man. But it is God as He
is whom we must bring down to man, the God whose very nature is antagonistic to
sin, whose spirit will never linger where sin and crime are rulers. It is God
who has spoken and who still can speak through order and beauty and intelligence
and the moral law. God may speak through disorder and tumult; God may speak
through the darkness of superstition and bigotry. But God speaks most often and
most clearly through reason and the ordered paths of nature. The way for men to
go who seek the path to God is not the way of fancy or of disorderly thinking,
but the way of ordered thought and the way of man’s clearest thinking.

Christendom has waited long and patiently to see whether this thing this gift of
tongues is of God. It is of sickness, of poverty, of fatigue, of disease, of
crime. It is not of God. THE END


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/mackie-alexander-gift-of-tongues/
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