WITCHCRAFT, ETC. himself and his friends for several years. With the aid of his twenty-five cents and his buttons, he reached the end of his journey. In due time he finished his college studies, and he has since become a man of much distinction, and has acquired not only extensive fame, but a large fortune. Such indomitable energy and unyielding perseverance, must ever insure success in any enterprise. But, gentle reader, I must detain you no longer this time. We will, however, next month, meet again. So, good night! WITCHCRAFT, ETC. BY THE EDITOR. We have just laid aside two works, which we glanced at with interest: "A Sermon on Witchcraft," by Dr. Wilson, senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, and "Philosophy of Mystery," by Dendy. The former we perused carefully-the latter partially and cursorily. As we are in immediate need of copy, we suffer our pen to record the thoughts which they have excited. A BELIEF in the interposition of supernatural creatures in the management of human affairs, seems to have prevailed in all ages. Astrology was one of the earliest forms of superstition. This art, now generally neglected, has left its traces in some of the metals and their preparations—in the character (originally the symbol of Jupiter) with which the physician commences his recipe-in the practices of catharticizing and bleeding at particular seasons-the annual opening, on the sixth of August, of the pit whence is obtained the Lemnian earth, (terra sigillata,) &c. { 69 phenomena. This form of superstition was held by many ancient nations. Originating, probably, in the east, where the magi were objects of veneration, it traveled to the west, notwithstanding the prohibitions of Roman emperors. By this art the Egyptian magi sought to diminish the influence of Moses. The splendid discoveries of Roger Bacon, who, in natural science, was far in advance of his age, were, by many of his cotemporaries, ascribed to it. We have sometimes met with men who pretended to cure diseases, stop blood issuing from wounded arteries, &c., by the enchantment of words. We have also found (a greater wonder) intelligent persons who credited their pretensions. Amulets and talismans are not unfrequently met with now, even in Christian countries, especially in Ireland, where many a mother ties a "gospel" around her child's neck to avert the dreaded influence of the fairy. The coral which the infant presses to his gums, and the beads which the lady suspends from her neck, are relics of a practice introduced by soothsayers. Sorcery originally meant divination by lot; but in the middle ages it was employed to designate the magi, or the eastern and more respectable wizzards. Necromancy signifies prophesying by means of the dead. We have an instance in the history of Saul-the raising of Samuel by the witch of Endor. This art was practiced in Greece and many other ancient states, particularly Thessaly, where it was attended with unusual horrors. Under the Christian dispensation a milder form of necromancy has prevailed, namely, that of performing rites to call forth the voices of the dead from their graves. Traces of this superstition are found at the present day, even in refined society, in the tendency so prevalent to consider the last words of the dying prophetic. Exorcism is the art of casting out evil spirits by adjuration. It has been practiced in all ages among Pagan nations. It existed even among the ancient Jews to a considerable extent. In the third century, it was practiced by the Christian Church at the baptism of heretics and heathens, under an impression that they were possessed; and, upon the adoption of St. Augustine's views of original sin, it became a uniform accompaniment of baptism. Traces of it exist at the present day in the Lutheran Church, while in the Catholic it is found as a preliminary to baptism, and a means of allaying storms, relieving the possessed, and killing vermin. Divination was practiced, primarily, in particular places; subsequently, independent of any locality. First came the partus, who, on great emergencies, revealed the future; then the bacides, and the sibyllæ, pretending to derive their knowledge from sacred books; then the most grand of all impositions, the oracles, followed by the soothsayers, or petty diviners, and fortune-tellers; next augury and the interpretation of signs by experience or routine. Nor was the interpretation of dreams omitted. Traces of divination are found at this day among the followers of Jemima Wilkinson, the Gipsies, the thousands who give attention to the death-watch, or the movements of birds, or lucky and unlucky days, or dreams, or A witch is one who performs miraculous feats by the sortes sanctorum, (in imitation of the sortes Ho- the aid of evil spirits. Witchcraft is of modern merica of the Greeks, and the sortes Virgilianæ of orign, though the term occurs in the Scriptures. the Romans,) a mode of judging of the future by Many commentators, however, contend that the opening the Scriptures at random, and forming an Hebrew word charasp signifies poisoner, and they opinion from the passage on which the eye happens appeal, in support of this translation, to the Septuato fall. Many have been plunged into despair, or gint which renders it by paguanès, the Greek word elated through false hopes, by this means. for poisoner. The word used in Galatians v, 20, is Enchantment is the employment of words, gestic-paguania, from a word signifying drug or poison, ulations, or characters, to produce extraordinary and, we think, means those spells and enchantments though it is not yet extirpated entirely. We believe there have been three trials for witchcraft, before the civil magistracy, within the limits of this state. One, if we have not been misinformed, occurred in Seneca county, and was occasioned by the combustion of a wagon, in which a man was carrying quicklime. A shower came up while he was on the way, a part of which, falling in love with the lime and agreeing to enter into the solid state in union with it, evolved sufficient caloric to do the mischief, which was ascribed to the witch. We have heard of sheep and oxen being burnt, in our own day and country, in order to drive off witches who were supposed to have occasioned pestilence among flocks and herds. Who has not heard of the interference of witches in domestic affairs. A lady in manufac which were used among the ancients to cure or to while on the circuit, had given, many years before, produce disease, to excite love, or hatred, &c. Early in a merry mood, to mine host by way of reckonin the Christian Church, the opinion prevailed thating." When the natural sciences began to be cultithe gods of the heathen were evil spirits, who had {vated, the belief in witchcraft gradually withered, blindfolded the nations and led them astray to destroy them. Hence true prophecy was accorded to ancient oracles, but traced through them to Satanic agency. It is easy to perceive in this opinion a foundation for the modern popular notion of witchcraft. The foundation being laid, it received perpetual accretions from the introduction of exorcism at the baptismal font, the worship of saints and relics, and the numberless errors of the ages of increasing darkness which succeeded the first few centuries of the Christian era. The study of the classics was calculated to strengthen the popular superstition, for their brightest pages glitter with demons; and Plato distinctly asserts, that "God has no immediate intercourse with men, but all the interviews and conversations between the gods and mortals, is carried on by means of the demons, both in waking and sleeping."{turing soap, after much pains sometimes finds the No wonder that ignorant monks, in their lonely retreats, with their imaginations stimulated by physical phenomena, which, in their profound ignorance of natural science, they knew not how to explain, should fancy they saw the devil or his imps, and even attempt to describe his Satanic majesty's horns, tail, and cloven foot. Although in the fourth century the Council of Ancyra, by denouncing as heretical the belief in magical transformations, and some of the fathers, by discrediting the stories of witches riding through the air, attempted to arrest the progress of witchcraft, yet the superstition continued to increase until, in the twelfth century, it was matter of religious faith, and of ecclesiastical and civil legislation. The crusades, which threw a flash of light over Europe, gave to this superstition but a temporary check; while the Reformation, so fruitful in blessed results, served rather to strengthen than weaken the popular notion of witchcraft. The most dreadful persecutions on this account, followed the track of Calvinian orthodoxy. Luther thought he routed the devil himself by throwing an inkstand in his face, and it is affirmed that, at a later day, even our own Wesley, whom we so much admire and love, said, "To give up witchcraft is to give up the Bible." grease upon the top of the kettle, and the alkali at the bottom. Now, instead of putting in some lime to deprive the alkali of its carbonic acid, considering her kettle bewitched, she heats her poker, and plunges it in again and again, and next day inquires for some old lady in the neighborhood who has been badly burned. In some parts of our state, you may find horseshoes over many a door. We have often met with sensible men who fully believed in witchcraft, and whom we could much more easily supply with assafoetida than convince of their superstition. We are reminded by the discourse, named at the head of this article, that witchcraft is, sometimes, more than a vulgar delusion, and we must treat the subject seriously. We confess we were not a little surprised at Dr. Wilson's sermon. This gentleman is, in our estimation, one of the ablest divines in America. Deservedly is he honored for his age, his piety, his talents, his learning, and his long and valuable services. This discourse is founded on Galatians v, 20-a passage which, in our humble opinion, has no reference to what men now generally understand to be witchcraft.. The Doctor says, "A witch is a person who practices some kinds of curious arts in order to gain profit or applause, or to confirm men in erroneous opinions." If so, there are, undoubtedly, many witches in this city, especially on Main and Fifth-streets. But the Doctor certainly does not mean to class among witches men who merely practice curious arts for profit or applause; for he specifies divination, enchantment, necromancy, sorcery, exorcism, and soothsaying, as the modes by which witchcraft is practiced. Such men as Hale, the brightest ornaments of the English bench, patiently witnessed the processes by which witches purged themselves; calmly listened to the evidences of their guilt; and formally condemned them to death at the stake. In passing, we cannot refrain from alluding to a good story of Sir Matthew, "He was presiding on the trial of a witch. She had cured many diseases by a certain charm, and the evidence of guilt seemed conclusive. But when the Judge himself looked on this charm, behold! it was a scrap of paper inscribed with a Latin sentence, which, in default of money, he himself, {craft." A third is the reason assigned by the prophet The Doctor's first argument is founded upon the declarations of the Jewish civil law against witchcraft. His second argument is based on the words in Samuel: "For rebellion is as the sin of witch WITCHCRAFT, ETC. Having advanced his proofs, the Doctor gives examples, namely, Joseph's divining cup, the enchantments of the Egyptian magicians who withstood Moses, the raising of the witch of Endor, Simon the sorcerer, the damsel of Philippi, the seven sons of Sceva at Ephesus, and some modern instances noticed in the sequel. The author next explains how this sin originates. His theory is, that God sends witchcraft upon men as a punishment for rejecting the truth: thus an evil spirit was sent to Saul when the Spirit of God forsook him. He then proceeds to give some modern examples of witchcraft. He names the Papacy, a certain European prince, the Shakers, the Mormons, the followers of Mesmer, and Swedenborgianism. The discourse is closed by an exhibition of the Gospel as the only remedy for witchcraft. Although the author's definition does not embrace the distinctive feature of modern witchcraft, (demoniacal agency,) yet his whole discourse implies it. The various species enumerated are supernatural arts; and the instances adduced, both ancient and modern,. (according to his interpretation and opinion,) imply infernal aid. Speaking of the case of Saul, he says, "The woman, by her art, brought up Samuel, who conversed with Saul." Of modern instances the Doctor speaks as follows: "You may talk 71 be explained without supposing real miracle by diabolical agency? In the case of Samuel, there was a real miracle; but did not God, not the witch, call Samuel from his rest? The witch was astonished and alarmed by the phenomenon. Suppose that diabolical agency, in producing natural results, was permitted in ancient times, have we reason to believe that it exists now? We know an opinion has prevailed among those who believe that devils had great power upon the earth in ancient times, that at the advent of Christ that power was restrained. But let us look to the Doctor's modern instances. Now we marvel that, at the very period when the phlegmatic German mind is inflamed by an attempt to revive the impositions connected with the pilgrimage to the Holy Coat of Treves, and while thousands are rushing at the risk of reputation, fortune, livelihood, and perhaps life to the new Catholic German Church, a Protestant clergyman should assert that the Holy Coat does perform miracles. Prove this, and Ronge can be silenced-prove this, and the mother Church will be satisfied-she will not be troubled with the charge of witchcraft. The prince to whom the Doctor refers, was, doubtless, Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe. We are curious to know to which of his cases Dr. Wilson would refer as miraculous. Was it the case of Princess Matilda? If so, we should insist upon the claims of Heine, her machinist. The Doctor will not surely take us into the Bamburg and Wurtzburg hospitals, which keep such a fearful account of the Prince's failures, and the interference of the police in relation to his experiments. Nor will he excite our credence by a history of the Prince of Hildburg about ignorance, credulity, shrewd guessing, imag-hausen's eyes. True, there were wonderful cures ination, sympathy, collusion, and sleight of hand; but none of these, nay, all of them put together, can account for the well attested miracles of the Papists and the Shakers, the phenomena of Mesmerism, and the spiritual cognitions of Emanuel Swedenborg. They must have been produced either by the power of God, or by the power of the devil; for they are evidently above the power of man. You cannot deny the phenomena. To what power, O Christian, will you ascribe them? With the Scriptures before you, how can you be at a loss? These are the spirits of devils working miracles, showing great signs and wonders." performed by Hohenlohe; but it might be well to compare his successful with his unsuccessful cases, and to inquire into the influence of the imagination in the cure of disease. If any decline such investiga{tions, let them take the opinion of Pope Pius VII, who certainly had more doubts on the subject of the Prince's miracles than Dr. Wilson. Never having given much attention to witchcraft, we must speak doubtingly. In regard to ancient witchcraft, was it not an offshot of idolatry-the rendering to the creature or the phantom, that fear and trust due only to God? Is it not more reasonable to suppose that the divine Being would punish this crime by delivering the transgressors to their own delusions, than by giving them, or evil spirits, power to disturb the laws of this beautiful universe? Is there any case recorded in the Bible which cannot The Doctor gives his opinion that Swedenborg was a bad man, but that he had intercourse with the spiritual world. The disciples of Swedenborg will, we apprehend, be of all others the least disquieted by this opinion: what more can they ask than the concession it contains? Now we can only say that our opinion is directly the reverse of the Doctor's. In the wonders of Shakerism and Mormonism, we see nothing but the workings of cunning and impudence upon ignorance, stupidity, and superstition; and we regret that so high an authority as Dr. Wilson should admit that they were miraculous. Mesmerism ingrafts itself upon somnambulism, and needs but little acuteness, and jugglery, to accomplish its feats before a credulous multitude. But we must dismiss the pamphlet, by saying, that 72 MY FIRST CLASS LEADER. we hope nothing we have written will be deemed disrespectful to Dr. Wilson, whom we esteem and venerate. The work of Mr. Dendy, to which we have referred at the head of this article, is a very interesting book; its style is easy, its language chaste, and its discussions are both amusing and philosophical. Its object is, to explain, by well known physical and physiological laws, the various stories of spectres, scenes in magic mirrors, second sight, prophetic dreams, somniloquence, somnambulism, &c. We commend it to the attention of the superstitious, especially to such as consult fortune-tellers, or allow themselves to be disquieted by natural phenomena; to those, also, who fear to pass a grave-yard in the night, or go into the cellar without a candle or a whistle; or who narrate to their children foolish tales of fairies, and attempt to govern them by threatening to send evil spirits after them. We were once troubled with vain, superstitious fears, but we have scattered them, partly by looking into the natural sciences, but chiefly by gazing upon God's word. In these magnificent and harmonious revelations, we have learned that there is an eternal Being, infinite in power and wisdom, who has created the universe, and who preserves, governs, and blesses it; that his tender mercies are over all his works; and that he is everywhere present, exerting his fatherly care and goodness upon the meanest of his creatures, and swaying a sceptre, holy, just, and good, over those beings he has made in his own image. To fear him is the beginning of wisdom; to fear any thing else, real or fanciful, in heaven or earth, or under the earth, is the basis of all vice and folly. It is delightful to reflect that the universal Father himself communes with his rational creatures. This was a doctrine heathenism could never reach, but which the Bible has brought to light with life and immortality. Reader, feel after God, if haply you may find him, for he is not far from any of us. It is the perversion of these grand and celestial doctrines by wicked men, who wished not to retain God in their knowledge, that has caused all the idolatry and superstitious fears and fancies of men. May God turn a pure philosophy and a pure language upon our hearts. MY FIRST CLASS-LEADER. He is gone!-gone, no doubt, to glory. How difficult to realize it. More easy to think of him as he was, than as he is. In calling up the painfully pleasing recollections of the past, they tell me I love him. And why not? It is said the memory of the friends of our early youth is long and dearly cherished; much more true is this of the friends of our spiritual childhood. Who cannot remember the minister, from whose lips-guided and impelled by a power Divine-came the word that first reached our heart? or the friend who first spoke to us of our soul, and, leading us to the altar, knelt, wept and prayed with us when we drank the bitter cup, and rejoiced with us when the evidence came that we were accepted, and our name was written in heaven? Who does not love, in imagination, to go back and live over the scenes of the camp ground, the class-room, the closet, and other "heavenly places" interwoven with the early recollections of our spiritual youth? But what place or person more dear to memory than our first class and leader? How delightful it was there to exercise that newly infused principle, (Christian love,) feel it reciprocated, and be able to say, "We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." What a pleasure to listen to the instructions of the leader, as he selected from the store-house of divine truth the food we needed, or directed our feet in our first efforts to walk in "wisdom's way," assisted us in our stammering attempts to speak the language of Canaan, supported us when we were trembling and in danger of falling; and when first called to use our sword and shield, in the midst of the conflict cheered us on, told us on whom to trust, and pointed to the crown. My first leader was a man of much more than ordinary intellectual and moral worth. Though diligent in business, he was fervent in spirit. The class-room was his home. Here his spiritual vision seemed to strengthen, and, like Bunyan's pilgrim on the delectable mountains, by the telescope of faith he often caught a glimpse of the Celestial City: as his soul filled at the sight, he walked the room and sung, "Soon will the toilsome strife be o'er," &c. And then with his hands clasped, and his eyes directed upward, wet with tears, exclaimed, "Blessed Jesus! blessed Savior!" and turning to his class, with a look that told of bliss within, exhorted us to urge our passage to the skies, and claim our mansion there. Often have we heard him feelingly speak of the sweet assurance he had the Lord would bring him safe home. And so it was. As he lay upon his dying pillow, and time rolled him rapidly toward his Father's house, he exclaimed, ""Tis love that drives my chariot wheels, And death must yield to love." Death yielded; for when he came to the valley, so great was the light around him, that only a faint shadow was thrown across the path: as he passed on he exclaimed, "I'm half way through." Just then, as he looked forward, the glories of the upper world broke full upon his enraptured sight, "heaven opened to his eyes, his ears with sounds seraphic rung.” With his expiring breath he exclaimed, "Look! look! I see them." "There's light across the valley." It was the broad blaze of ethereal light, reflected upon the dying Christian's vision from the gates of pearl, and streets of gold. Thus died the leader. May his class all follow him. THETA. THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 73 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. BY PROFESSOR MERRICK. ACCORDING to promise, I take up my pen again, intending to limit myself, in the present number, to the literature of the Bible. Written as the Bible was by different men, in ages widely remote, but by the inspiration of the Almighty, the style of its composition, as might be expected, is exceedingly diversified, rising from the plainest narrative to the highest strains of impassioned poetry. Here may be found passages of the loftiest sublimity, and of the deepest pathos-here are beautiful descriptions of natural scenery, and the finest pencilings of the heart. And as a standard of pure English, the translation in common use is undoubtedly superior to any other work extant. So it has always been regarded by the best English writers. Even Byron, though he hated its truths, acknowledged the superiority of the Bible as a work of literature. It was one of the few books always found upon his table. For sublimity of sentiment, and purity of diction, he considered it unsurpassed. I am aware that many a sophomore Ciceronian affects to look upon the literature of the Bible with contempt. The language of the Holy Ghost, as uttered by Isaiah and Paul, has to him no beauties, compared with the writings of Homer and Cicero. One might suppose he had been under the tuition of Cardinal Bembo, whose taste was so exceedingly refined, that he could not use the language of inspiration, until it was translated into the style of the Pagan classics, substituting, as it is said he always did, for "remission of sins," the "pity of the manes and of the gods;" for "Holy Spirit," ," "breath of the celestial zephyr;" and for "Christ, the Son of God," "Minerva, sprung from the brow of Jupiter." And, really, our young sophomore is as much to be pitied as blamed for his false taste, or ignorance of the literature of the Bible; for it is to be attributed, chiefly, to the defects of the system of education under which he is receiving his literary training. Look at the course of study as prescribed for the students in most of our literary institutions, and in how few is the Bible even named. Why this proscription of the sacred volume? By what index expurgatorium has it been banished from our halls of literature? Protestant colleges and seminaries without the Bible! Strange indeed. O, tell it not in Catholic countries-publish it not in Pagan lands! But I must not pursue this subject here. I rejoice, however, to know that the Bible occupies a prominent place in many of our seminaries. Thus may it ever be! and thus may it soon be in all our schools! I have spoken of the sublimity of the sacred Scriptures. Let me call your attention to a few passages out of the thousand which might be selected. God had delivered David and his people out of the hands VOL. VI.-10 of their enemies, and the inspired poet celebrates the event in strains like these: "When the waves of death compassed me, And he did hear my voice out of his temple, He bowed the heavens, also, and came down; And he was seen upon the wings of the wind; And the Most High uttered his voice: And he sent out arrows, and scattered them- And the channels of the sea appeared, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils." In similar strains the prophet Habakkuk proclaims the majesty of God. "God came from Teman, And the holy One from Mount Paran. He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; The mountains saw thee, and they trembled; And lifted up his hands on high." What heathen poet penned words like these-so full of awful grandeur-so bold in figure, and yet so beautifully chaste! One seems to see the very lightning, whose fiery bolt, descending, scatters the enemies of God-he hears the muttering thunder proclaiming his wrath-he feels the earth moving beneath his feet, as Nature, in wild amaze, trembles at the approach of her offended Lord. The vision of Eliphaz is a fine example of the sublime, heightened by obscurity: "In thoughts from visions of the night, It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: |