SPIRIT RAPPINGS A FRAUD:

A LECTURE,

DELIVERED DECEMBER 16TH, 1852,

BY JOSEPH F. BERG.

PHILADELPHIA:

WILLIAM S. YOUNG, PRINTER, 50 NORTH SIXTH STREET.

1853.

SPIRIT RAPPINGS A FRAUD.

THE question which, by appointment, is before us for discussion, this evening, is a subject which is at present agitating the public mind to an extent which we cannot but regard as unwarranted by sound reason or philosophy. So far as we can ascertain the facts in the history of the phenomena, by a diligent search of the best authenticated authorities, there is no evidence by which the idea of supernatural agency can be satisfactorily established, and so far as regards the so-called spiritual manifestations indicated by rappings, knockings or mysterious noises, we think the burden of the testimony can be so adjusted that every unprejudiced mind will be persuaded that there is nothing more spiritual in these manifestations than may be produced by the ordinary agency of any human spirit controlling the actions of joints and sinews, by the simple power of the will. It is proper that I should notice a single circumstance in justfication of my present position in this matter, before entering upon a formal discussion of the facts and evidences which I design to offer in support of the opinion which I have ventured to express in the outset. I have been very courteously invited to satisfy my own mind in relation to the phenomena which appear to settle the controversy in the estimation of some of the believers in the reality of the alleged spiritual agency, by ocular and auricular demonstration; and the proposal has been urged with the plausible argument that, in order to be prepared to speak on this subject fairly, impartially and authoritatively, personal scrutiny is indispensable. I have declined every such overture, not because I shrink from the ordeal under any apprehension of a force of evidence which I might find it dif ficult to resist or rebut; but for the plain reason that I cannot reconcile this concession on my part with the principles which I hold and which I have publicly expressed. It would not do for me to warn others against entering precincts, and consent to enter them myself. Besides, the whole matter resolves into this simple dilemma. Either the facts and the agency are what they are reported to be, or they are not. Whatever may be the facts, I am perfectly satisfied that the agency is not what is technically called spiritual, and that it is deception on the part of those who are the principals in these transactions, and I must therefore decline being placed in the position of dancing attendance in the antechamber of a clique of rappers, whose joints may be quite as supple as their consciences. On the other hand, if the facts and the agency be as they are reported, then they are nothing more than a revival substantially in another form of arts and devices forbidden in the word of God, upon which no man may wait, and which no man may practise, under penalty of the severest displeasure of Him who is the Father of our spirits. Hence, in either case, I should feel bound by all means to avoid any approach to familiar intercourse with those who, at best, supposing their profession to be literally verified by unexceptionable testimony, are the miserable successors of a fraternity, whose craft bears the impress of Satanic agency, and whom the law of God consigns to infamy

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in this life, and, unless they repent, to perdition in the life which is to come. Of this we may rest assured: if these professors of demonology can really hold communion with departed spirits, they are spirits whose fellowship is not desirable, and cannot be congenial to any Christian mind or heart, because, inasmuch as all dealing with so called familiar spirits is most expressly and emphatically forbidden in the sacred Scriptures, no good spirit-no spirit sanctified by the Great Spirit of Truth and Holiness would be found lending its sanction to the violation of the precepts of the divine law. If men, therefore, can, in this present life, hold direct communication with departed spirits, they become, when they give utterance to the suggestions of these spirits, the media of evil, depraved and abominable agents, whose whole character and influence are at variance with the truth and government of God.. I am persuaded that in our day, those who desire to maintain the truth on this subject, will find themselves assailed by two different classes of opposition. They will go too far for some, and not far enough for others. They will admit too much for one party, and will reject so much that they will be equally obnoxious to another. There is, however, a medium between the extremes of superstition and fanaticism on the one hand, and on the other, a self-complacent, contemptuous, but none the less ignorant repudiation of truth, which is attested by the highest authority. This authority, which I call the highest, is the Bible.

In discussing the mysterious phenomena which have attracted so much attention at the present time, let us avoid two extremes equally reprehensible. On the one hand, let us beware of a silly credulity which admits any story without examination, however marvellous; and on the other hand, let us guard against that equally stupid propensity utterly to deny the existence of every thing which we cannot explain. I have thought that the most profitable disposition of the subject will be to show that while it is plain, from the most positive representations of the sacred oracles, that communications have been made from the spirit world through the agency of departed spirits, or dæmons, and while, therefore, the abstract possibility of such communications in the ordinary providential administration of the temporal economy, is not to be successfully disputed, no developments which have recently been made can be regarded as falling under this category, but that they are, to a very great extent, the tricks of arrant imposture, or the unexplained phenomena of a magnetic principle, the operation of which is as yet imperfectly understood,-in short, that the intrinsic as well as the extrinsic testimony is altogether adverse to the theory that these are properly spiritual phenomena. If this proposition can be maintained, as I believe, and hope to convince you it can, the grand inference to be drawn from the whole subject will be, that these mysterious sounds and all their correlative details are utterly unworthy of enlightened Christian respect, and that a true regard to reputation for sober intelligence must restrain every well informed person from placing the least dependence upon these alleged revelations from the spirit world. If our time would permit us to enter upon an investigation of the entire testimony of the sacred writings respecting the demoniacal arts practised in the Old Testament age, almost universally prevalent among pagan nations, but always and utterly interdicted to the Hebrews, under the severest penalties, the inquiry would be both relevant to our topic and full of interest, but a less extended range will be amply sufficient to establish all that our present purpose requires. That the practice of consulting spirits obtained in a