The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-07-02

Discourse on W1tchcrans
The Rev. DR.. Shepard delivered discourse, on
Sunday morning the 23d instant, in the Disciples
Chapel, West Seventeenth street, the subject OF
witcbcraft. The text, or rather the portion OF
Scripture upon which the discourse was based, was
the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy, from the SIh to
the 22d verses, commencing with
when thou art come into the land which the Lord
thy God gveh thee thou shalt not learn TO do after
the abomnation of those nations There shall not be
found ong you any that maketn MS son or MS
to pass through the fire. that useth divi
nations or an observer OF times or an enchsnter or
witch, or charmer or eonsui.er WIN iaa, spss
things are an domination unto the Lord And because
OF these abomnatio the Lord hath driven them out
before thee
The learned gentleman started with the propo-
,itiop that il is not natural to man. All men
constituted as TO become religious under certain
influences but religion is no more natural TO man
than is speech Man is not naturally gifted with
the ability speak, but he is born 10 speak under
certain influences. The same God that gave man
the organs of speech gave him revelation and
capacity 10 understand it. Language was first
taught, too, by God himself. The Almighty first
tested Adams capacity TO talk, by causing all the
animals TO pass before him, aud whatever name he
gave TO them that was their name 1t is not in the
power of man to originate entirely and origi
nal thought. There must be something IN the mind
10 suggest every thought The religion which was
given TO man in the outset, was the religion of nI-
lure. II was just what God desired that men
shonld have, until he should give them further
revelation The religion of the Patriarchs, the
Jewish religion, an the religion of the primitive
Christians, was each, at one Time, the curreat re-
ligon, and that was the reason why spurious sys-
TENS were introduced All sects are counerteits
of the true religion and are made as nearly as pos
sible TO resemble the genuine. He that could
make a counterfeit, must know what the original
is. How could "A spurious five dollar gold piece be
mace, unless The fabricator knew what the real
gold coin was like 7 true religion refers TO a true
God, and is represented by true miracles; false
religion, by false gods, and by dcceptlOns. All the
ancient pagdhs had their deities, and all the an
cicnt pagans had their signs and wonders; This
was illustrated by the speaker, who said that the
magicans Of Egypt were so expert that when
Moses was called on by Pharaoh to perform some
miracle, he threw down his rod, which was imm9-
daiely changed into serpent. Ihereupon, the
Egyptians threw down their rods, and they also
become serpents but the true was even here dis
tinguished from the false power, by the phenomenon
penis of the niagcians. The speaker sand he had
no doubt, that through an invisible and internal
agency, many miracles seemed 10 be wrought.
Passing to the word witch, he said it
a generic term, under which might be ranked
all soothsayers asrologers, and pEactisers Of
of magical arts. CHANGING first at some of the ac-
counts given by Virgil and other ancient poeis-ior,
said he, the poets have always had more to do with
this class than have the sober prose wrilersof the
OWNERS, astrologers, and s'l classes OF magcilns,
Mr.. Shepard r..r.l of The whole class, that
all we see of o. -ua aces in modern times is
no improven old ones, for they used TO
make their uslau.-ons by The use of words,
but the MOD .rII5 can only be induced to make
their revelatoa5 10y knockings. 1t is generally
conce dcd, hc I'D, that the ladies' have more fllni-
liar spirits in the other world than have the oppo-
cite sex. King Saul, when DESTROYS OF consulting
one, called upon a lady who lived in End0r but
the spparition which came forth at her summons,
sstoushed her more than it did saul, and she was
herself surprised, and demanded Of the King why
he had deceived her. Coming down TO the history
of the performances of some othese pagan prestess
and ma gician, he speaker sain he attributed the
success of their performance IN great measure TO
ventroquism, the power Of speaking from the
abdomen stomach. Among the Romans, said
he, the person who practised this art of speaking
from within passed for an oracle; and among the
more ancient pageHs the female who preclised IL
was termed goddess."W nat thls vggjTiicquism is,
how il is performed, Cannot rX"lsln. being
myself no ventriloqust; and, being no witch, can
not explain how witchcrait is performed; aud,
being no wizard or necromancer, i cannot explain
their arts. And SO cannot expl4 the Rochester
knockings, for these rappers belong to the same
category. The Rev. gentleman next proceeded to
show that in the performance of miracles by Christ
no mystery used, and the miracles were per-
formed for some beneficial purpose. As when the
lcper said "Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make ma
clean;" and Jesus said IL wills be thon clean;'
and in the same manner the eyes OF the blind were
opened, and the of the deaf unstopped
WitchcTait has always been associated with
idolatry, and mystery has attended false systems Of
religion, as in the case of Mormonisn, when
strange plates, with strange characters upon them
were found in strange place. The last feature OF
wichcraft, sorcery, NC, To which the speaker re-
ferred, was that IL was always used for purposes
gain, as in the instance OF Simon, the sorcerer re
ferred 10 in Acts, 9Th chap. 9Th verse, and Bar
Jesus mentioned in Acts 18th, 9Th. CHANGING "A
the disgrace which bad characters bring upon the
truth, the preacher ended his discourse by moral
application OF the argument he had held in his dis
discourse, telling his hearers that whenever they
found person disinclined to receive the truth, he
was bewiiched. Exhortng all TO seek the truth,
he closed his remarks