The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-11-10

Literary Review.
l. LIGHT PROM THE SaIRrr WORLD. Rev. Chas
Hammond, Medium. Bella Marsh Boston.
O. Tan PILGRIMAGE OF Thomas PAINE. Written
by the Spirit OF Thomas Paine through C. Ham
mcnd, Medium. Partridge Britain: New York.
8. VOICES PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. Isaac Post,
Medium. Charles Mcdonnell Rochester.
4. PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PRovIpENcEs. BY
Andrew jackson Davis. Bella Marsh Boston.
8. REVIEW or REv. CHARLES BsEcHER's RspoRT
CoNCERNIN6 SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS BY ). Is.
Britain Partridge & Britain New York.
6. THE SHFKNAH. Monthly: September, 1858.
Partridge Il Britain New York
Byron, Shelley, Southey, and Edgar Poe have de-
generated into writing doggerel Washington
las forgotten the significance Of language-Je6erson
declares himself still for the Union in very bad gram
mar-and the hero of Waterloo is at the present
moment vending coffee to thirsty souls in the invis-
HE world. So say the spirit rappers at least and
Al. Davis, with hostsof other luminous worthless,
ssue Of whose names appear at the head of this
article officially endorse the statement. Nor is this
ALL In defiance of the laws of gravitation, mediums
have been known to hang, like Mahomets coffin
suspended between heaven and earth-hats have,
unaided found their owners heads-table brushes
have remorselessly misappled themselves to old gen
femens wigsand the last and most remarkable freak
has been performed by a boot,jack, which trotted
into room, and spontaneously dragged offthe boots
Of every individual present Who witnessed this
last uncarthly sppariton, and did not say with
Hamlet
Let me not burst in ignorance but tell
Why thou, 0 bootjack of mahogany,
Hast acted thus, and snatched from me my boots9
Speak art thou inebriated?
But these are trifiing phenomena to those yet in
embryo. new tragedy from the pen of Will
Shakespeare, scientific treatise upon spiritual inter
course by Bacon, or an heroic poen by Homer, may
be confidently expected Why has not Pharaoh
been summoned to translate the inscriptions on the
Pyramids, or Sanconiathon to explain Layard's dis
ooveries in Nineveh? Let US advise Partridge Il
Britain to keep their eyes upon the shade of Ry
daspes, and bag it without delay. The mysteries it
could unfold would be mines of wealth. nest, q
mares nest for the Partridge!
But, seriously, the ghosts of our ancestors have
vhited us at proper season. Two centuries ago
these rappers would have been burnt for sorcery.
Fifty years back, il the subject of spiritual mani
5eststions' had been approached at all, it would
have been treated with utter contempt and rdicue,
md the whole business regarded an mposture and
m insult to common sense. To-day, the question de-
serves the most earnest scrutiny" as Greeley
aaeiousy observes BY the spirits Of the sixth circle
and their ambling medium we find it difficult to
decide who are the most enlightened-we who be-
keve everything-our fathers who believed nothing
or our ancestors who burnt the witches! But though
is the fashion OF the day TO open your mouth and
shut your eyes and see what Heaven will send you,"
We cannot endorse the principle. We must examine
of these phenomena which our authors take for
granted evidence OF an existing intercourse be-
tween the inhabitants of this and the second sphere
Here, for example, is an instance of an astonishing
wrought through the agency Of spirits. We ex-
tract it from S. B. Brttans review of Beechers re-
mort on the manifestations In style and composition
4 resembles much the wonderful effects related of
Oomstock's vermifuge or Holloway's ointment-but
W'tMpOTte, read it,
Al circle held At Adrian the frst Saturday July the
spizits wroteseek the lame the halt, and the inarm,
and they shall be healedp' then remarked to j. N.
~ spirits and the together; for viii be
presented and rot cured" Nevertheless the call
rad by my colleague when Mr. Lyons presented himself
Sur years and was under acute pain at the time.
without the exercise Of my own volition, was
Ssre him. was also made to speak by the power Of
the Spirit put my hand on HIM, and he was made
Whole BE dropped his cane, and went away rejoicing,
How would Andrew Jackson Davis explain thisl
BE has written work lately denying special provi
dsnces. and has proved that Auanias died from
physiological and psychological causes! From its
Tenor we must conclude that the author has been
jeying lately most intimate communion with the
spirit of Tom Paine, and has appropriated Toms
IDEAS when in the flesh.
Hear, again, communi cation from the shade of
Cicero
Ronss greatest are lowering to protect and
encourage you. Be courageouspersevere Cherish true
Hbsry Spread knowledge the world Instruct bar
barous nations in the art of oratory once thought
sk the trt orator in any or country buttruth must
- told.I have been excelled by Van Buren,
Would you like q sentiment from Washington? No,
Shelley, who believed in neither angel nor spirit
when alive, has changed his views, and expresses his
. Here Am blsstl Ny mind can sweep DER all
OF beauty, and drink in . freedom
That earth was denied. Earth's sons
With souls of clay would have despoilsd me;
They made me what l was-they made me doubt
Bat here they have ne power to mar my soul,
For to my luInned spirit is revealed
What once was dim and shadowy on earth.
On! Immortality, thy bHss-and still
Twas who doubted theel
Friend, listen why:
raw the wrongs in Church and State, and ], too,
Saw q power to right them, and to make
An Eden's garden smiling here;
Bat others scorned and wished not to right
Those wrongs saw, for they were false,
Yet feigning to be true"
We have given these specimens OF spiritual con-
nnnncations as they bear internal evidence of the
West humbug. We will not pause to argue with any
man who believes in such trash-that spirits without
Icem or substance can write-that Washington has
become dwelling IDIOT and Shelley has lost all his
newer Of rythm and has degenerated into scribbler
of senseless effusoDs
But separate deception 80 obvious from the 80
called spiritual manifestations, and the whole ques-
ton lies in nutshell. Let us admit that there are
many natural agencies with which we are imper
Iectly acquainted-let us admit that many of the
phenomena of animal magnetism and electricity are
utterly beyond our comprehension-let US even adj
NIT Reichenbach's theory OF what he calls the odc
force or the mesmeric influence, so to speak pro-
duced by human agency upon AMI mate and mani
mate objects. But between this and travelling into
another world to seek for the causes OF those phe
Ia horo Uh ak an
unable gap There are people who find an unna.
tmal cause In everything A heavy storm OF hail
comes from some volcano in the mo0n-an extraor
binary light in the sky is convocation OF demons
4bo Aiclerina of q candle u a nremnnitnrY sYmntOm