Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-05-13
Laying on of Hands--.Miracles of Kings in
the Olden Times.


Macauley, in his History of England says:
The ceremony of touching persons afflicted with
scorfula had come down almost unaltered from
the darkest of the dark ages to the time OF New
ton and Locke The Stuarts frequently dspen-
sed the healing influences in the banqueting
house. The days on which this miracle was to
be wrought were fixed at sittings of the .privy
council, and were solemnly notified by all the
clergy in all the parish churches of the realm
When the appointed time came, several dlvlnes
in full canoncals stood around the canopy OF
state. The surgeon of the royal household in
troducted the sick. A passage from the sixteenth
chapter of the Gospel of st. Mark, was read
When the words, They shall lay their hands on
the sick, and they shall recover had been pro-
nounced, there was pause and one OF the SICK
or supposed to be- was brought up to the king.
His majesty stroked the ulcers and swelling,and
hung around the patients neck q white ribbon,
to which was fastened gold coin. The other
sufferers were then led up in succession; and as
each was touched the chaplain repeated the IN
cantation-'They shall lay their hands on the
sick, and they shall recover Then came the
epistle prayers antiphonies, and benedictlon.
The service may still be founded in the prayer
books of the reign of Anne Indeed, it was not
till some time after the accession of George l.,
that the University of Oxford ceased to reprint
the office of Healing together with the Litur-
gy.' Theologans of eminent ability, learning,
and virtue, gave the sanction OF their authority
to this mummery and what is stranger stli,
medical men of high note believed,o affected to
believe in the balsamc virtues of the royal hand.
Wemust suppose that every surgeon who attend
ed Charles H. was man of high reputed skill;
and more than one of the surgeons who attended
Charles H. has left US solemn profession OF faith
in the kings miraculous power. One OF them Is
not ashamed to tell us that the gift was COM
municated by the JUNCTION administered at the
coronation that the cures were so numerous and
sometimes so rapid, that they could not be at
tributed to any natural cause; that the failures
were to be ascribed to want OF faith on the
part of the patients; that Charles once handled
O scrofulous Quaker, and made him healthy
man and sound churchman in moment, that,
if those that had been healed lost or sold the
piece of gold which had been hung around their
necks, the ulcers broke forth again, and could
only be removed by a second touch and second
tasman. We cannot wonder that when men
of science gravely repeated such nonsense, the
vulgar should believe it. Still less can we won
der that wretches tortured by disease over
which natural remedies have no power, should
easily drink in tales of preternatural cures; Tor
nothing is so credulous as misery. The crowds
which repaired to the palace on the days OF
healing were immense. Charles H.. in the
course of his reign touched near 100 600 persons.
The number seems to have increased or diminish
ed as the kings popularity rose or fell. during
the Tory reaction which followed the dissou-
tion of the Oxford Parliament, the press to get
near him was terrific. In 1852 he performed
the rite $500 times. In 1854, the throng was
such that six or seven of the sick were trampled
to DEATH James, in one ofhis progresses, touch
ed 800 persons in the chair of the cathedral OF
Chester. The expense of the ceremony was not
less than $50, 900 year, and would have been
much more had it not been for the vigilance OF
the royal surgeons, whose business 1t was TO ex-
anime the applicants and to distinguish those
who came for the cure, from those VINO came
for the gold. William had too much sense to
be duped, and too much honesty to bear part
in what he knew to be an mposture: 1t is silly
superstition, lie exclaimed, when ne heard that,
at the close of Lent his palace was besleged by
q crowd of the sick. Give the poor creators some
money and take them away. On one single oc-
casion he was importuned into laying his hand
on a patient. God give You better health, he
said and more sense The parents of scrofnlous
children cried out against this cruelty; bigots
lifted mn their hands and eyes into horror at his
impety. Jacobites sarcasticaly praised him for
not not presuming to arrogate to himself power
belonpinp exclusively to the legitimate sover-
eions and even some Wings thought that he
sctod unwisely in treating with such marked
contempt superstition which had strong hold
on the vulgar mind; but William was not to be
moved, and was, accordingly, set down by many
high churchmen as either an nfde or puritan.