Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-11-01

and discriminating benefcence of its donor.
Mrs. HATcH's LEcTURE.-Mrs. Hatch had
an intelligent and attentive audience last eve
ming. Washburn Hall was nearly full, many
of those present being at a spiritualist lecture
for the first time After the audience had as
sembed, committee of three gentlemen was
appointed to propose topic for the lecture,
In behalf of this committee, Rev. Mr.. Richard
son, the chairman proposed question as fol-
lows :-"Mcn in all ages past have offered sac
ritices in the performance OF what they meant
as religious rites and duties our question is
this What is the spiritual Specification of this
act of sacrifice 2"
Mrs Hatch stood up as any other speaker
would stand, and spoke apparently as any
other lecturer would speak who had never
been visited even by dream of spiritual
frances. We ought to say here that it is rare
to hear any person, however gifted, deliver
purely extemporaneous discourse with such
selfpossession and accuracy of expression. In
speaking, she seems to be person offine intel
lect and excellent culture and she speaks
very handsomely with good voice. During
all the time she was addressing the audience,
she may have been in the trance state :" but
there was nothing to indicate such state, nor
did anybody in the audience appear to suppose
she was entranced or in any respect affected
with excitement otherwise than is the case
with any person capable of earnestness and
engrossed by an interesting topic of discourse.
She described a sacrifice as the offering
of fear to anger" and represented fear as the
fruit of ignorance. To the savage everything
is mysterious He sees god in every strik-
ing manifestation of nature, and his fear of
divine anger brings sacrifcial offerings to ap-
pease it, She spoke of sacrifices as offered
among heather people, and by the Jews, men
tioning that the offerings of fear grew gentler
as Christianity approached Christ was the
great, the final sacrifice offered to God for
the salvation of men. But Christianity raises
our lives into something higher and nobler
than fear. 1t brings us to love and teaches us
to love goodness for its own sake. In Christ
who is the revelation of love, of the Father
we come to know God and thus cease to fear
him. But we are not attempting report of
the discourse. AT the close questions were
asked by several gentlemen.
To Rev. Mr. Richardson she replied that
the fear which gave rise to sacrifices among
rude and savage tribes, did not spring from a
sense Of having done wrong, but purely from
that ignorance which could not explain the
manifestations of nature, and therefore trem-
bled with apprehensions of the wrath of divine
beings. Mr.. Richardson proposed several
questions relative to this point, all of which
were answered by a constant affirmation of the
same principle.
To Mr.. Brown, young clergyman, who
suggested that some sacrifices were the thank
offerings of love, and therefore could not pro.
coed from fear, she replied that the spontane-
Gus devotion of love was not sacrifice. The
question which had been the topic of her dis
course referred to sacriicial offerings to sacri-
fees by the shedding of blood to appease or
avert the Divine anger.
To Rev. Mr.. Jones she made several replies
He suggested that knowledge did not necessa-
rily remove fear. She replied, Perfect love
casteth out fear" "Then it is not knowledge
that does it, :" he said "But how can we love
God perfectly, if we do not know him 2" was
her answer. Mr.. Jones suggested that
knowledge of the laws of electricity might in
certain cases lead to a fear of it, which could
not exist without that knowledge. She differ
ed from him in opinion on this point; but the
fear of which she had been speaking was not
like this. She had been speaking of spiritual
tear,-fear of the wrath Of God, such fear as
had originated among men the offering of sac
rifices.
The audience was throughout quiet and very
attentive.
I.Tr1