Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-12-09
THE PLYMoUTH5 CHURCH
HAUNTED.

Spirits Turn Tables In
Approval Of Father Beecher's Ora
tory.
The New York Herald of December
9th gives q sensational account Of GER
tain alleged mysterious mani festatlons
in Beecher's Church. 1t says:
Tho facts of the case are very plain.
Sunday after Sunday last Summer a
table standing Immediately under the
little desk from which Is weekly an
nounced the Gospel, according to
Beecher, showed unequivocal symp-
toms Of being thrilled by the fervid
oratory Of the "Young Mems Apos-
tie" AS every one knows who has
attended Plymouth Church, the
preacher and the audience usually set
tie down to serious business about the
middle of tho "prD-sermon " prayer.
It Is Beecher's custom at this point Of
the service to "let himself out with
that grand earnestness which Is the
chief secret Of his success as IN orator,
and after q few sentences Of passionate
rhetoric the congregation willingly
abandon themselves to the magic spell
of that wonderful message Of divine
love and universal brotherhood, and
the nobleness Of duty and grandeur of
unselishness, q due heed to which Mr..
Beecher rightly declares to form our
only hope of converting this hard,
practical world into O millenial para
disc. At times, Indeed, tho audience
seem enchanted they sit motionless
as the men In that Eastern tale who
had been turned into stone by the
wand Of a wicked magician. 1t was
at this juncture that the disembodied
spirits who, viewless to the gross vision
Of m~ortals, delight to haunt the pre-
clncts Of the temple, were won't to
betray symptoms OF agitation. And
they manifested their excitement
after the customary fashion of modern
ghosts by an attack upon a table-that
"mlddle reporters table," which Is
one Of the most conspicuous objects In
the church. The table began to move
to and fro, slowly at first, and then
faster, with a weird, tremulous, slid
ing motion that stirred the souls Of
those who looked on with solemn awe.
As "amen" closed the invocation
to the Deity for wisdom to know the
right and strength to hold fast to 1t,
the dumb furniture, which thus be-
trayed the sympathetic energy of tho
dead with these grand aspirations Of
tho living, tipped up and down-so
violently, indeed, rs to throw the PEN
ellis of the scrlbes upon the floor.
Through the sermon the manifesto
tions were even more marked. These
things, wonderful as they ore, occurred
not once or twice, but many times.
They are only stayed by the dispersal
Of this set Of reporters to other tables.
Yielding to a mistaken fear OF Mrs.
Grundy, a vigorous effort has been
made to hush up these interesting and
instructive illustrations Of an unex-
pected force Of nature. We are as
sured by eyewitness that there was
no possible concert among the report
ers to move the table, and that Its
gambols continued In a more demon
strative than before every human be-
Ing near by had drawn back their
chairs several feet from it. These
movements, also, which at times as
sumed almost . saltatory earnestness,
curious correspondent with the outflow
Of the currents OF Reecher theology.
Whenever the preacher made an ef-
fective peroration, he thrilled the ta-
bio as we'll as the hearers, while In
seasons Of merely ordinary interest
the table had scarcely a pcrceptible
motion. Let but the tidings Of these
marvellous phenomena be wisely cir
oulated, and we shall have In the fu-
ture a certain test of the comparative
force and e~arnestness Of the clergy. A
pine table will be universally accepted
as q gauge of their oratorical merits.
10 move a piece Of furniture an inch
twelve times to and fro In n minute
may be rated at the value Of so many
degrees on the thermometer of Gospel
usefulness. We shall, indeed, be able
to compare the effective evangelical
strength of modern apostles with the
same ease and exactitude with which
we can now determine their height
and weight. Verify, the world, Ike
John Browns soul, still goes march,
inn m a . o. |