The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-03-22

one thing more is requisite. The future
can mirror itself in our consciousness, i'm
press our minds, and mingle with dreams
md other operations Of the imagination,
without being altogether phantasmagoria.
Despite the assertion Of religious teach
ers and others that it is impious and dan
gerous to aspire to know what is impen-
ding, the passion of such knowledge is well
nigh universal. That coming events cast
their shadows before" is believed by al
most everybody. From the patriarch
Joseph, who OWNED with the lees Of the
wine in his cup, to the beldame of our day
who explores the arcana of fairgrounds,
the motive is the same. Everybody builds
on the forecast Of what may be expected.
Presentiments are the universal faith Of
mankind. There are well-authenticate
stories in every community on the face Of
the earth, of dreams that pre6gured events
which afterward occurred, of impressions
on the mind which could not be accounted
for by ordinary reasoning, yet were realiz-
ed at subsequent time. It is in vain to
attack such general sentiment as super
stition even the proof that many instances
are deceptive is not enough, for counterfeit
currency would not be Invented If there
was none genuine. There exists evidence
in the case, of witnesses that would be re-
gardcd as competent in ordinary matters,
and it has been accepted by persons Of the
highest intelligence.
Equally general has been the belief in
witcbcraft, sorcery and enchantment In
former times the art of wonder ing
was believed to be exercised by the
sacerdotal and learned class, and was
imputed to their superior knowledge and
intimacy with the Deity Every people
had its own does of miracles. The
vocabulary of witchcraft indicates the
peculiar character Of the occult influences.
lSorcery originally mean, casting Of lots
diuination, "a commuhing with divine
being; magic, from may or maha, power
charm, from the Latin carmen, is song
enchdafment, from the French, and iilcan-
iatiop from the Latin mean singing or
chanting. All the ancient worship was
performed or accompanied by chanting,
whether prayers, doxologies, or recitations.
It was so at the temple of Jerusalem, the
orgies Of Dionysus, and the Mysterie Of
he Great Mother The bards or chanters
were conspicuous in Druid times in Great
Britain. When King Saul was troubled
by "an evil spirit from the Lord" the
young man David charmed it away.
When Elisha, the prophet, attempted to
answer the behest of the three kings, he
required a minstrel. "And it came to
pass that when the minstrel played, the
hand Of the Lord came upon him."
The hostility that existed between the
votaries of different religions, between the
Brahmins and the Sivaists Of India, the
Loroastrians and the Vedaists, the wor-
shippers Of Zeus and the followers Of the
Titans, the Hebrews and the Ethnicists,
displayed itself in characterising odiously
the formulas of the respective worships.
Thus these terms derived their offensive
meaning. The ministers of the standard
religion Of every country have always
assiiled adversaries with the accusation Of
commerce with evil spirits, The Brahmin
invaders of Hindostan denominated the
aboriginal inhabitants demons or Rakshas-
as. The Arabs call the pyramid-builders
md the cxcavators Of the grottoes, Jinns
and Afrites. The Celtic colonists of
Europe styled the peoples whom they
displaced, giants, trolls and fairies. The
lsraelites associated the crime of sorcery
with the idolatry of the Canaanites and
Babylonians. rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, = said the prophet Samuel to
King Saul 1t is therefore no marvel that
after the Christian era the pagan religion
on the one hand, and heretical leaders on
the other, were all accused in the same
manner. The French term for sorcery is
raaderis or Waldensism. The Quietists
were involved in the same accusation.
The Huguenots of Southern France, and
the Camisards of the Cevennes were
massacrcd as witches.
But witchcraft proper, the heirloom of
the Middle Ages, was no more or less than
the old religion of the Empire which was
condemned in the reign Of Theodosius /.
The Roman Senate forbade the worship Of
the old gods, the orgies and secret rites.
But people do not often change religions
with the facility of altering the style Of
garments; and so for centuries, in wild and
secluded places, under one guise OF an
other, the pagan worship was secretly
maintained. The church directed its