Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-27
EVIL IN MAGNETISM.
Congress to Be Urged to Pro-
ceed With VigOr Against .
the Black Art.
THE EMOTIONAL CRAZES
Since the Days of Jansen Brought Up
to Furnish Evidence That
THEIR SPREAD MUST BE CHECKED.
Evils of Religious Excitement and Fanat-
icism Reviewed.
THE EMOTIONAL CRAZES
THEIR SPREAD MUST BE CHECKED.
Evils of Religious Excitement and Fanat-
icism Reviewed.
ALARMING GROWTH OF BAD PRACTICES

patton of labor seems to be warfare, aud
when it is not engaged in actual conflict
with the world and the flesh it finds itself
called upon to take arms against the devil.
The exact meaning of this proposition. SAYS
the ST. Louis Post Dispatch, is conveyed by
Samuel Gompers, President of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, who has received
an alsrming and highly interesting warning
from S Heydenfeldt, JE, who has given to
the study of electro-magnetism and other
pernicious acts much careful attention. 81
have been informed" says Mr.. Hevdenfeldt,
'ithat there are seventeen secret societies
which electromagnetic their members, who
are, without knowing it, connected with a
system in India, Arabia and Germany.
Those who have adopted 1t did so undoubt-
edly without investigating or studying the
injury to physical or mental conditions of
man. 1t is easy, then, to account for the
nervousness aud restlessness of the people
of the United States which physicians tes-
tity as steadily increasing"
To understand properly the advance of
conditions that have produced this alarm
ing result, Mr.. Heydenfeldt asks the reader
to begin with Jansenism and trace the de-
Yelopment of magic, convulsionism and
magnetism.
The Heresy of Jansenism.
The heresy of Jansenism first made its
appearance in France A. D. 1641. The
Bishop of Ypres, Jansen, published book
entitled "l'Augustinus, setting forth his
doctrine, which received the support of the
Able OF the Bernardlns at Port Royal,
which was founded in A. d. 1904, by one of
the Montmorency, situated near Chevreuse,
five leagues from Paris; the support of the
Able ST. Cyran, who was suspected of
Quietism, and also the allegiance of the
young theologians of France Urban VIII.
condemned the doctrine of Jansen and par
tally suppressed the beresy. Its pri ncipal
adherents retired to Bruxelles and after
ward to Amsterdam, where they founded
small church.
The tomb of q deacon named Paris, of the
Church of st. Medard, at Paris who had
passed for a saint in certain quarters, be-
came the object of great veneration among
the unfortunates whom he had relieved dur
ing his life, and at the place, it was ru-
mored, miracles were worked. The Jansen
lists, who wished to prove the authority of
a divine call among the sects of miracle
workers, concluded to appropriate those of
the Cemetery of St Medard. This person
was not the only person endowed with the
power of miraculous cures
Miracles Became Too Common.
Several Jansenist saints had the same
gift. These so-called miracles commenced
in july, A. D. 1871. About that time they
became very common, and at the end of
several months there were 500 known Con-
rulcionisfe that ls IN sav nao0la W bn ant
into commissions under the influence of re-
hgious emotion.
All ranks of society, as well as the no.
bility, were among the witnesses of these
strange spectacles. The prodigIes provoked
discussions as to their source and genuine
ness; each side invoked scriptural text to
support their denials and assertions,
which for many years continued to
be the subject of publications. Their
novelty had attracted all Paris Women
and girls had been hired to take part
in these scenes, which became so scandalous
that the Government ordered the cemetery
closed Driven from the cemetery they
continued to exhibit their convulsions at
other points, until by an ordinance of Feb
ruary IL, A. D., 1888, they were prohibited
from giving exhibitions in public as well as
In private reunion&
Interdicted and suppressed in different
cities and villages they continued never
theless to increase. The popularity and
rage for these convulsions gained accessories
from all classes of society, their ranks aug
mented and their proselytes, among whom
were women of birth and persons of high
rank, assembled at their meetings. The re-
fusal of the priests to administer sacraments
to this heretical sect was for many years
the cause of trouble and Misrepresentation.
Their assurance was such that they even
claimed that the Catholic priests were
obliged to administer to them the sacra-
ments.
Bitter Controversy for Years.
This refusal. to administer the sacraments
continued for many years to be the subject
Of bitter controversy. Upon the Jansenists
securing more than q majority of the
French Parliament the DEGREES of the
Bishops which were not in accord with their
demands were reversed.
( During this time, notwithstanding the
wstchfulness of the municipal authorities
of Paris, the followers of the Convulsion-
lists met at the houses of distinguished peo-
PIE Sometimes the police made arrests,
but the zeal OF the Jansenists did not rest,
and from A. d. 1740 30 A. d. 1760 their ex-
hibitions continued and their doctrine was
preached.
In attacking the church, Jansenism had
disturbed the religious faith of the country
and the respect of authority which consti-
tute its power From its origin it was sup
ported by the philosophers whose writings,
apparently directed against ecclesiastical
power, attacked the rights of the King.
These philosophers, whose object was the
religious and political emancipation of
society, foresaw that the disciples of the
Jansenists in disturbing conscience and be-
Het promised an element of future useful
ness for them in carrying out their designs,
and hRstened to sustain them.
Parliament Aids the Philosophers.
Voltaire, as little in love with Jansenism
ss he was with the Catholic Church, did not
dissimulate the joy he felt at all measures
which would arouse the sntagonism of each
towards the other. Another great auxiii-
Arv Of the philosophers was the Parliament,
which from its ancient spite against the
temporal power of the church was predis-
posed towards the Jansenists, of which it
was principally composed, and gave aid to
their cause.
In his first chapter, "Birth and History
of Animal Magnetism, H. Blanc con-
cludes that all the phenomena produced BY
the Convulsionists are due to the effects of
animal magnetism and magic He saws:
"Jansenism, with its convulsions, devel-
oped the taste for the snarvelous in every
part of France. 1t had also opened the
road to a school of philosophy which was
steadily directed to destroy the basis on
which the ancient society of France re-
posed, but ruined at the same time magical
Jansenism, which pretended to have re-
ligion at its outset and consigned it to
obscurlty."
'.Tne end of this incredulous century" 4"