The Irish standard., 1898-01-15
AND OCCULT MANIFESTATIONS.
Ninety-Nine Per Cent of Them Are
lmpositions.
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE
By Rt. Rev. Mgr. John S. Waugh
an, an English Divine.

Right Rev. Mgr. John S. Vaughan,
one Of the most eloquent Of Englands
ecclesiastics, discoursed recently on
Modern Spiritualism and Dealings
With the Devil" We hear great deal
said not only by the simple and the
uneducated, but also by men and wo-
men of position and culture concern
ing mindreading, faith cures, clairvoy-
ance, spiritualism, table-turning, table,
rapping, spirit-rapping, magic and sec
ond-sight These are subjects in which
thousands take their delight, in which
vast numbers seem to find recreation,
amusement and excitement of a not al
ways desirable kind, while we not UNI
frequently see In the daily press how
simple country maidens and unsuspi-
cious servant girls have been induced
to part with their hard-earned gains to
wandering gypsies and fortune-telers
under pretence Of getting their pros
poets of marriage clearly laid out before
them-as though an ignorant gypsy,
who spends her time wandering about
the country from place to place, without
any fixed abode, could read the destinies
Of people by the stars or foretell the
future of any girl silly enough to "cross
her palm with shilling.''
There are, no doubt, many hidden
forces in nature of which we know ex-
ceedingly little, and it would be most
unreasonable to contend that we have
mastered all the secrets of the universe,
and still worse to assert a thing is I'M
true or wicked because we are unable
to fully explain it. Take, for instance,
the phenomena connected with hyp-
notism, in which reason and memory
are temporarily suspended, the will is
paralyzed and the patient is irresiseib]y
impelled to act in ways wholly out Of
keeping with his ordinary character and
habit. Hypnotism is indeed recognized
and accepted as a real power in nature,
of which all the laws have not yet been
discovered, which contains a great deal
of the curious and unintelligible; it
may, for all that, be perfectly in &C.
cordance with the ordinary law and
order of the universe and as little con-
nected with devilry or witchcraft as
electricity or animal magnetism. In
addition to these and similar we'll
known phenomena, there are an i'm
mense number Of extraordinary results
produced by charlatans and tricksters
which startle and astonish the unini-
tiated and set them thinking that they
are in sober truth dealing with the in
habitants of an invisible world. There
are unquestionably vast number of
mountebanks, impostors, rogues, knaves
and cheats quite ready to delude ami
take in the simple. Indeed, 1 am fully
persuaded that more than ninety-nine
per cent of what we hear and read about
concerning spiritual and supernatural or
preternatural manifestations Is pure
and simple imposition and trickery.
But after we have made allowance for
what is according to nature and for
what is traceable to imposture and
trickery, a residue still remains which
cannot be explained upon either hypo-
thesis. This is downright and certain
devilry. Before entering upon that point
l must say something about the devil,
1t is customary in these days, especial1v
among non-Catholics, to deny the exist.
ence OF such being. 1t has gone out If
fashion as the frills and pointed shoes
of our ancestors. People do not accent
the idea of personal devil; by the
term devil they mean not person
or Intelligence distinct from our friends.
but the tendency to evil, the inclination
within us leading to evil and wrong
doing; to say that a person is possessed
by the devil means to them that he is
under the sway of an evil sensual or
lustful passion. This denial of rea1
personal devil is very common. and no
doubt, the devil is very glad to lie hid
ard fcrgottne; for the less his presence is
suspected the better are his chances Of
doing harm. What is the truth of the
matter? What is the teaching of the
Catholic church?
The infallible Church of God tells
us that devils do indeed exist and in
vast numbers. They are made up CT
those rebel angels who were hurled out
OF heaven for refusing to obey Cod It
Is the opinion of the greatest theo-
1ogians that some fell from each Of the
nine choirs, so that we find not only
1allen angels, but fallen archangels,
prlnclpaltt1es, powers, cherubim and
seraphim. They are fallen indeed from
their high estate, but they retain their