TABLE TURNING AND TRUE PIETY.
A Clergyman, the Rev. R. W. Dibdin, M.A., has published a Lecture recently delivered by him at the Music Hall, Store Street, upon Table Turning, which he ascribes to "Satanic Agency," animadverting on all who differ with him on the subject; among others, on ourselves. Referring to this periodical he is pleased to say,
"I will only remark that it is conspicuous (like the Times newspaper, which it echoes), for its consistent enmity to true piety;—its advocacy of Sabbath desecration in the Sydenham Exhibition, and the Sunday delivery of letters by the Post Office. And I very much wonder that religious people support it as they do."
If any newspaper discusses the questions of the day generally in a spirit of common sense, and this periodical treats them in the same spirit, there must be a general coincidence of opinion between this periodical and that newspaper, which Mr. Dibdin may call an echo if he pleases. But he has no right to term Punch a consistent enemy to true piety, because we do not admit that a Christian is bound to keep Sunday as a Jew is obliged to observe Saturday. And his wonder that religious people support Punch as they do may be abated by the consideration that religion is not, in all people, allied with superstition, or with cant and hypocrisy. Religion Punch has always held, and hopes to hold, inviolate; but the pretence of it, whether designed to restrict his liberty, or impose upon his understanding, he has ever denounced and ever will denounce. Withhold from the child the letter of the sick parent; deny the fagged artisan his breath of fresh air and half-holyday once a week, under a religious pretext, and Punch will protest you a Pharisee, and tell you that you might as well forbid him to extricate an ox, or a Mr. Dibdin, from a pit into which, he might happen to tumble on the Sabbath day. And if lies or delusions are propounded to his credence, tales, whether of table-talking or picture-working, Punch will not be hindered from laughing at them by the circumstance that they are preached beneath the cover of religion.
Punch never knowingly admits anything into his pages that could shock the feelings of religious people. For that reason he forbears to quote from Mr. Dibdin's pamphlet an assertion that Mr. Dibdin professes to quote from the devil; a piece of blasphemy too frightfully shocking to be repeated. The following, however, may be cited as specimens of the answers elicited by the Rev. gentleman and a Mr. B. from a small, square, three-legged table on casters, by lying their hands on it:—
"1. If there be a God, strike three with the leg next the fire-place.—That leg was raised, and struck thrice.
"2. If there be a devil, strike so many times with this leg.—It did so.
"3. If the Pope be the head of the Church, strike, &c.—It did so.
"4. If Martin Luther was a good man, strike, &c.—No reply.
"5. If Emanuel Swedenborg was a good man, strike, &c.—It did so.
"6. If Socinius was a good man, strike, &c.—It did so.
"7. If Jesus Christ be come in the flesh, strike, &c.—It did so.
"8. If salvation be of faith and works, strike, &c.—It did so.
"9. If salvation be by faith alone, strike, &c.—It did so.
"10. If Dr. Achilli be a good man, strike, &c.—No reply.
"11. If Dr. Achilli be turned Swedenborgeon, strike, &c.—It did so.
"12. If Dr. Newman be a good man, strike, &c.—It did so (very quickly).
"13. If Mr. Tonna be a good man, stop moving.—It continued moving.
"14. Strike the day of the month—It struck twenty-eight.
"15. Strike the hour.—It struck seven and a gentle lift of the leg. [It was half-past seven].
"16. If it be right to go to a Socinian Chapel, strike, &c.—It did so.
"17. If it be right to go to the theatre, strike, &c.—It did so.
"18. Say how many years it is since Her Majesty came to the throne.
"No one present knew the date of her accession. I may here say, that I asked several questions on this principle, upon facts with which none of us were acquainted.
"It struck sixteen.
"None of us could tell whether this was right or not, and, therefore, one of the party left the room to fetch an almanack, and when we had got the almanack we found that it was right."
Other ages were given by the table, according to the Reverend experimenter; it also stopped when the Bible was placed upon it, like the similarly possessed moveables of Messrs. Godfrey and Gillson. At least so he would have us believe, or be accounted altogether unbelieving. For he declares of Table Turning, that
"Those who have not witnessed its wonders, and disbelieve (or attempt to explain away) the statements of those who have, must be passed by as impracticable subjects, acting precisely on the principle of the infidel Hume, who, because he never saw a miracle, would have us infer that no one else ever did."
This is precisely the style in which Roman Catholic priests argue in behalf of miraculous images, and if Mr. Dibdin did not profess a vast abhorrence of Popery, he might be imagined to be one of the clerical correspondents of the Tablet. In another place he says,
"If any one doubts my veracity, or questions the possibility of my senses being correct witnesses—in such a case I have nothing to reply to that person. Such an one puts himself out of the reach of argument; and by such incredulity makes it impossible to prove anything to him."
We are called upon to admit the infallibility of Mr. Dibdin's senses, as well as his good faith, although we have the opposing testimony of Faraday, and although, whilst Table Turning is, as Mr. Dibdin himself says, practised daily by tens of thousands, there has been no one satisfactory exhibition of the wonder in public. Punch has tried Table and Hat Turning. The hat and the table gave signs of beginning to turn; which ceased, not at his command to stop, but on his reminding the rest of the party that they were not to push.
Professor Faraday, by the way, fares very badly at the hands of Mr. Dibdin, who not only insinuates a doubt respecting the "spiritual attainments" of that philosopher, but also uniformly spells his name with two R's. He has also as above, Socinius for Socinus, and for Swedenborgian, Swedenborgeon. Perhaps he has derived his orthography from tables, which he mentions as having been found to spell badly; indeed, trustworthy as tables are esteemed in matters of arithmetic, they have never been accounted authorities in regard to spelling.
But Mr. Dibdin is not to be laughed at—although he may himself hold up other people to something less innocent than ridicule. He observes that
"It may seem very wise and great to laugh down a weak brother; but surely it is neither kind nor brotherly."
Nevertheless, it is not easy to repress a risible emotion when we picture to ourselves a party of weak brethren sitting round a table to see if they can get the devil into it. Mr. Dibdin says it is necessary to keep the hands on the table. Does the evil spirit, then, flow out of the fingers' ends into the mahogany? and does Mr. Dibdin think that he has acted as the devil's conductor? We shall next have Calvinistic clergymen making pump-handles work, and turning mangles to the same account as tables, by Satanic action.
However, it is certain that the dreadful nonsense in the book before us was rapped out either by the devil, or by Mr. Dibdin, or his friends. If we had any doubt on the subject, we should give them the benefit of the doubt; but we are afraid that none can be reasonably entertained.