LECTURE ON "GHOSTS."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXI, Issue 5602, 31 August 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

LECTURE ON "GHOSTS."

A i.wttrk on the mysterious subject of "Ghosts," was delivered last night at the Dovonport Hall, North Shore, by the Rev. J. Nolan. In consequence of the rev. lecturer's engagements elsewhere, the advertised hour of commencement— 7.30 p.m.— was considerably exceeded. A small, but appreciative, audience having assembled, the Rev. J. Bates was called to the chair, and introduced the Rev. Mr. Nolan to his hearers. In commencing his subject, Mr. Nolan said he must apologise for keeping the company present waiting. He didn't wish to frighten anyone there, but bis object was to determine what we were to believe. He would give a. short history of ghost lore, which was of most aucient origin, probably going as far back as the old gods and goddesses. Then, they would come to fairies. Joan of Arc was accused of seeking their assistance, aud bo late as 1586, one Allison Pearson was burnt in Scotland for communicating with them. Elfins were another species, and elfin arrows were dangerous weapons. Elfins were supposed to be able to cany off unbaptised children and to put elfin children in their place. For many centuries devil worship hail been in vogue— so long ago as 4,000 years. The lecturer also alluded to vampires and banshees, the hotter being supposed to be female spirits. Table-turning was a curious fact, and might be attributed to eluctricity. Experiments in this science would disclose curious results, which would tend to explain the connection between spirits and matter. He suggested that the connection of the hands went to form a galvanic battery, through which the will and intelligence of the operators acted. The marvels of anake charming and horse taming might probably be attributed to the same cause As to ghost stories, probably nineteen out of twenty had nothing to do with ghosts. He referred to the credulousuuss of certain people, as was evidenced by the individual who took up his position in the sqtiare opposite Northumberland House, and gased fixedly at the Percy lion till an increasing crowd was arouud him ; aud when he solemnly vociferated "It wags, it wags," half the people, looking at the lion's tail, believed it had wagged. Various other anecdotes wore pleasantly told of the eccentricities of ghosts, and their material explanations. Occasionally, mystery was the object of ghost stories ; at other times, they had fraud for their aim ; and, sometimes, an unexplained circumstance was the cause. The laus of reflection and refraction of light might be another cause, as well as somnambulism. The mirage might be another. The lecturer referred to the Flying Dutchman and the Angel of Milan, the latter of which was witnessed by some thousands of people ; the explanation appearing to lie in the reflection on a cloud of a statue in a church. The eye was occasionally at fault— Nicolai, a bookseller in Berlin, suffered from a disease of the eye which seemed of spectral tendencies, but he managed to overcome the spectres by seekiug for thoir real causes. It was strange that the second sight of the Highland seers sheuld desert them in leaving their native wilds— in fact nearly all ghost stories had a material explanation. He did not believe in the possibility of apparitions — the ghosts of petticoats and crinolines, ghostly needles, and the ghost of a tailor's goose, &c. (Laughter.) It was not impossible apparitions might appear. St. Paul spoke of a natural body and of a spiritual body. Might not electricity stand in the place of spirits ? There were metaphysical reasons. Besides these, in the time of our Lord, there were such things as demoniacal possessions, which needed rebuke. Materialists would have us believe solely in matter, but it was necessary to remember there was a spiritual world of which we should some day form a part. Traditions pointed to the all but universal consent of nations as to apparitions, of which the lecturer gave several instances of a well authenticated nature. Those rescued from drowning were, perhaps, the best examples of the subject of spirituality ; was it not possible that the spirit was enabled to wake a flight to those it loved best and dearest at the time, or rather before, the instant of dissolution ? His strongest arguments lay in the Scriptures, for there he found that apparitions did take place, and there was no iutimaeion that they would not occur again ; therefore, in his opinion, apparitions or ghosts might actually appear. The witch of Endor and the ghost of Samuel were referred to on the one hand, and on the other, the terms of disapproval in which the Sadducees —who held there was neither angel or spirit— were spoken of. First, we were surrounded by invisible beings — almost always invsible to us ; second, there was in man a dormant sense for beholding what was invisible to the world ; third, that hereafter this dormant sense in man would be aroused, and we should see things now invisible to us. Did not the disciples believe they had seen a ghost when they encountered our Lord walking on the Sea ot Galilee ; and also, after the resurrection, did he not appear, and say that by touching him they would feel flesh aud bones, which a r/ho<,t did not possess ? The rov. lecturer made several other allusions to Scriptural ghosts, and was loudly applauded on resuming his seat. A vote of thanks to the lecturer was agreed to unanimously, and those who were so fortunate as to be present dispersed.