The Epworth Phenomena | Page 9

say of
what shape; and the man saw something like a white rabbit, which
came from behind the oven, with its ears flat upon the neck, and its
little scut standing straight up. A shadow may possibly explain the first
of these appearances; the other may be imputed to that proneness which
ignorant persons so commonly evince to exaggerate in all uncommon
cases. These circumstances, therefore, though apparently silly in
themselves, in no degree invalidate the other parts of the story, which
rest upon the concurrent testimony of many intelligent witnesses. The
door was once violently pushed against Emilia, when there was no
person on the outside; the latches were frequently lifted up; the
windows clattered always before Jeffery entered a room, and whatever
iron or brass was there, rung and jarred exceedingly. It was observed
also that the wind commonly rose after any of his noises, and increased
with it, and whistled loudly round the house. Mr. Wesley's trencher (for
it was before our potteries had pushed their ware into every village
throughout the kingdom) danced one day upon the table, to his no small
amazement; and the handle of Robin's handmill, at another time, was
turned round with great swiftness; unluckily he had just done grinding;
nothing vexed him, he said, but that the mill was empty; if there had
been corn in it, Jeffery might have ground his heart out before he would
have disturbed him. It was plainly a Jacobite goblin, and seldom
suffered Mr. Wesley to pray for the King and the Prince of Wales

without disturbing the family prayers. Mr. Wesley was sore upon this
subject, and became angry, and therefore repeated the prayer. But when
Samuel was informed of this his remark was, 'As to the devil's being an
enemy to King George, were I the king myself I should rather Old Nick
should be my enemy than my friend.' The children were the only
persons who were distressed by these visitations; the manner in which
they were affected is remarkable: when the noises began, they appeared
to be frightened in their sleep, a sweat came over them, and they panted
and trembled till the disturbance was so loud as to waken them. Before
it ceased the family had become quite accustomed to it, and were tired
with hearing or speaking of it. 'Send me some news,' said one of the
sisters to her brother Samuel, 'for we are secluded from the sight or
hearing of any versal thing except Jeffery.'
"An author who in this age relates such a story, and treats it as not
utterly incredible and absurd, must expect to be ridiculed; but the
testimony upon which it rests is far too strong to be set aside because of
the strangeness of the relation. The letters which passed at the time
between Samuel Wesley and the family at Epworth, the journal which
Mr. Wesley kept of these remarkable transactions, and the evidence
concerning them which John afterwards collected, fell into the hands of
Dr Priestley, and were published by him as being 'perhaps the best
authenticated and best told story of the kind that is anywhere extant.'
He observes in favour of the story 'that all the parties seem to have been
sufficiently void of fear, and also free from credulity, except the
general belief that such things were supernatural.' But, he argues, that
where no good end was to be answered, we may safely conclude that
no miracle was wrought; and he supposes, as the most probable
solution, that it was a trick of the servants, assisted by some of the
neighbours, for the sake of amusing themselves and puzzling the family.
In reply to this it may safely be asserted that many of the circumstances
cannot be explained by any such supposition, nor by any legerdemain,
nor by ventriloquism, nor by any secret acoustics. The former argument
would be valid if the term miracle were applicable to the case; but by
miracle Dr Priestley evidently intends a manifestation of Divine Power,
and in the present instance no such manifestation is supposed, any more
than in the appearance of a departed spirit. Such things may be

preternatural and yet not miraculous; they may be not in the ordinary
course of nature, and yet imply no alteration of its laws. And with
regard to the good end which they may be supposed to answer, it would
be sufficient if sometimes one of those unhappy persons who, looking
through the dim glass of infidelity, see nothing beyond this life and the
narrow sphere of mortal existence, should, from the well-established
truth of one such story (trifling and objectless as it might otherwise
appear), be led to a conclusion that there are more things in heaven and
earth than are dreamt of in their