Spirite

I thought it not amisse to take in hand some good and learned Treatise concerning this matter. Wherein as many haue both learnedly, painfully, and religiously trauelled: so amongst others, none in my iudgement hath more handsomly & eloquētly, with more iudgment & better method discoursed the same, thē Lewes Lauaterus, Minister of Tigurine. Others haue hādled it indeed wel, but yet Nihil ad nostrā hunc, being either too short, or too long, or too darke, or too doubtful, or otherwise so cōfused, that they leaue the Reader more in suspence in the end, then they found him in the beginning. As for Maister Lauaterus his discretion heerein, I will no otherwise commend it, then to desire the Reader to view, and iudge himself. For thus much at the first sight he shall see: A cleare methode, with a familiar and easie stile, the matter throughly handled Pro and Con, on both sides, so that nothing seemeth to be wanting, nor any thing redounding. And if it be true that Horace saith, Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit vtile dulci, that is, He winneth the prize, that ioyneth pleasure with profit: I thinke this Authour may also in this respect be pronounced Victor, and adiudged to the best game. For he so intreateth this serious and terrible matter of Spirits, that he now and thē inserting some strange story of Monks, Priestes, Friers, and such like counterfeits, doth both very liuely display their falshood, and also not a litle recreate his Reader: and yet in the end he so aptly concludeth to the purpose, that his histories seeme not idle tales, or impertinent vagaries, but very truthes, naturally falling vnder the compasse of this matter. And how profitable this his woorke is, those may best iudge, which are most ignorant in this question, some thinking euery small motion & noyse to be Spirites, and some so fondly perswaded that there are no Spirits, who being better enformed herein by this Authour, I suppose will confesse his work to haue done them some profit: if knowledge be profitable, and ignorance discommodious. And againe, those which being hitherto borne in hande that mens soules returne againe on earth, crauing helpe of the liuing, and haue spent much of their substaunce on idle Monkes and Friers, to relieue them, will confesse the like. For when they shall see they haue bene falsely taught, and that they were not the soules of men which appeared, but either falshood of Monks, or illusions of diuels, franticke imaginations, or some other friuolous & vaine perswasions, they will thinke it profitable to haue knowne the truth, as well to auoid error hereafter, as to saue their mony from such greedy caterpillers. Some also which be otherwise well trained vp in Religion, and yet not knowing what to thinke of these matters, will not iudge their labour euill imployed, nor the worke vnprofitable, wherby they may be brought out of doubt, and know certainly what to beleeue. There be many also euen now a dayes, which are hanted & troubled with spirites, and know not howe to vse themselues, who when they shall learne how a Christian man ought to gouern himselfe, being vexed with euil spirits, wil think it a very profitable point of doctrine, that shal teach them to direct themselues. Profitable therefore it is, and shalbe, no doubt, vnto many, and disprofitable vnto none, except perchance vnto popish Monks and Priests, who are like hereby to lose a great part of their gaines, which sometimes they gathered togither in great abundaunce, by their deceitfull doctrine of the appearing of dead mens soules.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night" (And of Straunge Noyses, Crackes, and Sundrie Forewarnings, Which Commonly Happen Before the Death of Men: Great Slaughters, and Alterations of Kingdoms) by Ludwig Lavater. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

This collection of pamphlets describes fifteen English witchcraft cases in detail, vividly recreating events to give the reader the illusion of actually being present at witchcraft accusations, trials and hangings. But how much are we victims of literary manipulation by these texts? The pamphlets are presented in annotated format, to allow the reader to decide. Some of the texts appear in print for the first time in three centuries, whilst others are newly edited to give a clearer picture of sources.

At a fascinating moment in French intellectual history, an interest in matters occult was not equivalent to a rejection of scientific thought; participants in séances and magic rituals were seekers after experimental data as well as spiritual truth. A young astronomy student wrote of his quest: "I am not in the presence or under the influence of any evil spirit: I study Spiritism as I study mathematics." He did not see himself as an ecstatic visionary but rather as a sober observer. For him, the darkened room of occult practice was as much laboratory as church. In an evocative history of alternative religious practices in France in the second half of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, John Warne Monroe tells the interconnected stories of three movements--Mesmerism, Spiritism, and Occultism. Adherents of these groups, Monroe reveals, attempted to "modernize" faith by providing empirical support for metaphysical concepts. Instead of trusting theological speculation about the nature of the soul, these believers attempted to gather tangible evidence through Mesmeric experiments, séances, and ceremonial magic. While few French people were active Mesmerists, Spiritists, or Occultists, large segments of the educated general public were familiar with these movements and often regarded them as fascinating expressions of the "modern condition," a notable contrast to the Catholicism and secular materialism that prevailed in their culture. Featuring eerie spirit photographs, amusing Daumier lithographs, and a posthumous autograph from Voltaire, as well as extensive documentary evidence, Laboratories of Faith gives readers a sense of what being in a séance or a secret-society ritual might actually have felt like and why these feelings attracted participants. While they never achieved the transformation of human consciousness for which they strove, these thinkers and believers nevertheless pioneered a way of "being religious" that has become an enduring part of the Western cultural vocabulary.