gradually introduced, and thus avoid a repetition of that alarm which was created last Sunday: your opinion is requested accordingly?" There was now a solemn silence. Of course considering myself called upon to interpret, if I could, I had my eyes open to observe the action of the mouth, in order to assist my sense of hearing. On surveying the party, I soon perceived that the Gifted Sister 1 was about to speak, by the violent agitation or working of her whole frame, of which it is difficult to give a written description, without appearing to ridicule the parties, which is very far from being my intention-for I perfectly agree with Mr. Irving, that "condemnation is not proof, nor is ridicule argument,"-however, as I write for the information of the Christian reader, I will explain that her whole frame was in violent agitation, but principally the body, from the hips to the shoulders, which worked with a lateral motion-the chest heaved and swelled-the head was occasionally raised from the right hand, which was placed under the forehead, whilst the left hand and arm seemed to press and rub the stomach. She was but a few seconds in this state, when the body stayed, the neck became stiff, and the head erect; the hands fell on the lap, the mouth assumed a circular form, the lips projected, and the "Tongue" and English came from her in an awful tone. During the utterance I observed a violent exertion of the muscles at the back of the jaw-bone, and that the stiffened lips never touched to aid the articulation of the "Tongue," but they closed sufficiently to express the labials of the English part of the delivery, and instantly resumed the circular form. Rivetted as my eyes were upon her, and attentive as I was to the "Tongue," I was still firm in the belief that my prayer would be answered, and lively in the conviction that I was there in God's service; hence, I cannot describe the gratification I felt when I heard in the Tongue these words, which are the only part of the sound I can commit to paper : gthis dil emma sumo." + I immediately wrote as a translation, on a slip of paper, "I will undertake this dilemma," supposing that sumo was Latin; but I afterwards recollected that the word was assume, and that the first syllable was lost by the preceding word ending in a vowel. I quickly gave the paper to Mr. A., supposing he would understand what I meant, but he passed it to the Missionary, who read the sentence, and, with an appearance of surprise, asked me what I intended by it? I replied, "It is what I understood the tongue to mean." "How can you, Sir, undertake to interpret the words of God? Do you wish to upset the Church? "No, Sir: I came here for the purpose of endeavouring to interpret, as Brother A. will testify." The Missionary gave an inquiring look at the Brother, who appeared ignorant of the circumstance!! at which I was exceedingly hurt, and, turning to the Missionary, said, "I offer the words. with all humility; if they be of no value, I trust you will believe that I have merely done what was required of me." To which he replied, "You

*Not having been introduced to the Sisters, I may be allowed, for distinction's sake, to designate them numerically as 1, 2, 3.'

'The m's in these words, having been uttered in the manner already explained, sounded like eng softened; and the sentence evidently referred to the perplexity which had produced this consultation. If the reader will fix his mouth as I have described, he may utter "I will" in an intelligible manner, but in a sound which cannot be expressed by orthography.'

cannot interpret by human understanding; interpretation must be given by the Spirit." Gifted Sister 2 now spoke, but uttered nothing in Tongue, except half a dozen musical tones.-[Solemn silence.]-Gifted Sister 3 spoke entirely in English.-[Silence.]-The Gifted Brother spoke in Tongue and English: 1 supposed the meaning of his Tongue to be "Contemn opposition; but, of course, I was silent. The Missionary now asked all, except the Gifted and myself, what was their opinion? Each replied, “I will be guided by the Spirit:" in particular, one very old man answeredin a faltering voice, with tears rolling down his cheeks-" I will follow the Spirit, even though by so doing I am separated from my daughter." It was now four o'clock, and they adjourned to the church.'-pp. 17-19.

Amongst all the reveries of Joanna Southcote and her followers, we remember nothing half so ridiculous as this scene. It is a thorough specimen of theological quackery. The rehearsal takes place before the curtain is raised, the parts having been already assigned to the different actors; but the appearance of the stranger amongst them, and his assumption of a knowledge without inspiration, seem already to have caused alarm. The missionary is outrageous, on learning that Pilkington could interpret without the divine assistance, for this was the point, manifestly, to which they wanted him to screw up his courage. But he did not understand the aim which the cabinet of impostors had in view; and we shall soon find, that not being a man for their purpose, he was discarded. We shall not stop to analyse the tongue which the first of these weird sisters is said to have spoken upon this occasion. We may, however, remark, that if her words be rightly reported, she must be an arrant and practised cheat, to attempt to pass off such words, as dictates of the Holy Spirit, for they are evidently a clipping of his Majesty's English. We now proceed with our interpreter to the church; we perceive at once that he is in bad odour with his new friends, and not on the best terms with himself.

'On leaving the house no attention whatever was paid to me as a stranger; however, I accosted Brother A., and walked with him until we arrived at the corner turning to the church, where I missed him, and, having slightly turned my head, observed he was alone and looking after me; by which I concluded he had some secret reason for not wishing to be seen with me. The Gifted Brother now followed, and accosted me"Pray Sir, are you the gentleman who spoke in the church on Monday?" "Yes, Sir." "How did you feel, Sir? could you avoid it, Sir?” "I think I could have avoided it." Well, since you have confessed that, allow me to advise you not to speak again unless you cannot help it :" so saying, he parted from me, and on entering the vestry, in which were forty or fifty persons sitting on forms, Mr. Irving gave me a seat in the front, close to his chair and that of the Missionary.-[Psalm. Prayer. Silence.]-The Gifted Sister I commenced, I heard the words, Hozeqhin* alta stare: the re

I had rendered this "Hosanna in the highest;" but on comparing it with her second utterance, "Hozehamenanostra," I discovered that I should have made it " Jesus in the highest."'

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maining sounds I cannot clearly remember, though, as translated from the Latin, the meaning was-" will take care of this house:" she concluded in English, urging that the Spirit should speak in the congregation [Silence.]-Gifted Sister 2 uttered in Tongue no more than "Holimoth holif awthaw!" and finished in English to the same effect as Sister 1. I took advantage of the silence which followed, to tell Mr. Irving that I was informed by the Missionary it was not correct to interpret except by the Spirit, and that that which I otherwise interpreted would not be received. "O yes, Sir [anxiously]; what did you hear?" I replied "Sister 2 said (in English) Holy, most holy Father; and Sister 1 said (in Latin) Jesus, who is in the highest, will take care of this house."" Neither Mr. Irving nor the Missionary asked me any questions about the Tongue in English, no doubt because they did not believe she used this language-I heard Sister 2 say to her neighbour, in a low voice, "I didn't speak in English, did I?"-but they questioned me closely about the Latin. I said I translated it; which the Missionary declared "was not interpretationthat interpretation should be given by the Spirit:" to this Mr. Irving assented; and although I remarked that it might have been given me by the Spirit in answer to the prayers that had been offered for me, they eluded the observation.-[Silence.]-Sister 1 spoke again in Tongue, Hozehamenanostra," which she repeated three times; and in English she said, “ Jesus will take care of us." I was now satisfied beyond all doubt that I understood the Tongue, and that God had given me the opportunity of proving that I was no impostor; I therefore promptly said,; "The interpretation of the Tongue is, Jesus will take our hands,' or Jesus will direct us."""How do you know that, Sir (said Mr. Irving)?" "Because I heard it in Latin." I recited the above Tongue, as uttered, and remarked that it was repeated three times by the Sister. "Well, Sir, how do you make Latin of that?" "Hoze is Jesus; ha is a contraction of habeo ; mena, hands; nostra, ours." Mr. Irving admitted this; but said the Spirit might have "another meaning." I then remarked that the Spirit gave the same interpretation in English, which he evaded; and on my reciting the whole Tongue and English, as it came out of the mouth of the Sister (without assuming the awful tone), he said, "Say no more about it."-[Silence.]-A member of the meeting suggested that if the Gifted Persons were to speak in the congregation, they should endeavour to say as little as possible at first, and that they should be placed in such a part of the church as would enable the congregation to see them without any effort, in order to avoid the noise arising from an anxiety to see as well as hear. Gifted Sister 2 (in English only): "Do you not know that the Spirit burneth in the bone?-burneth in the bone?" +-[Silence.]-Gifted

* At first I thought "moth" was the broken sound of mother; but supposing that a Presbyterian could not mean to say "Holy Mother," I rendered it" Holy Father;" but afterwards, by practising the sounds with my mouth fixed as already described, I discovered that moth was most : and the reader must observe, that the imperfection of the other sounds here and hereafter quoted arises from a want of a perfect knowledge of the languages which those Gifted Persons were thus contriving to utter.'

+ This I considered as a reply to the proposal that the Gifted were to speak as little as possible.'

Sister 3 uttered in Tongue, "Casa sera hastha caro ;" and concluded in English to the same effect as the others.-[Silence.]-The Gifted Brother now uttered a crash of Tongue, and spoke to the same effect as the Sisters. [Silence.]-I whispered Mr. Irving, "Do you wish to know what the Sister said in Tongue?" "Yes, Sir [anxiously]." I told him, "This house will still be in my care;" that I heard it in Spanish, and that as there was an objection to my manner of interpreting I did not wish to speak it aloud. He replied, "I thank you for that, Sir." Having prayed, after the usual blessing we parted at half-past six. Thus closed a day so entirely devoted to prayer, that I directed my steps homeward without remembering that I had eaten nothing since nine in the morning, till accident reminded me that I had not dined.

If this narrative had not been written by a person who says he saw and heard what he relates, we should have almost looked upon it as incredible. May we ask the author in what language he found the uncouth term Hozeqh, as standing for Jesus? He professes to say that he could only interpret some languages already known but he must have surely received some little gleam of the gift, to make out such a meaning for such a combination of letters. And yet how could he be supposed to have been even partially inspired, since he at one time interprets them to be Hosanna, at another Jesus? For at all events the Spirit must be supposed to be infallible and consistent. His interpretation of the second sister's speech would, we presume, have been attended with less difficulty if he had written them thus-" Holy moth holy fawthaw"-for sister No. 2, in her ore rotundo style, evidently spoke pompously in disguised English, although she affected ignorance that she had done so. The author's note on "Moth" is truly laughable-if indeed any thing can be ludicrous in such profane and wicked impostures as these. Even if we should concede that the sisters spoke in the English, Latin, or Spanish languages, the sounds which are here written for them, is there anything in the announcements, which they are represented by their interpreter to have made, which required inspiration? What new precepts have they propounded? What new truths have they discovered? What have they said in the "Tongue" which they might not as well have said in plain English? Where is the proof of their mission? What conversions have they wrought? Mr. Pilkington proceeds:

When the Missionary rebuked me in a tone of asperity at the meeting, in Mr. Irving's house, for "presuming to interpret the words of God," as already stated-knowing as he did, that I was a stranger, and, if not worthy of christian love, at least entitled to the courtesy due to hospitality-I was forcibly reminded of the expressions in one of the very chapters on which all these proceedings were founded, namely, "Though I speak with the tongues of Men and of Angels, and have not Charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinckling cymbal. Charity doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil." And when Mr. A. would not admit that I was invited there by Mr. Irving, to endeavour to interpret, although only two hours had elapsed since he

joined that Reverend Pastor in praying that I might be so gifted, I confess that "my spirit was overwhelmed within me, and my heart within me was desolate ;"- -no by-stander could here have exclaimed, "See how these christians love one another!" hence, considering that, as the sap passes through the trunk and branches of the vine, a wound inflicted on a part is sensibly felt by the other members, and each contributes relief in proportion to its luxuriance, so the Holy Spirit permeates and nurtures a christian assembly, I reasonably expected that the "Gifted Persons" would sympathize in the feelings of a spirit so wantonly afflicted, and furnish relief from the abundance of their talent, by the most trifling remonstrance ;— but all were silent. These were my reflections, and this the moment when reason first began to assert its right. I now suspected that those "Gifted Persons," though rather deluded, were desirous to over-awe the negligent, and restore them to a sense of their duty to God, and had adopted this means for that purpose; but the speaking in Tongue," under such circumstances, was an impious utterance of language, professed to be " mysteries known only unto God." And when I reflected that they were consulted as oracles, to decide on the future conduct of their Church, -I could not help shuddering, both for their own safety (lest pride and vanity should seize the empire of their minds) and for that of their Christian Brethren, who bowed to their decisions and utterances with no less a reverence than if they were the shrines of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Nor did my suspicion want authority, when I remembered how instantaneously they burst forth, as if the trigger of a loaded gun had been pulled, when Mr. Irving declared, that the law permitted them to speak by the Spirit-how suddenly they could stop its utterance on Saturday the 8th October-how conveniently they could reply to the question asked in the meeting at Mr. Irving's residence-and how suitably they could restrain the Spirit till the second service of the Prayer Meeting (which was the time allotted for them to give vent to utterance by the pastor), apparently with as much ease as the owner makes use of a stop-watch; which, although concordant with the "Commandments of the Lord," that “the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets," yet is by no means consistent with the sudden and unexpected intrusion of it on Sunday, the 9th of October; which Mr. Irving declared to be "the Will of God," in obedience to which he introduced the subject, and sanctioned the proceeding in his congregation.-pp. 23, 24.

The author now began to entertain some suspicion that the sisters were not disposed to receive his interpretation. In fact he was too rational a man for them, since he discovered a part of their system for the fabrication of an unknown tongue, by the huddling together words from different languages, and by mispronouncing their own. Matters were soon brought to a crisis. At a subsequent morning service he conceived that he heard one of the sisters say "Yeo cogo nomo," while speaking under the influence of inspiration. Here was a mixture of Spanish and Greek, "yo conosco nomos;" or all Spanish; "yo conosco norma," which it was easy for him to translate by the words, "I know the law." These he pronounced aloud in the church, whereupon Mr. Irving returned thanks in prayer for the appearance of such an interpreter! and calling to him, said