Mr. John Broadbent, Mr. J. Wescote, Mr. Deverel, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Gwyer. In consequence of the papers which were published through the greatest part of the kingdom, without our consent, many strange falsehoods were propagated; which being communicated to some of our friends, they were induced, in order to prevent the people from suffering impositions, hastily to put together the following true relation, of the occurrences of that morning: Some persons, acquainted with George Lukins had heard him repeatedly say that he was possessed with seven devils, and that if seven ministers could be got to pray with him in faith, they would be cast out. But this declaration being treated as a visionary matter, he remained in his former state. However, a person who felt much for his deplorable case had him brought to Bristol last week, to see if any thing could be done for him. After he had been here a few days, and was seen by many persons in his fits, several ministers were prevailed upon to meet on the occasion. They accordingly met in the vestryroom of the Temple church, on Friday the 13th instant, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, attended by the poor man, and several other persons to assist in managing of him in his fits: and the following is a relation of some of the particulars on the above awful occasion. 1. They began singing a hymn, on which the man was immediately thrown into strange agitations, his face was variously distorted, and his whole body strongly convulsed. His right hand and arm then began to shake with violence, and after some violent throes, he spake in a deep, hoarse, hollow voice, personating an invisible agent calling the man to an account, upbraiding him as a fool for bringing that sily company together: said it was to no purpose, and swore that he would never quit his hold of him; but would torment him a thousand times worse for making this vain attempt. 2. He then began to sing in his usual manner, (still personating some invisible agent) horribly blasphemed, boasted of his power, and vowed eternal vengeance on the miserable object, and on those present for daring to oppose him; and commanded bis "faithful and obedient servants" to appear, and take their station. 3 He then spake in a female voice, very expressive of scorn ment that any of these lose the living principle, they become subject to the digestive powers of the stomach. If it were possible for a man's hand, for example, to be introduced into the stomach of a living animal, and kept there for some considerable time, it would be found that the dissolvent powers of the stomach could have no effect upon it; but if the same hand were separated from the body, we should then find, that the stomach would act immediately upon it. "Indeed, if this were not the case, we should find that the stomach itself ought to have been made of indigestible materials: for if the living principle was not capable of preserving animal substances from undergoing that process, the stomach itself would be digested. "But we find, on the contrary, that the stomach, which, at one instant, that is, while possessed of the living principle, was capable of resisting the digestive powers which it contained, the next moment, viz. when deprived of the living principle, is itself capable of being digested either by the digestive powers of other stomachs, or by the remains of that power which it had of digesting other things." Consistently with which observations of Mr. John Hunter, we find that small fishes have been taken alive out of the stomachs of fishes of prey, and (not having been killed by any bite or otherwise) have survived their being devoured, and have swam away well recovered, and very little affected by the digesting fluid. Putting then all these circumstances together, there appears, in the end, nothing unphilosophical or absurd, in supposing that Jonas, or indeed any other man, having the foramen ovale of the heart open, or such a construction of his frame as those mentioned by Derham had, might be cast into the sea, and be swallowed up whole by a great fish, and yet be neither drowned, nor bitten, nor corrupted, nor digested, nor killed; and it will easily follow, from the dictates of common sense, that in that case the fish itself must either die, or be prompted by its feelings to get rid of its load; and this it might do, perhaps, more readily near the shore, than in the midst of the waters, and in that case, such person would certainly recover again by degrees, and escape. I do not presume to say that this is, by any means, an exact solution of what happened to the prophet Jonas, because there must ever be acknowledged to have been a miraculous, divine interposition on the whole, in causing the circumstances of the presence of the fish, of the formation of Jonas, and of the nearness to the shor:, at the time of his being thrown up, to concur rightly to effect his deliverance; and how much farther it master has deceived us."-The clergyman still continuing to repeat the adjuration, a voice was heard to say, "Where shall we go?" and the reply was, "To hell, and return no more to torment this man." On this the man's distortions were stronger than ever; attended with the most dreadful howling. But as soon as this conflict was over, he said, in his own natural voice, "Blessed Jesus!"-He then immediately praised God for his deliverance, and kneeling down said the Lord's prayer, and returned his thanks to all who were present. I am aware, that the above account of George Lukins, will by many be doubted; for this is the day of scepticism, concerning such things. But wherefore; surely it must arise from ignorance of the subject. Does not the scriptures, and other authentic history, of ancient as well as modern times, testify that in all ages of time, there have been frequent familiarity between the inhabitants of this earth, and the invisible state, upon errands of love, or of malevolence. He who is altogether a sceptic upon this subject, is not far from sitting in judgment upon the bible itself, and condemning it as mere fable. The mind of man is ever at variance with the serious things of eternity, unless it be under the healthful influence of the grace of God and therefore is prepared to contradict all such kind of information, however well attested, because it has this voice in it, prepare to meet thy God. There are some, undoubtedly, who assent to a belief of such things, merely from the influence of education, or superstition: but such ground as that can never afford the true philosopher any good reason, for he will require an effect, to be consistent, with some consistent cause, and also evidence of the fact. It is deemed consistent, from the relation which the spirits of the earth have to those of the invisible state, that they should have access, if permitted, to each other. The relation which they bear to each other, is their intelligence, and reasoning faculties, being all originated by the same creative power; and may, therefore, if permitted by the God of Providence, have communion with each other, either upon matters of love to God, and each other; or upon matters of hatred to God, evinced by extreme wickedness: and by an inscrutable Providence, may be permitted to afflict some of the sons of sorrow, by mental derangement, others by the affliction of their persons, others in their property, &c. Witness Job, whose property was destroyed of the devil; and in the days of Christ, the bodies of men and women were tormented of Satan; and in later years, as in the person of George Lukins, as above related, and many others according to history. The names recorded, as witnesses of the wonderful cure of this man, are too ply with her wish, but the engagements I had in this city, precluded me that gratification; notwithstanding which if she could contrive to bring the man to Bristol, I would solicit some of my friends to join me in supplication for him. On Saturday the 7th day of June, George Lukins came to Mr. Wescote's, in Redclift-street, where he was seen for some days in his fits, by many who with one voice declared, that they were struck with horror and amazement, at the sounds and expressions which they heard, and the unaccountable agitations and convulsions which they beheld. In compliance with my promise to Mrs. B. I applied to such of the clergy of the established church (within the circle of my acquaintance) as I conceived to be most cordial in the belief of supernatural influences, namely, to the Rev. Dr. Symes, Rector of St. Werburgh's; the Rev. Dr. Robins, precentor of the cathedral; and the Rev. Mr. Brown. rector of Portishead; requesting that these gentlemen would attend a meeting for prayer in behalf of this object of commiseration; but though they acknowledged it as their opinion, that his was a supernatural affliction, I could not prevail upon them to join with me in prayer for him. Therefore as these gentlemen rejected my application, there was no rational ground of hope for more success, with those of my brethren, who were less disposed to admit the influence of good and evil spirits. Yet being unwilling to dismiss him from Bristol till some effort had been made for his recovery, I next desired certain persons in connexion with the Rev. Mr. Wesley to attend a prayer-meeting on his account : to which request they readily acceded. Accordingly a meeting was appointed on Friday morning the 13th of June, at eleven o'clock. And as the most horrible noises usually proceeded from him in his fits, it was suggested that the vestry-room of Temple church, which is bounded by the church-yard, was the most retired place that could be found in Temple parish; and for that reason that situation was preferred to any other, it being our design to conduct this business with as much secrecy as possible. But our design in this respect was rendered abortive; for on Wednesday evening the 11th of June, there was published in the Bristol Gazette, the following letter: SIR, To the Printer of the Bristol Gazette. When you can spare room in your Gazette, I think you will not be able to present your readers with any account so extraordinary as the following. It is the most singular case of perverted reason and bodily suffering that I ever heard of; nor sion; and, though he used every effort to suppress desires at once so imprudent and unjust, the emotions of his mind in a short time became so strong, that they brought on a fever, which the physicians judged incurable. During this illness, Alcander watched him with all the anxiety of tenderness, and brought his mistress, to join in those amiable offices of friendship. The sagacity of the physicians, by these means, soon discovered that the cause of their patient's disorder was love; and Alcander being apprized of their discovery, at length extorted a confession from the reluctant dying lover. It would but delay the narrative to describe the conflict between love and friendship, it is enough to say, that the Athenians were at that time arrived at such refinement in morals, that every virtue was carried to excess. In short, forgetful of his own felicity, he gave up his intended bride in all her charms to the young Roman. They were married privately by his connivance, and this unlooked for change of fortune wrought as unexpected a change in the constitution of the now happy Septimius: in a few days he was perfectly recovered, and set out with his fair partner for Rome. Here, by an exertion of those talents which he was so eminently possessed of, Septimius, in a few years arrived at the highest dignities of the state, and was constituted the city judge or prætor. In the mean time Alcander not only felt the pain of being" separated from his friend and mistress, but a prosecution was also commenced against him by the relations of Hypatia, for having basely given up his bride, as was suggested, for money. His innocence of the crime laid to his charge, and even his eloquence in his own defence, were not able to withstand the influence of a powerful party. He was cast, and condemned to pay an enormous fine. However, being unable to raise so large a sum at the time appointed, his possessions were confiscated, he himself was stripped of the habit of freedom, exposed as a slave in the market-place, and sold to the highest bidder. A merchant of Thrace becoming his purchaser, Alcander, with some other companions of distress, was carried into that region of desolation and sterility. His stated employment was to follow the herds of an imperious master, and his success in hunting was all that was allowed to supply his precarious subsistence. Every morning awakened him to a renewal of famine or toil, and every change of season served but to aggravate his unsheltered distress. After some years of bondage, however, an opportunity of escaping offered; he embraced it with ardour; so that travelling by night, and lodged in caverns by day, to shorten a long story, he at last arrived in Rome. The same day on which Alcander arrived, Septimius sat ad |