By the Late Theodore Parker
And the Late Hon. Henry Clay
Delivered at Dodworth’s Hall, on the Morning and Evening of Sunday, Dec. 16 , 1860.
Mrs . C. L. V. Hatch, Medium.
Introduction to The Present Crisis
In presenting the following lectures to the public, the Publisher has not been actuated by a thought of gain more than a sincere desire to furnish additional evidence of the power of the departed to commune with the children of earth. As these pages treat upon the question which today agitates the whole nation, they will probably obtain a more general circulation than any production which has heretofore set up the spiritual claim. Hence the following explanation—which is not intended for, and would be deemed superfluous by the thousands of intelligent minds who have listened, spellbound, to the utterances of this highly favored medium. From a book of Lectures delivered through Mrs. Hatch, and published two years since, we quote the following brief account:
“Mrs. Cora L. V. Hatch, who was the means of conveying to the world the thoughts contained in this volume, was born in the town of Cuba, Allegany county, New York, the 21st day of April, 1840. Thus a part of these discourses were delivered before she was seventeen years of age. Her literary scholastic attainments are such as she was able to procure in a rural district of the country antecedent to her tenth year, at which time she became an entranced speaker. Up to that period she had no knowledge of spiritual intercourse. One day, with slate and pencil in hand, she retired to compose a few lines to be read in school; and while seated, lost her external consciousness, and on awaking she found her slate covered with writing. Believing that some one had taken an advantage of what she supposed to have been a sleep, she carried the slate to her mother, and it was found to contain a communication from Cora’s maternal aunt ( who had departed this life some fifteen years previous ), and addressed to Mrs. Scott, the mother of Cora.
“At the age of fourteen she became a public speaker, and even at that early period of life manifested powers of logic and elocution which would have done honor to mature minds, and to which but comparatively few ever attain. She married in August, 1856, and removed to New York city, since which she has spoken from three to four times a week, mostly in New York. Boston, and Baltimore. She has been brought in contact with the most powerful minds of this country, in both private and public debate; but I believe that no one has ever pretended to have successfully sustained an argument against her. The variety of subjects treated will be sufficient evidence that her inspirations are not confined to any particular class of ideas, but are as universal as Nature; and as her discourses are entirely impromptu, if she is not inspired, she must be regarded as the most remarkable, intellectually developed person of the age. In private life she is simple and childlike to a remarkable degree; but while speaking before an audience, her flights of elocution are bold, lofty, and sublime, beyond description.”
At the close of a lecture at Dodworth’s Hall, on Sunday evening, Dec. 9, 1860, it was announced by the influence controlling Mrs. Hatch, that on the following Sabbath the exciting political question now agitating the country would be discussed in the morning, on the one side by the late Theodore Parker, and in opposition, in the evening, by a departed statesman, the name not given, but subsequently identified as the late Hon. Henry Clay.
These speeches were characteristic both in manner and matter, and it would have been difficult for the most skeptical who had been acquainted with the above named parties to point out any marked difference in the manner and bearing of these distinguished men while living, and their impersonation through the organism of the medium. While, as a general thing, we should be inclined to ignore names as of very little consequence, cases may arise where identification, in a public gathering, of those who have been prominently before the public in their earth life, may be productive of great benefit. This I deem one of them.
It is proper to remark in this connection that Mrs. Hatch, while speaking, is entirely unconscious, and is frequently made to utter sentiments and opinions entirely at variance with her own. With these few remarks we commend the following pages to the attention of the reader, trusting, he will find ample compensation in their perusal.
THE PUBLISHER.