Miraculous Powers

CHAPTER IX. DISCERNING SPIRITS

We have but little under this head worthy of confidence. So many fanatics have made pretensions in this direction, that it is with some reluctance that we give the following, even from so humble and devoted a man as Mr. Bramwell, whose piety is not questioned by any who have read his Memoir. His biographer says: MIRP 94.1

“Mr. Bramwell was by no means of a censorious disposition; yet he had the gift of discerning the spirits and dispositions of men in a remarkable manner. I have frequently known him to detect impostors who have stepped forth to exercise in various meetings. On one occasion, when he was desired to visit a dying man, I went with him. We beheld the wretched object without a shirt to his back. The few rags which hung on him scarcely covered his body. His habitation was a damp, miserable cellar, and a woman was attending him, who was represented to be his wife. For some time after our entrance into this dwelling, Mr. Bramwell remained silent; at length he exclaimed, ‘All is not right here! I am clear there is something amiss in this place!’ Then turning to the woman, he said, ‘This man is not your husband. You never were married to him; but for several years you have been living together in sin and wickedness!’ His word went with power to their hearts,—they both wept exceedingly, acknowledged the charge to be true, and began to entreat the Lord to have mercy upon them.”—Memoir, p. 155. MIRP 94.2

Again the same writer says: MIRP 95.1

“One night as I was preaching at Bristol, a man (who was a stranger to all present) either in pretence or reality, fell ill, and had to be taken out of the chapel. The account which he afterward gave of himself was that he came out of Lancashire (from Leigh or its vicinity), was in search of work, had had nothing to eat for three or four days, etc. One of our friends took him home and gave him a night’s lodging. The next morning two of the friends came to me and expressed a desire to beg something for the relief of the poor man. I immediately headed the subscription-list with the small sum which I considered it my duty to give; and they went round the village to obtain what they could from others. MIRP 95.2

“In the mean time Mr. Bramwell came home out of the circuit. I related the whole affair to him. He wished greatly to see the man himself; and I went with him to the house where the man had lodged during the preceding night. We found him within; for he was waiting to receive the money which the friends were collecting for him before he took his departure. The man very pathetically related his tale of wo to Mr. Bramwell. This account appeared to me to be quite rational, accurate and ingenuous; it pierced to the bottom of my heart. While the man was rehearsing his troubles, Mr. Bramwell had his eyes closed, and frequently groaned in spirit. At length he lifted up his head and looked at the man with an eye that seemed to pierce him through, and said, ‘Tell me! is there not a bastard child in all this?’ The man appeared to be thunderstruck; he began to tremble, faltered in his speech, and at length confessed that he had left home to avoid the payment to an illegitimate child which the law exacted. Mr. Bramwell very faithfully warned him of his sin and danger, and advised him to go home, desist from his evil practices, and turn to God with purpose of heart. The man expressing some reluctance about returning home, Mr. Bramwell threatened to have him taken up as an impostor if he did not leave the town immediately. We watched him out of the town, and were glad that he had gone without his booty. Mr. B. afterward assured me that (to the best of his recollection) he had never seen the man before.” MIRP 95.3

“One day,” says Mr. Stones, “as he and I were going together to visit the sick, we passed a public house, out of which came a man just as we had got beyond the door. When we had proceeded a little farther, Mr. Bramwell groaned in spirit, and said, ‘The Lord have mercy on that man! Do you know who he is?’ I replied, ‘Yes sir! Do you?’ ‘No,’ said he, ‘but this I know, that he is a perfect infidel.’ ‘Dear Mr. Bramwell,’ said I, ‘do not say so.’ He replied with increased emphasis, ‘I am sure of it! He is a perfect infidel!’ It is remarkable that this very man, to my certain knowledge, was then, (and for aught I know to the contrary) is still such a character for infidelity and profaneness, as perhaps has not his equal in all Yorkshire, if in the United Kingdom.”—Memoir, p. 84. MIRP 96.1