xii. There it is said that Paul was caught up into paradise; and in the

same passage the place into which he was taken is called the _third heaven_—the highest and holiest place in the universe. In Rev. ii. 7 we are told that the tree of life stands in the midst of the paradise of God; and in Rev. xxii. 2, we are told that that same tree of life stands by the side of the river which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. From this it is evident that paradise is the heaven where God dwells and the Lamb. Is then the middle abode, Hades, the kingdom of shades, the peculiar abode of God and the Lamb?

785. “The objection that the Saviour himself did not go to heaven that day, but was for forty days afterward on the earth, and that therefore he could not be with the penitent thief in paradise, has no force. During the three days that intervened between his death and resurrection, he could as well be in heaven as in Hades. Indeed, it is evident that he was in heaven during those three days, from what he says to his disciples shortly before his death: ‘A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, _because I go to the Father_.’ Moreover, his tarrying on the earth and appearing among his disciples does not conflict with the idea that he was also in paradise. When he was yet in the flesh on earth, he could say: ‘And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but that he came down from heaven, even the Son of man which _is in heaven_.’ In the same way that he was in heaven at that time, he may have been in heaven with the penitent thief during the forty days between his death and ascension.

786. “The history of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi.) plainly teaches that both the righteous and the wicked, at death, pass into a _fixed_ and eternal abode, where no change is possible. No comment on the passage is necessary. This portion of Scripture has a thousand times been tortured out of its meaning by errorists of various kinds, and as often has its testimony fallen back into the church’s healthful stream of sound views. As a sheep, carried away from the fold, returns when set free, so this passage always comes back again; for the voice of a stranger it heareth not, nor followeth!

787. “In the Revelation, John, in his vision, saw the souls of departed martyrs and saints ‘in heaven,’ ‘under the altar,’ ‘before the throne of God,’ &c., and in the company of each other, of God, of Christ, and of angels, in the central and highest heavens, and in that place where the saints go no more out forever. Let it be remembered, also, that all this is _before the resurrection_; and if the following passages are carefully considered, they will leave no doubt on any candid mind that the saints are, immediately after death, admitted into heaven. To quote them all would be too tedious; a reference to them is sufficient: Rev. v. 6-14; vi. 9-12; vii. 9-17; xiv. 1-6; xiv. 12, 13.

788. “For further proof still the reader is referred to Acts vii. 59; 2 Cor. v. 1-9; Phil. i. 21-24; 2 Tim. iv. 6-9; Eph. iii. 15. In this last passage, the whole family of Christ is represented to be at two places, in heaven and on earth; but according to the other theory, there ought also to be some in Hades, or the third place.

789. “It may also be remarked that the misery of the wicked commences, according to the Scripture, immediately after death, and before the resurrection, and that their condition is unchangeably fixed. This is evident from Luke xvi.; and also from that passage in Jude where he says that those who had died impenitent in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were, at the time he wrote, ‘suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ In like manner it is said of the righteous at death, that they are blessed ‘from henceforth;’ and of those who were clothed in white robes, having come up through great tribulation, it is said, ‘therefore _are_ they before the throne of God.’

790. “These passages are plain, and it would, in all probability, never have been attempted to make them mean any thing different from their plain sense, were it not for some difficulties, which, it is thought, stood in the way of the doctrine that the souls of the saints pass immediately at death into heaven. Let us look at these, and see whether they are not fancied difficulties, which one glance at the truth ought to remove:

791. (1.) “It is said that the soul, in a state of separation from the body, cannot be in the same state, nor properly in the same place, as it will be after the resurrection; and as heaven is to be the eternal abode of the saints after the resurrection, it cannot be a proper abode for them before. This objection has, however, no force. There is, for instance, in this world, a great difference between a person in childhood and old age, yea, before he is born and after, or between his sleeping and waking state; and yet he is in all these in the same world, in the same place, and is the same person. The state and condition of the Saviour differs widely from that of any saint or angel, and yet both are in heaven. So angels and human spirits differ, and yet both are in one company and in one place. So in heaven the condition of the saints before and after the resurrection may differ much, and yet they may be, in both cases, in the same place.

792. “(2.) The saints cannot enter heaven, it is said, before they are judged; and as the day of judgment is represented to be after the resurrection, the saints cannot enter heaven until after that, and consequently not immediately at death. We may, however, consider, as is generally done, that the day of judgment is only a public and final consummation of the decision of man’s destiny. Although God can, and no doubt, does, for himself, judge and decide for each one when he dies, yet it seems necessary for the glorious praise of his justice and righteousness that all other intelligences should see the propriety of his decision. This is necessary, that every mouth may be stopped; and in order to do this he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.

793. “(3.) It is also said that the condition of many is represented in that day to be undecided. Thus many are said to be disappointed; coming to be judged, they find that their expectations of heaven are vain, and they say, ‘Have we not prophesied, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works in Thy name?’ Now it is said that if these persons had been in a fixed state before, they could not have been in doubt on this matter. The force of this objection is only apparent. The representations of the judgment are after the manner of men, and consequently our conceptions of it must be more or less according to what we are accustomed to see on earth. The Saviour is warning his hearers not to delay preparation for death; and, in order to impress his solemn exhortation, tells them that many will find themselves disappointed in their expectations in reference to the final decision of their judge, and that their hopes of heaven, being built on the sand, will fail at last. It does no more exclusively refer to that day than the many warnings to prepare to meet the Son of Man refer to the time of his second coming. He is always coming, and to prepare for death is to prepare to meet him. So to find ourselves deceived at the day of death is the same as to find ourselves deceived at the day of judgment.

794. “(4.) Again, it is said that in some cases the full effects and consequences of persons’ actions are not fully worked out when persons die. Thus, for instance, it is known that the labours and writings of many infidels, who are long since dead, are still working for evil; and on the other hand, the labours and writings of many good men are still working out good. These consequences must, in a certain sense, come into the consideration of their punishment or reward. Hence it is thought their destiny cannot immediately be decided. But to this it may be replied that God, who judges, knows how these consequences will work themselves out, and is able, therefore, to give a just judgment as well at the day of death as at the end of the world. At the last day, when all consequences have run out their history, it will be proper that they should be exhibited in a solemn public judgment, that all may see for themselves that all his ways are just and right. Besides, there is nothing unreasonable or unscriptural in the belief that the happiness of the righteous in heaven, and the misery of the lost in hell, will increase in exact proportion as the consequences of their actions on the earth are developing themselves, until the day of judgment, when the cup will be full, and then the full draught of happiness or misery will be taken finally and forever! Oh, what a moment will that be!

795. “Some additional considerations will serve more completely still to answer these and other objections, and reconcile the serious and thoughtful mind to the idea that the souls of the saints are in heaven before the resurrection of the body.

796. “We shall only gain proper ideas in reference to this interesting subject when we have corrected our ideas of heaven, for many of them are evidently wrong. We are inclined to think of heaven as affording to the saints a fixed or stereotyped condition, without attaching to it the idea of degrees and progression. When we maintain that the saints pass immediately at death into heaven, we do not mean that they enter then upon their final condition, or into their highest state of perfection, but only that they enter into that _place_ which is their final abode. When, for instance, a child is born into the world, it is in the world; but it is limited in its observations, actions, ideas, capacities, and enjoyments, and yet all these are in their state perfect; all its faculties occupy their place symmetrically, and we have in the child a uniform but not a perfect being. Analogous to this may be the primary stage of our future celestial history. The child is in the world before it is born and during its infantile years, but how different is it, and how different is the world to it, from what it will be when all its faculties are ripe! So in heaven. The child before self-consciousness appears to enjoy an indistinct and floating life, but happy too; so may it be with our future condition before the resurrection of the body. The condition of the disembodied spirit will, no doubt, be somewhat isolated and lonely, (in a pleasant sense,) its happiness being derived much, though not entirely, from the flow of its own harmonious existence, and not from its connection with things external. Its future connection with its body will arrest its floating condition, and connect it again more consciously with locality and materiality. Thus it will become more capable of social relations and joys; just as the child emerging from its floating state in infancy has its social powers developed by being furnished with self-consciousness and speech, by which it learns intelligently to separate and distinguish itself from the general mass of being, which makes its enjoyments higher in their nature and more acute and sensible in their quality.

797. “Perhaps the state of the saints previous to the resurrection of the body, and in the first stage of their future being, may be analogous to (but of course higher than) a state of ordinary sleep, with active, pleasant dreaming. In dreams, the spirit acts and enjoys, unconscious of the body; and may we not suppose that the spirit after death may, to a certain extent, act and enjoy without the body? Perhaps it may in this state pass profitably and pleasantly through the first stages of its future history. It may, so to say, become habituated to eternal things, and develop its spiritual capacities to such a degree as to be prepared, at the time of the resurrection, to enter upon a more tangible and positive state of existence. It may thus, also, become acquainted with purely spiritual beings, and with the modes of purely spiritual existence. This will be useful, because the saints after the resurrection will be required to hold communion with things material and immaterial. While the saint is in this world, in the body, he becomes conversant with material things, and habituated to them; now, in the other world, in a disembodied state, previous to the resurrection, he will become conversant with and habituated to purely spiritual existence, so that after the resurrection, when soul and body are again united, he will be able to hold converse and communion with either material or immaterial existences at pleasure.

798. “To this it may be objected that while those who lived in the early ages of the world would have a long time to remain in this state of celestial pupilage, those who live in later ages would have less, and those in the last days scarcely any.

799. “This objection, so far from militating against this idea, most beautifully illustrates and confirms it. Thus the souls of men are more developed in spiritual things now, and will be still more in future, than they were in the earlier ages of the world. Those who lived in the morning of the world had very limited and indistinct ideas of divine and eternal things. Their views of a future world, especially, were exceedingly misty and obscure. As the church advanced, life and immortality were more and more brought to light. Revelation passed from types, shadows, and ceremonies, into brighter and clearer realities; and spiritual conceptions gained a firmer and more distinct hold upon the consciousness of men. The new dispensation was an advance upon the old, as under the old the age of prophecy had been upon the law, and the law upon the simple twilight of the patriarchal age. In what a different light those who lived after the new dispensation dawned, stood from those under the Old Testament, is clear from what the Saviour says—‘Among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the kingdom of God’ (in the new dispensation) ‘is greater than he.’

800. “At the present day, clearer views are enjoyed than were enjoyed in the early history of the Christian church. Let any one read the history of the patristic controversies, and he will see how the most learned stumbled among propositions in search of truth which are now clearly comprehended by intelligent Sabbath-school children. And so it will go on into the future. Spiritual ideas which are as giants to us, and the nature and relations of which we do not see, will be apprehended by our successors at once. Thus, under the tuition of the Spirit, revelation will show itself progressive, and new things, as well as old, in reference to the spiritual world, will be constantly and successively brought out of the treasure of God’s word, of which the divine Spirit is the commentator. How, you ask, does all this apply to the subject in hand? Thus the earlier a saint lived in this world, the longer time for this heavenly pupilage he will have in the next before the resurrection, and he needs more; the later he lived in this world, the less will he have in the other before the resurrection, and he needs less. Thus those who enjoy in this world superior advantages on account of living under the clearer dispensation of divine truth in the last ages of the church, shall not have any advantage over those who had less on account of living in the first ages, since those who had less will have longer time in the future world before the resurrection.

801. “With this idea in view, the passage in 1 Thess. iv. 15 becomes beautifully intelligible: ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent’ (that is, shall not go before, anticipate, or have any advantage over) ‘those which are asleep; the dead in Christ shall RISE first: _then_’ (when they have risen) ‘we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord.’ Those who shall live in the last moment, having had their spirits fully enlightened and prepared for a future existence in the brightness of the latter-day glory before death, shall not ‘sleep’ at all, for there will be no necessity for it; but ‘shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.’ ‘The dead shall be raised incorruptible,’ having been prepared for their incorruptible body, but ‘we shall be changed.’ 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.

802. “This theory may be seen in the same way to illustrate itself consistently when applied to those who are lost. Those who live last in the world, when superior light is around them, sin against greater light than those who lived earlier, and are therefore sooner prepared to have their doleful station fixed finally in hell, in the union of soul and body.

803. “The doctrine we present in reference to the condition of the spirits of the saints in heaven, differs from the idea of a middle state, in a third place, in several important particulars. It excludes the idea of a middle place entirely, and of course all idea of probation, which is generally attached to it in some form or other. The state of the spirit in heaven, though imperfect, being the celestial childhood of the spirit, is nevertheless final, and not probationary. Our enjoyments there will be in exact proportion to our capacity; and as fast as our spirits are unfolded, will our joys increase.

‘The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, The deeper draughts they shall receive of heaven.’

804. “What an interesting moment to the spirit will be the moment after death! What scenes will open up before it! The friends will stand weeping over the now tenantless body, but the spirit is—oh!

‘My thoughts pursue it where it flies, And trace its wondrous way!’

805. “The Christian need have no unpleasant anxiety about what scenes will open to him, for he knows that the glory which will then break upon his astonished spirit will exceed his keenest anticipations.”

OF MEDIUMSHIP.

806. The facts which I have noticed in relation to mediumship, are certainly among the most inexplicable in nature.

807. There are two modes in which spiritual manifestations are made through the influence or sub-agency of media. In the one mode, they employ the tongue to speak, the fingers to write, or hands to actuate tables or instruments for communication; in the other, they act upon ponderable matter _directly_, through a halo or aura appertaining to media; so that although the muscular power may be incapacitated for aiding them, they will cause a body to move, or produce raps intelligibly so as to select letters conveying their ideas, uninfluenced by those of the medium.

808. Even where they act through the muscular frame of the media, their vision may be intercepted by a screen, so that they cannot influence the selection of the letters requisite to a communication. (Plate I.)

809. Rappings or tappings are made at the distance of many feet from the medium, and ponderable bodies, such as bells, are moved or made to undergo the motion requisite to being rang.

810. It will be perceived that my spirit father, in reply to the queries put in relation to this mystery, asks, “_How do you move your limbs—carry the body wheresoever it goeth? how does God cause the movements of astronomical orbs?_” (457.)

811. Evidently some instrument must intervene between the divine will and the bodies actuated thereby, and in humble imitation between the human will and the limbs. Upon the viscera our will has no influence. The heart moves without the exercise of volition.

812. As there is an ethereal medium by means of which light moves through space from the remotest visible fixed star to the eye, at the rate of two hundred thousand miles per second; as through an affection of the same ether frictional electricity moves, according to Wheatstone’s estimate, with a velocity exceeding that of light,—so may we not infer that the instrument of Divine will acts with still greater velocity, and that in making man in this respect after his own image, so far as necessary to an available existence, gives him one degree of power over the same element while in the mortal state, and another higher degree of power in the spiritual state. But if there be an element through which a spirit within his _mortal_ frame is capable of actuating that frame, may not this element of actuation be susceptible of becoming an instrument to the will of another spirit in the _immortal state_?

813. The aura of a medium which thus enables an immortal spirit to do within its scope things which it cannot do otherwise, appears to vary with the human being resorted to; so that only a few are so endowed with this aura as to be competent as media. Moreover, in those who are so constituted as to be competent instruments of spiritual actuation, this competency is various. There is a gradation of competency, by which the nature of the instrumentality varies from that which empowers violent loud knocking and the moving of ponderable bodies without actual contact, to the grade which confers power to make intellectual communications of the higher order without that of audible knocking. Further, the power to employ these grades of mediumship varies as the sphere of the spirit varies.

814. It has been stated that mortals have each a halo perceptible to spirits, by which they are enabled to determine the sphere to which any individual will go on passing death’s portal. Spirits cannot approach effectively a medium of a sphere much above, or below that to which they belong.

815. As media, in proportion as they are more capable of serving for the higher intellectual communication, are less capable of serving for mechanical demonstration, and as they are more capable of the latter are less competent for the former, spirits likewise have a higher or lower capacity to employ media. It has been mentioned that having made a test apparatus, my spirit sister alleged that it could not be actuated by her without assistance of spirits from a lower sphere. I inquired whether she could not meet me again, accompanied by the requisite aid. The reply was in the affirmative, and accordingly she met me at an appointed hour, and my apparatus was actuated effectually under test conditions. (Plate 4, _dd_, _ii_, _kk_.)

816. After I had read over an exposition of my information respecting the spirit world to the spirit of the illustrious Washington, I requested him to give me a confirmation while the medium should be under test conditions. (Plate 4, _kk_.) I placed the hand of the medium upon the board lever of the instrument, of which a representation has been given, (Plate I, Plate 4,) so as to be on the outer side of the fulcrum, and requested him to attest the reliability of the medium during the previous intercommunion. In reply it was alleged not to be within his power to give me that test; I urged that this test had been given in his presence. “_We had an employee, then_,” was his rejoinder. Fortunately I had contrived a test instrument requiring less of the mechanical power, so that by means of it he was enabled to perfect the evidence by bringing the index to the affirmative, under conditions which put it out of the power of the medium to produce that result. (See Plate 4 and description.)

817. These facts make the subject of mediumship a most complicated mystery; but the creation teems with mystery, so that inscrutability cannot be a ground for disbelief of any thing. The only cases wherein there is absolute incredibility, are those in which the definition of the premises contradicts those of the inferences or conclusions.

818. It is evident from the creative power which the spirits aver themselves to possess, that they exercise faculties which they do not understand. Their explanation of the mysteries of mediumship only substitutes one mystery for another.

819. If we undertake to generalize, it must come pretty near what I have said above, that spirits are endowed, as my spirit father alleges, with a “_magic will_,” capable of producing, as they allege, wonderful results within their own world, (452;) nevertheless that this will does not act by itself directly on mundane bodies. An intermedium is found in the halo or aura within or without certain human organizations. The halos thus existing are not all similarly endowed; some having one, some another capability. Some are better for one object, some for another object. Again, the will-power varies as the sphere of the spirits is higher or lower, so that the medium suited for one is not suited for another.

820. Thus the means by which they are capable of communicating is various, and moreover precarious, according to the health and equanimity of the mortal being under whose halo they may strive to act.

821. Evidently, the ponderable elements recognised by mundane chemists cannot contribute to any of the bodies of the spirit world, since their gravity must disqualify them for use in a world where every thing is, in comparison with them, weightless. Accordingly, one of the queries put by me to the convocation of spirits (574) was, whether any of our elements, being ponderable, could act as such in the imponderable spiritual creation. The reply was, Not without undergoing a transformation. This would be equivalent to annihilating them first, and recreating them afterward, when the process of creating alone would be sufficient. But manifestly it is of no importance, whether their adaptation to the spirit world be the result of creation or of transformation.

822. Concerned in the processes of mediumship, it is manifest that there is none of that kind of electricity or magnetism of which the laws and phenomena have been the subject of Faraday’s researches, and which are treated of in books, under the heads of frictional or mechanical electricity, galvanism, or electro-magnetism.

823. Frictional electricity, such as produced usually by the friction of glass in an electrical machine, or of aqueous globules generated by steam escaping from a boiler, is always to be detected by electrometers, or the spark given to a conducting body when in communication with the earth; the human knuckle, for instance. When not sufficiently accumulated to produce these evidences of its presence, it must be in a very feeble state of excitement. But even in the highest accumulation by human means, as in the discharge of a powerfully charged Leyden battery, it only acts for a time inconceivably brief, and does not move ponderable masses as they are moved in the instance of spiritual manifestation. It is only _in transitu_, that frictional electricity displays much power, and then its path is extremely narrow, and the duration of its influence inconceivably minute. According to Wheatstone’s experiments and calculations, it would go round the earth in the tenth part of a second.

824. How infinitely small, then, the period required to go from one side of a room to another! Besides, there are neither means of generating such electricity, nor of securing that insulation which must be an indispensable precursor of accumulation.

825. Galvanic or voltaic electricity does not act at a distance so as to produce any recognised effects, except in the case of magnetic metals, or in the state of transition produced by an electric discharge. In these phenomena the potent effects are attainable only by means of perfect insulated conductors, as we see in the telegraphic apparatus. No reaction with imperfect conducting bodies competent to toss them to and fro, or up and down, can be accomplished. The decomposing influence, called electrolytic, is only exhibited at insensible distances, within a filament of the matter affected.

826. It has appeared to me a great error on the part of spirits, as well as mortals, that they should make efforts to explain the phenomena of the spirit world by the ponderable or imponderable agents of the temporal world. The fact that the rays of our sun do not affect the spirit world, and that there is for that region an appropriate luminary whose rays we do not perceive, (415) must demonstrate that the imponderable element to which they owe their peculiar light differs from the ethereal fluid which, according to the undulatory theory, is the means of producing light in the terrestrial creation.

827. In one of the replies made by the convocation, (571,) the idea was sanctioned of the effulgence of the spirit being due to an appropriate ethereal fluid, analogous to that above alluded to. But it has, I think, been shown by me, that as light is due to the _undulations_ of _our_ ether, so electricity is due to _waves_ of _polarization_. But if undulations produce light in the ether of the spiritual universe as well as in ours, why may not polarization produce in the ether of the spirit world an electricity analagous to ours? Thus, although in spiritual manifestations our electricity takes no part, their electricity may be the means by which their will is transmitted effectually in the phenomena which it controls.

828. The words _magnetism_ and _magnetic_ are used in this world in two different senses. In one, it signifies the magnetism of magnets or electromagnets; in the other, the animal magnetism of which the existence was suggested by Mesmer, and which is commonly called Mesmerism.

829. This mesmerical magnetism seems to be dependent rather on properties which we have as immortals, encased in a corporeal clothing, than as mortals owing our mental faculties to that frame. If it be the spiritual portion of our organization which is operative in clairvoyancy, spiritual electricity may be the intermedium both of that faculty and of mesmeric influence.

830. All spirits are clairvoyant more or less, and where this faculty is exercised, it seems to be due to an unusual ascendancy of the spiritual powers over the corporeal, so that clairvoyants possess some of the faculties which every spirit, after _shuffling off the mortal coil_, must possess to a greater or less extent.

831. In striving to make a test apparatus by which the communication should be uninfluenced by the muscular power of the medium, through which alone her will could modify the ideas communicated, an interesting fact was ascertained. The nullifying of the power of muscular control, which it is the object of this contrivance to accomplish, is obtained unexceptionally by means of two balls and a plate, as already illustrated, (Plate 2,) or by placing the hands of the medium exterior to the fulcrum of the lever-board, as described in the instance of testing the communication received from the convocation. But these methods requiring that the conditions should be favourable, both, as respects the spirit communicating and the medium, are liable to fail. It struck me that the distance between the hands and the surface of the table or tray to be moved, by lessening the influence of the medium on the table or tray, lessened the power of actuation. My efforts were therefore directed to contrive to have the hand of the medium near the surface to be moved, without the possibility of contact.

832. With this view I placed a board for receiving the hands of the medium upon delicate rollers, so that no horizontal movement would affect the base board supporting the rollers and actuating the index. To give greater efficacy to the aura, a plate of glass was supported in a wooden frame or sash by means of four screw rods fixed upright on the base board, each furnished with two screw nuts. The screw rods passed through four suitable holes, so as to have one nut beneath, the other above, the sash. Thus situated, by adjusting the nuts, the sash could be regulated to any horizontal level, so as to be near the upper surfaces of the hands without any contact therewith.

833. On trying this arrangement, it was found as difficult for a spirit to actuate it as if the glazed sash had not been employed.

834. Under these circumstances, I had the glass plate or pane slit lengthwise into two equal strips. These being restored to the position previously occupied in the sash, I interposed between their edges a piece of sheet-tin, with teeth cut in one of its edges, (Plate 4, _kk_,) so as to make it look like a long narrow saw, such as are used by sawyers in frames. With the aid of a leaden joint, (such as is used by glaziers to join glass panes,) to which the saw was soldered, the teeth of this projected about the eighth of an inch below the glass, so as to be near the upper surface of any hand, resting on the sliding board.

835. It was with no small degree of satisfaction that I found the apparatus now sufficiently susceptible of actuation by my spirit friends.

836. From this result it would seem that the saw-shaped metallic conductor, operated precisely as it would have acted had it been necessary to impart to the pane those means of electric discharge of which, as at first used, it was deficient.

837. As soon as I had introduced the serrated conductor, my spirit father corroborated the impression that it promoted the influence of the medium.

838. This was the first instance in which I have discovered any analogy between the laws governing the communication of the medium of the spirit will-power, and those obeyed by electrical phenomena.

839. An account is given in my narrative of an experiment in which a board, suspended at one end from a spring-balance, was made to descend with a force of three pounds, through the instrumentality of a medium who had no connection with the board, excepting water which was interposed. Hence, as the hook screwed into the board, by which it was secured to the hook of the balance, was six times as far from the fulcrum as the hands of the medium, the force exerted by the officiating spirit was equal to 3 × 6 = 18 pounds. (See Plate 3, and description.) Nevertheless, no upward reaction was perceptible to me, nor was any experienced by the medium, Henry Gordon, as he declared.

840. In the case of the boy (Plate 3,) a downward action of seven pounds was observed, which, multiplied by the difference of distance, amounted to 7 × 6 = 42 pounds, and yet the boy was not perceptibly impelled in the opposite direction. Nor, when through the same juvenile mediumship, the whole of the apparatus was thrown upon the floor, did the boy appear to be impelled in the opposite direction. Nor was there any reaction when the apparatus was thrown down. Now, agreeably to the laws of nature, as established by human experience, in all cases of motion or momentum, there must be an equal force exercised in the opposite direction by the _vis inertiæ_ of some other matter endowed with that attribute. Hence Archimedes said, “Give me but where to stand, and I will move the world.” A point of support, a place of resistance, however, was held to be indispensable.

841. The only explanation of which I can conceive is, that spirits, by volition, can deprive bodies of _vis inertiæ_, and move bodies, as they do themselves, by their will. But the necessity of the presence of a medium to the display of this power, granting its existence, is a mystery.

842. That the spirit should, by its “magic” will-power, take possession of the frame of a human being, so as to make use of its brain and nervous system, depriving its appropriate owner of control, is a wonderful fact sufficiently difficult to believe, yet, nevertheless, intelligible. The aura which surrounds a medium must be imponderable. No volition of the medium can, through its instrumentality, move ponderable bodies, nor cause raps or consequent vibrations in the wooden boards. Hence, the presence of a medium imparts power to spirits which the medium does not possess.

843. The aura on the one side, and the spirit on the other, are inert unless associated. Thus the volition of the spirit gives activity to an effluvium, by itself, so devoid of efficacy that it wholly escapes the perception of the possessor or the observation of his mundane companions. It has been already alleged, that the usual reference to mundane electricity must be wholly unsatisfactory to all acquainted with the phenomena and laws associated under that name; since no such movements have ever been produced by such electrical means, nor is it consistent with those mundane electrical laws, nor the facts which electricians have noticed, that such movements should be produced. Those movements which have been produced by electricity have never been effected without surfaces oppositely charged, nor, of course, without the means of charging them. Neither are there associated with the spiritual manifestations means at hand of creating nor of holding charges either much more minute than those which display perceptible force or cause audible sound.

844. Electro-magnetic phenomena require the use of powerful galvanic batteries or magnetic metals. Galvanic series, of the most powerful kind, do not act at the minutest distance without contact.

845. Even lightning could not move a table backward and forward, though it might shatter it into pieces, if duly interposed in a circuit.

846. Electrical sparks produce _snapping_ sounds in the air, not _knockings_ or _rappings_ upon sonorous solids.

ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE ILL-TREATMENT OF MEDIA, ON SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.—OF COUNTER-MEDIUMSHIP.

847. Allusion has been above made to the unfavourable influence upon manifestations of the demeanour and incredulity of the investigator, displayed in suspicious, cold, scrutinizing looks, such as would be merited only by a cheat or pickpocket. All this has a deteriorating influence upon mediumship, and likewise repels the spirits. While communicating through a medium, a near blood relative, much beloved by the communicating spirit while in this world, coming into the circle, an immediate departure of the spirit was the consequence. It was subsequently alleged in explanation that there existed a repulsiveness between him and the spirit, founded on the idea that his opinions were under the influence of worldly considerations, whence a predetermination to disbelieve, as far as possible, by an unfavourable view of the evidence.

848. An incredulity liable to be overcome by the reason by which it has been created does not form a bar; but where an impregnable bigotry has been introduced merely by education, so that the person under its influence would have been a Catholic, Calvinist, Unitarian, Jew, or Mohammedan by a change of parentage, cannot usually be changed by any evidence or argument. Spirits will not spend their time subjecting their manifestations to such impregnable bigotry, or to predetermined malevolence.

849. On this account such persons find it hard to obtain the manifestations which they seek with ill-will to Spiritualism, and a predisposition to ridicule and pervert it.

850. Besides this difficulty, there is no doubt a constitutional state, the inverse of that which creates a medium. The atmosphere of persons so constituted, neutralizes that of those who are endowed with that of mediumship.

851. It were impossible for any one to be more incredulous than I was when I commenced my investigations; but in the first place, my recorded religious impressions, founded on more than a half century of intense reflection, in no respect conflicted with the belief which Spiritualism required. As I said to a clergyman, I wish I knew as well what I ought to believe, as I can perceive what I ought not to believe. I was ardently desirous that the existence of a future state should be established in a way to conform to positive science, so that they might start together. This was perceived by my spirit friends, and that they had only to give me sufficient evidence of the existence of spirits and their world, to make me lay down in the cause my comparatively worthless mortal life, could I be more useful to truth in dying than in living.

852. My father and sister, brother and friend Blodget, were therefore not deterred by my sneers or denunciations. Moreover, I was never predisposed to suspect any medium of treachery, and therefore never disgusted them by the display of any such impressions. To the aid of these truly angelic spirits who were nearly allied with me, came another angel, (whom I will designate by his initials W. W.,) who, from philanthropic motives, seems to have selected me to serve in this invaluable dispensation. Hence, his first annunciation of my destined course, in language which so far, however it may imply an overestimate of my capacity to serve, shows the more the partiality with which it seems to have been estimated by him. (47.)

_The Author’s Discovery of his powers as a Medium._

853. It occurred to me to try how far the interposition of my hand would interfere with the powers of the medium to whom I resorted. To my surprise, it seemed very little to impair the actuation of the index by the officiating spirit. It next occurred to me to ascertain how far a diminution of contact, between the hand of the medium and mine, would impair the power exercised under these conditions. In pursuance of my request, the contact was diminished by successively lifting the fingers of the medium and the rest of the hand from mine, until only one finger was left. Finally, this finger was removed, and yet the power of actuation still continued to exist, though enfeebled. The officiating spirit, my friend W. W., now was made a party to this investigation, being requested to estimate the effects as well as myself.

854. I requested the medium to pick up a pair of scissors which lay on the table, and, while holding the blades between the finger and thumb, to lay the rings upon the back of my hand. An increase of power was manifested to my observation and that of W. W.

855. At a subsequent sitting, having made due preparation, a strip of sheet tin about two inches wide, and about fifteen inches in length, being applied to the back of my hand while resting on the base board of the spiritoscope, (Plate 4, Fig. 2,) the medium held it successively at various distances. Under these circumstances, the facilitation was greater as the distance between her hand and mine was diminished.

856. A plate of glass of about four inches square, interposed between the palm of the hand of the medium and the back of mine, interrupted the power entirely; but neither cork nor a metallic plate of a similar size much reduced the power.

857. The frame (Fig. 3, Plate 4) being _in situ_, as described, paragraph _kk_ of the description, under these circumstances the removal of the serrated strips diminished the power more and more as removed.

858. Thus it appears that there is a mesmeric electricity, or spiritual electricity, which may be considered as appropriate to the spirit world as their vital air is; but which like that air, may influence our spiritual bodies while in their mundane tenement. It may, as well as the vital air of the spirit world, belong in common to the inhabitants of that world and to us as spirits, being a polarizing affection of the spiritual ethereal medium, of which the undulations constitute the peculiar rays of their spiritual sun.

859. That this spiritual or mesmeric electricity should be auxiliary to the efficacy of the magic will-power, of spirits, is of course one of those mysteries which, like that of gravitation, may be ascertained to prevail, and yet be to spirits as well as mortals inexplicable.

860. We live in a wonder-working universe, which becomes more and more wonderful as we learn more of it, instead of being brought more within our comprehension. When we compare what we know with the knowledge of savages, it may appear a mountain of learning and science; but this very learning and science only makes us see still more how great is our ignorance!

ON PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.

861. This, for the third time, brings under discussion the report of Dr. Bell, of Somerville, near Boston, on spiritual manifestations.

862. It is not in reference to this distinguished physician in his individual capacity that I name him thus often, but in reference to the hypothesis which his allegations must oblige him to sustain, and of which he may be considered a most respectable advocate. Dr. Bell not only admits, but confirms by his own testimony, the important fact of the movement of heavy bodies without contact. His experience, in this respect, is more striking than mine, since he has not only seen this phenomena take place repeatedly, but on one occasion, as before stated, saw tables move _fifty_ feet, intelligently obedient to his directions. He also admits the reception of such communications from pretended spirits, as spiritualists would consider as coming from real spirits. Yet on the negative ground, that _agreeably to his experience, nothing was found to be communicable_ but what pre-existed in the mind of some mortal present, he infers that the ideas received are not derived from spirits, but from the minds of those mortals who are parties to the process.

863. Of course our distinguished friend thus involves himself in the task of explaining not only the intellectual, but also the mechanical movements, by the mental agency of the media who participate in the conditions under which the manifestations occur.

864. I have already adduced manifestations irreconcilable with the assumption on which the whole of Dr. Bell’s inference is built, (111 to 288.) But were his observations verified, in order to make them justify the abnegation of spirits, it should be shown that any spirit could tell him _any_ thing which must be known to him, whether known to the spirits or not. Remembering all the facts communicated to him by his spirit brother, it should be shown that any other spirit could narrate them as well as his spirit brother. Any inquiry made of _any_ spirit, _of which the answer is known to the inquirer_, should be told on request as well as any other; but it will be found that answers are given only to those of which the spirit knows the answers independently, through his own memory. Under favourable circumstances mental questions are answered; but often, when mental questions cannot be answered, those put verbally are replied to. I have detected spirit impostors, by their inability to tell the name of my sister in the spheres.

865. I postponed the discussion on this question until I should have submitted to the reader the communications which I had received. I trust that these are of a nature to show that they could not have originated in my mind, nor in those of the media through whom they were obtained.

866. Whatever want of ability may be shown, by Dr. Bell, to exist in the communications alleged to come from Paine, Swedenborg, and Bacon, or from spirits personating those distinguished men, it cannot do away the valuable information which I have obtained from my spirit father and others, sanctioned by a convocation of spirits. It has been shown that in a few pages of that communication, there is vastly more knowledge of our happy prospects in the future world, than all that can be found in the Scriptures.

867. Dr. Bell will not, I am sure, suspect me of any want of truthfulness, and will hardly flatter the media and myself with an unconscious origination of ideas, which had never before occurred to either.

868. If he finds that in the case of Swedenborg and Bacon the spirits are below their medial instruments in capacity, he will find that in the instance of my spirit friends this estimate must be inverted.

869. My experience does not tend to establish that there is less folly or more wisdom in the inhabitants of the spirit world than in this. I concur with Dr. Bell in the opinion that the work to which he alludes, attributed to the spirit of Paine, merits all the denunciation which he bestows on it. I concur that it must be the work of a mind, whether celestial or mundane, ignorant of the rudiments of chemical philosophy. But if such a work coming from a mortal would not disprove the author’s claim to be a mortal human being, wherefore then should a foolish book coming from a foolish, ignorant spirit, personating Paine, disprove the author to be a spirit? It only shows that low, ignorant, foolish spirits personate the spirits of eminent authors; but does that disprove the existence of spirits? Does madness or idiocy annihilate the victim of these afflictions? But in all cases where communications are obtained through speaking or writing media, the minds of the media are liable, unconsciously, to pervert or repress the sentiments of the spirits, and therefore are not trusted by me, unless corroborated by communications through the alphabet.

870. By their existence in the spheres, it seems to me that spirits improve as to their talents, not as to their reasoning powers. They have a superior knowledge to that which we possess of their own world, but not of our sciences, as far as I have had means of judging. Having no great objects to effect, they have no great incentive to thought or contrivance. It is by learning, more than by invention, that they rise in the spheres.

871. These inferences are not, however, admitted by the spirits. They allege that as their medial instruments improve, they will give me reason to change my opinion. They assume to go deeper and farther into the nature of things than mortals.

872. To me it seems that their happiness is due in part to self-felicitation and seeing every thing under a rosy hue. They often advert to the superior height upon which they stand, without showing that they see more in consequence.

873. So far as I can judge, in some branches of knowledge, the spirits will improve by discussion with mortals. They will be cured of some of their “sky scraping!”

874. They seem to be mainly improved by their reciprocal intercourse. Thus honest bigots of all sects, find when they get together that in point of fact none of their records are true!

875. It is by getting rid of error, more than acquiring knowledge, that they rise in reciprocal estimation.

876. Very soon after my father began to communicate with me, nearly fourteen months ago, he said—“We know little more in religion than you.”

877. They all agree that good works are solely of importance, creeds only being good or bad as they induce good or bad deeds.

878. A good man cannot accept a creed which sanctions wickedness; that, for instance, which authorizes, under certain sophistical pretences, spoliation, massacre, rape, fraud, &c. Whenever any man brings himself to believe that his God ever authorized such crimes, or patronized those who were guilty of them, he becomes more or less immoral. Dr. Berg truly alleged that “_a devotee is assimilated to the God whom he worships_.”

879. To assist me, as it were, in exposing the errors of those who with Dr. Bell admit, for the most part, the facts of Spiritualism, yet ascribe the whole to the minds of mortals acting as media or inquirers, an advocate of that side of the question gives this explanation of the fact of my having sent a message to Mrs. Gourlay by my spirit sister:

880. He alleged it as a fact, that if two snails be placed in proximity, and afterward apart to a considerable distance, that the contact of one, will affect the other perceptibly.

881. That Mrs. Gourlay and myself being frequently in each other’s society, it followed that if at the distance of about a hundred miles I wished her to induce Dr. Gourlay to apply at the bank, Mrs. Gourlay, although at the time engaged in receiving a most interesting communication from her mother for her brother, had so much more snail-like sympathy, with me at Cape Island, than with the ideas she believed to proceed from her mother, that she would interrupt the one forthwith, to attend to the other at that particularly inconvenient time! Meanwhile, the phenomenon of the index of my disk being moved independently of any effort of mine, so that I can make oath that no mortal moved it, is not taken into view. Surely if by such means a message respecting a pecuniary affair could awaken sympathy, there are many messages which it would be of immensely more importance to convey, than that which I sent in the instance in question.

882. But how comes it that neither I nor any other of her friends can send messages to Mrs. Gourlay while in the same city with her? Must her friends go to Cape Island for the purpose? Will this erudite and ingenious psychologist inform me by what means I may bring about this object, which, on business account, would be more convenient than sending notes by penny post?

883. Am I to go through the same process of sitting down at my spiritoscope? Will this learned assailant of Spiritualism inform me why I must do this, and must wait till the index moves? Wherefore should it move after a quarter of an hour’s invocation, when it will not move at first?

884. Again, I wish the circumstance I am about to mention to be explained by psychology: I was sitting in my solitary third-story room at Cape Island, invoking my sister as usual, when to my surprise I saw Cadwallader spelt out on my disk. “My old friend, General Cadwallader?” said I. “Yes.” A communication ensued of much interest. But before concluding, I requested him, as a test, to give me the name of a person whom I met in an affair of honour more than fifty years ago, when he (General Cadwallader) was my second. The name was forthwith given, by the pointing out on the disk the letters requisite to spell it.

885. Now as the spirit of General Cadwallader, during more than fifteen months that other friends had sought to communicate with me, had never made me a visit, why should his name have been spelt out when I had not the remotest hope of his coming, and was expecting another spirit, the only one who had been with me at the Cape?

886. Further, the breakfast bell having rung, I said, “General, will you come again after breakfast?” I understood him to consent to this invitation. Accordingly, when afterward I reseated myself in _statu quo_, I looked for the General, but, lo! Martha, my sister’s name, was spelt out!

887. I challenge this psychologist to put his hypothesis on paper, in order that I may psychologize him into a more consistent assumption of premises and conclusions.

888. Let him show his hand by reducing his sophistry, as I conscientiously consider it, to black and white. He may learn the difference between talent and judgment. I am aware that he shows a vast deal more of the _appropriate_ ability of his profession in defending the view he has espoused, than I could hope to exert. It is only in the strength of truth that I feel strong. “Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.”

889. It is of no small importance that this learned and subtle psychologist, should explain how my spiritoscope, or any other instrumental means of alphabetic indication, becomes necessary to effect the psychologization of a medium at a great distance, so as to convey to her mind the ideas which it is an object to impart. Why is it necessary that the index over a disk at Cape May, should revolve to the letters requisite to spell a message, in order that the index of another disk in Philadelphia, should revolve at a _subsequent_ time? How does the mechanism in one place, acquire a power from the remote actuation of another? Will it be pretended that they are affected analogously to the sympathetic snails; whence, having kept each other’s company, this miracle ensued? But even this is not true, since they were not kept together, if ever they were in each other’s company.

890. Could any process be divined by which an instrument for supposed alphabetic communication with spirits, could be applied to transmit such messages as that for which I employed mine, according to this psychological hypothesis, it would be superior to the existing telegraphic process, since the ocean could be no barrier to messages which, although dependent on snail-like sympathy, would have nothing in it of the proverbial creeping attribute of the animal in question.

891. The following manifestations are of a nature, as it seems to me, to invalidate Dr. Bell’s notion that the communications received from the spirit are acquired from the minds of the bystanders:

892. Calling on Miss Ellis, it was found that her time was so pre-engaged, that she could not, as she said, sit for me till the day but one succeeding. My spirit sister manifested her desire to communicate, and conveyed the idea that Miss Ellis could give an hour named next day, if she would examine her list. This examination being made, the suggestion was verified.

893. Here was an idea not obtained from the mind of any person present. It could not exist in the minds of those who, like my friend and myself, had not seen the list, nor could it have been in Miss Ellis’s mind, as in that case she would not have had to consult the list, in order to determine the truth of the suggestion.

894. In this visit, Dr. W. F. Channing, who was my companion, said that possibly he had better not accompany me. It was left to my spirit sister to decide. No instrument being ready, as the quickest mode of communication, the medium was made to take up her pen, and began forthwith to make figures upon a sheet of paper. When the operation terminated, nothing but figures were seen to have been written. The medium said she did not know what to make of it. But _under_ the letters it was written, “Select, from the alphabet, the letters corresponding, and you have my answer.” This being done, the following sentence was obtained: “_My dear brother, come alone._”

895. It cannot be reasonably imagined that either Miss Ellis, my friend, or myself suggested this reply, as my friend and myself regretted the result, and it was not the interest of Miss Ellis to lessen the circle. But none of us had the ability to have perceived the numbers indicating the relative position of letters in the alphabetic row, so as to have selected them correctly. It would take some time to associate the letters with the numbers duly, and an unusual strength of memory to recollect them.

MODERN PROCESS FOR ALPHABETIC CONVERSE WITH SPIRITS, AS NEW TO MAN AS THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

896. In his instructive work on Spiritualism, the idea is advanced by Capron, that the species of modern spirit communication, of which his book mainly treats, dates back to a period of history so early that no age or country is exempt from accounts of them.

897. To me it seems that I have never read any thing in history in which intellectual communication was established by sounds or mechanical movements with invisible beings. Sight has almost always been the sense most appealed to in evidence of the appearance of ghosts. In the instance of the Witch of Endor, Samuel is made to come from his grave, not like one of our happy spirits from his beautiful abode in the spirit world:—

“Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” 1 Sam. xxviii. 11-19.

898. It is represented in this quotation, that the ghost of Samuel came and conversed with Saul; that he “_ascendeth out of the earth; an old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle_.” Where is there any thing in common between this representation and the process by which I communicate with my familiar spirits,—not coming up from the grave, or the disgusting heaven of Josephus, but from their magical abodes in the skies! I challenge any one to adduce the idea, as having ever been expressed, that any one had found any mode of conversing with spirits resembling in its operation that which we now have discovered. This seems to be as new to the spirits as to us, being as much a novelty as the electric telegraph. The very limited degree in which it has been recently accomplished has been attained with very great difficulty. It appears that efforts were made to establish this intercourse in England at the mansion of the celebrated Wesley, without any beneficial result. If ever this art had been discovered, certainly it would not have been lost. Even the idea of rapping or knocking _independently of mortal agency_, had the fact ever been established, could not have been held so incredible as it was, almost universally, when it took place at Hydesville, or in Great Britain, as above mentioned.

899. The learned Dr. Priestley, utterly incredulous that the rappings at Wesley’s could be ascribed to any supermundane agency, attributes it to some trick on the part of servants, assisted by neighbours. It appears that in general the most scientific and well-read persons are the most backward in ascribing such phenomena to invisible spirits. If, therefore, during past ages such inscrutable noises and movements of bodies had occurred, resembling those recently noticed, still no such use had been made of them as we now behold. Such manifestations being once so far demonstrated as to induce people of sound mind to unite in referring them to the immortal spirits of departed friends, is a fact of such awful, thrilling interest, that it never could have become obsolete; especially as the same state of things which permitted it once to be successfully witnessed, would have led to its reiteration. Neither the spirits nor mortals had laid it aside, any more than the telegraph or the railways will be disused, after experiencing the advantages of those inventions.

900. Is there not as much reason for the lateness of this discovery, as for that of any of those inventions by which modern times are distinguished from ancient? Even now, with what difficulty has it been accomplished to the degree to which it has arrived. After eighteen months of laborious investigation, I find myself surrounded by inveterate skeptics among my own family friends and most of my comrades in science.

901. There is scarcely a country besides this in which I should escape legal penalties or tyrannical restraint, in expressing the opinions which I most devoutly entertain, and am impelled irresistibly to express; and, although in this country, free from legal penalties, there is scarcely an orthodox female tongue belonging to some of the best of the sex (in all other respects amiable) which will not devote itself universally in the service of bigotry and intolerance.

902. But beside the arguments thus founded, there is another, resting on the fact that had there been any intellectual communication with the spirit world, there could not have been such an ignorance of the religious doctrines which there prevail. There is in that world no diversity as respects the existence and unity of God; nor as to the unimportance of those creeds which have caused in this world so much mischief, by the consequent animosity, persecutions, and warfare. The superior efficacy of good works over creeds is by the _higher_ spirits invariably insisted upon.

903. Then, agreeably to the same authority, the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient, and prescient God being under the necessity of subjecting things to trial, is considered as involving a contradiction; the premises being irreconcilable with the conclusion. There is not an elevated spirit that will not answer in the affirmative, every query proposed in the verses inserted, (page 34.)

904. There is but one sentiment as respects the question between probation and progression, and that is in favour of the latter. “Onward and upward is the motto on our spiritual banner.” Such is the language held, and repeated over and over again. It would not take a quarter of an hour for a spirit to pour information into the ear of a mortal which, if credited, would put an end to all honest discord respecting religion, and induce that mortal thenceforth to look to the spirit world as his ultimate destination. The language of the paragraph in the address through Lanning, would go home to every human mortal having reason to comprehend it, so that whatever they might pursue in this world would be with an ultimate view to ascendancy in the other. (See Preface.)

905. Bigotry, fanaticism, selfish sectarianism, the want of media and bold, enlightened investigators, seem to have formed impenetrable obstacles to the promulgation of a knowledge of the greatest importance to human prosperity, morals, and future happiness. No doubt that so much evil should arise merely from want of a knowledge so near at hand, is one of the facts which human reason finds it most difficult to reconcile with the power and goodness of the Almighty Ruler of the universe; but that is a difficulty which exists in case any one creed be assumed as true; since none has been heretofore so communicated as to be within the reach of mankind in general. Meanwhile the error has originated in various sects, that they have been especially favoured by God, so that they alone of all his creatures have had true light let in upon them.

906. Happily, from the mode in which the light of Spiritualism has been received by its present votaries, it may be gradually extended to all their fellow-creatures; and meanwhile those who enjoy this light do not assume that their fellow-creatures who are in this respect less fortunate, are on that account to be censured, denounced, and persecuted as far as the power to persecute goes. Spiritualists believe the wonderful manifestations on which their creed rests, to have far more testimony in its favour than any other before accredited; and that the manifestations relied on being more recent, and observed by multitudes of eye-witnesses, known by their neighbours to be truthful, have, as _mere hearsay proof_, an immense superiority over the recorded tradition of an obscure, illiterate, superstitious age and country. But then the same privilege which has been enjoyed by one set of observers belongs to any succeeding number, and no less to succeeding ages than to this. It is not assumed that any special inspiration appertains to any existing being, as an instrument of promoting truth, that will not inure to others. No particular exclusive capacity for miracles is claimed for this age; on the contrary, the belief is that in this, as in other things, there will be improvement and progression, and that posterity will learn directly from the same high angelic source whence we learn.

907. The more the moral code of Spiritualism is contrasted with that which has heretofore prevailed, the better we shall be pleased. We challenge the strongest, the most learned of those who adhere to that dispensation, to meet us _ore rotundo seu currente calamo_. Confident in the strength of truth and the feebleness of error, the writer of these lines fears not any competitor who makes error his client.

INFLUENCE OF MUNDANE WEALTH IN THE WORLD TO COME.

_According to the Spiritual Code, riches elevate or degrade according to the virtue displayed in their acquisition and employment._

908. The great object of the more prudent and calculating portion of mankind, is to provide for that old age which they all hope to attain, or, if it be not reached, to provide the means for themselves or families which may insure a comfortable if not luxurious support, in case sickness or mutilation should deprive them of the power of making money, or competency to earn wages.

909. But how precarious and fleeting are any such worldly advantages, when compared with those of an eternal home, where every thing desirable may be had without causing a drop of sweat to fall from the brow! Let the description of the higher spheres be compared with any earthly paradise, which, besides inferiority in every attribute which can render it attractive, is open to all the ills of mental and bodily suffering to which flesh is heir. If there be any objection to the consequences of a due appreciation of the bliss which we may expect in the spirit world, it would seem to be founded on its tendency so to enfeeble our interest in this world, as to deter the human efforts on which this sphere is, under God’s laws, mainly dependent for improvement. But then, as a matter of principle, in order to merit elevation in the spirit world, exertion may be induced in this; and exertion _thus_ originating, can never be perverted to the perpetuation of those wrongs now so often forming the steps to human aggrandizement. The subjugation, the pillage, and extirpation of mankind, will never be induced by considerations founded on the desire to accumulate treasure in heaven.

910. There is hardly in respect to any subject, more error than in the estimate made of persons who strive to acquire wealth. The question lies not in the zeal with which it may be sought, but in the object for which it is desired. Although the maxim that the end justifies the means, be immoral when extended so far as to palliate any dereliction of the cardinal virtues, does it not hold good so long as the means employed are consistent with these virtues? Is it not charitable honestly to seek the pecuniary means of being charitable? Is it not liberal to seek the means wherewith to be liberal? Hospitable, to seek the means to support hospitality? Is it not the duty of each man to promote the welfare of his wife and children, by seeking the means wherewith to house, clothe, and feed them, and, moreover, to educate them intellectually as well as morally? Since, when destitute of education, a man is little above a brute, surely it must be meritorious to seek the means of educational improvement, both for ourselves and for those by whom we are surrounded; but more especially for those who are so dependent on us, that it can only through us be attained.

911. That part of the Lord’s prayer which deprecates temptation, is perhaps of pre-eminent importance; since where there is one man who goes through the world honestly by resisting temptation, there are hundreds who preserve their honesty by avoiding temptation: by so providing pecuniary means in due time, as not to be placed between the alternative of starving, begging, cheating, or stealing.

912. In our republic it will be found that while the acquisition of wealth enables one individual to raise his family by educational superiority, the offspring of another, by the loss of fortune, sink into the mass of illiterate labourers; so that there is a perpetual undulation by the educational influence of money. Though public schools may extend the advantages of education to the poor, yet _want_ drives the educated youth to loathsome drudgery, made more painful by the enlargement of his views resulting from education.

913. To the consequence of hereditary noblemen hereditary wealth is essential, having vastly more influence than titles. In those countries where titles exist without associated wealth, they have scarcely any weight. However incompetent money may be to give importance to an _uneducated_ commoner, a cotton-spinner, by educating his son and giving him his fortune, may prepare him to sway an empire; when, had his father been a pauper, the premier might have lived among those so eloquently described by Shakspeare’s Henry the Fourth, as upon “uneasy pallets stretching them.” How different from those perfumed chambers and canopies of costly state, to which this spinner’s boy was actually enabled to climb through the education and position resulting from paternal affluence!

914. Civilization elevates those who have the advantages of education, and who are either professionally employed in intellectual pursuits, or have leisure to cultivate science and literature from taste. But the same division of human labour and enterprise which gives intellectual pursuits to a few as a profession, gives to the mass occupations inconsistent with the cultivation of their intellectual powers. Those who are engaged in the humblest species of industry, living from hand to mouth, have little or no time to spare from that which their necessities imperatively require; and the bodily fatigue incurred during working hours, makes repose from all exertion the primary object.

915. But the situation of the poor, ignorant, and uneducated labourer in civilized society, is rendered worse than that of an equally ignorant and uneducated barbarian, by contrast with _his_ educated neighbours. The lowest savage has as much scholastic education as his chief, while the civilized labourer may be in the rear of an educated child of five years of age. Thus the _absolute_ evil is made _relatively_ still greater. When any man reflects on these facts, can he be otherwise than anxious for those means which are necessary to put his offspring upon a par in learning with those of others in the same community?

916. Early in life, it is manifest to every one who does not enjoy pecuniary affluence, that any species of indulgence which he may desire requires money for its attainment. Even the command of leisure for any enjoyment requires money, since, if obliged to work to earn his bread, a man may not have leisure for any other object.

917. Among the most rational motives for the pursuit of wealth is the love of independence. “Thy spirit, Independence, let me share—lord of the lion heart and eagle eye!” In this sentiment every noble soul must participate. How many have had, like the apothecary in Shakspeare’s tragedy, to allow their poverty to rule, instead of honest will! How many have been induced to “_earn their daily bread by their daily shame_!”

918. Prudent, thoughtful, honest men, who do not choose to live houseless, without clothes, nor upon the sweat of other men’s brows, turn from the paths of amusement, of sensual enjoyment, from the love of literature or science, or from the observation and investigation of nature’s beauties and miracles, in order to get, _through wealth_, the power, and honest right to indulge. But while pursuing this great object, in the first instance only as the means of attaining other objects, good or bad, they grow old in the chase; their passions burn out, while avarice originates as it were from their ashes, not, phœnix-like, to replace _one_ parental being, but a horrid monster, having nothing in common with a plurality of progenitors, but the selfish, ardent love of money, unmitigated by any redeeming aspiration. A being so actuated—or, in other words, _a miser_—would certainly find it as difficult to reach a higher sphere in the spirit world, as it were for a camel to get through the needle’s eye.

919. As swine accumulate fat to bequeath to those to whom they leave their carcasses, so the avaricious accumulate wealth, to hoard until it can no longer be retained. They die with an immense amount of negative sin; since all their omissions to do good, which is within their power, is carried to their debit in the spirit world. Their poverty in the spirit world will be proportioned to their ill-used wealth in this temporal abode.

920. When this is well brought home to mankind, there will be less avarice, and fewer of those crimes which arise from selfish cupidity, or ambition.

MRS. GOURLAY’S NARRATIVE.

921. The following is a narrative of the circumstances which led to the conversion to a belief in Spiritualism, of my esteemed friend, Mrs. M. B. Gourlay, through _whose_ high attributes as an intellectual medium, I am in a great measure indebted for _my_ conversion. I do most devoutly believe that the information received from my spirit father, through her mediumship, would, if duly credited, be of more value to true religion and morality, than the forty millions of dollars annually expended upon the Church of England.

PHILADELPHIA, May 20, 1855. _To Professor Robert Hare_:

922. _My Dear Sir_: Pursuant to your request, I have the pleasure to present you the following particulars of my experience and observation in relation to the phenomena of spiritual intercourse,—phenomena which engage, at the present time, the serious and profound attention of thousands of intelligent minds; manifestations that are rapidly and steadily spreading their influence over the entire continent, and carrying with them the evidence of their spiritual origin, while impressing receptive minds with the truth of their sacred importance to an extent unexampled in the history of any other movement.

923. My attention was attracted to the phenomena in question, about five years since, by reading sundry reports in the New York Tribune, of certain mysterious sounds which had occurred in the city of Rochester, and purported to have been made by the spirits of the departed.

924. I regarded the subject at first with great distrust, supposing it a mere imposition on the credulity of the public, and considered it entirely unworthy of serious thought.

925. Finding, however, that it was eliciting considerable notice, and knowing that _facts are sometimes stranger than fiction_, I deemed it consonant with reason to suspend my judgment till more conversant with the facts.

926. Having been admonished by a much-loved, intelligent, and, I would add, _practical_ Christian mother to worship at the altar of truth, while exercising my reason on all subjects presented to my mind, I was, as might be presumed, nearly, if not entirely, free from the shackles of bigotry, superstition, and dogmatism, and was thus prepared, so far at least as these barriers to mental and moral progression are concerned, to investigate any subject within the range of my capacity.

927. Hearing of the spread of the manifestations, and their actual occurrence in the city of Bangor, Maine, where I then resided, I resolved, with the first favourable opportunity, to investigate the matter for myself.

928. Not many days had elapsed after forming this resolution, before I met an intimate friend, an exemplary and respected member of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, who informed me that she was interested in spiritual manifestations, and desired to investigate them. But alas! she was bound by the galling fetters of sectarian and priestly bondage, and dared not move in such an investigation. Her pastor had said that the “_arch deceiver_,” the veritable _Satan_, was the prime instigator in this _scheme_, and, moreover, that to participate in a movement so diabolical in its character would render her liable not only to loss of membership in the church, but expose her to divine wrath in this world, as well as endless torment in the world to come.

929. I believed such an intolerant and persecuting spirit, to be diametrically opposed to every principle of true Christianity, and repugnant to the claims of reason; and deprecating any doctrine, orthodox though called, that would thus stifle free thought and inquiry, and consign to eternal misery the children of our heavenly Father, even however depraved, I advised my friend to exercise her reason, with which she was by nature endowed, and regardless of the sneers of a time-serving multitude, or the anathemas of the church, to obey the injunction of the apostle—“Prove all things—_hold fast that which is good_.”

930. She consented; and a few days subsequent to this interview, she extended to me an invitation to attend a spiritual circle to be convened at the house of a highly respectable family, members of the Unitarian Church, and much esteemed by a large circle of friends for their many virtues.

931. The invitation was gladly accepted, and the ensuing evening found us seated at a table in the domicile of our worthy friends, Mr. and Mrs. T-—-, with some six or eight intelligent persons of both sexes.

932. Having, agreeably to request, placed our hands on the table, we silently raised our thoughts in solemn and sincere aspirations to the great Father of spirits, and desired to be brought into more harmonious relation with the spirits of our dear departed friends, and hoping that these might thereby be better able to manifest themselves to their friends still in the earthly habiliments of humanity.

933. We had not remained long in this position, before we heard distinct sounds like the falling of drops of water on the table. Imagine our surprise and inexpressible delight, when first aroused to a vital consciousness of the presence of celestial visitants in our midst! I shall never forget the glorious expression of pleasure which illumined the countenances of that little band of seekers for truth, nor the electric thrill of joy which I experienced on this happy occasion.

934. The sounds continued to respond to our inquiries; three expressing the affirmative, and one the negative. It was suggested by a member of the circle to use the alphabet as a means of communication; and that on passing a pencil slowly over the card, the spirits would indicate, by the sounds, the letters required to convey their thoughts. In this manner we received many convincing evidences of spirit intercourse; such as getting the names of our spirit friends, the particular localities of their birth and death, and the precise time of their departure from this world, with many other proofs of their presence and identity.

935. We were soon informed by the communicating intelligence that a much more rapid mode of communication would now be established between us. On inquiring its nature, it was spelt out—Let Welthea (referring to my friend) take the pen, and we will write through her hand.[17] To all of us this was a new and unexpected revelation. My friend, being very timid and retiring in her nature, was evidently confused by this announcement. At our very earnest solicitation, however, she lifted the pen from the table. Her hand was now seized by an invisible and intelligent power, and being in a normal state, several beautiful stanzas,[18] touching her mission in this glorious cause, resulted from this first and, to all of us, astounding performance.

936. This, to us, was a new phase of the manifestations, and to myself and friend was very wonderful, since, I am certain, she had never thought of becoming a medium for spiritual intercommunion.

937. Soon after writing the stanzas alluded to, her hand was again influenced to write a communication to a gentleman present. He was a stranger to my friend, now regarded as a medium, and the communication was from the spirit of a sister who had passed from earth about thirty years before, the name, in full, of the spirit being appended.

938. After receiving instructions from the spirits, in regard to the manner of conducting our circle, we adjourned to the time appointed for our next meeting.

939. On the succeeding day I visited my friend at her residence, and received many additional evidences of the presence and identity of spirits. My father, mother, and sister, and many other loved spirit friends with whom the medium had no acquaintance, and whose names even were not known to her, communicated, and reminded me of many incidents of their life on earth of which my friend was wholly ignorant, and some of them I had myself almost forgotten.

940. At subsequent and frequent interviews with this lady, I received many indubitable proofs of the presence and guardianship of angels; of which the following is an example:

941. Some weeks after our first interview, and while discussing the ordinary topics of the day, her hand was influenced to write these sentences:

942. “_My dear M_: You will be surprised and pleased to learn that an old schoolmate is present; one that you never, while on earth, anticipated hearing from again. Many years have fled since our last meeting. I have come from the realms of the unseen, to renew the acquaintance with you begun in childhood, and to advise you in relation to your spiritual development. You are destined to become a good _impressional_ medium for spiritual truth. Follow the directions which we from time to time shall give you, and you will progress rapidly, and be greatly profited thereby. Elevate your mind to the source of light and truth, and seek to be saved from every thing that might hinder your spiritual advancement. Devote a portion of each day to the development of your spirit, and investigate the principles which govern the physical and spiritual departments of the universe. You are living in the light of an advanced age, and are surrounded by many advantages. Improve the privileges that you enjoy, for the benefit of yourself and others. LYDIA MANLY.”

943. The communication being finished, my friend handed it to me, saying, “I am not acquainted with this name.” I said, on glancing at the signature, that I never knew any one of the name of Hanly. It was immediately written, “Let Margaret look again, and she will find that she is mistaken in the name; it is _Manly_, not _Hanly_.” Imagine my astonishment on recognising the name of a schoolmate whom I had not seen, heard, nor thought of, for many years. This was to me, and might be to any one, a full and satisfactory confirmation of spiritual communion.

944. On a subsequent occasion, it was written, through my friend, by my spirit sister, “Do you want instruction? I will talk to you of friendship this time. Let the basis of your friendship be esteem, and by all means seek to have this sure foundation. Friendship is a source of the greatest pleasure, and when begun in a right manner, ends not on earth, but continues to increase with unabated interest throughout eternity. Yours has thus far been characterized by firmness and sincerity. Oh! if you knew with what interest I look upon you, my dear sisters, watching the progress of your affections, and seeking a close intimacy with your spirits, it would awaken in both of your minds a lively interest for heavenly objects, and incite you to the pursuit of solid happiness. Friendship should begin in time to continue in eternity. Oh! could I convey to you the worth of time when viewed in this light!

945. “I am watching your silent communings. The lofty aspirations of your souls are not of an earthly nature. Your minds are being enlightened and seeking communion with God. Be encouraged, my dear sisters; we shall all be united in love. Be well grounded in the spiritual faith, and let your motto be—_Onward in the divine life._ MARY.”

946. Again, it was written, “Sing with the spirit! Sister, let thy heart make tuneful melody with an angel choir who now surround you! Sing a song to immortality; how the dear departed, clothed in robes of victory, now stand on heavenly hills, enwrapt in glorious visions of the Great Eternal, bowing before the throne! Sing, ‘Death, where is thy sting? oh! grave, where is thy victory?’

947. “While here you meet, guardian angels are in attendance. Here is a gray-haired sire, a mother, and a sweet-lipped babe. All have come, with noiseless wing, to listen to thee. Precious moments! Improve them in converse sweet of heaven, and blessings, richer far than earthly treasures, we will pour upon you.”

948. The reminiscences of the hours devoted with my friend to the investigation of this sublime subject are among the happiest of my life. They serve to awaken the purest, holiest, and most affectionate sentiments and sympathies of my nature, and thereby lead me into closer communion with the loved ones who have gone before me.

949. But in reference to my family, I was for a season destined to be alone in my happy belief. It is true, my husband did not reject the subject, but thought the phenomena in question might be accounted for by a reference to the principles of mental science. I requested him to solve the mystery. He attempted it, but failed. His explanation, like all others adverse to the spiritual theory, was an explanation in which _nothing is explained_.

950. About three months after these occurrences, a lady informed my husband that one of her daughters, about fifteen years of age, was a medium for the rappings. The young lady being present, declined the appellation as a term of reproach. Perceiving her discomfort, he requested to know what she thought of these manifestations. Her reply was, that they claimed a spiritual origin, but, in her opinion, they were due to “_electricity, or something of that sort_.”

951. Hearing the raps on the young lady’s chair, and on various other articles of furniture in the room, he requested her to put her hands on the table. This being done, the sounds were made on the table so loud and distinct, that they might have been heard in an adjoining apartment. Inquiring of the spirits if they would communicate with him by the alphabet, he was answered in the affirmative by three raps.

952. Having taken a seat at some distance from the table, and placed himself in such a position that no one could see the letters but himself, he proceeded to take down those indicated by the sounds as he passed a pencil slowly over the alphabet.

953. The sounds having at length ceased to respond, he tried to read the communication, but found it impossible to do so until he had first arranged what was written into words and sentences. This having been accomplished, he read, to his utter amazement, as follows: “My dear son, your parent rejoices in this opportunity to communicate with you. Let me advise you to investigate this most important subject; it will benefit you in time and eternity. Your spirit father, W. G.”

954. On reading this communication, my husband said he felt “riveted to the spot;” that he had realized the presence of a long-lost parent, and that language failed to convey his feelings. It is perhaps needless to say that he was from that moment a believer in the truth of Spiritualism.

955. Months rolled on, and we continued to receive and enjoy the delightful intercourse of our spirit friends. One day, while engaged in sewing, the needle dropped suddenly from my fingers. At the same instant I experienced a sensation in my right hand and arm analogous to a slight electric shock. My husband, seeing me start, inquired the cause. Perceiving the temperature of my hand diminished, he became somewhat alarmed, and commenced rubbing it. In a few moments we heard sounds on the workstand at which I was seated. I inquired if the spirits wished to communicate, which was responded to by three raps. Taking the card and passing a pencil over it, the following words were given:

956. “My child, be not afraid! we are trying to develope you as a writing medium.” I experienced the next day a similar feeling in the same arm, and was influenced to write the following impressive words:

957. “_My dear Child_: Your mother would impart to you a few thoughts relative to an event which is generally regarded with unspeakable horror. I mean the dissolution of the material body. Death should present no terror to the mind, since it is but a transition of the spirit to a more exalted and perfected state of being; a disunion of the imperishable and eternal principles of the soul and spirit from their temporary home in the physical form. It is but the door at whose threshhold the spirit lays aside its worn-out garment, to appear clothed in its much more beautiful habiliments in the spiritual realm—the entrance to “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

958. “To the mind that views this change in the condition of the spirit in its true light, it will appear a necessary preliminary step in the development of the immortal germ to a higher and much more glorious existence. With the gross earthly body, the spirit could not inhabit the celestial spheres, nor rove the elysian fields of eternal progression. You have a rosebud in your keeping, which must expand to an immortal flower in heaven. Earth has given it birth, but its vitality is feeble. It needs transplanting into a more genial soil in the garden of our Father and our God, where it will ultimately unfold its fair and beautiful proportions. In other words, your little infant, Emily, will soon join me; for I perceive that disease is deep seated in her system—a disease that no remedy can reach. Be prepared, then, my dear child, for the change which is soon to take place. Prepare for the messenger Death! Be calm, be firm! Your mother, LYDIA.”

959. This was a manifestation to me of a spirit mother’s love and watchful care. She foresaw that the inevitable event was at hand. She perceived that our darling child was incurably diseased. Although I trembled at the thought of parting with my treasure, still I was much calmer and more resigned in consequence of this parental warning, when the dread summons came.

960. Three weeks passed, and still there was no apparent change in our little one from her usual seemingly healthy condition. My husband had business which called him to Philadelphia. At his urgent request I accompanied him. We left our little ones in charge of a female friend and a faithful nurse, intending to be absent about two weeks. Ten days subsequent to the time of our departure from home, I received a strong impression to return, and that my presence would soon be required there. My husband objected, on the ground that his business was unfinished. I proposed returning alone, but he was unwilling, and we started for home the next morning. We found our children all well. I was joked about my _spiritual_ impression, and was told it was the result of imagination. On the day succeeding our return, however, our dear child was taken sick, and after an illness of three days her enfranchised spirit passed from earth to heaven.

961. Notwithstanding the ridicule heaped, at that time, by its opposers upon the believers in Spiritualism, and the affected contempt in which the votaries of this much-abused doctrine were then held, we pursued the investigation of the subject, and became daily more imbued with a sense of the truth and harmony of its divine teachings. We had the pleasure of seeing many persons, who had once denounced it as an idle dream, as a humbug, and a delusion, now converted to a full faith in its glorious realities. A change came over the spirit of their dream, and they are now blessed in the enjoyment of the richest feast for mind and soul ever bestowed by a munificent God upon his grateful children. And many do not hesitate to proclaim the fact to the world; for, thank heaven, the days of the Inquisition are numbered, and a brighter and more glorious day is dawning on benighted humanity.

962. The following extracts from a letter of my brother, Dr. North, of Waterville, Maine, in reply to my husband, may serve to show the mind of one of the skeptics referred to, in regard to the subject of Spiritualism, both before and after investigation. As they may not be uninteresting to your readers, I give them to you, as follows:

963. “_Dear Doctor_:—Your letter of the 17th instant is before me, and its _remarkable_ contents noticed. Had a great man or men, for instance, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, or Millard Fillmore, advised a friend to a certain course, if I thought that course improper, I should have felt at liberty to dissent from him or them; but when the adviser is the _spirit of my departed mother, or the soul of your departed brother_, I cannot dissent, or give an opinion that would conflict with them. It seems to me, dear doctor, that you cannot have better advisers unless you call the spirit of Gabriel to your assistance, and you can do no less than consult the dictates of the rappers.

964. “To be serious, I am surprised at your easy conversion to Spiritualism. I had supposed you spirit-proof, the greatest skeptic in the land; but I find you are completely _taken in and done for_! I do not place the least reliance on your superhuman communications, and would advise you to look upon them as phenomena of Mesmerism or mind-reading. The medium is in a mesmeric state, and consequently is capable of reading the thoughts of the inquirer, and answering questions correctly. The sounds are easily accounted for. The subject is _alarmed_ and _superstitious_, and therefore easily imposed upon. The creaking of a boot is often taken by such persons in this state of mind as a spiritual rap. Do not be imposed upon by such superstition, but choose rather to be guided by good sound sense.

965. “You might consult the spirit of Lorenzo Dow. He was a good old soul, and one that always safely advised his friends.

966. “Give my love to Martin Luther, and William Penn, and the Wandering Jew. If you should hear any thing of M. B-—-, you may let me know. He died three or four years since in my debt.”

967. The subjoined was received some time after the foregoing from the same hand, but was dictated, it seems, by a _more elevated spirit_:

968. “In relation to Spiritualism, I am deeply convinced of its truthfulness. God grant that the grand and glorious realities which it reveals may so influence me that my progress in goodness and holiness will never end! Do I believe in it? Yes! yes! It is my daily hope and happiness; the bread of life; and it will be my consolation in death. I have read much, but have seen little of the manifestations. I should be very happy to spend a fortnight with you and meet your circle.

969. “My wife is reading and approximating toward belief. We have read the following works:—Davis’s Harmonia; Davis’s Present Age and Inner Life; Edmonds’s and Dexter’s work on Spiritualism; Beecher’s Report, and Brittan’s Reply to the same; Stilling’s Pneumatology; Riechenbach’s Dynamics; Cahagnet’s Celestial Telegraph, and the Spiritual Telegraph, weekly. I am so deeply interested in spiritual literature that other reading is insipid to me. I am rejoiced that people in the higher walks of life are engaged in the subject. It will give popularity to it, and the weak and fearful souls will be encouraged and strengthened in well-doing.” The following was addressed to me last February:

970. “_My Dear Sister_: You say it is _too late_ to wish us a happy New Year. It is never too late to wish our friends happiness, and strive to make them happy. This is a new year indeed; a new era to be made memorable through time and eternity; one in which the spirits of our friends are striving for our happiness. Then let us not only make each other happy, but by purifying our thoughts and conversation, strive to progress in this rudimental world, so that when we find ourselves disrobed of these bodies, and in the sphere of eternal progression, we may be with and make the spirits of our friends happy. This is a glorious happy new year. The old ark of theology and superstition is passing away. The life-blood of the popular theology is drying up. The lens of the spiritual philosophy is concentrating upon it the powerful and burning rays of truth. Already a dense and fetid smoke is issuing from its decaying portals. Its priests and votaries already are crying, Fire! fire! God grant, that from its ashes no phœnix may arise to propagate anew its senseless dogmas. Then will this be a happy year for all mankind.” On a subsequent occasion he writes—

971. “The spiritual doctrine is gaining ground here. Many of our influential citizens are believers. Some that were _infidels_ have become hopeful Christians. Public opinion is softening, and it is not now esteemed a disgrace, as it was some time since, to believe. The acquisition of such men as Professor Hare, Edmonds, Talmadge, Chase, Simmons, Dexter, and Brittan to our ranks, has given respectability to it, and wrought a revolution in opinion.”

972. Thus much I have said respecting my spiritual experience anterior to leaving Maine. Concerning my experience since then, much more might be said, but as you are already familiar with the most of it, it remains for me to present you with a few of the best and most unequivocal demonstrations of spiritual communion that I have witnessed, but which have not come under your personal observation. Among which the following touching incidents cannot fail to interest those whose hearts and minds are not closed by the iron bars of prejudice and superstition:

973. While spending the evening of January the 21st, 1854, at the house of a friend, it was proposed by the lady and her husband that we should form a circle. We had not been long seated at the table when three ladies, two of whom I had never seen, favoured us with their company, and took their seats at some distance from the circle. They had been in the room but two or three minutes, when the following was given through the table:

974. “My dear mother! In love I meet you this evening. Oh, mother, why do you mourn my death? I have just begun to live. Grieve not for me!

975. “I wish my husband to investigate Spiritualism. I will communicate to him.

976. “Why should you erect a monumental slab to my memory? Let me live in the hearts of friends. SARAH NORTH.”

977. When the gentleman who took down the communication read it, I was surprised at hearing the name of North, that being my maiden name. As there was no Sarah in our family, I asked the spirits, Who is Sarah North? Before they had time to reply, one of the ladies referred to (Mrs. Wightman) approached the table in tears. She said, “That is from my daughter Sarah. I have been engaged to-day in the solemn duty of selecting a tombstone to her memory.”

978. On Nov. 25th, 1854, I sat by appointment with Mrs. Wightman for spirit intercourse. Mrs. W. put the question, “Is Elizabeth Adams present?” “Yes.” “Will she communicate?” “Yes.” “My dear aunt,” was immediately spelt out. Interrupting the communication at that point, I asked Mrs. W. if Elizabeth Adams was her niece. No, she replied; it must be a mistake. Thinking it probable that there was something wrong in the conditions, I removed my hand for a few moments. On replacing it, to our surprise, the words, “My dear aunt,” were repeated. “Well!” we exclaimed, simultaneously, “that is strange. Let us see what may come;” and we received the following:

979. “_My dear Aunt_: This is the first time that I have communicated. When I left the rudimental sphere, I was so young I did not know what it meant to die; I now know. It was the beginning of life! I will come again soon and talk with you. Your niece, ALMIRA BARNES.”

980. It was some moments before Mrs. W. could recall to mind the fact that her sister had lost a child, of the above name, about twenty-three years since, aged three months. Here is intelligence so clearly independent of our minds, that it is, in my opinion, entirely fatal to the theory of “_mental reflection_” so often adduced by the unbelievers in Spiritualism. At the close of this communication the following was received:

981. “_Dear Mother_: I am happy to have this opportunity to send you a kind message. Although I am often with you, I cannot speak to you through your own mediumship. Oh mother! what delight it would give me could I make myself visible to you. What would you say if you should see me sitting in the chair I so long occupied when an invalid? I often sit in that chair, but you cannot yet see me. Have you not heard me rap to you? I have tried in various ways to make myself manifest. I think you had better go South this winter. I think father’s health would be better there. I will visit you, if you go. The climate where you now live is too bracing for father’s lungs. When the warm weather returns, you can bid farewell to the sunny South and seek your Northern home. I wish I could speak to you through your own dear hand, but that I cannot yet do.

982. “_Dear mother_, you will become a medium; then we shall have good times. Good-by, blessed mother! I look forward to a happy reunion with all your loved ones here. ELIZABETH ADAMS.”

983. The above, as may be seen, was from the spirit that Mrs. W. called for, and the communication was designed for the spirit’s mother, who lived in the State of New York. The message was subsequently forwarded to her address. E. A., Mrs. Wightman, informed me, died after a lingering illness of consumption. She occupied the arm-chair alluded to during the greater part of her sickness, and she promised her mother she would come back and sit in it after her death, if she could. Her step-father, whose indisposition she refers to, is affected with a chronic disease of the lungs. The loved ones are Elizabeth’s brothers and sisters, all of whom, five or six, are in the spirit world. These facts were unknown to me at the time.

984. Last January, my friend Mrs. Wightman brought two ladies to witness, for the first time, some of the phenomena of our beautiful philosophy. Their names were suppressed, to be disclosed by the communications that might come from their spirit friends, in order to strengthen the evidences of spiritual intercourse. My hand being applied to the disk, the index spelled out the following:

985. “_Dear Mother_: I am not dead, but living in the love sphere of my Father in heaven. When you laid my little body in the ground, it caused you many tears. Kind friends wept. I see one here who was a faithful friend to you in that hour of anguish. Cherish her, for she was a friend in need. Oh! mother, I wish you to believe that your little child is indeed with you. I can come to earth when I wish to see you and father. It only causes me to feel a little sad that you and father cannot see me. F. H. W.”

986. One of the ladies rose from her seat and accepted the communication as from her darling boy, who had been put in his grave two years before. The name was all right: “Franklin Henry Wilcox.” The friend referred to was Mrs. Wightman, who had been a true friend in the trying hour of a mother’s sorrow, and had performed the solemn duty of preparing her dear child for the depository of his earthly remains, and to pour balm on the heart of a bereaved and stricken mother.

987. About two months since, two of the professors of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, one of whom, Dr. Harvey, is favourably known to you, called to see me in relation to the subject of Spiritualism. I had never seen either of these gentlemen. After a few minutes’ conversation on the topic in question, Dr. H. observed—“We should like, madam, if you will be kind enough to favour us with a sitting, to communicate with our spirit friends.” Complying with the doctor’s request, I placed my hand on the disk, and the subjoined was rapidly communicated:

988. “My brothers in the glorious profession of medicine! I greet you this afternoon with unabated affection and respect. It seems like a dream that I have passed from your midst; but passing away is written on all things of a perishable nature. Not so with the spirit, which is an emanation from God.

989. “My earthly career is closed, and a brighter one is now in view. Oh, the inexpressible delight which fills my soul when I behold the wondrous works of Omnipotence! Here I can pursue, untrammelled, those subjects which were so delightful to me when an inhabitant of the mundane sphere. Oh! that I had prepared my mind in some measure, by proper investigation, for this transcendent world of living beauties! but the love of my profession filled my mind, to the exclusion of the more important one of spiritual progression. I would that I could converse with my beloved wife, that I might console her for her early loss! Tell her that I am happy; this will speak volumes. JOHNSON.”

990. The foregoing was accepted by the doctors, as coming from their colleague, the late Dr. Johnson; and they said that he was the spirit they had wished to hear from.

991. The same spirit has since communicated with Dr. H. and has given him abundant evidence of his identity.

992. Many more incidents in my experience, giving proof of the truth of spirit intercourse, might be adduced; but as time and space admonish me to bring my narrative to a close, I reserve them for a future period.

993. I have thus, my dear friend, given you a very hasty and imperfect sketch of my experience in Spiritualism, and my development as a medium. Little need here be said to prove, to reflecting minds, the value of this heaven-descended philosophy. It is a theme that all may study with pleasure and profit, when so disposed.

994. Whatever may be thought of modern Spiritualism, and however opposed it may be to many of the preconceived notions and opinions of mankind, it is certain that there is nothing in its fundamental doctrines and teachings, which may not be reconciled with the laws of God, so far as these are known to man.

995. It matters not, I should think, whether this movement is sanctioned or not by a former revelation, as that would neither add to nor detract from its intrinsic merit. Spiritualism is endeared to the heart of thousands by its fond associations, and mementoes of love and affection from those dear friends who have passed from their sight, though still united to them by kindred ties. It has gone on in triumph, overspreading every State in our glorious republic, and, passing over the broad sea, has reached the shores of other lands, binding together the brotherhood of man in the sacred bonds of love, and dispelling the discordant elements of strife and sectism which have hung over the world, and like a dark pall, imparted their sombre hue to the minds of men. Progress is its name, and love its mission. It has no affinity with vice. It makes no war with right, but inculcates the highest standard of morality. It is noiselessly accomplishing its divine mission. Many a widow’s heart is made to leap with joy by its benign influence, and many an orphan feels its silent ministration. Many a prodigal son has been reclaimed at the brink of ruin by the voice of a spirit mother! It is not only a few individuals who are to receive the blessings which flow from this new dispensation—the masses are to be benefited. It inculcates principles which will strengthen the foundations of society, promote harmony in the social system, and ultimately unite all mankind under its broad standard of peace. That Spiritualism is rapidly extending its bounds, and gaining hundreds of thousands of converts, admits not of a doubt; and that it has the elements within it to elevate, reform, and redeem the race, it were folly, nay, madness, to deny.

996. Eighteen months have scarcely elapsed, my dear friend, since our first acquaintance, and you are aware of the circumstances which afforded me this highly-esteemed pleasure. The event, I am happy to say, has proved an era in my own life that I shall always revert to with pleasurable and heartfelt emotion; for its results have not only proved a blessing and solace to you, but a source of much joy and happiness to myself. Though you have encountered much opposition, and even abuse, from the ignorant and illiterate as well as from the professed votaries of science, in defending the cause of spiritual philosophy, you have fearlessly and faithfully battled against error, and planted your standard on the high pinnacle of truth. And as David of old, with the smooth stones of Kedron, slew the Gathean giant, and was met with songs of triumph and dances of joy by the daughters of Israel; so you, armed with the panoply of truth, have gone forth with the weapons of philosophy and reason to prostrate the hydra-headed monster; and will, I trust, receive in your turn the acknowledgments and love of your grateful friends.

997. “There is a nobler strife than clashing spears, A nobler peril than the battle-field; ‘Tis when, with trust in God, worn as a shield, ‘Midst universal hisses, scoffs, and sneers, The man of truth with brow serene appears And stands forth singly, for the right appealed To the Eternal Umpire; nor will yield One backward step, from policy or fears. The savage, bandit, nay, the brute, is steeled ‘Gainst bristling danger—e’en the worm uprears Beneath the foot his tiny sting, to crave A venomed vengeance; but immortal years Are full of glory for the Christ-like brave, Who dare to suffer wrong, that they from wrong may save.”

Very truly yours, MARGARET B. GOURLAY.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE PRACTICAL BENEFIT OF SPIRITUALISM, IN THE HAPPINESS IMPARTED BY THE CONVERSION OF AN UNBELIEVER TO A BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY.

998. Certainly, in one conclusion all zealous religious sectarians will coincide. I allude to that which makes belief in a future state of existence of the highest importance to the happiness of reasoning mortals.

999. Those who, for faith in immortality, have been satisfied to rely on the creed which they may have chanced to derive from their ancestors through education, and have consequently felt the comfort of a belief in immortality thence arising, may readily conceive of the benefit which must ensue to those of their fellow-creatures upon whom such a creed has not been impressed, but who are quite sensible of the immense value of any facts tending to create such a belief in life to come. It is to be lamented, however, that persons who have this impression contingently from a peculiar education, are irritated at having analogous impressions created in a different way.

1000. But in obedience to any dissatisfaction thus arising, to assail those who may acquire a knowledge of futurity by a new route, is manifestly inconsistent with the golden rule. As an exemplification of the benefit which the new evidences of another and a better world may produce in the minds of those who are not satisfied with that of revelation, I will subjoin the account of his conversion indited by one of my esteemed friends, Doctor W. Geib, who preceded me in spiritual investigation, and has longer enjoyed the influence which Spiritualism exercises over its votaries.

1001. The author was a member of the circle under whose auspices my experimental tests were for the most part applied, and was present on the very occasion when _my own apparatus, which had been contrived to disprove spiritual agency_, demonstrated its existence.

1002. “The verdure and warblings of fifty springs had elevated the souls of the writer of the present sketch in wonder, admiration, and gratitude, to the great Omnipotent Father of the Universe, without opening to his longing view a world beyond the grave.

1003. “There was pain in the thought, that scenes so enchanting, feelings so susceptible to their charms, a mind constituted to appreciate their miraculous wonders and pervading fascinations, and to do homage to the great Intelligence which gave them existence, should in a few short years be destined, like the foliage of the forest, to death and decay.

1004. “Still, to his mind there was arrogance in the thought that man could ever be the recipient of joys beyond those provided for him in common with all animal creation; and he chased from his mind the sombre thought of death, as a dreaded incubus upon life and the enemy of his few remaining joys.

1005. “But how changed the scene! Death, once so disturbing to his peace, so discordant with the moral attributes of his nature, which ‘puzzles the will,’ and leads the mind to seek in wonder and discouragement the motive for human life, is now but a ‘consummation devoutly to be wished,’ when this race of earthly life shall have been duly run; when we may have filled the measure of our destined usefulness, and secured by our moral affinities a joyful reception in the spheres above.

1006. “And why this change in thought and feeling? How are the horrors of the grave, the dread of dissolution into the primordial elements of creation, exchanged for the blissful assurance of immortal life for the soul of man, in all its associate identity, after it shall have departed from its earthly tenement of flesh?

1007. “The answer to this all-absorbing question, which sheds light into the gloomy recesses of the skeptic’s mind, and gives joy to his despairing heart—which supplied evidence where none had been sought, conviction where it had been sought in vain, and imparts to the accepted hope and faith of the professional believer, the confirmation of a demonstrated fact—is to be found in the irrefutable evidence of _Spiritual Philosophy_.

1008. “How invaluable is this dispensation of an Almighty Providence, which has made his despairing creature, a believer in the immortality of the soul of man; has cleared from his mental vision the clouds of doubt and disbelief, and has opened to his rejoicing mind the irrefragable evidence of a future life beyond the grave!

1009 ‘Hail now on earth the glorious day, When infidels have learnt to pray; When heaven’s laws by reason blessed, Are all with fondest love confessed!

When man in bliss can look above, And see a God in all his love; Can own with joy the mighty King, And loud his hallelujahs sing.

Throw back the gates, ye heavenly band, To loved ones show the spirit land; Hang out the beacon lights to see A home _for all_, the bond and free.

And now the dreams of former days Behold in those celestial ways; Where sorrow’s eye is never seen, Where love and hope are ever green.’—W. G.

1010. “The exhibition of so-called spiritual agency in New York City by the Misses Fox and their mother, was the first incident that claimed my notice, and excited my laughter and ridicule, in this apparent new phase in the science of legerdemain.

1011. Blitz and his wonders crossed my mental vision, and seemed outdone by the results of this feminine exhibition, in which the spirits of another world were invoked, and aided in the performance.

1012. This happened when psychology had been developed to a wondering world, as the climax of magnetic phenomena in the wonderful attributes of man, and was regarded by myself among many as the culmination of human research in the science of animal life.

1013. Meeting an intelligent friend who had bestowed much pains in the investigation of this department of science, and inquiring of him as to the progress of magnetism, I was answered, that something much more wonderful than magnetism engaged his attention and occupied his mind at that time.

1014. Asking what the subject might be, and being asked in return, if I had not heard of the wonders of Spiritualism, a painful impression was made on my mind and feelings that, where all had been regarded as sound and straight, there must be some latent obliquity of thought; that my friend, as the Spaniards say, was a little _tonto_, or that he was likely soon to become so, was quite apparent.

1015. However, my strictest scrutiny could detect no decline of his intelligent and ingenuous mind, and his well-digested remarks addressed to my incredulous ears, gave proof enough that this might be another demand for the investigation of science, and a step forward in the progressive development of nature’s laws.

1016. Being the leading member of a circle that held its meetings at his house, and kindly acquiescing in my request to be present and witness the phenomena, I found myself shortly afterward seated at a table, on a Sabbath evening, with about twenty ladies and gentlemen, whose every appearance was fatal to my preconceived prejudices against the understanding of those with whom I expected to be associated.

1017. It was evidently a meeting for religious devotion. Sacred songs took the lead, and my own voice, as if impelled by a foreign influence, was raised for the first time by the impulse of feeling to participation in this vocal prayer of gratitude and praise, sung to the great, almighty Founder of the universe.

1018. Indeed it would be well for the cause of spiritual philosophy if all exhibitions of its wonderful and sacred phenomena were made under circumstances calculated to impress the mind with the greatness and dignity of its source. To feel protected from the nefarious cupidity of the world is an important first step for the successful investigation of a subject so sacred in its character, and so absorbing, in contemplating the prospective existence of man.

1019. Seeing my associates place their hands flat on the table, I followed their example, and was soon made sensible of the reason, by feeling what was recognised as electric concussion, made by spirits to denote their presence.

1020. And ever will my mind recur with delight and gratitude to the influence on my moral nature of this mission of love and salvation to an invulnerable heart! It flashed like electricity across the mind; the clouds of skepticism were ruptured, and shed a grateful and refreshing shower of hopeful joy on the feverish doubts of an unbelieving soul. This beginning led to progressive investigation, and that, as is uniformly the case, to a confirmed conviction of _the communion of spirits with their friends on earth_.

1021. Hearing much of physical demonstrations, but having witnessed only the concussions, vulgarly called the raps, the question was put to my friend, the gentleman already referred to, if a demonstration could be had to gratify my curiosity, and strengthen my assurance, when the following dialogue occurred:

1022. ‘Will the spirits be so obliging as to make a physical demonstration?’ Answered by three raps on the table, which were responded to by an affirmative expression from the whole circle. My seat was at the side of the medium, a married lady of considerably more than ordinary weight. _Question._ Will the spirits move Mrs. D. in her chair? _Ans._ Yes.

1023. As this demonstration was intended for my special benefit, and our invisible friends were fully committed for its performance, my attention was riveted on the lady who was to be the subject of it. ‘Madam, will you please put your feet on the spar of the chair?’ This being fully accomplished—‘and your hands in your lap,’ was added. As her hands dropped, _the lady left my side_, passed about two feet backward, and immediately returned to her former position at the table.

1024. My astonishment was naturally raised to the highest pitch, demanding of Dr. P., who sat on her opposite side, if I could believe my own eyes, and that Mrs. D. had really been moved from my side. ‘Oh, certainly,’ he replied; ‘that is nothing. I have seen far more wonderful manifestations than that.’

1025. The idea of collusion was too ridiculous to be entertained for a moment; every consideration condemned it. The carpet on which the chair stood on its slender legs, with at least one hundred and fifty pounds added to its gravity, must have been extensively injured had the chair remained in contact with it. But not even a sound was audible, and my mind was left to contemplate _an invisible power that had effected the movement of a ponderous body in mid air_.

1026. Showing the interest of my own dear invisible guardian friends, it was spelt out by the card, the primitive mode of communication at that time, that I should change my seat to the side of the medium; and it was only after this change had been made that my mind was impressed to ask for a demonstration.

1027. By this demonstration of supernal agency I was delighted, humbled, and convinced. As the octogenarian Robert Owen, of London, proclaimed to the world in a published letter, in relating his own case, I became a convert to _spiritual life_ and _intercourse_ by the force of this evidence, because I should have considered any man a fool, who, with a mind free from the curse of a bigoted education, and whose thoughts and feelings were not mortgaged to the world, could reject such palpable and convincing proof, and entertain a different conclusion.

1028. Being subsequently in the city of New York, I visited the public circles of Mrs. C., a medium for automatic writing and the sounds. Being requested, as the rest had been, but without response, to ask if any of my spirit friends were present, my interrogation was answered by three distinct raps on the table. ‘Now ask who it is; a father, mother, and so on;’ and I was informed it was a son. ‘Is your sister with you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Will you spell her name?’ ‘Yes;’ and it was correctly given. ‘Is her little son with her?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Will you spell his name?’ ‘Yes;’ and a name of seventeen letters was correctly spelt out by the card, the letters being indicated, when pointed to, by three raps.

1029. My spirit son also informed me when he had died and of what disease. I asked if they were happy. It will be observed that my son’s name had not been mentioned, reserving it for a test. Three raps had replied in the affirmative to my question, when the medium spasmodically seized a pencil, extended a sheet of paper toward me, and wrote upside down, so that I might read it as written: ‘We are looking forward for you to join us, when we shall be more so;’ and to my perfect delight and astonishment, signed my son’s name to the communication, asking whether the name was correct.

1030. On a subsequent occasion, when a large and respectable company was present, I remarked to Mrs. C. that she had reported the fact that foreign languages had been written by her hand. ‘All kinds of language; but I don’t know any thing about them,’ was the reply. ‘If you have no objection, I should like to get a communication from my son, in a foreign language.’ ‘Oh, not the least; if he knew it in this world, he will know it in the next.’ ‘My son, will you give me a communication in a foreign language?’ Answer, three raps. The company were all intent on this striking and convincing test of spiritual intercourse. In French? no; one rap. In Spanish? three raps. The medium’s hand, as before, seized the pencil, and wrote upside down a communication to me _in correct Spanish_, though we all accepted her declaration, that she was not acquainted with one word of the Spanish language.

1031. As it is said of our beneficent almighty Father, that when two or three are gathered together in his name, he is with them, so it is with the spirits of our dear departed relatives and friends. When a few congenial, harmonious spirits of earth are associated in virtuous love, and their affinity for their supermundane spirit friends is strong enough to draw them here, they come on missions of friendship, and pour happiness into our hearts, provided the presence of a medium, possessing the required conditions, affords them an opportunity.

1032. It has been my good fortune to be a member of such an association, called a spirit circle; and the communications which have come to me from my dear departed children, and others who are dear to me, filled with love and interest for my welfare in the world, have given a value to life which it never had before, supplying a stimulus to the heart and mind which has guarded them from the influence of surrounding excitements, and strewed that path with many sweets which was too apt, with less humility and resignation, to be regarded with doubt and pursued with remorse.

1033. Let it not be said that spiritual philosophy imparts no benefit to man. It need not be asked if opening heaven to the mind of the skeptic is not a boon: it is too manifest an axiom to be made a question. Is it no advantage to mankind to know that this life is a prelude to one in the skies? no incentive to virtue to be taught that the beginning of our spirit life will correspond with the termination of our mundane existence, and that our position there will be governed by our affinities here? Operating on spiritual, as gravity does on physical, matter, and giving to crime a weight which holds the criminal back in the career of immortal happiness; and that this must be first disposed of by the redeeming laws of nature before the soul can begin its progressive flight to spheres of celestial bliss.

1034. At one of those family harmonious associations at which spirits are wont to come, I received a first communication from a much-loved daughter, whose devoted affection in this world caused her untimely death to leave a large blank in my happiness, till spiritual philosophy gave to my mind the assurance of her exalted bliss and unaltered love.

1035. To hear, as it were, the voice of one who had been resolved, agreeably to my belief, into the primitive elements of her physical nature, proclaiming her existence and transcendent happiness in scenes of surpassing beauty and fascination, was well calculated to soften the heart, however hard before, and make it for the future a more ready recipient of happy impressions; to open the floodgates of feeling, waken up the latent sympathies of our nature, and make us participants of those fountains of joy, which flow from the blessings of pure religion.

_Letter from a Spirit Daughter._

1036. “‘_Father Dear_: I will give you some idea of my beautiful home. Think of all the flowers ever seen on earth blended in one, all the heavenly strains of music blended in one strain, all beauty combined, and you will have a slight conception of the heavenly kingdom.

1037. Poets have sung of heavenly joys, but fancy cannot paint, nor artist sketch, the wondrous beauties of the spirit home. Darling father, how glad I am to see you have begun to live for heaven! I shall be one to welcome you when life’s journey is over. Oh, mother dear, will you, for the love you bear to us, listen to the voice of your children? We will give you all the proof you ask. MARIA.”

1038. This was all got by pointing to the letters on a card, and taken down by a third person. All in such a manner as to preclude the possibility of the least participation of any one in its production.

1039. A beautiful and much-loved son, who left this world at three years of age, came to me, at the end of twenty-seven years, from the seventh supernal sphere, with words of love, consolation, and advice. Such events, to a believer in the spiritual doctrine, are well calculated to arouse the strongest energies of the soul and inspire the best feelings of the heart!

1040. The regular progress of maturity of the spirit, uninterrupted by the grave, is made evident to our astonished minds by an event like this. We are also admonished by the same source that decline is not an attribute of spirit life; that old age recedes, and infancy advances, to the same point of maturity, with entire immunity from all physical infirmity.

1041. On last Christmas-day, being convalescent from a rather doubtful illness, and musing alone on the wonders and blessings of spiritual intercourse, I was induced to write the following letter to my much-loved spirit daughter, from whom had come the preceding and many other communications:

1042. ‘_Dear angel Child_: The untiring affinity of your cherished love, which, unobstructed by time and space, makes you so often the companion of my mind and heart, and the dear partner of my thoughts and feelings, would seem to render the present object of addressing a letter to you and your dear brothers in heaven a superfluous task.

1043. But, my dear Maria, my ever dear and cherished child, with my growing faith in the blessed reality of spiritual existence, I am becoming daily more anxious to preserve the history of my happy experience, and also my correspondence with my beloved relations of this world, who have preceded me in the progressive destiny of the human race. Beside which, my beloved daughter, it will assimilate, revive, and perpetuate that mundane correspondence, the dear mementoes of which had their beginning seventeen summers since in your sick chamber on the banks of the Hudson, while an ambitious and youthful votary of Minerva, and ended on the Alabama, ever sacred to my memory, with the termination of your worldly career, a wife and a mother.

1044. The considerations which engage my mind and elicit my solicitude, in this contemplated correspondence with my spirit relatives and friends, are the mode of conducting it, that may make them acquainted with its contents, the fear of transcending the limits of propriety in the subject-matter of my letters, and my solicitude to make all my thoughts, feelings, and acts as conformable to the high behests of spirit life as may be within the reach of my weak and earthly nature.

1045. The communications I have received from you and your dear brothers, and from your Uncle John and Aunt Rebecca, are a perpetual source of happiness to my mind, and nothing, while I am in this world, can reflect so much joy on my heart as the continued correspondence of all the loved ones who have gone before me.

1046. Your angel visits, and those of my dear William, during my recent bodily affliction, have exercised that joyful influence on my heart and mind so essential in diseases of a dangerous nature and of doubtful termination.

1047. The assurance which you and your dear brother have given me, that my sickness has had the happy effect to spiritualize my mental and physical nature, has been already made manifest to my grateful mind by strengthened resolution for the future, and a more exalted sense of the demands of that true spiritual philosophy which felicitates our life in this, and secures for us a desirable position in the spheres above.

1048. Flowing from my warm aspirations for the increased happiness of my fellow-creatures in this mundane sphere, by the dissemination and growth of the spiritual doctrine, I cherish a wish that this letter may be made to subserve that divine object, by exhibiting to the world an irrefutable test of spiritual intercourse.

1049. For this purpose, my dear angel child, in your next interview through our much-respected medium, allow me to request the favour of you to make my letter so far the subject of your communication, as may exhibit the reality of your spiritual existence, intelligence, and clairvoyance, and your continued correspondence of heart and mind with your happy father.

“_Christmas_, 1854.

1050. Shortly after writing this letter, at the circle of which I am a member, the following communication was spelled out on the spiritoscope or disc.

1051. ‘_Darling Father_: I wish to say something to you about William’s communication. He has impressed you since you were sick more than myself. You are rapidly developing as an impressional medium.

1052. ‘We have been constantly with you. Having wished to give a communication the evening our friend (a lady who is a very superior medium) was with you and mother, but the mode was too tedious. It was an era in mother’s life. Her opposition tends in some measure to repulse us; not that we love her less, but our loving natures must meet reciprocal tenderness.

1053. ‘Love begets love in the heavenly spheres, as well as on earth. I cannot say more at present, but I think William will speak more at length about the letter. MARIA.’

1054. ‘What letter?’ ‘Father knows,’ was the reply. The next communication for me on the same evening was the following:

1055. ‘Father, I wish you to read the letter which you have in your pocket-book before you go home; it will dispel all doubts in your mind relative to its spiritual origin. W. G.’

1056. On the next evening, finding myself incidentally one of a happy meeting of spiritual friends, the following came for me through the spiritoscope from my brother, referring to my letter:

1057. ‘_Brother William_: We are still with and around you. During your sickness it was the province of Maria to watch you daily. Other friends were near; among these were father and mother, with your sons Jacob, William, and Henry, Rebecca, and many others bound to you by the ties of consanguinity. On Christmas-day we held a levee in your room. If you could have seen us, I think it might have disturbed your placidity, but you sat as composed as if you were entirely alone. I think if you will recall the circumstances, you will confess that a power foreign to your own was exerting an influence to give forth spiritual monitions.

1058. ‘I am anxious that Maria should make a communication _in regard to the letter_, and she will do so when an opportunity offers.’

1059. On the next meeting of our circle, the following beautiful letter was put in my hand by our intelligent and highly-developed medium, Mrs. Gourlay, written by her under spiritual impression:

1060. ‘_Dear Father_: I mentioned to you briefly at the circle that brother William impressed you to write the letter which you addressed to me on Christmas-day. I perceive with pleasure that my friend Mrs. G. is now sufficiently under my control to answer your affectionate epistle. The proposed correspondence between us affords me much pleasure, and causes me to feel as if I were really to live over again the days of my earthly existence, when I was blessed with the oft-repeated manifestations of your parental love and affection. I flatter myself, my dear father, that this revival of loving association will tend much to your happiness as well as mine. I will be a friendly star to guide you in your course over the troubled sea of life, that you may not become submerged in its surging billows, but arrive safely at the haven of eternal joy and felicity. I will lift your soul by degrees to the source of love and wisdom, and cause you to feel sensations of pleasure such as you have never before experienced. You have a mind which delights in the beauties of nature and art. Let me tell you, then, that no scene of earthly grandeur which you have ever witnessed, nor the sublimest flight of fancy of the wildest enthusiast in the cause of Spiritualism, can compare with the beauties and joys of the spirit home.

1061. ‘I regret that the members of my loved family are so much blinded by prejudice, as to debar themselves the holy privilege of spiritual intercourse—a communion which would serve to connect them indissolubly with us, and teach them of a world beyond death and the grave. Oh! father, how my heart rejoices that I can come to you with cheering words, and pour into your willing ear the tidings of the gospel of peace, which will prove a balm of consolation to your drooping spirit! The ordinary trials of life are but as dew on the eagle’s wing, when the proud bird soars aloft to court the rays of the rising sun. Father, I have already presented you with a view of the beautiful realities of my spirit home. The picture I have drawn is no ideal one, but a real and substantial scene of enduring pleasures. Now let me ask, How will your joys compare with ours? Oh! that the minds of my darling children might become imbued with an understanding of this most holy religion, for I am conscious that it would add largely to their present and future bliss!

1062. Dear father, I perceive the emotions of your inmost heart, and if the love of a devoted child can in any wise conduce to your happiness, it is most freely thine. Oh! that dear mother could feel as you do, how happy her declining years on earth might become! When she is disposed to listen to the voices of her spirit children, it will be our pleasure to come to her “with glad tidings of great joy.” Wishing you both, my dear parents, all the happiness which earth can afford, I subscribe myself your ever loving daughter. MARIA.’”

1063. The following letter was placed in a sealed envelope, addressed and handed to Mrs. Gourlay for an impressional reply. A few days afterward the answer to it, here annexed, was handed to me by my esteemed friend, the lady named, with the original letter still in the sealed envelope as it had been handed to her. This has to be regarded as a beautiful specimen of psychometric mediumship.

PHILADELPHIA, March 23, 1855.

1064. _My dear Brother John_: Your communication last evening at our circle of “progress” afforded me much gratification, as you are doubtless aware from your pervading perception. I regret that circumstances do not allow of a more frequent intercourse with my beloved friends of the spirit land. It is also my ardent desire to hold communion with all my spirit relatives, and would wish with you, my dear brother, to bring about this delightful consummation.

1065. Your injunction of cheerfulness, as an efficient means of securing a healthful equilibrium of the vital organism, I can fully appreciate, and shall endeavour to profit by your welcome brotherly and excellent advice, as far as circumstances will permit. It is true, my dear John, that a longer sojourn here harmonizes with my desire to effect some objects, the accomplishment of which would probably add to my happiness here, and my claim for congenial association. The object to which I allude is the amelioration of the condition of the poor and wretched of my fellow-creatures, making them through my agency the recipients of some active benevolence.

1066. I have imbibed the opinion that the only acceptable offering at the throne of the great God, is the actual performance of those duties which are incumbent on us as individuals and social beings; beginning with the establishment of our own personal physical and moral character, and those of our own household and immediate social circle of relatives and friends; and then, to the accomplishment of this, to cultivate the sentiment of benevolence in aiding to promote the individual welfare of mankind in the use of what talent and other means may have fallen to our lot. I am prone, in my relations with the great Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, to apply the time-honoured maxim, “Actions speak louder than words.”

1067. Your invitation, my dear brother, to increase my intercourse with my spirit friends, finds in my heart and mind a very ready compliance. You propose a daily appropriation of time to this object. If you will do me the favour to appoint the time most agreeable to them and most desirable for myself, it shall be, to the fullest extent of my power, sacredly devoted to a duty and pleasure that are nearest to my heart.

1068. I feel the assurance that the good earth-character and intelligence of my spirit family, and the extent of our mutual love and affinity, afford me a more than ordinary opportunity for receiving information of that bright world which has become a delightful prospective inheritance to me and to thousands of doubting, fearful, and despairing minds.

1069. Your inspiring cheerfulness, my dear John, has already verified your sensible prognostic of the great influence on disease of a cheerful mind. I have learnt to entertain a high opinion of the bright intelligence and clairvoyance of the more elevated denizens of the spirit world; and shall always, therefore, regard any advice that may be offered me for the better government of my body and soul as a welcome and precious offering from those I love. I will close for the present with the assurance of my unaltered affection. WILLIAM.

1070. _My dear Brother_: With heartfelt love and affection I respond to your letter in reply to a message which I delivered through the instrumentality of our devoted friend, Mrs. Gourlay. During our happy interchange of thought, it will be my endeavour to suggest such ideas to your mind as may serve to elevate it and develope its capabilities. To the mind that is ignorant and prejudiced, this mode of communion with the invisible world may seem to be a direct violation and infringement of nature’s laws; but it is, on the contrary, not only natural, but perfectly legitimate to the age in which you now live. It is not a new revelation, but simply the discovery of hidden truths peculiarly adapted to the present advanced state of the race. It is old material in a new form. The material and spiritual elements are contributing, as _never before_, to the elevation and happiness of mankind, and already is established a spiritual telegraph on which I am at this moment successfully operating—sending a message of love to you, my brother.

1071. You say my words of cheer have wrought a change for the better in your system. This is a result which naturally follows a strict adherence to my prescription—cheerfulness.

1072. You desire to know what time would be most advisable for you to sit for spiritual communion. I would say, early in the morning, before the mind becomes taxed with the cares of the day, make a record of your impressions.

1073. You observe that it gives you great pleasure to receive messages from those in the spirit world who are bound to you by the ties of relationship. Let me assure you, my dear brother, that the feeling is mutual; and while time lasts with you, it will be our endeavour to gladden your heart with tokens of our increasing and untiring love. Your cup of happiness shall be filled to the brim, if it depends on us.

1074. Brother, may you meet with friends true and kind; may the labours of the cheerful morn render each day a happier one to you; and when night steals upon a slumbering world, may you close your outward eyes in peace with all mankind! Keep the mind’s sunshine bright! You have a soul to feel for others’ woes, and this is the true stamp of divinity. JOHN.

MARRIAGE ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN.

_The Hymeneal Tie in the Spirit World grows out of the necessity of the Connubial Union in the Mundane Sphere. “Free love” imputation refuted._[19]

1075. Some peculiar views respecting marriage, which are not consistent with the ideas of female delicacy and chastity heretofore entertained, have been designated by the name of “_Free Love_,” and have been commented on as proceeding from the spirit world. I am happy to say that, agreeably to the impressions which I have derived from my spirit friends, any doctrine, having a tendency of the kind thus described, would be at least as much censured in the spirit world as in this. As the best mode of removing this groundless imputation on Spiritualism, I will state the impressions which I entertain on the subject of marriage.

1076. Among the sources of happiness in the spirit world much insisted on is that resulting from a combined union of those really created for each other. The marriage contracted in this world, loses its binding power in the spirit world, yet may endure if mutually desired. If a husband has had several wives, or a wife several husbands, the tie endures only between the most congenial pair.[20]

1077. Sexual association is the means throughout nature by which the perpetuation of species is effected. But that this association may exist among human beings without degradation, it is manifestly necessary that it should not be indiscriminate. Not only delicacy, modesty, and the cultivation of congenial affection, but likewise the interests of offspring, require that the parents and children should form one family. The welfare of children, their equal duty to both parents, and natural affections between the parents and their children, must make a separation painful to all parties, however affection may have declined between the husband and wife, on the part of either or both.

1078. Hence, in the mundane sphere, the perpetuation of the human race consistently with decorum, and the welfare of offspring, and the happiness of the parties, especially the mother and wife, seems to be the great object of matrimony. In the spheres it is difficult to perceive how any motives of equally high importance can exist. It must be that connubial union in the spirit world rather grows out of marriage in this world, in order to fill up the void in the heart which might otherwise arise from our mundane habits. It would seem as if it were a benevolent indemnification for celibacy, or for the miseries so often resulting from the connubial state in this world, consequent, like the sufferings of child-bearing, to the perpetuation of mankind.

1079. It seems to me an error to suppose that the terrestrial marriage can be a secondary object with God, when the important part which it performs is taken into view.

1080. Incapacity to maintain a family often renders it impossible for those who would marry to come together, and worldly motives induce marriages, even when disgust or indifference may exist on the part of one, if not on that of both the parties.

1081. It seems, moreover, even where marriage actually results from the passion of love, that it is more or less the consequence of a species of hallucination, through which lovers deck an object with all that they would wish to exist in the way of merit, and feel toward them an affection proportionate to their own capacity to love, rather than of the degree of power in the object, reasonably to excite such intense partiality. It is thus that the love of the mother to the child she believes to be her own, will be powerful in proportion to her own capacity for maternal love, rather than of the child to excite love; since though it be a monster, and not _really her own child_, but _fraudulently substituted_ therefor, it will cause no diminution of her maternal devotion.

1082. It is the impression on the mind that determines the object to which the passion is directed; the character of the being actuated by the passion, which determines its strength.

1083. But where to all those qualifications which would create friendship between persons of the same sex, the peculiar emotions which take place between those of different sexes are superadded, those who come together in this world under the hymeneal tie, may find it something more than a mere civil contract, and not terminated by death. Moreover, independently of the original passion, there arises an affection which is justly distinguished as conjugal, and which differs from the other in this highly important particular, that it is founded on a thorough reciprocal knowledge, instead of that ignorance which too often accompanies attachments produced by the arrows of the blind god, as Cupid is sometimes designated with figurative consistency.

1084. Having always supposed that independently of the emotions peculiar to the sexes, there could only be friendship between a man and woman like that which would exist between a brother and sister, I am at a loss to understand what it can be which, in the spiritual state of existence, can induce indissoluble marriage.

1085. On submitting the suggestions comprised in the preceding statement to the spirit to whom I owe much information, herein quoted, and to the spirit of a most intimate male friend, by both it was alleged that peculiar emotions were attendant on sexual affection in the spheres, as well as on earth, so far as consistent with the absence of that which exists in common with brutes.

THE MORALITY OF CHRISTENDOM BEING IRRECONCILABLE WITH THE NEW TESTAMENT, CANNOT BE ITS LEGITIMATE OFFSPRING.

_Inspiration can have no higher authority, than the human testimony on which its existence is arrogated._

1086. Is it not a mistake to suppose that any doctrine gains any validity by claiming inspiration as its source, when there is nothing but human testimony to advance in support of that claim? For if in the instance of Spiritualism, human testimony is deemed to be unavailable, how comes it to avail when adduced in support of this arrogant claim of inspiration? As well might a man expect to cure the defect of a marshy foundation by substituting columns of iron for wooden posts, or that, while resting on wood, the support could be made firmer by introducing iron into the superstructure.

1087. As the introduction of the iron would diminish the competency of the foundation in proportion to the augmentation of weight, so the claim to inspiration lessens the competency of the testimony upon which it is advanced, proportionally as the incredibility is increased.

1088. But as respects the ancient witnesses, their own statements make them out unworthy of confidence. Facts or circumstances are stated which are manifestly blasphemous, inconsistent, and absurd, if not impossible. Thus a want of veracity or of discretion being demonstrated in some points, is sufficient to destroy validity in all.

1089. Revelation assumes God to be omnipotent, omniscient, prescient, and all good, yet represents him as under the necessity of subjecting his creatures to probation, to find out what, by the premises, he must foresee. It represents him while wishing his creatures to know him and his attributes, as _not teaching_ them that which he wishes them to learn, yet punishing them and their posterity for ignorance arising from his own omission.

1090. It does not suffice to allege that the Old Testament taught God’s will to the Jews; since it is to me incredible that our Heavenly Father would give instruction of vital importance to a few of his children, leaving all the rest uninstructed, and yet afflict them for this result. But, admitting this possible, it appears that the instruction given the Jews in the book of Moses failed in those particulars, which are of paramount importance.

1091. In the Bible, God is represented as susceptible of _jealousy_, of _wrath_, of authorizing the butchery of three thousand Israelites for worshipping a golden calf; sanctioning the massacre of the whole nation of the Midianites, with the reservation of the virgins for violation by the bloody murderers of their kindred; the outrageous deception and fraud on the part of Jacob; swindling the Egyptians by borrowing their ornaments with intention of purloining them; hardening the heart of Pharaoh, yet afflicting his subjects for the obduracy thus produced; instructing Saul to surprise and massacre the Amalekites, even to each “_suckling babe_”, for a wrong done by their ancestors some hundred years before, as authorizing the hewing down with a sword the regal prisoner Agag in cold blood,[21] and sanctioning the destruction of whole pagan communities by David.[22]

1092. The following is the account given of this favourite of Jehovah: “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel; so shall I escape out of his hand. And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Then Achish gave him Ziglag that day: wherefore Ziglag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to-day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines. And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.”

1093. Here is massacre, spoliation, base lying to Achish, his truly noble-hearted friend, whom he deceives into a belief that he had made the people of Israel abhor him, when it was his intention to become king of Judea, and of course the enemy of his too-confiding protector, whenever an opportunity offered.

1094. Praise be to God that he has sent us a new way to religious light, not associated with this _detestable_ immorality!

1095. Jehovah is made to arrest the sun, in order that Joshua may slaughter his flying foes. He is described as authorizing the Jews to extirpate their neighbours and seize their territory. I do most conscientiously declare that the portrait of Jehovah by the Bible appears to me more suitable for Satan than for our heavenly Father, who is represented by the spirits as perfectly impartial and equally loving to all his creatures.

1096. The example set in the Bible of slandering and persecuting those who did not believe in its doctrines, has ever been followed out by scriptural devotees, who would presumptuously represent that it is only from the Scriptures, which _they_ recognise as the word of God, that a correct knowledge of the divine attributes can be obtained. But this is the converse of the truth. As described by Seneca, the Roman Sage, the God of the ancient theist was to the Jehovah of the Bible as Hyperion to Satyr. (See Seneca’s opinions of God, 1224)

1097. It appears to me a striking proof how far men can be demented by educational bigotry, that it should be supposed that their omnipotent God can require human missionaries’ aid to promulgate or carry out his will.

Did God a special creed require, Each soul would he not with that creed inspire?

1098. The _Old Testament does not impart a knowledge of immortality, without which religion were worthless. The notions derived from the gospel are vague, disgusting, inaccurate, and difficult to believe._ The Pentateuch did not give the Jews an idea of immortality, nor were those Jews distinguished for morality, who from other sources than the Pentateuch embraced a belief in immortality. It has already been pointed out that the most enlightened sect among the children of Israel, the Sadducees, did not believe in a future state, while the Pharisees, who professed to believe therein, appear to have been so immoral as to be pre-eminently the objects of Christ’s denunciation.

1099. As respects the precepts of Christ, those on which he laid most stress are not only neglected, but grossly violated, by the opposite course being sanctioned by the overruling sentiment of society. Nothing would subject a man to more contempt in Christendom than a tame submission to blows, or being so poor as to wear patched or ragged clothes. There are few, if any, in Christendom, who would not rather have any deficiency in attire attributed to accident or taste, than to poverty.

1100. I have shown that the idea which the Pharisees entertained of heaven, as portrayed by Josephus, representing the wicked like the rich man within sight of the good, would be a hell to a good-hearted angel. This representation is sanctioned by Christ in his story of the rich man and Lazarus. The only reward promised to his apostles was worldly preeminence in the form of judgeships. Hence it were hardly reasonable for those who are subordinate in merit to the disciples to expect any better remuneration. Hell is as absurdly as horridly typified by eternal exposure to interminable fire.

1101. Thus neither among the Jews, nor among Christians, has the Bible furnished any adequate account of a future state, nor has it been productive of higher morality; since the only morality which does exist, _is coupled not only with the neglect, but with the violation of those precepts which the gospel inculcates_.

1102. Diogenes took a lantern to see if he could find an honest man in Greece. Were any one to employ a lime-light, he would not in Christendom find a Christian who carries out in practice the precepts of his divine Master. If those who know their Master’s will, yet do it not, are to be beaten with many stripes, while the ignorant pagan is to bear but few, were it not better to be a pagan than such a Christian as those are, for the most part, who exist in Christendom? Unless our missionaries can make better Christians, is it not inhumane to add to the number?

1103. On calling on a bigoted, self-styled disciple of Christ to show me anyone who put the precepts of Christ into practice, the reply was, “_We rely on his merits._” “That is _all_ you do,” said I. “In common with others of your tenets, you make the blood of Christ a fund on which every sinner may draw in proportion as he has confidence in its detersive influence.”

1104. I am supported in some of the views above presented, by a communication from a believer in revelation, under the signature of _Bosanquet_, to the Baltimore Church Times, for June 15, 1848. I will quote a portion of this communication, which is as follows:

1105. “But the want of faith is more open and direct than this, and it is the more obvious and pointed upon religious subjects. The Bible is boldly and practically denied in every particular. No class or body of men believe and obey it, and strange as it may seem, it is by no nation, or people, or churches, or sects of men, less implicitly believed and followed than by those very people and sections of the church who talk so much about it. There are no persons less obedient to the plain sense and mandates of the written word of God, than those who most speak of and uphold it as the sole authority and standard, and reject all assistance from the history of the church and what is spoken against as tradition. Every class of persons reject some portion or other of the sacred Scriptures. If you talk to some of temporal honour and rewards, and the observance of a day of rest, and the patriarchs, they will say, Oh! that is the Old Testament, and is abrogated. If you speak to others of good works, they will say, Oh! that is only in the Gospels, and the Epistles carry us much beyond that, and are superior to it. Unitarians, again, receive a Bible of their own; that is, just so many passages are excluded as will suit their own belief and purpose. Others, of numerous sects, dwell each upon some half dozen chapters, or passages, or phrases, or words of Scripture, of the Epistles especially, and dwell upon them idolatrously and devotedly, to the exclusion of all the rest, so far as the authority of Scripture is concerned, from belief and practice.

1106. This is even in the religious world—the thinking and reasoning world. Let us now turn our observation to the world itself; to the working and practical.

1107. The Bible is denied in every particular. Men do not believe that we are really to be Christians; that we are to imitate our Lord. They do not believe that the world could possibly go on if all men were to act upon pure Christian motives, and up to a perfect Christian rule: if they were to forgive and forget injuries; if they were not to resent an affront; if they were to give to people because they asked them: if they were to lend money without looking for interest; if we were all to give up luxuries, and style, and costly furniture and equipage; if we, our cattle and servants, were strictly to observe the day of rest. How many are there among us who believe that ‘the tree of knowledge’ is not an absolute good? or that we ought to receive the gospel with the simplicity of little children. Who believes that we ought to honour our father and mother, and our sovereign? Who is there that acts up to the precept that we ought not to judge others in their character? How many are there who appear to believe that it is not right to be anxious about the future; that riches are not a good thing; that the entrance into heaven is easier to the poor man; that we ought to return a tenth to God; that we would bring a blessing to give freely and largely to the poor; that children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord, and that the man is happy who has his quiver full of them? It is evident that in all these points the Bible is disbelieved and is practically denied, and does not control or guide us in our habits and principles of life and society.

1108. Still less do we believe that the public measures, the laws, and government of the state, and the intercourse with other nations, ought to be, or can be, carried on and conducted upon Christian principles. What number or classes of persons believe that righteousness exalteth a nation? that we are punished according to the national sins of the people, and for the sins of the rulers? and that if wicked and irreligious men preside over our councils, we shall as a nation suffer the penalties of it? or that the conscience of the government is the conscience of the people, and that our rulers are bound to take the first care for the pure religion and morals of the country; and that, if they do so, their righteousness will bring down a blessing upon the nation?

1109. To come again to more direct practice, and to our own habits of life. Who is there who thinks _first_ what is right, and according to the pattern of Christ, and after the will of God, in what he is about to do, and not what is wise and expedient? Who seeks first the kingdom of God, and God’s rule of righteousness, and trusts that all temporal good consequences will follow upon it? Who is there who thinks and abides _only_ by the rule of what is right and commanded? We may almost answer in the words of Scripture, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one!’ Who believes in and trusts to the assistance and suggestions of the Spirit in his designs and undertakings, and believes, and acts, and writes, and thinks, as believing that the most useful and important and influential suggestions of our thoughts and invention come to our mind by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, more than by our own cleverness, and exertion, and memory, and prays for divine help upon commencing every task, or writing, or undertaking accordingly? Who forbears strictly and endeavours to expel at once all thought and every suggestion of the mind in worldly matters on a Sunday, with confidence and faith that the same and more useful thought will be supplied on the succeeding week-days, and that the unqualified dedication and sanctification of the Lord’s day will make the labour of the six days more effectual and fruitful than would be that of the seven? Who would believe now that a sabbatical year would not necessarily be impracticable and ruinous, or that a populous country could exist under such a rule, or that it would not produce a debasing and demoralizing idleness?”

1110. Let not the reader infer that these admissions come from a free-thinker. The following remarks will prove the writer one of the _faithful_, in the sense in which this epithet argues a mind chained down by abject enthralment, to put any constructions on facts but that which is subversive of educational prejudice: “_All the evils of which the existence is admitted are due to our narrowing down our reception of truths and facts to the limits of reason—of our own more or less shallow individual reason._”

1111. Now to me it seems that the nominal profession of a faith in facts which are absurd and contradictory, and professed reverence for precepts which are as utterly impracticable as unwise in the abstract, induces this monstrous incompatibility of the actual morality of Christendom with the professions of Christians and doctrines of Christianity.

1112. Our submission to scriptural authority is not to be governed by our own reason, but by that of persons who lived many ages ago, originally assumed to be inspired by God, upon human testimony; which in the case of Spiritualism, or any other than the one in point, is treated as mere chaff.

1113. It strikes me, from the considerations presented under the head of Mundane Wealth, that the precepts of Christ were fundamentally erroneous, so far as they discredit and discourage efforts for the honest acquisition of wealth. (908.)

1114. God has given the fowls of the air feathers as a natural clothing, and thus any effort to procure clothing on their part is rendered unnecessary; he has not given them hands nor intellectual ingenuity to _spin_ and _weave_. On the other side, with little exception, man is naturally devoid of clothing, and requires clothes to protect him from the scorching solar rays or freezing blasts of winter, but _has_ been furnished with the _hands_ and the _ingenuity_ to _spin_ and _weave_. Under these circumstances, was it reasonable to allege that man should be governed by the example of the feathered creation? Was it reasonable to infer that there should be no spinning or weaving by men, because there neither was nor could be any performed by fowls?

1115. Again, the lily, like all other vegetables, not only comes into existence naked, but remains so, since it neither can nor will clothe itself, and would perish if by any artificial clothing it were shut out from the influence of the solar rays, and from the absorption of carbonic acid, which furnishes the vegetable creation with the carbon requisite for the fibres essential to stability. Hence the allegation that Solomon in all his glory was not _clothed_ like the lily, is irreconcilable with the nature and actual state of this beautiful flower, which is destitute of clothing by nature, and which would perish if it were clothed. The skin of vegetable leaves, to a certain extent, performs for them what mouths do for animals. How unreasonable, then, to argue from one to the other, that man should imitate the vegetable; or to compare a plant, naturally and of necessity naked, with a king gorgeously clothed?

1116. The degrading a rich man, whether honest or not, to the level of a felon or murderer, as respects accessibility to heaven, and of course favour in the sight of God, is so erroneous, that there never was a precept which was less respected in practice, by the votaries of its author. As I have heretofore remarked, the conduct of Christians is not merely negative in respect to this precept—they do not merely neglect it; their course is the _converse_ of any obedience to its dictates. Yet _professed_ Christians while violating their divine Master’s behests in a way which makes their performance the inverse of the results which their professions involve, for the most part treat any person who does not profess devotion for Christ’s doctrines, as actually more culpable than themselves, and more liable to retribution after death. This is about as just as for a man, who after marrying a woman and calling her his wife, should act the inverse of the obligations imposed by the connubial contract, and then consider an individual who had never entered into any obligation with her of any kind, as guilty of sinful neglect in not acknowledging as a wife, one whom he never married. The question is, who treats the woman most ill, he who acknowledges but neglects, or he who does not display a hymeneal devotion which he never led her to expect?

1117. Again, the precept to return good for evil, would, if acted up to, encourage evil. Were a man to submit quietly to be robbed, whipped, and cheated, he would encourage robbing, flagellation, and fraud. Far wiser is the precept of Confucius, “Return good for good; for evil, justice.” The impracticable precept of Christ is so far from being carried out by professing Christians, that in their conduct to the aborigines of Africa, India, and America, they have always been aggressive, always rewarding the hospitality of the natives with fraud and violence, and their conduct toward each other is the inverse of the ultra precept of Christ—“Return good for evil.” They not unfrequently return evil for good.

1118. There is, as I think, nothing more injurious than the habitual violation of acknowledged professions. If the violator be aware of his inconsistency, it involves the incessant perpetration of manifest wickedness; and if his mind be so cramped by education that he commits such violations unconsciously, it must degrade the all-important power of distinguishing good from evil. Thus, in the garb of truth,

Dark error leads With best intent To evil deeds, The bigot to ensnare.

1119. It is this nominal devotion to the doctrines of Christ, with a demeanour diametrically in teeth of them, which causes that anti-Christian morality which Bosanquet portrays.

1120. But I am conscientiously of opinion that the respect paid to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, &c., by which one five hundred-millionth of the blood of Abraham is made an honour to Jesus Christ, is among the reasons of the low state of morality among those who consider the Bible as the Word of God, and are thus led to view with indulgence, prostitution, murder, massacre, rape, cheating, and fraud. Agreeably to the opinion of a champion of Christianity, already quoted, “The worshipper is assimilated to the imaginary deity whom he worships.”

1121. With the exchange of two words for two other words, the verses which Pope ascribes to Eloisa, might well be uttered by many self-called Christians, who in defending the gospel from any conscientious attack, hesitate not at any intemperance of language, and yet think that the marriage _ceremony_ is all that is called for.

1122. “Ah! wretch, believed the spouse of God in vain, Confessed within the slave of love and man.”

1123. Although the substitution of the words _wealth_ and _power_ for love and man would spoil the rhythm, it would not lessen the applicability to the great mass of those who call themselves Christians, while not only neglecting, but positively violating the precepts of Him by whose blood they still hope, by a due degree of _faith_, to wash away their transgressions.

1124. The universe, as it is presented to my mind, induces a belief that it must have a presiding deity of commensurate power. As there are millions of suns, each having its planets; as the space which it occupies appears to us little short of infinity; as it must have endured from eternity, and must endure eternally,—the power and glory of this presiding deity must be commensurate with his realm, as to extent and magnificence. Yet evil exists; which can only exist from choice on his part, or because it cannot be avoided. There must be a want of will or power to prevent or remove evil. Such is the God which my reason obliges me to acknowledge. Where impressions are the offspring of reason, they cannot destroy their parent. But those who owe their opinions of their deity to tradition, have a deity which, not having originated from reason, may always be made the means of setting its dictates aside.

1125. The bigot’s god is a dangerous idol, although he be not represented by an image; and no less dangerous is any book which owes authority to hereditary, intolerant dictation and servile devotion.

1126. The fear of public opinion, or a desire to do what is _deemed_ right among men, seems to be the principal motive for religious professions and church-going in the great mass of society. The prevailing morality being, as already noticed, not only neglectful of Christ’s precepts, but absolutely the inverse of them—not only _permitting_, but _calling_ for a course diametrically opposite, as respects the acquisition of wealth and submission to wrongs—shows that it is not generally founded on a desire to cultivate the good will of Christ, but to square with sectarian opinion. I hold that one cause of this is, that the conviction of a future state, in which happiness is in proportion to our deportment here, is not so deep as that which I now have. Under the conviction which I have, nothing could tempt me to act in such way as to produce a retrograde influence on my pretensions as a spirit.

1127. It seems to me, as urged by me before, that no one believing the language of Abraham, as narrated and sanctioned by Christ, to have come authenticated direct from the Son of God, and consequently expecting it to be verified, would render himself liable to the punishment of Dives for the sake of enjoying the _good things_ of this world.

1128. The idea that souls are to remain in the grave till the “_last day_,” the procrastination of that day and geological knowledge being inconsistent with the belief that any such day will arrive, makes the sinner less fearful, the good less hopeful, and diminishes the number of those who are actually, in their worldly conduct, influenced by their hopes or fear of future rewards or punishments.

1129. The expectation of washing away sin through the merit of a bigoted belief in Christ, co-operating with the vague, contradictory, and irrational idea of heaven and hell recorded in Scripture, seems to be the reason why Christians act so inconsistently with the precepts of Him whom they professedly adore.

1130. Nothing can be more inconsistent with the religion inculcated by my spirit friends, than the idea of atonement for sin by faith in any religion, true or false.

1131. Had there ever been any available light let in from the spirit world, this error had been denounced, and having been thus stamped as erroneous from on high, could not have acquired or retained its mischievous hold of so many millions of human beings, by substituting blind faith for genuine virtue.

_Injurious Influence of unreasonable Restriction._

1132. Another reason why, throughout Christendom, the vices most deprecated by Christ are those pre-eminently prevalent, is that his precepts were absolutely impracticable, unless explained away in the style of Lord Peter in the “_Tale of a Tub_.”

1133. Some of the excellent Society of Friends may, as respects war, have been obedient to the precepts of Christ, and probably in other respects deviate from them less than most other sects; but as to wealth their course is the inverse of giving away their money. They are rationally among the most active and successful in the honest acquisition of money. In this they would act morally, excepting the violation of their recognised obligation to obey the precepts of Christ.

1134. Does not experience show that nothing is more injurious to morals than unreasonable restraint? This has been seen in the profligacy of the children of puritanical sectarians. To disobey an unreasonable restriction always appears comparatively a trivial offence. Going to a play, in the opinion of the mass of the world, is not sinful; but for a minor to go to a play in disobedience of parental authority, by stealth, deception, or lying, becomes sinful delinquency, and introduces a habit which may lead to crime as wicked as that of the conduct of Jacob to Esau. Lying and deceiving for venial purposes will soon induce the habit. The restriction from eating pork or drinking wine has no doubt induced much deception and falsehood among the followers of Mohammed, and thus made a crime where none would have existed. In like manner, the putting a rich man on a footing with a felon, as respects access to heaven, forbidding the resistance to blows or spoliation, makes almost every professed Christian practically unfaithful to his professions, and of course an infidel of the worst kind. More or less of this infidelity is involved in various ways, as above admitted by “Bosanquet.”

1135. If the history of Christianity, so called, be reviewed, it will be found that the deviations from the precepts of Christ during the present age are quite venial, compared with those which took place during the thousand years or more in which Romanism had the ascendency.

1136. A painful picture of the morals of the clergy during that period may be found in a recent work by Bishop Hopkins of Vermont. It would seem as if the crimes and indecency displayed during the Middle Ages, exceed even those of Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and David, and Samuel, the cruel, despotic pope of Judea. The deposition of Saul for not killing Agag, and his hewing his royal prisoner down with a sword in cold blood, may have been looked to as a justification of pontifical cruelty and despotism.

_No one would believe that a capable farmer would make such a mistake as to sow garlic instead of wheat. Yet God, while represented as having intended to sow Protestantism, is considered as having caused, throughout Christendom, a crop of Catholicism, in the Roman or Grecian form, for more than a thousand years; those weeds still occupying more than half of the whole soil._

1137. The immense importance attached by mankind to correct religious impressions is demonstrated, in the first place, by the enormous expenditure throughout this world in sustaining those who are conceived by their constituents to be the true expounders of religion;[23] and, in the second place, by the blood and treasure which have been expended either in missions or in wars, for the extension or defence of the impressions believed by various sectarians to be the most accordant with truth.

1138. Yet it must be plain that in no case has there been any higher evidence than that of an _alleged_ human communication, direct or indirect, with some recognised deity, if not the true God. If the will of God has ever been revealed, the number who have actually pretended to an interview with him, or with any immortal subordinate spirit are very few. The Old Testament depends upon the testimony of Moses and a few Hebrew prophets, whose inspiration rests upon their own allegations, respecting themselves or each other.

1139. As regards the basis of Christianity, there are two irreconcilable opinions: one held by the Protestants, the other by the Roman Catholics; since although there is a great diversity of opinion between Protestants, there is between all Protestants and Papists this difference: The latter relying on their own church as the sole depository of all the evidence of Christianity, do not allow any direct recourse to Scripture for a rule of faith. The former reject the claims of the church of Rome, and resort to the gospel for their rule of faith.[24]

1140. But wherefore should such implicit confidence be placed in language alleged to have been held by Moses or any other ancient author? or should they be credited, even when they allege God to have used such words as these, “_Let me wax hot in my wrath that I may consume them._” The motive for this imputation against God, was that Moses might take credit for _moderation_ in slaughtering only three thousand of God’s chosen people in one day, for worshipping a golden calf, made by his own brother, afterward made high-priest. Thus the ringleader, being the brother of Moses, was loaded with honours, while those whom he led astray were to be massacred in cold blood. Yet it is on such witnesses as this blood-thirsty, blasphemous bigot, that orthodoxy relies for assuming the Pentateuch to be the word of God, censuring, if not persecuting, all who do not concur with it.

1141. The intercourse with the angel Gabriel rests upon the evidence of Mary alone, who was interested immensely to make her child a god, instead of being her illegitimate offspring. Of the dream of Joseph there can be no witness besides himself. But would a dream be now admitted as testimony in any court of justice.

1142. The diversity of opinion existing between Romanists and Protestants, are briefly exhibited in the subjoined quotations from the controversy between Archbishop Hughes and the Rev. Mr. Breckinridge. They have already been cited by me in a pamphlet on the better employment of the first day of the week. Here are the opinions of two men highly qualified to judge. In one, we have an eminent champion of Romanism; in the other, a no less able champion of Calvinism. To the latter belongs the distinction of having persecuted the Quakers and witches, and of having roasted Servetus; to the former, putting some hundreds of thousands to death or torture by the sword, the rack, or the fagot.

1143. Agreeing with each of the parties that the other is in the wrong, I, of course, assume that they are both in error. Taken together, they may be considered as proving that there is no evidence in favour of Christianity, which I have not the authority of eminent Christians for rejecting. In the 29th page of the controversy between himself and Breckinridge, Bishop Hughes speaks as follows:

1144. “My fourth argument was, that the Protestant rule of faith actually undermines the authority of the Scriptures, by extinguishing the proofs of their _authenticity_ and _inspiration_, and consequently terminates in moral suicide. Just imagine to yourself an ordinary will or testament, written but twenty years ago, purporting to be the last will and testament of a wealthy deceased relative, and designating you as _heir_, but without either signature or probate, and ask yourself what it would be worth? Could such a document establish its own authenticity? And yet this is precisely the situation to which the Protestant rule of faith reduced the Scriptures, by which, and _by which alone_, their authenticity could have been established. St. Augustine, of whom Presbyterians are sometimes wont to speak with respect, declared that it was the testimony of the church which moved him to believe in the Scriptures. But _now_ the order of belief is ‘reformed.’ Men pick up (pardon the phrase) the sacred volume, as they find it floating on the sea of two thousand years, and by one great but _gratuitous_ act of belief, which flings all intermediate church authority and tradition to the winds, they say ‘the Bible is the Bible, and we are its interpreters, every man for himself.'”

1145. It seems not to have occurred to the right reverend champion of the Catholic creed, that it is not more true that a testament without witnesses is of no validity, than it is true that the testimony of witnesses claiming under the will, cannot be admitted. A document written after the death of the testator would not be considered in a court of justice as entitled to the name of a testament. But were persons to write a will after a man’s death, and bring it forward, claiming under it supremacy, would their claim produce any result beside derision?

1146. The distinguished prelate justly treats the gospel as resting on the traditionary evidence of the church; since, as he truly urges, the church existed before the gospel, having been instituted at the time when his instructions were given to the apostles by Christ.

1147. But how much value is to be attached to the testimony of the church, may be learned from the following opinion of the learned clergyman to whom I have alluded as the other party in the controversy, (pages 35, 36:)

1148. “_The unwarrantable liberties of your church with the word of God show her fallible to a deplorable degree._

1149. _Your rule, if observed, requires implicit faith in the decretals and interpretations of fallible men, which is subversive of the very nature and end of religion in the soul._ Faith supposes knowledge, conviction on evidence, and trust in God, founded on a belief of divine truth; but your rule requires unconditional submission to the dicta of the church in the lump. The ‘_Carbonaria fides_,’ or faith of the collier, is the very faith required. It is as follows: When asked, ‘What do you believe?’ he answered, ‘I believe what the church believes.’ ‘What does the church believe?’ _Ans._ ‘What I believe.’ ‘Then what do you and the church together believe?’ _Ans._ ‘We both believe the same thing.’ This is the grand catholicon for believing every thing, without knowing any thing. In this soil grew the maxim that ‘ignorance is the mother of devotion.’ It is believing by proxy, or rather not believing at all, in the true sense. Here is the secret of the unity of your church.”

1150. To conclude, I agree with the right reverend able and learned archbishop, that Christianity has no witnesses but those disciples of Christ whom he calls the church; but I also concur with his able, learned, and reverend opponent, that the said church is neither competent as a witness, nor reliable as a foundation for Christianity.

1151. Breckinridge does not perceive that the gospel on which he relies, and the recorded traditions which ascribe that work to inspiration, have no better foundation than the testimony of _fallible_ men.

1152. Manifestly, however, the authority of the church of Rome cannot be overset without oversetting the authenticity of the Christian religion.

1153. Could any one believe that an experienced farmer would sow a field with garlic when intending to have a crop of wheat? Would not the conclusion be that if a field upon his farm were occupied by that objectionable weed, it must have been the spontaneous production of the soil, not of a mistake so gross on his part? Yet our prescient God is represented as so much inferior in foresight to an ordinary farmer, that while the religious soil of Christendom was for ages occupied with crops of Catholicism, in the Grecian or Roman modification, the seed of Protestantism was sown by God through his son and vicegerent, Christ, intending to have the soil occupied by Protestantism. Manifestly, either it was intended that Catholicism should prevail, as above described, or an omnipotent, omniscient, and prescient God did not preside over the seeding.

1154. Yet notwithstanding this diversity as to the true import of Christianity between the most distinguished Christian sectarians, each sect conceives itself justified in propagating its own peculiar opinions among ignorant pagans. The principle being thus sanctioned, that those who _believe_ themselves to have become acquainted with religious truth, are justified in propagating a knowledge of it, wherefore should not that privilege be exercised by a spiritualist as well as a Christian?

1155. Humility is one of the virtues inculcated by Christ; but if his disciples assume to themselves a peculiar capacity to know what is true, and an exclusive right to teach what they thus assume to be truth, there will be no humility in their practice, however it may be blazoned among their professions.

1156. The view which I have presented in the preceding pages is corroborated by a personage of no less authority than William Pitt, afterward the Earl of Chatham, and prime minister of England. His opinions, alleged to have been originally published in the London Journal for 1733, are as follows:

_Letter of William Pitt._

“_Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their afflictions, and to keep one’s self unspotted from the World._”

1157. “_Gentlemen_: Whoever takes a view of the world, will find, that what the greatest part of mankind have agreed to call religion, has been only some outward exercise esteemed sufficient to work a reconciliation with God. It has moved them to build temples, flay victims, offer up sacrifices, to fast and feast, to petition and thank, to laugh and cry, to sing and sigh by turns; but it has not yet been found sufficient to induce them to break off an amour, to make a restitution of ill-gotten wealth, or to bring the passions and appetites to a reasonable subjection. Differ as much as they may in opinion concerning what they ought to believe, or after what manner they are to serve God, as they call it, yet they all agree in gratifying their appetites. The same passions reign eternally in all countries and in all ages, Jew and Mohammedan, the Christian and the Pagan, the Tartar and the Indian, all kinds of men who differ in almost every thing else, universally agree with regard to their passions. If there be any difference among them, it is this; that the more superstitious, the more vicious they always are, and the more they believe, the less they practise. This is a melancholy consideration to a good mind; it is a truth, and certainly above all things, worth our while to inquire into. We will, therefore, probe the wound, and search to the bottom; we will lay the axe to the root of the tree, and show you the true reason why men go on in sinning and repenting, and sinning again through the whole course of their lives; and the reason is, because they have been taught, most wickedly taught, that religion and virtue are two things absolutely distinct; that the deficiency of the one might be supplied by the sufficiency of the other; and that what you want in virtue, you must make up in religion. But this religion, so dishonourable to God, and so pernicious to men, is worse than Atheism, for Atheism, though it takes away one great motive to support virtue in distress, yet it furnishes no man with arguments to be vicious; but superstition, or what the world means by religion, is the greatest possible encouragement to vice, by setting up something as religion which shall atone and commute for the want of virtue. This is establishing iniquity by a law, the highest law; by authority, the highest authority; that of God himself. We complain of the vices of the world, and of the wickedness of men, without searching into the true cause. It is not because they are wicked by nature, for that is both false and impious, but because to serve the purposes of their pretended soul-savers, they have been carefully taught that they are wicked by nature, and cannot help continuing so. It would have been impossible for men to have been both religious and vicious, had religion been made to consist wherein alone it does consist; and had they been always taught that true religion is the practice of virtue in obedience to the will of God, who presides over all things, and will finally make every man happy who does his duty.

1158. This single opinion in religion, that all things are so well made by the Deity, that virtue is its own reward, and that happiness will ever arise from acting according to the reason of things, or that God, ever wise and good, will provide some extraordinary happiness for those who suffer for virtue’s sake, is enough to support a man under all difficulties, to keep him steady to his duty, and to enable him to stand as firm as a rock, amid all the charms of applause, profit, and honour. But this religion of reason, which all men are capable of, has been neglected and condemned, and another set up, the natural consequences of which have puzzled men’s understandings, and debauched their morals, more than all the lewd poets and atheistical philosophers that ever infested the world; for instead of being taught that religion consists in action, or obedience to the eternal moral law of God, we have been most gravely and venerably told that it consists in the belief of certain opinions which we could form no idea of, or which were contrary to the clear perceptions of our minds, or which had no tendency to make us either wiser or better, or, which is much worse, had a manifest tendency to make us wicked and immoral. And this belief, this impious belief, arising from imposition on one side, and from want of examination on the other, has been called by the sacred name of religion, whereas real and genuine religion consists in knowledge and obedience. We know there is a God, and know his will, which is, that we should do all the good we can; and we are assured from his perfections, that we shall find our own good in so doing.

1159. And what would we have more? are we, after such inquiry, and in an age full of liberty, children still? and cannot we be quiet unless we have holy romances, sacred fables, and traditionary tales to amuse us in an idle hour, and to give rest to our souls, when our follies and vices will not suffer us to rest?

1160. You have been taught, indeed, that right belief, or orthodoxy, will, like charity, cover a multitude of sins; but be not deceived; belief of, or mere assent to the truth of propositions upon evidence, is not a virtue, nor unbelief a vice; faith is not a voluntary act, does not depend upon the will; every man must believe or disbelieve, whether he will or not, according as the evidence appears to him. If, therefore, men, however dignified or distinguished, command us to believe, they are guilty of the highest folly and absurdity, because it is out of our power; but if they command us to believe, and annex rewards to belief, and severe penalties to unbelief, then they are most wicked and immoral, because they annex rewards and punishments to what is involuntary, and, therefore, neither rewardable nor punishable. It appears, then, very plainly unreasonable and unjust to command us to believe any doctrine, good or bad, wise or unwise; but, when men command us to believe opinions which have no tendency to promote virtue, but which are allowed to commute or atone for the want of it, then they are arrived at the utmost pitch of impiety, then is their iniquity full; then have they finished the misery, and completed the destruction of poor mortal man; by betraying the interest of virtue, they have undermined and sapped the foundation of all human happiness; and how treacherously and dreadfully have they betrayed it! A gift, well applied, the chattering of some unintelligible sounds called creeds; an unfeigned assent and consent to whatever the church enjoins, religious worship and consecrated feasts; repenting on a death-bed; pardons rightly sued out; and absolution authoritatively given, have done more toward making and continuing men vicious, than all the natural passions and infidelity put together. For infidelity can only take away the supernatural rewards of virtue; but these superstitious opinions and practices have not only turned the scene, and made men lose sight of the natural rewards of it, but have induced them to think, that were there no hereafter, vice would be preferable to virtue, and that they increase in happiness as they increase in wickedness; and this they have been taught in several religious discourses and sermons, delivered by men whose authority was never doubted, particularly by a late Rev. prelate, I mean Bishop Atterbury, in his sermon on these words: ‘If in this life only be hope, then we are of all men the most miserable,’ where vice and faith ride most lovingly and triumphantly together. But these doctrines of the natural excellency of vice, the efficacy of a right belief, the dignity of atonements and propitiations have, beside depriving us of the native beauty and charms of honesty, and thus cruelly stabbing virtue to the heart, raised and diffused among men a certain unnatural passion, which we shall call a religious hatred—a hatred constant, deep-rooted, and immortal. All other passions rise and fall, die and revive again; but this of religious and pious hatred rises and grows every day stronger upon the mind as we grow more religious, because we hate for God’s sake, and for the sake of those poor souls, too, who have the misfortune not to believe as we do; and can we in so good a cause hate too much? the more thoroughly we hate the better we are; and the more mischief we do to the bodies and states of these infidels and heretics, the more do we show our love to God. This is religious zeal, and this has been called divinity; but remember, the only true divinity is humanity. W. PITT.”

_Offer of Guidance by a Mundane Spirit._

1161. The Rev. Allen Putnam, whose narrative of his conversion to Spiritualism, has been submitted, gave a very sensible and interesting lecture on this new doctrine, at the Melodeon, in Boston, last October. One of his remarks struck me as being very well warranted by my own observation and experience. He said that we are wont to express indignation at the absurd, cruel, and unnatural Chinese custom of cramping the female foot; but to him it appeared that in Christendom a much worse practice existed, that of cramping the minds of females by bringing them up zealous sectarians, their opinions, in general, being determined by their parentage. Thus Miss A. is a Romanist; Miss B. an Episcopalian; Miss C. a Calvinist; Miss D. a Methodist; Miss E. a Jewess; all most excellent creatures in any other respect excepting the effects of educational sectarianism, which had been interchanged, had their parentage been commuted. (259.)

1162. One of the blessings of Spiritualism, according to my view, is, that this cramped state of the mind, which attaches importance to various phases of analogous educational error, will be removed by receiving their opinions from the same source. But it seems that one of the most amiable and interesting among those angelic devotees, has been actuated by the same anxiety for my salvation from hell, that I have felt for her emancipation from the educational ligatures imposed upon her otherwise excellent understanding. The following letter is the fruit of her zeal in my favour:

August 1, 1855.

1163. _My dear Sir_: You have too much kindness yourself, not to receive in kindness what is so intended; and you have too much politeness not to grant as much as you ask of a friend. I, therefore, with all confidence, send you the enclosed letter, written by one of the first intellects in the country. Now, if when you send your pamphlets and the papers you wish me to read, you will state that you have read this letter, (_with_ the _care_ you wish me to read yours,) not to refute but to comprehend the mind of the writer, I will do the same. But, as what I send to you requires higher power than any power in _created_ man, I will continue to pray to this higher power, this Creator of all things, that you may so read under his blessing and guidance, (before whom you and the very world upon which you tread, are but a molecule or mite,) that _you_, I say, may find that salvation for your immortal soul, which you seem so much to desire. If you believe that your father and sister exist, and consequently, that you _have_ a soul that cannot die, you must feel a deep anxiety with us all for the future welfare of this soul, and will not treat with indifference the attempt to offer you that which is a complete satisfaction to your friend!

1164. I would avoid argument, as two persons at opposite points can never see the objects in the same light; but I send simply the Christian’s plan of salvation, to which I only ask you to attend as carefully as I attended to the statement of your theory. When I return to New York permanently, I will inform you. As I am anxious to retain these papers, and life is uncertain, please so arrange them that they may easily be found, should any thing happen.”

1165. The following lines, which are subjoined in the title page of my pamphlet, addressed to the Episcopal clergy, would have forewarned any but an enthusiast, that there was an outwork to be conquered before any impression could be made:

1166. If God can creatures make to suit his will, Foresee, if they can, his design fulfill, Wherefore those creatures to trial expose, Traits to find out, which he thus foreknows?

1167. Persons who should differ about axioms could never agree in mathematical demonstrations, nor is it possible for A and B to agree in theology, when A assumes what to B appears to comprise a contradiction within its premises and conclusions. Having for years held the opinion conveyed in the above lines, to be self-evident truth, it is of course useless to debate with those who take an opposite view, especially just at this time, when I believe that opinion to be sanctioned by my spirit friends. This opinion was urged in my letter to the Episcopal clergy; yet this kind adviser has not seen, or has not taken pains to understand, its all-important bearing.

1168. The letter of this charming woman commences with begging the question. It is assumed that the arguments of her clerical friend _require for comprehension a higher power than any power created in man_. But this to me appears fanatical presumption, just as much as it would be in any other sectarian. The excellent authoress of the epistle puts herself in a class of females whom it has been my object to emancipate from the restraint imposed upon their minds, no less cramping than that to which the feet of Chinese ladies are subjected.

1169. It must be evident, that unless there was a successful precursory effort by facts and reasoning, to make me believe that what appears to me _below_ good sense, is actually above it, her inference that discussion would be useless is quite evident. But this amounts to an admission that the opinions which it is her object to impart, are not founded in reason.

1170. Her clerical friend falls into the same error, as will appear from the following quotation. The last postulate in the world which he could induce me to admit, would be that any thing which owes its existence entirely to barbarous, wicked, ignorant, covetous, and blood-thirsty men, can be God’s word, and, therefore, paramount to human reason.

1171. How would he enable an idiot to believe in the Bible, or in any thing? Is not our capacity to believe correctly, greater as our reason is better by nature? It is only through his own intellectual faculties that he has received his opinions and can defend them. It is through my reason that my head and heart repel the Old Testament as, for the most part, the work of a set of unprincipled bigots, comprising allegations which the present state of astronomy and geology demonstrate to be fallacious, and which, independently of that cramping of the intellect by education, which it is my ardent desire to remove, would be denounced replete with indecency, immorality, and misrepresentation of God.

1172. It is striking that this kind lady, in referring to my sister and other spirit friends, should suppose that I would slight the _direct heartfelt evidence received from them_, in obedience to _impressions felt by her in common with every other devotee to any religion whatever_. They could, with just as much consistency, appeal to their tenets, and assume their “Koran,” their “Shasters,” or “Zendavesta” to be above my reason.

1173. But the whole tenor of this application shows that the authoress expects to set aside the results of nearly twenty months’ investigation, creating in me a firm devout conviction that I have a correct knowledge of the spirit world, received through my relatives, friends, and high spirits, in deference to those of a set of people of whom I know nothing but ill. May God do that for her which she has so benevolently implored for me, and remove from her brain the influence of educational narrowness. I would utter the same aspiration for the divine whom she has brought in as her advocate, who I hope as _sincerely_ believes what he alleges, as I believe in the communications of my guardian spirits.

1174. But this superior intellect, it will be shown, falls into one of the most inexcusable errors, into which a tyro in reasoning can fall, that of founding his arguments on premises which are emphatically denied by the other party—a gross begging of the question, that the Bible is the word of God, and paramount to human reason.

1175. In a subsequent part of this letter, Hume’s excellent rule is set aside: that we must weigh the probability of the evidence against the improbability of the miracle. Rochefoucault alleges, ‘Tis better to tell a probable lie, than an extremely improbable truth. By what evidence can any record be proved true, when it is vastly more probable it should be false, than the facts recorded by it should be true.

1176. Manifestly, there are but these two ways in which any record can command credence: either there must be external evidence sufficient to weigh against the improbability of the facts which it has recorded; or those facts must be of a nature to create belief from their probability, from what is called internal evidence. As to external evidence, clearly any amount of that, may be adduced without creating a belief in spiritual manifestations. Human evidence is wholly inadequate to prove any thing which sectarianism does not wish to admit. Considering the external evidence of Scripture as vastly inferior to that on which Spiritualism is founded, and the miracles recorded, and the doctrines taught, as carrying no evidence of their truth, but the contrary, I do not understand upon what reasonable ground they are to be identified with the word of God.

1177. This fascinating lady supposes that she gave ear to my exposition of my views; but I am under the impression that she is quite deaf to any thing that does not concur with her fanatical impressions, otherwise she would never have looked upon me as one to be converted from the opinions which I entertain by the reasoning of her clerical friend, beginning with a begging of the question: assuming that revelation is God’s word, in order to prove it to be God’s word.

1178. So the Bible is true because of the miracles which it records; and these are true because the Bible records them!

1179. If she can so confine her mind as to become master of the pyramid of facts which I have raised in favour of Spiritualism, she will perceive that all other evidence of immortality sinks into insignificance as compared with it. Now all this may be nominally abrogated by denying the truth of it. But if I do not rely on my own senses, is it likely I shall rely on those of other persons, in whom I have no more confidence than her clerical adviser and herself have in Mohammed and his disciples.

1180. I subjoin a portion of the letter of the clerical champion, whose reasoning this interesting devotee deems so conclusive. I have gone over the whole of it, and have ascertained that by substituting Allah for God, Mohammed for Christ, Prophet for Redeemer, Mediator for Saviour, it has a qualification which would be deemed a merit elsewhere, if not in Christendom: it would serve just as well to uphold the religion of Mohammed, as that of Christ.

1181. The letter is so long that it would occupy too many pages to give the whole; but I will give a portion, sufficient to show how the reasoning, on which many sectarians rely, may be just as good for any other creed, founded on an arrogation of premises, as that for which they contend.

1182. “Allah forbid that I should depreciate the value of reason in any of its offices. Reason is Allah’s gift to man, and must be used as Allah designs. But so is the Koran Allah’s gift to man, and must be used as Allah designs. Two gifts from the same perfect being cannot conflict with each other. The Koran in its teachings and revealings may go beyond or rise above the comprehension of our reason, because reason in man is a finite and imperfect gift, while the Koran from Allah opens the mind of an infinite and perfect being. But the Koran does not and cannot in any thing contradict reason, because Allah does not and cannot contradict himself. Unless, therefore, you are prepared to say that the Koran is _not_ Allah’s gift to man—if you are a believer in its true divine inspiration—you must see and admit that when the Koran, as Allah’s mouth, reveals any thing which _our_ reason cannot as yet comprehend, because beyond or above, though not against, that reason, then _Faith_ must submissively receive the revelation addressed to it, and _Reason_ stop her speculation and shut her mouth at the limit which Allah has set. Reason has to do with the _evidences_ which show the Koran _to be_ Allah’s gift; with the grammatical and intended _sense_ of what Allah taught and revealed in the Koran, and with the _use_ of what in the Koran is clear to the comprehension of man. But here Reason’s province ends. When the Koran goes beyond or rises above this point, _Reason must_ pause and adore, and Faith must go forward and receive. I do not hold, as you intimate, that the right exercise of reason ‘is impious,’ or that Reason is to be _discarded_ and Faith _substituted_, if by this be implied any thing _incompatible_ between the proper offices of Reason and Faith; but I mean that _our_ finite reason is to _stop_ at the limit assigned her by her _author_, and let _Faith_ as a _higher_ power go forward and receive what Allah teaches or reveals to her acceptance. Faith can now receive more than Reason can as yet comprehend. She _does_ so in the province of _nature_; she must do so in the province of _revelation_. This cannot be denied without taking at once the ground of the infidel—a ground from which, I doubt not, you would shrink back as from the border of an open pit of destruction.

1183. I am thus brought to your remark, that ‘The Mohammedan system, as generally received, is not difficult to understand.’ If this be strictly true, it must be because that system, ‘as generally received,’ is not the _true_ system; for, in this sense, or as _truly_ and _rightly_ received, the Mohammedan system contains various things which it is difficult to understand, if by understanding be meant _comprehending_. We may, indeed, _understand_ that a fact or a truth _exists_ or is _revealed_, while that fact or that truth _itself_ is, for the present, utterly beyond or above our _comprehension_. And this is precisely the case with the Mohammedan system _rightly_ viewed. It contains various facts and truths which _our_ reason cannot yet fathom. Natural reason loves to _separate_ and set aside these great and high things from the Koran as _non-essentials_, and then to busy itself with those parts of the Koran which are level with its own height; pleased with the dream that it has grasped _enough_, has grasped _all_ that can be of any real value. Believe me when reason does this, for one who has the Koran in his hands, she plays at a perilous game.

1184. The main position which I have thus far taken is, however, virtually conceded in another part of your letter. Alluding to what I had urged as to the importance of acknowledging Mohammed as your mediator, and relying on his mediation only for justification as all-sufficient, reconciling all difficulties, and removing all embarrassment from the consideration of the union of justice and mercy in the deity, you say: ‘But _does_ it remove all embarrassment? Is not Allah himself the author of the plan of salvation? Was not Mohammed himself Allah, and also his vicegerent?’ The _impossibility_ of answering these questions satisfactorily to the plainest reason, teaches me to recoil from the impiety of inquiring _how_ my Maker will save me or reconcile his own attributes? I know full well that the great mass of human minds are totally incapable of considering such a subject with any approximation to a solution of it, and therefore do I feel that the eternal salvation or condemnation of mankind does not depend on such theological questions. Here you directly admit the inability of reason in most minds satisfactorily to comprehend some of the great and high points of the Mohammedan system, and the consequent impiety of her _attempting_ such a comprehension. You might as well explicitly admit her inability for this comprehension in _all_ minds; for _no_ mind in its present state can by _reason alone_ grasp all that Allah has revealed in the Koran. These great and high things are not proposed to reason _alone_, but to reason so far as their _evidence_ is concerned, and to _faith_ so far as their substance is to be received. Reason may satisfy herself that they _are_ revealed. _Faith alone_ can take in the substance which they contain. When they _are_ proposed to it, faith _must_ receive them, or salvation cannot come, whether the reason of the individual addressed be the ‘plainest’ or otherwise.

1185. Your _argument_ in the above extract does not satisfy me so well as your _admission_. From the inability of the great mass of minds satisfactorily to comprehend the high mysteries of the Koran, you infer that the ‘eternal salvation or condemnation of mankind does not depend on such theological questions.’ Certainly, the salvation of mankind in the mass does not depend on these or any other theological questions; if by this be meant depending on the ability to _comprehend_ such questions, because the points involved in these questions, so far as they are mysteries, are proposed not to _reason_ as _comprehending_, but to _faith_ as _receiving_. But do you mean to be understood as saying, that when the Koran is put into any man’s hand, and when Allah through the Koran opens to that man his _revealed_ way of salvation, the individual thus approached may accept what is level with his _reason_, but reject what is proposed to his _faith_ and _above_ his reason, and that yet notwithstanding such rejection he may reasonably hope to be saved? If so, I ask you by what right you argue thus? Who is Allah, and what is man? When he tells you the way in which he will save you, not the mass of mankind or the heathen to whom the Koran has never come, but _you yourself_, what right have you to say that _your_ salvation does not depend on your faith’s reception of those very things which are above your reason’s comprehension? How do you know but that the whole efficacy of the plan _proposed to you_, depends on your receiving the great facts and truths propounded to your _faith_? ‘Faith _itself_, I admit,’ you may contend, ‘does not save any man; it is the Mediator that saves.’ But you have no right to say, or think, or hope that he will or can save _you_ with the Koran in your hand, in any other way than that which in the Koran he proposes to your _faith_. And if when he demands your _faith_ in what surpasses your reason, you withhold that faith, and plead the sufficiency of what he has incidentally made level with your _reason_, do you not thereby show that you have not the spirit which he requires, and that you are yet none of his? In the Koran he has not only revealed to you his mission and sanctification, but also proposed to you his mediation as a propitiation for your sin; and he has told you that ‘you must be _born again_,’ not only of water, but also ‘of the spirit;’ that except you be converted and become as a ‘little child, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;’ and that ‘he that _believeth_ and is baptized shall be saved, but he that _believeth not_ shall be _damned_:’ ‘_believeth_’ not a _part_ only, but the _whole_ of the Koran then intrusted to its Ulemas. Here he explicitly demands your faith in the whole Koran. But suppose it had been otherwise, suppose he had simply opened to you _a_ way by which he could _certainly_ save _you_, without saying any thing about _faith_, as the one great and necessary receiver of the facts and truths involved in that way; I ask, would not a rejection of a _part_ of those involved facts and truths be equivalent to a rejection of the whole? Would it not display the same spirit as a rejection of the whole? Would it not show that you were not walking in _his_ way, but in some _other_ which you supposed _might possibly_ be found? Nay, would it not show that in your heart you had no confidence in him as a mediator; that you even rebelled against his right to prescribe to you the terms on which he would save you?”

1186. To conclude, with respect to this guardian angel of my soul, to whom this digression owes its existence; it may comfort her to know that I conceive myself so securely protected and guided already, and so sure of the result of that guidance and protection, that I would advise her, in my turn, to consider well whether she ought not to pray to God to give her a little more light respecting her own destiny, than is afforded by the book which is vaunted as being above reason, and as being the word of God. Does she conceive the subterranean cave with the “_lake of unquenchable fire_,” in which Dives is roasting in sight of the blessed, to be so satisfactory as to be unwilling to hear of a preferable abode in the azure sky? Does she aspire to some official position commensurate with that of the judgships which Christ promised his disciples? If it is to procure me a place in the heaven described in Scripture, I beg leave to decline, being pre-engaged; and therefore give her an invitation to meet me hereafter in the glorious abode to which I confidently aspire, and where I shall feel myself especially called upon to render her my assistance to rise from the inferior though happy sphere to which, with her present opinions, she is destined.

1187. I would recommend to her, and to others in the same predicament, the perusal of the influence of the conversion to Spiritualism on my friends, as presented in this volume. I would also recommend her to study the comparison made between the heaven and hell of Scripture and that of Spiritualism, as herein presented.

1188. I hope my would-be mundane guide to salvation will find in the verse and prose addressed to me by one more nearly allied (215, 250, 538) a sufficient apology for declining her kindly-tendered guidance, especially as the path through which she would lead me is known to this excellent relative, who has frequently passed and repassed it during her residence of more than two years in the spirit world, while to my mundane friend it is as yet unknown, and, as I believe, misapprehended. But although my mind has not been converted to her view of the service tendered, my heart will never cease to be gratefully inclined toward one who, while actually in want of guidance herself, thought so much of the supposed deficiency from which it is imagined I suffer.

_Improper use of the epithet Infidel, as used in the parodied quotation from the Clergyman’s Letter._

1189. If a man cannot be guilty of infidelity to another man’s wife, how can he be guilty of infidelity to another man’s religion? The Mohammedan wrongfully calls the Christian “infidel,” because he does not believe in Mohammed; and as wrongfully is the epithet retorted, because the Mohammedan does not believe in Christ. The epithet can only be truly applicable to those who, while professing a religion, do not act up to their professions. In this sense, Christendom, so called, teems with infidels to Christianity.

_On Atonement._

1190. Since my spirit sister’s translation to the spheres, she has risen from the fifth to the sixth sphere. It has been alleged by her that her ascent was retarded by her belief in the atonement. I subjoin some reasoning on that subject:

1191. As respects free-will, Dr. Johnson shrewdly said that all practice is in its favour, all theory against it; but whatever view may be taken on this subject, no one can deny that _so far as it is possible for sin to be avoided_, it must be within the power of God to make men virtuous. The fact that they are not sinless, must arise either from his not wishing to make them more virtuous, or from his inability to make them so. That he does not make them free from sin implies either a want of will or a want of power.

1192. But whatever may in this respect be true, his omniscience must have enabled him to perceive the result beforehand, and of course it is inconceivable that he would, consistently with his goodness, have created them, foreknowing that they would be so wicked as to deserve eternal punishment.

1193. All this it was in his power to obviate by not creating men, or by making their temptations less, or their power of resistance greater. But foreseeing their wickedness, and imposing fetters on his omnipotent power, so as to render _a certain amount of suffering inevitable_, he is said to have determined that a portion of the godhead should expiate in the flesh, by the pains of crucifixion, the punishment due to the sinful creatures which he has been supposed to have wilfully created, foreseeing this result.

1194. But in order to make men better, instead of using that almighty power with which he is said to have hardened the heart of Pharaoh, to soften the human heart and enlighten the human mind universally, he is made to resort to a method which, however cruel and manifestly unjust in making an innocent being suffer for the guilty, has proved utterly inefficient, since only a small minority of mankind profess Christianity, and of that minority only an imperceptible portion, if any, comply with its requisitions, as before observed; hence the greater part are liable “_to be beaten with many stripes_,” while those to whom the mission of Christ has been unknown are to “_be beaten with but few stripes_.”

1195. Human lawgivers may enact constitutions which result in practical failure, because they do not foresee the issue. Such failures are ascribed to their deficiency in practical wisdom. But the failure of measures for the production of any result proving it unwise, must demonstrate that it did not originate with an all-wise author; in other words, with the Almighty.

1196. It is manifestly absurd to ascribe to that Being any measures which have failed to effect the ends for which they have been specially devised. Knowing that Mohammed would have more followers than Christ, that the largest portion of mankind would remain pagans, that even in Christendom the Christian religion would be a source of bloody contention and theological hatred, making scarcely any real Christians,—how could it originate with a wise and prescient Deity?

1197. “By their fruits ye shall know them?” It being premised that God is omniscient, all-wise, and omnipotent, can any fruit proceed from that high source which has not proved to answer well the purpose for which it was intended?

1198. The actual morality of Christendom being the inverse of that excessive and impracticable restraint, which Christ enjoined as the object of his mission, must prove that his doctrine could not have originated with a being by whom its failure must have been foreseen.

1199. Arguments such as I have used are met often by referring to the evils, to which all animated nature is subjected, in the way of misery, mutilation, disease, or death. But when the government of the universe is attributed to general laws, it may be inferred that evil results from a want of power to render those laws free from bad consequences. Nothing but such limitation of power, or an indisposition to prevent those evils, can account for their occurrence. But this is widely different from assuming, in the first place, with self-called orthodoxy, that God is omnipotent, omniscient, all-wise, and all-good, and then representing him as resorting to measures for the accomplishment of his ends which are utterly inefficacious. This is accusing the Almighty of acting like an idiot. Can any thing be more preposterous, than that an all-wise, all-good, all-powerful, and all-foreseeing Deity should require the services of human missionaries to carry out his will? Would he not at least require that such messengers of his word should first agree as to what that word ought to be? A pagan might remain during his whole life a pagan, should he, before adopting any creed, require that professed Christians, in general, should agree as to the tenets which he should espouse.

1200. Agreeably to the attributes assigned to the Deity by orthodoxy, the state of things which exists in the universe cannot be otherwise than as God wishes it to be, to the falling of a sparrow; so that any change sought by man, beyond the immediate sphere of his necessities, must be an officious interference with God’s providence.

1201. Yet if a man be considered as an instrument in attaining certain beneficent ends, without which those ends could not be accomplished, then human exertion is reasonable, in whatever way it can be productive of good.

1202. How can any being who contemplates the wonderful power displayed in the creation, hesitate to perceive that if the divine Architect desired that all men should coincide in their modes of worship, he would have furnished them sufficient evidence of his will, and disposed their minds to receive the desired impression?

1203. Nevertheless, his measures are represented as the inverse of these. It is represented that a creed which he wished all men to embrace was promulgated in an obscure part of an obscure country, under the yoke of heathen despotism, in a language unknown to any other people. It was so promulgated that the great majority of mankind were entirely out of the reach of its influence, and have remained so for nearly two thousand years. Moreover, those who have been made acquainted with Christianity are unable to agree in what it consists.

1204. As I have already urged, if we were to judge of the extention of Christianity by the number of Christians who do not in practice violate the precepts of Christ, it might be a question whether the name of Christendom is applicable to any part of the world.

_On the massacre at Sinope, as a probable consequence of Religious Fanaticism and Intolerance._

1205. As in consideration of the idolatry of the Amalekites the Israelites were, according to the Bible, authorized to extirpate that nation, for a wrong done to Israel some hundred years before, may not the Russians imagine themselves justified for the massacre of Sinope? (1 Sam. xv.)

1206. The Turks have done vastly more harm to the Greek Christians, when, with fire and sword, they subdued the Greek empire, and obliged each man to pay annually for wearing his head, than the tribe of Amalek did to the Hebrews. In the one case there does not appear to have been for centuries any repetition of the wrong; but in the other the wrongs were reiterated, and of an enduring nature. It is true that the Mohammedan sovereigns were in Turkey more tolerant of their Christian subjects than Christian sovereigns were of Mohammedans; or even of the Albigenses, Lollards, Wicliffites, Lutherans, or Calvinists. The Turks never introduced an inquisitorial tribunal to burn or torture unbelievers. On this account they may think themselves less open to the charge of cruel intolerance than some of the self-called disciples of Christ; and no doubt the discordancy between the conduct of those disciples and the precepts of their teacher, may have contributed to their contemptuous opinions of those whom they improperly call infidels to Mohammed, not perceiving that people who have not professed a religion, can no more be infidels thereto than one man can be guilty of infidelity to another man’s wife. This argument, however, would be answered by the fact that Christians call Mohammedans infidels, not in consequence of any violation of _their_ faith in Mohammed, but because they have never had any faith in Christ.

1207. Such skeptical Mohammedans as Lady Mary Wortley Montague made mention of in her letters from Constantinople, will no doubt consider the term infidel applicable only to such as break their professed faith, whatever it may be.

1208. Agreeably to this definition, every fighting or wealth-seeking Christian is an infidel to the religion which he professes; every Mohammedan who indulges in wine is an infidel.

1209. The religion taught by Mohammed, like that of Moses, authorized the most cruel wars, the extermination of nations for erroneous belief, while the religion of Christ directs us to love our neighbours as ourselves; to return good for evil; to give our coat when our cloak is taken; to submit passively to blows, and that the possession of wealth interferes with access to heaven. Christianity is, moreover, unfavourable to polygamy or concubinage.

1210. It follows that the precepts of Jesus call for restraint upon the predominant passions of human nature, while those of Mohammed, in justifying warfare, excessive indulgence in women, and in the spoliation and massacre of unbelievers, coincide with the most predominating propensities of human nature. It is, therefore, far easier to be faithful to the precepts of Mohammed than those of Christ.

1211. Nevertheless, as both Christ and Mohammed treated the Old Testament as authentic, it is to be feared that the Turks and Russians may look to it for justification of their intolerant cruelty.

1212. None of the ancient Pagans were as hostile to the Hebrews, as the disciples of Mohammed have been to the Greek Christians. But not even the Mohammedans have been so intolerant to those whom they call infidels, as Christian sectarians have been, to such persons as they have dogmatically adjudged to be heretics.

1213. It should be well considered whether any authority dependent on human records can justify the inference that God, anywhere, or in any age, ever authorized such cruelty as that exhibited at Sinope.

1214. Whenever men adopt the idea entertained by the Jews and Mohammedans, and certain sects of Christians, that a peculiar creed is necessary to salvation, it is deemed humane to inflict any temporal evil in order to eradicate any other belief which will subject souls to eternal punishment. When to the Catholics in the reign of Queen Mary it was urged that burning heretics alive would not change their creed, the reply was, that although the victims should not be converted, the souls of their progeny would be saved from damnation by the extirpation of the heresy with the heretics. Admitting the premises, the conclusion was correct, and the auto-da-fé and the tortures of the inquisition were even more excusable than a painful chirurgical operation, when it preserves the temporal life of the patient.

1215. If the Czar is of opinion, that for every Christian who may replace a Turk, a soul will be saved from damnation, he may conceive himself as well authorized to extirpate the Turks, as were Moses and Joshua to extirpate any heathen nation.

1216. Moreover, by some Christians, Jesus is considered as having sanctioned the retention of that characteristic of the Hebrew portraiture of Jehovah, which makes it right to exterminate unbelievers in the orthodox creed. This must be a source of discord wherever it is recognised, as it induces persecution from conscientious regard to the salvation of the victims upon whom it acts, while in them it naturally creates bitter resentment instead of gratitude.

1217. Having submitted the representations of Jehovah, given in the Old Testament, I will subjoin those of the great modern philosopher Newton, and those of Seneca, one of the most distinguished sages of antiquity. The reader may, from these data, judge how far piety or morality would suffer, were that ancient record to give way to the direct evidence of Spiritualism.

_Opinions of God held by Sir Isaac Newton.—Enfield’s Philosophy, Page 638._

1218. “God has no need of organs; he being everywhere present to the things themselves.

1219. “It appears from phenomena, that there is a being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent, who, in infinite space, as it were in his sensory, sees the things themselves, intimately and thoroughly perceives them, and comprehends them wholly by their immediate presence to himself.

1220. “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only arise from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being; and if the fixed stars be centres of similar systems, these, being all formed by like wisdom, must be subject to the dominion of one; especially since the light of the fixed stars is of the same nature with the light of the sun; and all systems mutually give and receive light.

1221. “God governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as the Lord of the universe. The Supreme Deity is an eternal, infinite, and absolutely perfect being, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration extends from eternity to eternity, and his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things which exist, or can be known. He is not eternity or infinity; but eternal and infinite; he is not duration or space; but he endures and is present; he endures forever and is present everywhere. Since every portion of space is always, and every indivisible moment of duration is everywhere, certainly the Maker and Lord of all things cannot be _never_ or _nowhere_. God is omnipresent, not virtually only, but substantially; for power cannot subsist without substance. In him all things are contained and move, but without reciprocal affection. God is not affected by the motion of bodies, nor do bodies suffer resistance from the omnipresence of God.

1222. “It is universally allowed that God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always and everywhere. Whence he is throughout similar, all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all power of perceiving, understanding, and acting; but in a manner not at all human, not at all corporeal; in a manner to us altogether unknown. As a blind man has no idea of colours, so we have no idea of the manner in which the most wise God perceives and understands all things. He is entirely without body, and bodily form, and therefore can neither be seen, nor heard, nor touched; nor ought he to be worshipped under any corporeal representation. We have ideas of his attributes, but what the _substance_ of _any_ thing is, we are wholly ignorant. We see only the figures and colours of bodies; we hear only sounds; we touch only external superficies; we smell only odours; we taste only savours; of their internal substance we have no knowledge by any sense, or by any reflex act of the mind; much less have we any idea of the substance of God. We know him only by his properties and attributes, by the most wise and excellent structure of things, and by final causes; and we reverence and worship him on account of his dominion. A God without dominion, providence, and design, is nothing else but fate and nature.”

1223. The language above quoted does not involve the idea that Newton owed his idea of God to the Bible, or that he considered him as having any person, much less that he consisted of three persons. He makes no allusion to Christ or to the Scriptures. His opinions are quite reconcilable with Theism, but incompatible with the existence of the Trinity.

_On God and his Attributes, by Seneca._

1224. “Great respect is due to universal opinion. We consider common assent an evidence of truth. That there are Gods, we are convinced, among other proofs, from the fact that the belief in their existence is natural to man. No nation has been found so brutal as to be entirely without religion.

1225. “We begin to know God from his works. What is God? All that you see, and all that you do not see. In what does the nature of God and man differ? The best part of man is his mind; in God there is nothing but mind. He is pure spirit. Many names are applicable to him. Do you call him Fate? You do not err. He it is upon whom every thing depends. The cause of causes. Do you call him Providence? You are right. It is by his appointment that this world is so arranged that it performs without confusion the part assigned to it. Do you call him Nature? You do not sin. It is he from whom all things are produced.

1226. “You may properly apply to God any name expressive of celestial power. All his benefits may give rise to distinctive appellations. Thus he is called Father, Hercules, Mercury, &c. Father, because he is truly the Father of all; Hercules, because he is omnipotent; Mercury, because he is pure Reason, the principle of science, of order, and of harmony.

1227. “Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance, are all names of _one_ God, expressive of his various attributes, and are qualities of the one mind; _whichever of them you love, you love God_. Known unto God are all his works.

1228. “Whatever is to happen is present with him. What to us is sudden and unexpected, has by him been foreseen and _provided_ for.

1229. “A wise man does not change his opinion, how much less God! As a river does not flow back, or stop in its course, _so the order of nature is governed by fixed laws, which are nothing less than divine decrees_.

1230. “Who is so wretched, so neglected, who born to so cruel a destiny, as not to have received any benefits from the gods? Look at those who complain of their lot, you will find that they are not deprived of all comforts. Is the gift of life nothing? Are there no objects pleasant to the eye, to the ear, or to the mind? God’s kindness does not only supply us with what is necessary to existence, he provides also for our pleasure. Witness the variety of fruits, differing in flavour; the many healthful vegetables, so great a variety of food for different seasons of the year, some produced from the earth without culture, _even for the idle_; animals of all kinds abounding in the earth, the sea, and the air, as if all things in nature were tributary to our enjoyment. Consider the rivers flowing gracefully through the fields which they fertilize; others, whose deep beds in their vast and navigable courses, afford the means of a profitable commerce, or by overflowing their banks during the drought and heat of summer, water the parched earth and cause it to bring forth abundantly. You deny that you have received any favours, and yet are unwilling to part with what you possess. There are some philosophers who do not appreciate the divine gifts. They complain that we are not endowed with perfect health, incorruptible virtue, and foreknowledge. They scarcely refrain from impudently despising nature, that she has made us less than gods. How much better would it be to return thanks to the gods for the many benefits we have received, and for placing us in this beautiful world, and subjecting it to our rule, as their vicegerents.

1231. “The Deity has thought of us from the beginning; and this world has been so arranged as to make his care of us manifest. We admit our obligation to love our parents, as those from whom we derive our existence. They were, however, certainly not the authors of our existence, but were utterly ignorant of the mysteries of nature.

1232. “That we are indebted for our existence to an _intelligent cause_, is evident from the provisions made for our support long before our birth.

1233. “The strong instinct of a mother, making her willing to endure any privation for the helpless stranger; the sacred fountain which, at the moment it is wanted, flows from the mother’s breast; the air adapted to the lungs, the light to the eye: what more shall I say?—_a present God is revealed!_

1234. “Our kind Father begins to bestow benefits on us before we are capable of perceiving our obligations to him, and continues them even when we are ungrateful. Some accuse him of forgetting them; some of injuring them; others believe him to be regardless of his works; nevertheless, like a good parent, who _smiles_ at the follies of his children, God does not cease _to confer his benefits on those who deny his existence, but with an equal eye regards all nations, and uses his power only to bless_. He sprinkles the earth with soft showers; he moves the sea by his breath; tempers the severity of winter and the heat of summer, and is _placable to the errors of imperfect mortals_.”

_On the Better Employment of the First Day of the Week._

1235. The subjoined essay, as above designated, was written nearly ten years ago, before the author had any hope that any knowledge of a future state would be mercifully afforded through himself, as well as many others, which would supply the only deficiency in the elements requisite to the proposed innovation. Fortunately the doctrines, since taught by the spirits, entirely corroborate the suggestions of this essay; so that Spiritualism, natural religion, and literature, may hereafter go hand in hand on Sunday.

1236. This now gloomy day, may, through the happy united instrumentality suggested, become a day of real intellectual improvement, as well as of every species of variety of innocent recreation. Yet every species of selfish sensual pleasure will be avoided and condemned by every conscientious believer in spiritual manifestations.

1237. It is suggested that persons opposed to sabbatarianism, inconsistent with the early and long-continued practice of Christianity, and with the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, should unite to render Sunday (erroneously called the Sabbath) a day of moral, literary, and scientific instruction, for those who, dissatisfied with the sectarianism of the existing places of worship, pass the day without edifying occupation.

1238. The object of this association would be to contemplate the Deity, agreeably to the opinions entertained by the first and one of the best of philosophers, Sir Isaac Newton; the sentiments of morality comprised in the precepts ascribed to Confucius, as well as to Christ, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

1239. As respects the object of devotion, the idea of the Deity entertained by Newton, and this sentiment of Pope’s universal prayer, might be adopted:

1240. “Father of all, in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.”

1241. As regards ceremonial, that sanctioned by Christ, agreeably to which the brief appeal of the humble, contrite publican, was deemed preferable to that of the self-complacent, multiloquent, pompous Pharisee.

1242. The opinions of the Deity given by Newton, are quoted to show that there is nothing therein to justify intolerant sectarianism, nor to indicate the distinguished author to have been indebted for them to Revelation.

1243. As favouring toleration, the sentiments expressed by Seneca, the Roman sage, should be cherished. The sentiments of this sage prove that among the heathens a more pious idea of God existed than that given by the Bible, which represents him as jealous, and as punishing not only the individual, but his posterity, for an involuntary ignorance, which by a mere fiat, omnipotency could correct.

1244. God is quite tolerant, according to Seneca, as respects any misapprehension of his pretensions, while, according to Moses, he is extremely intolerant.

1245. Instead of teaching people to dislike and disesteem those who may differ from them, as to the designation, form, or name under which the Deity is to be worshipped, it should be held that no person of sound mind would waste his time and his energies in worshipping that which he does not conscientiously believe to be entitled to adoration, any more than a man will _knowingly_ pay a debt to or court the favour of one to whom he owes nothing, and from whom he cannot expect any thing in return. It might be argued as reasonably, that a person in paying by _mistake_ a forged draft, is less honest than in paying one which is genuine, as that a virtuous pagan is to have less favour with God than any other man, however orthodox his creed. (See Theological Axioms, page 34.)

1246. Were a lessee to pay a forged order for rent due to his landlord, would the latter strive to punish him for the mistake, especially if so wealthy as not to feel the want of the money? But what would be said of the landlord who, knowing that his lessee had received an erroneous impression as to the owner of his tenement, should allow him to pay year after year without any effort to prevent him from being cheated? Would not this deprive him of moral if not of legal claim to the rent? God is represented as omniscient, and consequently as cognizant of the misapprehension which leads the pagan to kneel before his idol, and yet without either influencing his mind, or placing before him any evidence of his error, punishing him for his mistake.

1247. It should, moreover, be an object to prove the greatness and goodness of God, by making men acquainted with the wondrous miracles of that universe of which a nook has been assigned to the inhabitants of this planet, which, in comparison with the totality, is as minute as any grain of sand which contributes to form our terrestrial globe is to the whole mass of which it constitutes a part—so insignificant. It should be an object to show how that “_honesty is the best policy_,”—the bad never being happy.

1248. Those well-educated sectarians of different creeds should be held wanting in humility, who severally considered themselves free from that error in belief to which they deem all other men liable. It is conceived, also, that individuals are answerable for their opinions to God only, and that for one man to condemn another for not thinking as he himself thinks, is to violate the precept, “judge not, lest ye be judged,” and the golden rule of acting toward other men as you would have them act toward you.

1249. Since our missions are all intended to induce pagans and others to think freely as respects the tenets in which they have been educated, how can it be otherwise than proper for every person to think without fear of denunciation upon the tenets of his ancestry. Are we to deny ourselves the liberty of thought, which we claim for all who differ from us as to their creeds?

1250. A sectarian who is a Christian only as to _observances_, and is therefore really a _practical_ infidel, accuses a man of infidelity who is _practically_ a Christian, so far as Christianity and virtue are associated, because that man does not arrive at his morality by the route which his denunciator points out, but never follows to any good purpose.

1251. While missionaries, who _ought_ to know all that can be learned, _do not agree among themselves_, wherefore do they attempt to instruct the ignorant? How is the unlettered pagan to judge between the Catholic, Calvinist, Unitarian, or Deist?

_Additional Remarks respecting the Observance of the Sabbath, so called._

1252. It is believed that a great majority of the people of the United States, while favourable to the observance of Sunday as a day of worship, of innocent recreation, and of moral and intellectual improvement, are adverse to the legal enforcement of restrictions introduced into Christianity by puritanism. They do not consider the _first_ day of the week as liable to the commandment given to the Jews for the observance of _the seventh_ day; still less that the _innocent recreation allowed to the Jews under that commandment_ is to be denied to Christians on that day of rest. The commandment _forbids work_, but does not _prohibit recreation_. That it was thus viewed by the Hebrews, is asserted upon the authority of a learned Jew.

1253. It is conceived that the enforcement of any observance on sectarian ground, is inconsistent with the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

1254. If God intended the Sabbath to be kept so strictly, wherefore is it not kept holy by him? why do not the rivers stop flowing, vegetables growing, and the wind stop blowing on the day selected for the Sabbath, especially if a sparrow does not fall without his cognizance.

1255. _Precepts may lead, but example will draw._ Aware of this, is it conceivable that God would enjoin man to keep any day holy, and yet fail to keep it holy himself? Regulating the blowing of the winds, as well as the _falling of sparrows_, when creating a storm, would he not be responsible for forcing the breach of the Sabbath upon the mariner?

1256. Ought the farmer to lose his crops in order to avoid working on Sunday? The Romans took advantage of the Hebrew Sabbath to make their advances upon Jerusalem, the tenets of the Jews restricting them from resistance; yet there was no divine interference to shield this chosen people against the heathen conqueror, or to assist them in the observance of the commandment.

1257. The plea on which the commandment was founded is manifestly groundless—_that an omnipotent God could be so weary as to require rest_. But it has been suggested by enlightened Christians, that the six days were periods of immense duration, and of course the seventh day being like the rest could not be a day of twenty-four hours, like the Jewish Sabbath so called, but, on the contrary, an era comprising many ages.

_If Creatures be not so created as to love their Neighbours as themselves, precepts can no more alter them in this respect, than change the Colour of their Hair, or the Number of Cubits in their Stature._

1258. In the spheres, agreeably to the communication received from spirits, great importance is attached to the friendship, the affection, and the ardent love, which may subsist between congenial minds or souls; they seem to recognise love as something which cannot be felt by all to all; so that while benevolence, charity, and sympathy may be sentiments entertained to mankind generally, there are other sentiments which require concentration, in order to have any efficacy. Of this nature are parental, filial, and conjugal affection, as well as other intimate friendships.

1259. Sympathy between the parent and child, between husband and wife, and likewise occasionally between brothers and sisters, or such friends as Pylades and Orestes, may be so strong as to induce the risk, if not the loss of life, but this sympathy cannot be self-induced. Where, from principle, a person may determine to make the sacrifice, not from impulse, he cannot endow himself with the sensitiveness which would make him feel for the sufferer as for himself. A being may admire such a sentiment, and have an ambition to be so actuated, but that would not create the sensibility to which its existence is due. It has been alleged that Napoleon’s mother said of him, as I remember to have read somewhere: “He wished to have a good heart.” The most that can be done is to act as if we did love, and consequently sympathize, so as to feel the pains and privations of another as if they were our own. But it were inconsistent to entertain a love so powerful and peculiar, and not give our time, thought, services, or attention to the object of our affection. It were inconsistent so to love and keep at a distance, and behave toward the object as if we were indifferent. But were the sentiment to be felt universally, or even generally, there would be such a cutting up of our time, service, or attention, that, as respects any individual in particular, it would be nugatory, and might as well not exist. There would likewise be such a multiplicity and perplexity of yearnings that it would distract the heart, perhaps place it in a less happy condition than if it were devoid of any affection whatever.

1260. Although temporal life may at times be sacrificed by one being to save that of another, it is manifestly because the being who makes the sacrifice is constituted so nobly as to endure less pain under the circumstances in question in making than avoiding self-immolation. But can any one who has not been so organized and educated as to make such a sacrifice, be sufficiently changed by preaching, or monition, to undergo self-immolation to save a fellow-creature?

1261. Is it reasonable to order, direct, or advise people to love, especially on the part of any one who by his acknowledged omnipotency could so constitute them as to sympathize to any required extent? I admit, that it may be consistent to urge them to act toward others, as far as possible, as if they were _loved_.[25]

1262. Should not the great object of cultivation be sympathy and benevolence, which are general in their nature? We may deeply sympathize with a sufferer, even with a brute, whom we do not love. Benevolence should we not also cultivate, by endeavouring habitually to take the most favourable view of those around us which our observation and reason can permit? Does it not argue a want of discrimination to treat love as a sentiment, to be entertained toward all other mortals by mere volition? Is it reasonable that Christ, or any other teacher, assuming to be missionaries of the Creator, should enjoin us to love, when the capacity for that sentiment manifestly varies through organization and education, derived from that Creator by various human beings, as much nearly, as the opposite propensities of the wolf and dog? Behold the difference between the elephant and rhinoceros: the former capable of a canine fidelity and affection, the latter irretrievably hostile; and again between a wild elephant and one tamed by education.

1263. Were his organization and education dependent on himself, it might be reasonable to say to a human being, Love your neighbour as yourself, love your enemies; but how can that Deity who determines man’s race and his parentage, and of course whether he be a savage or a civilized man, whether a Thug or a _real_ Christian, if such a thing can be,—how can that Deity require a being to do that which is irreconcilable with his passions, opinions, and habits, derived from nature and education, as well as the examples set by those around him?

1264. The inutility of precepts in controlling human passions, may be seen in the history of Christendom, in which, as already urged, the morals and conduct of mankind, with very few exceptions, have been diametrically opposite to that of their divine Master, so called. Who have been more aggressive than the great majority of professed Christians? Who have been more actuated by cupidity? Yet these votaries have been, for the most part, vociferous in their professions of devotedness to Christ, making him the Son of God as well as their teacher, and too often cruelly maltreating those who have denied his divinity.

1265. Both on the part of the ancient Jews, or on that of modern Christians, religion has been made an excuse or a plea for despoiling unbelievers of their patrimony. In the contention respecting the right to Oregon, the great question, on which judgment was to turn, was, which of all of the Christian potentates claiming it, was the first to lay his longing eyes upon the object of contention? It has been shown that the massacre of whole nations involved no criminality, provided they were pagans. David put to the sword the pagan communities, man, woman, and child, during which time Jehovah was with him. The pagans being mere vermin in the estimation of the Jewish deity, the wrongs done to them were not cited as among David’s misdoings. No Nathan came to call him to account for his flagitious conduct to them, or to Achish, (1 Sam. xxvii. 8 to 12.)

1266. In his correspondence with the British minister, respecting territorial rights granted to the English by the Mosquito king, Mr. Clayton urged that the aborigines never had been admitted to have any rights to their own lands, which could interfere with Christian claimants.

_Attacks upon the authenticity of Scripture cannot endanger the prevalent morality, which, while it is superior to that of the Old Testament, indicates a recklessness of the precepts of Christ, excepting so far as they make faith a counterpoise for sin._

1267. In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured to show that the existing morality of Christendom does not owe its existence to Christianity. My object has been to do away the apprehension that this morality would be deprived of its foundation were Spiritualism or any other innovation to be accredited which would be inconsistent with revelation. But I hope I have shown that whatever merit may be possessed by the existing state of morals, it cannot be ascribed to any influence exercised by those precepts of Christ which are not only neglected, but acted in diametric opposition to.

1268. Another cause of alarm has been that it would weaken that belief in a future state of rewards and punishments which is so essential to encourage virtue and repress vice. But it has been pointed out that the authority of Moses is against the existence of a future state, not merely negatively, but positively, so far as any authority is given to him as inspired by God. For what stronger argument need there be that there is no state of existence beyond the grave, than the fact that the being who of all mankind solely had immediate converse with the Deity, should not have learned from him the all-important fact? If, as now held generally among Christians, an unbeliever in a future state is culpable in the sight of God, as well as theirs, and disqualified from testifying in courts of justice, can it be conceived that God would have failed to communicate a knowledge of immortal existence to his favourite lawgiver; or how could that lawgiver have been so devoid of that desire for immortality as to have been satisfied to remain ignorant?

1269. Materialists who have become converts to Spiritualism, all represent themselves as having entertained a great anxiety to believe in immortality prior to the blessed, cherished truth having been made evident to their thirsting souls.

1270. Converts from Materialism to Spiritualism, who have shown much zeal in the investigation of the subject, and eagerness in believing in immortality as soon as evidence was obtained, were, by certain sectarians, doomed to hell for their heresy. Yet this Hebrew materialist, who made no use of his transcendent opportunities of acquiring correct knowledge of futurity from the Deity, is made an object of veneration, and the book which he wrote, while devoid of this pre-eminently important information, is worshipped as an idol.

1271. His allegations that God authorized the Israelites to _borrow_ in order to _purloin_, or that he authorized the murder of the people misled by Aaron to worship the golden calf, are manifestly as false as blasphemous. Then why imagine that mankind can suffer by the substitution of a belief in a future state associated with the purest principles of morality, for the books of Moses, which sanction crimes and discredit immortality?

1272. As respects any subsequent alleged inspirations to which Pharisees, the papists of Judea, owed their _professed_ belief in a future state, in the first place, we have the authority of Christ for viewing them as hypocrites: externally, like whited sepulchres, internally, as no less corrupt than dead men’s bones. Of course there is reason, on this account, to doubt whether they acquired a sincere belief in a future state from any part of Scripture. But evidently it did not make them moral. Their immorality, on the contrary, was made more hideous by the cloak of false religion. Nothing is more detestable than to see religion in men’s mouths, with cupidity and unprincipled ambition at their hearts. Yet this much may be said for the Pharisees, that they had not _professed_ themselves _Christians_, and thus subject to those precepts of Jesus which place the acquisition of wealth on a level with felony as respects the accessibility to heaven. The Pharisees of Christendom, even those who assumed to be exclusively the depositories of revelation and sole expounders of God’s word, have been _absolutely_ as wicked as the Pharisees, and _relatively_ more wicked by the monstrous discordancy of their course with their professed devotion to the ultra precepts of the alleged Son of their God.

1273. It has been shown, moreover, that although Christ occasionally referred to hell, yet he gave inconsistent views of it, (738, 764.) At one time it is fire, into which any one is to be doomed for alleging his brother a fool, whether this allegation be true or not; at another, it is utter _darkness_, with weeping and gnashing of teeth; and of course there could be no fire. Then the disgusting description given by Josephus is sanctioned, agreeably to which, like the Elysium and Erebus of the heathen, both hell and heaven are subterranean localities, but separated by a lake of unquenchable fire, across which Abraham and Dives converse. At another time, heaven is above; he ascends to heaven in sight of his apostles, yet the penitent thief is to be with him in paradise, which, agreeably to Genesis and Josephus, is upon the earth on the river Tigris, near the Persian Gulf. But wherever the Elysium and Erebus of the gospel may be, all souls, according to it, are to remain in their graves till the “_last_ day,” and then, like Samuel, being called up from their tombs, are to be sorted into two squadrons, of which one is to go to an _undescribed_ heaven, the other to the “hell fire prepared for the devil and his angels from the beginning of the world.” The injustice which would follow from a judgment of this kind, by which two souls differing from each other only by a shade would meet a fate so different that one would have to go to heaven, the other to hell to remain eternally, is so manifest, that, like the ultraism of the same record, it loses its effect altogether upon people in general.

1274. It must be clear that the great mass of professed Christians are very little restrained by their fears of such an eternity of punishment. Had Christ any specific knowledge of the kingdom of heaven to which he occasionally alluded, wherefore did he not convey that knowledge to his disciples? But they seem to have learned no more from Jesus than Moses did from Jehovah, and hence their querulous inquiry as to what would be their reward. But the promise of judgeships, (743 to 745,) of worldly preeminence, was a satire upon them. It argues that he considered them as worldly-minded. Had he known the world to be looked upon by the apostles as beneath consideration in comparison with immortal life, he would hardly have insulted them by the offer. But their tone has a great deal too much of the Swiss in it. Had they been so very dull, or Christ so reserved, that the idea was not conveyed to them that in acting the part of pious, virtuous men, they would have the reward promised to the righteous in the other world.

1275. Thank God, no spiritualist who reads with attention the communications given in this work, will ever inquire as to the extent of selfish reward which he is to enjoy! He would be impressed by his general knowledge with the idea that the less any being is actuated by selfish aspiration, the greater his capacity for happiness and his pretensions to the means of felicity.

_The Doctrine of a peculiar Belief being necessary to Salvation, and a counterpoise for Sin, a source of discord originally confined to Judea, expanded with Christianity and Islamism; verifying Christ’s allegation, that he came “as a Sword, not as a Messenger of Peace.”—Superior Morality, and far more unquestionable Certainty of the Communications from the Spirit World._

1276. It were in vain, I think, to find in the apple of discord, in the mischiefs let loose from Pandora’s box, or any other figurative exemplification, any idea adequate to convey my conception of the mischief done to the world by introducing the dogma, that belief could be the means of salvation; so that if God had so constituted or so situated a people, that they could not believe what was communicated to them by certain itinerant preachers, it should be worse for them in the day of judgment than for Sodom and Gomorrah; two cities which God had destroyed because he had not so organized them, and circumstanced them, as to make them as virtuous as he, subsequently to their creation, desired.

1277. Christ fully justified this opinion, when he alleged himself to have come as a _sword, not as a messenger of peace_, and to set father and son, mother and daughter, &c., at variance with each other, making the people of a man’s own household his foes. It may be said that he identified himself with piety and rectitude; so that it was for the virtue of which he, as the Son or missionary of God, was the representative, that he plead; but this pious devotion has much more of self in it than people imagine. They identify God or Christ with the welfare of their souls and bodies. It is through the hope of benefit to these that they take such a deep interest in God.

1278. But is it not strange that the Christian religion should be treated as a harbinger of peace and harmony, when, with its entrance into the world, came the intolerance, before confined to Judea, and when by its founder it is represented as a sword, to sever the dearest ties by introducing the poisoning idea that belief could be a virtue or a sin? It seems to have been the cause of a peculiar animosity which has always accompanied its progress, if not its endurance, and which set the example to Mohammed of attaching the same fanatical idea to another basis, comporting with his individual aggrandizement, at the expense of much human misery.

1279. The language of Christ held to his apostles, showing that he considered them as thirsting for temporal honours, and his aspiration for the _throne_ of his _glory_, situated, of course, in the same mundane region, may warrant the surmise that his views did not differ from those of Mohammed as to the ultimate object, however much he may have found it necessary, under the Roman despotism, to fight with the tongue instead of the sword.

1280. But how can this sentiment be justified in which he makes devotion to himself irreconcilable with the holy ties between the child and his parents, or the parents and their children? The God of Spiritualism would view parental and filial love as the truest piety. He asks only that love. He has not constituted us to have that sort of love for him. Had he wished it, he would have made us so, as to be thus actuated.

1281. “He that believeth in me shall have eternal life.” “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” These allegations produced a change in the world at large. That bigotry and animosity which led the Jews to consider that all who did not agree with them in creed, were objects of spoliation, massacre, rape, enslavement, were now extended to other parts of the world.

1282. No doubt the success of this exclusive notion, on the part of Christ, led to its adoption by Mohammed, and thus some hundred millions have been actuated by this mischievous impression, which is now at work on the Russian territory. It has been already suggested that this idea always begets persecution to the extent of the power to exercise it. While seeing the horrid consequences of this error in the persecution of the French Calvinists, Calvin could not avoid the diabolic impulse in the instance of Servetus. It cannot be necessary to recall to our readers the many bloody persecutions and religious wars which have disgraced Christendom far more than any other part of the globe, nor to allude to the tyranny reciprocally employed by any sect having complete ascendancy. Yet with these consequences before the mind—the facts which I have adduced to prove that the morality of Christendom is not due to Scripture—the tocsin is sounded wherever any effort is made to get rid of the crimes and indecencies of the Old Testament, or the error of making bigoted belief, under the name of faith, a primary consideration on the part of the New Testament. People are taught that every thing good is due to Scripture; that thence alone can we get any correct notions of morality, any knowledge of a future state. The idea is entertained that Christianity made a great change for the better as soon as it prevailed, and that without it we should sink into a state of demoralization.

1283. Consistently with my experience of the effect of a confident belief in a future state of existence on my own mind, as already suggested, I was always under the impression, prior to my conversion, that those who believed in a future state must be happier; and if that belief were not associated with mischievous error, that it should not be assailed. The idea that what I considered as bigotry, should be a counterpoise for sin, I did consider a mischievous error, tending to substitute devotion for good works, and as I saw, too, made nations selfish. The love of hoarding was very commonly coupled with this selfishness, which operated at once to produce efforts to lay up treasure on earth by close dealing, and in heaven by strict sectarianism, bigotry, and intolerance. But, nevertheless, I was restrained from any effort to cure these errors, from the conviction that religion, unaccompanied by the expectation of a future state, can never take hold of the human heart.

1284. In a dialogue between the spirit of Wm. Penn and that of Thos. Paine, the former points out this error: “You strove to take from your readers one of their greatest comforts under the afflictions of mortal life.” _Foreseeing this_ would have prevented me from writing the Age of Reason. Any set of skeptics who should only coincide in disbelieving, could never adhere together nor make many converts. The prospect of future life must be promised confidently, or there would be few proselytes.

1285. But the spiritual manifestations, and the intellectual, the heartfelt intercommunion with my relatives, friends, and the immortal, great, and good Washington, now enable me to assert that there is not, nor can be upon any record of the past, any evidence so complete, as that presented to my senses, concurrently with a multitude of observers. I now, therefore, feel myself warranted to speak out what my reason justifies and my conscience dictates; and have not hesitated to express the opinions which are spread out upon the pages immediately preceding that which contains this exposition.

1286. With a view to show how much more happy was the state of reciprocal sectarian feeling in the world before this idea of making belief an object of vital importance, I will quote here, first a passage from Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. i., and will subjoin some pages from “Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;” following these up with quotations from Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont:

_Quotation from Mosheim._

1287. “Each nation suffered its neighbours to follow their own method of worship, to adore their own gods, to enjoy their own rites and ceremonies, and discovered no displeasure at their diversity of sentiments in religious matters. They all looked upon the world as one great empire, divided into various provinces, over every one of which a certain order of divinities presided, and that, therefore, none could behold with contempt the gods of other nations, or force strangers to pay homage to theirs.

1288. “The Romans exercised this toleration in the amplest manner. As the sources from which all men’s ideas are derived are the same, namely, from their senses, there being no other inlet to the mind but thereby, there is nothing wonderful in the general prevalence of a sameness of the ideas of human beings in all regions and all ages of the world. The affections of fear, grief, pain, hope, pleasure, gratitude, &c., are as common to man as his nature as a man, and could not fail to produce a corresponding similarity in the objects of his superstitious veneration. To have nothing in common with the already established notions of mankind, to bear no features of resemblance to their hallucinations and follies, to be nothing like them, to be to nothing so unlike, should be the essential predications and _necessary_ credentials of the ‘wisdom which is from above.’

1289. “It has, however, been alleged by learned men, with convincing arguments of probability, ‘that the principal deities of all the Gentile nations resembled each other extremely, in their essential characters; and if so, their receiving the same names could not introduce much confusion into mythology, since they were probably derived from one common source. If the _Thor_ of the ancient Celts was the same in dignity, character, and attributes with the _Jupiter_ of the Greeks and Romans, where was the impropriety of giving him the same name? _Dies Jovis_ is still the Latin form for our Thor’s day. When the Greeks found in other countries deities that resembled their own, they persuaded the worshippers of those foreign gods that their deities were the same that were honoured in Greece, and were, indeed, themselves convinced that this was the case. In consequence of this, the Greeks gave the names of their gods to those of other nations, and the Romans in this followed their example. Hence we find the names of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, &c. frequently mentioned in the more recent monuments and inscriptions which have been found among the Gauls and Germans, though the ancient inhabitants of those countries had worshipped no gods under such denominations.”

_Quotation from Gibbon._

1290. “The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced, not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.

1291. “The superstition of the people was not imbittered by any mixture of theological rancour; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system. The devout polytheist, though fondly attached to his national rites, admitted with implicit faith the different religions of the earth. Fear, gratitude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a singular disorder, or a distant journey, perpetually disposed him to multiply the articles of his belief, and to enlarge the list of his protectors. The thin texture of the pagan mythology was interwoven with various, but not discordant, materials. As soon as it was allowed that sages and heroes, who had lived, or who had died, for the benefit of their country, were exalted to a state of power and immortality, it was universally confessed that they deserved, if not the adoration, at least the reverence, of all mankind. The deities of a thousand groves and a thousand streams possessed, in peace, their local and respected influence; nor could the Roman, who deprecated the wrath of the Tiber, deride the Egyptian who presented his offering to the beneficent genius of the Nile. The visible powers of nature, the planets, and the elements, were the same throughout the universe The invisible governors of the moral world were inevitably cast in a similar mould of fiction and allegory. Every virtue, and even vice, acquired its divine representative; every art and profession its patron, whose attributes, in the most distant ages and countries, were uniformly derived from the character of their peculiar votaries. A republic of gods of such opposite tempers and interests required, in every system, the moderating hand of a supreme magistrate, who, by the progress of knowledge and flattery, was gradually invested with the sublime perfections of an Eternal Parent, and an omnipotent Monarch. Such was the mild spirit of antiquity, that the nations were less attentive to the difference than to the resemblance of their religious worship. The Greek, the Roman, and the Barbarian, as they met before their respective altars, easily persuaded themselves that under various names, and with various ceremonies, they adored the same deities. The elegant mythology of Homer gave a beautiful and almost regular form to the polytheism of the ancient world.

1292. “The philosophers of Greece deduced their morals from the nature of man rather than from that of God. They meditated, however, on the Divine Nature as a very curious and important speculation, and in the profound inquiry they displayed the strength and weakness of the human understanding. Of the four most celebrated schools, the Stoics and the Platonists endeavoured to reconcile the jarring interests of reason and piety. They have left us the most sublime proofs of the existence and perfections of the first cause, but as it was impossible for them to conceive the creation of matter, the workmen in the Stoic philosophy was not sufficiently distinguished from the work, while, on the contrary, the spiritual God of Plato and his disciples resembled an idea rather than a substance. The opinions of the Academics and Epicureans were of a less religious cast; but while the modest science of the former induced them to doubt, the positive ignorance of the latter urged them to deny the providence of a Supreme Ruler. The spirit of inquiry, prompted by emulation and supported by freedom, has divided the public teachers of philosophy into a variety of contending sects; but the ingenuous youth who, from every part, resorted to Athens and the other seats of learning in the Roman empire, were alike instructed in every school to reject and to despise the religion of the multitude. How, indeed, was it possible that a philosopher should accept, as divine truths, the idle tales of the poets, and the incoherent traditions of antiquity, or that he should adore as gods those imperfect beings whom he must have despised as men! Against such unworthy adversaries Cicero condescended to employ the arms of reason and eloquence, but the satire of Lucian was a much more adequate as well as more efficacious weapon. We may be well assured that a writer conversant with the world would never have ventured to expose the gods of his country to public ridicule, had they not already been the objects of secret contempt among the polished and enlightened orders of society.

1293. “Notwithstanding the fashionable irreligion which prevailed in the age of the Antonines, both the interest of the priests and the credulity of the people were sufficiently respected. In their writings and conversation, the philosophers of antiquity asserted the independent dignity of reason, but they resigned their actions to the commands of law and of custom. Viewing, with a smile of pity and indulgence, the various errors of the vulgar, they diligently practised the ceremonies of their fathers, devoutly frequented the temples of the gods, and sometimes condescending to act a part on the theatre of superstition, they concealed the sentiments of an atheist under the sacerdotal robes. Reasoners of such a temper were scarcely inclined to wrangle about their respective modes of faith or of worship. It was indifferent to them what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume; and they approached with the same inward contempt, and the same external reverence, the altars of the Lybian, the Olympian, or the Capitoline Jupiter.

1294. “It is not easy to conceive from what motives a spirit of persecution could induce itself into the Roman councils. The magistrates could not be actuated by a blind though honest bigotry, since the magistrates were themselves philosophers, and the schools of Athens had given laws to the senate. They could not be impelled by ambition or avarice, as the temporal and ecclesiastical powers were united in the same hands. The pontiffs were chosen among the most illustrious of the senators, and the office of Supreme Pontiff was constantly exercised by the emperors themselves. They knew and valued the advantages of religion, as it is connected with civil government. They encouraged the public festivals which humanize the manners of the people. They managed the arts of divination, as a convenient instrument of policy, and they respected as the firmest bond of society the useful persuasion that, either in this or a future life, the crime of perjury is most assuredly punished by the avenging gods? But while they acknowledged the general advantages of religion, they were convinced that the various modes of worship contributed alike to the same salutary purposes, and that, in every country, the form of superstition which had received the sanction of time and experience was the best adapted to the climate and to its inhabitants. Avarice and taste very frequently despoiled the vanquished nations of the elegant statues of their gods and the rich ornaments of their temples, but in the exercise of the religion which they derived from their ancestors, they uniformly experienced the indulgence, and even protection, of the Roman conquerors. The province of Gaul seems, and indeed only seems, an exception to this universal toleration. Under the specious pretext of abolishing human sacrifices, the Emperors Tiberius and Claudius suppressed the dangerous power of the Druids; but the priests themselves, their gods and their altars, subsisted in peaceful obscurity till the final destruction of paganism.

1295. “Rome, the capital of a great monarchy, was incessantly filled with subjects and strangers from every part of the world, who all introduced and enjoyed the favourite superstitions of their native country. Every city in the empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its ancient ceremonies; and the Roman senate, using the common privilege, sometimes interposed to check this inundation of foreign rites. The Egyptian superstition, of all the most contemptible and abject, was frequently prohibited; the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished, and their worshippers banished from Rome and Italy. But the zeal of fanaticism prevailed over the cold and feeble efforts of policy. The exiles returned, the proselytes multiplied, the temples were restored with increasing splendour, and Isis and Serapis at length assumed their place among the Roman deities. Nor was this indulgence a departure from the old maxims of government. In the purest ages of the commonwealth, Cybele and Æsculapius had been invited by solemn embassies, and it was customary to tempt the protectors of besieged cities by the promise of more distinguished honours than they possessed in their native country. Rome gradually became the common temple of her subjects, and the freedom of the city was bestowed on all the gods of mankind.”

_For more than a thousand years the Grecian or Roman Catholic Clergy were the sole depositories of the word of God, so called, and Regulators of Religious morals; yet during that time the Clergy were for the most part pre-eminent in vice, as compared with the rest of the community; whence it is inferred that, like Pope Boniface, the wicked Clergy in general were really unbelievers in the truth of the Gospel. If the morals of the modern Clergy are better, it is neither from the barbarous example furnished them in the Old Testament, nor the ultra precepts of the Gospel; being too much enlightened to be governed in practice by either._

1296. “ORIGEN complains of the neglect and inattention of his day, through the increase of worldliness. Cyprian about the same time mourns over the progress of degeneracy, and Eusebius, toward the close of the third century, laments the corruption of the primitive morality in strong terms of censure.

1297. “But yet superstition was rapidly advancing, and the complaints of priestly corruption and general licentiousness were on the increase. The election of Pope Damasus was the occasion of a public riot, in which his partisans besieged the church where the friends of the other candidate were assembled, broke down the doors, and uncovered the roof; and in the shameful battle that ensued, one hundred and thirty-seven persons were slain, of both sexes. The splendour of the Roman bishops had grown so rapidly, that the heathen historian Ammianus Marcellinus pronounced the episcopal style of living to be superior to that of a king. Toward the close of the fourth century, Chrysostom defended the new system of monkery, on the ground that Christians had become so corrupt, especially in the large cities. Jerome before him had bitterly complained of the prevailing degeneracy, and became a monk in order to escape from it. St. Augustine lamented that many Christians in his day (about A. D. 389) were superstitious, that they adored the sepulchres and pictures of the saints, and ate and drank to excess at funerals, under the excuse that it was an act of religion.

1298. “The fifth century was not likely to improve the state of the church, but on the contrary it witnessed a rapid deterioration. The testimony of Salvian is set forth by Fleury, proving that among the Roman Christians there was much heathen idolatry remaining; that the greater part were only Christians in name, and worse than the barbarians in life and conversation.

1299. In the sixth century, toward the close, we see Pope Gregory the Great attributing all the public calamities to the ambition of the bishops, who concealed the teeth of wolves under the face of sheep.

1300. “The seventh century. We begin to see the fruits of clerical celibacy in the rule established by the council of Toledo, that the illegitimate children of the clergy, from the bishop down to the sub-deacon, should be slaves in the church where their fathers served. It is to be presumed that this canon was intended to discourage and amend the incontinence of the clergy, but the adoption of such an extraordinary law proves plainly the prevalence of the evil. So general had the worldliness of the clergy become, that in the latter part of this century the most eminent bishops of France took great part in political matters, and in time of war marched at the head of their troops, like the lay barons.

1301. “One of the most important events of the eighth century was the forgery of the Decretals, by which all the primitive bishops of Rome, from Clement to Sylvester, were made to utter the most extravagant doctrines concerning the power of the pope, the supremacy of Rome, and the authority to judge the other bishops, while the pope himself could be judged by none. Yet such was the ignorance of the times, that this forgery was successful throughout the whole Latin Church, and remained unquestioned for eight hundred years together. Another strong proof of this prevailing ignorance is found in the course of the bishops at the second council of Nice, where pretended miracles performed by images were cited from false documents without any suspicion of mistake.

1302. “The parliament of Worms presented to the emperor a request from all the people that the bishops should no longer go out at the head of their troops, but should stay in their dioceses and assist the army by their prayers; and Charlemagne willingly granted the petition. But it is remarkable that this application came not from the clergy, but from the laity; and it was so little regarded afterward, that we shall find some warlike bishops even among the popes themselves. This same emperor endeavoured with great zeal to purify the morals of the clergy; and his reproofs of their worldliness, their avarice, and their prostitution of sacred things for the sake of gain, are remarkable monuments of his own good sense and of the corruption which infested the church in the ninth century. After his death, which occurred in A. D. 814, some churches invoked him as a saint, notwithstanding he had four wives and five concubines.

1303. “The year 844 was signalized by the introduction of false relics at Dijon in France, by which, nevertheless, several remarkable cures were supposed to have been effected, until the fraud was discovered; but the proceedings show that such impostures were common. In A. D. 850 a poor presbyter named Gotheschalk, who had adopted high views on predestination, was not only deposed from the priesthood, but afterward publicly whipped, as an incorrigible heretic, and cast into prison, where he died after eighteen years’ confinement. Yet his doctrine was defended by other bishops of high reputation, and his punishment was denounced as cruel and unjust.

1304. “In A. D. 864, a violent outrage took place at Rome, in which Gonthier, the Archbishop of Cologne, protesting against the judgment of Pope Nicholas, told his brother Hildwin, who was a priest, to place his protestation on the tomb of Saint Peter: that is, upon the altar of the church. Accordingly, Hildwin entered into the church with several followers, all armed, and as the keepers opposed him, he repulsed them with blows, and killed one of them upon the spot. He then accomplished his purpose, and retreated sword in hand. The anecdote is only of importance as a proof of the spirit of the age. The first instance of a partial interdict occurs in A. D. 871. The ordeals of boiling water, cold water, and red-hot iron were employed in this age, to determine questions of justice under the auspices of the priests; and even kings employed them, with all faith and confidence. The Duke of Naples had formed an alliance with the Saracens, which the pope disproved; and as he refused to break it on the order of the pontiff, he was excommunicated. The Bishop Athanasius, who was the duke’s own brother, took him and put out his eyes, sent him as prisoner to Rome, and caused himself to be proclaimed Duke of Naples in his place. The pope approved this conduct highly, and praised the bishop for loving God more than his brother, and putting out the right eye which had offended, according to Scripture. This pontiff was John VIII., and the time was A. D. 877.

_Reasons for not proceeding farther with Quotation of Details._

1305. It would occupy too much space, and make too wide a digression, were I to proceed in quoting the details of the evidence showing the state of morals in Christendom during the Middle Ages to have been much below that which the heathen displayed during the period immediately succeeding the advent of Christ, according to Mosheim and Gibbon. But although the reader should not be enabled to form an opinion directly, by a perusal of the details, fortunately I am enabled to submit that of the right reverend prelate by whom they have been compiled.

1306. The fact deserves attention, that for more than a thousand years, of all the upper classes of society the Christian clergy were pre-eminently wicked, frequent complaints having been made against them by the laity, notwithstanding the cruel persecution to which complainants were liable. The popes were generally as prominent in wickedness as high in official distinction. The summing up of Bishop Hopkins, which I subjoin, fully confirms the impression which I have endeavoured to convey:

1307. “I have now gone over the history of your church, with the single aim of proving, from your own records, the rise, progress, and terrible extent of its corruption, up to the close of the sixteenth century. Here we see that for a period of seven centuries together there had been a constant outcry for reformation; that the popes and priesthood were the objects of continual complaint on the part of the laity; that by their own acknowledgment, although the church was never destitute of true Christians, yet holiness was the exception, and iniquity the rule, since the great body of the clergy were steeped in licentiousness, avarice, simony, cruelty, violence, falsehood, and blood; that the University of Paris, one of your most famous nurseries of theological education, was infested with an infidel philosophy, and with habits of libertine sacrilege; that the boasts of absolute atheism were heard from the lips of pontiffs and cardinals; that the reliance of your church was in the terrors of the inquisition, in the rack, the dungeon, and the stake; that war, and treachery, and assassination, were patronized in the service of religion; that bishops, and cardinals, and popes, were ready to lead their troops to battle; that there were constant revolts and rebellions against the tyranny of the priestly power; that there were many schisms in the papal kingdom, in which two or three pretenders to infallibility cursed each other at the same time, in the name of God and his apostles; and that every effort to banish these horrible iniquities proved utterly abortive, until the success of the Protestant reformation compelled them to respect public opinion, by fear for their very being if they continued to brave it any longer.”

1308. It is believed that there was no such wickedness among the pagan priesthood as to have become a cause of complaint, although far less power existed to silence accusation. Throughout Christendom even monarchs were made to suffer severely for their remonstrances against papal tyranny, and had to make concessions after having been ill-treated. By way of exemplifying his disrespect for those precepts of Christ which enjoin humility, meekness, and poorness of spirit as the means of reaching heaven, Pope Celestin kicked the crown from the head of the emperor, Henry VII., as this potentate knelt before him. Could any sane man have done this while believing that Christ’s allegations were to be verified, agreeably to which the “_poor in spirit_” are to have heaven, the meek to inherit the earth? (See Hopkins.)

1309. According to Taylor’s Diegesis, Constantine inquired of Sopater, the pagan priest, if he could absolve him from his sins, among which was that of scalding one of his wives to death, and executing unjustly one of his sons. Sopater informed him that it went beyond his power to obtain pardon for such sins. The Christian priests having agreed to procure the desired absolution, is supposed to have been one of the principal motives which induced Constantine to embrace Christianity. Yet it was under this wicked despot that the Council of Nice was held, which decided in favour of the divinity of Christ.

1310. It is difficult to imagine that persons who actually believed in a future state of rewards and punishments, and who of course must have been impressed with the comparative insignificance of any worldly enjoyments, would, for any earthly objects, have acted so much in a way to doom their souls to perpetual torture. It may therefore be inferred that the clerical papists who acted so wickedly were religious hypocrites, like the Jewish Pharisees. I am strongly under the impression that the imperfection of the proof of the truth of Scriptures, in the first place, and the inadequate and disgusting representations respecting the future world which they present, has always been productive of secret unbelief, and consequent recklessness respecting the dictates of religion or morality.

1311. Of the manner in which the clergy of the present day reason themselves into a belief, and expect to induce others to concur with them, the parodied quotation from the clerical Goliah of my _would-be guide to heaven_ is an exemplification. It is only by _frowning down objections_, or _begging the question_, that they can get on. (1182.)

1312. Said one among the most amiable of my clerical friends to me, when I adverted to the improbability that the Deity of this almost infinite universe would select a few human animalcules in Judea as his especial favourites: “Dr. Hare, you must not expect me to sit by patiently, and see the pillars of my profession assailed.” I am sorry, said I, if I have said any thing to give you pain. “How would you like the pillars of your science to be attacked?” I would defend them, not endeavour to silence the assailant! But all criticisms which lead to the cure of errors only benefit a science founded on truth.

1313. The skepticism produced by reading the Bible is alleged, by Archbishop Hughes, as the motive of his church for forbidding the reading of it to the faithful. It was the reading of the Bible, when a minor, which led to my unbelief in its authenticity. Bible societies may, without intending it, do much to prepare the reasoning portion of mankind for the adoption of a more moral, consistent, and rational gospel.

1314. That one pope at least was a materialist, the following quotation from Bishop Hopkins’s work will prove.

1315. “The year 1308 was marked by the resolution of Pope Clement V. to take up his residence at Avignon. Two years afterward, he appointed three cardinals to examine the witnesses against the former pope, Boniface VIII., and Cardinal Cajetan; and the testimony taken on the occasion proved them both to have been downright atheists. It was in substance as follows:

1316. “Nicholas, a priest and canon of the cathedral, &c., on oath, said, that being at Naples, under the pontificate of Celestin V., viz. A. D. 1274, in the house of Marin Sichinulfe, where Cardinal Benedict Cajetan dwelt, he entered the chamber of the cardinal in the suite of the Bishop of Fricenti, and found there a clerk disputing with him, in presence of several persons, upon the questions, which was the best law or religion, that of the Christians, of the Jews, or of the Saracens? and who those were that best observed their own? Then the cardinal said, What are all these religions? They are the inventions of men. We need not put ourselves to any trouble, except for this world, since there is no other life but the present. He said also, on the same occasion, that this world has had no beginning, and would not have an end. Nicholas, Abbot of St. Benedict, &c., deposed to the same fact, adding that the Cardinal Cajetan had said that the bread was not changed in the sacrament of the altar, and that it was false that it was the body of Jesus Christ; that there is no resurrection; that the soul dies with the body; that this was his opinion and that of all men of letters, but that the simple and ignorant thought otherwise. The witness being asked if the cardinal did not thus speak jestingly, replied that he said these things seriously and in good faith.

1317. “Manfred, a lay citizen of Lucca, said, that in the year 1300, before Christmas, being in the chamber of Pope Boniface, in presence of the ambassadors of Florence, of Boulogne, and of Lucca, and many other persons, a man, who appeared to be the Pope’s chaplain, told his holiness of the death of a certain knight who had been a wicked man, and therefore it was necessary to pray for him, that Jesus Christ might have pity on his soul. Upon which Boniface treated him as if he were a fool; and after having spoken injuriously of Jesus Christ, he added: This knight has already received all the good and evil he can have, and there is no other life than this, nor any other paradise or hell than what is in this world. The witness testified to another discourse of Boniface, which modesty does not allow of our reporting; and another witness recited a story about him still more impious than the foregoing.

1318. “‘What remains of this information,’ says Fleury, ‘comprehends the depositions of thirteen witnesses, all to a similar effect. Another information which appeared the following year contained the evidence of twenty-three witnesses to the same facts, with others equally scandalous. But as the affair was never brought to judgment, it is superfluous to enter into any further details.’

1319. “Now here is a very extraordinary and powerful evidence to prove that at least one pope, and he a very distinguished one, Boniface VIII., and one cardinal, of high reputation, were not only infidels themselves, but claimed to be of the same class with ‘_all men of letters_.’ That the testimony was satisfactory seems incontrovertible; because the witnesses were thirty-six in number, unimpeached in character, and thought sufficient by Philip the Fair, King of France, and all his leading nobility. He proposed that Boniface should be arraigned, though dead, for heresy, and that his bones should be disinterred and burned, according to the modern fashion established by the Roman Church. It may seem strange, however, that even if Boniface and Cajetan had held such sentiments, they should have been so foolish as to utter them in the presence of so many. To this two answers may be given. First, that the influence of the philosophy which we have already noted in the University of Paris was so prevalent, that the clergy and the upper ranks of the laity were generally infected with it, and religion was looked upon, by nearly all, as a thing of policy, necessary to keep the vulgar in order, but only professed by the higher classes, as it was in heathen Rome, ‘for the sake of appearances.’ Unhappily, there are many proofs too strong to be doubted that this infidel philosophy was rife among the priesthood; and perhaps there is no other way of accounting for the manifest fact that the church, like the state, was governed for so many ages by the machinery of force and fear, as if there was no inward conscience to appeal to, except among a few pious souls, here and there—enough to perpetuate the church, according to the promise of Christ, but not enough to affect the general sentiment.”

_Any religion, like that of Moses, which does not make Immortality a primary consideration, must be chiefly confined to worldly objects, and of course unworthy of consideration or respect._

1320. While the silence of the Pentateuch respecting immortality throws the authority of the “word of God,” so called, against the endowment of the human soul with that all-important attribute, the language of the decalogue is inconsistent with the unity of the divine power. The words, “_Thou shalt have no other gods before me_,” implies that there were other gods who might be acknowledged; since if there were none other, the proper words would be—Thou _canst_ have no other God but me, or—There _is no other God_ but me.

1321. Again, when Jehovah alleges himself to be jealous, of whom could he be jealous, if there was no other God to excite the sentiment of jealousy? Can any one conceive God to be jealous of an idol, when he must perceive that whatever worship may be bestowed on idols, is actually intended for the true God? (1245, 1246.) Could Adam have been jealous when there was no other man in existence to be jealous of?

1322. In the Introduction the ends to be answered by religion were stated, (page 18.) Several of the foregoing pages have been designed to show that Scripture does not fulfil these objects, being almost silent as respects immortality, using doubtful language respecting the unity of the divine power. Moreover, Jehovah is described as wrathful, jealous, and vindictive; as sanctioning the massacre, spoliation, and extirpation of neighbouring nations.[26] The fruits of the religion of Moses were two sects, of whom one did not believe in a future state of rewards and punishments; the other, although professing such a belief, (according to the barbarous idea of Josephus,) were not as moral as the unbelievers, (750, 1098.) Moreover, as respects the New Testament, the precepts on which it laid the most stress, those against pecuniary cupidity and resistance of wrong, have been not only neglected, but acted upon inversely; so that rapacity and aggression have been the predominant features of the conduct of Christians, unworthily so called, toward each other, but especially toward those who have been of a different religious belief. In one trait, however, the words of Christ, already cited, have been fully carried out: “I come as a sword.”[27]

1323. It may be seen from the passages quoted, that prior to the promulgation of Christianity, people of various religious sects were willing to live in harmony; but that after its promulgation there was much discord, and that those who should have been especially influenced by Christianity (the priesthood) were the foremost in vice!

1324. It is conceived that either on the one side the evidence of Christianity could not have gone home to the soul of those who so grossly violated its monitions, or that the rewards held out by it had not been presented under an aspect sufficiently inviting to counteract the fleeting allurements of this temporal world. It is conceived that Scripture is from beginning to end, from the Pentateuch to the Gospel of John, too worldly, as first exhibited in the promise of _lands_ to the Jews, and lastly of _judgeships_ to the apostles. The Old Testament, of necessity, can treat of nothing but worldliness, since there is throughout scarcely any reference to heaven; and some of the Psalms would accord better with the curses of a devil, than with the prayers of a sincere Christian. The cix. Psalm contains this language:

1325. “When he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil unto his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.”

1326. Under these circumstances, wherefore should there be any alarm for the consequences of replacing belief in Scripture by belief in Spiritualism, if the evidence of this be, as we think, vastly more reliable, and the morality far more consistent with that followed in practice by great and good men of ancient and modern times.

1327. Moreover, the basis of probation, upon which the morality of Scripture is built, is manifestly a _castle in the air_, since it involves this contradiction, that an omnipotent, omniscient, and prescient Deity, who can make his creatures what he wishes them to be, and must know what they are, has to resort to trial to learn that which he knows before the process is undertaken, as well as he can possibly after its accomplishment. This demonstration alone overturns the whole probationary superstructure existing in the minds of sectarians.

1328. Meanwhile, the communications which I have submitted involve the idea of progression, and convey infinitely more knowledge of futurity than the Old and New Testaments taken together.

_People profess Christianity more from a desire to do right, than they do right in consequence of their professions._

1329. I am aware how much it is a part of the existing system of education to imbue a confident faith in whatever tenets may be taught, and how little it is possible, in consequence, to have any arguments fairly considered which bear against the educational impressions. It may be seen in the instance of the interesting lady to whom I owe the kind letter, (1163,) how much more anxious such persons are to teach than to listen. She had, as she supposed, listened to an exposition of my views, of which the foundation had already been described in a published letter, with an effort to compare the heaven and hell of Scripture with those of Spiritualism; yet in all confidence of victory, this excellent creature brings me a letter written by one whom she considers to have a first-rate intellect, and who begins by assuming what I most emphatically deny, and of which the argument is just as good for Mohammedanism as for Christianity, provided the Koran be assumed as the word of God in lieu of the Bible, and Mohammed as the vicegerent of God instead of Christ. This may be considered as the argument of an eminent Episcopalian in favour of the truth of Christianity, while in those cited from Hughes and Breckinridge we have the arguments of an eminent Romanist on one side, and an eminent Calvinist on the other. The one objects to the basis of “_fallible_” men as the rule of faith; the other, to any inference derived from a gospel by “_fallible_” men. Breckinridge does not recollect that there is nothing more fallible than the traditions, compilations, and translations of fallible men, nor how skeptical all those who sustain the truth of Scripture on this evidence, are of any other evidence of the same kind which conflicts with Scripture.

1330. If the reader will look at the letters of Amasa Holcomb and my replies, (690,) he will see an exemplification of the difficulty in which many were placed, who had no other evidence of a future state beside that afforded by Scripture. Let him apply to the human evidence of antiquity no less skepticism than is now applied to the human evidence of Spiritualists, and then estimate the weight of testimony in favour of the Scriptures. Let him fairly consider the internal evidence against Scripture, as briefly sketched in this work or elsewhere, and then say whether he can conscientiously condemn Mr. Holcomb or myself for conscientiously disbelieving Scripture.

1331. Let it be considered whether belief in Christianity is not at the present time a consequence of morality, rather than its cause; whether it is not, with ninety-nine in a hundred, the consequence of early impressions, which have associated the Christian religion and morals inseparably on the conscience; without, however, inducing in any one of the individuals thus influenced any idea that the precepts of Christ are to be carried out in practice. It would be manifestly preposterous to look for this where the clergy, who were the teachers, did not practically obey the precepts, but went ahead in the race of iniquity, whichever way the current might lead, and almost everywhere as desirous of wealth, and power, and worldly distinction as other men. The imperfection of the evidence of scriptural truth, on which the belief in it rests, or that false moral sense derived from education, which makes the person affected just as tenacious of one creed as of another, whether it be Judaic, Christian, or Mohammedan, causes the faith thus arising to yield whenever the moral sense is impaired on which it rests. Not being supported by reason, as soon as the educational conscientiousness on which it was founded is blunted, any faith built upon it forms no barrier. The individual perceives that his opinions were not formed by himself, but imparted, and would have been different, had he been born of different parents. Thus faith rests upon morality, not morality upon faith; and when morality goes, faith ceases to be a barrier. But meanwhile those who abandon morality, find in their educational impressions one which is a salvo to them, however sinful. They find that Christ died for those who believe in his divinity or in his divine mission, and of course, that by closing their ears and eyes to all evidence or argument impeaching Christianity, and continuing to cherish the early impressions made by their teachers, they may be redeemed from future punishment; whereas, as Dr. Berg alleged in his debate with Barker, “_A sinner cannot be saved out of Christ_.”

1332. But one consequence of this interested, bigoted belief is, that animosity which, it was foretold by Christ, would cause such horrible discord, and would make his advent equivalent to a severing of all the dearest ties between relatives and friends, the superior and his subordinates. As at this time any idea of a religion would be scouted with indignation which should not make a future state of rewards and punishments the primary object, it is inconceivable to me wherefore the Old Testament should be an object of veneration to those whose thoughts are _heavenward_. How could there be any thing but worldliness where nothing but the things of the world were objects of desire—no heaven beyond.

1333. From what has been urged, is it not manifest that, in the first place, it is of great importance that the evidence of a future state should be placed on a firmer footing than on recorded and translated traditions, or on the decretals of a most profligate priesthood? Would it not be one of the greatest imaginable blessings that those who have not the consolation of believing in immortality, should have that consolation, and those who already believe in a future state of existence, should have a better knowledge of that state, than that given by Josephus, sanctioned by Christ, even as collated by the pious and learned clergyman, Dr. Harbaugh? (750.)

1334. If Christ had nothing but the vicinity of the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, agreeably to Josephus, and his story of Dives and Lazarus, or imaginary worldly appointments, or lying in the grave till the _last day_,—if these are all the grounds that Christians have had to build upon as respects future happiness, is it to be wondered at that the priesthood of the Middle Ages, who best knew the defect of gospel evidence, how little they themselves were to be trusted, and how illusory was the promise made to the apostles of judgeships, (743,) should, of all others in society, be the least restrained by fear of future punishment?

_It is a calumny against human nature to represent men as wilfully ignorant of the true religion._

1335. A prevalent calumny against human nature has been, that men remain wilfully reckless as respects religious truth; or that they remain in error designedly, and not because they mistake it for truth. But it is notorious, that as respects the laws of man, those who make it their business to violate them take great care to make themselves acquainted with the laws which it is their object to break. None but an idiot would expect the law to be less severe in proportion as he should keep himself ignorant of its provisions. No banditti in the Russian empire would expect the less to go to Siberia because they should deny the reigning czar to be the sovereign. They would not expect to escape his power by enthroning a _pretended_ czar, and paying him honour. Such conduct would be too absurd, even for fools to pursue; yet it is upon such erroneous views that three thousand Israelites were surprised and assassinated for worshipping the golden calf; and that eminent clergymen do not consider it as blasphemy against the paternal God, described by Seneca (1224) to represent him as sanctioning this horrible butchery.[28]

1336. The truth is, the selfishness of the worst men makes it quite as much an object with them, as with good men, to know to what punishments they may become liable, or what advantages they will be entitled to hereafter. Self-interest makes every man anxious to know that which deeply affects his future existence. Is there any one who would not wish to learn whether his soul is to rot in the coffin with its fleshy integuments, or to have another and eternal existence, happy or wretched according to his deportment in this world?[29]

1337. Those who really wish to serve the cause of true religion, and human welfare here and hereafter, should not expect that harsh words or measures will promote these objects. If, from want of due consideration, they uphold that which is repulsive to the human heart and understanding, and turn a deaf ear to facts and reasoning, which would produce a more beneficial issue, they will really be amenable to the blame which they so unjustly lavish upon those whom they calumniate as “_Infidels_,” while they themselves are really infidels to their professed principles. The Bible itself made me an unbeliever in its authenticity, and makes unbelievers of many who read it attentively and fearlessly, after their reason is matured.

1338. Nothing could serve the cause of true religion and true morality more than a belief in a future state of reward and punishment, without having that book made an appendage to the instruction.

_To appreciate the Jewish representation of the Deity, a reader should first form an idea of this planet and its inhabitants, comparatively with the hundred millions of solar systems, and the inconceivable extent of the space which encompasses them, which fall within the domain of one common Deity._

1339. In order to form an idea of the Deity, we must consider the extent of the universe over which he rules, and the magnificence and multiplicity of the bodies which it comprises. Alpha Centauri, a star of the Centaur, a constellation in the southern hemisphere, is the nearest of the fixed stars; it nevertheless is nearly twenty thousand million of miles from the earth. Light, flying at the rate of two hundred thousand miles in a second, to come from that star, would take three years and three months to reach the earth.

1340. A star in the constellation of the Swan, known as “61 Cygni,” is another among the few whose distance is sufficiently small to allow it to be measured. This is nearly three times as far as Alpha Centauri; so that it would take light nine years to come from “61 Cygni” to the earth. This star appears single to the naked eye, but, seen through a telescope, appears like two stars, which according to Mitchell, are six thousand millions of miles apart.

1341. But the stars which enter into the nebula of Orion are so remote, that light, to come from one of them, would require ninety-two thousand years. Suppose an imaginary right line to be extended from a star in Orion so as to pass through the centre of this planet, and to reach a star on the other side as remote as that first mentioned; of course, the distance being doubled, it would require light twice the time to perceive it, or one hundred and eighty-four thousand years. Suppose a spherical space of which that line forms a diameter, or we may suppose a larger sphere, including all the nebula visible by the Rosse telescope. It is estimated that there are in all not less than one hundred millions of stars visible with the aid of that magnificent instrument, each of which is a sun with its planets; so that we have reason to suppose that there are an hundred millions of solar systems. Some of the suns are, like Sirius, estimated to give sixty-three times as much light as our sun emits. Our planet is to Jupiter as one to twelve hundred; to Saturn, as one to one thousand; to the sun, as one to one million four hundred thousand. It is hardly to be seen by the naked eye from Jupiter, and would be invisible to any human eye situated upon any planet more remote than Jupiter. To the whole of the sidereal creation, it is as a globule of water in the ocean, and the inhabitants are as animalcules in that globule.

1342. Having thus prepared his mind with a proper conception of the vastness of the attributes of the Deity, and the degree of the comparative importance of the human race in the divine mind, as it surveys the whole creation, let the reader take up the book of Genesis, and compare the impressions which that alleged word of God would convey with those which the preceding facts and considerations would induce. It may be expedient that the reader, while under the sublime impression of the majesty and magnificence of the Deity, as displayed in his works, should consider what evidence there is of any entity having the relation to him of a female; and if it be irrational to suppose a commensurate being of the other sex, let the reader consider how this Supreme Deity could have a son? The existence of a son requiring both a father and mother, it may be well to think how a male without a female god could have a son. He may take into view the opinions of Newton, that God cannot be presumed to have organs. Doubtless it will be perceived that this all-pervading, magnificent being cannot require eyes to see, ears to hear, a nose to smell, a tongue to speak, or a mouth to eat, legs with which to walk, or arms with which to strike. Of course he will not consider him as having a person made of those organs, as in the instance of his creature, man. He will agree with Newton, that it were absurd to ascribe even one person to God, and would be still more so to ascribe three persons. Again, if three persons be essential to God, he being eternal, the three persons must be eternal, and of course neither can bear the relation of a son to the other; nor can the _coeval_ Holy Ghost proceed from two of the trio, forming the third person, who, by the premises, existed _before_ he came into his _subsequent_ existence, as alleged by the contradictory conclusion. If the individuals composing the Godhead have any distinct will or reason, the admission of the trinity amounts to polytheism; and if they have not severally independent natures and reason, then the association of the idea of three persons is useless. Is it not idolatrous thus to associate with the Deity effete masses of spiritual matter, under the name of _persons_, and worship the imaginary monster thus created as the true God? Still more, is it not monstrous to represent that those who cannot adore this imaginary idol, are _wilfully_ incredulous?

1343. I have said that the account of the creation, given in the Pentateuch, is inconsistent with geological facts. Much sophistry has been employed to escape from this truth. Thus eminent geologists have striven to reconcile the alleged creation of the world in six days, to mean actually six eras, each of immense duration; yet Scripture representing that the day succeeding those so employed, should be kept holy as a Sabbath, and this being viewed in the Decalogue as a period of twenty-four hours, precludes the assignment of any longer duration to each of the six days, actually occupied by the Creator in performing his great work.

1344. To enable the reader to judge how far the facts ascertained by geological investigation, can be reconciled with the scriptural account, I shall here quote them, as stated by Professor Hitchcock, in his work entitled “Religion of Geology,” page 19. It should be known to the reader that this author is among those who assume the Bible to be the word of God upon the same grounds as the clergyman, (1182.)

1345. “Under these circumstances, all that I can do, is to state definitely what I apprehend to be the established principles of the science that have a bearing upon religious truth, and refer my hearers to standard works on the subject for the proof that they are true. If any will not take the trouble to examine the proofs, I trust they will have candour and impartiality enough not to deny my positions.

1346. “The first important conclusion to which every careful observer will come is, that the rocks of all sorts which compose the present crust of the globe, so far as it has been explored, at least to the depth of several miles, appear to have been the result of second causes; that is, they are now in a different state from that in which they were originally created.

1347. “It is, indeed, a favourite idea with some, that all the rocks and their contents were created, just as we now meet them, in a moment of time; that the supposed remains of animals and plants, which many of them contain, and which occur in all states, from an animal or plant little changed, to a complete conversion into stone, were never real animals and plants, but only resemblances; and that the marks of fusion and of the wearing of water, exhibited by the rocks, are not to be taken as evidences that they have undergone such processes, but only that it has pleased God to give them that appearance; and that, in fact, it was as easy for God to create them just as they now are as in any other form.

1348. “It is a presumption against such a supposition, that no men, who have carefully examined rocks and organic remains, are its advocates. Not that they doubt the power of God to produce such effects, but they deny the probability that he has exerted it in this manner; for throughout nature, wherever they have an opportunity to witness her operations, they find that when substances appear to have undergone changes, by means of secondary agencies, they have in fact undergone them; and, therefore, the whole analogy of nature goes to prove that the rocks have experienced great changes since their deposition. If rocks are an exception to the rest of nature,—that is, if they are the effect of miraculous agency,—there is no proof of it; and to admit it without proof is to destroy all grounds of analogical reasoning in natural operations; in other words, it is to remove the entire basis of reasoning in physical science. Every reasonable man, therefore, who has examined rocks, will admit that they have undergone important changes since their original formation.

1349. “In the second place, the same general laws appear to have always prevailed on the globe, and to have controlled the changes which have taken place upon and within it. We come to no spot, in the history of the rocks, in which a system different from that which now prevails appears to have existed. Great peculiarities in the structure of animals and plants do indeed occur, as well as changes on a scale of magnitude unknown at present; but this was only a wise adaptation to peculiar circumstances, and not an infringement of the general laws.

1350. “In the third place, the geological changes which the earth has undergone, and is now undergoing, appear to have been the result of the same agencies—viz. heat and water.

1351. “Fourthly. It is demonstrated that the present continents of the globe, with perhaps the exception of some of their highest mountains, have for a long period constituted the bottom of the ocean, and have been subsequently either elevated into their present position, or the waters have been drained off from their surface. This is probably the most important principle in geology; and though regarded with much skepticism by many, it is as satisfactorily proved as any principle of physical science not resting on mathematical demonstration.

1352. “Fifthly. The internal parts of the earth are found to possess a very high temperature; nor can it be doubted that at least oceans of melted matter exist beneath the crust, and perhaps even all the deep-seated interior is in a state of fusion.

1353. “Sixthly. The fossiliferous rocks, or such as contain animals and plants, are not less than six or seven miles in perpendicular thickness, and are composed of hundreds of alternating layers of different kinds, all of which appear to have been deposited, just as rocks are now forming, at the bottom of lakes and seas; and hence their deposition must have occupied an immense period of time. Even if we admit that this deposition went on in particular places much faster than at present, a variety of facts forbid the supposition that this was the general mode of their formation.

1354. “Seventhly. The remains of animals and plants found in the earth are not mingled confusedly together, but are found arranged, for the most part, in as much order as the drawers of a well-regulated cabinet. In general, they appear to have lived and died on or near the spots where they are now found; and as countless millions of these remains are often found piled together, so as to form almost entire mountains, the periods requisite for their formation must have been immensely long, as was taught in the preceding proposition.

1355. “Eighthly. Still further confirmation of the same important principle is found in the well-established fact, that there have been upon the globe, previous to the existing races, not less than five distinct periods of organized existence; that is, five great groups of animals and plants, so completely independent that no species whatever is found in more than one of them, have lived and successively passed away before the creation of the races that now occupy the surface. Other standard writers make the number of these periods of existence as many as twelve. Comparative anatomy testifies that so unlike in structure were these different groups, that they could not have coexisted in the same climate and other external circumstances.

1356. “Ninthly. In the earliest times in which animals and plants lived, the climate over the whole globe appears to have been as warm as, or even warmer than, it is now between the tropics. And the slow change from warmer to colder appears to have been the chief cause of the successive destruction of the different races; and new ones were created, better adapted to the altered condition of the globe; and yet each group seems to have occupied the globe through a period of great length; so that we have here another evidence of the vast cycles of duration that must have rolled away even since the earth became a habitable globe.

1357. “Tenthly. There is no small reason to suppose that the globe underwent numerous changes previous to the time when animals were placed upon it; that, in fact, the time was when the whole matter of the earth was in a melted state, and not improbably also even in a gaseous state. These points, indeed, are not as well established as the others that have been mentioned; but, if admitted, they give to the globe an incalculable antiquity.

1358. “Eleventhly. It appears that the present condition of the earth’s crust and surface was of comparatively recent commencement; otherwise the steep flanks of mountains would have ceased to crumble down, and wide oceans would have been filled with alluvial deposits.

1359. “Twelfthly. Among the thirty thousand species of animals and plants found in the rocks,[30] very few living species have been detected; and even these few occur in the most recent rocks, while in the secondary group, not less than six miles thick, not a single species now on the globe has been discovered. Hence the present races did not exist till after those in the secondary rocks had died. No human remains have been found below those alluvial deposits which are now forming by rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Hence geology infers that man was one of the latest animals that was placed on the globe.

1360. “Thirteenthly. The surface of the earth has undergone an enormous amount of erosion by the action of the ocean, the rivers, and the atmosphere. The ocean has worn away the solid rock, in some parts of the world, not less than ten thousand feet in depth, and rivers have cut channels through the hardest strata, hundreds of feet deep and several miles long; both of which effects demand periods inconceivably long.

1361. “Fourteenthly. At a comparatively recent date, northern and southern regions have been swept over and worn down by the joint action of ice and water, the force in general having been directed toward the equator. This is called the _drift_ period.

1362. “Fifteenthly. Since the drift period, the ocean has stood some thousands of feet above its present level in many countries.

1363. “Sixteenthly. There is evidence, in regard to some parts of the world, that the continents are now experiencing slow vertical movements—some places sinking, and others rising. And hence a presumption is derived that, in early times, such changes may have been often repeated, and on a great scale.

1364. “Seventeenthly. Every successive change of importance on the earth’s surface appears to have been an improvement of its condition, adapting it to beings of a higher organization, and to man at last, the most perfect of all.

1365. “Finally. The present races of animals and plants on the globe are for the most part disposed in groups, occupying particular districts, beyond whose limits the species peculiar to those provinces usually droop and die. The same is true, to some extent, as to the animals and plants found in the rocks; though the much greater uniformity of climate that prevailed in early times permitted organized beings to take a much wider range than at present; so that the zoological and botanical districts were then probably much wider. But the general conclusion, in respect to living and extinct animals is, that there must have been several centres of creation, from which they emigrated as far as their natures would allow them to range.

1366. “It would be easy to state more principles of geology of considerable importance; but I have now named the principal ones that bear upon the subject of religion. A brief statement of the leading truths of theology, whether natural or revealed, which these principles affect, and on which they cast light, will give an idea of the subjects which I propose to discuss in these lectures.

1367. “The first point relates to the age of the world. For while it has been the usual interpretation of the Mosaic account that the world was brought into existence nearly at the same time with man and the other existing animals, geology throws back its creation to a period indefinitely but immeasurably remote. The question is, not whether man has existed on the globe longer than the common interpretation of Genesis requires,—for here geology and the Bible speak the same language,—but whether the globe itself did not exist long before his creation; that is, long before the six days’ work, so definitely described in the Mosaic account? In other words, is not this a case in which the discoveries of science enable us more accurately to understand the Scriptures?

1368. “The introduction of death into the world, and the specific character of that death described in Scripture as the consequence of sin, are the next points where geology touches the subject of religion. Here, too, the general interpretation of Scripture is at variance with the facts of geology, which distinctly testify to the occurrence of death among animals long before the existence of man. Shall geology here, also, be permitted to modify our exposition of the Bible?

1369. “The subject of deluges, and especially that of Noah, will next claim our attention. For though it is now generally agreed that geology cannot detect traces of such a deluge as the Scriptures describe, yet upon some other bearings of that subject it does cast light; and so remarkable is the history of opinions concerning the Noachian deluge, that it could not on that account alone be properly passed in silence.”

_Our actions dependent, under God, on organization, education, and the extent to which we are tempted extraneously._

1370. “Are not the hairs of your head all numbered?—Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” Luke xii. 7, 25.

1371. May it not be consistently inquired, who, without God’s assistance, can make his passions less ardent? his counteracting reason or conscientiousness more competent to restrain them? Who, prior to his sublunary existence, had the option, whether he should be born a Jew, a Gentile, or a Christian; whether in the Roman, Grecian, Episcopalian, or dissenting churches; whether his progenitors should be Chinese, Hindoos, Europeans, negroes, or savages? Who has, through his own previous choice, been brought up, on the one hand, by ignorant and vicious, or on the other, by virtuous and well-educated, parents? Can any soul be alleged to be responsible for entering the body of an infant begotten by idolaters, and thus subjected to the curse of the commandment? Or can a soul be deemed to have any merit because it came into the world as the progeny of parents orthodox in their own estimation, and happy in the belief that while myriads are to suffer to eternity in another world, for errors or crimes arising from causes beyond their control, a few are to be made eternally happy, notwithstanding their admitted sinfulness, by virtue of a bigoted confidence in the pre-eminent ability of their parents, their priests, or of themselves to learn tenets of which the great majority of mankind are ignorant? Humility in profession is associated with a towering and overbearing presumption in practice toward all who differ with them in creed: hence an effort to instruct others at the expense of millions spent in missions, while they have no better evidence of the accuracy of their own knowledge than a fallible human conviction.

1372. If two persons, A. and B., were organized exactly alike, educated precisely in the same way, and subjected to the same temptations or incentives, would they not act alike? Would not their acting differently prove that they were not alike in all respects?

1373. It may be said that they are free agents, being endowed with free-will; but if they be perfectly alike and similarly situated, (agreeably to the premises,) their free-will must be perfectly similar; and if not, let it be allowed to be, through God’s will, perfectly similar. Is it in their power to alter the nature of their will, any more than “_the colour of their hair_.”

1374. If any other being act differently from these, does it not follow that he is differently organized, educated, or situated from them; and that the diversity in one or all of these respects must be proportionable to the degree in which his actions and morals differ from those of A. and B.

1375. But it may be inquired, where is the merit of virtue, or the demerit of vice, if they be the consequences of causes over which we have no control? The reply is, that virtue is an endowment due to the will of Deity, just as the difference between the different races of mankind and the various genera of animals, or between individuals of the same species, must be due to that volition. An analogous idea of the necessity of God’s help to virtue is insisted upon by some of our most respectable and numerous Christian sects. It places virtue in man, so far as it may exist, upon the same basis as in God. It has always been held by all Christians that God can do no wrong; that vice is inconsistent with his nature. The more, then, a man is by nature and education incapable of being vicious, the greater his natural aptitude for virtue, the more he approaches its most perfect exemplification.

1376. But how can the punishment of the wicked be justified under this view of their case? I answer, that it can only be justified in self-defence, for the reformation of the offender, or to prevent the repetition of injury where no other means can be employed, just as killing wild beasts, noxious insects, or our enemies in warfare is justified.

1377. Punishment, unless with a view to prevention or reformation, seems to me diabolic. It seems irreconcilable with the injunction to return good for evil, that the Deity from whom it proceeds should return evil for evil, _in excess_; that he should, for finite and transient sins, award eternal punishment.

1378. The inference that omniscience and omnipotence could create myriads of beings, foreseeing that they must be subjected to extreme misery for an unlimited time, is irreconcilable with all goodness and omniscience. But it may be demanded, does not the fear of future punishment make mankind more virtuous? The man who avoids a felony solely through fear of future punishment is not the less wicked; he is only a more prudent, or a more cowardly villain. That piety to God and philanthropy are virtues, is most evident; but then these incentives must be disinterested. If Abraham could believe that shedding his son’s blood upon the altar would gratify the Deity, in order to make it a pious or virtuous act, it should have been unaccompanied by any expectation of benefit to himself. He must have had a conception of the Deity fully as bad as that of any heathen, to suppose that the sacrifice would be agreeable to him.

1379. There is, moreover, much reason to infer that a man who could pass his wife as his sister, and send her to a palace in order to gain influence with a king, did not lose sight of himself when he contemplated killing his son to propitiate the King of kings. But no human testimony should induce us to credit such imputations against Jehovah. Nothing is more probable than that priests should invent this absurd fable, and nothing more improbable than that an omniscient God, who could read Abraham’s inmost thoughts, should have found it necessary to ask such a barbarous sacrifice, in order to determine the extent and sincerity of that devotion of which he must have already known the precise limits.

_On Probation._

1380. I have already made objections to the idea that we can be placed in this world for the purpose of probation. I will here make use of additional arguments in support of those objections. Spiritualism assumes that we are placed here for progression. It has, in this aspect, a self-evident ascendency over the scriptural doctrine.

1381. A finite being has need to subject his works to trial, in order to learn whether they have the requisite perfection; but how can an omnipotent and omniscient Deity be under any necessity of _trying_ his works? In the first place, they must be precisely what he has designed; in the next place, foreseeing the result of any experiment he may make, he has no motive for the trial. Thus, before placing Adam and Eve in Paradise, God must have known that Adam would be incompetent to resist his wife, his wife the serpent, and that the apple would be eaten. How useless then was the experiment! How can it be reconciled with omniscience and omnipotence? The crime would not have taken place had God made woman less inquisitive; her husband strong enough morally to resist temptation and his wife’s seductive influence; or had not the serpent or Satan, under the form of this reptile, been allowed to tempt Eve. And yet in consequence of that act, not only the soul of the first man, but that of all his posterity, are considered by orthodoxy as having fallen, as being doomed to eternal punishment, unless by being morally regenerated, principally by a blind belief in the allegation of certain priests, who do not agree among themselves as to what we are to believe.

1382. But what had souls unborn to do with the acts of Adam and Eve? Is it conceivable that the soul of the child is begotten by the souls of its parents, or to be inferred that it is a spiritual being, created by God for the body, which the progenitors beget in their corporeal capacity? (See Seneca’s opinion, 1230.) How could a dumb snake, belonging to the class of reptiles, very low comparatively in intellectual capacity, acquire power of speech and reason without a special miracle on the part of God, either _directly_ or _indirectly_ through Satan, acting with the cognizance of his divine master. This reptile, previously created without feet, because the devil merely assumed his form, is doomed as a _punishment_ to crawl on his belly, in the only way in which he could move consistently with his organization, independently of the sentence!!! Would it be any greater punishment to cause snakes to creep on their bellies than quadrupeds to go on their feet? Since none of the genera of serpents are endowed with reason or speech, how could they be responsible for the acts of an animal which, being endowed with those attributes, would not belong to their order? It must have been a peculiar reptile, in the form of a snake, created for the special purpose of tempting Eve. If, with Milton, it be assumed that it was Satan, in the form of a serpent, who tempted her? how could serpents be responsible for the crime?

_World least moral when the Christian church had most sway.—Honour and mercantile credit more trusted than religion.—Virtue due more to the heart than to sectarianism.—Bigotry acts like an evil spirit._

1383. It will be perceived, that when the church had the world most completely under its sway, there was the least morality; but as the arts and sciences grew up, in despite of religious intolerance, morality improved. Thus a system has been established, which while violating, more especially the most emphatic monitions of Christ, tends to enforce those rules of conduct which are necessary to the welfare of society. But an auxiliary principle—honour—has come into operation, which often restrains those who are not influenced by religion, nor by pure morality. Honour, like the fear of hell, may make a man act more nobly, or more honestly, without improving his religious principles or his heart. Hence the saying, “_Honour among thieves_,” and likewise among unprincipled gamblers.

1384. Mercantile honour, under the name of mercantile credit, is another important substitute for real heartfelt integrity. The ill consequences of a loss of worldly consideration, or of those advantages which result from the ability to _borrow_, or to _postpone_ payment with consent of the creditor, is a motive for punctual payment, when a debt equally due, in honesty, would be neglected. This goes much farther as an element of the prevailing morality in securing punctual payment, than religion.

1385. That religion has actually very little to do with mercantile morals, must be evident, _since it is never, on change, an object of inquiry_. When men are about to trust large sums, they do not inquire how often the other party goes to church, nor to what church he goes. It has never been my lot to know any one whom I thought better for his religion. I have known many whom I thought better through native goodness of heart than they would have been if left to the influence of their bigoted opinions alone. I heard a clergyman, distinguished for his amiability and liberality in social intercourse, speak from the pulpit of infidelity as “the work of the devil.”

1386. There are allegations of this kind made from the pulpit which to me appear to be absolutely calumnious, though those who make them do not conceive themselves to be calumniators. It is, in truth, their false religion which speaks; they are possessed as if by an evil spirit, yet the goodness of their hearts prevents them from realizing any such calumnies in their personal intercourse with society. Dr. Berg said it was not _he_ (Dr. Berg) that spoke when he used ill language to Barker, but the Bible. There is a want of Christian moderation in the language of Christ, and John the Baptist, and in some of the Psalms, which seems inconsistent with Christ’s precepts. John, addressing the Pharisees as “vipers fleeing from the wrath to come,” representing them as poisonous reptiles, and God as _enraged_ against them. The language of Christ respecting some of the same sect, to which allusion has been made, is even more abusive.

1387. But among the calumnies to which I have alluded, are those which represent the human heart as innately wicked, and only to be corrected by religious regeneration. All the souls created since Adam ate the apple, must be born anew, thus drawing a marked distinction between those who have gone through this second birth, and such as myself, who have not undergone this recuperative process. But what man of common sense draws a line between those who are thought to have been born over again, and those who have not? The great majority of those who call themselves Christians, do not put any more trust in one who has gone through this second birth, than in one who is not deemed to have been thus regenerated.

_Progress of Literature and Science in Arabia under the Mohammedan Pontiffs, called Caliphs._

1388. While the science and literature of the Roman Empire sank under the influence of the Christian pontiff (pope) into ignorance, superstition, and vice, the Arabians, under the influence of their Mohammedan pontiffs, (caliphs,) arose from barbarism to a comparatively superior state of intellectual acquirement, as the following quotation, from “Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” will show:

1389. “After their civil and domestic wars, the subjects of the Abbassides, awakening from this mental lethargy, found leisure and felt curiosity for the acquisition of profane science. This spirit was first encouraged by the Caliph Almansor, who, besides his knowledge of the Mohammedan law, had applied himself with success to the study of astronomy, but when the sceptre devolved to Almamon, the seventh of the Abbassides, he completed the designs of his grandfather, and invited the muses from their ancient seats. His ambassadors at Constantinople, his agents in Armenia, Syria, and Egypt, collected the volumes of Grecian science: at his command they were translated by the most skilful interpreters into the Arabic language; his subjects were exhorted assiduously to peruse these instructive writings; and the successor of Mohammed assisted with pleasure and modesty at the assemblies and disputations of the learned. ‘He was not ignorant,’ says Abulpharagius, ‘that _they_ are the elect of God, his best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational faculties. The mean ambition of the Chinese or the Turk may glory in the industry of their hands, or the indulgence of their brutal appetites. Yet these dexterous artists must view, with hopeless emulation, the hexagons and pyramids of the cells of a bee-hive: these fortitudinous heroes are awed by the superior fierceness of the lions and tigers; and in their amorous enjoyments, they are much inferior to the vigour of the grossest and most sordid quadrupeds. The teachers of wisdom are the true luminaries and legislators of a world, which, without their aid, would again sink in ignorance and barbarism.’ The zeal and curiosity of Almamon were imitated by succeeding princes of the line of Abbas: their rivals, the Fatimites of Africa and the Ommiades of Spain, were the patrons of the learned, as well as the commanders of the faithful: the same royal prerogative was claimed by their independent emirs of the provinces; and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of science from Samarcand and Bochara to Fez and Cordova. The vizir of a sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold to the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction were communicated, perhaps at different times, to six thousand disciples of every degree, from the son of the noble to that of the mechanic: a sufficient allowance was provided for the indigent scholars; and the merit or industry of the professors was repaid with adequate stipends. In every city the productions of Arabic literature were copied and collected by the curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich. A private doctor refused the invitation of the sultan of Bochara, because the carriage of his books would have required four hundred camels. The royal library of the Fatimites consisted of one hundred thousand manuscripts, elegantly transcribed and splendidly bound, which were lent, without jealousy or avarice, to the students of Cairo. Yet this collection must appear moderate, if we can believe that the Ommiades of Spain had formed a library of six hundred thousand volumes, forty-four of which were employed in the mere catalogue. Their capital, Cordova, with the adjacent towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia, had given birth to more than three hundred writers, and above seventy public libraries were opened in the cities of the Andalusian kingdom. The age of Arabian learning continued about five hundred years, till the great eruption of the Moguls, and was coeval with the darkest and most slothful period of European annals; but since the sun of science has arisen in the West, it should seem that the Oriental studies have languished and declined.”

1390. I here close my remarks upon the Influence of Scripture on the Morals of Christians. They have proceeded from a desire to promulgate what I deem to be truth, and to expose the errors by which I conceive it to be environed. It is inconsistent with my nature to state less than the truth when treating on any subject. I shall be sorry for any pain which I may give to those whose hearts are so associated with their opinions, that whatever conflicts with the one is painful to the other; yet I wish any persons so wounded to reflect how little denunciation has been spared, not only as respects opinions, but as respects motives, where “_infidels_,” unjustly so called, have been held up to view. I have not assailed the _motives_ of any one; even as respects _opinions_, I have withheld or modified sarcasms which, as I think, might have been justly employed, or used without modification.

ADDITIONAL CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OF THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITS.

1391. Subsequently to the printing of the articles under the head of Corroborative Evidence, a pamphlet was received from which the subjoined pages are translated, by my friend, Dr. Geib. It serves to show the impression made by spirit manifestations in another part of Christendom, upon one who belongs to the church.

_The Opinions of MM. de Mirville and Gasparin, on Table Turning and Mediums, (considered in relation to theology and physics) examined, by the Abbot Almignana, Doctor of the Canon Law, Theologian, &c._

_Introduction._

1392. “Mesmerism, table turning, and mediumship being phenomena which, in my estimation, demand serious investigation before pronouncing judgment on them, as soon as this became known to me, as an ocular witness, far from judging of them, _ex abrupto_, as so many have done under the same circumstances, I confined myself to make numerous experiments, with the hope that they might in time furnish me with some very useful facts, in searching for the cause of these wonderful phenomena.

1393. “Being in possession of some of these facts, I thought the present an opportune time for their publication, when two _savans_ of the elite, such as the Marquis de Mirville and the Count de Gasparin, are engaged in a scientific contest on this subject.

1394. “I consider the present moment the more opportune, that the facts furnished by my investigation, being at variance with certain leading points in the doctrines contained in the _Pneumatology_ of M. de Mirville, and the _Supernatural in General_ of M. de Gasparin, may induce those writers to give a new complexion to their doctrines, by taking counsel from my facts. These, shedding a new light on the triple phenomena, would powerfully aid in the solution of a problem which, up to the present time, does not appear to have been solved in a manner as clear and positive, as the interests of truth, science, and religion demand. Such has been and is now my belief, as well as that of many others whom I thought proper to consult before undertaking the task in which I have engaged.

1395. “Simple as my language is, it will be seen to have issued from the pen of a man who boldly seeks the truth, and is not to be arrested in his course by any worldly interests. Persuaded that in view of my position, my readers will grant me the indulgence which in a similar case I could not refuse them, I will proceed to the main question without further preliminaries. I divide my monograph into two parts; facts opposed to the Pneumatology of M. de Mirville, and the Supernatural in General of M. de Gasparin.

_First Part._

1396. “Table turning and mediumship are nothing more, in the opinion of M. de Mirville, than the work of the devil! I give an abstract of his doctrine as found in his Pneumatology. ‘In the letter,’ he says, ‘which I had the honour to address to the _Societe Mesmerisme_ of Paris on the non-intervention of the devil in therapeutic mesmerism, dated Sept. 20, 1847, and published in numbers 54, 56, and 57 of the Journal of _Magnetism_, I established the existence of the devil, with the attributes given him in the Scriptures, as well as the power he possesses, with divine permission, to act morally and physically on mankind, as set forth in the same holy books.’

1397. “In view of what I have just said, I cannot be mistaken by M. de Mirville with respect to demonology. But while admitting the existence of a devil, and his power over man, I cannot agree with the opinion of M. de Mirville in his _Pneumatology_, which admits the direct intervention of the devil in table turning and table talking, as well as in the powers of mediums; a view of the subject which I hold to be at variance with the teachings of the Catholic Church on the possessed, and the manner of deliverance therefrom, the evil spirit, which I proceed to explain.

1398. “It is an axiom as old as the world—in proportion as the cause is removed the effect ceases; _sublata causa tollitur effectus_. The truth of this maxim, in reference also to diabolical possessions, is found to be explicitly proved in the Holy Scriptures. A mute is presented to Christ to be cured: _oblatus est ei mutus_. The Divine Master, knowing that dumbness is caused by the devil, hastens to remove the cause, by chasing the evil spirit from the body of the possessed, which being done, the mute spoke in the midst of the people ravished with admiration. ‘And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the people wondered.’ St. Luke xi. 14.

1399. “There was at Philippi, in Macedonia, a girl who, being possessed of the evil spirit, had the gift of divination to such an extent, that people came from all parts to consult her, much to the benefit of her masters. St. Paul having chased the demon from the body of the possessed, she lost the gift of divination; which exasperating her masters, they dragged St. Paul before a magistrate like a malefactor. (Acts xv.) Admitting these principles, it follows that if the devil intervenes directly in tables and mediums, as Christ drove him from the mute, and St. Paul from the girl of Philippi, then, _a fortiori_, should clairvoyants lose their lucidity, tables be made to stand still, and mediums be deprived the power of tracing a line however short; _sublata causa tollitur effectus_. The cause being removed, the effect must cease.

1400. “Our next object is to refer to the means for removing the evil spirit wherever found; and consulting the Catholic ritual affords us this knowledge. In fact, agreeably to these teachings, demons are driven off by the sacred names of God and Jesus, by prayer, the sign of the cross, by holy water, and exorcisms; and these means being known, I am going to report the effect of these means on clairvoyant subjects, tables, and mediums.

1403. “Having witnessed some extraordinary phenomena, and desiring to assure myself as to the presence of a diabolical agency in these manifestations, as I had been persuaded to believe—profiting by the opportunity offered by some mediums magnetized by others, and not by myself—I was induced to pray to invoke the sacred names of God and Jesus, to make the sign of the cross on the subjects, and went so far as to sprinkle them with holy water, with the design of driving out the devil, should he have taken possession of them. However, as not one of these mediums lost, in my presence, the smallest part of their powers, I was led to infer that the devil had nothing to do with the phenomena.

1404. “The following fact should attract the attention of all observers holding the orthodox faith: A youth of thirteen, put to sleep by his mother, at my house, gave proof of the greatest clairvoyance, even so far as to be in communion with supermundane beings. Alarmed, as I acknowledge I was, at what passed under my eyes, and suspecting, as I did, that the devil might be the agent of those phenomena, I took my crucifix, and presenting it to the clairvoyant, conjured him in the holy name of Jesus. But in place of repelling it, as I expected, he seized the cross in the most affectionate manner, and, smiling, pressed it to his lips; as much to the edification of his mother as of myself. Should M. de Mirville desire the address of the parties, he can have it.

1405. “The means thus employed by me to discover if the evil spirit actuated mesmeric subjects, have been employed also by other persons with the same view, and with similar results. Should M. de Mirville desire to know some of these persons, I will be happy to facilitate the acquaintance. As to exorcism, it is known by the biography of the celebrated clairvoyant Prudence, that although exorcised on several occasions, the exorcisms failed to deprive him, in the smallest degree, of his great clairvoyance. To the facts which I have just reported in support of the non-intervention of the devil, some new facts of another kind will be adjoined, which in some measure confirm the first.

1406. “One of the models of sacred eloquence, the R. P. Lacordaire, speaking of mesmerism in 1846, far from qualifying it as _satanical_, as M. de Mirville has done, proclaimed from the pulpit of truth, in the church of _Notre Dame_ of Paris, that this phenomenon belonged to the order of prophecy, and that it was a provision of the divinity to humble the pride of materialism. This language, descended from the summit of the sacred tribune, is known to have received the public approbation of Mgr. Affre, the centre of Catholicism of the diocese of Paris, who, addressing the faithful, said to them: ‘My brothers, it is God who speaks with the mouth of the illustrious Dominican.’

1407. A very pious female, abandoned by her medical adviser, being in a state of despair, was magnetized by one of her parents, and fell into the most complete trance. In one of her first sleeps, she said she saw a person who, according to the description she gave of him, appeared to be the clairvoyant’s great-grandfather, deceased several years before the birth of his grand-daughter. The latter was cured by the advice received during her trance condition from the said great-grandfather. This fact appeared to me so grave in its nature, and so interesting to science and religion, that I thought proper to publish it in number nineteen of the _Magnetisme Spiritualiste_, with an appeal to all those who, by their knowledge, might be able to explain this phenomenon.

1408. Among those to whom our appeal was made, figured the theologians, to whom, in speaking of the person who appeared to the clairvoyant, I said: ‘Should this not be considered the devil, who, assuming a fantastic personation, took that of the great-grandfather of M. R., and appearing thus to him, cured him of a disease which he himself had originated?’

1409. Some copies of the number of the journal in question were sent to the sovereign pontiff, through his apostolic nuncio at Paris, to Mgr. the archbishop of Paris, to the faculty of theology at Sorbonne, to RR. PP. Jesuits of the _Rue des Postes_, to R. P. Lacordaire, and to the Calvinistic Consistory of Paris, begging them to enlighten me on a fact of such grave importance. But to the present time, a period of three years, not one of these great personages has informed me that the phenomenon to which I invited their attention is the work of the devil, which proves that, in their opinion, the evil one is a stranger to this phenomenon; for otherwise they would not have failed to answer my inquiry, if only from interest for religion, or through charity to myself. Should M. de Mirville desire to know the clairvoyant I refer to, he can be conducted to his domicile.

1410. Mgr. Sibour, on mesmerism, and _La Grandeur_, if interrogated, will tell you that the thoughts expressed by clairvoyants are only reflections from their magnetizers, without saying a single word to you about the devil. But we have said enough on clairvoyants, and will pass to the tables.

1411. I have made a great many experiments in table-turning and table-talking with pious laymen and with ecclesiastics, men of prayer and serious habits, and even with a venerable bishop, and always in a very serious manner; desiring to know, for the sake of religion and our souls, if the devil is in reality the agent who conveys movement and language to the tables. Besides exorcism, we have employed all the means taught and prescribed in the Catholic Church to drive out the devil, and we have never obtained any results; for neither prayer, nor the sacred names of God and Jesus, nor the sign of the cross made on the tables, nor the crucifix, nor the chapelet, (the beads,) nor the Gospels, nor the image of Christ placed on the tables, nor holy water, could stop their turnings, knockings, and replying to our questions. But far from it, and much to our astonishment, we have seen the table turn over before the image of Christ crucified. I will say no more. In the experiments made with the bishop just named, and the person with whom I was boarding, it was the venerable bishop himself that made the sign of the cross on a stand, without in the least retarding the motion of that small piece of furniture. Monseigneur then asked the stand if it loved the cross, and it replying in the affirmative, it was with surprise that Monseigneur saw the stand turn over before his _croix pastorale_, and speak to him in orthodox language of a future life.

1412. If, according to all the facts which I have just reported, it be necessary to reason agreeably to M. de Mirville, behold what that reasoning must be. The teachings of the Catholic ritual give to prayer, to the sacred names of God and Jesus, to the sign of the cross, to the holy water, and the exorcisms, the virtue of driving the devil (_le démon_) out of the possessed. Now, as neither prayer, the sacred names, the sign of the cross, &c. are able to drive the spirit out of mediums, nor out of tables, which, according to M. de Mirville, are also victims, then the Catholic Instructor, which assigns these means for removing evil spirits, must be in error. Then the Scripture, the SS. PP., and the Church, authorities on which the Catholic teachings are based on the subject of possessions, and the manner of delivering the possessed of the evil spirit, (_les démons_,) are in error.[31] And what true Catholic dare entertain this language? It is then to avoid getting into so unfortunate a position, that I have thought proper to reject the opinion of M. de Mirville on the manifestations of spirits. I shall be told that if the prescribed means sometimes fail, it is from want of faith on the part of those who employ them. This is my reply to that objection. The peasants do not possess a large quantity of faith, and, notwithstanding, Origen says the name of God, pronounced even by a peasant, chases the demons.—_Origines contra celsum._

1413. There are a great many people, and among them figure some pious ecclesiastics and laymen, who quite frequently partake of the sacrament, who have experimented with me, who have prayed with me, have invoked with me the sacred names of God and Jesus, &c.; is it then credible that among these persons, not one should be found possessing a portion of faith equal to that of a peasant, which is able, according to Origen, to drive out the devil in the name of God? I am unable to believe it. What! the venerable bishop, who experimented with me during four years, had sacrificed himself in propagating the faith in distant lands, should he not have as much faith as a peasant, in order to be able to remove an evil spirit in the name of God? This would be to insult the sacred labour of propagating the faith in the person of one of its most distinguished apostles.

1414. But this is not enough; notice how St. John teaches us to know if a spirit is of God or not. ‘My well beloved, this is how to know that a spirit is of God: all spirits who confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, are of God, and those who do not confess that he is come in the flesh, are not of God.’ (1 John ix.) Instructed by St. John in the manner of knowing the spirits of God, to assure myself further on the nature of spirits or occult forces, exhibited in the movement and language of tables, I have used the method indicated by St. John. It was with this view that, my little table being in motion, I addressed to it the following questions: Do you confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh? Yes, it replied. The same question, repeated several times, produced uniformly the same answer. Having this experiment alone at my house, I was desirous of seeing whether the same results would be obtained in company. With this design I went to the houses of persons acquainted with these phenomena, and begged a gentleman, a medium, to place his hands with mine on a stand. The movement of the stand being felt, the same question was answered in the same manner. And after this experience can I conscientiously believe in the intervention of the devil in the turning and speaking of the tables, without regarding the testimony of St. John as erroneous; and should I regard it as such? It is for M. de Mirville to answer.

1415. But I do not stop here. It is said in the ritual of Paris and others, in the chapter of the possessed, as follows: _Signa energumenorum sunt. Ignota lingua liogni idque, maxima serie verborum quæ previderi non potuerunt velita loquentem intelligere distantia, et oculta patefacere et vires supra etatis suæ naturam ostendere._ Very well, if demons, as the ritual says, speak all languages, even those unknown, after the great number of experiments which I have made, I am prepared to declare that tables do not speak all languages, even the known ones, nor do they understand them. Let some one who does not understand Greek, addressing a question to the table in French, request it to reply in Greek, and we will see if the table does it. Let a stranger give to an inquirer at the table a question in a language unknown to him, limiting himself to merely reading it, and we will see if the table respond; I defy all the tables in the world to do it. If M. de Mirville desires to make these experiments with me, I am entirely at his service.

1416. I have endeavoured to discover if tables have the faculty which, according to the ritual, is possessed by the devil (_les démons_) to penetrate the hidden and the future, and I have found in this direction more error than truth. As to the superior physical force which, according to the ritual, is possessed by the devil, (_les démons_,) there is not a single turning table in the world, whose movement cannot be arrested or retarded by enveloping the hands of the experimenters in silk; which proves that the tables have not a power _supra naturam_, and that of course it could not be the devil who furnishes the momentum. But what gives more force to the reasons on which I rest, for not referring the motive-power to an evil spirit, is this: that having made them separately known to four prelates of the church of France, three of whom are conspicuous in the religious investigation of these phenomena, begging a due examination and report if my opinion is in error, that I may retract and write against the tables, not one of these prelates has pronounced me wrong, nor in the least blamed my exposition of facts. And in case it may become necessary to establish this fact, I retain the letters of these prelates. Let us now pass to the consideration of the mediums.[32]

1417. Hearing that there were persons whose hands, without their will, were made to write some very extraordinary things, and that these persons were called ‘mediums,’ one day, in order to assure myself of the fact, I took a crayon in my hand, and placing it on paper, concentrated myself as much as possible. But a few minutes had passed, when I felt my hand controlled without my will, and saw it trace some lines, letters, and words. This experiment being repeated often with the same success, I have therefore become a medium, though of a secondary degree.

1418. Desiring to know whether, in this phenomenon, there might not be some diabolical agency, in order to satisfy my mind on that subject, I asked of the occult power, or the spirit that controlled my hand, if it was the devil; being answered in the negative, I requested to have proof of it. Scarcely were those words uttered, when my hand, moving with energy, drew a large cross. Seeing this, I put the same questions about J. C. that were put at my table, and the answers, being written, were the same; from which I concluded that the agency in the writing of mediums is the same as in moving the tables, which, in my opinion, is not that of the devil, as already said. However, in order to confirm my assurance of the non-intervention of the devil in the phenomena of mediums, I desired to add another experiment, which follows:

1419. As the devil speaks all languages, according to the ritual, even those unknown, to see whether the occult power or spirit which caused me to write possessed this satanic attribute, which, being so, would prove the intervention of the devil in the performance of mediums, I asked the invisible agent if it would cause the Lord’s prayer to be written in several languages, and was answered in the affirmative. Yielding my hand with a pen to the motive power, the _Pater_ was written in two ways, which the same power, also by writing, said was in Valaque and in Russian. Then requesting the same to be written in French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin, it was immediately done; when requesting it to be written in English and German, was answered it could not be done. Why not? I inquired. Because you neither speak nor write those two languages, which is necessary.

1420. In what languages then, I asked, are you able to make me write? In the languages which I spoke on earth, as the Valaque and Russian, and those which you speak. The _Pater_, thus written, I had the honour to present it personally to Monseigneur the Archbishop of Paris, by his request. Having mentioned this, I was advised to request my spirit friend to write something in Valaque, and have it submitted to some one acquainted with that language, in order to determine the fact of its being so; which proposal I willingly accepted.

1421. But, returned to my house, the idea occurred to me to make an experiment to control my familiar spirit myself. I wrote on a piece of paper a phrase in French, and took a separate copy of it on another piece of paper. I read this phrase to my spirit, and requested him to render it in Valaque. The spirit, having made some lines, told me by writing that the translation was already made. I requested him to do the same with it in Spanish, Italian, and Latin, and it was done. Requesting him further to write the same in English, he replied it could not be done, as I did not speak that language. Allowing a few minutes to pass, I took the copy of the phrase, and requested the spirit to do the same with it that he had done with the original. The spirit having caused me to write, as he professed, the same phrase in the same languages as he had caused me to write it in previously, I hastened to compare the two translations; but what was my surprise when finding the Spanish, Italian, and Latin translations of the copy like those of the original; I found the Valaque translation of the original and that of the copy not at all alike!

1422. “Convinced, then, that my spirit did not understand the _Valaque_, which proved to me, according to the ritual, that it was not a devil, (_un démon_,) but that notwithstanding he had deceived me, I gave him a severe reprimand, treating him as an infamous cheat, and driving him from my presence. At this juncture, my hand was caused to tremble excessively, which terminated by writing in large characters: ‘I am the devil, and you are a bad preacher that seeks to find out the secrets of God!’ Very well, I said; your proclamation in large letters that you are the devil, is no reason why I should believe it. The devil, according to the ritual, speaks all languages, and you do not speak the Valaque nor English, and therefore you are not the devil. If I am a bad preacher, that does not concern you. It is God who will judge me, and I submit to his holy will. Could I see you as I feel you, I would fix you well; but as it is, I decline any further correspondence with you.

1423. “Scarcely had I expressed these words, when my hand, being influenced, wrote as follows: ‘Pardon! pardon! I am not the devil. If I said so, it was to frighten you, because you continued to plague me with your questions; but I see you are a man that fears nothing. You are not a bad preacher, but a great thinker. Continue then to experiment with me, and I will always tell you the truth!’

1424. “Very well, I pardon you, and request you to say, without deceiving me, what languages you do speak? ‘I speak no other languages than those which you speak, and if I did otherwise, it was for amusement.’ Then what are the languages which the spirits speak? ‘Those of the communing person, and no others.’[33] And this ended the meeting.

1425. “Wishing still to test what had been said to me by my spirit, I went to the house of a writing medium, like myself, and begged him to try some experiments in writing. In the midst of our experiments, I wrote the following words on a small piece of paper in Spanish: _Como té llamos?_ and without making their signification known to the medium in French, requested him to read them to the spirit friend. This was done, but the spirit was silent. The medium, however, insisting on an answer, was impressed by the spirit to write the word _malheur_, (misfortune.) The reply not agreeing with the question, I told the medium to say to his spirit that he had badly replied. Then the spirit made the medium write as follows: ‘If I have not complied with your request, it is because I do not understand that language.’

1426. As the medium did not understand what had been read to the spirit, which in French would mean, _Comment vous appelez-vous?_ (What is your name?) I perceived that if the spirit did not reply to the Spanish, it was because the medium neither spoke nor understood that tongue; which agreed with what my spirit had told me. Then I requested the medium to ask his spirit to make me write. On the affirmative response of the spirit, I took the pen, and addressing the same question to him: _Como te llamos?_ he replied in Spanish—_Benito_. Answer me in French—_Benoit_. In Latin—_Benedictus_.

1427. This experiment confirming what my spirit had told me, that the spirits could produce only the language of those with whom they communed, was a new proof for me of the non-intervention of the devil; seeing, according to the ritual, that he is master of all languages, and that mediums only write those they understand, and have previously learnt.[34] If M. de Mirville desires to make some such experiments with me, it will afford me great pleasure to do so.

1428. _Nota bene_: What merits particular regard in the information received from my spirit friend as to the language used by spirits in communing with men is, that the same was said one hundred and five years since by the ecstatic Swedenborg. See No. 236 of his Treatise on Heaven and Hell, by Le Boys des Guays.

1429. This will suffice for the present for M. de Mirville. It remains for him to explain the facts we have reported, and to reconcile them with his _Pneumatology_: in expectation I proceed to notice the _Supernatural in General_ of M. de Gasparin.”

_Second Part._

1430. “All the prodigies of the mesmeric subjects of clairvoyants, the sorcery, haunting spirits, apparitions, visions, &c., owe their origin, according to M. de Gasparin, to nervous excitement, fluidic action, and sometimes are hallucinations. As I do not design here to make a critical analysis of M. de Gasparin’s work, not considering myself capable, and leaving this honour to those who are in some scientific line, I design merely occupying myself with some facts which refer personally to me, and which appear to me to oppose some points in the doctrine of M. de Gasparin in his table-turning, or _Supernatural in General_, as already noticed in the introduction to the monograph, and I commence with the subject of ecstasy.

1431. “Speaking of ecstatics, M. de Gasparin explains himself as follows: ‘As to their intellectual faculties, they are capable in those cases of prodigious development. The ecstatics declare themselves that they have two souls; that a voice foreign to their own causes them to speak; that they suddenly receive ideas entirely unknown to them, and terms of expression entirely strange to them. It happens even that the peasant accustomed to _patois_, speaks French, and that illiterate men express themselves in Latin. Now, have we something here that is _supernatural_? Certainly not; it is a physiological state, or often the treasures of reminiscence, which the subject possessed, though in fact not aware of it. The peasant may have known how to speak French; she may not have known it, and still it may all have been engraved on the deep recesses of the memory, where nothing is ever really effaced. Exalted or sick, she finds herself in possession of the French language. A merchant, who has scarcely passed the first classes, and who never knew Latin, finds himself the possessor of the Latin language, and embarrasses his doctor, whom he addresses in that tongue.’

1432. “According to this ecstatic theory of M. de Gasparin, it follows that the ideas expressed by the subjects, and which were unknown to them in their normal state, are nothing more than reminiscences. I admit, with M. de Gasparin, that reminiscence is only the return of the soul to the recollection of a thing or an idea, which, though engraven on the memory, was forgotten. This return, however, does not happen without some remarks, which, from the recollection of some ideas or incidents, conduct the mind to the recollection of what was forgotten.

1433. “I am a medium: according to the received opinion, a medium is a waking magnetic subject. Now, every magnetic subject is in a degree ecstatic; therefore I, being a medium, am ecstatic. Well, I being ecstatic, take a pencil, and concentrating myself in that state, request the occult power that moves my hand without my volition to cause it to write, if it is possible, something on the creation. The last word is scarcely pronounced when my hand proceeds to write, without interruption, something true or false, on the creation, which surprises me.

1434. “This interview terminates, and desiring to know if these ideas on the creation come from reminiscences, I seek to discover if they could have been engraven on my memory, either from reading or hearing them related. With this view I commenced by reading religious and philosophic books that would be likely to discuss the question, but could find nothing like what I had written. I consulted the public libraries, and they contained nothing on the creation similar to what my hand had communicated. Not a professor, philosopher, naturalist, physiologist, theologian, or historian, with whom I had ever had any intercourse, could recollect any thing of the kind.

1435. “After this, I reason as follows: having examined all the means by which what was written by my hand on the creation could have been impressed on my memory, nothing appears to warrant that belief; therefore, these notions on the creation cannot be regarded as reminiscences.

1436. “But it is not enough, we have said, that in reminiscence, are necessary, which, by the recollection of an object, idea, or notion, we are led to the further recollection of something forgotten. That this should take place, some time is required, however little it may be. However, in the case related, not a moment was required, and this breaks up the required process, in order to respond to the theory of M. de Gasparin.

1437. “Now, if these ideas on the creation are not reminiscences—if they do not emanate from the devil, who, agreeably to our author, is an entire stranger to these phenomena—if it is not the soul of a deceased person that controlled my hand, as M. de Gasparin, being a Protestant, does not believe in returning spirits nor in communion with the dead, who then caused to be written by my hand such strange things, without my knowledge or assistance? And I beg M. de Gasparin to be so good as to explain this phenomenon, which appears to be in opposition with his theory on the prodigies of ecstatic subjects. Should M. de Gasparin desire to see what I have written, he can be gratified. But what will he say, when having requested my spirit to reply in writing on some subject familiar to my mind, he is unable to do it, or replies contrary to my thoughts and convictions? Can this be called reminiscence? I pass now to consider mesmerism.

1438. “In speaking on this subject, the _Supernatural_ of M. de Gasparin says, ‘The clairvoyance of mesmerism appears in general to have only the character of an echo. Its wonders are those of reminiscence or perception of images and thoughts, which occupy the intelligence of the person with whom the clairvoyant is in rapport. This appears to be the balance-sheet of animal magnetism, and it has changed but little since its origin.’ (Tome ii. page 311.)

1439. “According to what M. de Gasparin has just told us, it follows, that when a clairvoyant tells us in his sleep that he sees the spirit of a deceased person, and gives us an exact description of his person, we are not to regard it as the deceased person that the clairvoyant sees, but his image impressed on the memory of that clairvoyant from acquaintance with the defunct when living, or in the memory of the consulting visitor in rapport; so that the clairvoyant, in these apparitions of the dead, is governed only by reminiscence or the reflection of images or of thoughts. Now, having allowed M. de Gasparin to speak, I desire in my turn to speak also.

1440. “In January, 1848, a work was published, entitled _Les Arcanes de la Vie Future Révelée_: The Arcana of a Future Life Revealed. My attention being attracted by the title of this work, it was procured, and proved to be nothing but a collection of the apparitions of deceased persons to clairvoyants.

1441. “On so delicate a question, I thought it best to consult the Scriptures, to see whether the appearance of the dead to the living was admitted by the sacred volumes. I opened, then, the Bible, and the first passage that met my eye was the chap. xxvii. of the first book of Kings, where it said that Samuel had appeared to the witch of Endor, and that, by the intermediation of the latter, the prophet spoke to Samuel; an apparition on which were sketched those reported by M. Cahagnet in his _Arcana_. I saw afterward in the second book of Maccabees, the high-priest Onias and the prophet Jeremiah appearing to Judas Maccabeus. I see in St. Matthew, chap. xvii., the apparition of Moses and Elias to Peter, John, and James on the Tabor. Finally, I read, in chap. xxviii. of the said St. Matthew, that at the death of our Saviour Jesus Christ, many of the dead appeared to a great number of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

1442. “Convinced by the holy volume of the possibility, or rather of the reality, of the apparition of the dead to the living, I put to myself this question: Can these apparitions of the dead to the living which, according to the Bible, took place in former times, be permitted to occur at the present time? In order to resolve that question, I desired again to consult the Bible, and found the Holy Spirit, in Ecclesiastes, holding the following language: ‘_What has been, is what shall be; and what has been done, is what shall be done again._’

1443. “Then, I said to myself, the appearance of the dead to the living has taken place, according to the Bible; therefore, agreeably to the same sacred volume, what has existed at one time may exist at another. Therefore, there is no reason for rejecting the doctrine of communion of spirits, God willing, at the present time.

1444. “But it is to be found out whether the apparitions reported in the _Arcana_ were realities, or were only illusions, so called. The solution of this problem belongs to me. And with this view I found myself at the house of the author of the _Arcana_, where a very serious discussion took place between him and myself on his work, which ended with the apparition of my brother Joseph, the third one that figures in the second volume of the _Arcana_. In fact, I called for the apparition of my late brother, and scarcely had a few minutes passed when the clairvoyant, Adile, told me she saw a gentleman, and by the description she gave of the stature, costume, character, the cause and place of the death of the person appearing, I could not avoid recognising in the said person that of my brother Joseph.

1445. “This apparition had such an effect on me, as to keep me awake the whole night, seeking to explain the phenomenon. But becoming fatigued with researches, I thought, as a magnetizer, to be able to explain these apparitions by the same means as M. de Gasparin pretends to explain them at the present time. I said to myself that clairvoyants saw the image of things impressed on the memory of the persons with whom they were in rapport; the image of my late brother being engraved on my memory, it was enough for M. Cahagnet to put me, by an act of his will, in rapport with his clairvoyant, for the latter to have seen the image of my brother on the tablets of my memory.

1446. “With this impression, I wrote to M. Cahagnet, saying to him, that in spite of my assurance yesterday of the reality of the apparition of my brother, my knowledge of magnetism had caused me to-day to think otherwise, and that further evidence would be necessary to convince me of its reality. M. Cahagnet having complied, two spirits were evoked; one of my aforesaid brother Joseph, and the other of Antoinette Carré, the sister of my domestic; apparitions reported in the second volume of the _Arcana_, and the description given by the clairvoyant could not have been more correct. But as I still entertained the idea that these images could not be traced by the clairvoyant in my mind, this meeting produced no results. Curious, however, to know whether other clairvoyants possessed the same faculty as the clairvoyant of M. Cahagnet in regard to these apparitions, in the sense I understand them, I begged M. Lecocq, clockmaker of the navy, living at Argenteuil, to try some experiments with his sister, a very lucid clairvoyant.

1447. “Five apparitions appeared, of whom three were unknown to him or his clairvoyant, knowing only their names; and their identity was determined by the assistance of other persons present who had known them, as reported from two sources, the letter written me by M. Lecocq, which M. de Gasparin can see, and the report made by the former to M. Cahagnet, which was published in the second volume of the _Arcana_, page 244. In view of this fact, and others of the same nature come to my knowledge, my opinion as to the derivation of appearances and thoughts from the mind of communicants through the clairvoyant begins to be modified. However, to be entirely convinced of the reality of these apparitions, I should require similar facts to be presented to my own eyes.

1448. “Animated by these sentiments, I requested a person in whom I reposed entire confidence, to give me the name of a defunct, entirely unknown to me, and that of Joseph Moral was given. The young clairvoyant of thirteen years, whom I named at the beginning of this monograph, being one day put to sleep by his mother at my house, I used the opportunity to request the subject to invoke the spirit of Joseph Moral. Scarcely had two minutes elapsed, when the young clairvoyant announced the presence of a person, whom she described. Having never seen the said Joseph Moral, and therefore not able to say any thing about him, I was limited to writing down a faithful account of him as given by the clairvoyant.

1449. “The meeting ended, I sought the person who had furnished the name, and reading the description, and much surprised to find it correct, she said to me, ‘How, sir, were you able to give such an exact description of M. Joseph Moral, whom you never knew and have never seen?’

1450. “This fact was for me a positive conviction that clairvoyants, in their communion with the dead, do not simply see the image of the deceased in the memory of the consulting party, but that they see the veritable _souls_ of the departed, as the witch of Endor saw the soul of Samuel, according to our creed, called the Holy Spirit of the Ecclesiastic. And should M. de Gasparin desire to know the person who gave me the name of M. Joseph Moral, it will give me pleasure to wait on him to her house.

1451. “Here is another fact like the preceding, but still more interesting. M. de Sarrio, of Alicant, in Spain, a cavalier of Malta, gave to my brother Joseph, of whom I have already spoken, fifteen thousand francs, to be distributed among the poor; for which sum my brother aforesaid gave a receipt to the benevolent donor. At the death of M. de Sarrio, his brother, the Marquis of Algolfa, becoming his heir, found this receipt among the papers of the deceased. At the death of my brother, the Marquis desiring to know if all the amount had been disbursed, addressed my sister, who became his heir, on the subject. But my sister, being unacquainted with his affairs, not having lived with him, submitted to the marquis the schedule of the deceased; which, showing only the distribution of half the amount, the other half was claimed by the marquis, and finally made the subject of a lawsuit.

1452. “My sister, much aggrieved, made me a party to her troubles, in a letter from Alicant. Discomforted by what had happened to my sister, I visited my young clairvoyant and demanded the presence of my brother, who, as she had said, had several times been with her. He was reported present, and I questioned him in relation to the money received from M. de Sarrio, reproaching him in regard to the reversion of the said balance, and the pain he had caused my sister.

1453. “My brother, astounded at my language, said, that he owed nothing to anybody; and as to the amount referred to, he had given it to Father Mario before dying, to be distributed to the poor; to prove which it would be necessary to call Father Mario. Scarcely had my brother said this, when the clairvoyant said she saw a man with my brother, and from the description she gave of him, I thought I recognised a Capuchin friar, who, interrogated by my brother, confirmed what he had said.

1454. “Having never heard the name of Father Mario, as I had left Alicant thirty years before, I requested some particulars of his country and family, and was told he belonged to St. Vincent du Respect, one league from Alicant, &c., and I put the following questions to my sister, by letter: Was your brother Joseph visited in his sickness by a priest named Father Mario, having a sister at St. Vincent du Respect? and do you know if this Father Mario is dead? Following is the answer:

1455. “‘As to Father Mario, he left this country several years since, and it is not known if he is in France or America. He did not visit our brother in his last sickness, because he had left some years before. He has two sisters, one was in Algeria, and the other went with him.’ The letters written by me to my sister on this subject, and her replies, with other details, were published in the third volume of the _Arcana_. The originals are at the disposal of M. de Gasparin, and I would desire to ask that gentleman one question: Whether the apparition of Father Mario, as established by the letters of my sister, confirming the existence of Father Mario, is not a positive fact, and not an hallucination? Whether, as this monk had never been seen nor known by me, his image could possibly have been perceived by the clairvoyant through any impression made upon my mind? Of course, it could not have been the devil who personated Father Mario, if M. de Gasparin _correctly_ repudiates the intervention of Satan in spiritual manifestations.

1456. “Can M. de Gasparin explain to me the appearance of Father Mario consistently with his _Psychological hypothesis in General_. These are the facts which I have at present to oppose to the _Psychological Rationale_ of M. de Gasparin. At a future time I shall be prepared to say more to him as well as to M. de Mirville, both on mesmerism and table-turning, as well as in regard to mediums.

1457. “If the marquis and count do not respond to my call, their silence will do great injury to the cause of truth, science, and religion. It is, then, in order not to act against interests so sacred, that I take pleasure in hoping that these gentlemen will comply with my wishes.”

_Mechanical Movements without Contact. By Mr. Isaac Rhen, President of the Harmonial Society of Philadelphia._[35]

1458. Among the most distinguished and eloquent advocates of Spiritualism in Philadelphia, is Mr. Isaac Rehn, President of the Harmonial Society. It is said that a good countenance is a constant letter of recommendation. The truth of this adage is conspicuously realized in the instance of this sensible and agreeable spiritualist. There is an air of good feeling and sincerity in Mr. Rehn’s tones and expression, which would cause him to be viewed as a reliable witness before any honest and intelligent jury.

1459. The fact of mechanical movements being induced _without muscular contact, direct_ or _indirect_, is one of the phenomena which scarcely any one will believe without intuitive proof. It will be seen that on the third of February, 1854, after I had been engaged in the investigation of spiritual manifestations for more than two months, I was still so incredulous as to employ this language to Mr. Holcomb: “You believe fully that tables move without contact, because you have seen them thus moved; I am skeptical, because I have not seen them move without human contact, although I have been at several circles.”

1460. But one of the forms of this phenomenon, which has excited the most wonder and incredulity, is that of the carrying of Mr. Henry Gordon, a medium, through the air without the contact of any mundane body. Mr. Rehn having been among the witnesses of this fact, I requested him to give me a statement of it, as well as of others of a similar kind. Subjoined is a letter, written in consequence of my request:

PHILADELPHIA, August 1, 1855. PROFESSOR ROBERT HARE:

1461. _Dear Sir_: In obedience to your invitation, I will proceed to make a brief statement of the more prominent facts supporting the hypothesis, that the spirits of those who once dwelt with us do still hold intercourse with mortals.

1462. During the early part of the year 1850, some friends of mine, in whom I had full confidence, stated to me the result of several intercommunions had with these mysterious agents, by which I was led to a determination to test the matter for myself; and, accordingly, on the fifth day of July, in company with a friend, I visited New York, that being the only accessible point known to us at which to gain the object of our visit. The Fox family, consisting of Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Fish, (afterward Mrs. Brown,) Catherine and Margaret Fox were then at Barnum’s Hotel, giving to the public opportunities to test the reality or imposture of the so-called spiritual phenomena. We called at the rooms of the family, and obtained a sitting during the afternoon of the same day. A dozen or more persons were present at the sitting, the result of which was the conviction that the sounds were not a deception on the part of the mediums, but the result of some occult force and intelligence, independent of the ladies themselves.

1463. Without entering into any detail of the incidents of the visit above referred to, or speculations upon the general subject under consideration, I propose to cite incidents in my own experience, which go to establish the truth of spiritual intercourse.

1464. Shortly after the commencement of the sounds in the first circle instituted in this city, and of which I was, from the first, a member, demonstrations in the form of movements of tables, chairs, and other articles commenced. Many times they were very violent, but in most instances it was necessary that the hands of the company, and especially those of the medium, should be upon the table. During the session of a circle, however, held in the afternoon—and of course in daylight—these movements became unusually violent. Two card-tables, around which the company sat, having been drawn to the centre of the floor, were thrown backward and forward with great force. After moving thus for some minutes, one of the tables started toward some two or three of the company, and pressed heavily against them, causing them to recede until they had reached the wall; the table would then retreat to the centre of the floor, and, as it were, charge some two or three more, whom in like manner it would press back. Thus it continued retreating and attacking, until the entire company were seated around at the sides of the room.

1465. Having thus cleared the floor in the central part of the room, the table rose deliberately at the side next to myself, and so continued until it had turned some distance beyond the point of equilibrium, with the evident design of performing a revolution.

1466. These and other manifestations were at the time so wonderful and strange to that part of the company present which had never before met in a circle, as to cause great terror. One lady became so much alarmed during the performance of the spirits with the table as above described, that she screamed aloud, which interfering with the requisite conditions for success, the table fell heavily upon the floor, breaking off the top.

1467. During the rising of the table on the side toward myself, I reached my hand and pressed upon it, with the view of seeing what force was employed in raising it. Upon removing my hand, it would spring up as if it were suspended from the ceiling by an elastic cord.

1468. At the time this phenomenon was occurring, a friend of mine, Mr. J. A. Cutting, of Boston, Massachusetts, being seated by my side, found himself moved, as though some one had drawn the chair on which he was sitting. He then placed his feet upon the front round of the chair, so as to entirely insulate himself from the floor, and while in this position he was raised from the floor, chair and all. This gentleman was quite large and stout, weighing, I should think, not less than one hundred and seventy pounds.

1469. I would here state particularly and emphatically, that at the time of these most violent movements of the table, _no hands were upon them, nor was there any physical contact with the objects moved_.

1470. At the same session, a tumbler and pitcher being upon a washstand in a corner of the room, some five feet distant from any person present, suddenly a crash was heard in the direction in which those articles were situated. Upon examination, the tumbler was found to be broken into several hundred pieces, and what is still more strange, the pieces were not scattered around, but occupied a spot which did not exceed eight or ten inches in diameter! It seemed as if the tumbler had _collapsed_; even the bottom, thick as it was, was broken into many pieces. These facts occurred at the house of Mr. George D. Henck, dentist, in Arch street, who, with the other persons present on that occasion, will at any time corroborate these statements.

1671. On another occasion, at the house of Mr. J. Thompson, of this city, during a sitting, I requested, among other things, that the spirits would move the table without physical contact. Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. R-—-, and myself, the only persons in the room, drew back from the table, and it was then moved some six or eight inches. In addition to this, it moved from various points, and objects were retained on the table, when under ordinary circumstances, from the inclination of the table, they must have fallen off.

1472. At a sitting at my own residence, some two years since, some very strange phenomena occurred. At the close of the session, a young man, of slender frame and constitution, (Mr. H. C. Gordon,) had his hand thrown violently upon the centre of a large dining-table, weighing not less than eighty or ninety pounds. Some of the company were requested to raise Mr. Gordon’s hand from the table. This, after much effort, was accomplished, and, strange to relate, the table accompanied the hand until it was entirely isolated from the floor. This was a result which I would have doubted, had it not come under my own personal observation.

1473. About the same time, a company of persons, whose names, as far as I can recollect, I shall mention, were seated around two tables, joined together, in order to furnish room sufficient to seat the party. The house in which I then lived had two parlours, with folding doors. The two tables referred to occupied the entire length of the front parlour, leaving barely room enough for the chairs at the front end of the room; the other end of the table extended quite to the folding doors, leaving, of course, no passage on either end. It so happened that I was seated at that end of the table projecting into the doorway. The medium, Mr. Gordon, was seated about midway of the tables, on the left, the other seats being occupied by the rest of the company.

1474. After a variety of manifestations had occurred, the medium was raised from his seat by an invisible power, and, after some apparent resistance on his part, was carried through the doorway between the parlours, directly over my head, and his head being bumped along the ceiling, he passed to the farther end of the back room, in which there was no one beside himself.

1475. Although all the individuals present had not equally good opportunity of ascertaining the facts in this case, the room having been somewhat darkened, still his transit over the end of the table at which I was seated, and the utter impossibility of the medium passing out in other way than over our heads, his continued conversation while thus suspended, and his position, as indicated by the sound, with other facts in the case, leave no reasonable doubt of the performance of the feat.

1476. There were present on the occasion alluded to, the following persons, viz.: Aaron Comfort, George D. Henck, Rebecca Thomas, Naomi Thomas, Marianne Thomas, Esther Henck, Mrs. Rehn, J. S. Mintzer, M. D., and many others. Respectfully, I. REHN.

1477. The truth of the elevation and carriage of this medium aloft, by invisible agency, from one part of a room to another, does not depend on the testimony of one set of observers; several other respectable eye-witnesses have alleged the occurrence of a similar manifestation in their presence.

_Communication from J. M. Kennedy, Esq._

1478. One of our most zealous and eloquent spiritualists, is my friend, J. M. Kennedy. He has done me the favour, out of many striking manifestations observed by him, to communicate two, which are among the most demonstrative of a physical power and mental intelligence, and which cannot be ascribed to mortal agency. That in which the magnetic needle was moved by his request, without physical contact, is, as I conceive, pre-eminently interesting.

PHILADELPHIA, August, 1855. “PROFESSOR HARE:

1479. “_Sir_: You ask me to state some facts I have witnessed, which tended to convince my mind that the varied phenomena, occurring among us, are truly ascribable to the direct action of disembodied spirits. I will state two matters, remarking, however, that I have had other and different forms of evidence equally satisfactory to me.

1480. “About two years since, I was invited to meet a private circle to witness physical manifestations. I met them at the house of a near neighbour, whose lady is a medium. There were about ten persons present. The circle being seated, the movement of the table and tipping in answer to questions occurred. I now asked for a communication with myself, which was assented to. I then inquired if the spirits would move the table, despite of my power to hold it still, the company to withdraw from the table, excepting the medium and myself. The answer was, ‘_We will!_’ The company all arose, and removed their chairs; I stood up and took hold of the table, exercising my best judgment as to the use of my strength in the pending contest. The medium having placed her hand on the table, I promptly announced, _‘I am ready_.’ At once, the movement of the table commenced, despite of my efforts to prevent it, and having slightly pushed me backward, it began to draw me in the opposite direction. It moved entirely across the room, dragging me along with it, my feet sliding on the carpet. I resisted the motion of the table with all the power I could command, and no visible being but myself had any contact with it, excepting the medium, whose hand (not _hands_) was on the top of the table.

1481. “I then said, ‘If I sit on the table, will you throw me off?’ _Answer._ Yes. I at once sat on it, and the medium placing her hand as before, I said, ‘_I am ready_,’ and almost instantaneously the table was turned over on its side, of course, throwing me off. All this occurred at a private house; the room was light enough to read small print, and there was entire freedom to search for trick, machinery, &c. There was to me evidence of an intelligent, invisible power, giving us the tests we suggested and asked for, to prove its presence and power.

1482. “On another occasion, there were present, at the dwelling of another friend of mine, my friend and his lady, also a lad learning business with him, and myself, the apprentice lad being the medium. We sat in the parlour in the afternoon, windows open, room well lighted.

1483. “Among other manifestations which occurred was this: I placed on the centre of the large dining-table a glass tumbler, on which I placed a compass, the needle being one foot in length. On the periphery of the compass, the alphabet, as well as the various points, was painted, and at each letter there was a small metallic pin permanently fixed. After changing the compass freely, to see if the needle worked free and true, I left it so placed that the needle pointed due north, according to the points marked therefor. We then removed our chairs from the table some distance, no one being in contact with it. My friend was on the east, his lady on the south, the medium on the west, and myself on the north side of the table. I then requested that the spirits would move the compass needle to such points as we might designate; and naming north, south, east, west, north-east, south-west, &c., perhaps, in all, nearly twenty different points, I saw the needle promptly and quickly moved to each point, as and when designated by me, and there held steadily for a brief time; and on each occasion, after having been thus held, I saw it fly back to the north point. I also requested that they (the spirits) would spell _John_ by moving the needle to the letters, and I saw the needle promptly moved to the several letters required to spell the name, stopping at each, tipping and touching the small pin opposite the letter, and then immediately returning to its position due north.

1484. “This manifestation I was compelled to regard as clearly proving the action of an invisible, intelligent power, present with us, and purporting to be a disembodied spirit once known among us as a man. There was here also perfect freedom to search for trick, machinery, &c.; and all these suggested explanations occurred as clearly to my mind as to men generally, and were duly cared for by me; for I was then an investigator of the truth of spirit manifestations, and did not wish to be _humbugged_. These cases, however, are but a sample of the chain of testimony that has satisfied my mind fully on this question. JOHN M. KENNEDY.”

_Communication from Wm. West, Esq._

1485. As respects the communication which follows, I have only to say that I consider the author as quite reliable, both as to his capacity to observe accurately, and his disposition to exert that capacity faithfully. I believe him to have one of those minds which, like the scale-beam, allows every thing _pro_ or _con_ to have its due weight.

“PHILADELPHIA, September 6, 1855. “PROFESSOR R. HARE:

1486. “_Dear Sir_: At our last interview you wished a few facts from my experience.

1487. “About three years since I lectured in this city against the _spiritual_ agency of ‘the modern manifestations,’ and advocated a nerve aura, obedient to the will. At that time I had the power to stop the physical movements. Subsequently, the agents in these phenomena refused to obey me. I have since been informed by the spirits, that they permitted me to control them for a time, in order ultimately to convince me by depriving me of said power.

1488. “Having read your statement of the message transmitted by you, through your spirit sister, from Cape May, in July last, to this city, I have thought that an account of a similar despatch from myself, through my spirit wife, to a circle in this city, might be acceptable.

1489. “On the evening of June 22, 1853, while sitting at the table at Mrs. Long’s, (a writing medium, living at No. 9 Thompson St., New York), my deceased wife purported to be communicating with me. At that time I had been appointed, by the spirits, dictator to a circle, which convened every Wednesday evening at the residence of H. C. Gordon, 103 North Fifth St., Philadelphia. I inquired of my wife if she could convey a message to the circle then assembled in Philadelphia. She answered, ‘_I will try_.’ I then requested her to take my respects to the circle, and inform them that I was succeeding admirably in my investigation, and becoming stronger in the glorious truth of spirit intercommunion. In the course of seventeen minutes, the spirit again announced her presence, and informed us she had delivered the message. On the next Wednesday evening, I was present at the circle in Philadelphia, and was informed by all the members present that my communication had been duly received. Another spirit, I was informed, had been communicating, when an interruption occurred, and my wife gave her name, and, in substance, the communication, through the hand of Mr. Gordon.

1490. “There were present about twelve persons of high respectability, among whom were Mr. and Mrs. Howell, Mr. and Mrs. Laird, Mr. Aaron Comfort, Mr. William Knapp, &c.

1491. “At Mrs. Long’s there were three or four persons present, among them, I think, Mr. Ira Davis.

1492. “I am not a medium, therefore the objection of _medium sympathy_ is out of place. Yours, &c. W. WEST.

“George St., 4th house west of Broad.”

_Koons’s Establishment._

1493. Among the wonders of Spiritualism, none have excited so much astonishment as the manifestations which have occurred at the establishment of Mr. Koons, in Athens county, Ohio. The phenomena are so extraordinary, as to be difficult to be believed, even by Spiritualists; and yet there is far more evidence of their truth than of any of the miracles recorded in Scripture. In no instance has any of these been attested in due form by known spectators, and admitting that, in this respect, there is no deficiency, they were not of a nature to be repeated before a succession of observers. Those at Koons’s have been repeated, and are still being repeated. I first heard that there was such an establishment from my spirit brother, at least fifteen months ago. My spirit friends confirm the truth of the account received, and sanction the idea that there is something in the locality which favours mediumship. I subjoin the narratives of several visitors to the establishment in question:

_Communication from Joseph Hazard, Esq._

1494. Joseph Hazard, Esq., of Narragansett, R. I., is very well known in Philadelphia, as well as in the vicinity of his residence. Mr. Hazard accompanied me, in some of my investigating visits, to spiritual circles, and was present, as I have mentioned, (139,) on the occasion when I first saw a table move without contact. There is no doubt but that he is a truthful witness. If he has overrated what he heard or saw, it must be from the enthusiasm with which he was inspired.

ATHENS CO., _Ohio_, May 4, 1855.

1495. _My Dear Sir_: I have been here these three days, witnessing the wonderful spirit manifestations of which we have heard so much. Allow me to assure you that the published account of them is no more to the reality than shadow is to substance. No pen can describe, and if it could, I believe no mind could believe that had not witnessed them. The spirits talk audibly through a trumpet, not with good articulation, but as if the process were mechanical. On the accordeon, however, the language is exquisitely articulated, being some beautiful air or catch, according to the number of words; the harmony being perfect, and every note forming a part or whole word. They frequently move overhead, next the ceiling, with a rapidity of motion inconceivably astounding, blowing a trumpet with deafening blasts at times, or beating a tamborine or some other instrument.

1496. One of the exhibitions represents a spirit hand during this circuit, beating a tamborine, there being a piece of sand-paper with phosphorus on it, which they use for illuminating the hand. I saw them begin the work and complete it. The hand was small and delicate, and flew all over the room with something like the rapidity of light on a broken surface of water, frequently snapping the fingers, and stopping often near to myself and others, that we might see it to full advantage.

1497. Another hand, which I could not see, touched me, but I took hold of it. It seemed as if covered with buckskin.

1498. The spirits are now contriving a plan to exhibit in the light. They say that light destroys the conditions necessary by their present system, even that evolved by the phosphorus rendering the operation very difficult.

1499. It appears evident that spirits to be seen with material eyes are obliged to materialize themselves, or else spiritualize our vision; and these things have been done repeatedly.

1500. I have not yet seen them write. I have heard them talk and play on many instruments by the hour. There is a base and tenor drum on which they perform with such violence, that it is almost deafening at times, and the whole house resounds till it shakes throughout. Some of the music is seraphic, especially when they speak with the harmonicon, when it is more unearthly in its character than I should have been able to imagine.

1501. The spirit houses are distinct buildings of one room, dark as Erebus, and rather lonesome places, in this wilderness. I have, nevertheless, obtained permission to sleep on the floor each night in one: and during two of those nights I have been favoured with faint music on the drums. Last night, from the moment I extinguished the light, drumming was continued throughout the night, accompanied by a few notes on the violin.

1502. The spirit said last night, “I can’t play a bit,” but, nevertheless, he played some things delightfully. This was a new performer, who had sent word he would perform this night, and that he was a German.

1503. One spirit attempted to sing through the trumpet, but could not make music; after each failure he would stop a minute, and then, very good-naturedly, say, “I will try again.” This he did several times, when he added “What shall I do for you, if I can’t sing?” He at length took up an accordeon, and succeeded better on that; but I presume did not suit himself, as he would exclaim every once in a while, “Oh, dear!” very despondingly.

1504. The effort the spirits make to manifest themselves is very great, evidently, and the amiability of their demeanour here is striking. However, I cannot tell you but a small portion of what I have seen, but believing you would be interested in this sketch, I have hastily made it, and hope you will excuse the rudeness of it. If I could not witness again what I have seen during the last seventy-two hours, I would not part with the consciousness of it for the whole State of Ohio. I am very sincerely your friend, JOS. P. HAZARD. To PROF. ROBT. HARE, Philada.

A VISIT TO THE SPIRITUALISTS OF OHIO.

_Letter from John Gage.—The Home of the Mediums and the Haunts of the Spirits.—What they did, said, and wrote._

LOCALITY OF JONATHAN KOONS.—A HILLY LAND.

1505. The house of Mr. Koons is in Milford, Athens county, Ohio, twenty-five miles south-west of McConnelsville, forty-two miles from Lancaster, and sixty-seven miles from Columbus.

1506. Persons going from the West can go to Lancaster, which is the nearest point by railroad, thence down the Hocking River by stage, which runs daily to Chauncey, thence on foot two miles to Koons. From the North persons would take the stage at Columbus, thence to Lancaster by the lines above described. From the East there are steamboats to McConnelsville, on the Muskingum, both from Zanesville and Marietta, but from these private carriages must be got; distance as above, twenty-five miles, but the miles bear no correspondence to the hours, for on every route they think they do well if they accomplish two and a half miles an hour. No man ever travelled over so hilly a country anywhere else, and when you finally get into Koons’s vicinity, you find the essence of hills personified; there is no such thing as a level spot large enough to put a house on.

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITUALIST.—PRESENCE OF ELECTRICITY.

1507. Koons’s house is located on the south-east angle of a sharp ridge, some few rods below the edge of the ledge, and where, when the native trees occupied the ground, the lightning was wont to make frolic among them; and where it still likes to sport. The stove-pipe above the spirit room was burst off, and a number of times during the sitting of the mediums, the electric sparks were seen to play over the wires of the spirit table.

THE ROOM WHERE THE SPIRITS MANIFEST THEIR POWER.

1508. The spirit room is built of logs, as well as the house in which Mr. Koons resides; it is situated at the end of his dwelling-house, and six feet from it. It is twelve by sixteen feet square, and seven feet high inside; there is a tight floor, and the ceiling above is of rough boards, laid close edge to edge; in the garret above, there is less than three feet clear room to the peak of the roof, and up here are stowed old shoes and other old trumpery. There is a door in the front, near the centre of the building, and a small window on each side of it, and one window in the back side; the windows have each close shutters outside to exclude the light. Across the back end of the room are three rough board shelves. Two feet in front of these, stands the spirit table, three feet wide and six feet long. In front of this, and setting against it, is a common fall-leaf table, about three and a half feet square, which extends to within one foot of the stove; and across the back end of the room are two rough benches for spectators to sit upon, and the front one comes within one foot of the stove. Then, on each end of the table is room for three or four chairs, all of which fills the room so full that there is no room to get around. Mr. Koons’s seat is at the left of the table, where he sits and plays the fiddle. Nahum, his son, sits on the left of the table; he is a lad eighteen years old, and the principal medium; and his mother sits next to him.

THE FURNITURE AND OCCUPANTS.

1509. The spirit table has a frame or rack standing on it, and extended from one end to the other; this rack sustains a tenor drum at one end and a brass drum at the other, attached to it by means of wires; there are wires also passing in various directions about the rack, and sustaining some small bells, some images of birds cut out of copper plate, &c.; there are two fiddles, a guitar, banjo, accordeon, French harp, tin horn, tea bell, triangle, and tamborine, either hanging up or on the tables. The room will hold eighteen or twenty persons besides the mediums, and when filled, as it usually is, there is no room to pass around or between the people and the table or stove.

1510. Some phosphorus is always placed on the table between wet sheets of paper, for the exhibition of the hand.

THE MANIFESTATIONS COMMENCE.—THE SPIRITS PLAY ON DRUMS, HARPS, FRENCH HORNS, ACCORDEONS, AND TAMBORINES.

KOONS’S ROOM, June 19, 1855. 1511. Between eight and nine o’clock, Mr. Koons and his son Nahum went into the room and closed the doors and shutters, for the purpose, they said, of inquiring of King, the presiding spirit, whether he would attend that evening, and what time he would commence; this they always do, and they were told to get ready in twenty minutes. We went into the room. Mr. Koons took his seat with his fiddle and tuned it; I took my seat by his side, and my wife next to me, our chairs setting close to each other, and the chairs and benches in the room were all filled. The window-shutters and doors were now closed, and Mr. Koons put out the light, and immediately there came a startling blow upon the table that made the room jar, and almost brought me to my feet. “Well, King,” said Mr. Koons, “you are here,” and commenced playing a lively tune. As soon as Koons began to play the fiddle, the bass and tenor drums began to play with such power and energy as to frighten me; the whole house was on a jar and vibrating in perfect time with the music; and I know no mortal hands had hold of the drumsticks, and for the time the thought was irresistible and constant that spirits controlled them. After two or three tunes on the drums, the tamborine was taken up and beat with such violence, that I expected every moment it would be dashed to pieces, at the same time it was making rapid circles in the room and dashing from one place to another, and occasionally thrust almost in my face, so that I was afraid it would hit me. Then the French harp would be played, and then the drums, harp, and accordeon altogether; then a strange kind of unearthly noise would sing in concert with the music. Interspersed between the tunes upon the harp was talking through the horn, the horn frequently passing through the room, over and around us at the same time.

THE MANIFESTATIONS CONTINUE, AND THE HEAD SPIRIT WRITES A COMMUNICATION.

1512. At one time there was talking around the room, so as to disturb those that were anxious to hear every thing, when suddenly there came a shriek that was truly terrific; such a sound as Milton might suppose would be made by an imp of the infernal regions. The horn then said: “Keep silent.”

1513. Koons talked some time with the voice in the horn and harp; then asked him to write a communication for me. We then heard the rattling of paper, and the phosphorus began to show itself, was taken up in a hand, showed the hand. It then got a pencil, took some paper, and laid it on a table close before me, and wrote on it, making the same sound that a pencil always makes in rapid writing; then made some flourishes on the paper below the writing, threw down the pencil, handed the paper into my hand, and threw the phosphorus on the floor in front of Mr. Koons, who took it up and handed it to the hand again; it then threw it in the corner of the room, and said, “Good-night,” when Mr. Koons lighted a candle. I examined the paper that the hand had given me, and found it was my paper, which I had placed on the table, with a private mark on it. There were four lines written on it in a good legible hand, and following the ruled lines on the paper as follows:

1514. “Well, friend, we return our regards to you for the interest you have manifested in our presence and performance; we now take our leave. Farewell. KING.”

AT KOONS’S, Thursday, June 21. 1515. We have much more of a performance than usual, and one highly satisfactory. Among other things, after they had finished playing a tune, Mr. Schenick, who sat next to me, and who plays the violin very well, said, “King, won’t you hand me the other fiddle?” It was taken up and handed to him over my head, thumbing the strings as it passed. “Yes,” it said, “I will give you the fiddle; you do not want the bow, I suppose.” “Oh, yes,” said Schenick, “I want the bow, too.” The horn said, “Can’t you get along without it?” Schenick answered, “I can’t play very well with my fingers.” Then the bow was handed to him, the horn named a tune, and both fiddles began to play, accompanied by the drums and the accordeon, and a number of voices sang, something like human voices.

1516. Then the tamborine was played with much spirit, and passed rapidly around the room. At the same time it made stops in front of a person, touched them gently on the shoulder, head, or somewhere else, playing all the while; then passed to another, and so on. It passed me, and dropped into my wife’s lap. It then flew over Van Sickle’s head, made a great flourish, lit on it, and began to press down; and Van says, “Bear down; I can hold you up.” He then said there was the weight of a large man put on his head; it also passed to a number of others, and pressed down on their heads. Mr. Koons then asked him to lay the tamborine on my head, which it did immediately, bearing down, I should think, with a weight of twenty pounds: I raised up my hand and took hold of it, when it started up, and I held on as fast as I dared for fear of breaking the Tamborine; it then passed around and came to my wife, and pressed gently against her head. This, she said, she mentally requested it to do, as she did not want it to bear down hard on her.

1517. Mr. Koons then said, “King, it is very warm here; won’t you take Mrs. Gage’s fan and fan us?” But before he had finished speaking, the tamborine began to fly around the room like lightning, breathing a strong current of wind, and fanning all in the house. Then the phosphorus was taken up and darted around the room like flakes of lightning, and a hand began to develop. We talked with the voice while this process was going on, and tried to urge our spirit friends to write a communication for us. When the hand was formed, it passed around the room and shook hands or touched the hands of many of us. It took hold of my hand, and then of my wife’s. We both felt the shape of a hand distinctly. It then got some paper and a pencil, and laying the paper on the table, right in front of us, began to write with great rapidity; covered one side of the sheet; turned it over again, wrote five lines, signed it, filled the rest of the page with flourishes, folded it, and placed it in my wife’s hand. It then flew around the room, darting from the table up to the ceiling, there making three or four distinct knocks, and darting down and up, repeating the knocks a number of times in succession; it then passed all around the room, stopping and showing the hand to all that wanted to see it. It then commenced darting around the room again, and snapping its fingers as loud as a man could do. It then threw the phosphorus in the back corner of the room, said “Good night,” and was gone. Mr. Koons then lighted the candle, and my wife read the paper which was given her by the spirit hand, as follows:

THE SPIRIT’S LETTER.

1518. _To the Friends of this Circle_: After various inquiries made at this circle, we deem it highly necessary to reply by stated reasons, why our presiding spirit declines to give the names of the spirits present during our performances at this room:

1519. 1st. Let the inquirer conceive himself entering a congregated promiscuous assembly of persons, who are all anxiously awaiting his approach under the discharge of some important and general mission, in behalf of those in attendance. On entering the assembly, he looks around upon his anxious inquirers, and sees them attended with their respective safeguards, such as he never saw before. In the discharge of his official duty, however, he is necessitated to exclude himself from the direct view and intercourse of the safeguards, so as to be brought into a nearer relation to the corresponding parties. The interlocution accordingly takes place, when each one in turn begins to interrogate the speaker in his excluded position, on subjects relating to their excluded guard, of which the speaker knows but little or nothing, except the cognition of their presence on his arrival; and in order to acquaint himself with the circumstances and matters inquired after, so as to answer correctly, the speaker has to disencumber himself at every inquiry, and not only so, but would also fail to perform his _devolved_ duty by submitting himself to the scrutiny and criticism of the corresponding parties. Which, then, of the two requirements would be of the most consequence—to discommode the general interest of the assembly and that of his own official duty, or to omit the latter and attend to the discharge of a more important and higher duty, by which the peace and consoling riches would be augmented to the fulness of their cup?

1520. Now, this is the position our presiding spirit occupies. When himself and band enter the room, he recognises, many bright guardian spirits interspersed among the promiscuous assembly, of whom he has no knowledge. And in the discharge of their manifesting performances, they necessarily must assume physical incumbrances, which shuts them from a direct view of the attending spirits; and as many questions that are led in relation to them so often, the corresponding spirit has to disrobe himself so as to give a correct relation, to say nothing of the possibility of receiving and conveying wrong impressions from spirits who do not regard the truth.

1521. Given by Second King, at the council of the presiding band.

THE ABOVE IS CERTIFIED TO.

1522. After this communication had been read, a certificate, setting forth the above facts was drawn up and signed by all those present, as follows:

1523. _Audience present._—Portia Gage, Gage’s Lake, Ill.; John Gage, Gage’s Lake, Lake county, Ill.; Solomon Bordon, Millfield, Athens county, Ohio; Thomas Morris and wife, Hyram Schenick, Selah Van Sickle, Delaware, Ohio.

1524. _Mediums present._—Jonathan Koons, Abigail T. Koons, Nahum W. Koons.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

1525. When a person comes here and sees the rooms, and finds them open all day for the children to run in and out of, and for visitors to examine, and sees there are no juggler’s tools about, and no place to keep them; the mediums and all engaged are of that artless stamp, and in their whole appearance, bearing, and conduct, so marked with honesty and sincerity of purpose, that the idea of their being imposters, or of their psychologizing their auditors, is simply ridiculous. That the music is not imaginary, is proved in another way, if further proof is necessary; it can be heard as well outside as inside of the houses, and is frequently heard by the neighbours for miles around. There is no question about the manifestations, and about their having all that superhuman or unaccountable character that the most sanguine writers have given them. They rather seem to be over-cautious about exaggerating any thing, and consequently fall far short of conveying an adequate idea of the phenomena. Therefore, all we have to do is to account for these existing facts, for the facts cannot be controverted. The intelligence displayed is sometimes of a high order, and they always claim to be spirits of men or women who have left the earthly form, and passed to that undiscovered country from whose bourne it has been said no travellers return. But of this every one can judge for themselves, though it is difficult to imagine what they can be, if they are not spirits. JOHN GAGE.

_An Evening at Koon’s Spirit Room. By Charles Partridge, Esq., New York._

1526. Sunday evening, 27th May last, I walked some three miles through a wood over a very poor road, in the direction of what is called the spirit rooms of Jonathan Koons. I noticed at the foot of a hill several carriages by the roadside, and horses tied to the fence and trees; and on reaching the place, I observed from thirty to fifty men sitting on stones, logs, and fences around a dilapidated log-cabin. The men looked respectable, and their deportment and conversation bore the impress of a religious meeting. I inquired who lived there, and was informed that Jonathan Koons lived in that house, (pointing to the cabin,) and _that_ (pointing to a small one near by) is the spirits’ room. I inquired what spirits lived there, and was told that it was the room where people go in to talk with their spirit friends who have gone out of their earthly tabernacle. On inquiry as to what this gathering was for, I was informed that these people had come to talk with their spirit friends and to witness spirit manifestations. I was informed that I might go in—that everybody was free to enter and examine the room, and to attend the circle. I selected a good “soft” stone, and sat me down, a perfect stranger, with the other disciples. I scrutinized the people closely, and listened to their conversation without joining in it. I overheard one say that Mr. Koons was in his house. In the course of half an hour a man came out, whom several persons addressed as Mr. Koons; he glanced his eyes over the congregation; presently, two men drove up, who, as I subsequently learned, came from Amesville, some ten miles distant; they were entire strangers to me and I to them; they looked around, spoke with some persons, and then with Mr. Koons, asking whom he had there, &c., and finally asked him who I was, pointing me out to Mr. Koons. Mr. Koons observed that he had not learned my name, that I had just come; but he was impressed by spirits to say, “His name is Charles Partridge, of New York.” Soon after, one of these men approached me, and asked if I was Mr. Partridge, from New York. I answered in the affirmative. “Charles Partridge?” “Yes.” “Well,” said he, “the spirits told Mr. Koons who you were.” I had not overheard their conversation, but such was the result of one of my tests as to the spirit origin of these manifestations.

1527. Mr. Koons and one of his children (a medium) went into the spirit room alone, as is their custom before forming the public circle, to receive such instruction from the presiding spirit (King) as he might wish to communicate. There are often more persons present desiring to obtain admittance than the room will hold. In such cases the spirit directs Mr. Koons to especially invite those in who have come the longest distance, and such as cannot remain there for another opportunity, usually calling the names of the parties, and leaving out the neighbours and those who can make it convenient to be present on subsequent occasions. At one of these preliminary interviews, I was invited in by Mr. Koons. Immediately on closing the doors, the spirit took up the trumpet, (described in my last communication,) and spoke through it audibly and distinctly, saying, “Good evening, friends!” to which we responded in like manner. The spirit then addressed me by name, and observed, in substance, that although they were strangers to me, I was not a stranger to them: they had been cognizant of my thoughts, desires, and efforts in behalf of Spiritualism from the time my attention was first called to the subject. They spoke in very flattering terms of myself and others, who had been bold to testify to the spiritual manifestations witnessed in the early times, and during the severer trials and opposition. They had watched the TELEGRAPH with anxious solicitude, and with eminent satisfaction. They closed in a fervent benediction and consecration to further and greater good and uses. After which this spirit (King) said to Mr. Koons, that they could not hold a public circle that evening, as he was elsewhere engaged. Mr. Koons expressed much regret at this announcement, and said he felt much embarrassed and mortified, because several persons were there who had come a long way; some from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Canada, and other distant places. The spirit said he was sorry, but he had engaged to attend a circle elsewhere, (naming the place a long distance away,) and he must be there in fifteen minutes. Mr. Koons would not be satisfied with any excuses, but insisted that he (King) had agreed to preside over his circle, and meet the company who came there; and rather than be made the instrument of apology to others for the disappointment in the performances, he would abandon it altogether, etc. King said, “Wait a few moments, and I will go and see if arrangements can be made.” He thereupon laid down the trumpet, and to all appearances left us, and we could get no further replies for four or five minutes, when the trumpet was again taken up, and King spoke through it, saying he had arranged the matter by deputizing a portion of his band to fill his engagement, and they would therefore hold a circle in that place, commencing the performance in fifteen minutes, but perhaps they would not be able to make so good music, or have the full complement of the manifestations. Thus ended this preliminary interview, which sufficiently indicates the character of all similar ones.

1528. I attended three public circles in the spirit house of Mr. Koons, and three in the spirit house of Mr. John Tippie; they are situated about three miles apart; the rooms and manifestations are very similar, although the electrical tables, so called, differ somewhat in their construction; the presiding spirits are of the same name, King; they claim to be father and son. These rooms will seat about twenty-five or thirty persons each, and are usually full. Many times, while I was there, more persons desired to go in than the house would hold, and some of them had to remain outside. They could hear the music and the spirits’ conversation just as well, and they only had to forego being touched by spirits and seeing them. The music is heard, under favourable circumstances, at the distance of one mile, or as far as any band of martial music can be heard. After the circle is formed, the door and windows are shut, the light is usually extinguished, and almost instantaneously, a tremendous blow by the large drumstick is struck on the table, when immediately the bass and tenor drums are beaten rapidly, like calling the roll on the muster-field, waking a thousand echoes. The rapid and tremulous blows on these drums are really frightful to many persons. This beating of the drums is continued five minutes or more, and when ended, King usually takes up the trumpet and salutes us with “Good evening, friends,” or something like it, and often asks what particular manifestations are desired. If none are specially asked for, King often asks Mr. Koons to play on the violin, the spirit band playing at the same time on the drums, triangle, tamborine, harp, accordeon, harmonica, etc. etc.; upon these the spirits perform scientifically, in very quick and perfect time. They commence upon each instrument at one instant, and in full blast, and stop suddenly after sounding the full note, showing that they have some more perfect method than we have of notifying each performer of the instant to start and stop. After the introductory piece on the instruments, the spirits often sing. I heard them sing. The spirits spoke to us, requesting us to remain perfectly silent. Presently, we heard human voices singing, apparently in the distance, so as to be scarcely distinguishable; the sounds gradually increased, each part relatively, until it appeared as if a full choir of human voices were in our small room, singing most exquisitely. I think I never heard such perfect harmony; each part was performed with strict attention to its relative degree of sound or force. There was none of that flopping, floundering, ranting, and shrieking which constitutes the staple of what is latterly called music; _harmony_, rather than _noise_, seemed to constitute the spirits’ song. So captivating was it, that the heartstrings seemed to relax or to increase their tension, to accord with the heavenly harmony. It seems to me that no person could sit in that sanctuary without feeling the song of “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will to man,” spontaneously rising in the bosom, and finding expression on the lip. I don’t know that the spirits attempted to utter words with their song; if they did, they succeeded in this particular no better than modern singers. But it was hardly necessary for the spirits to articulate, for every strain and modulation seemed pregnant with holy sentiments, and language could scarcely signify more. After this vocal performance, several pieces of quick music were performed by the spirits on the several instruments. They play faster than mortals usually do, and in most perfect time throughout. If any instrument gets out of chord, they tune it; they tuned the violin in my presence, and did it rapidly and skilfully.

1529. Spirits reconstruct their physical bodies, or portions of them, from similar elements, apparently, as those which constitute our mortal bodies. Spirits’ hands and arms were reorganized in our presence, on several of these occasions; and that we might see the more distinctly, they sometimes wet their hands with a weak solution of phosphorus, (which Mr. Koons prepared some time previous by their request,) which emits a light, so that their hands can be almost as distinctly seen in a dark room as they could be if the room were light. At one of these circles which I attended, there were three hands which had been covered with this solution of phosphorus, and we all saw them passing swiftly around the room, over our heads, carrying the instruments, and playing upon the violin, accordeon, triangle, harmonica, and tamborine, and all keeping perfect time. These instruments were moved so swiftly and near the faces of the audience,—our own among them,—that we felt the cool atmospheric current as distinctly as we do that produced by a fan. Several of the company in different parts of the room remarked that they not only felt this disturbance of the air, but heard it, and distinctly saw the hand and instrument pass close to their faces. Several of us requested the spirits to place these instruments in our hands, or touch us on our heads or other parts of our bodies; and in most cases it was instantly done. I held up my hands, and requested the spirits to beat time with the tamborine on my hands. They did so, and gave me more than I asked for, by striking my knees, hands, and head in a similar manner. I have seen the tamborine players in the minstrel bands of New York; I have seen the best performers in the country; but they cannot perform equal to these spirits. The perfect time and the rapidity with which they beat are truly surprising.

1530. Spirit hands with phosphorus upon them passed around the room, opening and shutting, and exhibiting them in various ways and positions which no mortal hand could assume or occupy—demonstrating them to be veritable spirit hands, physically organized. The phosphorescent illumination from these hands was so distinct, that it occurred to me I could see to read by it; and I took a pamphlet from my pocket, and asked the spirit to place the hand over it, that I might see if I could read by the light. The spirit did so, when I at once perceived that I held the pamphlet wrong end up. I turned it, and could read. The members of the circle remarked that they could see very plainly my hands, face, and the pamphlet I held, and as distinctly could see the spirit’s hand and a portion of the arm. I then put out my hands, and asked the spirits to shake hands with me; they did so almost instantly. I then asked them to let me examine their hands, and they placed them in mine, and I looked at them and felt them until I was entirely satisfied. Others asked the same favour, and it was readily granted them. These spirit hands appeared to be reorganized from the same elements that our hands are; and, except that they had a kind of tremulous motion, and some of them being cold and death-like, we could not by our senses distinguish them from hands of persons living in the form.

1531. This spirit hand took a pen, and we all distinctly saw it write on paper which was lying on the table; the writing was executed much more rapidly than I ever saw mortal hand perform; the paper was then handed to me by the spirit, and I still retain it in my possession. At the close of the session the spirit of King, as is his custom, took up the trumpet and gave us a short lecture through it—speaking audibly and distinctly, presenting the benefits to be derived, both in time and eternity, from intercourse with spirits, and exhorting us to be discreet and bold in speech, diligent in our investigations, faithful to the responsibilities which these privileges impose, charitable toward those who are in ignorance and error, tempering our zeal with wisdom; and finally closing with a benediction.

1532. I am aware that these facts so much transcend the ordinary experience of mortals, that few persons can accept them as true on any amount of human testimony. I obtained the addresses of the following named persons, and hope they will excuse me for the liberty I take in referring to them in this connection, for the confirmation of my statements. They were present at some or all the circles which I attended, when these manifestations occurred: R. I. Butterfield, Cleveland, Ohio; William D. Young, Covington, Ind.; George and David Brier, Rainsville, Ind.; David Edger and daughter, Mercer co., Pa.; S. Van Sickle, Delaware, O.; S. T. Dean, Andrew Ogg, and Geo. Walker and son, Amesville, O.; Azel Johnson, Millfield, O.; W. S. Watkins, New York; Thomas Morris and wife, Dover, O.; Dr. Geo. Carpenter, Athens, O.; Thomas White, Mount Pleasant, O. Many other persons were present, whose names I did not learn. CHARLES PARTRIDGE.

_Experience of the Hon. N. P. Tallmadge._

1533. The following communication from Governor Tallmadge to Mrs. Sarah H. Whitman, of Providence, R. I., has been in print for some time, and came out early, when Spiritualism had made too little impression to be duly appreciated. I for one, at the period of its first publication, could not realize it. But the public are now better prepared, and it may be repeated with advantage. Besides, this work is made for the uninformed and incredulous, rather than for those who have been heretofore converted, and who are familiar with the earliest manifestations.

BALTIMORE, _Tuesday, April 12, 1853_. 1534. _Dear Madam_: I seize a few leisure moments, while detained here a short time on business, to give you a more extended account of the “Physical Manifestations” to which I alluded in a former letter. In this account, I shall confine myself to those which purport to come from the spirit of John C. Calhoun.

1535. I have received numerous communications from him, from the commencement of my investigation of this subject down to the present time. Those communications have been received through rapping mediums, writing mediums, and speaking mediums. They are of the most extraordinary character. In style and sentiment, they would do honour to him in his best days on earth.

1536. After the arrival of the Misses Fox in Washington City, in February last, I called on them by appointment, and, at once, received a communication from Calhoun. I then wrote down and propounded _mentally_ the following question:

1537. “Can you _do_ any thing (meaning physical manifestations) to confirm me in the truth of these revelations, and to remove from my mind the least shadow of unbelief?” To which I received the following answer:

1538. “I will give you a communication on Monday, at half-past seven o’clock. Do not fail to be here. I will then give you an explanation. “JOHN C. CALHOUN.”

1539. It is proper here to remark, that all the communications referred to in this letter, were made by Calhoun after a call for the alphabet, and were rapped out, letter by letter, and taken down by me in the usual way. They were made in the presence of the Misses Fox and their mother. I called on Monday at the hour appointed, and received the following communication:

1540. “My friend, the question is often put to you, ‘What good can result from these manifestations?’ I will answer it. It is to draw mankind together in harmony, and convince skeptics of the immortality of the soul. JOHN C. CALHOUN.”

1541. This reminds me that, in 1850, at Bridgeport, in the presence of other mediums, among many questions put and answers received, were the following, the answer purporting to come from W. E. Channing:

1542. _Q._ What do spirits propose to accomplish by these new manifestations? _A._ To unite mankind, and to convince skeptical minds of the immortality of the soul.

1543. The coincidence in sentiment of the answer of J. C. Calhoun and W. E. Channing, in regard to the object of these manifestations, is remarkable, and worthy of particular notice. The concurrence of two such great minds, whether in or out of the body, on a subject so engrossing, cannot fail to command the attention of every admirer of exalted intellect and moral purity.

1544. During the above communication of Calhoun, the table moved occasionally, perhaps a foot, first one way and then the other. After the communication closed, we all moved back from the table, from two to four feet, _so that no one touched the table_. Suddenly the table moved from the position it occupied some three or four feet, rested a few moments, and then moved back to its original position. Then it again moved as far the other way, and returned to the place it started from. One side of the table was then raised, and stood for a few moments at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, and then again rested on the floor as usual.

1545. The table was a large, heavy, round table, at which ten or a dozen persons might be seated at dinner. _During all these movements no person touched the table, nor was any one near it._ After seeing it raised in the manner above mentioned, I had the curiosity to test its weight by raising it myself. I accordingly took my seat by it, placed my hands under the leaf, and exerted as much force as I was capable of in that sitting posture, and could not raise it a particle from the floor. I then stood up in the best possible position to exert the greatest force, took hold of the leaf, and still could not raise it with all the strength I could apply. I then requested the three ladies to take hold around the table, and try altogether to lift it. We lifted upon it until the leaf and top began to crack, and did not raise it a particle. We then desisted, fearing we should break the table. I then said, “Will the spirits permit me to raise the table?” I took hold alone and raised it without difficulty. After this, the following conversation ensued:

1546. _Q._ Can you raise the table entirely from the floor? _A._ Yes.

1547. _Q._ Will you raise me with it? _A._ Yes. Get me the square table.

1548. The square table was of cherry, with four legs—a large-sized tea-table. It was brought out and substituted for the round one, the leaves being raised. I took my seat on the centre; the three ladies sat at the sides and end, their hands and arms resting upon it. This, of course, added to the weight to be raised—namely, my own weight and the weight of the table. Two legs of the table were then raised about six inches from the floor, and then the other two were raised to a level of the first, _so that the whole table was suspended in the air about six inches above the floor_. While thus seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibratory motion, as if floating in the atmosphere. After being thus suspended in the air for a few moments, the table was gently let down again to the floor!

1549. Some pretend to say, that these physical manifestations are made by electricity! I should like to know by what laws of electricity known to us, a table is at one time riveted, as it were, to the floor, against all the force that could be exerted to raise it; and at another time raised entirely from the floor, with more than two hundred pounds weight upon it?

1550. At a subsequent meeting, Calhoun directed me to bring three bells and a guitar. I brought them accordingly. The bells were of different sizes—the largest like a small-sized dinner-bell. He directed a drawer to be put under the square table. I put under a bureau-drawer, bottom side up. He directed the bells to be placed on the drawer. The three ladies and myself were seated at the table with our hands and arms resting on it. The bells commenced ringing in a sort of chime. Numerous raps were made, as if beating time to a march. The bells continued to ring and to chime in with the beating of time. The time of the march was slow and solemn. It was beautiful and perfect. The most fastidious ear could not detect any discrepancy in it.

1551. The raps then ceased, and the bells rang violently for several minutes. A bell was then pressed on my foot, my ankle, and my knee. This was at different times repeated. Knocks were made _most vehemently_ against the underside of the table, so that a large tin candlestick was, by every blow, raised completely from the table by the concussion.

1552. I afterward examined the underside of the table, (which, it will be recollected, was of cherry,) and found _indentations_ in the wood, made by the end of the handle of the bell, which was tipped with brass. Could electricity make those violent knocks with the handle of the bell, causing indentations and raising the candlestick from the table at every blow? Or was it done by the same invisible power that riveted the table to the floor and again raised it, with all the weight upon it, entirely above the floor?

1553. Here the ringing of the bells ceased, and then I felt sensibly and distinctly the impression of a hand on my foot, ankle, and knee. These manifestations were several times repeated.

1554. I was then directed to put the guitar on the drawer. We were all seated as before, with our hands and arms resting on the table. The guitar was touched softly and gently, and gave forth sweet and delicious sounds, like the accompaniment to a beautiful and exquisite piece of music. It then played a sort of symphony, in much louder and bolder tones. And, as it played, these harmonious sounds becoming soft, and sweet, and low, began to recede, and grew fainter and fainter, till they died away on the ear in the distance. Then they returned and grew louder and nearer, till they were heard again in full and gushing volume, as when they commenced. I am utterly incapable of giving any adequate idea of the beauty and harmony of this music. I have heard the guitar touched by the most delicate and scientific hands, and heard from it, under such guidance, the most splendid performances. But never did I hear any thing that fastened upon the very soul like these prophetic strains drawn out by an invisible hand from the spirit-world. While listening to it, I was ready to exclaim, in the language of the Bard of Avon—

1555. “That strain again; it had a dying fall; Oh, it came o’er my ear like the sweet south That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour.”

1556. After the music had ceased, the following communication was received:

1557. “This is my hand that touches you and the guitar. JOHN C. CALHOUN.”

1558. At another time, the following physical manifestation was made in the presence of General Hamilton, General Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, and myself:

1559. We were directed to place the Bible on a drawer under the table. I placed it there, completely closed. It was a small pocket Bible, with very fine print. Numerous raps were then heard, beating time to “Hail Columbia,” which had been called for. Soon the sounds began to recede, and grew fainter and fainter, till, like the music of the guitar, they died away in the distance. The alphabet was then called for, and it was spelled out, “Look.” I looked on the drawer and found the Bible open. I took it up and carefully kept it open at the place as I found it. On bringing it to the light, I found it open at St. John’s Gospel,