Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations Demonstrating the existence of spirits and their communion with mortals. Doctrine of the spirit world respecting heaven, hell, morality, and God. Also, the influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians. (part 3 of 4)

Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations Demonstrating the existence of spirits and their communion with mortals. Doctrine of the spirit world respecting heaven, hell, morality, and God. Also, the influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians. (part 3 of 4)

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, chapter ii. being on the left side, and chapter iii. being on the right side. I said, “Do you wish us to look at chapter ii.?” A. “No.” “Do you wish us to look at chapter iii.?” A. “Yes.” And it was then said, “Read.” I commenced reading the chapter, and significant and emphatic raps were given at many verses; and at verses 8, 11, 19, 34, most vehement raps were given. By looking at these verses, you will appreciate the significancy and intelligence of this emphatic demonstration. This manifestation purported to come from Calhoun, who had previously invited us three gentlemen to be present at a particular hour.

1560. In reflecting on the preceding manifestations, one cannot but marvel at the power by which they are made, and the intelligence by which that power is directed. And it would seem impossible for one to doubt the source of that intelligence. If, however, doubt should still remain on the mind of any one acquainted with similar manifestations, that doubt must be entirely dispelled by the account of the manifestation which follows:

1561. I was present, by Calhoun’s appointment, with the Misses Fox and their mother. We were seated at the table as heretofore, our hands and arms resting upon it. I was directed to put paper and pencil on the drawer. I placed several sheets of unruled letter-paper, together with a wood pencil, on it. I soon heard the sound of the pencil on the paper. It was then rapped out, “Get the pencil and sharpen it.” I looked under the table, but did not see the pencil. At length I found it lying diagonally from me, three or four feet from the table. The lead was broken off within the wood. I sharpened it, and again put it on the drawer. Again I heard the sound of the pencil on the paper. On being directed to look at the paper, I discovered pencil marks on each side of the outer sheet, but no writing. Then was received the following communication:

1562. “The power is not enough to write a sentence. This will show you that I can write. If you meet on Friday, precisely at seven, I will write a short sentence. JOHN C. CALHOUN.”

1563. We met, pursuant to appointment, took our seats at the table, our hands and arms resting on it as usual. I placed the paper with my silver-cased pencil on the drawer, and said:

1564. “My friend, I wish the sentence to be in your own handwriting, so that your friends will recognise it.” He replied, “You will know the writing.” He then said, “Have your minds on the spirit of John C. Calhoun.”

1565. I soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil on the paper, and a rustling of the paper, together with a movement of the drawer. I was then directed to look under the drawer. I looked, and found my pencil outside of the drawer, near my feet, but found no paper on the drawer where I placed it. On raising up the drawer, I discovered the paper all under it. The sheets were a little deranged, and on examining, I found on the outside sheet these words: “I’m with you still.”

1566. I afterward showed the “sentence” to General James Hamilton, former Governor of South Carolina, General Waddy Thompson, former Minister to Mexico, General Robert B. Campbell, late Consul at Havana, together with other intimate friends of Calhoun, and also to one of his sons, all of whom are as well acquainted with his handwriting as their own; and they all pronounced it to be a perfect fac simile of the handwriting of JOHN C. CALHOUN.

1567. General Hamilton stated a fact, in connection with this writing, of great significance. He says that Calhoun was in the habit of writing “I’m,” for “I am,” and that he has numerous letters from him where the abbreviation is thus used.

1568. Mrs. General Macomb has stated the same fact to me. She says that her husband, the late General Macomb, has shown to her Calhoun’s letters to him, where this abbreviation “I’m” was used for “I am,” and spoke of it as a peculiarity of Calhoun.

1569. How significant, then, does this fact become! We have not only the most unequivocal testimony to the handwriting itself, but, lest any skeptic should suggest the possibility of an imitation or a counterfeit, this abbreviation, peculiar to himself, and known only to his most intimate friends, and which no imitator or counterfeiter could know, is introduced by way of putting such a suggestion to flight forever.

1570. This “sentence” is perfectly characteristic of Calhoun. It contains his terseness of style, and his condensation of thought. It is a text from which volumes might be written. It proves—1. The immortality of the soul; 2. The power of spirits to revisit the earth; 3. Their ability to communicate with relatives and friends; and, 4. The identity of the spirit to all eternity.

1571. How one’s soul expands with these sublime connections! How resistless is this testimony of their truth! How surprising that men can doubt, when this flood of living light is poured upon them by spirits who, in the language of Webster, “revel in the glory of the eternal light of God.” Very truly yours, N. P. TALLMADGE.

MRS. SARAH HELEN WHITMAN, Providence, R. I.

Letter from Mr. D. H. Hume.—Spiritualism in London.

1572. The author of the letter which comes under this head has already been introduced to the readers of this work, in giving an account of the manifestations observed through his mediumship, (393.)

EALING VILLA, NEAR LONDON, July 26, 1855. 1573. * * * In London I found but a limited number, comparatively speaking, who possess any intelligent or rational idea of the spiritual philosophy. The subject has not made any great advance here; but those who are investigating include in their number some of the best minds of England. The first call I received was from Sir Charles E. Ischam, who has proved a most excellent friend to me. A day or two after this I received an invitation from Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton to visit him at his country-seat at Knebworth. I accepted his invitation, and had an interesting and delightful visit.

1574. I was deeply interested in Sir Edward, who is, by birth, education, and mind, a most superior person. His love of the beautiful, in nature and art, but especially in nature, is manifested at every part of his wide domain. Knebworth was originally built by a follower of the Conqueror, and was, in the year of the Armada, occupied by Queen Elizabeth. The state-room contains the bed upon which her majesty slept. It has rich velvet hangings—the same which shaded the slumbers of Queen Bess. The room of the extensive library contains the oak table at which Cromwell, Pym & Co. sat while planning the rebellion. * * * We had some manifestations at our seances almost as good as those we had at -—- ‘s in your place. The spirits showed their presence in the same palpable way, by presenting tangible hands, shaking hands, &c., and Sir Edward “acknowledges the corn,” to use a Yankee vulgarism. He is much interested in the subject, and has bestowed no small share of thought upon the matter.

1575. I have also had the pleasure of being presented to the Marchioness of H-—-s, Baroness G-—-y R-—-n. She is a highly intellectual and altogether charming lady, who possesses much native refinement and a fearless desire to learn and follow the TRUTH. I met, too, the Earl of E-—-e and the Marquis of C-—-e, at one of our circles a few evenings since. A most kind friend I also found in the Vicomte de St. Amirro, Chargé d’Affaires from Brazil, who has given me valuable letters to France. I am to meet him and his lady (both investigators) the coming autumn at the Neapolitan court.

1576. I enclose a paragraph from one of the London journals, giving a sketch of an interview I had with Lord Brougham and Sir David Brewster. The latter, as you are well aware, wrote that article in the Edinburgh Review, some months ago, in which he argued against the existence of spirit agency in the production of the manifestations, and in which he denounced the whole matter, in the bitterest terms, as a delusion and an imposition. His article has been eagerly and widely quoted by the opponents of Spiritualism on both sides of the Atlantic, and its statements are doubtless believed by those who are incapable of appreciating or comprehending the truths which they assail.

1577. Sir David, however, has for once met with a “stumper,” for he has seen and felt such manifestations of his spirit friends as to completely upset his philosophy. He frankly confessed that he is “sorely puzzled” at what he has witnessed, and Lord Brougham acknowledges himself to be thoroughly nonplussed. Both of these noted men brought the whole force of their keen discernment to bear upon the solution of the phenomena; but the presence of substantial, actual hands, and the demonstrative strength of the spirits who thus clothed themselves for the time and moved material objects about the room, proved to be too much of a question for them to master.

1578. Time will not allow me to mention the various interesting sittings I have had, nor the many distinguished personages who have been in our circles during my short stay in London. I am at present enjoying the quiet of an English country home. The gentleman with whom I am stopping (Mr. Rymer) is one of the most distinguished solicitors in London. He has been a materialist, or disbeliever in a future state, all his life previous to witnessing these demonstrations of spirit existence. He is now a believer (or rather a knower) of the future life. The manifestations, so often scoffed at by professing Christians, have done for him, as they have for upward of twenty-five thousand infidels and atheists in America, what no power of the pulpit or doctrine of evangelical religion could ever have effected.

1579. Is not this one fact alone a sufficient reply to the oft-repeated question of “What good does it all do?” There is many a broad-loving soul that, failing in the effort to narrow itself down to the limits of a dogmatical creed, has ended in infidelity or blank atheism; but the number of these is becoming steadily less by the influence of the spirit manifestations, which are to them what the placing of the hand in the spear-wound was to Thomas. Mr. R., since his conversion, has given a lecture on the subject, and will give another.

1580. One thing I will not omit. Mrs. Trollope, whom Americans will be apt to remember, came, with her son, from Florence to London for the express purpose of seeing the manifestations. They were accordingly invited to spend a few days with me at my village home; and, I must say, I was agreeably disappointed in her. My previous ideas of her had not been such as to prepossess me in her favour, but I have become an admirer of her private character. She has none of the stiffness of the author about her, nor any of the “blue-stocking.” She enjoys the realities of existence more fully than any one I have ever met in a circle.

1581. The seance with her was one of strange interest. Her son was an unbeliever, and his mother was very desirous that he should be “brought to a knowledge of the truth.” When at length the light did beam upon his soul, and the chords of his spirit vibrated in unison with the celestial harmonies that ushered in the birth of faith through the shadows of his old unbelief, the result was too much for his stoicism, and the tears of holy joy coursed down his manly cheeks. Her joy was too great for utterance, and her rapturous emotions seemingly too great to be endured. It was an impressive scene, and an occasion of deep interest. There are many such in the life of a spirit medium.

1582. In a few weeks I leave England for the Continent, in company with my friend, Mr. Rymer. We intend to reach Rome in November, where we purpose to spend a few months, if his holiness will let us. You shall hear from me again. Yours truly, D. H. HUME.

The following is the article referred to as having appeared in the London Journal:

Lord Brougham with the Spirits.

1583. “A circumstance which has excited the most extraordinary sensation among the privileged few who have been admitted within the sphere of its operations, has taken place at Ealing, a village on the Uxbridge road. A young gentleman, named Hume, a native of Scotland, but who has resided for many years in America, is now on a visit at the house of Mr. Rymer, a highly respectable solicitor. Mr. Hume is what the Americans term a ‘medium,’ and through his instrumentality some extraordinary and, if true, miraculous, occurrences have taken place.

1584. “The spirits of deceased persons have been heard and felt in Mr. Rymer’s house, and a variety of circumstances have taken place, which the persons who were present affirm could not have been produced except by supernatural agency. One of the spirits is supposed to be that of a son of Mr. Rymer, a little boy about eleven or twelve years of age, who has been induced to write to his parents under the cover of the table, and the writing is, to all appearances, precisely similar to that of the child when alive. Mr. Rymer, who is thoroughly convinced of the bonâ fides of the affair, has invited several persons to witness the manifestations, and among them the Rev. Mr. Lambert, the incumbent, who has become a devout believer in the existence of these communicative spirits.

1585. “Some rumours of the spirit manifestations having reached Lord Brougham, the medium had an interview with the noble and learned lord in the presence of Sir David Brewster, when several unaccountable revelations were made, and even Lord Brougham has confessed himself amazed and sorely bothered to comprehend the description of agency by which an accordeon is forced into his hands and made to play, or his watch taken out of his pocket and found in the hands of some other persons in the room; for such are among the vagaries performed by the Ealing spirits. The house of Mr. Rymer is, of course, besieged by persons anxious to witness the manifestations, and scarcely a night passes that some scoffer is not converted into a true believer in the mystery of spiritual manifestations.”

Evidence afforded by the Rev. J. B. Ferguson.

1586. The following is the summary of the result of the investigation of spiritual manifestations by the Rev. Mr. Ferguson, of the Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee.

1587. His sentiments are of a nature to need no recommendation, as they appeal to the head and the heart. He is one of the advocates of Spiritualism of whom we have reason to be proud. It is from his work, entitled “A Record of Communications from the Spirit Spheres,” that this summary is quoted:

1588. “You will now allow me to sum up briefly the phenomena I have witnessed since my investigations began:

1589. “First. I have seen tables and other furniture moved, with and without hands; heard distinct and sometimes loud raps on the ceiling, floor, and furniture of various rooms, which were changed from one locality to another, as doubts arose as to any unobserved causes, to which we would have attributed them but for the transition; have heard them upon my person, clothing, pillow, pulpit, and still have them in almost every serious hour of thought and meditation, and have them near me as I write; and I find this experience to be that of hundreds who, with me and others, believers and skeptics, have witnessed or realized all I here state to be true.

1590. “Second. I have heard, in the presence of scores, whose names are at any man’s command who may desire them for an honest reference, native Americans, who never spoke a word of German, discourse for hours in that tongue, in prose and poetry, in the presence of native Germans, who pronounced their addresses pure specimens of the power of their language. I see, daily, lengthy essays and books written under what claims to be spirit intelligence, above, far above, the capacity and culture of the instruments through whom they are written. There is scarcely a day in which I do not receive such communications; and if a day passes without it, it is my neglect, not that of the intelligence, that seems ever ready to speak when a proper medium can be secured. At home and abroad, in the houses of strangers and acquaintances, such mediums have described the age, appearance, time of death, and the peculiarities of character of the deceased relatives of persons present, and where they could have had no acquaintance with them, and, in many instances, could not have known of their existence or death. I have had meetings of mediums who knew nothing of each other occur at my house and elsewhere, without their knowledge, and to which they were brought from a distance of miles, and which seemed as inexplicable to them as to me, until after some effect for their benefit was secured by their meeting, and explained by their spirit monitors. To prove the identity of spirit intelligences, communicating to me through others, they have detailed private conversations held with me during their earth life; referred to incidents and events of which the mediums could have known nothing; described, accurately, occurrences taking place at a distance of hundreds of miles; answered questions that had been written in my private records for future investigation, months after they had passed from my active memory; stated the state of my investigations of various subjects, with the folly or wisdom, as they regarded it, of my difficulties; leaving me, on the whole, no choice as to whether I would regard them as what they claimed to be, save that of honest conviction or the most shameless hypocrisy. Allow me to say, therefore, that there is no event of history, no fact in mental philosophy, no conclusions in logical dialectics, more fully and forcibly established, in my convictions, than the following:

1591. “I BELIEVE, I KNOW, THAT I HAVE HELD, AND NOW FREQUENTLY HOLD, COMMUNION, INTELLIGIBLE AND IMPROVING, WITH KINDRED AND ELEVATED SPIRITS, WHO HAVE PASSED FROM FLESHLY SIGHT.

1592. “You will not be surprised, therefore, at my willingness to risk reputation, the dearest ties of friendship, and prospects of earthly gain and honour, if need be, in the avowal and propagation of this faith, and the results to which it must inevitably lead. God knows, and every intimate friend on earth knows, that I would hesitate, long and seriously, to avow a faith that was doubtful in my own mind, or of doubtful influence for good in my dim foresight, where so much is apparently at stake. I think I may safely appeal to my past life as proof that the dearest personal and earthly considerations have often been sacrificed, where it was thought my action would affect the interests or happiness of others. Know, then, that it is from the maturest consideration of duty, and the obligation that every man owes to truth and right, and especially when truth and right are ridiculed and denounced, that I detail to you these results of a long experience and the most serious and solemn investigations of my life. Willingly, I cannot find it in my heart to disappoint a friend or injure an enemy. And with such friends as in the providence of God have surrounded me, who have proved themselves true and enduring when every form of bigotry and animosity were aroused against my position, reputation, and influence,—with all this pressure of enmity and friendship upon me, you must know, and all will hereafter know, that nothing but loyalty to conviction and a desire to preserve privileges I have learned to esteem above what men call life or death, could induce me to lay these facts before the world.

1593. “If it be asked what good we expect to effect by the statement of these facts, we answer, the spread of truth upon the dearest, purest, and holiest relations of man, and the breaking away of the clouds that gather around the mind of man in view of death and futurity, the darkness of which can nowhere be more distinctly felt than in the asking of such a question. The purity, angelic loveliness, and divine holiness that such a faith, if firmly based, must secure, inspires the loyal soul as with heavenly beatitudes in the contemplation. Its power to restrain and reform; to soften the hard heart of evil indulgence; to expose the still harder heart of bigotry and religious denunciation; to moisten the eye of criminal effrontery, which the hypocrisies of the world have made stern and fixed; to bring the strong man of selfish apathy, as a child once more in company with his brother-children, at the feet of maternal or sisterly tenderness, whose earthly bodies have long since been entombed; to keep down the unnatural separations of families beneath the manly wisdom and fatherly affection of one who claims all as his, and still needing his care; to turn the scoff of godless ribaldry into loving faith, and the shame of pulpit curses pronounced upon human brethren and by human beings, of eternal doom, into blessings of eternal help; to make all, yes all, realize an inner religion, which worships at the altar of eternal truth and unchangeable love. With such aims and prospects before us, to ask what is the good of general, tangible spirit intercourse, is to ask the good of immortality, of heaven, and of God.”

An Exposition of views respecting the principal facts, causes, and peculiarities involved in Spiritual Manifestations; together with interesting phenomenal statements and communications. By ADIN BALLOU.

1594. The preceding is the title of a work by the Rev. Adin Ballou, of Hopedale, Massachusetts. It is among those which give what appears to me available, well-considered facts and opinions respecting Spiritualism. Mr. Ballou judiciously, as I think, disposes the spirit manifestations under the following heads:

1595. “I. Those in which all the important demonstrations were most evidently caused by departed spirits. II. Those in which some of the important demonstrations were probably caused or greatly affected by undeparted spirits. III. Those in which the demonstrations were of a heterogeneous, incongruous, or derogatory character.

1596. “The following is a statement of Mr. Ballou’s experience taken from the work in question:

1597. “In this chapter I shall conclude what I have to say under my first general head, by referring to a few particulars connected with cases within my personal knowledge, and then stating the principal points of doctrine taught by the spirits.

1598. “I will not go into minute narration or description, but simply mention the more important phenomena I have witnessed. I have heard multiform sounds in the presence of spirit media, purporting to be made by departed spirits; some like the tickings of a small watch, others like the clicking of a common clock, others like the loud knocking of a labouring man on the door of his neighbour with his knuckles, others like the scratching of a hard finger-nail on a board, others like the creaking of a door or window, &c. &c. I have heard the time and metre of tunes beaten out with the utmost accuracy, and by several rappers in unison—not only while the tune was being played or sung, but afterward, without accompaniment. And I am as certain that these sounds were not made by any conscious mortal agency, as I am of the best-authenticated facts in the common transactions of life.

1599. “I have seen tables and light stands of various size moved about in the most astonishing manner, by what purported to be the same invisible agency, with only the gentle and passive resting of the hands or finger-ends of the medium on one of their edges; also, many distinct movings of such objects, by request, without the touch of the medium at all. I have sat and conversed by the hour together with the authors of these sounds and motions, by means of signals first agreed on; asking questions and obtaining answers—receiving communications spelled out by the alphabet—discussing propositions sometimes made by them to me, and vice versâ; all by a slow process, indeed, but with every possible demonstration of intelligence, though not without incidental misapprehensions and mistakes. I have witnessed the asking of mental questions by inquirers, who received as prompt and correct answers as when the questions were asked audibly to the cognition of the medium.

1600. “I have known these invisibles, by request, to write their names with a common plumbago pencil on a clean sheet of paper—half a dozen of them, each in a different hand. To make sure of this, as an absolute fact, the medium was required to lay her left hand, back downward, in the hollow of a veracious person’s hand, both open; when a piece of pasteboard paper was laid on her hand, a well-examined blank sheet of writing-paper placed thereon, and a lead pencil on top of that; in which position (the medium’s right hand being held up to view,) both the hands, with these fixtures resting on them, were placed under the leaf of the table, as insisted on by the writers. After a minute or two, at a given signal by the spirits that they had done, the paper was exhibited with various names written thereon, as above affirmed. This was repeatedly tested with the same results, under circumstances putting all suspicion of fraud and jugglery entirely at rest.

1601. “I have requested what purported to be the spirit of a friend, many years deceased, to go to a particular place, several miles distant from that of the sitting, and to bring me back intelligence respecting the then health and doings of a certain relative well known to the parties. In three minutes of time the intelligence was obtained, numerous particulars given, some of them rather improbable, but every one exactly confirmed the next day by personal inquiries made for that purpose.

1602. “I have been requested by the invisibles to speak on a particular subject, at a given time and place, with the assurance that responses should be made on the occasion, by knockings, approving the truths uttered; all which was strikingly verified. Once, at a most unexpected interview, when nothing of the kind had been previously thought of by any person present, a spirit, so purporting, who had several times evinced much interest in my public labours, spelled out:—‘Have you selected your subjects of discourse for the next Sunday?’ Only one of them, I answered. Would my spirit friend like to suggest a text for the other part of the day? ‘Yes.’ What is it? I inquired. He spelled out the word ‘The,’ and ceased. Wondering at his silence, the signal of another spirit was given. The new-comer communicated by movings of the table, not by raps, like the other. He said that our friend, the rapper, had been suddenly summoned away for a few moments, but would certainly return soon. He did return within fifteen minutes, resumed his communication just where he left it, and spelled out—‘The second chapter of first Corinthians, the twelfth and thirteenth verses.’ No man in the room had the least recollection of the words referred to. So the Bible was called for, when the text proved to be the following:—‘Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are given to us of God. Which things we also speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.’ Struck with the sublimity, purity, richness, and force of the passage, I answered that I accepted it thankfully, as a very appropriate text for the occasion referred to, and would endeavour to illustrate its great truths as well as I might be able. My spirit friend expressed great pleasure by sounds rapidly made on the table, and announced that he and several other sympathizing spirits should be present to hear the discourse, and, if the medium should also be there, would manifest their approbation of the good things uttered. All this was verified in a remarkable manner.

1603. “I have seen a medium gently magnetized and thrown into a trance in one minute, by the imperceptible influence of the spirits, in accordance with their own original proposition, reluctantly acceded to by the medium and her friends; during which sometimes she had visions of the spirit world, and at others became entirely non-cognizant of every thing transpiring in either world. In the latter case, the spirits, as previously promised, made use of her organs of speech, unconsciously to herself, and thus answered numerous questions, instead of responding by the rappings. That these trances were not superinduced by mortal agency, and were not feigned, but real, I am as certain as I can be of any thing not absolutely beyond the possibility of mistake.

1604. “I might proceed much further in the particularization of manifestations coming under my personal observation, but will not make myself tedious. Suffice it to say, that I have witnessed enough with my own eyes and ears to prepare me for the belief of the still more incredible manifestations reported from a thousand places in our country and the world. I will merely add, that I have received many excellent communications from these invisible friends, and scarcely a single one of a light, frivolous, or low character; though I know that in this respect my experience has been unlike that of some others. I can say in truth, speaking for myself alone, that my whole moral nature has been purified and elevated by the influences which have flowed in upon me during the investigation of this subject. Others, I am sure, can say the same. There are those, no doubt, who have abused the whole thing—befooling themselves and others in a lamentable manner. What is there in the wide world that has wholly escaped abuse and perversion? Reason, inspired and crowned with the wisdom from above, is indispensable to the avoidance of these evils. Until a much larger portion of mankind than at present attain to the development of their higher faculties, we must expect the abuse and perversion, to a greater or less extent, of every thing in nature. ‘But wisdom is justified of all her children.’”

1605. The following statement of A. H. Jarvis, a Methodist clergyman, of Rochester, New York, is copied from Mr. Ballou’s work. It is one of those manifestations in which the information conveyed cannot be conceived to have pre-existed in the mind of the person by whom it was received:

1606. “There are many facts which have come under my observation, equally convincing of the intelligence and utility of the communications from these unseen agents, who, I now believe, are continually about us, and more perfectly acquainted with all our ways, and even our thoughts, than we are with each other. But the fact in reference to my friend Pickard is what you desire. He was at my house on Friday afternoon, April 6, 1849. None of the Fox family were present. While at the tea-table, we had free communications on different subjects. Pickard was requested to ask questions. He desired to know who it was that would answer questions. The answer was—‘I am your mother, MARY PICKARD.’ Her name, or the fact of her death, was not known to any of us. The next Monday evening he (Pickard) was at Mr. G-—-’s, and tarried there over night. He there received a communication, purporting to be from his mother, saying, ‘Your child is dead.’ He came immediately to my place, and said he should take the stage for home, (Lockport, sixty miles distant.) He left in the stage at 8 or 9, A. M. At 12, M., I returned to my house, my wife meeting me with a telegraph envelope. I broke the seal and read mentally, first:

“‘ROCHESTER, April 10, 1849.

1607. “‘By telegraph from Lockport—the Rev. A. H. Jarvis, No. 4 West St.

1608. “‘Tell Mr. Pickard, if you can find him, his child died this morning.—Answer. R. MALLORY.’

1609. “I then read it to my wife, and said, ‘This is one of the best and most convincing evidences of the intelligence of those invisible agents;’ and then I added, ‘God’s telegraph has outdone Morse’s, altogether.’ “Yours, truly, A. H. JARVIS.’

“To E. W. CAPRON, Auburn.”

1610. The subjoined opinions of the spirits, taken from the volume above mentioned, differ but immaterially from those which I have received; proving that information respecting scriptural morals, when properly sought, will be consistently obtained:

1611. “1. There is one and but one God, an infinite Spirit and the Father of spirits. He loves all, and eternally seeks their good by all wise and fitting means.

1612. “2. All human beings are spirits as to their absolute internal constitution, and soon after death emerge into distinct conscious spiritual identities, having bodies, forms, and peculiarities as obviously cognizable to each other, and as distinguishable from each other, as here in the flesh.

1613. “3. All human beings possess certain mental and moral qualities, partly constitutional, partly circumstantial, and partly self-wrought, which determine for the time being each individual’s real spiritual character and relative nearness to, or distance from, the divine standard of perfection. So that each one is in a certain sphere, and in some circle or degree of that sphere, as to his spirit, always, whether existing in the fleshly body or after his dissolution. And if a person is spiritually in a certain sphere at death, in that sphere he finds himself the moment he resumes his consciousness in the spirit world, associated with kindred spirits.

1614. “4. There are seven spirit spheres, or circles,[36] inferior to the heavenly or celestial spheres, and each sphere or circle has several degrees. Man is a being by nature capable of progress, subject to certain fundamental spiritual and moral laws. In conformity to these laws, he may now progress from lower to higher spheres; i. e. he may draw nearer and nearer to God; or, what is the same thing, nearer as a spirit to the divine standard of perfection. But without conformity to these laws, he cannot progress, but obscures and debases himself. Death does not change man’s real character, nor his proper spirit sphere, nor his capability to make progress, nor the laws of progress. No man is in a morally worse state, all things considered, by reason of passing into the spirit world. The worst even are, if any way affected, in a better state there than in the flesh. They whose spirit sphere was purer, find themselves proportionally blessed. Many remain very long in the lower spheres, where, though enabled to enjoy existence in the degree possible at such a distance from the divine focus of blessedness, they are ‘spirits in prison,’ and wretched in comparison with those in the paradisaical spheres. Their existence is a blessing to them even while thus low, and there is no such place or state as a HELL of unmitigated, hopeless misery. Meantime, God, angels, and all the higher spirits, are for ever seeking the elevation of the inferior spirits, by all just, wise, and appropriate means. And no one, however low and sluggish of progress, will finally fail to be attracted upward, obediently to the divine laws, from one degree to another, and from one sphere to another, till he reach the heavenly mansion—even though it take an age of eternities to complete his destiny.

1615. “5. Spirits in the higher of the seven spheres are employed in three general exercises. 1. In religious aspirations, meditations, worship—in striving after a more perfect knowledge of and communication with God—whom they cannot see there any more than here, as a personal being, but only in spirit by faith and intuition. 2. In study, self-examination, contemplations of truth, and acquainting themselves with all useful knowledge attainable by them. 3. In ministering to struggling spirits on earth and in the lower spheres—endeavouring to elevate and bless them; thus cultivating love to God, wisdom within themselves, and ever-active benevolence to their inferiors in condition. Spirits in any circle can descend into all the circles below their own, but cannot, except by special permission, ascend into a higher sphere, until qualified by spiritual progress.

1616. “6. Mankind are by nature one family of brothers and sisters, the offspring of a common Father in heaven, whom they ought to love with all their heart, and each other as themselves. The good of each is really the good of all, and that of all the good of each. Therefore, no one can injure another without injuring himself in the end. All kinds of tyranny and oppression are utterly sinful. So all war, violence, revenge, and vindictive punishment. So all intemperance, debauchery, and sexual pollution. So all falsehood, covetousness, fraud, extortion, and pecuniary taking of advantage. So all pride and domineering of superiors over inferiors. So all religious bigotry, thrusting down, persecution, and sectarian bitterness. So every thing contrary to personal holiness, to the piety which loves God supremely, and man as a brother, whether friend or foe. These reliable spirits are everywhere reformers, regenerators of the world, individually and socially. They are for the reconciliation of all things—for universal harmony—on the great principles of truth, purity, justice, love, and wisdom. And they all predict a better future for the human race here on earth, as well as in the future state.

1617. “7. It is the imperative duty of every human being to exercise his own powers, faculties, reason, and judgment, with modesty, humility, and firmness, and not to be overawed, borne down, or led away captive, by any assuming spirit in or out of the flesh. Every one is accountable for himself, and ought both to judge and act for himself, with supreme reverence for God and his moral perfections, according to his own highest convictions of truth and duty. Thus he should examine the Bible and all books. Thus all human governments, authorities, powers, constitutions, laws, customs, and usages, in church and state. Thus try all spirits, and their communications—all pretended prophets, philosophers, and teachers—all professions and assumptions whatsoever. No one should imperiously dictate, or cower down before another. But truth, rectitude, reason, and the suasion of wisdom, should alone sway the minds of moral agents.

1618. “Such is a fair digest and summary of the principal doctrines put forth in ninety-nine one hundredths of the communications of reliable spirits throughout the country. I have stated them in my own language, as I have understood them. It will be seen that they differ in some respects from every sectarian view of theology, religion, and morality now popular in the world.”

The Hon. J. W. Edmonds’s Testimony.

1619. To those who have not seen the original statement of the benevolent and distinguished Judge Edmonds, respecting his conversion, the subjoined account, taken from the introduction to his work on “Spiritualism,” may prove interesting.

1620. “It was in January, 1851, that my attention was first called to the subject of ‘spiritual intercourse.’ I had, in the course of my life, read and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and conflicting doctrines on the subject (of man’s future existence) that I hardly knew what to believe.

1621. “For about four months I devoted at least two evenings in a week, and sometimes more, to witnessing the phenomenon in all its phases. I kept careful records of all I witnessed, and, from time to time, compared them with each other, to detect inconsistencies and contradictions. I read all I could lay my hands upon, on the subject, and especially all the professed ‘exposures of the humbug.’ In fine, I availed myself of every opportunity that was afforded thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. I was all this time an unbeliever. At length the evidence came, and with such force that no sane man could withhold his faith.

1622. “To detail what I witnessed for those four months, and recorded, would fill, at least, one hundred and thirty closely-written pages. I will, however, mention a few things, which will give a general idea of that which characterized interviews now numbering several hundred. Most of them have occurred in the presence of others. I have preserved their names in my records. * * * * * These considerations grow out of this fact:

1623. “First. That I have thus very many witnesses whom I can invoke to establish the truth of my statements.

1624. “Second. That if I have been deluded, and have not seen and heard what I think I have, my delusion has been shared by many as shrewd, as intelligent, as honest, and as enlightened people as are to be found anywhere among us.

1625. “My attention was first drawn to the intercourse by the rappings, then the most common, but now the most inconsiderable, mode of communing. Of course I was on the look-out for deception, and at first relied upon my senses, and the conclusions which my reason might draw from their evidence. * * *

1626. “After depending upon my senses as to these various phases of the phenomenon, I invoked the aid of science, and, with the assistance of an accomplished electrician and his machinery, and of eight or ten intelligent, educated, and shrewd persons, examined the matter. We pursued our inquiries many days, and established, to our satisfaction, two things: first, that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any person present or near us; and, secondly, that they were not forthcoming at our will and pleasure. In the mean time, another feature attracted my attention, and that was ‘physical manifestations,’ as they are termed. Thus, I have known a pine table, with four legs, lifted up bodily from the floor, in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned upside down, and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our heads, and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. * * * * I have seen a mahogany centre-table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor, at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward, as one would shake a goblet in his hand. * * * *

1627. “I have known a dinner-bell, taken from a shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of four or five persons in that closet, then rung around the room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlour, and then borne through the folding-doors to the farther end of the front parlour, and then dropped on the floor.

1628. “I have known persons pulled about, with a force which it was impossible for them to resist; and once, when all my strength was added, in vain, to that of one thus affected.

1629. “I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side, and moved swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where there were, at least, a dozen people sitting. Yet no one was touched, and it was repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs.

1630. “This is not a tithe, nay, not an hundredth part, of what I have seen, of the same character. At the same time, I have heard from others, whose testimony would be credited in any human transaction, and which I could not permit myself to disregard, accounts of still more extraordinary transactions; for I have been by no means so much favoured in this respect as some.

1631. “Intelligence was a remarkable feature of the phenomenon. Thus, I have frequently known mental questions answered—that is, questions merely framed in the mind of the interrogator, and not revealed by him or known to others. Preparatory to meeting a circle, I have sat down alone in my room, and carefully prepared a series of questions to be propounded; and I have been surprised to find my questions answered, and in the precise order in which I wrote them, without my even taking my memorandum out of my pocket, and when I knew that no person present knew that I had prepared questions, much less what they were.

1632. “My most secret thoughts—those which I never uttered to mortal man or woman—have been freely spoken, as if I had uttered them.

1633. “I have known Latin, French, and Spanish words spelled out through the rappings; and I have heard mediums, who knew no language but their own, speak in those languages, and in Italian, German, and Greek, and in other languages unknown to me, but which were represented to be Arabic, Chinese, and Indian, and all done with the ease and rapidity of a native.

1634. “I have seen a person who knew nothing of music, except a little that he had learned at a country singing-school, go to the piano and play in perfect keeping, as to time and concord, the several parts of an overture to an opera.

1635. “When I was absent last winter, in Central America, my friends in town heard of my whereabouts, and of the state of my health, seven times; and, on my return, by comparing their information with the entries in my journal, it was found to be invariably correct.

1636. “I went into the investigation, originally thinking it a deception, and intending to make public my exposure of it. Having, from my researches, come to a different conclusion, I feel that the obligation to make known the result is just as strong. Therefore it is, mainly, that I give the result to the world. “J. W. EDMONDS.”

Testimony of Henry Lloyd Garrison.

1637. Mr. Garrison is spoken of as a man of unimpeachable veracity and independent mind. His testimony will have weight with one class of inquirers, if not with another. The following is from the “Liberator” of March 3, 1854.

1638. “We are often privately asked, what we think of the ‘Spiritual Manifestations,’ so called, and whether we have had any opportunities to investigate them.

1639. “When we first heard of the ‘Rochester knockings,’ we supposed (not personally knowing the persons implicated) that there might be some collusion in that particular case, or, if not, that the phenomena would ere long elicit a satisfactory solution, independent of all spiritual agency. As the manifestations have spread from house to house, from city to city, from one part of the country to the other, across the Atlantic into Europe, till now the civilized world is compelled to acknowledge their reality, however diverse in accounting for them—as these manifestations continue to increase in variety and power, so that all suspicion of trick or imposture becomes simply absurd and preposterous—and as every attempt to find a solution for them in some physical theory relating to electricity, the odic force, clairvoyance, and the like, has thus far proved abortive—it becomes every intelligent mind to enter into an investigation of them with candour and fairness, as opportunity may offer, and to bear such testimony in regard to them as the facts may warrant, no matter what ridicule it may excite on the part of the uninformed or skeptical.

1640. “As for ourselves, most assuredly we have been in no haste to jump to a conclusion in regard to phenomena so universally diffused, and of so extraordinary a character. For the last three years, we have kept pace with nearly all that has been published on the subject; and we have witnessed, at various times, many surprising ‘manifestations;’ and our conviction is, that they cannot be accounted for on any other theory than that of spiritual agency. This theory, however, is not unattended with discrepancies, difficulties, and trials. It is certain that, if it be true, there are many deceptive spirits, and that the apostolic injunction to ‘believe not every spirit,’ but to try them in every possible way, is specially to be regarded, or the consequences may prove very disastrous.

1641. “We might write a pretty long essay on what we have seen and heard, touching this matter; but this we reserve for some other occasion. We shall now merely describe some of the phenomena which we witnessed in New York during our recent visit to that city.

1642. “The medium in this instance was Mrs. Brown, formerly Mrs. Fish, of Rochester. The circle was composed of six gentlemen and four ladies. The table was of ample dimensions, so as to accommodate the party without inconvenience. We sat around it in the usual manner, (the hands of each individual resting upon the table,) and engaged in social chit-chat. While waiting for some demonstrations from the invisible world, we had our right foot patted as by a human hand, and the right leg of our pantaloons strongly pulled, by some unseen agency. This was done repeatedly, though we said nothing at the time; but, thinking it might be possible that the foot of some one of the company might undesignedly be in contact with our own, we cautiously felt around to ascertain if this were the case, but there was nothing tangible; and the moment we put our foot down, the same familiar tappings and jerks followed. Still, we made no disclosure. Raps were then distinctly heard, and the alphabet was called for. Letter by letter, it was rapped out that the medium must put her feet in the custody of one of the party, and then we were told to wait for demonstrations. This was evidently done to convince every one present that the medium had nothing to do with the phenomena, by way of fraud or collusion; and, during the entire sitting, (a protracted one,) before any remarkable feat was performed, the medium was invariably ordered to take such a position as to render it clearly impossible for her to be privy to it. The presence of several spirits was indicated during the evening, and satisfactory tests were made; but the most communicative and efficient one purported to be that of ‘Jesse Hutchinson.’ It was he who had been playing bo-peep with us under the table; and, now that the medium was secured, to the satisfaction of all present, he renewed his salutations, not only to us personally, but to nearly every one of the circle. The ladies had their dresses, and the gentlemen their pantaloons, pulled, and their feet patted, in the most emphatic manner. Heavy raps were now made on the floor; and, on being requested to that effect, ‘Jesse’ beat a march—it seemed to us Washington’s march—in admirable time, and in the most spirited manner; no drummer could have done it more skilfully. He was then asked to beat time, while the company joined in singing several tunes—‘The Old Granite State,’ among others—which he did to perfection. He then spelt out the following communications by the alphabet: ‘I am most happy, dear friends, to be able to give you such tangible evidence of my presence. The good time has truly come. The gates of the New Jerusalem are open, and the good spirits, made more pure by the change of spheres, are knocking at the door of your souls.’

1643. “Isaac T. Hopper now indicated his presence to his daughter, who was at the table, and made some physical demonstrations. His message, as rapped out, was as follows: ‘I am truly happy to echo back joy and gladness from my happy home. Truth is bearing its way on gloriously, and the subject of Spiritualism will work miracles in the cause of reform. My friends, the rock of prejudice begins to yield to the hammer of truth; and, now, with the aid of good spirits, you can blast it without the use of powder.’ And he subsequently added, ‘I want you to see that spirits have power to move matter.’

1644. “It was next rapped out, ‘Put the bell under the table.’ We, accordingly, took the bell, (an ordinary table-bell,) and put it down at our feet. In a few moments, it was smartly rung by an unseen power, and then fell to the floor. This was done again and again—the bell making the circuit of the table, and ringing so loudly that the servant-girl, in an adjacent room, supposing she was needed, came in to inquire what was wanted.

1645. “Next, a cane with a hooked handle was laid on the carpet, under the table. Immediately, it struck the table violently, and rubbed along the under surface its entire length. It then fell to the floor, and traversed over and under the feet of several of the party, like a living snake—in one or two instances the foot being involuntarily lifted to enable it to pass under. Its movements were exceedingly curious. At one time, we caught hold of the handle as it protruded itself by our side, and endeavoured to pull it from under the table; but the resistance was as strong as though another hand was grasping it at the opposite end.

1646. “We were now directed to put several things under the table, observe how they were placed, and wait for results. When told to look, we found that a penknife was missing, nor could it be discovered by the most careful search. On again resuming our seats, we were told to take another look; and, behold! there was the penknife, precisely where it had been originally placed!

1647. “Next, we were directed to lay some writing-paper, with a pencil upon it, under the table. This was done; and, in a few moments, on being told to look, we found the word ‘Jesse’ written upon it in a scrawling hand, as though made with great difficulty. The same experiment was again made, and ‘Isaac T. H.’ (Hopper) was written very legibly, and in a different hand. A third time this was done, and ‘Mary Jane’ was recorded,—the name of a young lady who had been communicating with a gentleman present. The first two autographs we have in our possession.

1648. “We now made two requests of ‘Jesse,’ to convince us yet more strongly of his presence. The first was, to press our right foot firmly to the floor, and to make loud raps directly under it. This was quickly done, the foot being grasped as by a mortal hand, and vibrating to the raps thus strangely made. The second was, if possible, to take us by the right hand with his own, so as to make the touch palpable beyond a doubt. Keeping the hand carefully in custody between our knees as we sat—the hands of all the company, including those of the medium, being on the table—we, in a few moments, had it patted, first on one side, then on the other, briskly and repeatedly, as if by another hand, having a negative feeling, as though there was no warmth in it, but natural in every other respect. For the general gratification, the same thing was done to others of the party.

1649. “How shall demonstrations like these be accounted for, except on the hypothesis of spirit-agency? If we cannot positively affirm that Isaac T. Hopper and Jesse Hutchinson were present on that occasion, we are, at least, prepared to declare, as our own conviction, as well as that of the entire company, we believe, that invisible spirits, not of this mundane sphere, performed the phenomena we have thus briefly narrated to our readers.”

Testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Newton.

1650. The following is extracted from a highly interesting letter, entitled, “The Ministry of Angels Realized,” addressed by Mr. and Mrs. Newton to the Edward’s Congregational Church, Boston, of which they were members. Mr. Newton is editor of the “New England Spiritualist,” and sustains a reputation for high moral and intellectual attainment.

1651. “The results, however, of this first investigation, at the time, were (for reasons not then apparent, but which have since been made plain to us) far from satisfactory. Though we witnessed some striking evidences of invisible intelligent agency, there was nothing by which this agency could be possibly identified; and the conclusion seemed most in accordance with our previous opinions, that, if any agency beyond that of human beings was concerned, it was that of evil and seducing spirits. Some months subsequently to this, we were led to attempt the investigation under circumstances more favourable to arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. * * * The results of this interview were of the most surprising, yea, astounding character. An intelligence, claiming to be that of a venerated parent, who had long since passed within the veil, manifested its presence, and addressed to one of us a communication glowing with parental affection, and breathing the very spirit of the upper realm. This was accompanied by the statement of a number of facts, pertaining to his earthly life, none of which, we were fully satisfied, could have been known to any person, bodily present, except the inquirer, and some of them unknown even to him. Although the investigation had been approached with minds on the alert and perceptions sharpened to detect collusion, imposture, deception, or diabolism, in any of its forms, no trace of them could be perceived; all was conducted with evident frankness and candour, on the part of those concerned; and no solution of the mystery was then arrived at, and no adequate one has since been offered, which does not recognise the agency of intelligent beings. A trumpet-blast from the clouds could scarcely have been more startling to our prejudices and unbelief than was that message from the hidden world. * * * As may be well supposed, the interest awakened by this occurrence was sufficient to lead to a further investigation. But a truth so novel and startling could not at once be received, however demonstrative and convincing the evidence on which it rested. Nor was it until evidence had accumulated upon evidence, and proof become piled upon proof—not until manifestations of the most marvellous character had been repeatedly witnessed, under a great variety of circumstances, and notwithstanding the application of every conceivable test—that we could consent to acknowledge, even to ourselves, a belief in the agency of spiritual beings. That belief, however, in spite of prejudice and skepticism, in spite of the general cry of “humbug” and “imposture,” in spite of all attempts of scientific men to explain the marvels on the basis of materialism, (which explanations we found in every case to be wholly inadequate to account for what we witnessed,) that belief became at length forced upon our minds by irresistible evidence.

1652. “But the question still pressed upon us, who were these invisible beings? and what their character and designs? They claimed to be the spirits of departed human beings. Some of them insisted that they were our relatives and friends, and they furnished most startling and inexplicable proofs of their identity. They professed to be thus manifesting themselves to our outward senses, for the purest and holiest of purposes. * * *

1653. “The most favourable of opportunities were offered us for making investigation, and they were carefully and prayerfully improved.

1654. “For several months did we continue to apply to what was transpiring under our notice, through the mediumship of others, the keenest powers of observation, and the highest exercise of moral perception, which have been granted us; ever seeking light and aid from Him who has said, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’

1655. “At length, these intelligences from another sphere began to manifest themselves to us in a manner most unlooked-for and diverse from any thing we had elsewhere witnessed, in the quietness and seclusion of our own home, and without the intervention of any other person. From small and gentle beginnings, they have gone forward, as we were able to bear the increasing light, to give greater, and higher, and clearer proofs of the reality of their presence, their identity, and their heavenly mission; until, through a period of six or seven months, we have been permitted, as we believe, the almost daily enjoyment of the sweetest and most intimate communion with the spirits of ‘just ones made perfect above.’ “A. E. NEWTON, S. J. NEWTON.”

Testimony of Members of the New York Circle.

1656. The following is a statement of facts by Mrs. Charles Partridge, taken from the minutes of the New York circle, attested by several highly respectable and credible persons, among whom is my personal friend, Doctor Gray.

1657. “Persons at the circle have been unexpectedly turned round in the chairs in which they were sitting, and moved to and from the table. Chairs and sofas have suddenly started from their positions against the wall, and moved forward to the centre of the room, when they were required in the formation of the circle. The persons in the circle have each successively lifted his own side of the table, and the invisible power has raised the opposite side correspondingly. Occasionally the spirits have raised the table entirely, and sustained it in air, at a distance of from one to three feet from the floor, so that all could satisfy themselves that no person in the flesh was touching it. Lights of various colours have been produced in dark rooms. A man has been suspended in, and conveyed through, the air, a distance of fifty feet, or more. The communications have been given in various ways, but chiefly in writing, and by the rappings through the ordinary alphabetical mode.

1658. “At the close of the session held on the 17th of November, 1851, the spirits, through the alphabet, and in their usual manner, said, ‘We wish to give you a sentence for you to find out and remember;’ when the following was communicated: ‘Debemos amar á todo el mundo aun á nuestros enemigos.’ No person present on that occasion understood a word of this language, but we were subsequently informed that it was Spanish.

1659. “During the session on the 19th of January, 1852, the spirits signified their desire to make a communication in Hebrew. Mr. Partridge asked who should call the alphabet, and received for answer, ‘The only person present who understands it—George Bush.’ Professor Bush thereupon proceeded to repeat the Hebrew alphabet, and a communication in that language was received.

1660. “Many additional facts might be given to show that spirits communicate in various languages through E. P. Fowler; but the above will suffice for the purposes of this statement.

1661. “We cannot allow the present occasion to pass, without an expression of the entire confidence and unqualified esteem with which Mr. Fowler is regarded by the members of the New York circle, and by those who know him generally. We have had an intimate personal acquaintance with him for two years past—some of us for a much longer period—and we have only known him as a high-minded and honourable young man. From the beginning, he has steadily refused to accept the slightest compensation for his time and services while employed in the capacity of a medium; and we deem it but an act of simple justice to Mr. F. to record the fact that, on all occasions, we have found him entirely unassuming in his deportment, and eminently truthful in his life.

“R. T. HALLOCK, M. D., J. T. WARNER, M. D., ALMIRA L. FOWLER, A. G. HULL, M. D., W. J. BANER, JOHN F. GRAY, M. D., SAMUEL T. FOWLER, MR. & MRS. CHARLES PARTRIDGE.”

Testimony of the Rev. D. F. Goddard, Boston.

1662. “This is to certify that, during a long investigation of the modern phenomena which are now attracting attention in our own country and in the old, I have repeatedly seen my own table, in my own room, to which I know there is no nice machinery affixed for purposes of deception, without any contact whatever of earthly kind, raised, tipped, moved about the room, as if a strong man was there at work. Also, a piano-forte played upon in the same way, without mortal contact, producing most beautiful music—an ocean piece, in which a storm was represented succeeded by a calm. These phenomena occurred in the presence of several other individuals of both sexes, all of whom saw, and all of whom are ready to testify. I have also received from a medium, who never saw me before, and knew nothing of my family, the fact of my father’s death, his name, and a perfect fac-simile of his handwriting; and this when I was not expecting such handwriting, and could not have possibly imitated it, without a copy, in the labour of three months. D. F. GODDARD.”

1663. As this work may be read by many who have not perused any other book on the subject of which it treats, I hope that those who take it up, having a knowledge of the most important spirit manifestations heretofore published, will excuse my quoting them here. My object is to furnish the readers of this volume a reasonably, comprehensive view of Spiritualism, without the necessity of their referring to works which may not be easily accessible.

1664. To the cool Yankee sagacity of Mrs. Fox and her daughters, the world is indebted for the happy result that these manifestations did not, like those which preceded them in other parts of the world, end in a mere inexplicable mystery, and erroneous inferences as to their origin. I allude here to the well-known fact, that similar manifestations were made in the early part of the last century, in Epworth, England, at the mansion of the celebrated clergyman, Wesley, and that one of his daughters was endowed with the attributes of a medium for many years, without the art of alphabetic communication having been suggested.

1665. I might here republish the history of the famous “rappings and knockings” at Hydesville and Rochester, in the State of New York; but as regards evidence, they amount to about the same thing, only not so concentrated, as those demonstrations which occurred at the residence of the Rev. Dr. Phelps, in Stratford, Connecticut. The doctor, who is a Congregationalist, and one of the most worthy men in the world, became a convert to Spiritualism in consequence of these manifestations, an account of which is subjoined. I quote it from the excellent work of E. W. Capron, Esq., entitled, “Modern Spiritualism, its Facts and Fanaticisms.”

1666. I omit quoting the history of the abortive effort made by the spirits to communicate with the Wesleys, but refer the reader to the account published in a work entitled, “Memoirs of the Wesley Family,” by Adam Clark, LL.D., second edition, 1846; or to the work of Mr. Capron, already specified.

Manifestations at Stratford, Conn., in the House of Rev. Eliakim Phelps, D.D.—Remarkable Exhibitions of Power.—Singular Occurrences.—Image-making.—Destruction of Furniture.—Incendiary Spirits.—The Spirits identified.—Unhappy Spirits, from the remembrance of wrong done in this World.—Wrong-doing revealed.—Directions given for restoring ill-gotten Gains.—Discontinuance of the Manifestations.

1667. “While these strange occurrences were taking place at Rochester and Auburn, and the press and people were busy in trying to account for them on strictly mundane principles, making all manner of insinuations against the character and motives of those who even dared to investigate for themselves, some manifestations took place at Stratford, Conn., which attracted attention to that quarter, as well on account of the character and standing of the gentleman at whose house they occurred, as the very strange, boisterous, and violent character of the manifestations. I have been allowed to examine all the records kept of the occurrences by Dr. Phelps, and shall be able, therefore, to present the history with more minuteness and accuracy than has ever before appeared.

1668. “The first disturbances took place on the tenth day of March, 1850, at the house of Rev. Eliakim Phelps, D.D. The house had been occupied by him from the 22d of February, 1848. It is a large and genteel country mansion, separated from the street by a fence forty-five feet in front of the house; which is thirty-two feet in front, and, including the piazza, seventy feet deep, with a hall thirteen feet wide, running through the whole depth of the building. Adjoining, and opening from this hall, are two parlours and a dining-room. On the second floor are five sleeping-rooms, and on the third floor two. The kitchen is in the basement. The house was built about the year 1829 or ‘30 by a Captain Dondall, who for several years commanded a vessel in the China trade, and who died in the Bay of Canton within two or three years after his family had taken up their residence in the house. The property then passed into the hands of another sea-captain, by the name of Purcell, who, with his family, occupied it for several years. Captain Purcell dying suddenly in New York, the family removed, and the house was occupied by an Episcopal clergyman for a school a year or more, and afterward by a Mr-—-, also as a school for boys.

1669. “None of the families who had thus far occupied the house had ever been disturbed, or witnessed any thing aside from ordinary events. At the death of Captain Purcell it became the property of the two daughters, of whom Dr. Phelps purchased it during the month of November, 1847. For two years previous to this it had been unoccupied. Dr. Phelps and family commenced their residence therein on the 22d of February, 1848. Nothing occurred to excite the attention of the family out of the ordinary course of events until the 10th of March, 1850; and, as before stated, nothing can be learned of any strange or unusual events occurring there previous to that time. It will be observed by the dates given that Dr. Phelps had occupied the house more than two years, had found it an agreeable and quiet place of residence—having never himself or any member of the family been disturbed or alarmed by unusual occurrences. On the 10th of March, as above stated, it being the Sabbath, Dr. Phelps and family, consisting of Mrs. Phelps, two daughters, and two sons, the eldest a daughter aged sixteen, a son of twelve years, and a second daughter of six years, children of Mrs. Phelps by a former marriage, and another son of Dr. Phelps by the present marriage, not then three years old, all attended church; and an Irish servant girl, who had been employed in the family some six months, and had shown herself to be honest and trustworthy, had gone on that day to Bridgeport, to attend the Catholic church. On leaving the house in the morning, it appears that the doctor had secured the chamber doors, and put the keys in his pocket; those which could be were locked inside and the keys left in them. The only door by which the chambers could be entered was locked, and the key taken by Dr. Phelps. He also locked the front door inside, left the key in the lock, and, passing out at the back door, locked that, and placed the key in his pocket. On returning from church at noon, the front door was found standing open; the chamber doors, which were left fastened, were now open; and in the nursery the furniture was thrown about in disorder; chairs on the bed, and thrown down upon the floor; the shovel, tongs, and poker, with other things, were in unusual positions and places, every thing showing unmistakable signs of the work of some rude hand making mischief in their absence. Upon discovering the disorder here, Dr. Phelps passed into other rooms on the same floor, but could see no further evidence of intrusion. The first supposition was, very naturally, that some person or persons had entered and robbed the house. Search was immediately made in the closets where silver plate, spoons, forks, etc., were kept. All were found safe and undisturbed. A gold watch, left in an exposed place, remained there as left. The impression still remained that burglars had been in; and, on examination of the windows, one was found that could be raised from the outside, and though there was no evidence of entrance having been made there, no doubt existed that this was the place of access. Thinking they might return during the afternoon, Dr. Phelps remained at home, the other members of the family going again to church. Being left alone, the doctor armed himself, and, selecting a secluded position, awaited the return of the burglars. There was no disturbance during the afternoon; no sound of footfall; all remained quiet. On the return of the family, after the service, usually closing at three o’clock, several other articles were found out of place, but not in a way to make it certain that they were not moved in the morning. Articles of kitchen furniture were changed about. A teakettle, which had been used at dinner-time, was found hidden behind some boxes in the cellar. The bread, sugar-bowl, eggs, and numerous other things kept in the kitchen, were found where they did not belong, and where they had evidently been placed in some way which the family could not account for. Upon entering the middle chamber, occupied as a sleeping-room, a sheet was found spread over the bed outside the counterpane, and beneath which was a nightgown and chemise laid out with the arms folded across the breast, with stockings placed in a position to represent, as it seemed, a corpse disposed as is usual before placing it in the coffin. On the wall were written characters resembling those said by certain clairvoyants to belong to a spiritual language, but which none of the family were able to decipher. Whether they had any significance, or how they came there, was alike an unanswerable question by the family; they had not observed them before. Occurrences ceased for that day and night, yet, no one thinking of any mystery in the matter, they imputed it to roguish boys, or others, who had effected entrance with false keys, for mischief rather than for robbery, and that the culprits would soon be detected. The next morning, March 11th, when the family went up stairs, after breakfast, the middle chamber had again been visited, exhibiting much the same scene of disorder presented the previous day. A sheet was spread out upon the floor, the washstand laid upon its back upon the sheet, a candlestick set upon the stand, the washbowl placed upon one side, and the pitcher on the other. The nightgown and chemise, used on the previous occasion to represent a dead body, were found one in the bowl, the other in the pitcher. It appears that these articles of clothing were not then in use; they had been placed in a trunk which stood in a closet adjoining that room. They were replaced in the trunk when removed from the bed the day before. As they were conversing in relation to the disposition of the things as above stated, Mrs. Phelps looked under the bed, and discovered articles there, partially concealed by the bed, resembling those in question. They were taken out and pronounced to be the same. Dr. Phelps had not before examined them, but then took them, noted the name and number on each, as they were marked, folded and placed them again in the trunk, remarking that he would put them where they would stay; did not lock the trunk, not having a key, but locked the closet and placed the key about his own person; then requesting the family to all leave the room first, which they did, the doctor, following, locked the door of the room, and kept the key. Having observed that Mrs. Phelps seemed a little troubled as to the mystery, he thought to convince her that there was no mystery in the matter, and, having secured the closet and room, he descended to the rooms below, following them all. After the lapse of some fifteen minutes, some person spoke to the doctor, upon which he went up to the chambers. At the head of the stairs, out in the hall, he found the same articles which he had left as before stated. He examined them, and was positive they were the same. He went to the door, found it locked, entered by applying the key from his pocket, went to the closet, found it locked, took the key from his pocket, opened the door, looked in the trunk, and the articles were gone! Dr. Phelps states that he was confident there was no deception in the case, and that he then, for the first, felt that there was a mystery about the affair. He had never believed in the appearing of ghosts or departed spirits, warnings, or any thing of that nature, and, at the age of threescore, had never seen or heard any thing connected with that class of phenomena. The evidence upon which such superstitions, as he termed them, rest, he had never examined, and, while he had no proof positive that they were impossible, and never did occur, he had no evidence to found a belief upon that they ever had. His idea of spiritual manifestations seems to have been that most, if not all, followed by a strict scrutiny, might be accounted for on natural or known principles, or some physical means, which would disrobe them of the mysterious altogether. But it was not to rest here. On the same day (March 11th) the moving and throwing of furniture commenced. An umbrella, standing at the end of the hall, leaped, without visible assistance, a distance of at least twenty-five feet. Dr. Phelps saw the movement, and knows there was no perceptible agency by which the motion was produced. A bucket, standing at the head of the stairs, was thrown into the entry below. Smaller articles, such as nails, forks, knives, spoons, bits of tin, iron, and keys, were thrown from different directions about the house. He says, ‘There were times when they came from such directions that they might have been thrown by some person in the house’—at least, that may be admitted; but in very many cases the motion and point of starting were such as to preclude all possibility of deception on the part of persons in the rooms. During the afternoon, Dr. and Mrs. Phelps had occasion to go to Bridgeport, a distance of some three miles. During their absence the shovel and tongs, standing in the dining-room, were thrown violently down the basement stairs; a piece of mourning-crape fastened to the knocker of the back door, and the mirrors in the front chambers covered with sheets and tablecloths, as is the custom in some parts of the country while a person lies dead in the house. The crape on the door Dr. Phelps did not see, but the covering on the mirrors he removed with his own hands. The position of the mirrors in one room was such that the coverings could not, without great difficulty, have been placed there by any person about the house. Various articles were said to have been thrown about the room—the phenomena continuing in his absence about the same as when he was present in the fore part of the day. Soon after sundown all was again quiet, and so continued through the night.

1670. “The next morning, (March 12th,) soon after the family were up, the same phenomena began again; knives, forks, spoons, blocks of wood, nails, etc. etc. were thrown from different directions, and with increased frequency, attended by still stranger circumstances, and those of a still more mysterious character. Mrs. Phelps expressed some alarm, and a wish that some of the neighbours might be called in. Dr. Phelps called on a retired clergyman of Stratford, a man of extensive information, much experience, and sound judgment, who was universally admitted to be capable of rendering correct judgment and good advice in such a case. He requested him to call and spend an hour at the house, to which he cheerfully consented. Dr. P. told him that his family had been a little excited by some occurrences in the house, but did not state any of the details of the matter, but desired that he would sit with them for a short time and witness for himself. He remained all day, but was, at first, firmly of the opinion that the occurrences were produced, in some way, through the agency of the girl, or some other person about the house, and his main attention was directed to the girl in the kitchen, or the children, in the expectation that he should detect them in doing it.

1671. “The door leading from the parlours to the kitchen was, by his request, locked, and all communication between it and the other parts of the house cut off; still, the throwing of articles went on as before. The children were sent out of the room, and the doors locked; but this made no difference. He stayed through most of the day on Thursday, and returned soon after breakfast next morning, and remained most of the time for nearly three weeks. He became satisfied, before the close of the second day, that neither the girl in the kitchen nor the children had any agency in producing the strange movements. During the day (March 12th) some of the neighbours were in the house, and small blocks of wood were seen to fall in different places in their presence; but only one person noticed them in a way to excite inquiry, and that person was requested not to mention what she had seen.

1672. “On Wednesday, March 13th, the manifestations commenced early in the morning, in the middle chamber, the room in which two children slept, and began while they were both asleep. A book, standing in the library, ten or twelve feet from the bed, leaped from the shelf into the middle of the room. The blower, which was in the grate, leaped out on the floor, a distance of at least six feet, the noise of which first awakened the children. At the breakfast-table several articles were thrown; among them a large potato, which had been sent from Pennsylvania, and laid up in a closet in the east chamber, fell on the table directly by the side of Dr. P.'s plate, in a manner that no person could have done it without instant detection. The doctor’s curiosity was much excited, and he watched, with all the scrutiny he was capable, every person in the room. He took up the potato and let it fall from different heights, in order to determine how far it must have fallen to have made the concussion that it did; and it was adjudged by all that the distance could not have been more than twelve or fifteen inches.

1673. “Rev. Mr.—— came in soon after breakfast, and remained during the day. Several Bibles were opened at different passages, which seemed to be selected with a great deal of care, and indicated either by placing small pieces of paper on them or turning down a leaf. These things first occurred in the middle chamber, where the library stood. While the family were at dinner similar things were done in the parlour adjoining the dining-room. Two Bibles and an Episcopal prayer-book were opened at different passages, chairs turned forward on the floor, two solar lamps placed on the floor, a hat and man’s cap put one on each; nearly every thing in the room had been moved, and in so short a time, that it seems wholly inadmissible that any person about the house could have done it; beside, the whole household were in the dining-room, all seated at the table, except the servant, and she was employed waiting on the table.

1674. “In the afternoon the demonstrations were confined to the middle parlour; Dr. and Mrs. Phelps, and Mr.——, and, a part of the time, the eldest daughter, being present; in the absence of the daughter the doors were locked, and the three first named only were present.

1675. “The throwing of various things occupied the afternoon. The articles thrown were picked up and placed upon the mantel, and between the hours of one and four o’clock, the number amounted to forty-six; among which were nails, bits of tin, iron, keys, and small blocks, all of which were gathered from different parts of the house; most of them from closets on the second floor and the chambers. At one time, while Mr. M-—- was standing near the centre of the room, a padlock, which was known to have been in the closet of the middle chamber, fell at his feet. He took it in his hand, letting it fall from different heights, to discover the probable distance it must have fallen to produce the concussion. After various trials it was judged to have fallen not more than two or two and a half feet. As Dr. P. was sitting, perhaps ten feet from the piano-forte, he saw a small toy-mouse, which was on the piano, arise as if tossed, and, describing a parabola as it came, fall at his side, so near that he took it from the floor without leaving his chair. This he speaks of seeing as distinctly as he ever saw any thing, the whole being perfectly in his view. He also saw, in the same way, among other things, a nail, cotton-spool, and key, arise from behind the sofa, which stood diagonally across the corner of the room. He arose, went to the sofa, looking behind and under it, but could discover nothing which might give impulse to the articles. While examining the carpet about the sofa to find if any other things were there, without success, as his eyes were directed to one spot, there arose from that very point a piece of cheese-rind, perhaps eight inches from the floor; when he saw it first it arose four or five feet, passed over the sofa, and fell on the floor. He is positive it was not there when he was looking at the carpet, and knows there were no visible means of its moving.

1676. “Mr. M-—- suggested, as he was about to leave on Wednesday night, that if the strange phenomena should return, he would like to have some other persons called in. Early the next morning, Thursday, the 14th, the manifestations commenced about as they had on the previous day. Soon after breakfast a sheet was found spread upon the floor, several Bibles were opened at different places, the candlesticks, in a row, the highest in the middle, and covered with a sheet; other articles changed about the room, without any seeming design, more than to attract attention. Mr. M-—- proposed that notes be despatched to Rev. Mr. W-—-, Congregational minister, and Mr. Plant, a lawyer of high standing and respectability, which was accordingly done. It was at this time that they first began to hear rappings and heavy poundings. A loud sound, like some person striking the floor with some heavy substance, was heard, generally in the middle chamber. This was usually done when no one was in the chamber, and on any one entering all was still. In one instance a chair was seen to rise from the floor and beat down again, five or six times, with a violence which caused the house to tremble so as to be felt in all the adjoining apartments. A large plated candlestick, standing on the mantel, was moved by some unseen power to the floor, and then rose up and down, beating the floor, until the candlestick was broken. This was the first article that was damaged about the house. Several times during the day loud noises, like some one pounding with an axe or some heavy substance on the floor, were heard in different parts of the house, and several times the loud poundings terminated with a frightful scream; it was not a cry of distress, or any thing that could be easily imitated, seeming like something between the cry of a cat and the bleating of a calf, but louder than either. These sounds occurred in all probably twenty times while the manifestations were going on. Sometimes the screams seemed to be in the third story, sometimes in the front-hall chamber, several times out in the yard, and occasionally in other places. There was at no time any audible expression of words. The sounds consisted of poundings, knockings, and screamings. On this day the first images were found, which will be spoken of more fully hereafter.

1677. “In the evening of this day, just after some young ladies had called, Dr. P.‘s daughter returned to the parlour, it being between nine and ten o’clock. After seeing the young ladies to the door, an iron stand, in which stood the fire-shovel, tongs, and poker, leaped from the hearth, where it stood, into the middle of the floor, and rose up and beat the floor with a force that made a jar that could be felt, and the sound heard, in any part of the house. This was seen only by the daughter, but Dr. P. and wife heard the noise. The daughter ran through the dining-room to get up stairs, and, as she passed, a large table was standing, with the other furniture, arranged for breakfast the next morning. The table was three feet nine inches wide, and five feet three inches long, made of solid mahogany; and when she entered the room it rose up and beat five or six times against the floor with a force which made the house jar. The noise was heard by many persons in the house. Mrs. P. was alarmed, and screamed out, ‘Oh, take me from this place!’ This happened between nine and ten o’clock, P. M. Previous to this time all manifestations had ceased by sundown, or a little after.

1678. “Soon after daylight on Friday, March 15th, movements similar to those on previous days commenced. Henry, a lad then eleven and a half years of age, attended the academy, and nothing had, thus far, ever occurred to connect these strange phenomena with his presence. Dr. P. had never heard or thought of particular persons being ‘mediums.’ But on this day the remarkable occurrences seemed to be connected more or less with this boy. His cap was torn on his head, so as to be entirely destroyed. Another one which he put on was taken in the same way. First a small hole opened in the crown; this gradually extended, and in a short time it was torn into many pieces. On another cap characters were made, apparently with chalk. They resembled those sometimes made by persons in the higher mesmeric state, describing them as characters of a spiritual language. Five or six of these characters were, at one time, made on the boy’s cap. Others, supposed to constitute a sentence, were written on a red pocket-handkerchief; others on his pantaloons and coat, and on the inside of his sack-coat. Copies of these characters were taken with great care, and were preserved till September following, when they were mysteriously destroyed. From this time it became evident that some of the phenomena had some kind of connection with this boy.

1679. “An umbrella which he was carrying was, in a mysterious manner, torn in several pieces. His pantaloons were torn from the bottom upward, as high as the knee, and sometimes higher, and were literally torn to ribbons, an inch or more wide. This occurred several times under the immediate inspection of Rev. Mr. M., which seems to fix the fact that, in those instances at least, no power visible did it. Thus it continued for several weeks, clothing to the amount of twenty dollars being destroyed. At one time, while he was riding in a carriage with Dr. P., his cap on his head was torn in a mysterious manner, and his pants torn from the waistband to the bottom, in a way that no human power could have done. Dr. P. heard them torn, but could see nothing doing it, and knows the boy could not have done it himself. It was on this day, March 15th, that images, dressed in articles of clothing, were again seen; only two or three appeared on that day. The most extraordinary occurrences of this kind took place on Saturday, the 16th. Soon after breakfast two or three images appeared in the middle chamber; soon again another, followed by others still, numbering in all eleven or twelve. They were formed of articles of clothing, found about the house, stuffed to resemble the human figure. A lady’s dress would be stuffed in some cases with a muff; again with a pillow, and sometimes with other dresses; a bonnet and shoes were aptly placed to complete the figure. These, on this occasion, all but one, represented females in the attitude of devotion, some having Bibles or prayer-books placed before them. One, formed of Mrs. P.‘s dress, so much resembled the real, that the little boy, scarce three years old, coming into the room with his sister, older, whispered, ‘Be still, ma is saying prayers.’

1680. “A portable writing-desk, usually standing on the secretary in the room, was taken and placed upon the floor, a towel spread over it, and the image of a child kneeling beside it. A Yankee clock was taken from the mantel in the nursery and placed upon the floor in the middle room, a distance of twenty feet, and so carefully done that the clock was still going when discovered in its new place, though it stopped some time after. It does not appear that any of these images were seen in the process of construction, or that the clothing, which was gathered from different localities, was seen in the act of moving. When persons entered the room every thing was still, the clothing about the floor, which, upon going in again within a few minutes, were found wrought into forms. The marked rapidity of their construction, and the lifelike appearance of them, seems to have been truly wonderful. During this day several others than members of the family were present. In several instances, when the rooms were closed and the doors guarded, so that no person could enter, the images were constructed. To one reading or listening to the relation of these facts, the mischief and cunning evinced will seem amusing as well as most wonderful; but to the family, who bore the annoyance and witnessed the terrifying demonstrations, it was a serious and trying affair.

1681. “The reader will keep in mind that this was on Saturday of the first week of these strange proceedings, and many persons were still believing that they must be produced by some one in the house; every member of the family therefore was subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, which makes it morally certain that no member of the household could have had any agency in the matter without being at once detected. Beside the neatness and despatch with which they were formed, the natural appearance of most of them must have required taste and skill beyond the conception of ordinary persons in the flesh. Mr. M. remained there throughout the day, Mr. W., Governor Plant, and Captain S., a part of the day. During the day and evening various things were thrown in different parts of the house. A brick-bat, which lay on the stairs leading to the third story, was thrown violently down stairs, passing very near the head of the eldest daughter as she was descending the stairs. A fire-shovel was also thrown near her, which she first saw high above her in a position to fall upon her head. She was several times constrained to cry out from fear, so much as to cause apprehension on her account.

1682. “[I omit, in this place, at the request of Dr. Phelps, a minute account of occurrences in which the medium seemed to be one who has now grown to be a young woman, and would feel a repugnance at having her name mentioned in connection with the subject. At one time a ribbon was tied around her neck, while she was sleeping, so tight as to cause a serious affection of the brain. Dr. Phelps was sitting in the room when it was done. Several other remarkable occurrences are omitted, on account of her connection with them. In the main they do not differ materially in their nature from the occurrences herein related.]

1683. “The hiding of hats, caps, clothing, &c., seems at this time to have become of common occurrence. On several occasions a hat was seen to go up stairs—not thrown, but seemed to be carried rapidly by unseen hands. For several days Dr. P. was forced to keep his hat under lock and key to prevent its disappearance, if left out as usual. Coats, hats, and canes of gentlemen, who were strangers in the house, were spirited away; the only object seeming to be the gratification of mischievous desires, with the exception of a few instances. They were found sometimes in the chimney, under the bed, and in the bottom of trunks. The design seemed to be to detain the owners to witness further demonstrations. Two gentlemen from an adjoining town called, one of whom had expressed an earnest desire to witness the phenomena; but having passed several hours, and seeing nothing, they were about to leave, when the person who expressed the wish found himself minus a hat. A thorough searching followed, but no hat could be found; consequently, the gentleman decided to remain until the next day. During the evening and night, phenomena transpired sufficient to gratify his most abundant desire. Similar cases, with like results, afterward occurred.

1684. “On the nineteenth and twentieth, little occurred to cause alarm. Some of the family heard loud and frightful screams in an adjacent outhouse, which must have been torturing to the feelings, much more so than the silent images. Small articles were also thrown about the house. Reports had now got abroad, and some excitement was being produced, as is always the case in country towns, where each person knows their neighbour’s private business quite as well, and sometimes better, than those most interested. And in a matter of this kind all efforts to prevent publicity would prove unavailing. Curiosity and staring wonder would overstep all bounds of propriety and respect for the private rights and feelings of the family, forgetting that it is no slight thing for the harmony and quiet of a household to be invaded, each member being subjected to suspicion, ill-natured scrutiny, or careless reproach. On this subject I can speak from experience, having myself passed the ordeal. To persons of refined sensibility it is a trial indeed. In this case, Dr. P. adopted the rule of giving all who called an opportunity to investigate for themselves, and to this rule he adhered, notwithstanding the annoyance such a constant visitation must have occasioned. In one instance, while a rabble was gathered outside, a stranger, who came unintroduced by letter or otherwise, asked to spend the night, and was refused for obvious reasons.

1685. “On Friday and Saturday, March 23d and 24th, the disturbances increased, and became still more annoying. Loud poundings and screams were heard in different places, and on Saturday evening, between sunset and dark, Harry was passing through the dining-room, and thought himself suddenly caught up by some unseen power from the floor, and supposed that he was about to be carried off through the ceiling. He was very much frightened, and screamed so as to alarm the family, and remained in a state of great nervous excitement for two or three hours, and the effects did not wholly wear off for more than a week. At times he was in such a state as to require two men to hold him. For several days after this, he spent a portion of his time with one of the neighbours during the day; but the disturbances continued the same at the house, although he appeared to be more or less the medium as long as the phenomena continued. At one time he was thrown into a cistern of water; at another he was tied up and suspended from a tree, and several times was thrown into a state of apparent insensibility, in which he would remain from ten to fifteen minutes, and for which no human cause could be assigned.

1686. “Somewhere about the 20th or 22d of March, Dr. P.‘s attention was called to a pamphlet, (Capron and Barron’s,) giving a history of the ‘mysterious noises’ at Rochester and Auburn. Several persons who had read the same proposed to question the agents of these disturbances in the manner there recorded, and see if they could get answers to questions. To this the doctor objected, for reasons known to himself, but which may readily be imagined by those knowing his position in life, and his general opinions of such phenomena.

1687. “On the 26th of March Anna left Stratford, and on the 3d of April Harry also left. No manifestations took place while both were away. Harry was absent a week, and Anna three weeks; but the very day that Harry returned, the manifestations commenced with greater power than ever. Even before he arrived at the house, a paper with some mysterious characters was dropped near the front door. These characters were interpreted by a clairvoyant[37] to read as follows:

1688. ‘Fear not when he returns; all danger is o’er. We came, we disturbed thy house; but shall no more. Believe us not evil or good, till we prove Our speech to humanity, our language of love.’

1689. This was supposed to indicate that no further disturbance would be made; but in the course of two or three hours another paper was found in the boy’s hat, in these words:

1690. ‘The good ones say that all is done, But the wicked ones say it has just begun.’

1691. The ‘wicked ones,’ in this case, seemed to come nearer the truth than the ‘good ones;’ for, on the afternoon of the eighth of April, the breaking of glass commenced for the first time, by the breaking of a pane in a mysterious manner. In the evening of the same day another was broken during family prayers, some of the pieces falling inside and some outside. There were no indications of any thing being thrown against it.

1692. From this time forward for several weeks glass was broken almost daily, until the whole number of panes broken amounted to seventy-one in the house and out-buildings. Most of them were broken by something being thrown against them; among the articles were a brush, a shoe, a poker, a fire-shovel, a candlestick, a pair of snuffers, books, and numerous other things; occasionally a stone or piece of brick, thrown from the outside.

1693. Dr. P. thinks it would have been possible, but not probable, that, in some of these cases, they might have been broken by human agency; but he was an eye-witness in some twenty or thirty cases, and knows that they could not have been so done. He saw a brush, which he knew to have been on a certain shelf but a moment before, and no person near the shelf, fly to the window, break out a glass, and fall down between the shutter and sash, where he knew from the position that no one could have thrown it. He saw a tumbler, which was standing on a bureau, rise from its place, fly to the window, and dash out the only pane remaining whole in the window, when no person was within twenty feet of it, and the only persons in the room were himself and Harry, the latter standing by the doctor’s side in the doorway of the room—a position in which it was utterly impossible for him to have done it without detection.

1694. The mysterious visitors, whoever they were, seemed at times to be actuated by a spirit of sheer mischief in the destruction of property, particularly glass and crockery. Even the glass in the carriage-top was broken out. Pitchers of water were, on two or three occasions, poured into the beds, and the pitchers and other vessels thrown about the room and broken. The damage to furniture during the whole time was nearly two hundred dollars. Sometimes there was a cessation of ‘hostilities’ for two or three days; but they would then return with additional violence; in fact, they increased gradually in violence from the beginning to the middle of April. On the evening of that day, and during the night, they were more violent and destructive than ever before. On the night of the 13th of April, loud pounding and beating, as with some hard substance, were frequent in the room adjoining that in which Dr. P. slept; so loud and continued were they, that at one o’clock no person in the house had been able to sleep. Soon after, a small drawer was taken from a dressing-table, and beaten so violently against the bedstead as to break it into fragments, some of which were thrown against the windows, breaking two panes of glass. The knockings were now transferred to Mrs. P.‘s room. She was pinched, pricked with pins, and otherwise annoyed in a manner beyond explanation ‘on any known laws of matter or mind.’ Mr. W. C. was staying in the house that night. He went to the room by request, and proposed to interrogate them, as they were then doing at Rochester and other places in Western New York. Being left to act his pleasure, he queried, and was replied to as follows: ‘Who are you? If a spirit, knock.’ Immediately there were heard on the head of the bed distinct knocks. Q.—‘Are you a good or bad spirit? If good, knock.’ To this there was no answering sound. ‘If a bad spirit, knock.’ At once the same sounds as before were heard. Q.—‘Will you spell your name if the alphabet is called?’ A.—Knock. It was done; and a name was spelled out, and a communication made of a most extraordinary character, detailing the particulars of a transaction in which a portion of the family were said to have been defrauded out of a large property. As this whole communication relates to a matter which may yet come before the tribunals of our country for adjudication, I am expressly prohibited from making any extracts from this part of the journal. I regret this more, as the facts in this case form one of the most wonderful and unaccountable cases on record.

1695. The family concluded that, after these important disclosures were made, the disturbances would cease; but they were doomed to be disappointed. The following night no communications were made, but the throwing of articles and breaking of windows, crockery, etc., were renewed with greater violence than before. Four or five panes of glass were broken in one room in the space of half an hour. While the family were together in the east chamber, a small sauce-dish, with an iron handle, rose from the floor, under the washstand, and beat against the bedstead with such violence as to break the handle off, and was then thrown back from whence it started. It beat seven or eight times against the bedstead, producing a noise that could easily be heard twenty rods. A round of a chair was beaten against the bedstead in the same manner, when there was no person within seven or eight feet of it. A lamp that was on the mantel leaped into the middle of the floor, and was extinguished. Being left thus suddenly in the dark produced no little agitation, and Mrs. Phelps proposed that they should take the children and go into the street, rather than stay in the house that night. In a few minutes two gentlemen, who had appointed to spend the night with them, arrived, and the more violent of the manifestations ceased.

1696. About this time, Dr. P.‘s attention was called to the fact that the demonstrations were much more violent in the presence of some persons than of others. While some were present they would cease entirely, and commence as soon as they left, with great vehemence.

1697. On the 17th the communications were renewed, and from that time they had frequent communications, mainly respecting the property affair. At one time they asked how they should know that this was really from the spirit it purported to be, and requested his signature; when in less than four minutes a small piece of paper, having on it an exact fac-simile of his handwriting, was seen sticking to the wall—the writing apparently done with a pencil. Dr. Phelps still preserves the original paper, with the name inked over. It was stuck to the wall by being made damp.

1698. It was now discovered that, in order to get the rapping, the presence of Henry was necessary. At one time a request was made by the rapping to send him to New York, and a threat that all the windows in the house would be broken, if they did not, was made; but in a few minutes after, a small piece of paper was seen to fall, apparently from the ceiling, and on it written, ‘Send him not to New York—evil will befall him.’ It was evident that there were two or more contending agencies engaged in the manifestations. It was not easy to define or imagine what their objects were. At times, when one was making a communication, the other would rap, seemingly to make confusion. At other times, when a communication was being made by alphabet, a paper would be dropped down, and on it written, ‘It is all a lie; don’t believe what he says.” Sometimes language the most profane, and occasionally, but rarely, obscene, would be written out in this way. Inquiry was made as to how these contradictory communications were to be accounted for, and the answer was that an opposing spirit was attempting to defeat the object of the first; that this spirit was now one of his tormentors; that both were in a state of misery, and his suffering would be mitigated if the object of the first could be accomplished, although he would never go to a state of happiness.

1699. “Among the spirits who communicated were two who professed to be in a state of happiness, and three in a state of misery. One of the good spirits claimed to be a sister of him who made the first communication; she communicated frequently, and constantly manifested herself in the morning and evening devotions of the family, and always gave two distinct knocks at the utterance of ‘Amen.’ Upon inquiry as to the meaning of these two knocks, the answer was given that it was a response, after the manner of the Episcopal service, signifying that she joined in the devotions.

1700. Much that was communicated after the first few days was of a trifling and childish character; some, more like what would be received from street rowdies than any thing else. To the question why they destroyed property, they replied, ‘For fun.’ It was asked of the opposing spirit what could be done to afford him relief; he answered that ‘The best thing they could do would be to give him a piece of pie.’ Sometimes letters would come, purporting to be from ministers of Philadelphia, giving accounts of conversions in their congregations and additions to their churches. These were addressed to the doctor, and indicated a knowledge of things in Philadelphia to an astonishing degree. Some of the letters were addressed to Mrs. Phelps, signed, or rather purporting to be signed, by departed spirits of persons who had lived in Philadelphia, and all, or nearly all, who had lived in a single square, and were the acquaintances of Mrs. Phelps, during a residence in that city, in the time of her former marriage. Sentimental notes were also addressed to the daughter. These letters and billets were frequent, amounting in all to nearly one hundred, and were all written in one hand, though purporting to come from different persons. The fact was at one time referred to, and an explanation desired, to which the following was given: ‘We do not write with the hand—do not touch the pencil; we write with the will.’ At one time a paper was thrown down to Mrs. Phelps, while in the parlour with a number of ladies, having written on it, with a pencil, as follows:

1701. ‘SIR: Sir Sambo’s compliments, and begs the laddyes to accept as a token of esteem.’

1702. A lady in the family of Dr. Phelps had, in a humorous way, requested the spirits to write her a letter that she might send to a friend in Philadelphia. The spirit complied with the request by sending down the following:

1703. ‘DEAR MARY: I have just time to write and tell you I am well. Give my love to Miss K. and her uncle. Also to Mrs. and Mr. D. Also to Sarah. Good-bye. H. P. DEVIL.’

1704. The initials of the lady’s name who asked for the letter were H. P.

1705. Papers were also thrown down, signed ‘Beelzebub’ and ‘Sam Slick.’ Sometimes names of persons whom the family had known in Philadelphia, but who had been dead several years, were signed to these papers.

1706. The following was in pencil, and seems to be written in the same hand as the other. It was superscribed ‘E. Phelps:’

1707. ‘If you promise not to write what I told you, I will not throw any thing all this week.’

1708. On the 28th of July, 1850, two singular letters were thrown down, addressed to Dr. Phelps. They were both in one handwriting, but were signed by two different orthodox clergymen of Philadelphia. Their interest in religious movements, and their acquaintance with the phraseology of ‘revival’ correspondence, are seen at a glance. ‘St. Peter’s,’ in the second letter, is a Puseyite church.

1709. ‘DEAR BROTHER: The Lord is dealing bountifully with his chosen people. Brother Barnes admitted to the church forty-nine last Sunday, and Brother Parker thirty-four to-day. Brother Converse has had the cholera, and Brother Fairchild has grown so fleshy as scarcely to be recognised. Our friend Mr. Tarr has buried his wife. She died of consumption. E. Tarr is married. Brother Mahu, being suddenly inspired last Sunday, spoke so eloquently and so loud, and used such majestic action, as to be quite done up for a while. He broke a blood-vessel. Old Tiers has gone crazy, and is shut up in a mad-house, or, rather, a hospital. The H-—-s have gone into the country to spend some time. That’s all the news. ‘Your faithful brother in Christ,

‘R. A.’

1710. ‘DEAR BROTHER: The millennium truly is coming. The day of the Lord is at hand. We are adding countless numbers to the altar of the Lord. Brother A-—- became inspired last Sunday to such a degree, that his soul took its flight to the regions above, and has not yet returned. The Catholic churches, St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s, were burned down; St. Peter’s, also—I believe that is a Catholic church. Brother Mahu was preaching from the text, ‘Resist the devil,’ &c., when he was suddenly overturned by an invisible power, which frightened him so that his hair turned white in five minutes.

1711. ‘Brother Barnes, to render his church more attractive, is going to have opera-singing and dancing every Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Alexander Tower, old Mr. Tiers, Brother Fairchild, and Mrs. Somerville are going to dance. I think they will find it a very lucrative employment. Jane and Martha still progress in Hebrew. ‘Your affectionate brother, M. R.’

1712. On Sunday, April 27th, 1851, on returning from church, the family found strange characters written on the last leaf of a writing-book, lying on the hall floor, although it was known to be in the nursery previous to their going away. None of the family had any knowledge of how the book got into the hall.[38]

1713. H. C. Gordon, a clairvoyant, interpreted the characters as follows: The first line, 95th Psalm, 2d verse; second line, 3d and 6th verse; and the third line, the 10th verse.

1714. Certain characters were found on the wall in the east chamber, on Sunday morning, May 4th, 1851. They were made with a candle on the wall near the south window.

1715. These were translated to be, ‘Spirits of a higher order desire to communicate with you soon.’

1716. Spirit-writing, without visible human agency, has never been a common mode of communicating, although it was among the early occurrences at Hydesville, Rochester, and Auburn.[39]

1717. Sometimes these missives were enclosed in a book, and thrown down stairs or into the room; sometimes wrapped about a key or nail, or any thing that would give a momentum, and thrown into the room. Often they were seen to fall from above; this occurring frequently when the doors were closed, and it was not possible for any visible agent to have been the cause. Writing would appear on the wall at times, made, as it appeared, with a pencil. On one occasion, Dr. Phelps was writing at his desk, and, turning his back for a few moments, without leaving his chair, turned again to his paper, where he found written in large letters, ‘Very nice paper and very nice ink for the devil.’ The ink was not yet dry, the desk was not two feet from him as he sat, and he was entirely alone in the room.

1718. About the first of May, Dr. Phelps, of Boston, brother of the Rev. Doctor, and Prof. Phelps, of Andover, a son of the Rev. Doctor, went to Stratford to ‘expose the humbug,’ and with a full belief that it was a trick of evil-minded persons, and that they should be able to detect and expose it without trouble; and they were disappointed, as hundreds have been under like circumstances. On Tuesday evening a loud rap was heard on the back door, seeming to be made by the knocker, loud enough to be heard twenty rods distant. The servant went to the door, but no person was there. After the lapse of five or eight minutes, the rap was repeated. It was then supposed that some one had done it mischievously; but, on looking about, no person was discovered. It was in the shades of evening, but not dark enough to prevent any person being seen, who might have done it, as easily as at mid-day. The knocking came the third time, when Dr. Phelps—the visitor—placed himself in the hall, perhaps four feet from the door, and the Professor, of Andover, took a position on the steps without, each having full view of the door. The same loud raps were repeated on the door between them. The knocker did not move, nor could the eye detect any cause for what met the ear. The noise was heard throughout the house, and both the gentlemen were positive that no visible agent was employed to produce it. About bed-time, a loud pounding was heard on the chamber-door. The gentlemen, each with a candle in hand, stood on either side of the door, as the pounding, as though done with a heavy boot, was continued. The noise appeared to each to be on the side of the door opposite to him. On the following morning, as Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the third story, a noise as loud and much resembling the report of a pistol occurred apparently close to his ear. These boisterous sounds occurred at intervals during a great part of the time that the disturbance was continued. Sometimes for weeks they would not be heard; and again for days they were heard every day.

1719. It would seem, from various occurrences, that the agents of these sounds, whoever they were, must have been human beings, or, at least, possessed of all the leading characteristics of humanity. They were evidently influenced by kindness or unkindness, by respect and confidence, as persons generally are in this life. Some instances illustrating this are given. One morning, during the breakfast hour, they would push the table suddenly, raise up one side and shake it in such a manner as to spill the coffee, and otherwise occasion serious inconvenience. A person at the table spoke to them in a tone of authority, commanding them to desist; but the act was at once repeated. Again they were commanded to cease, but increased violence followed this command. This was five or six times repeated, and the shaking was each time renewed. At length another person at the table said, ‘I request you kindly to cease this annoyance, and allow us to take our breakfast quietly,’ and they ceased at once, without a repetition. It was found, from this time, that kindness had about the same effect upon them that it produces upon mankind at large. A lady, the wife of a clergyman, spent a few weeks in the family during the summer, who received many communications from them, would often, when the scissors, thimble, or things of that kind, were mislaid, say, ‘I will thank the spirits to return my thimble, scissors,’ or whatever was missing, and the article named would drop at her side, or in her lap, within a minute. Things of this kind occurred very many times in the course of the time that these phenomena were continued. If a key or knife, or any thing of the kind, was mislaid, and any person was looking for it, frequently it would be thrown to them as though their wants were anticipated. Dr. Phelps was once with Harry in the stable, when the currycomb could not be found, and he asked Harry where it was, to which Harry replied that he did not know. At that moment, the doctor saw it rise, as if thrown, from a point ten feet distant from them, and, describing a parabola, fall within a short distance of the spot where they both were standing.

1720. About the middle of May, Dr. Phelps and Harry were riding to Huntington, a distance of seven miles. When they had proceeded about one mile on the way, a stone, about the size of a hen’s egg, was thrown into the carriage, and lodged on Dr. Phelps’s hat. Soon another and another were thrown in. The carriage was a covered one, and the back curtain was down, and there was no way a stone could have been thrown in by ordinary means. At one house where they stopped, the moment the front door was opened, two stones were thrown, one of which entered the door as it stood partly open, and the other hit one of the lights of glass, and broke it. Harry was standing on the door-steps at the time, and there was no one in the street who could have thrown them. Two stones were also thrown against another house where they stopped of an errand. Sixteen stones were thrown into the carriage on the doctor’s return, and, including those thrown against the two houses, twenty, in driving three or four hours.

1721. As it was now apparent that these strange things were in some way connected with Harry as a medium, it was thought best to separate him from the family. Accordingly board was obtained for him in a family some two miles distant. One day, when he came home, he told his mother, in great secrecy, that on the night previous he had been awakened from his sleep by some person dressed in white, whom he saw standing by his bedside. He was frightened, and was about to scream, when the person spoke and said, ‘Be not afraid, my son; I am your father;’ and then placed in the boy’s hand a silver watch, and told him to wear it for his sake. The boy affirms that he had the watch in his hand; that it was not a dream; and that he was entirely awake; and that his father told him to tell no one of it but his mother and Dr. P. His mother told him it was nothing but a dream, and turned it off as a light affair.

1722. It seems that a valuable silver watch had been left the boy by his father, which was not in use, but had been kept locked up in a drawer of a dressing-table, to which he (Harry) had no access. A member of the family, having occasion to look into the drawer, saw the watch, and knows it was there, and that the drawer was locked, and the key given to Mrs. P. A few minutes after the conversation with his mother about the apparition and the watch, the night previous, he came in from the yard with the watch in his hand! He said his father had again appeared to him, and put the watch into his hand again, and said, ‘Wear this for my sake.’ He brought the watch into the house, and showed it to his mother, and said that his father said, ‘Tell your mother to look at the second-hand.’ The hand was off, and lay on the face of the watch under the crystal. A credible person will make oath, if called upon, that she saw the watch in the drawer, where it was usually kept, not more than six or eight minutes before, and that she locked the drawer and gave the key to Mrs. Phelps. The key had been in possession of no other person, and Harry had not been in the room during the time. The watch was taken to Dr. P., and he tried to replace the second-hand, but could not succeed. He closed it, leaving the hand loose on the face, and passed it back to Harry, saying that he must take it to the watch-maker. When he took it in his hand, he exclaimed, ‘Why, it’s on!’ They looked, and it was on and going. In a few minutes it was off again, and was put on a second time, all within a minute or two. The doctor affirms that it was not out of his sight a moment; that he knows the watch was not opened, and that no visible power was employed in doing it.

1723. On one occasion the piano-forte was played while it is known that no person was in the room; and, at another time, it was turned around, the front toward the wall, and so far removed from the side of the room as to allow the player room to sit next to the wall; the stool was also appropriately placed.

1724. On several occasions, about this time, certain members of the family saw, or thought they did, visible appearances. Dr. P. did not give entire credit to these statements; not but what he had full confidence in the honesty of the family, but the excited state in which some of them had been for a long time led him to think that they might imagine they saw what had no existence in fact. Toward the last of May, it was signified that one of the spirits who had communicated would appear visibly—first to the daughter, then to Mrs. P., and then to the doctor himself. They asked in what manner he would appear, and the answer was, ‘In a sheet.’ Between ten and eleven o’clock the same night, soon after the family had retired, Anna, who occupied the east bedroom, the door between her room and that where the doctor and his wife slept being open, and a lamp burning on a stand so placed as to light both rooms, called to her mother, and said, ‘There it is, in a sheet.’ Dr. P. asked where; when she said it was in the door between the two rooms, coming from the room the doctor occupied, but the doctor saw nothing. The daughter was frightened, and covered up her head, and in a few minutes looked up and saw nothing. He was represented as moving slowly from one room to the other.

1725. In about two minutes Mrs. Phelps exclaimed, ‘There it is!’ and drew the clothes over her head. Both the daughter and mother saw it at this time, but still the doctor saw nothing, although in as favourable a position as either of the others.

1726. After two or three minutes had elapsed, the doctor also saw it. It appeared to him to move slowly from the hall chamber into his, and turn and move slowly back. It had the appearance of a very tall person with a sheet thrown around it; he saw only the sheet. In about one minute, something was thrown on to the bed, which proved to be a sheet which had been taken from the wardrobe in the hall. Dr. Phelps declares that he was not frightened in the least, and could not have been mistaken in the appearance. Some two or three weeks subsequent to this a similar appearance was seen, and Dr. P. sprang out of bed, determined to seize hold of it if possible. It came part way into his room, and then moved slowly back. The daughter affirmed that the doctor was within two or three feet of it when it disappeared, and a sheet dropped into a chair. These were the only instances in which the doctor saw any thing himself. Others of the family saw persons in a mysterious way several times.

1727. At one time, while Anna was in the dining-room, and a cousin of hers and some of the children in the front yard, her attention was arrested by some one entering the front parlour. She went in, and saw three gentlemen—two of them sitting on the sofa, and one on a chair by the table—all having their hats on, and drawn down over their eyes more than usual; the one by the table had his feet upon the table, and was reading a paper. She was surprised that neither of them rose up, or looked at her, as she entered the room; and when she was within five or six feet of the one nearest her, he leaned over on one side and fell, chair and all, on the floor, and instantly all disappeared! She was frightened, and ran to her cousin, who was near the front door. She came in, but no persons were there, neither could they have entered without her seeing them. The chair was thrown down, but no person near who could have done it.

1728. A few other instances occurred in which appearances were supposed to have been seen; but the circumstances were not of a character to put the matter beyond a doubt, therefore no record was kept of them. About the middle of May, Dr. Phelps spent some time with the Fox family in New York. He soon decided that the manifestations were essentially the same as those at his house, with a few points of difference. With them property was not destroyed, and they were not painfully annoyed. The sounds were different, it being with them a double or rolling sound, and at his house a single knock. They could call upon and receive answers from different spirits, or what claimed to be different ones. This could be done at his house. During the months of June and July the same general occurrences continued at Stratford. Sometimes for two or three days there would seem to be an entire cessation of ‘hostilities.’ Then they would commence again with redoubled force. People from all parts of the country were visiting the house, to whom every facility was afforded to search into the cause. Newspaper discussions were going on, casting the most unjust and painful reflections, subjecting the family to suffering little short of martyrdom, while numberless other persons had as good an opportunity of explaining the matter as the persecuted family. In this affliction I can sympathize somewhat with Dr. Phelps and family. In the first days of these phenomena in Western New York, all persons who were involved with or interested in them were looked upon and treated at once as void of all common feeling or sensibility, both privately and publicly; their names passed about, coupled with opprobrious epithets; their houses were entered without ceremony, and even in the face of direct request to the contrary; their right to quiet and repose invaded, their houses often being crowded with visitors, prompted by idle curiosity and a malicious desire to torture, beyond the midnight hour; still insisting to remain, and adding insult to injury by declaring in your ears that it was an arrant cheat—a grand humbug—being carried on; and all for—what? And at the same time those whose ill-fortune it then seemed to be to have an identity with it were weeping and praying for the scourge to be removed from them; for scourge it seemed, indeed, under such circumstances.

1729. Dr. and Mrs. Phelps concluded, in August, as the demonstrations were then less frequent, on taking a short journey of three weeks. The disturbances were still more annoying in their absence than before; and it was decided as best to close the house for the winter, and remain away. Accordingly, on the 11th of September, Harry left for Pennsylvania, and it was arranged that the other members of the family should follow within three weeks. It seems that, although the manifestations were connected more intimately with Harry, his presence was not all-important, as they did not cease altogether when he left; but communications were still made, though with less force and violence. The knockings were not as loud, and the communications less free or frequent. At one time a note was thrown into the room, while Dr. P. was writing at the desk, which contained the following: “How soon do the family expect to go to Pennsylvania? I wish to make some arrangements before they go. Please answer in writing.’ The doctor replied as desired, as follows: ‘About the first of October,’ and placed the paper in a position where he had before put writings of the kind, and heard nothing further.

1730. Two or three days after this, a communication was given by use of the alphabet, saying that Root, a gentleman who had been in the house, had destroyed the doctor’s book. He inquired ‘What book?’ and was answered ‘The big book.’ Yet he did not know what book was designated, and repeated the question, and received the answer, ‘The big book in the secretary.’ Still it was not understood. Again was spelled, ‘Look and see!’ Dr. Phelps had in the secretary two blank books; in the larger one he had written a full account of the mysterious manifestations, in the form of a diary, and, having noted them as they occurred from day to day, they were recorded with more minuteness than could afterward be done. Upon looking, it was discovered that every page that had been written upon was torn from the book and gone. After a long search, the fragments of the leaves were found in the vault. Copies of the characters which the doctor had carefully taken, and felt anxious to preserve, were every scrap gone. There were, in a dressing-table drawer in the chamber, a great number of the notes sent. These were set on fire with a match and burned in the drawer. The fire was discovered by the smoke, but not until the papers were so far charred as to injure them beyond preservation. A few of these writings only are retained, which were in other places. The last of the annoyances was on the 25th of September, and was that of throwing ink upon the daughter’s dress. She was standing on the piazza, near the front door; the window of the front chamber was open, from which was thrown a small bottle of ink. The ink went over her dress in a way to entirely unfit it for further use. There was no person in the chamber who would have done such a thing for mischief; and, indeed, no person in the house who would have been guilty of it.

1731. The young lady was just setting out for a visit at New Haven, from which she was anticipating much pleasure, and I cannot conceive of any feeling, short of sheer malevolence, that would prompt such an act.

1732. On the second day of October, the family, with the exception of Dr. Phelps and the cook, left Stratford to go to Pennsylvania. During their absence all demonstrations ceased, with what may be termed one exception. A letter, addressed by Dr. Phelps to Mrs. Phelps, contained, when it reached her, some of the spirit-writing in pencil, saying that ‘her husband was sick and wished her to return if she expected to see him alive.’ He was then in good health; but the next week was sick and confined to his bed two or three days. There may or may not have been some connection between the two occurrences. It was the design of Dr. Phelps to separate the family for a time, in order, if possible, to get rid of the annoyance; and for the five weeks he remained at Stratford, after the family had left, no disturbances took place. Harry stayed in Bucks county (Pa.) all winter, and the other members of the family lived in Philadelphia.

1733. In the month of March the family returned to Stratford. The house had been closed and under the charge of a neighbour, and no sign of any disturbance was visible, as every article of furniture was found just as they left it. About the fourth or fifth day after their return slight rapping was heard as they sat at the tea-table. They affected not to notice it, and the next day it was repeated more distinctly, but no response was made. Soon after, certain characters were found about the house, which were known, from the circumstances, to be of recent origin. Two or three days after, distinct communications were made by a spirit purporting to be Dr. Phelps’s daughter, who died at the age of twelve years. On being questioned, this spirit could not give any evidence of identity.

1734. About the first of May several communications of a trifling character were given. On one occasion the doctor asked if they would be troubled any more as they had been, when they answered by rapping the following:

1735. ‘Be not afraid that they will trouble you more, Though we have not quitted Connecticut shore.’

1736. At another time certain characters were given, which were interpreted by the rapping as follows: ‘Evil one has gone, and better one has come.’ No communications were made after the early part of May, but some things occurred indicating their presence and desire for mischief.

1737. At one time, on cutting a loaf of bread, there were found in it nails, pen-holders, small sticks, and tin, under circumstances which showed that they must have been placed there after it was put on the table and before the family were ready for tea. At one time Harry’s hat was hid away, and then his cap, and then another hat. He took his brother’s cap to use, and that was also taken away. On the evening of the 18th of July they set fire to some papers in the doctor’s secretary, and some twenty papers and letters were burned before they were discovered. Fire was set at the same time to the papers in both the closets, under the stairs in the hall. They were discovered by the smoke. Two or three days after this, when some friends who had visited them were about to leave, their bonnets and some other articles could not be found, although search was made in every part of the house, until the train by which they were to go to New York had passed. They were at last found, locked into an enclosed washstand, in a way that made it morally certain that they could not have been placed there by human hands.

1738. On the 29th of July Harry left to spend some time at New Lebanon, N. Y., and during his absence no manifestations were noticed, although they were constantly on the look-out for something of the kind. Anna and her mother left for Philadelphia on the 25th of September, and they had been so long exempt from annoyances that they hoped they had ceased altogether. But Harry had the manifestations at New Lebanon, and there was first operated on, by invisible agency, to produce a magnetic sleep, into which he passed with a sudden shock. He had never been magnetized before, although frequent attempts had been made to do so. In this state he evinced all the phenomena common to good clairvoyance. On his return to Stratford, on the 9th of October, the sounds accompanied him almost constantly; but they seemed less inclined to mischief than formerly, because, as they said, ‘Harry had passed to a higher state, where the low and ignorant spirits could not communicate with him.’

1739. On several occasions characters of a unique description were made. Some were written early in April, 1851, which Harry interpreted to read: ‘We are to take our leave of you soon.’

1740. Some were traced out with chalk on the piazza of the house, on the 31st of March, 1850.

1741. These Harry interpreted to mean: ‘You may expect good spirits to come by-and-by.’ The same characters had been said, by A. J. Davis, to read: ‘Our society desires through various mediums to impart thoughts.’ The spirit that seemed to be most prominent in all these communications claimed to be Harry’s father, and sometimes a sister of Dr. Phelps, who died about three years previous to this; also a child of Dr. Phelps, who died more than twenty-two years before. The communications seemed generally to come from the boy’s father. On the 12th of October he passed into a mesmeric state, and wrote some characters, which he translated as follows:

1742. ‘My dear children: I love you, and try to do every thing that will do you good. Obey dear Mr. Phelps in every thing, for he knows what is right and what is wrong. This is the advice of your spirit father.’

1743. On the same paper were written others, which, being translated, read: ‘You were troubled once with evil spirits, but now they are no more. They have bid adieu, and good spirits have come and are with you all the time.’

1744. Again occur others, which read: ‘You must not fear, brother, that you will be troubled with evil spirits any more. No, brother, no more. Your spirit sister, BLISS.’

1745. The person here supposed to communicate is a sister of Dr. Phelps, a widow, who left the earth-sphere in 1848, and by whom several of the previous communications are said to have been made. Other characters, of the same general formation, were made at the same time, but were not then translated.

1746. On the evening of the 12th, Dr. Phelps, Harry, and two younger children, were seated at a table; responses were frequently given by raps under the table. Dr. Phelps inquired if it would accommodate them at all to have some substance to rap with; to which they replied affirmatively. He threw down a table-knife; the raps seemed immediately to be made by striking the knife against the table-leaf, and soon it was tossed up on to the table. A small tea-bell was then placed under the table; it was rung several times, and tossed on to the table as the knife had been. It was again put down, and returned as before; the same being repeated several times in succession. The light was then extinguished, and the candle put under the table with a match-box containing matches, and the spirits requested to light it. They distinctly heard the match drawn upon the bottom of the box, which was prepared with sand-paper for that use. All saw the light, but the first match went out. Again the scratching of the match was heard; it ignited, the candle lighted, and was placed upon the table! The experiment was repeated several times, with the same result; every precaution being taken to prevent collusion in the matter.

1747. On a subsequent occasion a chair was placed upon the table by invisible power, and the two children, Harry and Hannah, raised up and placed upon it; they could neither of them tell how it was done. The sensation was that of some person placing a hand under them and raising them up. Many of these things occurred when the room was darkened, as has been the case in numerous other places, and for which explanations have been recorded, as given by the spirits. On the evening of the 20th of October, the light being put out of the room, the bell was placed under the table, with a request that it should be rung, and placed in the doctor’s hand. He was sitting by the table with both his hands lying on his lap open, with the palms upward. The bell rung several times with some violence, and then was placed in his left hand. This was repeated four or five times in succession. Dr. P. sat beyond the reach of any one, and the room was sufficiently light for him to have detected any movement on the part of persons present. He requested them to let him feel the hand that placed the bell in his. Very soon a hand came in contact with his, took hold of his fingers, shaking his hand, passed slowly over the back of his hand, then over the palm again, took hold of his fingers, and he felt what he is sure to have been a human hand. He describes it as being cold and moist, which accords with my own experience repeatedly, and that of my friends. They then took hold of his foot, shook it with much force, loosened the string, took off the shoe, and placed it upon the table before him. At his request the shoe was replaced, the heel adjusted, and the strings drawn up, but not tied.

1748. On a subsequent occasion a large-sized tea-bell was rung under the table, then rose up, passed round the room, ringing violently all the way, and fell upon the table. The candle was in the closet, but the room was sufficiently light to make it certain that no person left the table to convey it. It was manifest that from the time Harry returned from New Lebanon the manifestations began gradually to subside. They were less frequent and less marked. It was arranged that he should accompany the family to Philadelphia, and go to a boarding-school at a town about twenty miles distant from the city. At different times he had been told that if he went there he would again be annoyed by bad spirits. The question was many times put, ‘Will you annoy him again if he goes to the school?’ A.—‘We will not, but others will.’—‘What others?’ A.—‘Those who were with him last summer.’—‘Will they disturb him if he stays here and goes to the academy in Stratford?’—‘No. They will not disturb him while he is with you.’—‘What will they do if he goes to Pennsylvania?’ A.—‘They will tear his clothes, destroy his books, and break his windows.’—‘Can you not control those bad spirits, and prevent their doing him any injury?’—‘No.’—‘Will you do all you can?’—‘Yes.’ At another time Dr. Phelps inquired if they would not leave him, as his mother was so much opposed to the whole thing. ‘Will you not, to oblige her, leave him, that he may be a medium no longer?’ said the doctor. The reply was, ‘If we leave him, evil spirits will get possession of him again.’ These communications were made by what purported to be the boy’s father. For two weeks previous to going to Philadelphia the manifestations had almost wholly subsided; perhaps only occurred when requested; and notwithstanding the repeated declarations that when he should leave for the school in Pennsylvania, the bad spirits would come in and make him trouble, it was determined to try the experiment, and on the 11th of November the family set out for Philadelphia, where they were to spend the winter, while Harry was to go to school. He remained with the family in Philadelphia about a week, where a few communications were given to Dr. Phelps in private. The spirits said they would begin to annoy the boy on the cars, on his way to the school, would pinch him and tear his clothes, so that, when he got there, they would be found torn, and that the troubles would follow him in the school as long as he stayed there. Dr. Phelps, under all the circumstances, thought it best not to send him; but on consultation it was decided to have him go, and on the 19th of November he started for the school. Dr. P. went a mile or two with him, put him under the care of the conductor, and told him to report on his return if any thing worthy of notice occurred on the way. In two days the doctor was sent for to come and take him away. He said that soon after his father left him on the cars, he was pinched, pricked with pins, and annoyed in various other ways, until he reached his destination; that, on his arrival there, he found that his pantaloons were torn in front, between the waistband and the knees, in two places, several inches in length. He changed them for another pair which were new and made of very substantial material, and these were torn down in front at least half a yard in length, before the doctor arrived there. The knockings had attended him in school and other places; his books were torn and damaged to the amount of two dollars, which the doctor paid. The family where he was had become alarmed, and would not keep him, and he was taken away. The boy stated that on one of the evenings, while he was there, he was walking in the street, when his cap was mysteriously taken from his head and thrown upon the sidewalk. As he stooped to pick it up he saw the flash of a gun at some distance, and a bullet passed over his back and struck a board fence near him. He was afterward informed by the rapping that, had he not stooped down, he would have been killed, and that his friendly spirit took this means to preserve him.

1749. Dr. P. now concluded to return with Harry to Stratford, and was told that the bad spirits would have no control over him there. The family in which they resided in Philadelphia had become alarmed at the strange occurrences, and finally they again returned to Stratford. From that time the disturbances began to subside, and by the 15th of December, 1851, they had ceased altogether. The family remained at Stratford till the spring of 1852, when they returned to their former residence in the city. The house at Stratford is occupied by another family, but no disturbances have ever occurred with the family which now occupy the house, and none with Dr. P.‘s family since the above date.

1750. Thus ends one of the most remarkable histories in the whole course of modern spiritual manifestations. The authority on which it comes to the world is indisputable, and the characters of all concerned are beyond suspicion. It will be observed that generally the demonstrations, as in case of Mr. Calvin R. Brown, in the Fox family, were less boisterous after the family consented to hold communication with them. It seemed to be the desire of a spirit to communicate and set right a matter which was making him unhappy. This accomplished, the demonstrations ceased.

1751. From the foregoing narrative it will be seen that these phenomena do not attach to places, as some have supposed. It makes the fact equally clear that they do attach to persons, and that without certain media they cannot, to any extent, take place. If there is such a thing as ‘haunted houses,’ they must belong to another class of phenomena, or a very different phase of the same, than those always depending on the presence of particular persons.

1752. Another fact seems also to be proved by the above narration, namely, that persons may be powerful mediums at one time and afterward lose the power, for neither of the media of Dr. Phelps’s family in Stratford have had any proof of mediumship for years.”

Idea of the existence of a spiritual sun, and a vital spiritual oxygen, found to exist independently in the mind of a much esteemed author.

1753. The most wonderful and important of all the facts communicated to me by my spirit father, and subsequently sanctioned by a convocation of spirits, were the following: 1. That there is a special spirit sun, concentric with our sun, which illuminates the spirit world, without perceptibly affecting our visual organs. 2. That there is a peculiar vital gas which spirits breathe, although inscrutable to our senses or chemical tests, which we respire in our spiritual capacity. These facts I have considered as among those, which it was impossible could have been learned from the minds of Mrs. Gourlay or myself, as they were certainly new to both of us, and difficult to realize when communicated. My attention has been recently directed by a friend to an essay in a work entitled “Rambles and Reveries of a Student,” wherein I find (page 11) the ideas in question to have been awakened in the author without the smallest interchange of ideas with Mrs. Gourlay or myself. I have been under the impression that his leaning would have been unfavourable to Spiritualism. The language employed is as follows:

1754. I hold it as a truth, that a divine atmosphere surrounds our earth—an aroma emitted from the world of spirits, in which dwell the great truths and secrets of the universe—a great world that pours down riches upon us, as the sun pours down heat; and as without the sun this world would be but a formless wilderness, so, without this spirit sun, would it be barren of thought or beauty.

1755. Above us and around us exists a spiritual atmosphere, more subtle than the natural one. As the latter is the supporter of physical life, so the former is of psychal. We absorb the delicate magnetic aromata from all substances, through the medium of the air, as well as the comparatively coarse oxygen; so all of our soul-life comes from this spirit atmosphere—all thought, all feeling, all appreciation of truth and beauty.

1756. Man is the apex of earth-creation, and the basis of all heavenly life—the foundation of all spiritual existence. Standing thus in a middle plane as the highest thing of earth, and the lowest of heaven, he holds magnetic relationship to both; the earth not only supplying the physical requirements of his being, such as food, drink, and air, but he absorbs impalpable nourishment from all his surroundings: the aroma from flowers, and trees, and fruit, as well as the magnetic emanations from people; intuitively appreciating harmonious influences—feeling an instinctive repulsion when under those that are inharmonious. This antagonism, or horror, we call antipathy; and biography abounds with strange stories of its individual action. Whenever antipathy is experienced, it is a proof that something exists in the peculiar magnetic sphere which has no affinity with the other sphere.

1757. An animal is but a highly organized combination of the mechanical and chemical forces of the earth, returning to the earth when death ensues: the only good resulting from its life is, that gross matter has been changed into a little higher condition by the combination.

1758. Man, regarded as the animal, possesses nothing after his death but the spiritual attributes he has received, corresponding to the physical things he sought in his earthly life; if that was low and sensual, his spiritual condition will be the same; for the spirit land is as much a spiritual condition as it is a place.

1759. As man’s external form grows from appropriating substance from the earth, so are thoughts and sentiments, and all things relating to the soul, appropriated from the spirit world. Take the earth from man, and he ceases to exist as a physical being; take the spirit world from him, and he ceases to exist as an immortal soul.

1760. All physical things have corresponding truths in the spiritual world, and a man is truly harmonious when he receives the corresponding essence or quality with the material thing—not as a mere symbolization, but as an actuality, as real to the soul as its corresponding earthly truth is to the body. As a petty illustration, we will say that where an apple is eaten, a harmonious man receives not only the nutriment contained in the fruit, but he also receives its spiritual correspondence, so as to be doubly nourished by it.

1761. “Men having a stronger magnetic relationship to the spirit world, are easily exhausted, for they do not receive strength enough from the earth sphere to keep soul and body in harmony.

1762. Persons en rapport with the earth are the labourers and tillers of the ground, living only in the lowest plane of mental life.

1763. The truly harmonious men receive equally the spiritual and physical elements: they are electrical conductors, whose attracting points bend downward as well as upward, dispensing, equally, thought and strength to their less harmonious fellows, with but little exhaustion.

1764. Men originate nothing: they have merely different degrees of receptivity; are merely more or less in magnetic relationship with the higher world. A principle, or truth, is not your truth, or my truth, but God’s truth; as much as a drop of water in the ocean, or a sand-grain in the great desert; as little a personal possession as the cloud above your head. If we look at it abstractly, we perceive the absurdity of all quarrels in relation to originality of ideas—water refreshes the thirsty traveller, whether drunk from his own cup or the cup of another; and if we can incorporate a new truth into our lives, it is unimportant whether we receive it directly or indirectly from the great fountain.

1765. The intellectual struggle of the student is but an education of the soul, training it to become susceptible to higher influences—an attempt to enter into unalloyed magnetic relationship with the spirit world.

1766. Prayer is a simple and natural method of becoming en rapport with higher beings and a higher world: yet no thinker ever believed that prayer would move the Divine Being to alter His eternal plans. As He is the fountain of all Love and all Wisdom, His designs must be without flaw—must be for eternal good: yet prayer is one of the most holy, beautiful, and useful of things; it is the earnest asking of the soul for comfort—whatever the words may be—and by the exaltation of feeling, we rise up from the earth-life into the higher spiritual planes, and become harmonized by the indwelling harmonies of those spheres. Prayer is aspiration. Prayer is the desire to embrace the Infinite. The form of prayer is unimportant; its power lies in the indwelling desire of good. Men should not have forms and times of prayer, but their whole lives should be long, unending acts of prayer.”

1767. It seems that the light of Spiritualism had begun to dawn in the mind of the author of the preceding passage. His language respecting prayer is in strict conformity with the doctrine of Spiritualism.

1768. As the author, to whom reference is thus made, was on terms of great mutual friendship with my late sister, as well as with myself, I have consulted her spirit as to the origin of the impressions which had been thus indited by our common friend. It appears from her reply to my inquiry, that these ideas were communicated to him by my spirit father, and that his conversion to Spiritualism had commenced prior to his decease, which took place about two years ago.

OF MATTER, MIND, AND SPIRIT.

Of Matter.

1769. It is a fact, that as we study more deeply the nature of matter, we find that we know the less about it. The crude impressions by which it makes us sensible of its presence are, of course, intuitively received, and are reiterated incessantly. Hence, the mass of mankind do not imagine that there can be any mystery respecting that ponderable matter which influences the scale-beam. The existence of any other matter, people generally are slow to admit. The electric fluid and caloric, the supposed causes of electricity and heat, were rarely believed in, out of the scientific world, but ponderable matter is the last thing of which any person would imagine himself ignorant. Yet we find that some of the most experienced investigators of nature, have not made up their minds as to what ponderable matter is.

1770. According to Newton, matter consists of hard, impenetrable particles, endowed with vis inertiæ, gravitation, and chemical attraction for other particles; vis inertiæ being that force by which a body, if in motion, requires a certain degree of force to arrest or retard it, or to put it into motion if at rest. Gravitation causes all masses to attract each other reciprocally, with a force exactly proportioned to their vis inertiæ; so that these forces are reciprocally measures of each other. It is usual to make gravitation its own measure, by estimating it to be as the weight of the mass; while weight is only the reciprocal attraction of gravitation between the body tried, and the earth. (64.)

1771. These properties being conceded as belonging to matter, and the measure of its quantity, the next question is, of what does massive matter consist? As to the ratio of weight to bulk, which is designated as “specific gravity,” we see an immense disparity between solids. Potassium, for instance, weighs three-fourths of its bulk of water, while platinum weighs twenty-one times its bulk in that fluid. The density of gaseous hydrogen is to that of platina not more than 1 to 25,000, and yet it may be rarified to the one-hundredth part of its normal spissitude, while apparently filling the same space. Thus the same space may be filled successively by different portions of matter, yet the quantity of matter in the space, in the first case, may be to the quantity contained in the second, as 2,500,000 to 1. Newton’s definition of material particles was as follows:

1772. “It seems probable to me that God, in the beginning, formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportion to space, as most conduced to the end for which he formed them; and that those primitive particles, being solids, are incomparably harder than any porous bodies compounded of them; even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces; no mundane power being able to divide what God himself intended to be indivisible.”

1773. Boscovitch, observing that all that was essential to material atoms was attraction and repulsion, the latter being the substitute of Newton’s impenetrability, suggested an hypothesis which dispensed with the atom, and assumed only the forces of attraction and repulsion; alternating, as it appears to me, in a way more original than warrantable. This idea of atoms has been modified by an accomplished mathematician, Exley, of Bristol, England. I quote here Exley’s view:

1774. “The reader has only to allow that each atom of matter consists of an indefinitely extensive sphere of attraction, resting on a very small concentric sphere of repulsion, the force being everywhere, from the centre, inversely as the square of the distance, repulsive near the centre, and then attractive. Now that part which regards the attraction has already obtained the consent of all the followers of Newton; and much more than the other part, which respects repulsion, has been already received in the principles of our present philosophy.

1775. It may be here asked—Are we absolutely to exclude solid atoms? I confess I can find no use for them. It is true, Sir Isaac Newton thought that the atoms of matter consisted of minute solids.

1776. But this hypothesis, however convenient and consonant with our prejudices, is not absolutely necessary to the explanation of natural phenomena; for, it may be conceived, according to the theory of Boscovitch, that matter consists not of solid particles, but of mere mathematical centres, of forces attractive and repulsive, whose relations to space were ordained, and whose actions are regulated and maintained by the Creator of the universe. Both hypotheses, however, agree in one great principle, viz.: that the properties of bodies depend upon forces emanating from immovable points (whether substantial or not is of little importance) of their masses.

1777. The atoms of matter constituted as in the theory now proposed possess all the individuality, indivisibility, and indestructibility, which the learned and illustrious Newton ascribes to his small solids, and they answer all the ends he has mentioned; the central points, indeed, will be utterly impenetrable by each other, since the repulsion there is infinite; and if at those centres we suppose small solids to be placed, they can answer no farther end than is accomplished by this immensely great repulsive force; for from what we know of matter, we must suppose them to be indefinitely small, if we introduce such solids; and hence they will occupy the place where the repulsion is infinitely great; such solids would be found only an obstacle, and an incumbrance to the free actions of matter; since, however small we imagine them to be, their magnitude will be infinite if compared with a mathematical point, the centre of an atom, which is devoid altogether of magnitude. It may be added, that if any reader wish to retain these solids at the centres of the atoms, it will not materially affect the conclusions, provided he allow us to have them as small as we please; and so much, if he intend to philosophize, he must grant, whatever course he may determine to pursue.”

1778. These efforts to define matter derive interest from the following attempt of Farraday to sustain a view inconsistent with that of Newton, by practical illustration:

Strictures on a Speculation by Farraday, respecting the Nature of Matter.

1779. This sagacious investigator adverts to the fact, that after each atom in a mass of metallic potassium has combined with an atom of oxygen and an atom of water, forming thus a hydrated oxide—caustic potash—the resulting aggregate occupies much less space than its metallic ingredient previously occupied; so that, taking equal bulks of the hydrate and of potassium, there will be in the metal only 430 metallic atoms, while in the hydrate there will be 700 such atoms. Yet in the latter, besides the 700 metallic atoms, there will be an equal number of aqueous and oxygenous atoms, in all 2800 ponderable atoms. It follows, that if the atoms of potassium are to be considered as minute impenetrable particles, kept at certain distances by an equilibrium of forces, there must be, in a mass of potassium, vastly more space than matter. Moreover, it is the space alone that can be continuous. The non-contiguous material atoms cannot form a continuous mass. Consequently, the well-known power of potassium to conduct electricity must be a quality of the continuous empty space which it comprises, not of the discontinuous particles of matter with which that space is regularly interspersed. It is in the next place urged, that while, agreeably to these considerations, space is shown to be a conductor, there are considerations equally tending to prove it to be a non-conductor, since in certain non-conducting bodies, such as resins, there must be nearly as much vacant space as in potassium. Hence the supposition that atoms are minute impenetrable particles, involves the necessity of considering empty space as a conductor in metals, and as a non-conductor in resins, and of course in sulphur and other electrics. This is considered as a reductio ad absurdum. To avoid this contradiction, Farraday supposes that atoms are not minute impenetrable bodies, but, existing throughout the whole space in which their properties are observed, may penetrate each other. Consistently, although the atoms of potassium pervade the whole space which they apparently occupy, the entrance into that space of an equivalent number of atoms of oxygen and water, in consequence of some reciprocal reaction, causes a contraction in the boundaries by which the combination thus formed is enclosed. This is an original and interesting view of this subject, well worthy of the contemplation of chemical philosophers.

1780. But, upon these premises, Farraday has ventured on some inferences which, upon various accounts, appear to me unwarrantable. I agree that “a” representing a particle of matter, and “m” representing its properties, it is only with “m” that we have any acquaintance, the existence of “a” resting merely on an inference. Heretofore I have often appealed to this fact, in order to show that the evidence of imponderable, no less than of ponderable matter, is precisely the existence of properties which can only be accounted for by inferring the existence of an appropriate matter to which those properties appertain. Yet I cannot concur in the idea that, because it is only with “m” that we are acquainted, the existence of “a” must not be inevitably inferred, so that bodies are to be considered as constituted of their materialized powers. I use the word “materialized,” because it is fully admitted by Farraday, that by dispensing with an impenetrable atom “a” we do not get rid of the idea of matter, but have to imagine each atom as existing throughout the whole sphere of its force, instead of being condensed about the centre. This seems to follow from the following language:

1781. “The view now stated of the constitution of matter would seem to involve necessarily the conclusion that matter fills all space, or at least the space to which gravitation extends, including the sun and its system; for gravitation is a property of matter dependent on a certain force, and it is this force which constitutes matter.”

1782. Literally, this paragraph seems to convey the impression, that, agreeably to this new idea of matter, the sun and his planets are not distinct bodies, but consist of certain material powers reciprocally penetrating each other, and pervading a space larger than that comprised within the orbit of Neptune. We do not live upon, but within, the matter of which the earth is constituted, or rather within a mixture of all the solar and planetary matter belonging to our solar system. I cannot conceive that the sagacious author seriously intended to sanction any notion involving these consequences. I shall assume, therefore, that, excepting the case of gravitation, his new idea of matter was intended to be restricted to those powers which display themselves within masses at insensible distances, and shall proceed to state the objections which seem to exist against the new idea as associated with those powers.

1783. Evidently the arguments of Farraday against the existence, in potassium and other masses of matter, of impenetrable atoms endowed with cohesion, chemical affinity, momentum, and gravitation, rest upon the inference that in metals there is nothing to perform the part of an electrical conductor besides continuous empty space. This illustrious philosopher has heretofore appeared to be disinclined to admit the existence of any matter devoid of ponderability! The main object of certain letters which I addressed to him was to prove that the phenomena of induction could not, as he had represented, be an “action” of ponderable atoms, but, on the contrary, must be considered as an affection of them consequent to the intervention of an imponderable matter, without which the phenomena of electricity would be inexplicable. This repugnance to the admission of an imponderable electrical cause, has been the more remarkable, as his researches have not only proved the existence of prodigious electrical power in metals, but likewise that it is evolved during chemico-electric reaction, in equivalent proportion to the quantity of ponderable matter decomposed or combined.

1784. According to his researches, a grain of water, by electrolytic reaction with four grains of zinc, evolves as much electricity as would charge fifteen millions of square feet of coated glass when supplied by a plate machine of fifty inches in diameter. But in addition to the proofs of the existence of electrical powers in metals thus furnished, it is demonstrated that this power must be inseparably associated with metals, by the well-known fact that in the electro-magnetic machine—an apparatus which we owe to his genius, and the mechanical ingenuity of Pixii and Saxton—a coil of wire, being subjected to the inductive influence of a magnet, is capable of furnishing, within the circuit which it forms, all the phenomena of an electrical current, whether of ignition, shock, or electrolysis.

1785. The existence in metals of an enormous calorific power must be evident from the heat evolved by mere hammering. It is well known that by a skilful application of the hammer, a piece of iron, between it and a cold anvil, may be ignited. To what other cause than their inherent calorific power can the ignition of metals by the discharge of a Leyden battery be ascribed?

1786. It follows, that the existence of an immense calorific and electrical power is undeniable. The materiality of these powers, or of their cause, is all that has been questionable. But, according to the speculations of Farraday, all the powers of matter are material; not only the calorific and electrical powers are thus to be considered, but likewise the powers of cohesion, chemical affinity, inertia, and gravitation, while of all these material powers only the latter can be ponderable!

1787. Thus, a disinclination on the part of this distinguished investigator to admit the existence of one or two imponderable principles, has led him into speculations involving the existence of a much greater number. But if, while the rest of the properties of the metal are represented by Newtonian atoms, the calorific and electrical powers be both material and imponderable, and of these such enormous quantities exist in potassium, as well as in zinc and all other metals, so much of the reasoning in question as is founded on the vacuity of the space between the metallic atoms is groundless.

1788. Although the space occupied by the hydrated oxide of potassium comprises 2800 ponderable atoms, while that occupied by an equal mass of the metal comprises only 430, there may be in the latter proportionally as much more of the material, though imponderable, powers of heat and electricity, as there is less of matter endowed with ponderability.

1789. Thus, while assuming the existence of fewer imponderable causes than the celebrated author of the speculation has himself proposed, we explain the conducting power of metals, without being under the necessity of attributing to void space the property of electrical conduction. Moreover, I consider it quite consistent to suppose that the presence of the ethereal basis of electricity is indispensable to electrical conduction, and that diversities in this faculty are due to the proportion of that material power present, and the mode of its association with other matter. The immense superiority of metals will be explained, by referring it to their being peculiarly replete with the ethereal basis of heat and electricity.

1790. Hence Farraday’s suggestions respecting the materiality of what has heretofore been designated as the properties of bodies, furnish the means of refuting his arguments against the existence of ponderable impenetrable atoms as the basis of cohesion, chemical affinity, momentum, and gravitation.

1791. But I will, in the next place, prove that his suggestions not only furnish an answer to his objections to the views in this respect heretofore entertained, but are likewise pregnant with consequences directly inconsistent with the view of the subject which he has recently presented.

1792. I have said that of all the powers which are, according to Farraday’s speculations, to be deemed material, gravitation can alone be ponderable; since, according to his speculations, gravitation, in common with every power heretofore attributed to impenetrable particles, must be a matter independently pervading the space throughout which it is perceived. This being the consequence, by what tie is gravitation, or, in other words, weight—indissolubly attached to the rest? It cannot be pretended that either of the powers is the property of any other. Each of them is an m, and cannot play the part of an a, not only because an m, an effect, cannot be an a, its cause, but because, according to the premises, no a can exist. Nor can it be advanced that they are the same power, since chemical affinity and cohesion act only at insensible distances, while gravitation acts at any and every distance, with forces inversely as their squares; and, moreover, the power of chemical affinity is not commensurate with that of gravitation. One part, by weight, of hydrogen has a greater affinity, universally, for any other element than two hundred parts of gold. By what means then are cohesion, chemical affinity, and gravitation inseparably associated in all the ponderable elements of matter? Is it not fatal to the validity of the highly ingenious and interesting deductions of Farraday, that they are thus shown to be utterly incompetent to explain the inseparable association of cohesion, chemical affinity, and inertia with gravitation, while the existence of a vacuity between Newtonian atoms, mainly relied upon as the basis of an argument against their existence, is shown to be inconsistent both with the ingenious speculation which has called forth these remarks, and those Herculean “researches” which must perpetuate his fame? (See Appendix for Farraday’s Speculations on Electric Conduction and the Nature of Matter.)

On Whewell’s demonstration that all matter is heavy.

1793. While the speculations of Farraday, isolate gravitation, as the only matter endowed with weight, and treat all other matters as weightless, those of another eminent philosopher, Whewell, would tend to prove that all matter is heavy.

1794. This subject may be interesting now, when we are anxious to understand well the nature of matter, which Comte would represent as the basis of mind, and when it becomes a point of departure in forming ideas of spirit and mind, as they must be contemplated by Spiritualism. I therefore subjoin a critique upon the allegation that all matter can be heavy, and on the relation between vis inertiæ and gravitation.

1795. One consideration seems to be usually overlooked in contemplating these forces. It is forgotten that inertia is the property of one body, while gravitation requires two for its existence. If there were only one body in nature, it might move on, in obedience to its vis inertiæ, for any length of time; but, during an isolated existence, could neither attract nor be attracted. Whewell’s theorem, in his own language, is as follows:

1796. “We see,” alleges Whewell, “that the propositions that all bodies are heavy, and that inertia is proportional to weight, necessarily follow from those fundamental ideas which we unavoidably employ in all attempts to reason concerning the mechanical relations of bodies.” (See Demonstration that all Matter is heavy, by the Rev. William Whewell, B.D. Silliman’s Journal, vol. 42, page 265.)

To PROFESSOR WHEWELL: 1797. DEAR SIR: I thank you for your kind attention in sending me a copy of your pamphlet, entitled a “Demonstration that all Matter is heavy,” comprising a communication made to the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

1798. I conceive that to demonstrate that all matter is heavy, is, in other words, to prove that all matter is endowed with attraction of gravitation, or that general property which, when it causes bodies to tend toward the centre of the earth, is called weight. Hence to assert that all matter is heavy, is no more than to say, that attraction of gravitation exists between all or any masses of matter.

1799. You say, “it may be urged that we have no difficulty in conceiving of matter which is not heavy.” I have no hesitation in asserting that there should be no difficulty in entertaining such a conception; since I cannot understand why any two masses may not be as readily conceived to repel, as to attract each other, or neither to attract nor to repel. Is it not easier to imagine two remote masses indifferent to each other, than that they act upon each other? Is any thing more difficult to understand than that a body can act where it is not?

1800. It is also mentioned by you, that it may be urged “that inertia and weight are two separate properties of matter.” Now I will not only urge, but also, with all due deference, will undertake to show, that the existence of inertia may as well be proven, and its quantity estimated, by means of repulsion as by means of attraction.

1801. Suppose two bodies, A and B, to be endowed with reciprocal attraction, or, in other words, to gravitate toward each other. Being placed at a distance, and then allowed to approach, if, after any given time, it were found that they had moved severally any ascertained distances, evidently their relative inertias would be considered as inversely as those distances.

1802. In the next place, let us suppose two bodies, X and Y, endowed with the opposite force of reciprocal repulsion, to be placed in proximity, and then allowed to fly apart. The distances run through by them severally, being, at any given time, determined, might not their respective inertias be taken to be inversely as those distances; so that the question would be as well ascertained in this case as in that above stated, in which gravitation should be resorted to as the test?

1803. It seems to me that this question is sufficiently answered in the affirmative, in your second paragraph, page 7, (p. 269,) in which you allege, that “one body has twice as much inertia as another, if, when the same force acts upon it for the same time, it acquires but half the velocity. This is the fundamental conception of inertia.”

1804. In the third paragraph, fourth page, (p. 261,) you say, “that the quantity of matter is measured by those sensible properties of matter which undergo quantitative addition, subtraction, and division, as the matter is added, subtracted, or divided, the quantity of matter cannot be known in any other way; but this mode of measuring the quantity of matter, in order to be true at all, must be true universally.”

1805. Also your fourth paragraph, fifth page, (p. 268,) concludes with this allegation: “And thus we have proved, that if there be any kind of matter which is not heavy, the weight can no longer avail us, in any case, to any extent, as the measure of the quantity of matter.”

1806. In reply to these allegations, let me inquire, Cannot a matter exist of which the sensible properties do not admit of being measured by human means? Because some kinds of matter can be measured by “those sensible qualities which undergo quantitative addition, subtraction, and division,” does it follow that there may not be matter which is incapable of being thus measured? And wherefore would the method of obtaining philosophical truth be “futile” in the one case, because inapplicable in the other? Because the inertias of A and B have been discovered, by means of their gravitation, does it follow that the inertias of X and Y cannot be discovered by their self-repellent power? Why should the inapplicability of gravitation in the one case render its employment futile in the other?

1807. It is self-evident, that matter without weight cannot be estimated by weighing, but I deny that on that account such weightless matter may not be otherwise estimated. The inertias of A and B cannot be better measured by gravitation than those of X and Y by repulsion, as already shown.

1808. You seem to infer, in paragraph second, page sixth, (p. 268,) that we should be equally destitute of the means of measuring matter accurately, “were any kind of matter heavy indeed, but not so heavy, in proportion to its quantity of matter, as other kinds.”

1809. If, in the case of all matter, weight be admitted to be the only measure of quantity, it were inconsistent to suppose any given quantity of matter, of any one kind, to have less weight than an equal quantity of another kind; but upon what other than a conventional basis is it to be assumed that there is more matter in a cubic inch of platinum than in a cubic inch of tin? in a cubic inch of mercury than in a cubic inch of iron? Judging by the chemical efficacy of the masses, although the weight of mercury is to that of iron as 13.6 is to 8, there are more equivalents of the latter than the former in any given bulk, since by weight twenty-eight parts of iron are equivalent to two hundred and two parts of mercury.

1810. Weight is one of the properties of certain kinds of matter, and has been advantageously resorted to, in preference to any other property, in estimating the quantity of the matter to which it appertains. Nevertheless, measurement by bulk is found expedient or necessary in many cases. But may we not appeal to any general property which admits of being measured or estimated? Farraday has inferred that the quantity of electricity is as the quantity of gas which it evolves. Light has been considered as proportional in quantity to the surface which it illuminates with a given intensity at a certain distance. The quantity of caloric has been held to be directly as the weight of water which it will render aeriform; and has also been estimated by the degree of its expansive or thermometric influence. What scale-beam is more delicate than the thermoscope of Melloni?

1811. In the last paragraph but one, seventh page, (p. 270,) you suggest, that “perhaps some persons might conceive that the identity of weight and inertia is obvious at once, for both are merely resistance to motion; inertia, resistance to all motion, or change of motion; weight, resistance to motion upward.”

1812. I am surprised that you should think the opinion of any person worthy of attention, who should entertain so narrow a view of weight, as antagonist of momentum, as that above quoted, “that it is a resistance to motion upward.” Agreeably to the definition given at the commencement of the letter, weight, in its usual practical sense, is only one case of the general force which causes all ponderable masses of matter to gravitate toward each other, and which is of course liable to resist any conflicting motion, whatever may be the direction. When, in the form of solar attraction, it overcomes that inertia of the planets which would otherwise cause them to leave their orbits, does gravitation “resist motion upward?”

1813. In the next paragraph you allege, that “there is a difference in these two kinds of resistance to motion. Inertia is instantaneous, weight is continuous, resistance.”

1814. It is to this allegation I object, that as you have defined inertia to be “resistance to motion, or to change of motion,” it follows that it can be instantaneous only where the impulse which it resists is instantaneous. It cannot be less continuous than the force by which it is overcome.

1815. Gravity has been considered as acting upon falling bodies by an infinity of impulses, each producing an adequate acceleration; but to every such accelerating impulse, producing of course a “change of motion,” will there not be a commensurate resistance from inertia? and the impulses and resistances being both infinite, will not one be as continuous as the other?

1816. I have already adverted to inertia as the continuous antagonist of solar attraction in the case of revolving planets.

1817. Agreeably to Mossotti, the creation consists of two kinds of matter, of which the homogeneous particles are mutually repellent, the heterogeneous mutually attractive. Consistently with this hypothesis, per se, any matter must be imponderable; being endowed with a property the very opposite of attraction of gravitation. This last-mentioned property exists between masses consisting of both kinds of particles, so far as the attraction between the heterogeneous atoms predominates over the repulsion between those which are homogeneous. It would follow from these premises, that all matter is ponderable or otherwise, accordingly as it may be situated.

1818. Can the ether by which, according to the undulatory theory, light is transmitted, consist of ponderable matter? Were it so, would it not be attracted about the planets with forces proportioned to their weight, respectively? and becoming of unequal density, would not the diversity in its density, thus arising, affect its undulations, as the transmission of sound is influenced by any variations in the density of the aeriform fluid by which it is propagated? With esteem, I am yours truly, ROBERT HARE

(See appendix for Whewell’s Essay.)

Additional Remarks on the Speculations of Farraday and Exley, above noticed.

1819. Is it possible for a mere centre to be endowed with a force? or reasonable that language should not make a distinction between something and nothing, between cause and effect, between matter and the properties of matter? m being the properties, and a the Newtonian atom, of which they have been considered as the attributes, I cannot concur in the reasoning which infers that where we can only perceive phenomena, we are to dispense with the idea of causation, because that causation is not directly perceptible. It seems to me, from the meaning of the words, that no cause can exist without some effect, nor can any effect exist without a cause. Language founded on the existence of ideas cannot be disused. Can there be any reason for considering any thing as endowed with existence which gives no evidence of existence? We distinguish between the thing which causes and the effect which it produces. The cause evidently has a centrality; the effect, though it indicates by the direction in which it arrives, the centre whence it proceeds, is remote from that centre. The existence of this centrality seems to be recognised in the suggestion that atoms are centres of forces. This implies that the source or cause is at the centre in each atom, and, of course, the phenomenon, being more or less remote from the centre, cannot be the source or cause, and hence has been treated as an effect or property.

1820. The suggestion that the office of atoms may be performed by centres of forces, in fact, assigns to a mere centre the part now performed by a Newtonian atom. But it must be evident that the centre is that point within any rotating mass, which does not turn therewith; and which, where neither of the opposite motions resulting from rotation take place, can neither have length nor breadth. This reduces the idea of a centre to a common definition with a mathematical point; which is nihility in the extreme. An absolutely void space may be identified with nihility, and a mathematical point is a portion of that space, without length, breadth, or thickness. To endow centres with forces is to disregard the axiom, “Out of nothing nothing can come.” Moreover, wherefore should there be a force at certain mathematical points, and yet others be destitute of the same attribute? Manifestly, if some mathematical points are deficient of powers with which others are endowed, there must be something associated with one, which is not associated with the other. This justifies the Newtonian idea, that the force, though proceeding from the centre, is, like the terrestrial attraction of gravitation, the resultant of the complicated attraction of the whole of a body surrounding the centre. But the centrality of the force does not seem to accord with the idea of the inferred diffusion of properties. In the instance of gravitation it does not account for those attributes by which this globe acts as a solid mass within its material superficies, and yet, according to the Farradian definition, reaches beyond the moon!

1821. But the idea of that polarity, of which Farraday has done so much to establish the existence in all matter, in one form or another, seems to involve that, to constitute atoms, there must be two centres of analogous, but opposite, forces in each: whence it ensues that crystals shoot in prisms or spiculæ, as water is seen to shoot in freezing; and through which salts, as deposited by the evaporation of the solvent from a solution of them, are seen to travel over the sides of the vessel; and upon which property the phenomena of electricity and magnetism appear to be dependent. How is this to be reconciled with this notion of each atom existing in a diffusible penetrable state throughout the space in which its properties prevail? Since these opposite polarities are energetic in their reciprocal polar attraction, what keeps them together, yet prevents them from so uniting as to produce neutralization?

1822. Mr. Exley’s ideas, if admitted, leave no alternative but either to place a Newtonian atom within each of his concentric spheres, or to assume that nothing can have properties, or that effects can exist without causes. What is to cause a force at any mathematical point more than at any other? How, in case of a moving body, are the forces to appear successively to proceed from various centres, if there be nothing in which it is inherent, which moves and carries its forces or properties wheresoever it goes? Does not this suggestion that atoms are centres of their forces, by making the cart draw itself, force the effect to be its own cause? It is quite consistent with the Newtonian definition, that the resultant of the action of every part of a mass should comport as if it proceeded from a common centre, as does terrestrial gravitation; and of course, whether we have the Newtonian idea or that of Boscovitch, Farraday, or Exley, we have forces proceeding from centres. The great difference is that agreeably to the one these forces emanate from nothing; agreeably to the other, from something. I used to define matter to my pupils as that which has properties. In the mind, is not force distinguished from some moving power which gives it rise? Is not this distinction inevitable? and were the word force employed to designate the moving power which exercises force, would it not confound ideas, without altering the actual state of the case? Would it not impoverish language, without improving science?

Of Mundane, Ethereal, and Ponderable Matter, in their Chemical relations.

1823. The bodies which occupy the attention of a chemist are found in one of three states—those of solidity, fluidity, and elasticity. Ice, liquid water, and steam exemplify these different states. The fact is thus illustrated, that the same chemical compound, consisting of oxygen and hydrogen, may exist in either state, according to the temperature to which it may be subjected.

1824. Experience justifies the surmise, that scarcely any body in nature is utterly insusceptible of these three states, provided it were heated or refrigerated with an unlimited power.

1825. Beside the property of gravitation, of which the energy is inversely as the square of the distance, however great, (as when it enables the two suns, apparently forming but one—the double star, 61 Cygni (1340)—at the distance of six thousand millions of miles, to attract each other so as to revolve about their common centre of gravity,) atoms are endowed with a force called attraction of aggregation, which operates only at insensible distances, so that when brought into due proximity they unite and form a coherent mass. Again, they are endowed, as already mentioned, with chemical affinity, which varies with the kind of particles in which it exists as a property; being the characteristic by which they are distinguished one from the other.

1826. According to the doctrine which chemists have heretofore suggested for the existence of matter in the elastic or gaseous state, each aerial or gaseous atom was conceived to be enveloped in an atmosphere of fluid called caloric, resembling the ether in the self-repellent power of its constituent particles. This atmosphere has been assumed to impart to atoms which it envelopes its own inherent power of reciprocal repulsion, like that which those of the ether have. But Dalton showed that there was no repulsion between gaseous atoms when heterogeneous. Two or more such gases, hydrogen and nitrogen, for instance, being comprised in the same cavity, there would be no repulsion between the atoms of hydrogen and those of nitrogen, but only between those of the same gas. This has been held to be equally true, however many gases might be mingled, or whatever vapours might be superadded.

1827. The idea is thus refuted, which ascribes the repulsive power to the same elastic fluid, since in that case the diversity of the gaseous atoms could not so affect the repulsive influence as to nullify it between heterogeneous atoms, while sustaining this repulsion, where the atoms should be alike.

1828. Moreover, as the rays of light have been found to be mere undulations in the ether; the rays of heat, being perfectly analogous in their attributes, must also be due to ethereal undulations. But vaporization may be affected by radiant heat, and gases owe their aeriform state to the same cause as vapor or steam; yet transient undulations evidently cannot form a permanent combination, so as to confer the durable elasticity of a permanent gas.

1829. It appears, then, that neither the doctrine of caloric, nor the undulatory doctrine, as it is received, will explain the creation of permanent gas. Under these circumstances a modification of the existing opinions is called for. It has, for some years, occurred to me, that the Newtonian doctrine of radiation might be associated with that of undulation.

1830. The fact that radiant heat could be collected by a mirror so as to raise the temperature of bodies placed in the focus, and that this process could take place in vacuo, as ascertained by Sir Humphrey Davy, had been adduced as unquestionable evidence of the materiality of caloric, the supposed fluid cause of heat. But as the cold proceeding from a snowball or any cold body could be collected by the same process, it was urged by some chemists that the evidence of the materiality of the cause of cold must also be admitted. Prevost met this argument by suggesting that no body in nature is absolutely cold. Every body, however refrigerated, is not so cold as to be incapable of greater refrigeration. Hence all bodies being absolutely above the zero of nature, are throwing off rays to each other, and where there is equality of temperature, they do not cause any change in their relative temperatures. The rays thrown off by A are compensated by those which it receives from B, and vice versa. But if A throws off to B more than B reciprocates, the temperature of A must fall until an equilibrium is attained. Thus, A being the mirror and B the snowball, the mirror is refrigerated, and causes a greater radiation from any body situated about its focus. This explanation was generally received, but to me, the following rationale, which I advanced, appeared preferable:

1831. I assumed caloric to exist throughout the sublunary creation, as the luminiferous ether is assumed to be diffused throughout all space by the undulationists; the diffusion arising from the reciprocal repulsion of its particles being similar to that which had been supposed to cause the diffusion of caloric. There is the greatest analogy between this diffusion and that which is known to exist in the case of gases. The process is the same, whether the gas be dense like chlorine, or thirty-six times as rare, as in the instance of hydrogen, and in the luminiferous ether resembles the process by which hydrogen is rarified, or might be rendered more rare, were the pressure of the atmosphere removed.

1832. It is known that in any gas or gaseous mixture like that which we breathe, if a deficit of pressure be caused in any spot, the gaseous particles will quickly move toward it, in order to restore the equilibrium of pressure, and that if, on the other hand, any augmentation of pressure be produced at any spot, the gas will move outward to restore the equilibrium.

1833. The particles being symmetrically arranged in lines, a row of particles may be conceived to lie between every two remote points. If we suppose any number of points in the focal body, and a corresponding number in the surface of the mirror, it may be conceived that the intervening ethereal or calorific particles will move in rows one way or the other, as the pressure in the focal space may become greater or less. Thus an effect is brought about, equivalent to that which the Newtonian idea of radiation involves; lines of particles proceed from the hotter points to the colder ones.

1834. The arrangement of the particles of caloric, which was originally, in my view, confined to the sublunary creation, appears of necessity to belong to the luminiferous ether, required by the theory ascribing light to undulations, though the last-mentioned medium must be endowed with ubiquity as above stated, so as to abound in every part of space through which light reaches the eye.

1835. The undulatory hypothesis supposes that a wave-like motion being imparted to a row of particles, by a luminous point in the surface of the luminous body, is transmitted, like the sound producing waves in the air, to the other end of the row.

1836. This undulatory progression has been roughly illustrated by the transitory serpentine movements which may be made in a cord, stretched like a clothes-line between the tops of posts.

1837. In order to make this illustration elucidate the conception which I advance, we have only to suppose that the cord, instead of being attached to the post, should be drawn rapidly over pulleys, and, while thus actuated, be subjected to a cause of undulatory vibration. It may be conceived that, by this process, the ethereal particles, while performing all which the undulatory theory requires, might at the same time perform all required by that of emission and material calorific radiation. Directed upon a vaporizable liquid, the undulations might perform the part of sensible heat; the ethereal particles, successively combining, might furnish the latent heat requisite to the constitution of vapour.

1838. Agreeably to Newton, the seven colours of the spectrum are due to as many different kinds of radiant particles of various refrangibility, or susceptibility of being bent from the rectilinear path when passed through the same refracting medium.[40]

1839. According to the undulatory theory, the colours are caused by diversities in the undulations producing them. Retaining this feature, the last-mentioned hypothesis, as modified by myself, appears to be competent to explain the phenomena of light as well as those of vaporization, produced by calorific radiation, since not only is any vaporizing liquid subjected to the transient effect of the undulations, but also may combine with the ethereal particles as they come into contact with it.

1840. Thus modified, the rationale of the rainbow, or prismatic spectrum, would not be that the colours indicate as many varieties of original radiant particles, but that they are to be explained agreeably to the undulatory hypothesis, which ascribes them to as many varieties in the undulations, just as the notes in music are ascribed to diversities of vibration.

1841. The ether, under this view, performs the part heretofore assigned to latent heat, by combining with solids so as to render them susceptible of expansion, and of electrical conduction by being liable to the polarization which constitutes electricity.

1842. Sensible heat, according to this aspect, is due to the vibrations of the ethereal fluid, which is sustained by the sun, by ignition in the interior of the earth, and by chemical reaction, including combustion and respiration.

1843. The correctness of the inference, that conductors owe their conductive power to ethereal matter entering into their composition, has been insisted upon in my strictures on Farraday’s speculation in some of the preceding pages. The facts admitted by this distinguished investigator of nature’s laws, gave to me a basis on which to rest an argument in favour of the existence of an imponderable cause of heat and electricity in metals, which seems to me unanswerable.

1844. Agreeably to the hypothesis respecting which the preceding preparatory suggestions have been made, gasification is not due to a repulsive atmosphere of ethereal matter, severally appropriated to each ponderable constituent atom, but to an attraction for every such atom exercised by the ethereal fluid, such as water exercises toward sugar, quick-lime, salt, or any soluble substance. The ether attracts the particles of certain solids, and is of course reacted upon by them. The particles thus attracted naturally distribute themselves throughout it, at symmetrical distances. Hence the law of Pettit and Dulong is verified, which, at least, holds good with all gasifiable atoms, that their capacity is inversely as their atomic weight.

1845. The atomic weights of hydrogen, nitrogen, and chlorine being severally 1, 14, 36, when associated with equal volumes of the imponderable ether, they will have still the same weight. Equal volumes will weigh the same as the atoms with which they are associated; and the capacity for heat, being directly as the volumes, will be inversely as the weights, the calculation being the same, whether ether or caloric be the imponderable principle to which they owe their gasification. By concurring with those chemists, who estimate the atoms of oxygen at 16, instead of 8, this gas will come into the same calculation.

1846. When heterogeneous gases are confined within the same cavity, that they should not react with each other is no more wonderful, than that the same mass of water may at the same time hold different substances in solution, which may add to its hydrostatic pressure though they have no reciprocal reaction.

1847. Sensible heat appears to be due to vibrations in the ether, kept up by the solar rays or central ignition within this globe. By the heat thus acquired the self-repellent power of the ether is augmented. When by refrigeration this source of repulsion is diminished beyond a certain limit, the atoms of certain vaporizable particles, such as those of steam and other condensible vapours, are approximated sufficiently to attract each other, and consequently coalesce and are condensed.

1848. It follows that light is due to undulation, sensible heat to vibration, and electricity to the polarization caused in the ethereal medium, while either in a free, or in a combined state. Thus this luminiferous ether performs the part heretofore attributed to latent heat or caloric in one state; in another state, that of sensible heat.

Suggestions of Massotti, respecting the Nature of Matter.

1849. Massotti has suggested that all bodies consist of two kinds of ultimate particles; that any two or more particles of one kind are repulsive of each other, while any two or more of different kinds are reciprocally attractive. Hence atoms are formed, consisting of one atom of one kind and one of the other kind. Of course, were the opposite forces exercised by the heterogeneous and homogeneous equal, the resulting atoms would be neither attractive nor repulsive; but assuming the attractive power to have the ascendency, the hypothesis would account for the property of gravitation.

1850. Let the suggestions of Massotti be modified, so far as that the extremities of each particle, whether of one or the other kind, are to be considered as endowed with opposite polarities, like those of the magnetic needle, as already suggested in the case of matter in general. Then in one relative position of the extremities they may be reciprocally repulsive, in the other reciprocally attractive; likewise one of the kinds of matter, like the light-producing ether of the undulationists, may pervade the universe, and be condensed in a peculiarly great quantity within perfect conductors: all this being premised, it may be conceived how the waves of opposite polarization, which proceed from oppositely electrified, or in other words, oppositely polarized bodies, cause the matter through which they pass to be decomposed or explosively rent.

1851. As elsewhere stated, in large bodies of water, waves are the effect of transference of motion successively from one part of the mass to the other; the rolling of the wave causing nothing to pass but the motion, and of course, the momentum is invariably consequent to motion. The waves by which sound is transmitted, are analogous; nothing being transferred excepting a vibration of the air, capable of affecting the tympanum of the ear with the impression requisite to create in the sensorium the idea of sound.

1852. Any affection of matter, capable of existing in successive parts of a material body, so that while the body is stationary, the affection passes from one part of the mass to others, may be considered as a wave of that affection, as reasonably as the affection called momentum is considered as producing a wave in water, when passing through it, as above described. It is in this way that I consider that the term wave of polarization may be applied to an affection of matter consisting of an abnormal position of the poles of the constituent particles, successively induced in rows of atoms, so as to proceed from one part of the series to the other.

1853. And as two sets of waves, of which the hollows of one should correspond with the elevations of the others, would, by being associated, produce an even surface and equalization of the momentum in the aqueous liquid, so, in opposite polarities, there might be reciprocal neutralization by the coming together of the polarities.

On Electro-polarity as the Cause of Electrical Phenomena.

1854. Agreeably to the view which I take of the present state of our electrical knowledge, the phenomena designated under the name of electricity are due entirely to a process which I designate as polarization, and the consequences thereof. Those attractions and repulsions which have been found to exist between particles of matter, instead of being an endowment of the whole mass of each particle, seem confined, as already suggested, to particular terminations or spots, as we see this property on a larger scale in the loadstone or natural magnet. In the body long known under this appellation, the attractive power which it exercises is displayed usually at two distinct portions of its superficies, which are called poles. When a piece of steel wire is duly rubbed by either of these poles, it acquires a similar attractive polarity, which always appears at the extremities. When formed into an appropriate shape and freely suspended, such a wire magnet constitutes the compass needle, having the wonderful and all-important faculty of arranging itself within a meridian plane, so as to be always nearly north and south; the same pole invariably pointing in the same direction. The poles are named from the quarter to which they point, one being called the north pole of the needle, the other the south pole. This involves that the north pole of the earth itself has nominally south polarity; the south pole, north polarity.

1855. When two suspended compass needles are sufficiently approximated, it will be seen that between the poles which point in the same direction, there is repulsion; between those which point in different directions, attraction. When the dissimilar poles are brought into contact, they adhere; and if left cohering, will continue attached for any length of time; and while in that state of coherence, the magnetic power of the poles thus touching, being neutralized, disappears.[41]

1856. If two needles be laid parallel, an interval between them, the extremities being made to communicate by applying two wires of suitable dimensions, also parallel to each other, the magnetic power will be neutralized.

1857. It is inferred that analogous phenomena take place in the particles of masses or surfaces which are endowed with chemical affinity or even cohesive attraction.

1858. It is to the existence of the power by which these effects are caused, at opposite terminations, that bodies, in congealing or freezing from the state of liquidity, shoot into prismatic, oblong, regular forms, called crystals. This is illustrated in the formation of ice, which is seen to shoot into such prismatic crystals.

1859. When a pane of glass is so situated as to have the focus of a solar microscope thrown upon any spot, so that the glass thus affected may be between the eye of an observer and the microscope, any small crystals formed are greatly magnified. Hence if the focal space be moistened with a solution of certain salts, the solvent evaporating, crystallization ensues, and is seen to form appropriate figures for each salt employed. It is owing to this property that when certain solutions of various substances are evaporated, the soluble solid, as it is deposited from the solvent, arranges itself longitudinally; one atom attaching itself to the pole of another, until it creeps over the sides of the vessel in great quantity. The appearance of arborescence in certain minerals is thus accounted for. When an amalgam of mercury with silver is hung by a platina wire within a bottle of a solution of silver in nitric acid, there is formed a beautiful branching of silver filaments. These are longer, though more slowly formed, as the solution is more dilute. In very dilute solutions I have seen prisms of silver of more than an inch in length, so delicate, that but for the brilliancy of the surface they could not have been detected by the eye.

1860. Farraday distinguished two kinds of polarity—ferro-magnetic and dia-magnetic. That above described as taking place between steel magnets is designated as ferro-magnetic. Dia-magnetic particles under magnetic influence take position at right angles to that which would ensue from ferro-magnetism.

1861. This explanation being premised to enable the student to comprehend what is meant by polarity, I will proceed to explain electric phenomena, according to the theory which I hold.

1862. It is expected that the preceding discussions have prepared the reader to conceive that the atoms of all ponderable matter are endowed with two analogous but opposite polar powers, which we term polarity. That in any two atoms the dissimilar polar powers tend to make them unite, the similar powers having the opposite tendency. That in any inert mass the opposite powers or polarities are in contact, and thus reciprocally neutralized.

1863. It will be also understood that the ethereal fluid which pervades the universe as the means of illumination is assumed to consist in like manner of atoms or particles which are endowed with polarity, so that when the opposite poles are in proximity, there is neutralization: repulsion, and disturbance, when similar poles are approximated. This being premised, the allegation may be intelligible, that when bodies are electrified, the poles of the component atoms or particles are conceived to be deranged from their natural position of reciprocal neutralization, so that they react with exterior bodies, disturbing the poles of their constituent particles, and thus electrifying them by induction.

1864. This abnormal state of disturbance, is conceived to be produced on glass or resin, or any electric, when duly subjected to friction.

1865. Thus when in an electric machine a vitreous surface is rubbed by a leather cushion, the particles both of the leather and glass surfaces are deranged from their natural state of reciprocal neutralization, and present their poles in an active state, and the glass surface, moving through the ethereal medium, (812) polarizes it as it passes, the ether resuming its normal state till the ethereal atmosphere over the conductor is reached. To that it imparts durable polarity; the metallic superficies of the conductor taking the opposite state, so that the charge is retained until the glass goes to and returns from the cushion, with a farther supply of polarity.

1866. The charges of polarization received by the plates at each succeeding revolution of the plate or cylinder, is divided with the ethereal atmosphere over the conductor, and this process is reiterated till the frictional power has accomplished its maximum effect. Then the conductor is said to be charged positively, according to the theory of one fluid, and vitreously, according to that of Dufay, or the theory of two fluids. Meanwhile, if the cushion communicates duly with an insulated conductor, a process perfectly analogous to that just described has been charging that conductor, pari passu, with the one first mentioned. By these means we have two excited or charged conductors.

1867. If, before charging these conquerors, two scalps of hair be severally situated on them, it will be perceived that, as the charging proceeds, the hairs on each of the scalps rise, and endeavour to keep away from each other. But, meanwhile, the whole of the hair on either is attracted by that on the other conductor. Moreover, on touching both conductors with any metallic rod, simultaneously, the whole of the excitement disappears, and the hairs assume their normal position.

1868. In producing this discharge, iron is not more effective than any other metal. It is, in fact, known to be less competent for this species of conduction, than copper, silver, or gold.

1869. When the conductors are excited they have a powerful effect upon gold leaves, suspended as in the electrometer.

1870. The state of the conductors, when excited, as described here, is said to be static. Such a state of excitement is distinguished as a statical charge of electricity.

1871. In the next place, if we procure a horse-shoe magnet, lay it on a table, cover it with a sheet of paper, and then sift over it iron filings, we shall see the shape of the magnet delineated upon the paper, by the filings arranging themselves above its corners in preference. But as the sifting proceeds, the filings will be seen to extend themselves in filaments, so as very much to resemble the electrified hair above described. A tuft of the ferruginous filaments will be formed upon each pole of the magnet, each filament avoiding its neighbours, as far as possible. But while each filament, in either tuft, avoids every other in its appropriate tuft, the whole of the filaments in one, are attracted by those in the other. Thus, the charges of polarity which cause each similarly polarized filament to avoid those in the same state, induce those polarized by one of the poles of the magnet, to attract such as are polarized by the other pole of the magnet.

1872. Here is, so far, a great analogy between the phenomena of the polarization of filings and the polarization of the hair, above described. But then there is this difference: excepting iron, cobalt, and nickel, there is no metal which can, by contact with the poles of a magnet, neutralize the polarity by which the iron filings are affected; and even these metals produce this result by a process, the inverse of that by which charges of statical electricity are neutralized. In fact, the magnetic metal, far from acting as a discharger, acts as a keeper; and a piece of iron, of a suitable shape, applied to the terminations of a horse-shoe magnet, prevents the gradual diminution of the magnetism, which otherwise ensues. Hence the name keeper is applied to it, as well as armature, derived from the French.

1873. It will be perceived that, in a steel magnet, the charges are sustained at the terminations of a conductor, which, as estimated by Cavendish, conducts electricity with a velocity two hundred thousand times as great as water.

1874. The charge of the conductor of the machine is superficial, a gilt globe of glass holding as good a charge as a solid globe of metal; and, moreover, in this superficial charge, the ether and the air participate, undergoing a polar affection, analogous to that of the filings exposed to the influence of the magnet.

1875. On the other hand, in the use of the steel magnet, the charge is internal, and, other things being equal, increases with the quantity of iron charged; neither the air nor the ether participate in this magnetic charge. There is no mode in which the charges of the poles of a magnet can be made to pass from one to the other, through any interposed conducting mass.

1876. The retention of the charge seems to be dependent upon a state of the particles in which they are capable of being deranged from their normal position with a certain degree of extraneous influence, and can only resume their natural relative position by a contrary application of a similar agent. Although steel differs from iron only in containing, as an ingredient, one-fiftieth of carbon, this gives it the highly valuable property of hardening, when suddenly refrigerated; a result which may be accounted for by supposing that, in consequence of the sudden exposure to a powerful conducting medium, there is a sort of a jerk by which the particles loose from their midst an undue portion of their ethereal constituents, and cannot recover their normal arrangement after the refrigeration. When this effect is reached to a maximum, the steel is so brittle as sometimes to fly into two or more pieces when left to itself. When soft iron is subjected to the magnetizing process, it exchanges one polarity for the other with such speed, that, in some electro-magnetic instruments, this reversal is effected more than one hundred times in a second; but precisely in proportion as the magnetism is readily received, it is more readily lost. On the other side, when hardened to a maximum, steel can scarcely be magnetized at all. Thus, to have a permanent magnet, we must employ the metal in a state of induration between the extremes. These facts tend to corroborate the inference that magnetism is dependent on the relative position of the ferruginous particles. It is presumed that the ferruginous particles of which the filings consist indicate, by their direction, as seen externally, the direction in which the constituent particles of the magnet are situated beneath the metallic surface.[42]

1877. If to a wire, connecting the poles of a galvanic battery, iron filings are applied, each ferruginous particle becomes a little magnet, and displays exactly the same disposition to unite in filaments as has been represented to take place when they are exposed upon a sheet of paper, to the influence of a magnet supporting it. But while this affection is thus identical with that induced by the steel magnet, it differs therefrom, in its being as transient as the galvanic discharges to which it owes its existence. These, at the lowest estimate, are sufficiently rapid to go round the globe in two seconds; whence it may be conceived that the time taken to percur a few inches of wire must be almost infinitely brief. Hence, although the filings continue in a state of magnetization so long as the action of the battery is sustained, and the wire kept in due contact with the poles of the battery, it is only by a rapid reiteration of discharges, that this result is effected.

1878. As the relative position of the particles composing the steel magnet has been inferred to be indicated by that of the movable filings which they influence, we may suppose the position of the particles composing the wire, to be indicated by that which the filings take by which it is encircled. These are situated always as if forming tangents to the circumference of the wire, and hence it may be perceived that the metallic particles, forming the wire, have been shifted from their normal position, parallel to the axis, so as to take that tangential direction which the magnetization evinces.

1879. On one end of the wire being in communication with one pole of a voltaic series, on touching the other pole of the series with the other end of the wire, filaments of the particles previously situated parallel to the axis, are jerked out of the normal position with an inconceivable quickness, the discharge, however, not affecting successive parts of the length absolutely at once, but successively; so that there is a time required for the process, however inconceivably minute it may appear to us. The effect upon the filaments of filings, at the different ends of the wire, are perfectly simultaneous, and the effect analogous, but different in this respect, that the positive poles are presented externally at one end, the negative at the other, so that, when the polarizing affections meet at an intermediate point within the wire, neutrality ensues.

1880. Thus it will be perceived that no current passes through the wire, any more than the water which is seen to form a wave, on one side of a lake, passes with the wave which is seen apparently to proceed to the other side. Notoriously, in this case, nothing passes but the momentum, which is successively imparted to successive portions of the intervening water; so, in the galvanic discharge, successive portions of the intervening wire are affected by the original disturbing jerks, of which the power passes from each portion to that next beyond it, just as the momentum in the case of the aqueous wave.

1881. Upon these considerations I hold myself as warranted in calling the affections of the wire, as described, waves of polarization, not that the affection of the wire has the smallest similitude to that with which water produces waves, but that, in both cases, there is a successive communication of a property. It is well known that there is this analogy in the two cases; in either, opposite waves, on due meeting, produce reciprocal neutrality.

1882. The neutralization of the electro-polarity induced upon the charged conductors (1867) by touching both at the same time by a conducting rod, is effected in some degree analogously to the process in the voltaic discharge; since waves of opposite polarization are produced at each extremity, and, rushing toward an intermediate point, are neutralized by meeting. But the polarization in the case of the conductors, as has been stated, (1874,) is superficial, and extends not only to the surfaces of the conductors, but likewise to the surrounding ether and air, and does not affect the ponderable atoms of the wire unless the charge be too great to pass in this superficial manner. In that case, being condensed upon the wire to a state of great intensity, it causes a polarization of the atoms composing it, similar to that of the voltaic discharge, though less durable.

1883. From the preceding exposition it follows that the conduction and insulation of that species of electricity which is excited by an electrical machine or other frictional processes, exists upon the superficies of insulated masses, or that of the circumambient particles of the air or ether. This frictional electricity likewise passes preferably over the surfaces of conductors, so that the moistened surface of glass, or other non-conductors, conveys it with enormous facility. It is notorious, that when the air is moist, electrical machines are paralyzed. But this cannot be in consequence of the moist air acting as a conductor. Agreeably to some experiments which I made, a fog from hot water does not act as a conductor. Evidently, were a fog or a cloud a conductor, the air and moisture forming a thunder cloud could not be electrified, so as to give the discharges which constitute lightning.

1884. It is well known that a tube will carry more lightning than a rod, of which the sectional area should comprise the same quantity of metal. Yet, when the wire is too small to carry a charge outside, it is acted upon intestinally and may be explosively deflagrated. But while the existence of a film of moisture upon the glass legs of an electrical machine, may paralyze its power, to a powerful galvanic battery moisture is well known to be essential.

1885. If the poles of a powerful voltaic series, while highly charged, were severally to have a conducting communication with the conductors of an electrical machine, it would discharge them so rapidly, that the most active working would not enable them to give a spark; yet at the poles of the same series there might be charges accumulated which would, in effecting chemical decomposition, heating, deflagrating wire, or inducing magnetism, be immensely superior to that created by a machine.

1886. Farraday’s reasoning and observations, founded on the idea that the only difference between galvanic and frictional electricity was that between quantity and intensity, led him to take up the idea that a grain of water with an equivalent of zinc would evolve as much electricity as sixteen millions of square feet of coated glass, charged by a powerful machine of fifty inches in diameter. I am surprised that Farraday did not consider his premises erroneous, when he found them involving such startling conclusions.

1887. The source of this startling inference was, I think, as follows: Farraday entertained the opinion, that the only difference between voltaic and frictional electricity was that of quantity and intensity. He went so far as to intimate that this opinion would be entertained the more confidently as the electrician forming his decision should be better acquainted with the subject. I advanced what appeared to me unanswerable objections to this conclusion, but such as were not deemed by him worthy of reply. Unduly confident in his postulate, Farraday first ascertained the greatest effect which could be produced by a certain number of turns of a powerful machine, with a fifty inch plate, in causing a deviation of the galvanometric needle, and then, comparing the quantity of zinc and water required to produce the same effect through galvanic action, by a rule-of-three statement the result above mentioned was obtained. In my view the error arose from overlooking the fact that in the one case the whole discharge was exercised in polarizing the ponderable matter, while in the other only a portion of the discharge was thus employed, being only a secondary effect of the polarization of the circumambient medium. Only that portion of the charge which was forced into an association with the ponderable matter, had any effect on the galvanometric needle.

1888. According to Gaziot’s experiments, a Grove’s battery of 320 pairs would not give a spark before contact at any distance, although frictional machines, proportionally powerful, have given sparks at twenty inches.

1889. Thus the laws of conduction and insulation, as respects the two kinds of electricity in question, are different; the waves of polarization are in the case of the galvanic circuit confined to absolute contact with conducting ponderable matter. It cannot pass through the electrical medium or the air by the disruptive process. When once a passage has been made for it, it may pass convectively, carrying with it the polarizable matter, as may be seen in the arch formed between the poles of a powerful voltaic series after contact.

1890. This arch cannot be formed between two metallic points, because none but those of a most fixed and infusible nature can support the heat produced. It is only between charcoal points that it can be created, because no other competent conductor is infusible at the temperature of its volatilization. It is in fact only by the process in question, that charcoal can be volatilized per se. It may be inferred that as those waves of electro-polarity which require the presence of ponderable as well as ethereal matter cannot pass over an interval without the assistance of ponderable matter such as is supplied by the coal. On contact with each other, the points completing the circuit are subjected to an intensity of the polarizing power which causes the carbon of the points, in the state of vapour, to become associated with the ethereal waves, and thus produces the flaming arch, which distinguishes the scene of reciprocal neutralization.

Of Mind, as existing independently, and as distinguished from Matter.

1891. Three ideas must coexist in every rational being; nihility, mind, and matter. We can, of course, conceive of a perfectly void space, and likewise of a mathematical point, which designates a position not an entity. Yet, position cannot be determined without surrounding entities, between which this point exists, without having claim to any portion of those entities, whether there be only one actual material surface, or where several are cornered together. Of such points we have already treated, as forming at the immovable centre of a rotating mass, so that a centre is, of course, one state of the existence of such a point.

1892. After the considerations already presented, it will be seen that there is great difficulty in conceiving of the existence of an atom of matter endowed with polarity, and of course with two centres of two analogous, but opposite and irreconcilable forces. And we must consider that there are more than fifty such heterogeneous elementary atoms, all endowed with various degrees of affinity, so as that two may unite energetically to the exclusion of a third. This is designated as a case of decomposition, and may be exemplified by the process in which water is explosively decomposed by potassium, with which the oxygen of the water unites to the exclusion of hydrogen. When we see that from seven parts, by weight, of charcoal, and about nine parts of water, sugar ensues; that the sweetness with which this sugar is endowed, is the result of a difference between this substance and starch, in the proportion of the watery elements: starch consisting of less water than sugar, with the same amount of charcoal; when we learn that twelve parts, by weight, of charcoal, fourteen parts of nitrogen, and one of hydrogen, constitute the deadly prussic acid; and when, in fact, we discover that the atoms of matter which compose our flesh are capable of entering into as many active chemical combinations as the beads of a kaleidoscope can be productive of figures, then it will be manifest that the phenomena characterizing what we call matter, as well as the powers of that matter, are such as to prove our utter incapacity to comprehend the powers and properties of material atoms, and that we must not object to any wonder that nature may produce, because it is beyond our comprehension.[43]

1893. The belief in the powers displayed by matter does not then result from their being explicable, but from their being evident, just as the elaboration of the chick from the egg demonstrates the fact that the yolk and the white have been converted into a chicken without our being enabled to comprehend the process by which it has been effected. Such being the imperfection of our knowledge respecting the intricate nature of matter and its reactions, it seems to me inconsistent that there should have been such backwardness to believe in the independent existence of mind, of which the phenomena and properties are quite as evident as those of matter, the mode of existence and operation in either case being inscrutable.

1894. The great distinction between mind and matter is the presence of will on the one side, and the absence of it upon the other. Vis inertiæ is the antipodes of will; and if gravitation have any association with will, it will be that of the Creator; but in the inert mass actuated, it serves only to add to the evidence of incapability of self-actuation.

1895. Passion and reason, the parents of will, are properties as manifest as those which, surrounding a centre, give to it that idea of a central force which indicates the presence of material atoms, though it does not constitute them, as I have urged.

1896. The existence of vis inertiæ, gravitation, and chemical affinity, is not more evident as properties of ponderable matter than reason and passion and consequent will are of mind; nor is will less evidently the offspring of reason and passion, than momentum is of vis inertiæ and gravitation. The existence of these attributes of mind is as evident as is the existence of those of ponderable matter, and the incomprehensibility of their origin or mode of operation should no more be an obstacle to belief in the former case than in the latter.

1897. Nothing is more thoroughly fundamental and essential in the doctrine inculcated by revelation than the omnipotency of the will of God. According to Scripture, the whole heaven and earth, and all that is in them, sprung into existence in consequence of the fiat of the Deity, whose will, under the designation of “overruling providence,” is alleged to regulate every thing, even to the fall of a sparrow, or the advent of a pestilence. It follows that the suggestions which I have made respecting the powers of mind are perfectly orthodox, so far as the mind of the Creator is concerned; and as, according to orthodoxy, man is made after God’s own image, however humble and minute may be the being so made, his mind, so far as it exists, must be, within the sphere allotted to it, existing upon an analogous footing to that of its author. The idea of all things coming from the creative power of God as the first cause, involves the existence of the divine-will power, of the first cause; and consequently, beings endowed with an analogous will, must, so far as they have any available existence, be endowed with will-power, of which the potentiality may be more extensive in spirits than in mortals.

1898. It is because there is no other imaginable power which can be productive of the rationality of the universal creation, that forms the great argument for assuming the will of a reasoning Deity to be the cause of causes. Vain were it to appeal to any irrational force under the name of odylic, or any other, to explain the divine attributes on which this argument reposes. In like manner, the assailants of Spiritualism cannot find any nominal force, whether new or old, which can explain the rationality of the results which I have submitted to the public in this book, as coming from the minds of my spirit friends.

Of Spirit independently, or as distinguished from Mind and Matter.

1899. It has been alleged above, that three ideas must exist in the conception of every rational being; nihility, mind, matter.

1900. Mind is distinct from matter in its usual acceptation; but it also differs from nihility. There are some attributes common to mind and matter; since they cannot be considered as nothing, they must both be something. Therefore, the word thing applies to either, and thing is sometimes received as synonymous with matter. But between these two kinds of things, mind and matter, we have an intermediate thing called spirit, which is sometimes confounded with mind. In its original sense, this word merely denoted a thin or refined matter, such as air, wind, breath. In chemistry, it has been applied to every thing obtained by distillation, as, for instance, spirit of wine, spirit of salt, spirit of nitre, of vitriol, spirit of turpentine.[44]

1901. Hence, by analogy, when the mind of a mortal, after death, was seen, or supposed to be seen, in a shadowy form called a ghost or shade, it was conceived to be the spirit or essence of the mortal body which it had inhabited. It was the body which the mind took or kept for its integuments after abandoning its perishable mundane casket, as the spirits are wont to call the carnal body.

1902. It is difficult for us mortals to conceive of mind without such a spiritual body. Yet, agreeably to information from my spirit friends, the substances of which the bodies, the country, and habitations of spirits are constituted, seem to have the attributes of materiality no less than the substances of which the bodies, the territory, and the habitations of mortals are constituted. Their spiritual substances perform for them the same offices as our material substances do for ours, yet it is expedient to distinguish them by different appellations, and those cited here have been sanctioned by custom at least as far as the time of St. Paul, or when these words in Genesis were first used: “The spirit of God moved on the surface of the water.”

1903. Hence, the words materialism and materialist have been made synonymous with unbelief or unbeliever in a future state of spiritual existence.

1904. Spirit has also been confounded with mind or soul, or so associated that we speak of the spirit of a friend, when intending to convey the idea of soul or mind.

1905. The soul seems to be understood as the basis both of the passions and the reason, uniting both the power of thinking and reasoning with those of loving and hating, of benevolence and malevolence, so that even the soul of Jehovah has been represented in Scripture as being actuated by jealousy, wrath, and vindictiveness.

1906. According to information from the spirit world, spirit is viewed as the clothing of the soul, and is not constant in its characteristics; but, on the contrary, varies with the plane which it occupies, so that its density is inversely as the rank attained. It is on this account that the inferior spirits cannot rise above the level to which they rightfully belong.

1907. The impression is conveyed that there is a state to be attained in the spiritual heaven, wherein the tenuity of the integuments of the soul are still more refined.

1908. According to the speculation in which I indulged in a previous page, a centre cannot differ from the nihility involved by the conception of a mathematical point, without a circumambient something, to which the difference is due, and, however difficult to conceive in what way the attributes of a human soul are associated about the centre whence their influence proceeds, this difficulty, having been shown to exist no less in the case of ponderable atoms, would be an objection to the existence of matter as much as of mind.

Of the Soul, as distinguished from Mind and Matter.

1909. The word mind is much used as synonymous with intellect or understanding, though it seems to me we consider it as more or less associated with the passions which actuate it. The word soul, on the other hand, involves the association of every thing which distinguishes a being capable of passion, and competent to reason, from a corpse. It is remarkable that, as spirits become more pure and intellectual, they should be alleged to become more refined in their spiritual integuments, thus removing further from the mundane state, and becoming less capable of giving those manifestations in which violent movements are witnessed.

On the Odic, or Odylic, Force.

1910. There never was perhaps a more eloquent exhibition of that which has been designated as ratiocinatio verbosa, than in the appeals made to the odic force as the means of explaining spiritual manifestations. It may be inferred, from the speculation into which I entered, when treating of mediumship, (806,) that there is a spiritual light and spiritual electricity, which performs for spirits in the spiritual world what our electricity and light does for us in this world. It was pointed out that the term magnetism had been applied to mesmeric phenomena rather in consequence of an analogy between them and those of electro-magnetism, than from any identity. To this spiritual electricity, mortals, in their spiritual organism, which coexists with the mortal body, during mundane life, are liable; being unconsciously under its influence.

1911. The phenomena of mundane light being ascribed to the undulations of an ethereal fluid pervading the visible universe, (1831,) and electricity being ascribed to the polarization of the same fluid, so the spirits ascribe their electricity and their light to the undulation and polarization of an analogous ethereal fluid. It is to this ethereal fluid of the spiritual world, that the phenomena called odic belong, as I conceive. We may speak of that ether as the odic fluid, and we may designate the light and electricity which it produces as odic light, and odic electricity.

1912. But the use of the term force, as applied either to the ether appropriate to this mundane sphere, or to that which belongs more especially to the spirit world, seems to me erroneous. Imponderable fluids may be instrumental to forces, but, per se, cannot have force. No imponderable material fluid can per se have any force, unless that of the reciprocal repulsion of particles, which causes their equable diffusion and resistance to condensation. Electricity has less force in proportion as it is more isolated. In vacuo it passes more diffusely and with less noise in proportion as the vacuum is more perfect. The violence of electrical phenomena is always dependent upon the reaction of the ponderable masses upon or between which it acts. In proportion as the matter on which it operates is more favourable to its condensation therein, or thereupon, the more violent is the deflagration or explosion which results. But in all the phenomena which have hitherto been recognised as the objects of strict physical examination, vis inertiæ has been indispensable to the exhibition of force. “Give me but where to stand, and I will move the world,” was the exclamation of Archimedes; but the conviction thus expressed, of the necessity of a resisting basis, is universally recognised. In other words, there can be no action without reaction, whether chemical, mechanical, or muscular force be applied. Of course, it is preposterous to speak of an isolated imponderable physical fluid, as possessing force per se. When left to itself it would remain inert, like any other inanimate matter. Clearly, isolated action on the part of such a fluid cannot be shown in any case whatever.

1913. Reichenbach alleged the substance or principle to which the name odic has been given to be visible, but he did not adduce any instance of its acting as a moving power so as to justify its being designated as the odic force.

1914. It is, however, unnecessary that those who admit the existence of an invisible ethereal medium through which, without muscular contact, or agency, effects are produced by will, should concur in their opinions respecting the nature of that imponderable principle. The question between those agreeing in the preceding principles, is whether it is to the will of mortals or to the will of disembodied spirits that such manifestations are to be attributed. I should think that no person who shall have read the communications which I have introduced into this work, as coming from my spirit friends, can ascribe those communications to the medium and myself. They must either suppose that there is a wilful manufacture of the wonderful and interesting information therein contained, setting aside the test conditions, through which they are sanctioned, as unreliable; or they must ascribe a wonderful fertility to the minds of the media and myself, through whom they have been obtained.

1915. So far from the ideas being obtained from my mind, which proceed from my spirit father, that he and I cannot come to one opinion on some points after much discussion. My father and sister have, by reiterated communication, as well established a conviction on my mind of their being that which they allege themselves to be, as if a correspondence had been carried on with them for the same space of time, say eighteen months, while they should be residing in another part of the country.

1916. But the whole superstructure built up by the most confident among the recent assailants of Spiritualism, Mahan, rests on the error already exposed in the case of its commission by Dr. Bell.

1917. It is assumed that spirits can never tell any ideas which do not exist in the minds of some persons present. Who was present when my spirit messenger conveyed to Mrs. Gourlay the request to send her husband to bank to inquire when a note would be due? Again, when cards were selected without the denomination having been seen by any mortal present, how could the denomination of the cards be spelt out upon the alphabetic disk?

1918. In his work, Mr. Mahan assumes that the odic force is identical with that which is the immediate cause of the spirit manifestations. Agreeably to the considerations above presented, no imponderable material principle, such as the ether of the undulation theory is supposed to be, can be a force. The only part which it can perform is that of being a medium of force. The fluid of electricity was never assumed to be a moving power, neither according to the Franklinian hypothesis of one fluid, nor that of two fluids, according to Dufay. Without chemical or mechanical disturbance, they would be as still as the water in a pond during a perfect calm.

1919. There is evidently, however, in nature, an imponderable cause of motion, and of other changes, more complicate than simple motion, and, I believe, only one such cause, and that is mind. No one who attributes the creation to the mind of the Creator, but must admit that the mind of the Creator and Ruler of the universe is the moving power of the universe. It must also be admitted that the mind of man, as a moving power, is very minute in comparison with that of its Author, or Source, but still resembling it so far as it reasons, and obeys the dictates of that reason, and causes matter to move in consequence of its designs, desires, wishes, or emotions.

1920. But if this will of the Creator exists, it must have some medium through which it reaches the objects which it influences, just as the ether of the undulationist is necessary to the transmission of light. It is through this medium that gravitation exists as one of the effects of divine will, since, although it appears to be a property of matter, it is inferred to be no less the effect of an habitual exercise of volition, than the erect posture preserved in man, by analogous means, unconsciously; whence, in him, it ceases with sleep. The human will, within its comparatively minute, humble sphere of action, must require also a medium analogous to that through which God acts; otherwise, how does a thought so quickly move the toe? While encompassed by its perishable tenement, there is a certain extent of this will-power enjoyed through the laws of God; but on casting off this envelope, the spirit, to be qualified for its new state of existence, becomes endowed with more extensive power of the nature in question.

1921. This power of the will exists and is displayed in the mesmeric phenomena, where the will of one individual dominates over the limbs of another. The power of the will of an individual over his own muscles, not only in the usual movement, but in producing a rigidity of the muscles of the arm or thigh, is of course notorious. But it appears that there are some persons morbidly susceptible of this rigidity, or at least preternaturally liable to it. Again, others have a will which is, in some degree, preternatural; hence, when such persons are in proximity, the one can actuate the muscles of the other, and even modify the impressions on the brain.

1922. Spirits, as above stated, appear to be endowed with this will-power to an extent proportioned to their necessities. Hence it was substantiated by my spirit father in the first instance, and by the convocation of spirits in the second, that they, like the genius of Aladdin’s lamp, can create, in their own world, the objects of rational desire or fancy by a fiat, but their will-power cannot directly move mundane bodies. In order to effect this, they must avail themselves of the coarser medium of the human will-power, in which case they act, as one mortal may act upon the will-power of another in proximity. The will-power aura of human beings and of spirits seems to emanate from their organism respectively, and, no doubt, connects duly with that of God. Hence, there is thus, that association of the divine will, with all animated beings, which is suggested by the popular theology. The will, and the aura through which it acts, varying with the organism with which it is associated, it requires a certain coincidence in the attributes of a spirit and a mortal, to enable the former to use the aura of the latter to produce any manifestation of its will or ideas. But so far as this coincidence exists, the power is enjoyed. That such coincidences have arisen, I conceive must be evident from the careful consideration of the facts which I have recorded in this work.

1923. The question is put by the Rev. Mr. Mahan, why the odic force, existing in nature, may not be productive of the results ascribed to disembodied spirits? He overlooks the fact that no inanimate imponderable principle can be, per se, a moving power; that inanimate matter does not move itself. Then, as I understand, agreeably to another phase, he inquires why may it not become an instrument to the minds of the mortals concerned?

1924. In the first place, there are facts within my experience which cannot be explained by any possible exertion of any mundane mind, were those concerned to concur in striving to accomplish the result. Thus, how would it be possible for Mrs. Gourlay and myself to have brought about the result of which an account has been given in the supplemental preface of this work, and upon which remarks have been made in other pages? It is utterly impossible that, by any imaginable process, Mrs. Gourlay, having no previous hint, could have become the instrument of my volition at the distance of nearly a hundred miles from Philadelphia, and when, at the time, she was intently engaged in receiving, as she alleges, a communication from her spirit mother to her brother, who was her visitor from his abode in Maine.

1925. Again, it cannot be imagined that things would be communicated by my spirit father and others, of which I was ignorant when they were made. The same may be said of Mrs. Gourlay, as she knew nothing of the facts communicated to her, for me. Then, when the narrative of those facts was read over to the spirit, there were often things to be explained and views to be justified, in opposition to my previous impressions. Conversing frequently with Mrs. Gourlay, I know that she had none of the important impressions respecting the spheres, which were conveyed through her for my edification.

RELIGIOUS ERRORS OF MR. MAHAN.

Proposition of Mr. Mahan.

1926. “Evidence that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of the Spirit of God, as contrasted with the evidence, that the spirit manifestations are from the spirits of men.”

1927. The Rev. Mr. Mahan, not satisfied with endeavouring to refute Spiritualism directly, devotes some pages of his work to the object of bearing it down by the weight of Scriptural superiority, both as to the evidence, and its moral tendencies. This renders the expediency of the strictures which I have made, or may make, on the other side of the question, unquestionable.

1928. There are several truths, which I deem to be axiomatic, which are irreconcilable with the truth of Revelation, (18 to 20.) Merely to state them is to refute Mr. Mahan’s allegation above cited. With readers who will not admit the axioms to which allusion is made, I must agree to differ. (See page 34.)

1929. In the first place, I have represented it as a contradiction to allege that an omnipotent, omniscient, and prescient God can subject any thing to probation, (1380.)

1930. In the next place, I hold that an omnipotent God cannot wish men to have any religion, without that object being effected.

Will not any event arrive For which both will and power strive? Must not any result obtain Which power unites with will to gain?

1931. I answer these queries in the affirmative, and of course consider the theology of Revelation as involved in a contradiction, so far as it represents an omnipotent and prescient God as wishing any creed to be adopted which has not been adopted.

1932. As a corollary to these axioms, it results that God never has performed any miracle for the purpose of conveying a knowledge of the true religion; simply because all that have been alleged to have come from God have only produced religious discord. Of course God, foreseeing the failure of those miracles, would not have resorted to them.

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

1933. This I answer affirmatively. The truth of the affirmative is as clear to my mind as any of Euclid’s axioms.

1934. Another conclusion I consider as inevitable: that no document can be substantiated by the facts of which it furnishes the sole evidence.

1935. In this predicament I place the Bible, the Koran, the Shaster, or Veda, and the Zendavesta, or any religious record of antiquity.

1936. Manifestly, a record made by man can have no higher authority than that of the men whose testimony it records, and those by whom it was recorded.

Of the origin of the Books of Moses no higher evidence exists, according to the testimony of the Bible itself, than that of an obscure priest and a fanatical king.

1937. If we are to judge of the Jewish priesthood by the example afforded by Samuel, we have no more reason to trust a Hebrew pontiff than a Romish pope, (1091.) Bishop Hopkins has sufficiently shown how far priests are to be trusted, (1296.) What would be said of any book, alleged to be due to Divine inspiration, if it had, agreeably to its own authority, an origin no more reliable than the allegation of a priest that it had been found in a temple or church, there being no other evidence of its not having been forged by the priest, or his accomplices, than his own allegation? What better evidence would there be of the sacred origin of such a document, than there is of the Book of Mormon—the Bible brought forward by Joe Smith? Yet the following quotation will show that there was no Bible in use in Judea in the reign of Josiah, 350 years after the reign of David, and just before the Babylonian captivity; and that, in consequence, idolatry had to a great extent superseded the true worship.

1938. Under these circumstances, the high priest alleged a copy of the Bible to be found, and sent it by a scribe to the king. This monarch had lived in such ignorance of the existence of this holy code, that he was thrown into a state of such deep penitence for the sinful omissions arising from his ignorance, as to rend his clothes by way of expressing his sorrow. Moreover, orders were forthwith given to have the abuses abated, which had been introduced solely through ignorance.

1939. I view this evidence of the highest importance at this time, when such men as Mahan, and the anonymous author of the parodied letter, (1182,) are appealing to the Bible as the inspired word of God, and thus making God sanction a catalogue of atrocious crimes and indecencies, and when this imposture is to sit as an incubus on those truly moral impressions which the blessed spirits of the immortal Washington and other worthies, as well as my honoured father, would communicate for the amelioration of the religion and morals of mankind. I repeat, that I consider it of immense importance that attention should be called to the questionable foundation on which these pretensions to inspiration are erected. I shall, therefore, not only quote a portion of these pretended words of God, but also that part of a chapter in the Book of Josephus which narrates the same all-important occurrence more fully and satisfactorily, though giving the same evidence essentially.

Scriptural Account of the Finding of the Books of Moses by Hilkiah, the High Priest.—2 Chron. xxxiv.; 2 Kings xxii.

1940. “And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king’s, saying, Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel, and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book. And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect. And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.”

Account of the Finding of the Books of Moses, by Josephus.

1941. “The repairs of the temple being completed, and all expenses defrayed, Hilkiah, in conformity to the king’s orders, took out the money for the purpose of converting it into vessels for the use of the temple; and, upon removing the gold, happened to discover the sacred books of Moses. This he took out and gave to Shaphan, the king’s secretary, to peruse, who, upon reading them over, went to the king, accompanied by Hilkiah, who told him that he had executed all his commands relative to the reparation of the temple, and at the same time presented the book to him in great form, assuring him what it was, and where they had found it.

1942. “The king ordered Shaphan to read a part of the contents, which being done, he rent his robes, in dread of the heavy curses denounced against a wicked generation. In the height of his affliction, he desired the secretary, with Hilkiah, and several priests who were present, to go to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, a man of eminence, and unite their endeavours to prevail upon her to make intercession with God for pardon toward himself and his subjects. He told them there was great reason to apprehend that the vengeance of Heaven would fall upon the present generation as a punishment for the iniquity of their progenitors, and particularly their neglect and contempt of the laws of Moses; and that, without obtaining a reconciliation, they should be dispersed over the face of the earth, and terminate their lives in misery.

1943. “Hilkiah, with those who were appointed to accompany him, immediately repaired to the prophetess, and having related the cause of the king’s affliction, and his earnest desire of her intercession with Heaven in behalf of him and his subjects, she bade them return him this answer: That the sentence already pronounced was not to be recalled on any supplication or intercession whatever. That the people were to be banished from their own country, and punished for their disobedience with the loss of all human comforts. That the judgment was irrevocable, for their obstinately persisting in their superstitious and idolatrous practices, notwithstanding so many warnings to a timely repentance, and the menacing predictions of the prophets, if they persevered in their abominations.

1944. “This unchangeable decree was to show, by the event, that there is a just and overruling Disposer of all things, and the predictions which he delivered by the means of the prophets will be infallibly verified, as the certain indications of his whole will respecting mankind. The prophetess added, ‘Tell the king, however, that, in consideration of his own pious and virtuous example, the judgment shall be averted from the people during his days; but that the day of his death shall be the eve of their final destruction.’

1945. “As soon as Josiah received this message from the prophetess, he immediately despatched messengers to the several cities within his dominions, commanding all the priests and Levites, and men of all ages and conditions, to repair with the utmost speed to Jerusalem. These orders being obeyed, and the people assembled, the king went to the temple, where, in the hearing of the whole multitude, he caused the laws of God, as contained in the books of Moses, to be distinctly read; after which he bound himself and the people, with their universal consent, by a most solemn oath, strictly to observe every article contained in the sacred books, respecting the laws and religion established by Moses. This solemn oath was followed by prayers and oblations for the divine blessing and protection.

1946. “The king strictly enjoined the high priest to take a particular account of the plate and vessel in the temple, and to cast out so many of them as they should find to have been dedicated by any of his ancestors to idolatrous services. Those that were found were reduced to dust, and in that state thrown into the air. All the priests were likewise put to death, that were not of the flock of Aaron.

1947. “Having effected this reformation in Jerusalem, Josiah made a progress throughout his whole dominions, where he destroyed all the relics of Jeroboam’s superstition and idolatry, and burnt the bones of false prophets, upon the very altar which that impious king had set up. Of this we have taken notice before, as well as the intervention of the prophet, with a prediction in the hearing of the multitude, at the time when Jeroboam was offering sacrifice, ‘That one of the race of David, Josiah by name, was to do this.’ The prediction was verified, by the event, three hundred and fifty-one years after it was foretold.

1948. “So ardent was the zeal of Josiah for extending the great work of reformation, that he went in person to several of the Israelites who had escaped the Assyrian bondage, in order to dissuade them from continuing in superstition, and prevail with them to embrace the pure religion of their forefathers, according to the long established custom of their country. Nor did he rest here, but caused the towns and villages to be searched for the discovery of any remains of idolatrous practices that might lie concealed. The very figures of the horses over the porch of the temple, which their forefathers had dedicated to the sun, and all the monuments to which the people had ascribed divine honour, were, by his special order, taken away and destroyed.

1949. “Having thus purged the whole nation from idolatry, and fully restored the true worship of the one only and true God, he called an assembly of the people at Jerusalem, for the purpose of celebrating the passover, the time for that festival being near at hand. On this occasion the king gave out of his own store, for paschal sacrifices, thirty goats, a thousand lambs, and three thousand oxen. The heads of the priests presented to the others of the sacerdotal order two thousand six hundred lambs, and the chief of the Levites gave to their tribes five thousand lambs, and five hundred oxen. A solemn sacrifice was made of these victims, according to the precepts of Moses, and the ceremony was performed under the direction of the priests. From the time of the prophet Samuel to that day, there had never been a festival celebrated with equal solemnity; for this had the allowed preference, because the whole was conducted in strict conformity to the very letter of the laws, and the precise mode of their forefathers. Josiah, after the accomplishment of a work of such moment and importance to the nation in general, enjoyed his government in honour, peace, and plenty, till he closed his life.”—Book 10, page 153.

If the Pentateuch had been previously known to the Jews, it is incredible that it could have become obsolete and forgotten prior to the alleged discovery of it in the Temple, in the reign of Josiah.

1950. After the Pentateuch had been viewed as the word of God, made known to a people as their peculiar inheritance, lifting them, in their own estimation, above the rest of mankind, as God’s chosen people, this code being the sole authority for their bloody and rapacious course toward their neighbours, is it credible that such a document, had it ever existed, could have become both obsolete and forgotten?[45] Yet we have no alternative but to admit this absurdity, or to conclude that the Bible has no better authority than the Book of Mormon; the one being no more than the other the work of a designing priesthood and would-be rulers.

1951. What credit would be given to any work having no better authority for divine origin than that of the allegation that some pope had found it in a cathedral or in the Vatican, and had sent it to some monarchical bigot as the mislaid testament of the Almighty, given by inspiration through some ancient predecessor of his holiness?

1952. It may be difficult to conceive that Hilkiah and his associates, in writing a book, as proceeding by inspiration from Jehovah, could have fabricated any facts so derogatory to an immaculate Deity as those mentioned under the authority of Moses. How impious must have been their conceptions, to represent him as authorizing them to borrow trinkets of the Egyptians, in order to purloin them; the sanctioning the cold-blooded murder of three thousand people for religious error; the slaughtering of whole nations, even to their suckling babes, as in the case of the Midianites, Canaanites, and Amalekites, with the setting aside virgins for the fate from which the Roman Virginius relieved his daughter by his dagger! It is difficult to conceive that an idea, so derogatory of God, could have been entertained by his chosen people. Yet, on the other hand, inasmuch as they were written, there must have been some mind so impious as to have originated them; and it may be a less wonder that such fabricators should have existed in a cruel and barbarous age of the world, than that, in the present age of superior morality and civilization, they should find endorsers in the professed ministers of the Being whom they have thus misrepresented.

1953. Mr. Mahan alleges: “Every reader will agree with us in the assumption that the incorruptible God has never performed and never will perform a miracle in attestation of that which is unreal or untrue. A religion really and truly attested by divine miracles must therefore be admitted to be true.”

1954. To this very admissible truism, I add that an omnipotent and prescient God could not have any occasion to perform miracles in attestation of any thing, since, by the premises, his will must be carried out without miracles. That any thing should, even for an instant, be contrary to his will, is inconsistent with his foresight and omnipotency. It would be a miracle that any thing counter to his will should exist.

1955. The next postulate of Mr. Mahan is: “No religion attested as true by divine miracles can be false.”

1956. Was this proposition ever impugned? No one would resist the unquestionable dictates of God, however conveyed, whether by miracles or any other means. The question is not whether a religion attested by divine miracles should be accredited, but whether there were ever any miracles, attesting any religion, performed; and if so, what religion has the peculiar merit of having been thus attested? Millions, who believe in other religions, deride those miracles of revelation which Mr. Mahan would adduce; and Protestants do not admit many which the Romish Church sanctions. For one, I deny that any miracle has ever been performed with the view of attesting any religion whatever. No miracle could be necessary to attest the will of Omnipotence any more than to enable a man to wave his hand. But, admitting that it ever has been necessary, no miracle has ever been resorted to for the purpose in question, since none has answered the desired end. This would not have been the case had miracles been resorted to by prescient omnipotence.

1957. A miracle, as defined by this author, on page 345 of his work, is an event “whose existence and characteristics can be accounted for but by a reference to the direct and immediate interposition of creative power, as their exclusive cause.”

1958. I reassert that, where omnipotence and prescience are concerned, such interposition could, in no case, be requisite. The miracle would be, that there could be any thing so contrary to omnipotent will as to require any miraculous interference to set it right!

1959. Instead of assuming, with orthodoxy, that our heavenly Father is quite omnipotent, spirits hold that his powers are only such as this magnificent and almost infinite universe involves; consequently, there is no necessity on their part to admit that every thing must be exactly as God wishes it to be. They are not obliged to consider him as allowing mischievous ignorance, sin, and misery to exist, while by a fiat he could correct them; and still less are they involved in the necessity of supposing that, while able to make every thing perfect, he, from choice, makes them imperfect, and yet has had to resort to drowning his creatures by a great flood, and subjecting whole nations to degrading captivity; authorizing one nation to massacre another, even to each suckling babe, for wrongs done centuries before.

1960. By Spiritualism, the Deity is represented as operating by general laws, from which, consistently with his attributes, he cannot deviate, having to perform no miracle to attain his ends; and that through these laws he is incessantly acting for the good of mankind; and the whole universe is progressing under his benign controlling influence.

1961. Thus we have the two systems, that of progression last mentioned, and that of probation above objected to; which last, being in diametric opposition to an axiomatic truth, is, on this account alone, manifestly absurd.

1962. But, admitting that miracles could, without inconsistency, be supposed to be resorted to by prescient omnipotence, in order to produce or prevent some consequence of a general law, in the making or carrying out of which an all-wise and all-powerful being inconsistently displays a want of wisdom and foresight, it must be perfectly clear that a prescient being would resort to such miracles as would produce the desired effect; not such as would be only partially seen or believed, and would become a new source of discord. Omnipotence could certainly devise miracles which could be seen and be believed in by all men; and which would so impress their minds, as to make them believe in what they should hear and see. By a single fiat, God, if as omnipotent as represented in Scripture, could make all his people of one mind. He would not send them a “sword to separate father from child, mother from daughter, mother-in-law from daughter-in-law,” and to make the subordinates of each household rise in rebellion against their master. A prescient God would not perform miracles of such doubtful character as, for want of evidence, to oblige one of the miracle-makers to enforce a belief in them by treacherous and cruel assassination, as did Moses. God would require no evidence of his miracles but such as could be recorded in the minds of believers. He would not have the records of his will so situated, as to be liable to be confounded with the fabrications of priestcraft. If devils were to be cast out, he would not have drowned a herd of swine, merely to give those immortal miscreants a ducking.

1963. So far are the miracles narrated in the gospel from commanding my credence, that the account of them proves to me, that the Evangelists were men without discretion, in recording any thing so absurd and incredible, and so useless to the main object, of giving a knowledge of God, and of the means of reaching a future happy state.

1964. How absurd to represent God as performing miracles remotely and indirectly bearing upon his object, instead of exercising his omnipotent power universally, effectually, and at once!

1965. If God were to adopt any miraculous means to make his will known, they would not be such as would fail in attaining their end. None but an idiot would resort to measures foreknown to be incompetent to the object for which they should be devised. As no miracles that have been alleged to have been performed have been productive of general conviction of the truth of the creed which they have been alleged to support, it follows that they could not have had a divine origin. A prescient God would not have resorted to incompetent miracles.

1966. This reverend author is likewise of opinion that nothing but miracles can be appealed to as evidence of the divine origin of Christianity or of any other religion.

1967. When miracles are appealed to by different sects, in support of their conflicting pretensions, it must result that, if religion is to be founded only on miracles, that religion only can be recognised as true whose miracles are so pre-eminently evident as to abrogate all others that conflict with it. But it is notorious that the miracles brought forward by each sect are denied, if not ridiculed, by others. Appealing to miracles is, in fact, appealing to the human evidence on which they depend. In like manner, any religion which rests on assumed inspiration, rests, in fact, on the evidence proving that the inspiration claimed ever took place.

1968. But are we to believe in all miracles which have been alleged by men to have happened? Are we to believe any book to be inspired, because men, who contradict each other, alleged it to be inspired? and if several books are alleged to be inspired, how are we to choose between them? Is a man’s choice of these books to be governed by his education? If brought up in Turkey, is he to believe that the Koran is the word of God; if in Christendom, the gospel? If all who surround him were to treat it as impious to doubt that a book is the word of God, is he to submit to this dictation, or is he to exercise his own judgment, and examine whether the Bible of the Christian, and the miracles on which it rests, are not more likely to be true than the Koran and the miracles on which it rests? But if, after having examined both of these works, he finds that the miracles on which they rest are, in both cases, entirely dependent on human testimony, and that this testimony is disputed on one side by the Mohammedans, and on the other by the Christians, and that each party only admits such miracles to be true as harmonize with his own religion; that miracles told by profane writers rather tend to discredit than to corroborate the occurrences with which they are associated,—will not the inference naturally arise that the belief in miracles is the result of religion, not religion the result of belief in miracles?

1969. An analogous result may be perceived in relation to any extraordinary manifestation in Spiritualism. Scarcely any one will believe that the spirit hand (1513) has been seen and felt at Koons’s establishment in Ohio, unless previously a convert to Spiritualism. Thus he does not become a spiritualist by reading the account of that manifestation, but believes the manifestation because he has been converted to Spiritualism. Did the truth of that manifestation rest upon the evidence of only one set of eye-witnesses, even spiritualists had not believed in it. As miracles have ever been alleged to have been seen only by very few persons, and have never been of a nature to be seen by a succession of observers, I cannot conceive why any man, in any age or time, could be reasonably expected to display a credulity, the inverse of that now exhibited, as respects this spiritual manifestation. Scarcely any person, without being an eye-witness of the fact, has been brought to believe that tables move without human contact. By recurrence, the reader may perceive that in my letter of February 3, 1854, I use this language in my letter to Mr. Holcomb: You believe that tables move without contact, because you have seen them so moved; I am skeptical, because I have never seen them moved without contact, though I have been at several circles, (698.)

1970. When I stated to my friend, Professor Henry, the experiment illustrated by plate 3, with the utmost precision, made twice on two different evenings, he said: “I would believe you as soon as any man in the world, but I cannot believe that.” Yet the result of that experiment was nothing more than the fact of bodies moving when uninfluenced by any apparent mortal agency, accompanied by a demonstration of a governing reason; a result which has been established again and again by myself with the greatest precision, and by many other investigators. Evidently, if this had never been repeated, it would have been treated as a mental hallucination on my part by my comrades in science and all the rest of the community.

1971. Such is the difficulty of inducing credence, in enlightened minds, of any thing which is inconsistent with those laws of nature with which they have become familiar. Clearly, in the present advanced state of the human mind, no miracles would be believed on hearsay testimony.

1972. It seems as if facts, incredible at first view, are always believed when they are confirmed by being seen by independent and disinterested and intelligent observers sufficiently often, and under such modifications, as to make all such observers believe in them. We are willing to believe in a mysterious fact as one of a genus, but not when isolated. If I may judge by the incredulity with which my observations in Spiritualism have been met by those who had previously considered me reliable, I should deem it utterly impossible among intelligent, well-educated people of the present day to induce a belief in an isolated miracle; and, as respects ignorant, bigoted sectarians, the difficulty to obtain credence would be at least as great.

1973. Were our heavenly Father now to cause miracles to be performed as wonderful and as isolated as those mentioned in Scripture, as no one would know any thing of them direct from God, excepting those by whom they might be witnessed, it would only cause the narrators of them to be ridiculed, as those spiritualists were ridiculed who first asserted their belief in spiritual manifestations. In order, therefore, that miracles should be believed in by an enlightened community, belief would have to be instilled by education or supported by reiterated observation, since, in enlightened communities, no miracles would be believed in but those which should come within these conditions.

1974. There is not a single miracle mentioned in the gospel which tends to throw light upon the alleged object of Christ’s mission. The object of their performance was mainly to prove his supernatural power to those who should believe in them, and thus to cause him to be accredited as a missionary from God. So far from their ever having had an effect of this kind on my mind, gospel miracles tended only to destroy my confidence in the veracity or discretion of their narrators, upon the same principle that spiritualists have lost weight with their intelligent friends by mentioning manifestations which were considered by these as incredible.

1975. I can foresee a great triumph for spiritualists, sooner or later, in the world to come, if not in this; but this result will not flow from the conversion of their skeptical friends to a belief in the manifestations which may have been viewed by the narrators, as described. The conversion of skeptics will arise from their own observation, with the concurrent testimony of many reliable witnesses, all tending to the verification of analogous phenomena.

1976. The miracles of Scripture never have had nor never can have this species of corroboration, and of course will make but little progress among people educated under conflicting impressions. In this age of bigotry in favour of all educational mysteries and extreme skepticism as to innovations, the last thing which could obtain credence would be miracles of the nature of those which Mr. Mahan assumes to be the only foundation for religious belief.

1977. It has already been urged that Moses was, by his own account, a worldly man, who, as I conceive, was guilty of a misrepresentation in alleging that the Creator of the hundred millions of solar systems comprised in this universe (1342) made him and his people especially the object of a partiality, authorizing them to plunder and extirpate all the neighbouring people: moreover, that Moses was worldly-minded in the extreme, and so intent upon acquiring lands in this world, as to neglect his opportunities, if he had any, of learning from Jehovah, in frequent alleged intercourse with him, any information respecting the immortality of the soul, (1091, 1098, 1271.) My attention has been recently turned to the 24th chapter of Exodus. It is there mentioned that Moses, with more than seventy elders of Israel, went up the mount, and there had an interview with the God of Israel, when “they saw God.” It is then stated that “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering. And this is the offering which you shall take of them, gold, silver, and brass, and blue and purple, fine linen, and goats’ hair,” &c.[46]

1978. There are then two or three chapters occupied with the specification of the various valuable articles of gold, and precious wood, and stones, required by an omnipotent God to furnish a tabernacle. Such is the misuse made by this pretended missionary of God, of the opportunity of learning that which is above all price. How many thousands of human beings have been willing to lay down their lives for religious truth!—and yet this pretended favourite of Jehovah, by his own account, spent his time in getting baubles, making the Almighty his agent. It may be that the whole is a fable, and that the account originated in the time of Hilkiah, when the Pentateuch was acknowledged to have been found accidentally. But if Moses and the elders really ascended the mount, and represented themselves as seeing God, and receiving those directions, evidently they were all a set of impostors, who resorted to this mode of obtaining furniture for the tabernacle.

Great Importance attached to a Belief in Immortality by Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, as contrasted with the recklessness of Moses respecting the same Belief.

1979. Among the errors propagated industriously by fanatical sectarians, is that of representing the Old and New Testament as of inestimable importance, as the only source of our knowledge of a future state of existence, of which heathen writers are mentioned as deficient. In refutation of the calumny thus promulgated, I deem it expedient to quote the following sentiments ascribed by Xenophon to Cyrus, King of Persia, in addressing his children:

1980. “Think not, my dearest children, that when I depart from you, I shall be no more: remember that my soul, even while I lived among you, was invisible; yet by my actions you were sensible it existed in this body. Believe it, therefore, existing still, though it still be unseen. How quickly would the honours of illustrious men perish after death, if their souls performed nothing to preserve their fame! For my part, I could never think that the soul, which, while in a mortal body, lives, when departed from it, dies; or that its consciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconscious habitation; on the contrary, it most truly exists when it is freed from all corporeal alliance.”

1981. Let this be compared with the inexcusable inattention of Moses, taking his own narrative to be true, in communicating with God about every thing else, almost, excepting that which concerns immortal life. If the despicable criminality of Abraham in putting his wife at the pleasure of two heathen kings successively, and their repugnance to have violated his connubial rights, be taken as a fit test of comparative morality, if these sentiments of King Cyrus be compared with those of the Jewish lawgiver as respects immortality, the chosen people of God were much below some neighbouring heathens both in morality and religion.

1982. This inference will be fortified by comparing the portraiture of the Deity as given by Moses (1140) and Samuel, (1091,) with that given by Seneca, (1224.)

The Worship of a Book, Idolatry.

1983. Much has been said in Scripture and by its votaries against idolatry, but I do most seriously consider the Old Testament as a more pernicious idol than any image or statue can be in the nature of things.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us