me, that many of the strange appearances of our times, like those of ancient times, are a mere deception; and that others are the result of hitherto unobserved natural causes, such as magnetism, electricity, or something else,-putting the phenomena in question on the same footing with those of Mesmerism, Pathetism, Biology, &c. Indeed, I know nothing pertaining to these manifestations more mysterious than some of the alleged facts of Mesmerism, and both, it seems likely, are to be explained in much the same way.

And now, if any are not satisfied with my explanations thus far, and still insist that the agency of spirits is concerned, I reply, as in the first part of my discourse, that if any spirits are concerned, they are, unquestionably, infernal spirits. It is not at all likely that good spirits have anything to do in the matter. Holy angels have nobler, better employ ment than this. And the spirits of the just made perfect, who have gone to their eternal rest, and are represented as dwelling in the New Jerusalem above, would never descend to be engaged in such paltry trifling here below. Indeed, it is expressly stated in the Scriptures, that those who depart out of this world at death, do not return to it. David, speaking of his deceased child, says: "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me," 2 Sam. xii. 23. Job also says: "Let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return." "When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return," Job x. 21; xvi. 22.

Besides, the degraded character of many, not to say most, who act as mediums, and the childish, silly, self-contradictory answers which are often given; the fact, too, that many of these answers are of an infidel and immoral tendency, in palpable contradiction to both conscience and the Bible; also the mischief which the alleged spirits often perpetrate, tearing clothes, destroying furniture, and driving weak-minded men and women to distraction and suicide;-these things show clearly enough what kind of spirits are concerned, if, indeed, any are. They must be wicked spirits. They are, undoubtedly, infernal spirits, who, for the trial of our race, are abroad in the earth, "going about, like roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour."

And if it be objected to this, that some of the answers are pious and good-good in themselves, and in their influence, I have only to reply, that Satan can be very pious, when it will best subserve his diabolical purposes. He can put on the appearance of an angel of light, thereby the more fatally to deceive.

According to the Scriptures, the "familiar spirits" of the ancient witches and wizards were infernal spirits-liars, deceivers, devils-against whose wiles and influence the people of God were solemnly warned. And the spirits who have intercourse with certain persons now-if spirits they be-are undoubtedly of the same class. And I would by no means affirm that there can be no demoniacal agency here. If persons will seek after unlawful intercourse with the Evil One, and give themselves up to it, as I said before, God may give them up. He may permit the devil to communicate with them, and so lead them captive at his will.

The devils are always at hand, where there is mischief to be done; and they have knowledge enough to give all the answers, and make all the disclosures, which ever have been made, or will be. There is no necessity for calling in the agency of departed relatives and friends. There

are other spirits who know more than they do, who are present, invisibly, in the world; and if any spirits are concerned in these transactions, it is undoubtedly the spirits of darkness. Such is the testimony of Scripture in the case, and the supposition is as reasonable as it is scriptural.

Having thus explained, as well as I am able, the character of the communications purporting to come from the other world, and shown how they are to be accounted for, I proceed to speak of the evil of themthe evil of making them, consulting them, or having aught to do with them.

That they are evil and sinful, the Scriptures most unequivocally teach. They are sternly forbidden, as I have already shown, in all parts of the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New. And if any are disposed to ask, What is the harm of them? Wherein does the evil of them consist? The answer to these questions is suggested, in part, in what has been already said.

A considerable part of the work of those who profess to have commerce with the spirits, we have seen is an imposture. It is a work of deception; and deception is always evil. What right have I wittingly to deceive my fellow men, with regard to the concerns of the other world? What right have I to pretend to make disclosures to them from that world, which I know are fictitious and delusive? What right have I to take their time, and harrow up their feelings, and filch from them their money, in this way? For any one to do this is a gross sin. It is a shameful sin. I do not say that, under present circumstances, it is worthy of death, for I do not think it is; but I do say it is a fraud upon individuals and societya sin worthy to be noticed and punished by the judges.

We have seen that a part of what is done by those who claim to have intercourse with spirits may be the result of unknown natural causes. This is the most plausible, excusable view which can possibly be taken of the matter; and yet, in this view, the practices in question are frightfully evil. They are so, on more accounts than one. The persons who alone are susceptible to the influence of these natural causes are those of a diseased or delicate nervous temperament; and the effect of experimenting upon their nervous system is usually to shatter it the more. They become excitable, fanatical, visionary, and often insane. Diseases are engendered, both of body and mind, which lead on to the most fearful consequences. A young clergyman of my acquaintance, having discovered that he was a medium, went into a course of experiments upon himself. He continued them until he became terrified, and was constrained to desist. He told me that if he had persisted a few weeks longer, he should have been either crazy or dead.

A man in B—, Mass., who had been much given to the rappings, and other spiritual manifestations, became, in consequence, a raving maniac, threatened the life of his family, and was committed to the lunatic asylum in Worcester. On the first day of January, 1851, there were ninety cases of insanity, in only eight of our public hospitals, all which had been induced by the rapping mania. It is believed that, a few months later, there are not less than five hundred such cases in the United States--a terrible result of one of the most pitiable, contemptible delusions that ever visited this country.

But insanity is not the only evil of the practices in question, when viewed as the result of natural causes. For the truth is, that in nearly

every case, they are not so viewed by those who engage in them. They regard them as the work of spirits. They are therefore deceived; and those who follow them are deceived. Both suppose that they are receiving utterances from the other world, when nothing is uttered but vain fantasies from their own minds and hearts. Now a delusion such as this is manifestly a hurtful one. It is one full of danger to all concerned. To mistake our own fancies for Divine revelations, and feel conscience bound to obey them as such; why this is the very essence of fanaticism. It is fanaticism in its most frightful form. Under the influence of such an impression, persons may be led to perpetrate the greatest cruelties, and the most horrid crimes, and vainly think they are doing God service. I have read of "a lady of birth, taste, high connections, and literary accomplishments, who committed suicide, leaving written testimony of her being prompted thereto by revelations from the spiritual world." "Another young woman cut off her hand with a carving-knife, thrust the bleeding stump into the fire, and then put out her eyes, declaring that she was directed to do so by the spirits." A Mr. SC, of WCo., Ohio, under the influence of the rapping delusion, " became possessed with the idea that he must, like Abraham, offer a sacrifice to the Supreme Being. Accordingly, he cut off one of his feet. His family, fearing that some other of his limbs might fall a sacrifice, had him conveyed to the asylum at Columbus, where he was confined."

Such are some of the evils resulting from the practices we are considering, when viewed as the result of natural causes. And are they not frightful evils? Do they not call for the united efforts of all the friends of religion and humanity to remove them?

I need say but few words to show the evil of these practices, on the third mode of accounting for them, viz., that they are produced by demoniacal agency. For who are those "familiar spirits," to whom, on the supposition, persons give themselves up, and to whom they are given up of God? They are the spirits of darkness-liars from the beginning, and the fathers of lies-the first and greatest enemies of the human race. And can it be otherwise than evil to have commerce with such beings; to receive and follow their suggestions; pleasing ourselves meanwhile with the thought that we are conversing with departed friends, or receiving, it may be, revelations from heaven? I can conceive of nothing more terrible than this-more perilous in all its influences, both upon the individual and society, upon the body and the soul. In a state of society like that in Israel, requiring that the penal code should be stringent and severe, I wonder not at all that these, and the like practices, should have been punished with the utmost rigor of the law.

I have said that the practices which have been considered are of heathen origin. They originated with the heathen; they were early spread over the greater part of the heathen world; and they continue to pervade and curse it to the present time. In various portions of heathendom, at this very day, scarcely an affliction occurs, a dearth, a flood, a fit of sickness, or an instance of death, but some poor creature, and often more than one, is accused and put to death as being the cause of it. The sick man, it is said, is bewitched. Who has bewitched him? His death, if he chance to die, has been brought about by evil spirits. Who has sent the spirits upon him? To answer these questions, some old hag or conjurer is consulted; the cause of the mischief is soon discovered; and

an innocent person is put to death. Probably hundreds die every year after this manner among the heathen, even in this nineteenth century.

And the case would soon be no better among ourselves, if we were to go extensively and confidently into the practice of consulting with familiar spirits. For the spirits would unravel all mysteries; they would reveal all secrets; and not a man, or woman, or child would be safe from their malicious accusations. "An elderly gentlemen in Indiana was living in peace and harmony with his family, until the spirit-rappers visited the neighborhood. He attended their exhibitions, and believed their revelations. And it was revealed to him, among other things, that his second wife, with whom he was living, had caused the death of his former companion. From this moment his peace was fatally interrupted. He was living with a murderer. And if the community around him had been deluded like himself, the poor woman must have suffered."

Some years ago, the Lunatic Asylum in Maine took fire, and a portion of the inmates were smothered and consumed. And there are hundreds of persons among us, who affirm that the building was set on fire by the keepers. They know it was so; they have not a doubt of it; not because they have a particle of evidence to that effect from this world, but because the spirits have so informed them. Now let these utterances become common, and be commonly received; and how long would it be before these keepers, every one of them, would be dragged to the gallows, or the stake, while they were as innocent of the charge preferred against them as a child unborn.

I cite these instances just to show the sin, the evil, the exceeding peril of indulging in those practices which have been exposed. Let all who hear me, then, beware of them, and shun them. I feel solemnly called upon to lift up a voice of warning on this subject. Let us "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." If any of us are capable of becoming what are called mediums, we had better not know it; or, if we know it, we had better refrain from all experiments. To tamper with such a power is to tamper with an already shattered nervous system, the only effect of which will be to shatter it the more. Or it is to tamper with infernal spirits,-to have communion with the Evil One.

Or, if any persons will consent so to abuse and degrade themselves as to act as mediums, let no one follow them. Let them have their marvels and their revelations all to themselves. "Their policy is to awaken curiosity, and then cry, investigate; and if you will only attend their sittings, at a dollar a visit, for the purpose of investigating, their end is accomplished. They have your money, and have your example, to induce others to go and do likewise."

They can tell you nothing which is of the least importance to you. They never have told anything which was of any importance. I challenge all the workers with familiar spirits to show, that a single disclosure has ever been made, which was of the least importance to the world. They can tell us nothing which we have any reason or right to believe, at least on their testimony. And if any do believe them, and put confidence in them, they will surely be led astray.

The Bible has faithfully warned us on this subject, as on almost every other, where there is danger. "Regard not them which have familiar spirits, neither seek after them, to be defiled by them." "Give no heed

to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

Indeed, the result of this whole discussion should be, to lead us to prize the Bible more, and give heed to it with the greater diligence and confidence. It is "a light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path." It is "a light shining in a dark place." There is nothing more striking than the difference between the Scripture representations of the future world, which we know are true, and those which are given by the revealers of modern times. The former are solemn, weighty, exciting, impressive, some of them awfully, gloriously so. While the latter, as one says, are "so uniformly and monotonously silly, that we are compelled to think, if these are really the spirits of the dead, in dying they must have lost what little of common sense they ever possessed. If these are actual specimens of the spirit-world, then this world, however hard and imperfect, is altogether the most respectable part of God's creation."

In the Bible, there are frequent accounts of persons who were literally raised from the dead,-who actually returned from the spirit-world to this. But they returned, in every instance, with scaled lips. In no instance do we hear them making disclosures. But our modern revealers of things unseen pursue a very different course. They practise no reserve. They go into the minutest particulars,-sometimes into the most disgusting details, and publish, as one expresses it, "a penny magazine of the spiritual world."

The result of all our inquiries then should be, to bind us more closely to the Bible; to lead us to cling to it, and follow it as our sole and sufficient guide, in things pertaining to the future world. God has told us in his word all that we need know respecting that world. He has told us all that he intends we ever shall know, until we get there. He has told us enough to awaken the most lively interest, and the most earnest care. And what he has told us, we have on his own infallible authority. It is to be depended on. It is the word of him that cannot lie.

Let us, then, study his holy word. Let us believe it, love it, and live according to it. Let us diligently prepare for that world on which we are so soon to enter, and not be vainly trying to pry into its secrets, nor be running after those who can know no more of the subject than we do ourselves.