be the father of lies, and therefore his children may be of the same stamp, may have a family-likeness. Few men in England have had greater opportunities of witnessing spirit-action upon men at circles and in private life than I have, and I have often been struck with the adroitness with which spirits parry off too much inquisitiveness; the consummate tact they possess of adapting their manifestations of power in convincing men of their existence and influence, to the mental calibre or idiosyncrasy of the individual to be convinced. Many men have I seen who have come to a circle expecting like Naaman that some great thing or manifestation would happen to convince them; they have had some simple, and to others unimportant manifestations, which has rendered powerless the sword-arm of opposition.

So far as I have seen these manifestations, they have never made any man worse than he was before; but I know scores of men, and have heard of hundreds, who thank God for having witnessed them. Before, they had no belief in futurity, no belief in the existence of deceased relations, no belief in special providence. Now, the hymn of thanksgiving is in their hearts; they can breast life's waves, because they know that when their earth duties are over, their song of joy will be joined to those of the loved ones who have gone before; and that while on earth, special providence, produced by Deity through the action of angels and deceased relatives, will guard and guide.

The great beauty of spirit teachings is, the entire absence of sectarianism. "The Lord God" works through the whole; sometimes straightforwardly, and sometimes obliquely, depending upon the mental or religious state of the party being operated upon; but the teachings lead, however circuitous, to the centre of the circle, the pivot truth of Christendom, the acknowledgment that JESUS IS THE CHRIST, the great enunciator of the fact that man is Immortal. Plato, Socrates, Pliny, Aristotle, Cicero, hoped there was a future, but feared it was fancy's dream. Jesus asserted it was a reality, and by signs

and miracles gave power to his teachings. Life and immortality have been brought to light by the Gospel. Read that Gospel.

"All hail the power of Jesus' name,

Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown him Lord of all."

Sacred and classic history declare that spirits of greater and lesser power govern provinces and empires, and that commotions and perturbations take place among them as to the mode of governing, and the warding off lesser or greater spirits from interference with the empires of matter they rule over. I quote only two instances of this, so as to show the mechanism in action for acting upon man: that mechanism existing, the question resolves itself into a simple one of POWER. God the Creator and Preserver of the worlds, must be good and powerful, because all his works are good and display power; therefore the mind naturally bends to the conviction, that that power must be supreme, and his agents must be supreme; and when evil is intended, and attempted by inferior influences, the greater will overcome the lesser.

DANIEL THE SEER states, "I lifted up my eyes and saw a certain man clothed in linen; his body was like the beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire, his arms and feet like in colour to polished brass, and his voice like a multitude. I alone saw the vision, but the men with me were seized with a great quaking, so that they fled to hide themselves. Then said he unto me, 'Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come because of thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one-and-twenty days; but lo! Michael, one of the chief princes, came to my help, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people (the Jews) in the latter days, yet the vision is for many days.' ... Then said he,

Now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo! the Prince of Grecia shall come; but I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth; and there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince."" Michael was the recognised angel of the Lord for the Jewish people, and this statement gives the key to the expressions of "Prince of the power of the air;" and "principalities and powers" mentioned in Scripture; and also shows how nations are governed by spiritual powers. I turn now to classic history, and quote from Pliny :SPECTRES.-What particularly inclines me to give credit to their existence, is the narrative I heard of Curtius Rufus. When he was yet in low circumstances, and unknown in the world, he attended the governor of Africa into that province. One evening as he was walking in the public portico, he was extremely surprised with the figure of a woman, which appeared to him of a size and beauty more than human. She told him she was the TUTELAR POWER of Africa, and was come to inform him of the future events of his life that he should go back to Rome, where he should be raised to the highest honours, and return to that province invested with the proconsular dignity, and there should die. Accordingly every circumstance of this prophecy was actually accomplished. It is said farther, that upon his arrival at Carthage, as he was coming out of the ship, the same figure accosted him upon the shore.

This statement is also given in the Annals of Tacitus.

It is obvious, therefore, that the statements of the existence of National Genii is true; and that unseen beings, localised in any longitude and latitude, enjoy themselves according to the climate, the aromas, and the essences which ascend from material substances; and a careful examination of the spirit manifestations in India, in South and North America, in Africa, in Turkey, and in Europe, confirms this view. It is startling, and induces us to read history under a fresh aspect.

Having traversed through several powers in Man, and in

spirit, we are now in sight of illustration of those powers; and to the assertion, that spirits-disembodied spirits, are better engaged than in attending to human affairs, and clustering round men when assembled together, and acting upon them, and upon inanimate substances; the reply is, that if God in Christ did not think it beneath him to come and interfere in human affairs, I see no reason why his servants should be too proud or too much engrossed with their own extra happiness, to refuse casting a look of pity, of love, and of help towards those still trammelled by the body, but who will shortly join them, when freed from its weight.

One thing is certain, Spirits do communicate physically with man; and I think, they are better judges of whether it is meet and right so to manifest themselves to those who seek them; than persons of limited mental powers, and very little knowledge of the subject. I have already in this Section upon Angels, shown the effects produced upon many by these manifestations;-nay more, on the right hand and on the left, the literary celebrities of the age are earnestly examining these phenomena, as developed in scores of families in London; and the proofs they have had, and are having even at their own homes, have been so powerful, that the future literature of England will be deeply tinged with spirit life. England is the moral and political focus of the world. Its literature radiates Europe, America, India, Australia, and the islands of the sea; and the practical belief in spirit life, generated by spirit manifestations, will influence the higher destinies of thousands upon thousands of this and succeeding generations. Yes, God permits his spirits to so act on the weak and foolish things of this world, as to convince humanity that man does live when his physical structure is in the grave; and that the golden rule, "Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly," should influence every movement of our lives;- -so that when we enter upon our new state of being, regret and anguish may not wring the mind for wrong done in times gone by.

Men who have resisted divine revelation as unfolded in the sacred books;-men who resisted the declarations of their fel

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lows, that they have felt the influence of spirit on their bodies and on their minds;-men who have resisted the declarations or evidences of special providence or guidance on their fellow-men, and treated such evidences as "Coincidences;" "Curious;" "Mental hallucinations;" "Cerebral duality;" and have declared that nothing but something opposed to the laws of gravitation would satisfy them; have had their stolid brains earthquaked, by Angelic power, and wisdom descending to their character, have, by seeing heavy substances float in the air, as wood on water; and by various acts done as requested, been subdued. Acts foolish or destructive of themselves, but wise and beneficent when the object to be obtained was the intellectual recognition of the existence of God, of the angel, and of the man :-and also of the intellect recognition of the existence of the Angel as well as of the man. I frankly state I was one of that class; I had studied mesmerine, and clairvoyance; had seen the effect of woods, metals, and stones, on the human frame, and had by my will controlled my fellows, as a pilot does a ship; and it needed rough, coarse, physical manifestations on inanimate substances to subdue me; and recognising the truth of the heading I have given to the next Section, THAT WISDOM IS JUDICIOUSLY applied KnowlEDGE; I reverently thank God that he allowed those ministers of his, unseen but powerful, to lower themselves as a teacher does to a pupil, when he simplifies his propositions to the capacity of the mind he desires to act upon, and instruct. I have seen scores of infidels change countenance from the mirthful and jocose, to the serious and the awe-stricken; when the physical manifestations, raps, table-rising, and spiritmusic, in answer to oral and mental questions, have flashed CONVICTION on them with lightning speed and power. Verily "God has chosen the weak and foolish things of this earth to confound the mighty and the strong" in their own conceit; whilst the simple, truthful relier on divine guidance, has creamed his life with joys, in full knowledge and assurance that there remaineth a REST-a future for the Christian. Let us pass on.