Mr. C., of London; informed me that at his own house while sitting at a table with his family, the windows were shaken violently, and the room seemed to tremble; and then commenced spiritualistic manifestations.

JEWISH DAVID :-The Philistines spread themselves over the valley of Rephaim. Therefore David inquired of God; and God said unto him, "Go not up-turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees, and when you hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you are to go out to battle; for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines." David did as ordered, and defeated his enemies. Notice here, not only were words of direct guidance given, but a sound as of an army going was to be heard in the air above the trees before he was to stir.

CHRISTIAN:-The one hundred and twenty disciples on the day of Pentecost, while in a house, heard a sound as of a mighty rushing wind, which filled the house they were in; and there appear cloven tongues like as of fire, and it rested on each of the one hundred and twenty.

In reading Plutarch's Lives of the Heroes of Antiquity, we find that nearly all considered themselves under the influence of the gods; and narratives of prodigies and sounds which influenced and guided those men, are frequent.

Jewish history is a storehouse of the same kind.

Christian history, as unfolded in the books of the New Testament, continues the same strain.

Roman Catholic history of the fathers of the church, continues the narratives.

The Greek Church, and the biographies of the leading men of the Protestant Churches, vibrate with similar narratives; therefore, if the sounds be taken up from the remotest era of knowledge, the reverberations come pealing down all time like echoes from afar. While man is the image of God, God's mode of action continues to him unchanged; deprive him of that image, and then angels may cease to act for him by sounds and by other methods as portrayed in the pages of this book. As to the asserted foolishness of rapping, it appears to me that foolishness is want of wisdom. Wisdom is the skilful adap

tation of means to produce a result. I have conversed with scores of materialists, whose minds were never reached by the gladiatorship of words, to believe in futurity; but by the "foolishness" of sounds have been subdued, and made as little children ready to receive instruction from those invisibles who have made their presence known. Rapping is only the "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man open, I will come in, and sup with him, and he with me." Angels were the ministers of God for the prophets and apostles, therefore they knocked; knocks lead to converse with those unseen beings; that converse being carried on in wisdom, according to the physical and mental of the inviter, as developed in the various phases of mediumship to be hereafter unfolded.

Instead, therefore, of isolating the sounds from the other incidents of the sittings; it will be more interesting to note their occurrence, in concert with other displays of spirit power, as evidenced in the moving of heavy or ponderable bodies; and we, therefore, pass on to show the uniform law in action by the angels, in past history down to this year 1860.

SECTION II.

SPIRIT POWER-MOVING SOLID SUBSTANCES.

So immutable are the laws of nature, that where we place a solid substance, there we expect to see it remain. If we go into a room, having in it the ordinary articles of furniture, the tables, chairs, and other inanimate substances remain where they have been placed, and move not at our approach; if any of them are in our way, we have to place our solid or physical powers on such article, and by the leverage, move it. In the whole range of physical phenomena, it was never understood or taught, that a dead substance could move itself; or that any human being by his mere wish, or will, could move or lift any such substance. If therefore, any solid body move without there being attached some physical substance; it must have been from, or by, some power not acknowledged in science. Men's minds have run rank with surmises and hypotheses as to the possible cause of such a phenomena, but they never give an illustration of the correctness of their theories, by practical proof.

The phenomena I am about to place before the reader so far transcends mere sound, or mental action, as to place them out of the reach of any decision, but either that the alleged facts never took place, or that they are the results of intelligent powers not inhabiting a corporeal body. That the incidents, &c., are true, I believe; because I saw a considerable portion of them-not, "in the dark," but in the broad daylight, or in the evening, with the usual lights used by the family; and a second portion were seen by persons I know, at their own houses and their own rooms; and who, but for the bitter persecution, and the mental Smithfield in prospect for them, if they frankly gave their names, would attach their signatures to the several statements of facts witnessed in the privacy of their own homes. However, their names are by hundreds in London, and embrace some of the brightest intellects in law, divinity, medi

cine, science, commerce, and the fine arts; as well as names respected and acknowledged as the "stars" of the age. I therefore only mention Lord Lyndhurst, Sir E. Lytton Bulwer, and Sir Edwin Landseer, as representative men who have witnessed the phenomena, and acknowledged its truth; because they are beyond the shafts of persecution. While some of the persecutors, to my certain knowledge, are young men, having the controul of the periodical press, to whom the twist of their moustache is of more importance than the dethronement of a King; if we may judge from the frequent finger-twist given to the hairs which seem to have a will of their own.

The third portion of the evidence is from various sources. The authorities are given.

These three affirmatory centres, as to the truth of the manifestations of spirit power, on animate and inanimate substances, prepare the mind for believing spirit power in its more refined developments, as displayed in other phenomena.

The wisdom of this class of phenomena, is obvious from the bold stand which is now being taken by the leading periodicals, on the ground that the asserted evidence of spirit power are merely the effects of thought-reading-that is, that the medium sees the thoughts of the sitters, without even looking at them; and that thus arises the wonderful accuracy of the rappings, which rappings are the trick of the mediums. Right glad am I, that materialism is approaching so near the invisible, as to confess that a man in the flesh can tell the secret thoughts passing in the mind of another; as it acknowledges the principle of soul and spirit communion, and that without look or speech. Such writers will perceive that the phenomena which has occurred, and is to be narrated in this Section, is of a kind which is independent of thought-power. Unless they can prove there is a stomach, brains, aura, and life in tables and chairs, they must bend before the evidence, and acknowledge that physical manifestations cannot be accounted for by thought-reading-that intelligent motion in unintelligent substances, must arise from intelligent beings acting on such substances.

Do I blame these writers for doubting? No-I only blame them for so vehemently using the most insulting language against those who believe in spirit-power, while they winch under the slightest word which has strength in it, if directed against themselves. Frankly, I have been amazed at the foolish and absurd suggestions of men of repute in society as to the phenomena. The easiest way to manage such persons is, to ask them to show you a physical manifestation produced by the means they suggest.

I have witnessed so many evidences of spirit power, that I am puzzled which to narrate. The richness, and usefulness of the manifestations, are somewhat lost to the reader, if they are only partially narrated; or if they are divided and placed in sections like a dictionary.

I feel inclined to give the reader a reminiscence of the first circle I ever sat at-it was in August, 1855, at Sandgate-but I find I must omit one very important part, because, though interesting, it was of a family character.

Come with me again to the drawing-room mentioned on page 317. It was a beautiful summer's evening, about sunset; -happy faces, young and old, were clustering into the room towards a large loo table, placed a few feet from the windowsoutside there was the calm sea, with hardly a ripple, and a ship or two far off in the distance. Inside the room, there were the usual furniture of a room "let for the season." We all sat down round the table. Mr. R., who had just returned from a professional journey, placed his little girl Edith on his knee; -there were twelve of us, Mr. D. D. Home being one of the party-he sat opposite to me. The Bible was on the table, and there was a calm for about the space of time needed for each to repeat the "Lord's Prayer," that being the manner of commencing all the sittings in that house.

We all placed our finger ends gently on the table; while talking, a rap or sound was heard, and the medium began the alphabet, and when he came to the proper letter there was a rap, and the words came out "Take the accordion." The medium took it off the table, held it upside down by the rim with one hand, his other hand resting on the table. The accordion played in welcome of Mr. R.'s return, "Home sweet home" in a most exquisite style-then were warbled several