the nursery; we are taught it in the churches; our hymnbooks are full of it; and our voices ascend in anthems of praise to the great Giver of all good for this manifestation of his goodness to the children of men. Nay, the inspirations of the poet everywhere teach it to us. Take the following from Young's "Night Thoughts:"

Smitten friends

Are angels sent on errands full of love;
For us they languish, and for us they die:
And shall they languish, shall they die in vain ?
Ungrateful, shall we grieve their hovering shades
Which wait the revolution in our hearts?
Shall we disdain their silent, soft address--
Their posthumous advice, and pious prayer?
Senseless as herds that graze their hallow'd graves,
Tread under foot their agonies and groans;
Frustrate their anguish, and destroy their deaths?

A good man, and an angel! these between,
How thin the barrier! What divides their fate?
Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year;

Or, if an age, it is a moment still.

Read, also, the lovely and elevating sentiments of the pure and gifted Mrs. HEMANS, which seem to be a foretaste of the angelic communications which have been received from her in the spirit-world:

Hast thou been told that from the viewless bourne,

The dark way never hath allow'd return?

That all which tears can move with life is fled-

That earthly love is powerless on the dead?
Believe it not.

He, the departed, stood! Ay, face to face,

So near, yet how far! his form, his mien,
Gave to remembrance back each burning trace.

And never till these "Spiritual Manifestations" were presented have we found men bold enough to deny the faith of their fathers, the belief of their churches, and the universal belief of the Christian world. But even now their number is comparatively few; and the time is not distant when even those few will confess in sorrow and in

shame the folly of their denunciations. The time will come "when Christianity, which, like the Prodigal son, has for centuries wandered from its Father's house, and fed on husks which the swine refused, will again return to its Father's mansion. For fifteen hundred years and more it made the distance between itself and the Father's house. greater and greater. Since that time it has been going back-been seeking its Father's house; and we hope that soon, very soon, the Church will again occupy the stand which Christ Himself ascribed to it, and be able to progress from that point. Spirituality is the last and greatest step that has been made;" and when it shall be received and acknowledged by the Church and the world, then will have come the consummation of the Christian's hopes; then will have arrived "The Golden Age" of the poet:

When the glad slave shall lay down

His broken chain-the tyrant lord his crown-
The priest his book-the conqueror his wreath :--
When, from the lips of truth, one mighty breath
Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze
The whole dark pile of human mockeries;
Then shall the reign of mind commence on earth;
And, starting fresh, as from a second birth,
Man, in the sunshine of the world's new spring,

Shall walk transparent like some holy thing.

Perhaps we ought not to be surprised at these denunciations and persecutions from all quarters, "Turk as well as Christian." It is no more than what has been handed down to us in the history of the world. And were it not that we are so far advanced in the nineteenth century, and have seen such rapid progress in science and the arts, we should not wonder at them at all. Galileo was persecuted by the Church till he was compelled to renounce the theory that the earth revolved on its axis, although, as he said, it would continue to turn round notwithstanding. Columbus was ridiculed for his notions of the existence of a Western Continent; and still the New World was discovered. The art of printing was denounced as the work of the devil, and from what we have seen of its operations

in these latter days, we are not surprised that such a belief should have prevailed to a greater or less extent; although, properly conducted, the press would be all that it has been. described by an elegant writer: "By the powerful energies of the press information is diffused on every side, and the world has become a vast whispering gallery, and the echoing notes of the human intellect now vibrate through its eternal dome." Fulton was ridiculed beyond measure in his first attempt to navigate the Hudson by steam; and now steam navigation has spread throughout the world; and if it could be withdrawn commerce would be almost annihilated. The locomotive, too, for its tardy movements was also ridiculed and denounced on its first introduction; and now it has attained a "velocity that scarcely lags behind the celerity of thought!" The electric telegraph was received with as much distrust and doubt as "Spiritualism" at the present day. And if Professor Morse had been a man of large means, and had had some good friends desirous of getting possession of his property, they would have either got out a commission of lunacy for him, or, like the case of a certain Spiritualist, would have hurried him off to a lunatic asylum without a commission! Fortunately, at that time, the learned professor, like most of the Spiritualists of the present day, was not burdened with a superabundance of this world's goods, and was, therefore, left to perfect his invention, by which he has been enabled to "conquer time and space." When Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood, he was denounced and ridiculed as other great pioneers in art and science had been before him. The same might be said of Mesmer, Gall, and Spurzheim, who have shed so much light on phrenology and other kindred subjects. The following article from the Scottish Review, headed "Blind Bigotry," sums up the whole matter far better than any thing I can say; I therefore introduce it:

The establishment of the Royal Society was opposed because it was asserted that " experimental philosophy was subversive of the Christian faith," and

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the readers of D'Israeli will remember the telescope and microscope were stigmatized as "atheistical inventions which perverted our organ of sight, and made every thing appear in a false light." What ridicule and incredulity, what persevering opposition, greeted Jenner when he commenced the practice of vaccination! So late as 1806 the Anti-Vaccination Society denounced the discovery as "the cruel, despotic tyranny of forcing cow-pox misery on the innocent babes of the poor-a gross violation of religion, morality, law, and humanity." Learned men gravely printed statements that vaccinated children became "ox-faced," that abscesses broke out to "indicate sprouting horns," that the countenance was gradually "transmuted into the visage of a cow, the voice into the bellowing of bulls"-that the character underwent "strange mutations from quadripedan sympathy." The influence of religion was called in to strengthen the prejudices of ignorance, and the operation was denounced from the pulpit as "diabolical," as a tempting of God's providence, and therefore a heinous crime," as "an invention of Satan,” a daring and profane violation of our holy religion," a "wresting out of the hands of the Almighty the divine dispensation of providence, and its abettors were charged with sorcery and atheism." When fanners were first introduced to assist in winnowing corn from the chaff by producing artificial currents of air, it was argued that "winds were raised by God alone, and it was irreligious in man to attempt to raise wind for himself and by efforts of his own." One Scottish clergyman actually refused the holy communion to those of his parishioners who thus irreverently raised the "devil's wind." Few of the readers of "Old Mortality" will forget honest Mause Headrigg's indignation when it was proposed that her "son Cuddie should work in the barn wi' a new-fangled machine for dighting the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will of Divine Providence, by raising wind for your leddyship's ain particular use by human art, instead of soliciting it by prayer, or waiting patiently for whatever dispensation of wind Providence was pleased to send upon the sheeling hill." A route has just been successfully opened by Panama between the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1588 a priest named Acosta wrote respecting a proposal then made for this very undertaking, that it was his opinion that "human power should not be allowed to cut through the strong and impenetrable bounds which God has put between the two oceans, of mountains and iron rocks, which can stand the fury of the raging seas. And, if it were possible, it would appear to me very just that we should fear the vengeance of Heaven for attempting to improve that which the Creator in His almighty will and providence has ordained from the creation of the world." When forks were first introduced into England, some preachers denounced their use "as an insult on Providence, not to touch our meat with our fingers." Many worthy people had great scruples about the emancipation of the negroes, because they were the descendants of Ham, on whom the curse of perpetual slavery had been pronounced. Many others plead against the measure for the emancipation of the Jews, that the bill is a direct attempt to controvert the will and word of God, and to revoke his sentence on the chosen but rebellious people.

These are specimens of the ignorance, bigotry, supersti

tion, ridicule, folly, denunciation, and persecution, which have characterized past ages, and the darkness of which even the light of the present age has not yet been able fully to dispel. In addition to the ridicule and denunciation which "Spiritualism" has received from the Pulpit and the Press, gentlemen of high civil positions have not deemed it beneath their dignity to unite in this modern crusade. They have even gone out of their way to attack it, notwithstanding they had the authority of names as elevated and as responsible as their own for the truth of the manifestations. The facts, on such testimony, they could not doubt, and, whether spiritual or philosophical, were equally deserving their candid consideration. But they had not the moral courage to investigate the subject, and preferred to float with, rather than stem, the current of public prejudice and ecclesiastical bigotry. I could refer to several of this class of denunciators; but I will on this occasion only allude to one, namely, the Hon. JAMES SHIELDS, of the United States Senate. My views in regard to the course of this gentleman will more fully appear in APPENDIX D.

To account for these extraordinary phenomena, theories in rapid succession have been introduced, and have been as rapidly exploded, e. g., the toe and knee-joint theory of the Buffalo doctors; the galvanic battery of Professor Anderson; the "nervous principle" of the author of "To Daimonion;" the "vital electricity" of the facetious author of "The Rappers;" the machinery of Professor Page, concealed about the person of the medium, and working under the protection of the drapery of her dress, so "that a very distinct motion of the dress was visible about the right hypogastric region." This learned professor very gravely concludes that the "rapping" can not be produced in "Bloomer costume," or "be performed by men, or in male attire." Now every one familiar with these manifestations knows that the "rapping" is produced through men and boys, as mediums, in male attire, as well as through females in the ordinary dress of the sex. And yet a gentle