American Spiritual Magazine.A MONTHLY _7'0UR1VAL,

iwotthto fipiritualism,its Eistatu, flhtuomma,flbilosnplmaub GearljingsFRO!‘ A CERISTIAK BTANDPOINT.

VOLUME II.

inner Zfiifle fiegartmeai.HRS. ANNIE C. T. HAWKS, MEDIUM.

SEANOB THURSDAY,DEC. 18, 1876.

INVOCATION BY JOHN MURRAY.Loving Father, as the twilight deepens

into night, and night gatherin u theshades of evening steals away t e c osingday, we, thy children, come to thee; comefrom spirit realms to join our voices withthose of earth’s children in worshiping thee.There is a quiet rest thatvisits earth at thishour and brings with it the chain of harmo-ny that through the union of thetwo worldsleads us nearer unto thee. Help us, lovingFather, to gain power, that we may enterinto earthly abodes and there for a whileabide, feeding the hungry and thirsty withthe bread and wine of celestial love, thatwe may no strengthen their inner lives thatthey may indeed see and feel us and thyglory descending upon them, that they maycry aloud withjoy. Help us, oh Father,so todistribute thy light that spirit forms, asmaterial forms, may hold sweet converse withthem, and place within their hands flowersfrom spirit shores.

Unto thee, our Heavenly Father, wegive all the glory and praise, feeling thatwithout thee our works would prove worth-les, and the seed scattered beas chaff beforethe wind. Bid thy ministering angelsguard this household, and may their influ-ence till all souls with a halo of love thatmay find its way into many hearts thatnowmourn in darkness beyond the gates ofeternity. Shower thyblessings, our Father,

Vex. II—3.

FEBRUARY, 1876. NUMBER 2.

upon this instrument through which we arepermitted to commune. Give to her spirit-ual grace, thather were may be increasedand the light of t y glory shine throughher forever. Amen.

QUETIONB AND ANSWERS.Conductor~—How do you do? Where are

your questions? It seems you are not verycurious. You send us but few subjects todiscuss. Ah, here is one. Very goodl

Question—-— By what power, and in whatmanner, does the spirit, after leaving thebody, reach the spirit world?

Answer—There are different powers andinany ways, by which the spirit, when oncerid of the body, reaches the spirit world. Itis according to the will that they withinthemselves . The man full of energyand pommg decision of character ‘movesthrough space into the realms of life, reach-in , according to his development, thesp are assigned him. Some spirits lingerlong upon the earth plane, and there aremany who remain for hundreds of yearsbefore they can reachany s here above thatwhich satisfied them wh' e in the body.Such'spirits am most to be dreaded in phy-sical manifestations. Many who are purein spirit, but through long physical suffer-ings have become weak, are led by theloved ones who are waiting for them as theypass from their earth tenement, and theirmode of moving throu h s ace into theirspirit home is as the wil of t eir escort maydictate. Some are borne in the arms ofloving friends, some borne upon beds offlowers, formed by loving hands who havebeen waiting their coming, but all are as-sisted by the currents that move throuthe atmosphere. These currents are electric,

34 I’ AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

and bear theirpassengers upon their bosomswith great rapidity. There are resting-places along these electric roads, where thenew-bornspirits may lingerand find strengthrenewed to continue the journey. Some,relating theirexperience, will tell you of thehigh hills over which they traveled, othersof soft, green vales and delightful slopesthrough which their spirits moved, andmany tell of mountains of brightest gemsover which their spirit guides conductedthem. It is as the man within is developedthat the passage is made; just in roportionto the increase of spiritual trut s, so in-creases the beautiesof his passage into thespirit land.

Q,uestion—Will some friend of the sum-mer land please to give us a description oftheir home, their heaven 7

Answer—Yes. I will bring you one who-has long been desirous to give to her earthfriends a description of ' her spirit abode.

LUCY P. D. ROBINSON.

My dear friends, let me lead you awhileafar off from earth scenes into the greenlands and sunny slopes of theeternal shores,where life has put on the incorruptible,where mortal form has assumed the immor-tal, and forever cast aside the things ofearth for the things of heaven. I will leadyou through the electric belt that encirclesthe vale of shadows, and guide you onwardand upward into the soft green vales andsloping hills of the third sphere.

As we roam along let me int out to youthe homes of many who eit er from choiceor condition reside here. We are in thefifthcircle. Here you see the home of aspirit of beautyand love. In this home isfound the most perfect of harmonial circles.Music ever greets the ear of the passers by,and thebeautifuls ii-it within, the uardianof the mansion, as so perfec herselfthather true sphere is hi her, still higher.But earth holds one who by natural laws isrelated to her, and thatone is inharmonious,full of earth's evils and false conceptions,and this an el, thisbright creature, contentsherself in t e s here below thatwhich hergrowth deman s, that. she may by con-stant watchfulness at last lead her of earthinto this plane, hearingher to the first circleat her second birth; and after thatshe willstrive day by da to lead onward and up-ward until she eads her into this circle.She will then be contented to leave her fora while, and visit the joys of the highershores.

,

After her new birth she strug l

Over there,just under thebloomingpalm,where stands the flower-embowered cot,dwells one who died a martyr to him whoshould have been her guide and rotector.

on withearth-weights pulling her bac , until shereached this circle. She was ei ht yearsreaching her present abode. Eac step ledher into clearer and more spiritual condi-tions, where she could see more correctlythe causes of rthe shortcomings of herearth companions, and her soul found itsgreatestjoy resting ’neaththeflower-crowned

welling, and gaining power toaid her tolift the mistaken one, whom she loved aswhen in the earth life, to find his way acrossthe many circles into this hap y s here.

We must move swiftly, {gr F am notallowed the use of this organism but a fewmoments, according to your reckoning.

That glittering, shining mansion, so radi-ant and beautiful,is inhabited at times bytwo bright beingswho come from the higher

here to administer to those who inhabitt is circle; come to teach of the gloryhigher up, and instruct us in the way tomove, that we may the sooner find the paththatleads to their bright abode.

Here we are, just at the foot of the hillof prudence. See, where theshadow of thelotus falls across the running spring, thereis a path; it has an abrupt turn. Followme. This is my home, here where celes-tial music wakes the echoes of the hills allthe day. Come, let us go in. This trellisthat forms the front is of amber and crystalspar; the arch or entrance way is of box-wood inlaid with 1. The floor I cannotname its composition. It has a name, butyou of earth would not understand it; youwill see it is translucent, and the flowersthat decorate the walls are reflected on itssurface. Here is a divan of snowy crapefestoonings; it bears the shape of those usedby the Orientals. That vase is also of Ori-ental invention; it is lden, inlaid withprecious stones. The owers. in it arelilies

thered from the lake of Arminda. Theyu not fade, but after a. time seem to con-

sume and pass away into vapor, fillingtheair with their spirits, which go to add newlife to fairer flowers. Here in this niche

on will observe a status; it is Christ bless-ing little children. The face is spiritualized;it is the work of spirit power, and wearsnone of the harsh, sharp an lee of earthwork. The children cling to im, embracehis limbs, and show in their beautiful atti-tude and expressions that they are drawn tohim by the great power of love that he is

AMERIUAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 35

throwingoff. Your earth artist representsthe scenes as if the little ones were drawnto him through a sense of fear, not love.Those flowers that lie at the feet of the fig-ures; you may touch them; you will findthem liable and warm; no cold chill fol-lows t _e touch of our beautiful statues inspirit land. Come in. Here, you see, is an-other room, and there stands a harp of gold,and ther_e an instrument whose name is un-known to earth. Music, you see, fills all’beneath this roof. The flowers sway andtremble in ecstatic bliss. The bright shadeupon the wall and the moving waves of ldoverhead are all filled with music. ereare seats of spirit pearl; sit down; do younot feel the music 11 your innermost being?That holy calm, that deli htful sensation, isthe thrill that comes mm the soul of“ music," and the swaying of the gossamercurtains that screen the outer tabernaclefrom the view is music's thrill. I love tolinger here, amid flowers, spirit pictures andmusic. Here I am drawn nearer my God.'You have not seen the pictures. There

is a scene in life—my life. It is my child-hood days, when the spirit ure soughtGod, in purity and in truth. hose flowersshow the spring of my existence. Thereyou see a companion piece: it is the sun ofmy youth striving to struggle from beneaththe shadow of more matured life; it is thes iritual of my nature fighting againstthe material of cultivation; the pure reli-gion of mshow itsel above the forms of my educatedreligion. '

But we must hasten. Come this way.Here are golden urns filled with celestialnectar; couches of creamy, fleecy, floatingdrapery, upon which my spirit rests and in-hales the nectar of eternal life; soft, balmybreezes float through the jasper casement,and bear with them the incense of spiritflowers. Oh God, how I thankthee for this,my home in heaven.

I am again dela 'ng. Let us enter theouter tabernacle. his is where I meet mydear friends who come to hold sweet con-verse, and in holycommunion grow strongerand wiser in heavenly wisdom. Notice theseats; they are of amber,with golden crownsabove them, and footstools of jasper withsweet-scented mosses beneath them. Herewe have the beaut of nature—bloomingflowers and graceful vines drooping frombranch to branch of the tall evergreen treesthat encircle the vestibule leading to ourpavilion; for you know I have a number ofmy loved ones with me in this dwelling. I

Father in Heaven striving to’

have only shown you my epartments. Yousee we have fountains an ri pling brooks,and little children love to Inger aroundthese lovely,natural walks. That is a lotustree——of a larger and more perfect class thanthe lotus of e East. The group of treesto our left are unknown to me asearth trees.Here wecall themthearbor-linneus. Observehow perfect the light of our sphere, howsoft and yet how radiant. This is a moss-glen; green, purple, and golden-brown, andsap hire seem to blend in their shades.

am warned the time allotted me is over.I must guide you back to the land ofshadows, and I have only given you a bird’ -

eye view of one of the many mansiohs in“Our Father's Home, our Father’s Homein the sk .” But the dear, good ladythrough w om I am permitted to do all this,who by the grace of God is what she is, hasalready used up the power through which Iwork. Good by !

(Seanceconducted by WilliamTaylor.)mom.

SEANOB TUESDAY,D30. 21, 1875.INVOCATION BY BISHOP QUINLIN.

Infinite Presence, Supreme Ruler of theUniverse, once more we enter beneath thewalls of earth habitation to mingle ourpraises with the ple, to lift our voices inunison with theirs, to lorify thee in thefullness of our souls, an to strive throughtihe power thou hast invested within us to

raw hearts nearer unto thee. The wavesof 0 position press stron against our barque,dar clouds gather as t e impending wavesrush on, but we fear not; with strong armswe steer for the beacon light of truth thatburns upon the altar of ins iration; guidedby the rays thatsend theirlialoof love intothe darkness, we feel our strength increas-ing, and our hearts going out in sympathytoward the creed-bound souls who stillgropeunder the shadow of the ll, and burytheir loved ones beneath t e dark clods.Flowery stars start into life with thy name

Va each bright bloom. Everywhere, ohather, we see thee, and at all times we

would worship thee. Let the.crown of truthfilllupon }t!.he bowed heads of thydearnestc i dren w 0 call u n thee for wis om, as,Lnoving onwan: iliggn earth tIl:eytl ggtlgznowled e of t e ife eternal. it e 9.ex ress gthy spirit in their purity. Theyhold aloft the true symbol of a perfect life.Out of their mouths, one of old has said,“comethwisdom.” Let thychildren see inthe innocent lives of those little ones, that

' you.

36

perfect part which is to lift them into theinterior of thine inner temple. Help them,oh Father, through the ministering of theperfect men who by thy laws are permittedto return to earth and administer unto them.Amen.

Quiasrroivs AND ANSWERS.Conductor—Good morning! I am ready

to answer whatever questions you may havebefore the circle.

Question—How should true and sincereSpiritualists conduct themselves towardthose who differ from them in their religiousviews ?

Answer—They should exercise the great-est charity and forbearance-—everpracticewhat they reach. It is of no use that theypreach a li ral doctrine unless they live uto it, and in every case act libera towarthose who differ from them. One of thebeauties in Spiritualism is the law whichexplains the causes of the defects in thenature of mankind, and advances the tru-ism that none are so filled with error butthat there ma be found something goodwithin them. e are_forced to admit thatSpiritualists, in far too many cases, are justas bigoted as those they cry out against.They hold as tenaciouslywhat they considerto be right, and close their senses against allelse, with as much prejudice as anv creed-bound sect that can be found. They arecontinually crying against the bigots of thechurch, forgetting to sweep beneath theirown stool, before striving to overturn theirneighbors’. Let all true Spiritualists rac-tice what they preach, that which the ar-monial Philosophycalls for. Live, remem-bering that the eyes of two worlds are uponEnter not into the citadel of him whodiffers from you upon the sacred views ofGod, man and eternity, only with charitableand highly elevated motives.

W. K. POBTON.My dear friends—I am once morein yourmidst, standing in spirit form; a more per-

fect man than when through clouded clay Ive utterance to set words and phrases.

» hose things of the world that taxed mymind and gave to my being its ambitiousimpulses, have long since pamed away. Pop-ularity died with rogression, and as theshell mouldered, thehernelripened,and gavebirth to hi her and loftiersentiments. Pure,high impuse comes, free from sets ch;no skeleton role needed to clothe wit flow-ery words or sarcastic witticisms; no sterndebates to win a point, be it just er unjust.But the mighty change of life has given to

A MERICAN SPIRITUAL MA GAZINE.

me clear views, showing in unmistakableterms the one true and rfect road whichleads to the courts of hig relief. The randfulfillment of God's laws are now ingrevealed to man; a divine and perfectcode throughwhich cometh salvation. Glorybe to his mighty name, the life he- 'ves isforever, and leads on in one continua roundto higher and nobler sentiments.

I want you, my friends, to investigate,‘look well into thecase, and see for yourselvesthe beautiful world that lies so near you.The beautifuldawn is u n you—why willyou draw the curtain o prejudice, and shutout the only light that reveals to you whereGodhaslplaced our loved ones! Seek, andyou shal find thatcomfort which surpassethall joys heretofore tasted. When you seek,go as one who walks up to the altar of Godto hold communion with his angels. Letthe cravings for the thin of earth be castaside; all selfish motives forgotten; andyour heart filled with a sincere desire forspiritual things. The world of spirits islike unto your world; there are andbad, selfish and unselfish, worldly and spir-

»itual. You must bear this in mind; andwhen you seek an interview with the lovedones of our world, control your feelings, sothatonly pure and elevated thoughts maydwell there, and the desire of your heart befor thatgood which is to suppress all wickedinclinations, and spiritualize your natures.This control oncegained, you willdraw untoyou those who wil lead you into paths of

leasantness, where all her ways are peace.on will live thedual lifeof God's redeemed ;mixing and mingllin together, from two

s heres as one, ol ing communion witht ose who have put on theirrobes of immor-tality, and in spirit visiting them while still '

you wear your mortal form.Look, my friends, and see how thin this

vail thatseparates thedenizensof spirit landfrom your material world. It is onlya shadethatyou have drawn before your vision be-cause of the cold materialelementthatchillsthe spiritual°part_of your nature, which hascrept into your churches and blinded theirpeople, enveloped their pulpits in darkness,and left mouldering stains upon their oncefair walls. All along the aisles, and intothe bright, cushioned pews, the pride ofform, sect, and position lives, and crushespurity, simplicity, and all that constitutespure Christianity.

It is not necessary for me to point outthese facts, my friends, for you are wellaware of them. It is to gain the favor ofyour church you work, not to gain the love qf

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE._

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God through rlovcfor his sufle-ringchildren;but to win t e esteem of your minister, andbecome a popular member. 0 come to me,my friends; I am waiting, with my handsstretched out, to aid you in lifting the veilthat shuts from your sight the beautifulspiritual light that you, in your cultivatedreligion, have hidden ; closed through prideof a popular wave the outlet to your onlyhope of the immortal life. Christ taughtwhat you discard. Long ago he wept overJerusalem; today he wee over his mista-ken people. O, my frien , turn your facestoward the gates of Zion; liftup your heartsand rejoice, for the Master is withyou ; casthim not out of your churches, lest you cru-cify your only means of redemption.

God be with you, and help on to findthe way that leads you into t e fold oftruth. Amen.

SPIBITUALISMFROM A SOIENTIPIOSTANDPOINT.

Enrrons REGISTER-—I copy from Mr.Edward Cox, of London, sergeant-at-lawand one of the finest scientists of England,who has recently published awork on “Psy-cholo ,” the following: “I have pre-serv careful notes of seventy-three exper-iments in addition to the extensive seriesundertaken by the Dialectical Society. Allof them were made withcare and caution,with tests suggested by scientific skill ap-plied by scientific men, whose desire anddesign it was to detect imposture, and whowere actuated only by an earnest resolve toexpose fraud if it existed, and to ascertainthe very truth.

“ The utmost recautions were taken tomake mechanica reparations impossibleand to preclude con ederacy. Each of theseseventy-three experiments was tried‘in a

private room at the residence of one .of theinvestigators, and no stranger was admitted.The psychic came alone; was never leftalone for an instant; was allowed to brinnothing with him; was purposely deprivof an opportunity for the introduction, pre-tion, or planting of machinery of any

' d. For the most rt the phenomenawere exhibited under ull light of gas, andwhen for special purposes darkness was per-mitted, thehands of thepsychic were alwaysheld in the firm grasp of two of us, andour feet placed upon his feet, so as to makeany movement by him impossible withoutinstant detection.

“ We have seen the departed faces whose

claims would appear to be so much easilyproved or disproved. We have viewed themin the light of day, and in the blaze of gas.We have talked with them, touched them,and once being invited to lace a finger inthe ‘spirit’s’ ? mouth, we id so, and re-ceived a painful proof that the face was nota mask or shadow, but a very human sub-stlancaiindeed, with sharp teeth and salivary

an .g“But although some tests were applied

to all of them, none were so perfect as toentire] satisfy us. Once we hoped to havedevised’a perfect test. In the house of ourparty, a well-known scientist, the ychicwas bound hand and foot with seal cords,and wrapped in a dressing-gown, the sleevesof which were by us sewn together, and allconfidentlypronounced an escape from thesebonds to be impossible without detection.As usual in two minutes ‘ the face’ appearedat the curtain that was hung between thetwo drawing rooms, at a distance of eightfeet from the psychic, and for full an hourthismost human and unspiritual personagekept up an active conversation with us,calling us all by name, taking our hands,utting an iron ring u n our arms, andhanding to us hooks an other small fumi-

ture of the room in which he was. Wewent to view the psychic and found himstill in his chair apparently bound as weleft him, and we were on the point of admit-ting that thetest had been conclusive, whenone of the scientists observed that the dress-ing-gown, which we left buttoned, was nowpartl unbuttoned. From the sition ofthe ound arms it was impossib e that hecould have unbuttoned without releasinghisarms from the cords.”

I could give a number of extracts fromthis interestin work, which I thinkveryclearlyshowst at science does acknowledgethe fact thathuman beings do a pear, con-verse withand are handled by t e first sci-entific men of the world. From these phe-nomena, admitted to be true by scientificmen, I thinkit is very clearly demonstratedthatscience does establish that communion,and consequently there is harmony betweenscience and Spiritualism. This is whatIassert, and what I think is very clearlyproved to the unprejudiced mind. Both arein accord with universal law, having noth-in$miraculousor supernatural about them.

rof. Cox’s writing says, page 352 :“ Psychic, (mesmerism), sometimes unitewith what is certainly an astonishing celeri-ty in the dark, as well as in.the light; witheyes closed, as well as with eyes open. I

38.

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

have seen, for instance, a sentence of twelvewords, every letter beingdistinctlyand per-fectlyformed,‘ written in the twinklingof aneye, by a mere sweep of the pencil, that isto say, as rapidly as the band could bepassed across the paper. In another exper-iment fifteen clearly legible lines of smallwriting, (beingapassage from the Spectator)which, with a 1 possible speed I was unableto copy in less than ten minutes. It waswritten, or rather flashed upon the paper inthirty-five seconds. I know a psychic who,in the state of trance, always writes back-wards ten times more rapidly than Jeanwrote in the usual fashion. In her normalstate she is unable to write a word thus,save as slowly and with as much difiicultyas others could to write.”

I cop these extracts from the first scient-ists of England, where the conflict is be-tween science and Spiritualism.

Quite a number have surrendered in thisbattle, and some of them are wielding moreinfluence in favor of that which they op-

ed than any other men. Even those whoave not been converted by their investiga-

tions unhesitatingly declare that it is a sig-nificant fact that no person of intelligence,after twenty test experiments in psychism,has ever yet discovered how the p enomenaare produced, if tricks they are; and noman has patiently investigated them with-out coming to the conclusion that they aregenuine.

This is just what I have maintained inthis vicinity for now near twenty years.These views I gave through the MemphisChristian Advocate over my own sign man-ual before I was elected by the Annual andGeneral Conference as editor of thatpaper.My predecessor recentl asserted in theoffice of the paper that entertained thesame views twent years ago thatI promul-gated in “Clock truck One.”

I now place upon record again, in one ofthe secular papers of the city, what I didthen : “ That no man with sense enough toinvestigate the ubject, and honesty enoughto tell the truth, can question the facts,though he may attribute them to some mun-dane science.”

I again ask scientific men to come for-ward and subject Mrs. Miller to the mostcritical examination possible, and my wordfor it, you will be convinced beyond thepossibility of a doubt, that her agency isonly passive in the astonishing phenomenawhich occur in her presence.Science says :° “Even if the facts andarguments be rejected, thatassign the man-

ifested intelligence to the ychic, we are nottherefore compelled to t e conclusion thatthe spirits of the dead are the agentsin the production of the phenomena.There remains et a third pomibility,purely conjectural, indeed, but unpleas-antly consistent with all the facts ex-planatory of every phenomena, and whichwill completely solve all the difliculties ofthe problem,’ and account alike for what isdone and what is not done. Is it probableor possible that this earth is inhabited by arace of beings imperceptible to our sensesunder ordinary conditions, our inferiors inintelligence, who are living upon or withinthe atmosphere of this world, and who areunable to manifest their presence, saveunder certain conditions,of rare occurrence,which are supplied by the persons who pos-

‘sess the peculiar nervous constitution ofpsychics, assisted by the psychic force ofpersons who form the circle? I confess thata suspicion of some such ex lanation of thephenomena has occasionafiy crossed mymind during the trial of the various experi-ments, and discovery of the inadequacy ofany of the theories to explain them sufli-ciently. Surely these facts go far to provethat in some mysterious manner the phe-nomena are associated with, and are entirelydependent upon the psychic.” S. ‘V. Cox sPsychology,page 325.

Tis an old saying, that “a drowning manwill catch at astraw,” and it seems to methat this last resort of a “ third possibility"

is scarcely a straw to save them from theinevitable conclusion that the things donewhich they have seen, and to which theytestify cannot be explained upon any otherhypothesis, than that they are done bythose who are human beings which oncelived upon earth.

Again, our author says: “Before sci-ence can accept thisor any other conclusion,it is bound to examine every fact, everyphenomenon, every condition attending pro-duction, and to exhaust all known and even

'

possible natural agencies, and all physicaland psychical forces, powers and properties.This, and this only, is the contention of thescientific investigators who have advancedthe title of psychic force purposely to avoidthe foregone conclusion implied in the morepopular name. They do not thereby intendto assert that the spiritual theory is abso-sutely false, but only that it is as yet un-proved.”

It seems to me thattheyhave “ exhaustedall possible natural agencies,” and that thereis nothing left for them but to acknowledge

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 39

“the spiritual theory." “If the evidenceof the senses is not entirely to be rejected,no fact in science is proved more conclusive-ly than this.” The position I have taken ist at there is harmony betweenChristianity,science and Spiritualism. I believe all ofthem are from the great First Cause, andmust of necessity harmonize the one withthe other. Convince the intelligent rtionof mankindof this truth, and I thin therewould be few who would not embrace thelatter as they do the former. If my Spirit-ualism be true, then m Christianity is alsotrue; and vice versa. Vahen the church canlook at Spiritualism from this standpoint,then I thinkit will cease its an nism toit and hail it as the harbinger of the greatmillennial day so lon looked for, with somuch interest, when t e knowledge and theglor of God shall fill the whole earth, andall esh togethersee and rejoice in the greatsalvation so amply provided for all the sonsand daughters of man.

The vail which is now sometimes drawnaside, which separates the material from thespiritual world, will be removed, and what iscalled death will be desired by mankind asthe opening of the chrysalis in which ourfaculties are now confined to earth, whichthen will soar with inconceivable velocitythrou hout the immensity of space, and es-pecially to this earth to minister to lovedones from whom the have been only par-tially separated for a ittle season.. S. Warsos.

.j:—-—¢.—j__

For the Amateur: Bplrltaal Magazine.

THE MISSION 0}‘ THE ANGELS.BY 1). WINDIB.

Every one has a mission to perform, forwhich experience and circumstances in lifeprepare and qnalif us. All other circum-stances being equa , each one’s judgment onany sub'ect isentitled to res t in theexactratio 0 his familiarity wit such subject.The opinions of those who have never stud-ied the Scriptures carefully and critically,independentlyand apart from all theologicaltheories, are not entitled to the same consid-eration as the opinions of those who havethus investigated the subject. A very largemajority of Spiritualists are of the formerclass. Being generally persons of superiormental organizations, and bringing all ques-tions to the bar of reason for settlement,and at thesame time taking for granted thattheabsurditiesofpopular theologyaretaught

in the Scriptures, they were incapable, un-der their circumstances, to arrive at anyother conclusion than that the Bible was abook filled with contradictions and absurdi-ties; and that the doctrine of a future lifeand immortality was entirely wanting inrational proof or evidence.

The conversion of this class from theirunbelief in immortality, and then, throughthem, the conversion of the religious worldto the truth, is the mission of the angelsin the grand movement throughout theworld, called Spiritualism. VVe can thinkof no other plan b which eitherparty couldhave been reached’. '

Orthodox theology has driven and is driv-ing all the progressive minds of moderntimes into a general infidelit of all thingss iritual and celestial. An here, in theb ank field of skepticism, with honest andinquiring minds, the angels find them readyto investigate the demonstrations they giveof immortality and a better life. Thesedemonstrations, although almost exact du-plicates of the “si ” and “prodigies"upon the history 0 which Christianity isbased, are ridiculed and rejected by theorthodox cler , who claim to be the con-servators of 1 religious truth. But theangels are succeeding in their mission asrapidly, perhaps, as would be -consistentwith certain and universal success. In themeantime they are reparin materials andagencies for a finalpconsoli ation of all themoral and religions elements of the present

’

and future.Many prominent clergymen, and an innu-

merable host of private members of Chris-tian churches, are firm believers in theessential and distinguishing doctrines ofSpiritualism; these will finally become thelink between Christians who do not believein Spiritualism and Spiritualists who do notbelieve in Christianity. True Christianit ,as taught in the New Testament, willsubstituted for the present absurd systems oftheologycalled by thatname ; and the trueS iritualismof the Bible will take the place0 the present mongrel teachings of “ famil-iar spirits ” and true -“ angels” (messengers)of God.

BothChristians and Spiritualists will havelearnedto distinguish betweenthecommuni-cations received through mediums who have“ familiar spirits," and those delivered byGod's messengers. All messages will be sub-mitted to the test of the apostle John, " Be-lieve not every spirit—hut tr them ; everyspirit that confesseth that it-sus Christ iscome in theflesh is of God ; and every spirit

40 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

that confeaseth not this is not of God; "

and the teaching of such a spirit is not tobe believed. Many S iritualists, and moreChristians, are now emlbarrassed to accountfor the discrepancies in the communicationsof spirits on religious subjects. Such shouldknow thatall who leave thebody carry withthem their peculiar views to the spirit land ;and theywill probably entertain them untilthe time shall come when we shall “ see e eto eye ” on the earth. We should “ try t espirits," both in the bed and out of thebody, by the same rule. armony on earthmust antecede harmony in heaven, on thesubject of religion.

For the American Spiritual Magazine.SUNSHINE.

Enrron Si=m.i'i:UAi. MAGAZmE—If youhave s e to insert the following paper inyour Gazim-:,I thinkthoseparts referringto the spirit teachings I have received bythe writin mediumship will be interestingto some 0 your readers, and especiallyso to

rents who have a little lovinggroup await-ing them in the spirit land.

The first part was published in The Chris-tian for 1875, (headed “ SpiritNames,”) but as that journal was discontin-ued in September last, the principal partnecessary to complete the interest of thatpaper was not inserted. '

[How would it do for you to take up thenew unused title of The Christian Spiritual-(at as your own? our Maoaznu: well de-serves to be so cal ed.]

Spiritualists are, I think, beginning torecognize as a truth that spirit names, asgiven through different mediums, and atseances, are very usually either generic orsymbolical, or perhaps both. Probably allwriting mediums are alike puzzled at first,as I was, b receiving signatures such as“Love,” “ ’.lli'uth,”etc. I believe there areseveral “John Kings ” who in dilfereut artsof the world assist at the seances for p ysi-cal manifestations.

,A young medium, whom I knew well,once told me he had seen “John Watt”(“John Watt" is the spirit who throughMrs. Everitt’a mediumship converses inaudible voice at all her seances). I askedmy little friend how he knew the spirit hehad seen to have been John Watt. “Be-

. cause,” he said, “ I saw the name printed onhis girdle.” Shortly afterward, when Mrs.Everitt was with us, “ John Watt " came,

in a very unexpected way, entrancing hismedium as she was conversing with us, sit-ting round the fire, one evening. He told‘us thathe came to remove a false impressionthatwe had-—thatit was not he himself thathad been seen by our young medium, but itwas “ one of his society,” all of whom borehis name. All who have any knowledge ofSpiritualism will know that Swedenbor steachings about the different societies in t espirit land, each with its leader, &c., is nowconfirmed daily by mediums in all parts of_the world.

The name of “ Sunshine,” or “Sunbeam,”is now continuallygiven to mediums, alwayspurporting -to belong to a bright youngspirit, whose mission appears rather to bringlove and harmony, than to teach any verydee wisdom.

me months ago I was stayingwith someSpiritualist friends. One of them is a me-dium for high and hol teachings. Spiritsof many kinds make their presence knownto her, but they would feel a great blank intheir daily lives if one little happ , lisping,child spirit, giving the name of “ unshine,”were to cease its visits. We were sittingon seams one evening, to receive some s iritteachings through my own mediums i

.Among other questions my ‘friends asked’:“ Must it be at present hidden from us whothe little spirit is who comes to us daily withlovin messa ? Has it ever known earthlife?’ The only reply given was, “ Yourlittle ‘Sunshine’ is one of the fairy lovesfrom your spirit group-—a gleam of lovesent.”

This, with the rest of the messages giventhat evening, was sent to a friend." Herre ly was so interestingand suggestive thatIwi 1 copy all she wrote about “ Sunshine,”having received permission to do so :

“Little ‘ Sunshine’ is very interesting tome. Several years ago, when I was in themidst of anxiety and trouble, the name of‘ Little Sunshine ’ was given at a. seance forme with some loving and comforting mes-sage. I thought she must be one of mydear D.’s spirit children, of whom we hadheard a great deal.

“ When D. first went away I was told shewas called ‘ Aurora,’ or ‘ The MorninDawn. Now ‘ Sunshine ’ would be the chilof ‘Aurora,’ and . was taken just at thedawn of Spiritualism. So her communica-tions were the first ra s of the dawn, in onesense. . . . The gas, or Christ, is theSun of the spirit world. Every ray of theComforter sent by Christ, would correspondto ‘ Sunshine.’"

AMERICAN SPIRlTUAL MAGAZINE.

Some months later (January 7, 1875),we again met, (that is, Mr. and Mia. C.,the friends referred to above, and myself).As our time was limited, we did not intendto have a sitting, but Mrs. C. was all at oncetold by a spirit present that he wished meto receive a messa , and thatshe “musttell me so at once.” hedid not at all expect toreceive anything, but of course took thepencil, and immediatelymy hand was movedand a message was given to me from thespirit of one who passed away some earsago, and who, when on earth, was an nde-pendent minister, a friend of Mr. C.’s. Assoon as I found who was writing, I saidto Mrs. C.: “ Do you know who is writ-ing?” “Yes,” she said, “it is G. S. Hehas been with me all day.” In the midst ofa very interesting message, suddenly thewheat changed, and it was written, “ Yourlitt e ‘ Sunshine,’ coming to you in the guiseof a loving child, is, in the spirit home, avery high spirit; one of high intellect; buthavin never learned of earth life, it is notpoesib e for him to come, in the advancedform in which he is, in the groove of yourdear wife’s mind. Much that is spiritual isvery inexplicable, especially in dealingktween such spirits as have had no earth'fe.”

On reading this to my friends they toldme thatthey had received similar teachingssome weeks before through anothersource;also, that “ Sunshine ” had told them thathe was Mr. C.’s little son, who had passedaway many years before in premature birth.The teaching was to me entirely new, and Iwas anxious to learn more upon the subject.So a few days after, I, being alone, took thepencil to see if I could receive an answer tothisquestion: " How is it that ‘ Sunshine ’

who is now an advanced spirit, can come onlyas a little child, after having been so long inthe spirit land ; whikt ‘ Louisa,’ the ehiest of

41

communication now, through the channelchosen, can only be as ‘ agleam of love,’-love that streams from the spirit sphere of‘ Sunshine,’ and bears with it not only love,as (you suppose—not only, I mean, childishan child-likelove—.—but it bears in with itan opening at power, to the medium recep-tive of this ove; which expands her powerof intellect, and will, in gradual time, bringeven a richer, fuller reward than at oncepresents itself.

“ Not that I undervalue love! for of allattributes thatis thetruest and most heaven-l ;but I give this explanation of ‘ Sun-shine ’ coming as a little child, when his pos-itive position in his own spiritual sphere ishigh and intellectual. This is because he

ed away so long ago, and as an infant.“ On the other hand, our ‘ group,’* born

into your inidst—the midst of you who wereall open to receive spirit power-—were not,in fact, removed from your e here. Yourfaith,your belief, kept o n t e channel‘ ofcdmmunication. They ad but to knock,and the door of spirit communion was open,and has never been closed.

“ Spiritualism is the opening wide of thegates that have lon been kept ajar—ajaronly, thank God! So, even in the densesthours of disbelief and materialism, someglimmer of spiritual rays has reached yourearth by means of the few found really re-ceptive to the influence.”

(\Vhi1e this part of the message was be-in given, spirit raps came clearly and rap-idfy upon the table.)

Question—“ Is it not hard that lovingparents, through ignorance of the truth of Spir-itualism, (and not from any dislike to it),should lose thebenefit qf communion with theirlittle ones who have passed on 1 "

Answer—“ The influencefrom spirit landwill pour down upon the relatives of thosewho are there, provided the 1a is not

our group——and who never lived on earth—is jarred by the worldliness or earthlypreju-able to communicate with us, and to let uslmowqfthegradual developnwntofallthelibtle ones who are in our spirit home!” Thefollowing answer was given: “ The beliefin spirit communion aids the fact in everyway. The present influx of spirit éioweris assisted by the growing belief in pirit-ualism; and, on the other side, Spiritualismhas come to throw down the division thathad so long been raised up between the nat-ural and the supernatural worlds. ‘Sun-shine’ d away more than thirt yearsago, w en there was no belief in t e par-ents’ minds of the possibilityof return; andhe has grown up in the spirit land, and the

dices of those on earth. In the case of ‘ Sun-shine,’ his genial love has never been sep-arated, but he himself, havin never beenrecalled, (so to speak) from is germ-likestate, has got too far matured in spirit lifeto be able easily to return. His interestswere not brought down to his parents’ sphere,as yours have been.”

Question——- “ Is it iwt a disadvantage,then, to draw infant spirits to the earthlysphere ! ”

Answer—“ No; earth life training is bene-See "Heaven Opened," rice 6d, sold at the

British National Association of Spiritualists,Great Russell street, London.

42 AJIERIOAN SPIRITUAL HA GAZINE.

ficial and The approaching glorioustime of Christ's advent is aided, and couldonlybeaided by the means now used. Thespirit germs which can remain in thesphereof those they love, are therebyhelped them-selves, and I need not say how greatly thishelps to bring heaven to earth, to roundoff the circles of purity. For the commun-ion with the pure in the spirit home musttend to purify the circle on earth, which, ina true prayerful s irit, keeps up this com-munion, permitte by God, opened up byHim l

. . . Yes, He took a little childand He placed him in their midst! So doesHe now; now, in the advent of His personalreign on earth, doth He bring thelittle onesinto your midst, so to help to purify andraise your spheres to theirs—thesphere ofpurity and love! So are the little ones the‘ Sunshine‘ from Christ’s own sphere. 0,receive them in His name, and be blessed.”

In October, whilst I was staying with Mr.and Mrs. 0., we had much given to us ofthe truest interest, but, with the followinshort extracts from the s irit messages,must close this paper, w ich is, I fear,already too long:On the 10th instant Mr. C. asked:

“ Will you tell me about dear little ‘Sun-shine I ’ ”

In reply my father wrote: . . . “Iwish to say to our dear friend C. that themysterythe mystery he thinksit is. From all highand purely spiritual spirits are sent out, soto speak, raysof loving influence, which arethe positive embodimentsof thespirit lov.The are Fairies. Little ‘ Sunshine’ is oneof these loving rays. By it, the influenceof the son, who never lived on earth—andthus personally has not yet been able tocome—can come.” . . .Again, on the next day, from the spirit ofone who was the earthly mother of “Sun-shine,” to Mr. 0., was written: '

“ I have done all in my wer to establishthe ra port between our ‘ unshine.? I amglad t at this linkshould be strongibetweeuus three—you and your dear wife, whom Iknew as little Jane, but am glad to see inthe place I should have occupied had I notpassed on. . . . My delight in thepresence of ‘ Sunshine’ has been so helpfuland joyous. It is quite true that this rela-tionship will unfold to you somethingof themystery of fairy life, and the intense, glo-riousnlife of love thatflows from us down toyou. -

Mrse F. J. Tzrsosann.St. Leonard's-on-sea, England.

v

of his little ‘Sunshine’ is not half,

UNIVEBSALISTS AND SPIBITUALIBTSOF THREE HAUTE.

It has ever seemed not a little mysteriousthatthe denomination of Universalists, pro-fessing so much liberality, should exhibitsuch hostility to Spiritualism. May not thefact thatthe Rev. Fishbough, Rev. Britten,Rev. T. L. Harris and a score or more ofother Universalist clergymen left the de-nomination to become lecturers and authorsof works upon Spiritualism, together withthe additional fact that the Rev. MosesBallou and many other ministers in this de-nomination are avowed Spiritualists, affordthe key to unlock this mystery? Sectarianswith a fixed creed to maintain are inclinedto oppose any movement that tends to deci-mate their numbers. But surely all liberal-minded Christians ought to hail with joythe work of Spiritualists, in demonstrating a’future existence, in quickening the Splflirual nature, and comforting the mourner.It seems from an article appearing in theLogansport DailyStar that the Rev. N. S.Sage, a Universalist clergyman, attendingMrs. Stewart’s seances, prints an unjust andmost unhandsome article concerning them,as well as covert insinuations, reflectingupon the moral character of the committeein charge. This committee of gentlemenpublish a reply in the same journal, fromwhich we make the following extracts :

. . . “Now be it known that eachmember of the committee has occu ied aublic ition in this city (Terre aute,nd.) or more than thirty years, and

is well known. If the charge is trueit can be easily established. We nowpublicly challenge the Rev. N. S. Sageand his friends to show that we or themedium, or any one associated with us,‘by our acts, morally or otherwise, warrantthe insinuation. Should the Rev. Sage failto establish by his friends that the chargecan be sustained, we brand him with beinguiltyof giving publicity to a falsehood, andefaming private characterwithout cause or

provocation. The parson introduced hisreverence to thecommittee on the 1st ult.,explaining thathe was called to the city intheinterest of his people (Universalists) andwhile here desired to attend the seances,

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL 1ue.4z11irs'. 43'

representing himself as an advocate of lib-eral thought and was favorably im ressedwith Spiritualism, having read muc of itsphilosophy and believed himself to possessmediumistic powers, and had frequentlyspoken under an inspirin influence. Inproof of which he read rom manuscriptthe report of a funeral discourse deliveredby him while in a trance state, the noteshaving been taken by a reporter at thetime. In flowing words'he told us how hisbrilliant efforts intellectually, had won forhim unexpected and unsought, the title ofLL.D. In short, the fine recount he gaveof himself humbu ged us so complete] thathe was readily dead-headed throng theseances, and we acknowledge, though it ishumiliating to do so, that we did earnestlyhope thatthekind treatment received whilewith us had secured a favorable opinion atleast. More than this, his public declara-tions caused these attendin the seances tobelieve him a convert. e positively as-serted thata spirit had given him a sign bya peculiar movement of the hand, whichenabled him fully to recognize a departedfriend. Is it not a little surprising that heshould, after making a public statement thathe had, at the distance of ten feet, clearlyreco nized a friend by a movement of aban , publish in your columns that‘ theroomwas so dark thatafriend could not be recog-nizedtwo feet distant?’ . . .

“He in his report says that ‘afigureclaiming to be the son of a physician came,and thathe told the friends frankly that thefigure bore no resemblance to \’VillieA.,the son, whom he had known.’ We remem-ber with’ leasure the parents of Willie_A.They wil ever hp welcome guests at ourseance room. They came on the 6th ult.incog., and attended seven or eight seances,at the first one of which the doctor’s profes-sion was revealed by the controlling spiritfrom thecabinet. Their son Willieappearedat every seance. He was recognized fullyby his parents, to whom he revealed hisname, and his fond caresses drew tears ofsympathy from every eye. The parentswere overjoyedat meeting with their an elicson, which was repeatedly manifeste bytears flowing down their checks. The rev-erend S claimed intimate acquaintancewith the amily,and said he was a specialfriend of Willie, and had seen him clairvoy-antly at his seance.announced b the controlling spirit, whosaid thatWil ie recognized an acquaintancein the circle whose profession was thatof aminister. To our surprise, Willie, though

Willie's presence was.

announced, refused to make his a pearance.The only solution we can offer or his non-appearance is that the friendship claimedby his clerical acquaintancewas not recipro-cal. In his concluding remarks he sathat the tendency of S iritualism is to suvert Christianity and develop a moral con-dition which can only result in injury to theindividual and the communit . Pray, rev-erend Sage, how long has it n since youbecame convinced of this? Certainly sinceyou attended the seances, for then you pro-fessed to be wonderfully in love with Spirit-ualism (in a quiet way), and as a beautifulspirit, after caressing you with her angelichands, returned to the cabinet, you calledupon God publicly,which cannot be denied,with all the fervency and solemnity of yourministerial powers, to bless her.

“Now, in conclusion, we desire to informRev. N. S. Sage, LL.D., that we believehis efforts to place us in a false position be-fore the public, were prompted by a coward-ly dread of Mrs. Grundy, whose gossips ina prejudiced community might jeopardizethe great po ularity he in his egotism be-lieves himse f to possess; and while wesympathizewith him we can offer him noth-ing further than that he will be the recipi-ent of our prayers in his behalf for mercyand forgiveness for his unmanly, false andmalicious statements against people who ver-ily believethat they are doing a missionarywork under the direction and with the co-operation of angels whom God graciouslypermits to visit a sorrowing and burdenedworld." ALLEN Panes,

J. Hoox,Sufi. Conn).-:3.

Terre Haute, Dec. 16.mom

A valued correspondent writing us fromChicago relative to the progress of the causein what is sometimes termed “ the GardenCity of the West,” says:

“The Progressive Spiritualists of Chicagohave taken an elegant church edifice, cornerof Green and Washington streets, and com-menced Sunday lectures, under the chargeof a committee of entlemen of well-knowncharacterand stancfing. Giles B. Stebbins,of Detroit, is speaking for us at present.The committee has engaged Cora L. V.Tappan and others. The Rel’ ' Philo-sophical Journal, a faithful sentine , contin-_ass, as ever, brave and outspoken in its advo-cacy of Spiritualism,and its denunciationofsocial abominations."

AMERIOAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

For the American spiritual Muulne.

“O0NSUELO" TO THE "r1I.saIM." -

REV. DR. WA'1‘SON—Cl0singmy Novem-ber engagement in Philadelphia, and south-ward bound like theswallows, I ve a seriesof seven lectures upon theOrien Religionsand S iritualism, in Sturgis, Michigan. Itis in t is pleasant village that Abram andNellie Smith reside, both inspirational me-diums and speakers. Listening one afternoonto the spirit’s music upon the melodeonthrough the entranced organism of Bro. S.,the spirit of poesy took possession of Mrs.Smith, and she breathed uite unconsciousto herself these rhythmic ines :

When the dawn’s rosy light that illumesthe sky,The larkchants her matins—light winds wander

by:When the angel of dreams‘ lifts her spell from

thybrain,And thou wakest to life and its labors again,

I will be coming-—coming tothee.

When thy soul is oppressed with its duties and“'95.

There comes no response to thy tears or thyprayers-—

When the wrong shall abound, and tfi toil seemin vain,

When truth in the house of her children is slain,I will be watching—watchingo'er thee.

A pilgrim,a wanderer, long must thdu be,To hear our white banner o'er land and o'er see;But oh, when the lone heart grows weary and

chill,When Hope's voice is silent, Love’: song is still,

I will be singing—-singingto thee.

When the storms are all over, the breakers arepast-

Thy foot on the shore—home at lsst—home atlast!

Sing huzzal shout huzzal for the victory won-’ Anew o'er the hills beams thy life's morning sun,

I shall be ever—forever with thee!CONSUILO.

All poets, artists, and orators are inspired.They call to their presence kindred s iritsfrom the better land of immortality. husaided, they often surpass themselves. W'ho“ Consuelo” is, I know not. But names, ascom d with teachings and principles, areof little consequence. Evidently, however,this intelligence, Consuelo, is some resur-rected soul that sympathizeswith my mis-

sio labors in behalf of the divineprinciples of Spiritualism:‘ J. M. Pansm-:s. _

For the American Spiritual Magazine.FROM DARKNESS T0 LIGHT.

BY J’. MURRAY CASE.

If we examine the history of the religiousbeliefsand forms of worshi of the difl'erentpeople that have lived at t e various stagesof intellectual development of man, wefind thateach form of worship indicates theintellectual development of the race or na-tion, and that their heathen gods are of ashigh an order as their mental unfoldmentcan conceive of. One ople may worship

' stones and reptiles; anot er thesun; anotherthe moon and stars; another Jupiter; an-other Olympus, seated upon the azure sky;another the great goddess Diana; anotherthe one living God. The heathen may prayto wood and stone; the ancient Hindoo andEgy tian to Krishna, Buddha or Brahma;the Chinese to Confucius ; the Arab to M0-hammed ; and the Christian to Christ or theVir 'n Mary. In these ceremonies eachfulfi ls his religious instinct according to hishighest conception of truth, and it necessa-ril followsthatall are spirituallyblessed.'l‘he objective personage to w om we ad-dress our prayers does not send the blessing—we bless ourselves by an earnest effort toreach the ideal of our worship; we are thearchitects of our own fortunes in spiritualattainments, just as much as in learning orworldly enterprises. We cannot grow, orbecome better spiritually, through the bless-ings of God, without bringing into activitythose qualities of our inner natures that arecalculated to elevate and ennoble our being.If we pray with empty words, it were aswell that we worship God by beating upona drum, for each act will roduce nothingbut the vibration of air. f a prayer goesout from the depths of our 111118!‘ soul,whether it be in words or thou hts—ad-dressed to God or Brahma, to ‘hrist orKrishna—we by thatvery act are elevatingourselves to a higher and nobler condition.We thus mingle our spirit with our high-est conceptions of a something better thanourselves; much of the crude matter thathm enshrouded our spirits is thrownofl'; wedrink in particles of divine essence, and arethus enabled to take one step nearer to God.

This is the result of the universal law ofcause and effect, and is just as fixed and un-

ject of his worsh' .

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 45

changeable as the law of gravitation. An-gels and spirits may labor to remove theevilsthatbeset us on every side. in answer to oursupplications, and often are instrumental indoing usmuch ; but if God especiallyintervened at our bidding in answer to ourprayers, he would certainly answer the peti-tions of Christian mothers whose childrenare-naked and cold and crying for bread,while their drunkard husbands are wallow-ing in the street. They cry to Him by dayand by night, “ O, merciful Father, savemy husband, and bring him back to me ashe once was ! ” yet there comes no response.One by one their famished, dying childrenare borne away from their beds of straw totheirhast, long resting place. That Christianmother’s soul soon leaves the form of clay,and the last words she utters in her dyingmoments are, “God, save my husband!”Yet downward, downward he moves to adrunkard’s ve. The Christian world hasyet to learn thattheonl way we can receiveGod’s blessing is to study to conform to hisunchangeable laws; for it is through themthat we are governed, both in body and inspirit.

To worship is an instinct of our nature.To believe in a being superior to ourselvesis universal with nations and ages; and toask for blessings which we most stand inneed of is the natural outgrowthof a beliefin a superior intelligence, who we believetobe able to answer our petition if he chooses.Hence. withoutunderstanding thatall mat-ter and spirit are governed by fixed and un-changeab e laws, we are prone to ask forblxingsthroughGod's especial intervention,in opposition to his laws, and are thereforedisappointed. Yet prayer and worship areemential to our spiritual unfoldment, thoughit may be of the crudest form. It has filledits mission in raising us from a state of bar-bar-ism,justascertainlyastheinstinct of sex-ual love has in perpetuating our race. Noman can worship an ideal god, that embod-is his highest conception of the wise andgood, without becominVéithoutthis best andholiest instinct 0 our nature, I believe wewould to-day be burrowing in the ground,and roaming the wild woods in the veryfootprints of primitive man.

One by one the heathen gods have died,and let us say, peace be to their ashes. forthey have served a noble u . Theyhave been the dim lights in ark places, butbrilliantas the clouded vision of those inmental darkness could bear. They havefilled their mission in the ages of antiquity,

more like the ob-‘

to lead man into the bright sunlight of theone omniscient God.

Progreaion is the divine order of things.When certain nations had reached an un-foldmentsufficient to conceive of a spiritualruler, having just given up their gods ofwood and stone, their ideas of a spiritual Godwere necessarily crude. They gave to himthe individualityof a man of reat author-ity and power, together withal his passions,his love and his hatred. Right here we findthe ancient Hindoo, Egyptian, Chinese, anda little farther advanced, the Hebrew.Sparks of living light had commenced toflow in upon them. Prophets and Saviorswere born, and angels administered to man.Here we have the first historical dawning ofSpiritualism—away back in the misty past.There were times in those early ages whenthe relative condition of the planets to eachother, or from some other cause, man wasvisited withseasonsof spiritual ministrations.At these times Christa were born and manyraised up as prophets, teachers and healersof the poo le. At each successive s iritualinfluxwe nd the spiritual man ra' a stephigher, and their teachings more sublimeand beautiful. Krishna taught like arophet; Confucius like a philosopher;hrist like a God.But always during these epochs of spirit-

ual communion. the evil forces have exer-cised a power to do evil. Undevelopedspirits taught false doctrines, some of whichhave become incorporated into our Bible, asinto the Hindoo, Egyptian and ChineseBibles. The Christian world condemn allof these ancient inspirations, including theirsublime moral truths, and receive the wholeof the Hebrew Bible as divine inspiration.Here is where they err. -

We should receive “ the truth whereever found, on Christian or on heathen

und,” and condemn the error alike in all.m the New Testament with the Mo-

saic aw. How marked thedifference! Howopposite in their teachingsl——which demon-strates that they have emanated from differ»eat de sea of intelligence.

We ave now just entered upon the lastgreat ministration of angels to man. Muchof the crude element has come flrst to openthe way ; but floods of living light begin toflow in upon us, and ere another centuryshall have passed, all the false creeds, eccle-siastical dogmas andpe ish decrees thatnowenslave the human inte ect, will have onethe way of the ancient ods, and we wi beliving in the radiant lig t of the millennialday.

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

ANGELIO IINISTBY.The Sacred Writings are full of the sub-

ject of Angelic Ministry. All through them‘are accountsof em loyment of celestial mes-sengers. In theol en time the angels talkedface to face to man. They came in palpableshape and warned of ap reaching danger.They sat in the tents of t e patriarchs andengaged in holy discourse. Sometimes theycommunicated the will of God, or mappedsome grand design, or outlined some event-ful-chapter in theworld's history, by meansof a vision or a dream. Often were theysent to execute benevolentpurposes, to fur-nish help when no otherhelp was nigh, and toguide the wanderingand lost in the ways ofsafety and peace. Christianity comes to usto confirm the soul's intuition by telling usof a calm and sunny shore, a happ land inmidst of the central universe, whic we callHeaven. And it assures us that in that fairclime, and in that many-mansionedhouse oftheFather,thereare white-robedspirits who,when we are tired and made sorrowful, cometo minister to us and to stren then us forthe burdens we have to bear. e make nodoubt thatoften have there come to humansouls sweet visions from this “ curtainedrealm of spirits,” and that through “gatesajar ” human e es have caught gleams ofglo from the den of theblest. In timesof eep and perhaps sorrowful meditation,or in some hour of quiet thought when theheart has been busy with its memories ofthe departed, have we not heard the rustleof unseen wings, and our name pronouncedgy lips thaton earth willspeak never more?

he factof Angelic Ministry is confirmedby the experience of many an one, and ithas its testimoniesin human hearts thathavebeen strengthened and consoled. The dyinghave seen it verified, and along the_pathofmany a tried and sufi'ering life have beenbeheld the footprints of ministering angels.

The great lesson we are to learn and keepever in our hearts, is this: That there isalways a divine help for us—that alwaysthere is a shinin ladder let down fromheaven upon whic the angels come and go—that never is an infinite love weary ofwatching over us. In all thatcomes to us-in all thatsmites—in the hardest trial —- inthe bitterest grief—in the darkest of life’sm steries-—there is a benevolent pur .

1 will end well. All is now for them:or God would not permit it to be so.Through ways of darkness as well as oflight/—throu‘gh sorrow as well as joy-'-through death as life-—He is bringing his

childrenhome to himself, educating themfora better world, and for the com nionshipand em loyments of the an ls. e and forwhich esus lived and die and now reignsat the right hand of the Father—the endfor which all discipline was ordained—shallat last he reached ; and in the bright morn-ing-land, when wanderings shall cease, andsorrows shall becomforted, and weary heartsshall ache no more, we shall look back andsee that there has not been one useless pangof sufi'ering—not a dark da too many-—-notan outcast life over which od has not kepta loving watch—and thatall that has cometo us, all bitter as well as happy experi-ences, have wrought for our eternal loryand joy. A C

_._.?._j._

For the American Spiritual Equine.

SALEM, Jswam. Co., Kansas.BRO. WA'l‘80N—-A8‘I am sometimes used

by the “immortals” to pen some thoughtsthey wish to give to this world, I will giveyou the following communication from thatsource, and if deemed worthy,you can giveit a place in the MAGAZINE.

Mas. Assn; M. LEWIS.

COMMUNICATION.When in the course of human events it

becomes necessary for some new light to begiven ‘to the world—w_hen mankind haveoutgrown their present unfoldment, and arereaching out for somethingto satisfy theirlongings for a more perfect development ofthe God within—when, we say, this is thecondition of a great portion of the humanrace, then the powers above are moved withcompassion toward their brothers and sisterswho occu y a link in the chain of progres-sion just below them, and set themselves towork to find some person or persons whomthey think they can use as instruments ingiving that light to the world. But youmust not thinkthateverything can be doneeither to our satisfaction or to yours. \Vehave to use such means as lie within ourreach, and do the bestwe can under the cir-cumstances or conditions. You, as well aswe, are responsible for those conditions, andit behoovesall to live up to the light theyalready have, and look not backward, butonward and upward, for a solution of allthings that look in sterious, and seem in-volved in present itiiculties, ever bearingin mind that thereis a “ divinity thatshapesour ends," or to speak more. plainly, theintelligence thatreigns in the spirit world,

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MQGAZINE. 47

is conducting the affairs of this lower world,and endeavoring to bring about a more per-fect state of development—-tobringmankindup to a higher standard of morality andrectitude, and to cause them to seethegreatbeautythere is in living ure and holy lives,and squaring their con uct by the rule ofjustice and uality; in short, to live up tothe golden ru e, on which hangs all the lawand the prophets.

No great good was ever achieved by anyone in the flesh or out of it, without theirfirst going through a certain discipline formental or moral perfection. To be countedworthy to do the work of spirits from thespheres of love and wisdom where harmonyprevails, one must be urified from thedrossof earth, and put sel hness far from them.It is a sacred mission, and should not belightly used. Neither can any be made todo the wishes of the enlightened powerssuccessfully unless theywill give themselvesup to the work, and be guided by their con-trol, let it lead them where it will. Theymust feel to trust in their guides, that theywill lead them safely throughall difliculties,and bring them out conquerors at last.

Of coume they must heed the adnionitionto “ try the spirits,” to see whether they areworthy to be trusted. “ It must needs bethat offenses come, but woe be to those bywhom they come ; " and woe be to thosewho op the powers of the “ ministering”ones w o are endeavoring to awaken inearth's children a desire to look up, abovethe groveling things of this lower sphere,and to contemplate the mighty workingsofGod and his angels in the uplifting of hu-manity from the germinal state in whichthe now exist.

in order to arouse mankind from theirindifferentand lethargicstate, some startlingand unlooked—for event must be thrust uponthem, thatwill cause them to wonder fromwhence comes this strange and unaccounta-ble manifestation of power. While somewill turn from it in terror and dismay, lestit should prove an enemy to them in someway, fearing to meet it in confidence andtrust in the All-wise Power thatgoverns andcontrols everything-—we say, while somemust of necessity from their unfoldmentpursue this course, in self-defense, as thethink,still there are others who will looupon it from a more philosophicstandpoint,andreason in this manner: that there is aPower supreme above all others, which, see-ing the end from the beginning, fears not toundertake ‘a work, though it may meet withmany obstacles, and be at times, as it were,

seeming to go backward, instead of progres-sin in the way it was intended.here must needs be man who will be

willing to suffer persecution or the tru_th’ssake, before the inhabitants of this earthwill be redeemed from the slavery of sinand moral pollution in which the are atpresent bound. Little by little, an one byone will the chains be lifted oil‘ theenslavedand down-trodden of earth, and man bat»tles must be fought with ignorance an big-otry before the victory will be won.. Manymust give themselves up to be crucified, asit were, by a blind public opinion, and belooked upon with scorn and derision, or bepitied for their delusion ; but the angels ofGod will hold them up amid all persecution,and theywill feel thatstrengthand couragethat the world knows not of, neither indeedcan know, until it is brought into commun-ion with the angel world.

Some will scout at the idea that persons,after they have left this lower world, orpassed the change called death, will care tocome back, even if they could, to this sin-sick world, and mingle again in its caresand sorrows; they would be engaged inloftier work, even if they were disposed todo anythingexcept to sing praise to the Godof their salvation. But would it not beselfishness in theextreme to be satisfied withtheir own redemption? Surely they mustretrogradeeven from theirattainmentswhileon earth; for then_ they are not satisfiedunless they can see a probabilitythat theyshall meet the dear friends on theotherside,to which all are tending.Dear mortals, thoughlong in thespirit I ’ve dwelt,

Unencumbered by earth or its dross,And though amid flowers and perfume I've knelt,

Yet, even here, we at times bear the cross.

‘T is not in inaction and listless reposeThat we gather the ripe, golden fruits,

But in laboring to soften the sorrows of thoseWho are following their earthlypursuits.

Sometimes ’t is a cross to leave our flair home '

And oome to this earth here below—-To dwell withearth'schildren,withthem to roam,

To take part in their hearts’ bitter woe.

But we remembera Christ who incarnatedid dwellOn the earth, with one Jesus of old,

Whose goodness and purity none could excel,By prophets and sages foretold;

If a Christ could descend from his home in thespheres,

And mingle with want and with woe-

48 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

If he could be willing,through days, months andY3“:

His labors on earth to bestow-

Should not we, far inferior in wisdom and power,Though ever so humble it be,

Strive to be unto others a fortress and tower,And help them some evil to flee?

If God or his Christ, in their infinite love,Could come from their mansions on high

To teach us the way to s Heaven above,Where tears will be wiped from all eyes-

So is it the duty of angels, and seraphs,And spirits of lower degree,

To imitate Him, whose example should meritThe love of all souls yet to be.

By experience we learn ’tis a beautiful truthThat in labors of love we are blest,

And we feel all the joy and the freshness of youth,And our conscience is ever at rest.

mm.

For the American Spiritual Magazine.

MORAL BEINGS AND EVIL SPIRITS.BY J. K. PIIBLIB.

No solid thinker will dispute that thebrain, rather than the hand or foot, is theorgan of the human mind. Phrenolog ,now received into the ntheon of t esciences, proves man to e a moral being,having moral brain faculties. And moralbeing implies moral law, and moral lawimplies not only conscience and freedom,but moral government and compensation.

Conscience, in connectionwithmoral judg-ment, ever prom ts to the right; but thereasonin and re ecting organs, in connec-tion wit moral consciousness, must everdetermine what that right is. This a pliesto every scale of human life. “ reenapples are good,”, says a Spiritualist writer—“ in their lace, as the ripened onesof‘ ctober.” The proposition is a baldsophism. Neither green nor ripened applesare good. No moral quality i-nheres inapples. They are neither “ good ” nor evil,because moral qualities pertain to moralbeings—not unconscious fruit, or blindforces.

There is a class of pseudo-philosopherswho tell us there is “no moral evil in theuniverse ”—-only a graded good. Is a posi-tive lie a lower degree of truth? malice alower de es of love? and rape a lowerd ogrchastity? To enunciate is toreveal the terrible hideousness of such rea-

soning. Good and evilare mom! conditions,each real and itive, according as itbecomes the le ing force in pin orquality of character. And the ig er themoral altitude attained, the more exquisitelykeen are the soul’s distinctions between goodand evil.

All moral acts rtain to the intellectualand spiritual, an not to the body, exceptmedially. Can the foot of a cor e treadon forbidden ground? Is it the flea ly handthatsteals? Are not these rather the imple-ments of conscious force operating in andthrough them? Without this intelligence,or spirit, man is but a corpse, and a corpsenever violates either physical or moral law.The body does not sin. Constituted of phys-ical elements, it can know nothingof moralor immoral acts. And death, which is onlya severing of this outer envelope from thespiritual, affects in no way the real, immor-tal man. Each, at death, goes, Judas-like,to “ his own place.”

All sensations, all thought, reason, moralresponsibility, pertain to soul—the inner-thinking man. According] , the shrewdand the selfish, the wick and the evil-minded, enter the spirit world as such, andare there denominated evil Natureknows no spasms. Suddenalzaps from viceto virtue, from folly to wisdom, are contraryto the processes of development. The sameclairvo ant and phenomenal evidencesthroug mediums that prove the existenceof spirits, prove the existence of unregener-ate, or evil spirits.

In New Testament times, these evilspiritswere termed “ demons.” And thateminentchurch writér, Dr. Lardner, says: “ Thenotion of demons, or the souls of the dead,having power over livin men, was univer-sally prevalent amon t e nations of thosetimes, and believed i many Christians."Jesus addressed these that is, evil-disposed spirits—as thinking,conscious indi-vidualities, and commanded them,as beingsdistinct from the obsessed, to “ depart."There are obsessed mediums in this age;and there are those gifted with power to“ cast out these demons.”

Although we term them “demons,” wemust not forget that they were once mortals,and are still our brothers, thou h occupyingthe lower spheres of spirit life. hey are alsothe subjects of progression, and the ob'ectsof God's love. To such—-denominate byPeter “ spirits in prison ”4mus preached,after being “ put to death in theflesh ” uponCalvary. And the factof his preachin tothem implies that they could be benefited.

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL HA GJZINE. 45.and regenerated by this preachin , or thesemoral efl‘orts in their behalf. regress isopen to all orders of beings in the futurelife-—spirits becoming angels, angels arch-angels, and these Arsaphs, and thus onwardtoward the Infinite.

The prevention of obsesing influencesliesin the pure purpose and the good life, inthecultivation of broad aspirational aims,a tirmnem of moral principle, a determineddesire to do right, and a calm trust in theovershadowing presence of God and goodanfixlals.spiritual seances, truth attracts thetrue, wisdom the wise, charity the charita-ble, and purity the pure and holy thatwalkthe heavenly fields of immortality.

_______§_.._—-—_.

From theCincinnatiEnquirer.SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.

To the Editor of the Enquirer:“ Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dreainlFor thesoul is dead thatslumbers,

And thingsare not what theyseem.’“Life is reall Lifeis earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust returneth,

Was not spoken of thesoul,”seems indeed to befully realized and provenin this wonderful age of startling discov-eries. Bpirit photography, it has beenclaimed, solved this momentous question;and various persons, from time to time,have claimed to have the peculiar power ofplacing their hands upon the camera, bywhich means theinstrument became“sensi-t.'iaed,"fls1oas to enable‘;spii-;t form]:”fltlo im-pies eirimage on e p tewit esit-ter. Among others Mr. Jay J. Hartmanhas claimed thispower, and has been re-ducin “s iritpictures”atTeeple’s ery,No. 130 West ourth street. He has beenbitterly denounced as a fraudand tricksterby the skeptics and unbelievers,and latelyone of the morning contemporaries gavethree columns of sensational arguments andstatements to prove that the whole matterwas a delusion‘; and Hartman a miserablehumbug. Although he gave private “ testsittings " thatseemed satisfactory,yet evenman of his friends be an to doubt himunti{ be, last week, pub ‘ bed a card thaton Saturday morning, December 25th, hewould give a free public investigation, ad-dressed to the public generally, and to

Voi. 11-4. ~

the hoto hers especiall' ; sta ' thathe vyouldgnlgce all the agrangeiiliggts inthe hands 0 those taking part in the inves-tigation; they to choose the room wherethe trial was to be held; bring their‘ ownmarked lates; furnish their own camera,chemi . in fact every thin , Hartmansimply asking to manipulate e plates inthe presence of practical photographers, toshow that he used no fraud or trickery.Christmas morning came, bri ht and cheer»ful, and found sixteen gen emen. five ofthem ractical photographers of this city,assemb ed at his rooms. Putting the ques-_tion to vote, it was decided to adjourn to thehotvegm h of Mr. V. Cutte , No.

8 estpFo%i‘1rtlEr{treet. Mr. Cutterrheingan expert in detectingnthe “spirit icturetrickery,” and, as Mr. artman h never

_

-been ' his gallery, he would be at thedoublemdisadvantage of being in a strangeroom, surrounded by strong skeptics andpractical men uick to detect fraud. Mr. -

man chee ully acceplted, exactingbutone condition, that there s ould be no argu-ments, jesting or unbecoming conduct, inspeech or action, liable to produce discordand disturb the harmony and-quiet neces-sary to insure results. As the offer wasmade by Mr. Hartman in a perfectly fairand gentlemanly manner, it was acceptedin like good spirit, and the party ad'oui-nedto Mr. Vincent Cutter’s rooms. Elnteringthe o rating room, the party were re-

use to seat themselves on each side oft e camera and join hands. Mr. Hartmanthendaired to be searched and blindfolded,but the photographers waived this as beingunnecemary. Mr. Hartman then chose Mr.F. T. Moreland to represent him, and seethat every‘t"hin(g was done fairly. Then,selecting . . H. Mnrhman, a tacticalphotographer and strong skeptic, e threeentered the dark room, Mr. Murhman se-lecting his own latea. The plates§ie§.red,theyapproach the camera, Mr. ur mancarrying the late, and then setting‘ for a“picture.” .

'd breathless silence thelate was exposed and carried back to theark room, Mr. Hartman following. Soon

came thecry, “ no result.” Skeptics seine-what 'ubilant. Another late was ordered.Mr. urhman ' fo lowed Hartmanthrough. No reelfit. Unbelief above par,and rising rapidly. Mr. Cutter, the propri-etor of the lery, a strong skeptic, andprobably the t ex rt in the city, wasnow chosen to_go ugh the workings.Hartman seemed downcast, and, decliningto enter the darkroom, stood at the camera,

—- handed it to r. Hartman.

50 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

seemingly absorbed in deep meditation orprayer. His friendMoreland'and Mr. Cut-ter entered the dark room alone, Mr. Cutterpreparing the plate. Comin out to thecamera and giving Hartman t e “ holder,”he seemed so much abstracted as to bescarcely able to place it in ition. Callingto two gentlemento lacs1: eir hands on thecamera with him, e third plate was ex-posed with no result. Affairs looked gloomy,indeed, for poor Hartman and his friends.But he directed Mr. Cutter to prepareanother plate, and dropped into a deeperstate of abstraction than ever. Mr. Murh-man sat close beside Hartman and thecamera, closely watching eveas he is well calculated to do roin his longexperience in detecting “professional me-diums.” Mr. Cutter havin finished thepreparation of the late in t e dark room,in the presence of . Moreland, broughtthe fourth late, in the “holder,” and

Selecting Dr.Morrow as the “ sitter," and a third personto place hands on the camera, theplate wasagain ex amid intense, breathless si-lence. an visibly trembled and ap-peared to be.enga imdeep, silent invoca-tion. The handso thepersons restin on thecamera likewise visibly trembled, s owingthe presence of some occult power. FinallyHartman ended thepainful suspense by cov-ering the camera, w en Mr. Cutter took theplate, and accom ied by Mr. Moreland,retired to the dar room to develop it, leav-ing Hartman standing at the camera with

eat beads of perspiration studding hisbi-ow,whiletheassemblylooked like “ graveand reverend seignors,’ awaiting a verdictthat was to blast the fond hopes of theSpiritual'wt-and prove indeed that “life isbut an empty dream.” But, uicklycamethe joyful exclamation from oreland, andthe astounding cry from Mr. Cutter-——aresult! A ripple of quiet joy ran overHartman’s countenance, while is friends,scarcely believing the good news possible,crowded, with the skeptics and unbelievers,who doubted the evidence of their ownsenses, around Mr. Cutter, who held theglam i te up to the light, and there, sureenoug , impin ‘n on the head of Dr. Mor-row, was the ear y-defined face of a younglady, even clearer and more distinct thanhis own. Every one was astonished at thisunexpected result. Murhman looked atCutter and Cutter looked at Murhman inblank amazement, declaring that he didn'tdo it as it was one of his own plates, and heknew there was nothingon it when it went

movement, '

into the camera. There was the picture !Hartman had never tmwhed the or en-tered thedarkchamberduring its manipulation!Hmaitgott}ierelIedidn’tlcnow,-!}uere1'twaslWhile skeptic and Spiritualist were equallyastounded, thebestof feeling revailed.and,to the credit of all be it sai . not a harsh,ungentlemanly word was drop by anyone during this great and cone usive trial.Conclusive, in that, while Messrs. Cuttnr,Murhman et al, do not admit the “ spiritual”origin of the form on the plate, yetthey all agree that Mr. Hartman didnot and could not, under the circumstancesof never touching the plate or entering thedark room, produce the “ spirit picture byfraud or trickery. There is the face of Dr.Morrow, with the face of a young lady,withsomethingresembling a wreatharchingover their heads! Whence came it? If itis not what it_ ur rts to be, a “ s irit form,”what is it? n how came it there? Allfinally agreed to sign the followincate as justly due and fairly earneHartman :

“We, the undersigned, having takenin the public investigation of ‘ S irit

ho phy' given by Mr. Jay J. art-man, erehy certify that we have closelyexamined and watched the manipulationsofour own marked plates, throu b all thevarious workin , in and out o the darkroom, and have n unable to discover anysign of fraud or tricke on the t of Mr.Jay J. Hartman. An we furt er certifthatduring the last sitting. when the resu twas obtained, Mr. Jay J. Hartman did nothandle the plate nor enter the dark roomatan time.

“. Blatter, C. H. Murhman, V. Cutter,

J. P. Weckman.F. T. Moreland,T. Temple,all practical photggraphers), E. Saunders,

in. Warrington, oseph Kinsey,BenjaminE. Hopkins, G. A.-Carnahan, Wm. Sulli-van, James P. Gep rt, D. V. Morrow, M.D., E. Hopkins, an Robert Leslie.”

Mr. Murhman demurred to the first partof the certificate, not that he had discoveredfraud, but thathe was not in the dark roomwhen theresult was obtained, but cheerfullysigned as to the last clause, and with thebalance exclaims, “ There’s the fact,who cancaptain it I ”

HT

certifi-by Mr.

The Bpiritualists now have another emi-nent scientific man to count among theirrecent converts. This time it is a distin-guished Russian Zoologist, Prof. Wagner,ofthe Imperial University of St. Petersburg.

AMERIOAN SPIRITUAL HA GAZINE. 51

for the American Spiritual inguino.SPIRITUAL BROTHERHOOD.

BY J. KURRLY CASE.

A Plan for Organization Proposed.nrrrnroay cmcnn.

1 We recognize in the perfection of the~ laws which govern the universe of'spirit andmatter an evidence of an all-wise intelli-gence which we call God, yet in our weak-ness we cannot define him or measure hisattributes; for no man hath seen him at anytime, neitherhath it entered into the mindof man to comprehend him.

2 We believe in the immortal individualidentity of the human soul, and thatunderproper conditions it may commune withthose in the flesh, and influence them forgood and for evil.

3 We believe in rewards and punish-ments, both of the body and spirit, underthe operation of the physical and spirituallaws; and that the hi heat development ofthe body and spirit is t e result of a knowl-edge of and obedience to these laws.

4 We believe that heaven and hell areconditions of the spirit, created by good andevil deeds, and that reformation and pro-gression is the result of education and devel-opment, and that this may take lace in thespirit world as it does in earth 1' e.

5 We believethat true Christianity con-sists in following the example and prece tsof Christ; which is, supreme love to odand universal brotherhood of all men;purity of body and spirit; to love oneanother; to do unto others as we wouldhave others do unto us; to return good forevil ; to visit the sick, feed the hungry, andclothe the naked; to administer unto thosein distreas.and in prison—and to this endwe consecrate our lives.

CH{CLE OF JUSTICE.In all business transactions with my fel-

low-men I will deal justly, honorably andopenly. I will refrain from taking or ap-propriating to my own use thatwhich doesnot belong tome. I will pay my just pro-portion for the support of the church, andfor the relief of those in distrea, so far as itis in my power so to do.

CIRCLE OF BROTHIERHOOD.If any brotheror sister in the church are

in need, I will administer unto their wants‘;it‘ they are sick, I will visit them; if they

are alone and among strangers, I will takethem in; if they are in trouble, or in ris-on, I will visit them; if they have f leninto sin, I will endeavor to raise them up;if they meet with misfortune, I will assistthem. I will not k evil of my brotherorm sister; buti they do me an injury,I willrepay them with kindnm.

CIRCLE OI-‘ TRUTH.I will speak the truth, and lead a life of

truthfulness; I will not be a tattler of whatI may hear derogato to others, lest it be afalsehood and I do t em an inju ; I willnot assume to be what I am not ; will notlay claim to spiritual gifts which I do notpossess, and if gifted by the spirit, I willnot assume for the spirit that which I domyself, for this is a lie and a cheat.

CIRCLE OI-‘ PURITY.I willstrive to be ure in body and mind;

I will keep myself? unspotted before theworld, knowing that m spirit friends be-hold my ever set and t ought, and grievewhen I sin ; will not use profane, or otherimproper language; I will avoid licentious-ness, that seeks to creep into houses anddestroy the peace of our homes, the purityof our souls; I will abstain from the use oftobacco, and alcoholic drinks as a beverage,and will use all my power to suppress thoseevils; I will keep my body, as well as myspirit, clean, and will endeavor to be purein all things.

CIRCLE or LIGHT.I willpraise God always; I will seek to

know an obey His laws; I will store mymind with useful knowledge, and will letmy light so shine that others by my exam-

_ple may be drawn nearer to God. If spir-itual gifts are freel given unto me, even sowill I give unto ot ers. I will seek not thepraise of men, but will glorify God in goodworks. If others shall persecute me, andsay all manner of evil against me falsely,I will remember that even so were Christand the Apostles, and all reformers, perse-cuted, and I will rejoice to repay them withkindness.

BRO. WA:rsoN—I give your readers thisplan for organization as it has been given tome by my spirit guides. Coming throughan imperfect channel, it is necessarily im-perfect in language, but will serve to awak-en thought in thisdirection.

Following each circle, or degree, shouldbe an admonition, or lecture, suited to im-

62 AHERIOAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

press u n the mind the importance of theobligation which we have taken u n our-selves——and following the d s ould bea constitution and by-laws or the govern-ment of the body.

This affords a gradation so thatall mayooine into our ranks, and holds out aninducement for all to reach the highestdegree of man and womanhood. The rewardfor good deeds is an advancement; thepun-idshment for trig; violation of! one (pf theegreesisa ucticntoaowere ,where the member is required to mm

a state of probation until he has provedhimself suitable for the higher degrees.

At first thought this may seem to bearbi-trary, and a dis 'tion to control the liber-ties of others; ut on more mature reflec-tion we find thatthis is not so. If a mem-ber takes the d of Purity, and after-ward continues e use of tobacco,or strongdrinks,hehasby his own actsreduced himselfto a standard below thatdegree, and all thatthechurch or by-laws do is to placehis namewhere it properly belongs.

Thus are we fulfilling the law of recom-pense, the’universal law which governs allorganizations and conditions in the spiritworld. I lookforward to thetimewhen Spirit-ualismwillhavebecometheleadingchurchofall nations ; and who can calculate the moralforce of the one de of Purity in reliev-ing mankind from s use of those dreadfulpoisons, alcohol and tobacco? But whileall will not attain to this degree, is it notwell thatwe should give to each a positionin our ranks according to the measure whichhe shall make for Mmsdff shutting out nonefrom the privilfige of remaining with us inthe initiate , althoug they maycontinue in sin? t would become our duty,through deeds of kindnem, to raise them toa higher condition of life.

In thisyou have the basis, in crudeform,of all church and benevolent organizationsin the spirit world. I give it to your read-ersasithasbeen iventome.

Whenever S iritualists can agree uponsome platform or organization, I shall takethe field to lecture and organize societies;but until that is done, I feel that the smallamount of good which I might do will notjustify me in giving my time. To preachS iritualism _without organization is likepliinting corn and leaving it without culti-vation.

I shall be pleased to correspond withthosewhofavor or oppose this manner of or?ni-zation, and «to receive any suggestion w ichmay be oifered.

A BPIBITUALIST BBUIIOI.A eorwersazione, l y attended by the

leaders of the Spiritualist movement in themetropolis, was held last evening in theCaylendishRoofnis, Mortimer ltieet, wit}; thed urpose o inau ting t e secon an-nual pConference ofgtlhila British NationalAssociation of Spiritualists, and of welcom-ing Mr. J. J. Morse, a gentleman possessinga considerable reputation in his 'cular

here as a “ trance medium,” on is returnrom a lengthenedAmerican tour. The com-

pan having partaken of refreshments andexc ged greetings, the more formal busi-nea of the evening was commenced by theveteran Spiritualist Mr. Benjamin Colemantaking the chair and delivering an addrea,devoted mainly to the progress of the move-ment and the incidents of thepast ear. Heaflirmed that the “ great truthsof iritua1-ism ” were findin a multitude of gab ad-herents in spite o the continued oppositionof the leaders of public opinion and thefoolish theories b which men of science,who seemed afrai to look at a new fact letit should overturn the labor of their lives—soughtto explain away the phenomena.rding the association which was formedin 873 with the object of uniting Spiritual-ists of every variety of opinion, and promot-ing the study of psycholo ical subjects, hesaid there was no oubt it ad now taken afirm root and assumed a position of some im-portance. The memberswere dailyincreasingin number,and he referred with pride to thelong list of correspondi members, most ofwhom held high soci positions in theirrespective countries. Mr. Morse havingbeen introduced to the meeting proceeded torecount some of his American experiences.He acknowledged that so far as his ob-servation went the resent position ofSpiritualism in the nited States couldscarcely be considered as satisfactory. Hethought this was not owing to any radicaldefects, but becausethe movement was in atransitional state-—of necessity a riod ofconfusion. Exce tin Boston, t a head-quarters of Spiritualism, where it was arecognized fact, the S iritualists were gener-allv sneered at in pugilic and by the pres,although he found that privately in ma:{families the facts of Spiritualism were -

mitted and earnestly discussed. Mr. Morsethen related the particulars of some remark-able seances at which he assisted whilst inthe States, and was warmly cheered on con-cludin his speech. Music and recitals weregiven uring the remainder of the evening.

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 53

The real businea of the Conference willcommence thisafternoon withthereading ofpapers on Spiritualism and kindred topicsat the rooms of the association, Bloomsbury.—L¢mdon Standard.

The Galveston (Texas), Civilian thusspeaks of our MAGAZINE:

Dr. Watson sends forth the first numberof volume two of his interesting MAGAZINEenlarged and improved in a pearance, andlooking asif his adventure as assumed a

rmanent form. “ Spiritualism from a 8nstandpoint ” is a new phaseof doc-trine, and seems to have promise of vigorouslife. Faith ceases to be the substance ofthings unseen, and the facts‘ of apostolicdays are reproduced in palpable form, point-ing to the promise “ The works thatI do eshall do also; and greater works shall ye 0,becauseI go to the Father.” Nor is the newmovement wanting in vigorous a gressive-nes. The review by F. J. Patilo of theRev. Dr. Baker’s attack on Spiritualisin,ublished originallyin theJefi'erson (Texas),

, is an article. of remarkabledirect-ness and force; while the ch e of false-hood brought by Dr. Watson fore theWhite River, Arkansas,Conference, againstRev. B. W. Massey, and the accusation ofa shuflling and “ whitewashing" course bythe Conference, are ressed with remarkableplainness and vigor y Dr. W. in a personalarticle which thus concludes:

“ If the White River Conference, with aknowledge of these facts, are disposed towhitewash him, we rppeat here what we saidto thefireachers, " the can stand it wecan.’ is location may the best thingthat could be done withhim.”

This number contains much interestinmatter. The leading editorial has the fo-lowing inted reply to opponents:

“ Be ore concluding, however, we wish tonotice one other thin in this connection. Ifone is convinced of t e truthof spirits com-municating he is classed as a Spiritualist.Then, if his life does not come up to thestandard they have erected, Bpiritualismmust be held responsible for his misgivings.Let us apply this rule to Christianity andsee how it will work. This is a professedlyChristian nation, and was there ever a morecorrupt one? Go through any communityand interrogate the ple as ou meet them,thus: ‘Do you be ieve the ible?’ ‘Cer-tainly I do,’ is the answer thatwill be givenby nine-tenthsof the ple. ‘ Do you be-lieve in Christ and hristianity?’ ‘Most

assuredly,’ is the reply. Now, we ask in allcandor, must the pure teachings of Christbe held responsible for all the crimes of thisnumerous clan, represented in every phaseof socie ‘P Certainly not. And yet, manycharge piritualisin with all the misdoingsof its converts. A simple belief in Chris-tianityor" Spiritualism will be of little valuehere or hereafter, unless it leads to urity ofheart and life, and the bringing o all thefacultiesand powers of our threefold naturein subjection to the principle of love to Godand man, as fulfillingthe whole law."

The Helena Daily Wm-hi thus speaks ofone who recently lectured here:

As was forinerl announced in these col-umns, Hon. J. . Peebles lectured at thecity hall lastevening to a good audience, thesubject being explanatory of the teachingsof the Spiritualistic faith, and his succin-tion with men and travels in foreign coun-tries. The gentleman, by his appearance,at first glance iinpreses those who gather tolisten to him with the idea that he is a per-son of deep thought and masive intellect,and as his discourse ' p we are forcedto the conclusion thathis mind is cultivatedto a high degree of attainments in the worldof science and literature, while his extensivetravels around the world and his descriptionof countries and ple of which we have noknowledge but t at of reading, eminentlyfits him for an instructive lecturer, andchains the knowledge-loving mind of thosewho would know more and more as theworld turns on and new developments re-sent themselves for examination. His owof language was both graceful and fluent,and we regret exceedingly thata larger au-dience could not have greeted him ; butthis was impossible in consequence of thevery inclementstate of the weather. Thereare some skeptics who are too ignorant tobelieve that the faith of any one is honestbut their own, and are too narrow-mindedto even allow a lecturer toaddress them whenin opinion he differs from them. It is truethat “ ignorance is bliss and it is folly to bewise,” and we suppose in thepresent instancethat thereare some minds in thecommunityin a state of blissful beatitude. We cannotendorse the S iritualistic views enunciatedby the honorable gentleman, but are at alltimes willingto be instructed in the pathofprogressive ideas and listen to an orator_ whocan deal with his subject in a manner tochallenge coin tition.from here to w Orleans.

Mr. Peebles goesV

54 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL HA GAZINE.

IRS. STEWART,The Wonderful Medium at Terre Haute.Our special correspondent gives us quitea

lengthyaccount of the manifestations, andthe philosophy of them. We have beencompelled to omit nearly one-half of herarticle for want of space. Mrs. Stewart’shistory verifies the old idea that genius isborn of poverty and sorrow. She has un-

dergone a depth of privation rarely experi-enced by mortals. In her younger days shewas compelled to toil from early morn tilllate at evening, when she should have beenat school. In her early development as amedium she was annoyed by insolent andrude people to such an extent thatshe foundher gifts were a curse instead of a blessing.With these convictions they moved to Kan-sas, where she worked on a farm, livingin adug-out. Her husband was employed as acommon laborer, hauling dirt on a new rail-road, .and Mrs. S. cooking for the hands byan out-door fire. For months they laboredthus, to find in the end thatbase speculatorshad defrauded them out of their hard earn-

ings. Our correspondent says she was asbrownas a berry,and might have been takenfor the queen of a strolling band of gipsies.Afieran immense amount of suffering andprivation, the spirits told her to go to TerreHaute, Indiana. Arriving there they livedin a quiet way, doing whatever theycouldfind to do, carefully concealing her powers.After it was known thatshe was a medium.Dr. Allen Pence, Capt. James Hook, andMr. Samuel Conner, threeof themost prom-inent and influentialcitizensof TerreHaute,bound themselves together to advance theinterest of the truth by befriending and de-veloping this remarkable woman. By themeans, patience, and timely assistance ofthese three unselfish workers, who havenever asked or received a penny from theearnings of the medium in their charge,she has been sustained. They gave her theirseance room, and rooms for her familyin thesame block, and promised to manage herseances, and defend her if necessary fromthe unjust attacksof prejudiced and ignor-

ant people. They have adhered to theiragreement for three years, and the resulthas been the most thoroughly developedmedium in the world. We have condensedthe above from our correspondent’s historyof her, omitting much of her personal his-tory. We will now let her speak for herselfas an eye-witness of what she writes:

It would doubtless be interesting to someof your readers to review the steps of herdevelopment; but there is hardly space in

our valuable columns for more than arief reference to the slow but sure growth

of her powers. One thing is evident,namely, that in this, as in any worthyachievement, care, attention and persever-ance are necessary. Certain conditionsmust be complied with, and then certain re-sults can be aaured; moreover, constantpractice seems to be essential-to materializestrongly and efi'ectively. Belle, who hasmaterializedhundreds of times, can stay outnow in a very good light for about twentminutes, can speak in a clear, audible, futone.for several minutes in succession, and

on a conversation on almost any topicfor ten or fifteen minutes, before her voiceis reduced to a husky whisper. She is theone who will allow any one to cut oil‘ a lockof her hair and s read it on the front of theplatform, whiles e goes back to the door ofthe cabinet and stands quietly awaiting itsreturn to her head, which it surel accom-plishes, "glidingalong the floor, an 1;p herwhite dress, and lea ing to her head, asten-ing itself upon the i entical spot from whichit was taken. This we have often observed,and examined the head of the mediumafterward and found no hair missing. Shealso puts her materialized slipper u n thefront of the platform, and it will gli e backto the cabinet and place itself u 11 herfoot. She knits litte mittens an stock-ings, and eats apples, oranges, candy, etc.Sometimes she Wll not give these tests. say-ing there are those present who would bemade more skeptical by such acts, consider-ing them too human and real to he acts of as irit.PA numberof other spirits exhibitconsid-erable power, but all of them are those whohave frequent] appeared, and are used tothe business-— ave learned it as an art.One of these is a negro boy, who talks,dances and eats, and climbs through thewindow of the cabinet, then to the top, andthen jumps to the floor. His name is“Bill,”and he is a favorite with all but the -

‘vlndian

I visited Bastian Taylor'sseances whileinC , and Bill came that night, madehi known to us, and said he had seenme here. Upon my return, he came out ofthe cabinet, and after entertaining us for awhile, turned to me and said: “I stirred'em u prett lively down at Mass Basti-an’s, id n’t ?” I agreed withhim, and heseemed much pleased, and said he was “ go-ing down thereoften hereafter.” LastnightMinnie told me she wanted me to write toBastian Chief, and tell him to drive Bill of.

Charley Smith, who is the leader of Mrs.Stewart’s band, shows a good deal ofstrength, specially in talking. He seldoma pears, except at a business council with

e committee. He discusses measures withthem, offers suggestions and prefers requestswith the air of a mature business man,which he really is, being at this time aboutsixtyhfyclears of age. tfhough reitaining theout n appearance 0 twenty- ve, theit which he- died. ageBesides the band, very few spirits have

strength enough to walk about, talk andsing. This is only because their friends donot stay long enough to give them an oppor-tunity for practice in coming. I am satis-fied of this from observing three dilferentspirits who have frequentlyappeared duringmy attendance at the seances. One ofthese is my sister. At first she could onlystay a moment, and she had appeared fouror five times before she could speak morethan a word. Now, however, after appear-ing about fifteen times, she can give mequite lengthy messages, sing five or sixverses of a hymn with me, come ofi‘ theplatform around to my side and conversewithme and caress me, and once has allowedme to get on theplatform and measure withher, giving thus an admirable test to thosewho might imagine that the medium waspersonating, as all in the room saw thatsis-ter was four or five inches taller than me,and I am fully that much taller than themedium.

Another who shows strength and markedimprovement, is Albert Pence, who couldremain but a moment when he first came,and the second time lost his power and fellacres the lap of the medium; he nowwalks all about thefilatform,shaking handsand talkitng natu ly, improvising versesand beau ' ul invocations in a clear, firmvoice, thatall can hear.

Sammy Tucliet, son of Mr. Tucket (wellknown to the Spiritualists of St. Louis),

irit, “ Minnie,” who affects to scoldhim, an complains about him a great deal.

' AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MA GAZINE. 55

comes frequently out of the cabinet, anddances for two or three minutes to amuseand interest us. He was used to material-izing at home, in his father's cabinet, andconsequently shows great activity here.Many s irits have gained strength enoughat that ird or fourth ap cc to sit ata table and write a letter for their friends ;but all cannot learn so fast, and some do nottry to do so much, believing that they canconvince by easier means. -

When a spirit first appears, it invariablyresembles the medium, especially across theforehead, however tall it may be or howeverstrangely attired for identification. Theoftener they come, the more thoroughlycanthey reveal their identity, and some succeedin doing this perfectly, although I believethatI have never yet seen the golden gleamupon the hair of a returning b onde. Thismay be partially from the shaded li ht inwhich they appear, but it is more like y thatthe darker hue is borrowed from the raventresses of the medium. Light hair we haveobserved upon our returning dear ones, butit has the drab or leaden shade, instead ofthe yellow tinge that we rememberand ex-pect. Some old people ap ar with snowy-white hair and heard, whi e others cannotdivest themselvesof the medium suflicientlyto show the hair white. Often, when itshould be the latter, it is black or dingybrown. The spirits struggle hard to over-come the obstacles to complete identifica-tion; and recently one wept aloud becausethe father and mother could not perfectlyrecognize her. She turned to me amid hersobbing, and said : " Tell themit is PhccbelPhoebe!” and continued to whisper hername over and over durin the time shestood in the door. A pe ect recognitionafterward followed, and she was relievedand ha py, though could say but little.

As have mentioned, the main point ofresemblance to the medium is across thebrows. Her's are heavy and black, meetingin the middle, and almost as thick at thatpoint as directly above the eyes. They are

ut little curved, and, in a dim light, makealmost a straight line across her forehead.I have observed this peculiarity upon a re-turning friend who is six feet tall, wearsbeard and moustache, and has a full, hi hforehead, his identity marred only by t estrange likeness to her across the eyes. Ihave seen thesame resemblance upon youngchildren much smaller than the medium.

One of the best tests given of the genu-ineness of these phenomena, is the bringingof the medium out of the cabinet. This is

56 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

done nearl every night. Belle generallyisthe spirit t at is materialized for this work,while Minnie occupies the medium’s bodyand walks it out, talkin in a quaint andfunny way to us or to Be le during the pro-cem. There stands the spirit, in white, inone door, and the medium in the other,eachswinging a door, or sometimes one clappinghands, while the hand of the other is swing-ing the door, discovering to us not only twoinrms, but two living, acting,thinking,talk-in beings.

t night I witnessed for the first timewhat is erally considered dematerializa-tion of t e medium. Charley Smith ap-peared, and told us to be patient, as hewished to experiment a little. In aboutfifteen minutes he opened the door andwalked out, giving us a full view of the in-terior of the cabinet, and revealing nothinbut the empty chair. He simply informus thatshe was gone, and enjoined the ut-most uiet upon us. After standing beforeus, ' a few moments, he said: “Mr.Stewart, f hear on drawing a long si h;but do not be ed; I will bring erback.” He then closed the door, and wewaited with throbbing hearts the result ofwhat seemed to all of us a doubtful anddangerous experiment. In about ten min-utes the door 0 ned, and there stood astrange youn l y, taller than themedium,with white, owing dress, and a white veilfastened to her head with a wreath of whiteflowers. She did not make herself known,but merely opened the door and showed usthat the chair was empty and the mediumstill missing.

Some of us felt alto ther too nervous forcomfort b this time, _ut we were obligedto wait fi n minutes or more before therewas a sign or movement from the cabinet;then we heard the medium groaning asthough suffering, and her husband hastenedto thedoor and found her there, but scarcelyout of the trance state, and thorough] ex-hausted. Vanished she certainly had en,hidden com letely from us, but I for onecould not be ieve that her nervous and cir-culatory systems, her anatomy and the deli-cate tissues of the brain, had been takenatom from atom, and then reunited into themarvelous, moving machineryof the humanbody, and clothed with the identity of Mrs.Stewart. This would be a greater miraclethan raising the dead. It would be causingnot only the death of the body, but its com-plete return to the invisible elements, andthen a recall of the essential atoms and arebuilding a full-grown, compact, living

woman. I cannot believeit, but do believethatMrs. Stewart was enclosed in the mate-rialized form of Charles Smith, and thushidden from us. This could easily havebeen done, as he is taller and larger thanshe; yet in this case he must have demate-rialized her voluminous attire, as he ap-peared a pareled as a gentleman.

I triedpte have him explain, through theindependent slate-writing, how it was done,but he only wrote, “ You havea better ideaof dematerialization than I could possiblygive you, as the wer would not hold outong enou h.” his brings me to another

phase of rs. Stewart’s mediumship, whichshe has in as marked a de as HenrySlade, of New York, or Mrs. Kate Blade,of Chicago. '

Many people do not understand preciselywhat is meant by independentslate-writing;so I will merely mention that the mediumputs a minute iece of pencil upon theslate,thenlays the to upon one hand and putsit under the table, pressing it tightly upagainst the leaf or bed of thetab e. Theother hand is laid on the table, in lainsight. In a few minutes you hear the ittlepencil scratching upon the slate as natural]as though ou were writing withit yoursel ,and soon t e slate is pushed from under thetable, and behold! it contains a message toyou, signed often by the name of yourfriend. The substance of the message, theformation of the letters, and the name, eachand all a complete test of the presence andagency of your departed friend. I have hadmessages, through Mrs. Stewart’s medium-shi , rom four different friends in as manydi erent handwritings, and in each instanceperfect tests, so far as the communicationsare concerned.

She also gives tests by clairvoyance andclairaudience, and to a limited extent bydrawing and inting. Her mediumship isimproving allptthe time, and the prospectsnow are certainly such as to confirm the be-lief that the spirits will keep their promise,and appear in full daylight next summer,upon a public platform, and address thepeople. They have never made a romiseut they have fulfilled it, and the evelop-

ment has been so great during the past yearthatwe can hardly overrate thepossibilities.Frequently, of late, they have materializedin view of all, and dematerialized while westill watched them, allowing the medium toremain in her normal state, and enjoy thescene with us.’ -

God is with us, and we thankHim dailfor the ministrations of His angels, whom

AIIERIOAN‘ SPIRITUAL HAGAZINE. 57

we recognize as our loved ones who havesuffered with us in the flesh, and who loveus with a love thatdeath nor the grave canrestrain. Tears of gratitude to Him and tothem dim our eyes, as the join us in sacredhymns to His praise; an we wonder howan one can trammel the beautifulscienceof ife thatspirits are unfoldingwith impiousphilosophy,that at but can only be calledmimsmal exhalations from imperfect brains,illydeveloped.Not an irreverent word has escaped thelips of any spirit whose return I have wit-nesed, while many a bleaing, man a whis-pered or audibleword of pra er an thanks-giving I have heard, and am more andmore confirmed in the beliefthatall impureteachings, ridiculous notions and crudethoughts, that visionary people have fromtime to time attributed to spirits, are of theearth earthy, and that it is a base libel toassume that the disembodied would counselor uphold the same. MAUDE.

TernHaute, Ind., Jan. 8, 1876.

AIBRIOAE SPIBITUALISI.The Spiritualism of America. presents

very many ints of difference in compari-son with at of En land; its style andcharacter, genius an thought, are moreradical and speculative than our own. It isconceived by man of its advocates thatnoquestion is outsi e of its limits; politics,religion, sociolo , finance, commerce andevery imaginabe philosophy are broachedfrom its platforms with a of oratoryand power of eloquence, w ich, if lackinginlogical acuteness and rational sequence,lend an undeniable charm to those whosereasonlplgs are not of the sectarian and

ti method. The Bible, Jesus, theoug Men's Christian Asociation, nick-

nam the “Jesuits of America,” and the“ Yonn Men's Amanination Society," arein for a 'berIa)l sharf’ofb<1:ritii:£‘s:iIpndhardnsage. ans, ee es, 0 , pes

nt and Edmonds, may hep classedamong thestandard authors on the subjectin America, while the Banner of Light andthe Rdigio-Philosophical Journal are theleading weekly new pers. The Srmrruar.Maaaznm, publish In Memphis, Tennes-see, by the Rev. Mr. Watson, gives theChristian liberal view of what we call inthis country Christian Spiritualism, andtracts, pamphlets and other literary worksare circulated in abundance. The workoforganintion can scarcely be said to be in aprosperous condition, and on nearly all sides

there are laments for what used to be, whencompared with what is. Mediums aboundwhose gifts are availablefor the buildingofa railway bridge, the curing of a baby, the4

matrimony,curing all diseases incidental tophysical life, and the propoundin of theo-ries for the spiritual happiness an welfareof all mankind,and thedelivery of lectures;but candor compels me to admit thata vastquantity of American mediumship is nu-inel useful, and many of the lectures e1iv-erted’ through the inspirational and trancespeakers are well worthy of attention andconsideration. The future of AmericanSpiritualism will, in my opinion, evidencemore of a conservative tendeuc than hashithertobeen thecase. The pecu ‘at breadthand freedom characterizing its past andpresent utterances, as well as the collectiveexperiences of the whole,‘ are being sub-jected to a slow and careful sifting, which,when completed, will weed out much that isundesirable, leaving the soil freer for thegrowth and development of those ideas ofgreatness and ness with which Americaso peculiarly a unds, and without the pres-ence of which American Spiritualism wouldhave longsince disintegrated. On thewhole,I was well pleased with Spiritualism as amovement in the United States, and am inthe full and complete hope of it recoveringfrom its resent to r, and bursting intolusty h th and activity.—J. J. Horse, inLondon Samuel‘M»

.____j._j_:

Tm: Banner says ,of Dr. Crowell’s book:De. Cnowm.L’s Smozm VoLUm:.—Ws

have only space this week to announce thatthe second volume of Dr. Eugene Crowell’selaborate and exhaustive work, entitled“ The Identity of PrimitiveChristianityandModern 8 iritualism,” is now in the binder’shands an will soon be ready for publica-tion. We have seen proofs of the volume,and from a brief examination can confident-ly sahy that it promises to exceed in interestt e rst volume, good as that was. Thechapters on “ The Ministry of Angels,"“ Death,” “ The Spirit worl ,” “ Spiritual-ism and Science,” are especially full of mat-ter of the rofoundest interest, not only tothe cho ogical student, but to thegeneral

er. We have marked many passagesfor quotation, and must defer to anotherweek a more extended notice. Dr. Crowell’swork will take rank as the most com rehen-sive thathas yet appeared on the su jept ofmodern Bpiritualism.

findingof a lost_purse, advising on intending '

' owy. The mor

58 AHERICAN SPIRITUAL IIAGAZINE.

For the American SplrltualSPIRIT OLOTIIING.

Infantile Life-—When Immortality Begins.BY J. K. PEBBLE.

The spiritual is the real. All that theph ical hand can touch, all that the exter-n senses can co izé, is unreal and shad-

body is but a changingvesture, a traveling-dress for thesoul—to belain aside when the death-angelbidsus crossthe crystal river.from cells to angels, are eitherdual or trinal.Accordingly,the s. stle speaks of “ bod ,soul, and spirit." d as here the earth ybody is clothed in fading ents, so inthe future world of bl ness the spiritbody is arrayed or robed in spiritual vest-ures.

In the twenty-eighthchapter of Matthewis spiritual being is said to have a “ raimentwhite as snow.”' The sixteenth chapter ofMark describes a young man sittin by the“ sepulcher, clothed in a long, w ite gar-ment." In that spiritual manifestation re-corded in the first chapter of Acts, therewere seen “ two men who stood by them inwhite a el.” And John, the seer’of Pat-mos, te_ us that when a door was openedin Heaven, he saw seven angels coming outof the temple, “clothed in pure, white lin-en.” This “ linen,” this “ raiment,” and thelong “ white garments” of those residing inthe world of s irits, may be so manipulated, .

so materiali by resurrected scientists andchemists in spirit life, as to become visibleto the physical eye.have appeared at materializin seanccs.

But when, or at what peri of fatal lifedo theunborn begin to be immortal T Taughtby the angels, I reply: Immortal life beginsin its outward manifestation from thesacredmoment of embryonic existence. Evolutionis the term now generally used in place ofcreation. But evolution implia somethingto be evolved from; and what is more, itimplies conditions, and parents afford theconditions for new incarnations. Matterand spirit are both re-existing and eternal.And accordin ly £mei-son, our AmericanPlato, speaks o theinfinite “ Over-soul.” Inthis conscious “ over-soul," this divinerealmof theAbsolute,all finite souls, allied theretoas drops, or streams, to a living fountain,primarilypre-exist, and have a “ glory withthe Father.” They descend from the pureether of the heavens for experiences withthe material things of earth.

The law of correspondence is founded in

an things, all beings, .sp

Children and infants

science. Alkalies and acids correspond tothe male and female principles. And when-ever an alkali and an acid unite there isformed immediate] a third and a differentcompound, a salt. 0 with the paternal andmaternal relatlions. Qrlagalilnz two cloudspositivey an n tivey c arged arejustconditioned to evo vs the li htnings flash.And so with the positive an negative pro-creative princi les; when there is a roperrelational interhlending in marital lifd, theconditions are given for the descent of the

irit, for theimplantation of thesoul-germ;and from thisconsecrated moment thefatalbein is consciously intelligent and immortal.

T e spiritual or soul-germ once rooted in‘thematrice, its destiny onward is a necessity.Nature takes no backward steps. There isno law of absolute retro ession—no lawwhereby something, or su nee, ultimatesin nothing.

_Therefore, from embryonic conception theinfantilebeing isimmortal. And hysicians,nurses, parents, who purposely blast thesebuds, who, throu h medicinal violence,strip these immor buds from the “ tree oflife,” are guilty in the eyes of God and an-gels of faseticide—guiltyof murder!

We need not talk of child-murder inChina, need not piously prate about the so-cial vioes of Paris, when fceticide is so fash-ionable in what is sometimes denominated“ the good societ of America! ” Everychildbegotten oug t to have a natural birth;a careful watching in infancy, a vigorousdiscipline in youth, a useful employment inman cod; and then, a calm, serene old age,ripening up gradually for the transition tothatsummer-land home of beatificbliss andblessedneas.

“I dream I see him in his radiant vest,Among his angel kindred up on high."New Orleans, La.TM

For the American Spiritual Magazine.Bno. WA'rso1t—TerreHaute, Ind., hasa

new medium, in the person of Laura Mor-gan, a girl only fourteen ears old. Thepiano is played by invisibe hands, voicesspeak. from the cabinet, she is tied and un-tied by the spirits, and they also put outhands of various sizes, that take a nciland write messages upon a slate. shehad proper conditions, she might soon rivalour most renowned mediums. If she had acommittee of managers, large-hearted, dis-creet men, intent upon developin thetruth,like those who have charge of rs. Stew-art's seances, it would be better for her aidfor the world. M.

AMERICAN SPIRITUAL HA GAZINE. 59

AmericanSpiritual MagazinePUBLISHED MONTHLY.

S. WATSON, Edltor and Proprietor.‘farms of Subscription:

Ox: Yun, . . . . . . . . . . . $2 00Susan: Corns, 20c. Bx Hun, 25c.

MEMPHIS, FEBRUARY, 1876.

IATBRIALIZATIONS.

Since our last issue our experience withMrs. Millerhasbeen variedand interesting.We shall notice mainly thosemanifestationswhich have been merely of a personal char-acter. The materializing at the publicseances have been very satisfactoryto nearlyall who have witnessed them. A few havebelieved the whole thingwas a fraud anddelusion; some remarks to this effect havebeen made by the reporters for the citypapers. To notice what has occurred at allof the seances we have attended, wouldrequire too large a space in the MAGAZINE.Confining ourself to the developing circle,and meetings with but few persons, we givea few facts as they occurred.

At our first seance in the afternoon, therewere some seven or eight persons present.Soon after the medium was tied, she wasentranced, and a numberof persons drapedin white came out, several of whom wererecognized as relative of those present.Such rejoicing we have rarely seen. Somewho are not accustomed to excitement,shouted aloud when they met their lovedones, and shook their hands rejoicingly.

“ Frances,” who plays on the accordeon,whom none of us knew in her earth life,laid aside her instrument and shook handswith us all. We felt as one of old expressed,that it was “ the gate of heaven." At oneof our meetings Redface told us to bringthem some pears, which we did the nextday. "Mollie," our former wife, took oneof them, taking two or three monthfulls ofit, and ate it as naturally as she ever did.We gave her one for Redface, which he said

was very good, but not so good as thosethey had in spirit land. He said he couldnot come out to thank us for it, but hewould dance for us, when such a rumblingas we have rarely heard was produced.Having been requested by him to bring ourscissors, Mollie took a chair, and set it onthe floor, stepped on it, and then down onthe floor, and came to us, draped as usualin white. We gave her the scissors, andshe cut a piece a few inches square out ofher dram and gave it to us. We felt of herdraw, as well as her hand and face. Allfelt and looked as natural as in earth life.The fabric is very fine, and as one of ourlargest dry goods merchants, to whom weshowed it soon after, said, he could not tellwhether it was linen or cotton. We havegiven most of it away,but the piece we keptis still, now over a month, preserved.

At one of our afternoon seances we hadDr. Burney, of DesArc, Dr. McCargo, ofOlive Branch, Miss., and Dr. Pittman, ofMemphis, a committee to tie her. Whenentranced they pronounced her, as othershave done at other times, utterly incapableof performing any action. The manifesta-tions, though not so demonstrative as at our

private circle, were such as no sane mancould question were beyond the power ofany mortal to produce.

On anotheroccasion, after some conversa-tion, our wife asked us if we remembereda

green silk dress we had given her soon afterwe were married. On our replying in theafiirmative,she remarked, “ I willgive you a

piece of it." Retiring behind the curtain afew moments, she came out dressed in what

-looked like it. She gave us a piece of it,which we have kept in our pocket-book eversince. On different occasions, when theweather was cool, she has broughta blanketand wrapped it around us. On one occa-sion, in the daytime, she went to a distantpart of the room, and got a coat which wehad not observed, came behind us, threw itover our shoulders, and pressed it to ourbosom.

One morning Mr. Peebles and ourselfwere making some experiments, and talking

60 AMERICAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.

as usual, Mollie appeared with a shawl onher arm. We said, “ Mollie, you took thatofl‘of Mrs. Miller.” “No,” she said, “ wematerializedit." We examined it carefully;it was thick, fine, and heavy, a darkgroundwith large white stripes. ‘She called Mr.Peebles and Mr. Miller to examine it. Wefour stood together and examined it, ascarefully as we could, and we never saw amore natural shawl to all appearance. Shecame round on the otherside, took a chairwe had our hand on, moved it some five orsix feet, and set it down, and did manyother things.

Another morning she came cfi‘ the plat-form, took a chair and sat down by us,talking, looking, and feeling as natural asin earth life. She changed herdress in afew moments from white to blacksilk. Shewent up to Mr. Peebles and stood afewmoments, he saying he could hear the rust-ling of thesilkdress.

On several occasions there would be an-other standing on the platform. One was arelation of Mr. Peebles. She pointed toher, saying, “do you see that girl?” Onanotheroccasion, when a woman was there,she pointed to her, saying, “ do yousee that

.wcman?” She breathes naturally, as wehave several times felt, when kissing her.

We have said enough to make some peo-ple think as crazy; but those who haveinvestigated the subject, know it is a mostglorious reality.

Mr. Peebles saw, conversed with, andembraced a relative of his. An old gentle-man who had beenthereseveral times meet-ing his mother and wife, after talking to hiswife some time and kissing her, on returningto his seat, said, with much feeling, “Iknow that is my wife."

There is one phase of materialization wehave never before seen or read of, nor hadMr. Peebles, who has traveled around theworld, lecturing on Spiritualism. It is thematerialization of spirits on a vacant lot.We have witneaed this several times. Mrs.Milleralways dresed in darkclothes. Beau-tiful forms in purest white will appear with

her, talking to her, and walking on eachside of her, all kneelingdown several times,apparently in prayer. The last time wewitnemed this, Mr. Peebles was with us.Fire came down, if not from heaven, fromthe atmosphere above their heads, fell uponthe ground, and although the ground waswet, it blazed up, creating considerable lightby burning the gran.

We give facts, and leave other people toinvent theories or disbelieve the whole, justas the plane on which they live may enablethem to judge of theseremarkablemanifest-ations. We now have a new cabinet, madeby directions of Dr. McFalL

Atour lastmeetinghe not onlytied Mrs.M.securely, but nailed her dress down to thefloor, sticking a pin in the floor betweenherfeet. Soon after persons came out in white,walking about the room, and doing manythings. One of them asked for a coat whichwas hanging on a. chair. It was given toher; (she had carried a chair on the plat-form, stood up in it, with another in herhand, raised above her head). She laid thechair down, spread the coat on it, and laiddown on the floor. Afterall was over, Mrs.Miller was as she was confined; her dremhad to be torn loose from the floor, the pinbetween her feet. '

We expect to give all the tests that anyreasonableskeptic can ask, and thus demon-strate that she is only a passive agent inthese wonderful spiritual materializations.

DB. OBOWEI-L'8 BOOK.

After several weeks of pressing duties,attending seances day and night with Mrs.Millerand othermediums, with not a leisurehour, we sought a little respite on the Bath,for Augusta. Dr. Crowell’s second volumeof 516 pages, “Primitive Christianity andModern Spiritualism," was our companion.We had but little time for anything elseuntil we found “the end” of this most in-tensely interesting book.

Dr. Crowell was the son of a Methodistpreacher, and from the age of eighteen to

.AHE'RIOAN SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE. 61*___.j._

fifiywas a materialist. In his investigationsof Spiritualism he was converted from hismatenal:s'' m to a belief in Chr1st|ani'' 'ty. Weknow him intimately; have shared hisprincely hospitality in his palatial residence,196 Clinton avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., atdifferent times, withhis interesting, intelli-gent family.

Dr. C. remarked to us, in conversation,thatit was a singular fact that he and our-self should reach the same plane from such’difl'erentstandpoints. In onepoint, however,wedifibr: inregardtoourdualneture,andthe separation of the “outer” from the"inner man" in earth life. Thiswehavebelieved and preached for a quarter of acentury. There are many well-authenticatedfacts, which we think cannot be accountedfor on any other hypothesis than that theinner man does come out of, and act inde-pendentlyof the physical organization.

As we shall give our readers the benefitof his labors by drawirg largely from hisbook, we defer further notice at present,calling attention to the extract from thetenth chapter, which furnishes abundantfood for Spiritualistic thinkers. .

OUR PROSPECTS.New subscribers and renewals have been

pouring in upon us for weeks, so that wefind it almost impossible to keep up withourbusiness.

The Banner speaks thus of our MAGA-zmn -

“Tm: Axnrcsx Srmrruu. Maaazma,isued by Samuel Watson, at Mem his,Tenn., has assured the world of Ii 1readers of its succeu as an enterprise bycoming out for 1876 with a new dress, as totymsphy, and an increase of size, thesu 'ption price bein only nominallyad-vanced. Its contents or Janu are spicyand valuable. We wish Bro. atson thefullest measure of both mental and pecuni-ary remuneration for his resolute attempt todo pioneer work in the southern portion ofthe vineyard.”

We are determined to devote our timeand whatever abilitywe may have to makethe Maosznm worthy of support. In this

we are aided very much by our spiritfriends, by whose direction we were placedin our present position, and from whom weare assured we may expect their continuedco-operation for the promotion of the causeof truth in the elevation of our commonhumanity.

PERSONAL.

KL PEEBLE.This distinguished gentleman lectured

.

three Sabbaths, in the Auembly Hall, to.large and appreciative audiences, on Spirit-ualism, in the forenoon, and on his triparound the world, in the evening. He willspend a few weeks in‘ New Orleans, thenvisit some places in South America, return-ing this way, spending a week or two withus. Any community which can secure hisservices will be much interested and prof-ited by his lectures. We have never beenassociated with any man who is more genial,affable and interesting than Mr. P. Hisextensive travels, close observation, andhappy mode of communicating, render himone of the most companionableof amociates.To those who wish to know more of him, wesay, get his book, “ TripRound theWorld.”

on. n’rar.r..This most remarkablemediumfrom Nash-

ville, spent a few days with us. He was apracticingphysician for ten years, a memberof the Legislature, and chairman of theCommittee on the Lunatic Asylum when amember of that body. He confirms thestatement we made some time since upon theauthorityof an old citizen, that not one ofthe inmates of the asylum had been madecrazy by Spiritualism.

Dr. McFall is themedium of perhaps thebest circle in the world. They turn it tomore practical account than any we haveever known. Such is the estimate placedupon it that some have offered a thousanddollars to be admitted into it. The Doctorwas controlled by two of his band in ourlibrary. One night, while he ‘was with us,one of them, a Hindoo, who has been in

62 ' AMERICAN SPIRITUAL HAGAZINE.

spirit life five hundred years, gave us moreimportant information thanwe ever receivedfrom any one before. A few fragmentsweretaken down, which we give our readers.

We made inquiries respecting the materi-alization of fabrics, especially the silkdressworn by our “ better half." His theory wasin substance this: That there was nothingcreated. The matter of which that silk.dram was manufactured was in existencebefore it passed through the silk—worm fed

- by the mulberry leaves. More than a thirdof a century had elapsed since it was madeinto silk; that spirits possessed the willpower to reproduce it. '

We confea our ignorance of the modusoperandi by which it was produced, but thefact we do know. '

The following answers to the questionspropounded were given through Dr. McF. :

Are there any questions that you wouldlike for me to answer this evening?

Will you tell me what I can do to ad-vance the cause of truth, in its bearinguponSpiritualism?

Well, sir, you must have a clear concep-tion of what truth is in this relation. Theworld ex cts, and has the right to expect,clear an unmistakable evidences of truth,especially when it would lead man fromcherished views and fixed opinions. Muchis received as truth that is not truth; andmuch thatis clear to you it willbedifliculttomake evident to others, of ditferent organicand educational conditions. In convincinmen thatyou are correct you must take eachone on his own plane ; on must comprehendthe inquirer’s e og mental ability anddevelopment; ead him out and on by hisown methodof reasoning; take him on hisown ground, convince him in his way. Thiswill require discretion, tact, forbearance;we must not conclude thatour light will en-able them to see; light on our plane maynot illumine their sphere; they must havelight in their own dark abodes, and evi-dences adapted to their own abilityfor ap-rehension. Some will not believe; thelind cannot see. The enlightened have

the evidence in themselves.May we ex t a rapid advancement in

Spiritualistic lief?During the next five ears more greatminds and persons of intivuence will come

over to correct views on this subject thandurin all past time.

Wi l ou give our views as to the talkedof war tween atholicismand Protestant-ism T

There will be a great contest. From1880 to 1885 the world will be shaken byrevolutions,calamitiesand pestilences ; therewill not be a cessation of these until 1916.This will not be sent as a curse, but theresult of natural causes. The contest ofwhich you speak will begin in Turkeyandwill continue b we of England to theUnited States. t wil be here in four yearsand will cpntinue eight years.What will be thegreat principle involvedin this contest?

You willfind liberalismthe moving cause.Rome has lost her actin head, but Romewill not yield her ideas 0 dictatorship andecclesiastical and lpolitical supremac with-out thisstruggle. n thiscontest the retest-ant churches will finally reach a conditionof united action, founded upon liberal viewsof individual res nsibility. Acquiescencein views from t e ofliciating altar is nowex cted and is given. The people aretalked to and they pay for it. There is morelove and reverence for the reacher andchurch institutions thanfor t e creator ofall h; 11313:?! l)enefii;1(f'._:onfel'l}’16dgiy thepee et an receiv mt eo ciary.Thep churches are to be united u n liberalprinciples and with due regard or individ-ual rights.

What is to be the result of this contest ?The result will be harmonized thought———

unity of entities. All humanity will reacha harmonial condition—all who have everexisted. Humanity was originally a unity-it became a diversity—it must return toits original condition; all must reach theplane of rfect entitization. This point isto bereac ed by thefunctionsof thechurch,the teachingsof science and by the reactiveenergy of natural causes; each giving itsinfluence to accomplish the common work.

How long to thisperiod?After this we pass quickly to the point of

perfect harmrmu and then enter upon themillennium. You may not know preciselywhen the one ends and the other begins.We all have a part to perform in brin ' gabout these results; we may be govern bydifferent motives—every action in life hasits motive-—we live by motives. By adiversity of motives and influencesthis greatwork is to be accom lished. This combinedmotive power is the finite.

What are your views of the various

AHERIOAN SPIRITUAL HA GAZINE. 63

phases of Spiritualism, viz.: Christian,scientific and radical?

All end in the same result, all tend toharmonize. In chemistry you take threeelementary rinciple or agents all 0 posedchemically, ring them together and’ theyunite, forming a com und of an entirelydifferent character. £0with the chemistof mind. In your physical atmosphere alyou see is due to combination; in the beau-tiful world around you the same rincipleholds. Look at beauty in its perPection—-the female form. All here that we so muchadmire is the result of an nizin forcesand principles; all, both of body an mind,the discordant in the physicaland mentalharmonized, the opposing principles kept in-tact and control by harmonizedaction; dis-cord blending in beautiful concord. Theprinciple of radicalism is bein changed bypassing through the filters. he s irit is anemanation from the divine Origins . Fromthe earliest period of existence until themortal form is put ofl' and its atoms returnto min le with original elements, we maytrace t e workings of the life principle.First we have a single germina int, asmall cell; then its multiplication E; vitalaction into other cells; then in due time theoutlines of the human form appear. Thedevelopment continues with new evidencesof vital movement, until the form assumes apositive ‘condition and the spirit is clothedin material drapery. Then comes the sepa-ration from the maternal support and aninde ndent condition of life results, thusreac ing the first great e h in life. Nowthe form develops and t e mental facultiesare called into ay by thesame vital action,and now maturity is reached, and finally,when the purposes of organization are ac-complished, the material drapery is put off,and we assume another and a still highermode of existence ; a condition still furtherremoved from the restraints of earth life,,and withgreatly augmented powers for use-fulness and for enjoyment. The secondgreat e h is now reached. The naturalmust fo low the spiritual or vital; the natu-ral is but the reflex of the spiritual. Herewe have developed the divine image illumedby the light of life, yet obscured and dark-ened by theshadows of earth. Like begetslike; effect follows cause. How could Christbe other than Christ, since he was formedunder lawsof theutmost rfection, resultingin the Christ principle? e know thepowerof actingprinci les or forces by the results.The rose is not nown in its appreciable ex-cellence but by its properties.

How are fabrics materialized?Well, sir, take the silkof which you have

spoken. It had existed in the elementsfrom which it was coalesced during all time.You know how silk is produced by theworm. It is flrstin the fluid state, then themucilagineus, then as the exhalations moveoff, the substance is left. It is coalesced bthelaws of nature, and whatever is coalescemay, by concentration of mind and willpower, be re-coalesced. The time will comewhen you will only have to will, and theobject of your wishes will be accomplished.This will be effected b concentration ofmind and will power. r a while, insteadof wearing out your or nization in writingand speaking, you wi 1 bring forth yourthou ts by musical sounds. Your lan-gua e is very imperfect.

ou wish to know whether I can controlyour friend, Mrs. H., so as to communicatethrough her.

In controlling a medium, there must beunit in the physical, spiritual and mentalcon ition of the control and the party con-trolled. In controlling thestron organismof the medium through which am nowcommunicating,I must be mindful of theforce applied, or thebrain might be crushed.We must have reference to conditions. Allnature is a series of conditions. The objectto be obtained in a medium is to hold thegreatest control thatcan be effected withoutinjury to the medium.

_Want of harmony roduces discord thataifects the results. here there is want ofharmony there may still he power to con-trol; but the controlling power may com-municate eitherfrom heaven or hell—eithertruth or falsehood. In your sphere all aremore or less subject to spiritual influence,which influence ma be for good or evil.The thieves confin in your jails and peni-tentiaries should be treated kindly, for theyare insane; they ma be thereby elevatedabove the sphere o evil spirits. Therewould be no evil born were humanity ele-vated, b holy livin , above the sphere ofevil. y friends, c othe our souls in robessuitable to harmony in t e higher spheresbeyond the grave.

._:_.—_..m__

Frank T. Ripley writes from«Baltimore,Md., that his guides have given him arecipe by the use of which sufferers fromkidney complaint or diseases of the bloodcan obtain a certain cure. This recipe hewill send to any addrw on receipt of 81,and one three cent stamp. Address him,343 West Baltimore street.

64 AJIERIOAN SPIRITUAL NAGAZINE.

WE call attention to thearticle respectingMrs. Stewart. We have devoted more spacethan usual to thissubject, but we wish ourreaders, and especially those who visit Mrs.Miller’s seances, to profitby its perusal. Shesays: “ Moreover, constant practice seemsto be essential to materialize strongly andefl'ectivel_v." We find a numberof personswho think theyought to see their friendsthe first time they go. They seem to thinkit strange that we can have our friends tocome out, and theynot have their friends.They should bear in mind thatwe have beennear two years investigatingthematterwithMrs. Miller, at much sacrificeof time andconvenience. It has now been over a yearsince our wife first came outside of the cab-inet. It was not until she had come outseveral times thatshe could talk to us. Thefirst sentences she spoke, we detected theaccent of Mrs. Miller, which mystified usfor a while. There is this peculiarity aboutthesematerializations—atfirst theyresemblethe medium. As conditions improve, thisresemblance decreases, and their own per-sonality becomes more identical.

Our conviction is, that if we had takenMrs. Miller two years ago, and given herthe opportunities thatMrs. Stewart has had,there would have been no intelligent inves-tigater who would stultify himself so as toquestion the truth of the phenomena. Maywe not hope that those who know this to betrue will show “ their faithby theirworks,”and aid to place her in conditions thatshemay convince the most skeptical of thetruthof thisglorious philosophy?

OUR BOUND VOLUIB.The Banner of thus speaks of our

volumeunder thehead of New Publications:“ Tm-3 Annmcsx Srmrrmu. Maeszme,

S. Watson, editor and proprietor, is nowissued in the form of a substantial volumefor the completed numbers of its first year.It is published at Mem his. Of the excel-lent character of Bro. atson’s MAGAZINEwe need not k to those who have beenits readers. t it has done serviceand lasting, where its work is known best, is

the testimoxfi-rpf all. It is published atonly two do a year, and we rejoice tolearn from its prospectus thatits succea forthe past year has exceeded its publisher'sex tations. The editorial matter is ripean thoughtful in its character, full of prac-tical instruction and inspiration for Spirit-ualists, while its selected matter and contri-butions evince an eclectic taste and a soundjudgment, which have evidently met withdeserved po ular appreciation. We havebeen pleased?and instructed with a desal-tory look over thepages of thisfirst volume,an extend to the editor the cordial ex res-sions of our is: th in the wor heis en pS.pirltua1ists gillodthe Westand uthwest should not sufl'er so sterlinga publication as Watson's MAGAZINE to Ian-guish fcr lack of a ready and vigoroussupport.”

We have these numbers bound as thedemand may be for them. They are forsale at Boyle & Chapman's, E. S. Hatchet-’s,and Mrs. Lanier’s, Main street. We willsend a copy of the volume by mail on re-

ceipt of 81.50, with 25 cents for postage, toany addrsm. To our new subscribers wewill pay the postage on it when the price ofit accompaniesthe order.

We will also give a copy of the volumeas a premium to every one who will send usfive new subscriptions, and ten dollars forthem. There are hundreds who might thussecure this interesting book, and confer isreal benefitupon those who take the MAGA-znuz, by a little effort. Who will respondby sending us clubs, as above?

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS.We have received from Bro. W. H. Tay-lor, of Cincinnati, an account of the test

experiment, to which we call attention. Wethank him most sincerely for the test pic-ture, which is the best we have ever seen.We will loan it to Mr. Coouley, from whichothers may be taken, and those who desirethem may be supplied with this, to some,very demonstrative proof, of the truth ofSpiritualism. The spirit face almost hidesthe face of the sitter. When we take intothe account the circumstances as certified tob the photographers who were not Spiritu-

ists, there attaches an importance to itwhich rhaps never has been to any picture-of the ' (1 ever taken.