elevated in his conceptions to fall in reverence before the scepter of Christ.

Newton, whose gigantic intellect could scale the loftiest battlements of nature, ransack her towers of light in the sky, and stand in dignified composure, looking abroad on the universe from piles of thought-piles at whose fearful height ordinary minds grow dizzy in gazing-Newton, from the proudest summit of science and of fame, with all his mighty powers, bowed in humility at the foot of the cross."

I speak not of these as if Christianity needed the support of great names, but I do it to show the littleness of little minds compared with the above, who would fain acquire a momentary notoriety, by speaking lightly of the revelation of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and assume to demolish and supersede it by the chimerical dreams, reveries, and visions of mesmeric revelations, and psychological rapping and writing mediums. Like the man who, failing to gain public notoriety and solid fame by intrinsic worth, fired the temple of Diana, at Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the world), to render his name immortal, and thus damn himself to everlasting, so there are some who would fain secure a like notoriety, rather than fail of being noticed, by demolishing the fabric of Christianity in case they could not supersede it by a revelation of their own.

All such puny efforts, though vain, are still injurious and annoying in their tendency, but are destined to

perish from human remembrance and leave the temple of Christianity unmoved, unshaken! It is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself the chief corner-stone. And as it is destined to outlast the powers of earth and outlive the pulsations of ages, so the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Christ is not only the chief corner-stone, but equally sure will he be found the HEAD of the corner when the work shall be finished, and the spiritual temple consummated in future scenes. In this respect he will prove himself to be the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End-the First and the Last.

I would therefore, in conclusion, most sincerely and earnestly advise all rapping and writing mediums to abandon their present silly and foolish enterprise before they are irrecoverably lost and confirmed in the jerk! And permit me seriously and kindly to advise not only all rapping and writing mediums, but all mesmeric and psychological subjects, to cease from their labors of love-to cease enlightening and blessing the world with their superior revelations, that throw those of Jesus Christ and his apostles so far in the shade.

LECTURE VIII.

THE seven Lectures contained in the preceding pages were publicly delivered in various sections; what follows was not. I merely divide the subject-matter into Lectures to preserve a uniformity in the book. I append them as an act of justice to Judge Edmonds, of this city, and his associates, who have published a work of 505 pages in defense of the truthfulness of spirit-manifestations. I must confess that the work is written with a great deal of candor and sincerity, and is decidedly the best that I have as yet perused upon this subject. The Introduction, the conjoint work of John W. Edmonds and George T. Dexter, contains 100 pages, and the Appendix, by Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, late U. S. Senator, and Governor of Wisconsin, contains 111 pages. The communications in the body of the work, occupying 294 pages, purporting to be made by the spirits of Bacon and Swedenborg, through the Doctor, who is a writing medium, are, with few exceptions, excellent, and can not be read but with pleasure, satisfaction, and profit by any candid and seriously-disposed mind. Yet

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those of Swedenborg certainly fall short, as to beauty and force of expression, of the earthly productions of that wonderful and immortal mind! productions that have stamped the impress of his existence upon ages, and forbid his name to die. He has forgotten, it would seem, how to spell his own name-the name of one SWEEDENBORG, who wrote so many foolish things on earth, which he is willing to rectify in spirit." But is not the contrary of this nearer the truth? and do not the productions of clairvoyants and mediums show that they live only by feeding upon the crumbs that fall from Swedenborg's generous and liberal table, mixed up, it is true, with crudities of their own? Yet I say, that those attributed to him in this work are, with few exceptions, excellent, and may be read with profit. The same may be said of the visions, as to their moral force, seen by the Judge. Indeed, there runs through them a vein of moral beauty that can not but exert a salutary influence on the mind of the reader. What is said (page 376) on the character of Christ and his true mission on earth, is not only interesting, but dignified and grave. It purports to be an emanation from the spirit of Bacon; and if that immortal mind had originated it while tabernacled in the flesh, it would have been an effort worthy of his head, and certainly of his heart. True, I do not approve of the entire sentiment it breathes, but am only speaking of it, in its general features, as a mental and moral effort,

well worthy of the spirit who, it is believed, communicated it.

I am, moreover, pleased with the communications attributed to Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, and feel no disposition to disguise the fact, that they bear a respectable impress of the exalted intellects of those distinguished and lamented statesmen. They stand in a beautiful and dignified contrast with those meager communications that I have requested to be obtained from them through other mediums, and to which I referred in my Fourth Lecture. With those three statesmen I had the honor of a personal acquaintance, and thus far I have labored in vain to find a medium who could induce the spirit of Henry Clay to communicate to me the contents of the last letter he addressed to me, and which is now in my possession, and yet I have found a mesmeric clairvoyant who has done it. This goes to prove what I have argued in my Fifth Lecture, that there are good and poor mediums, as there are good and poor clairvoyant subjects.

I am pleased on the whole with Judge Edmonds and the Doctor's conjoint production, and with the candid manner in which they have given their sanction to the great moral truths contained in the inspired Book, and the testimony they have borne to the magnanimity of Christ as the Son of God. Dr. Adin Ballou, with whom I am personally acquainted, has done the same, and I have great confidence in the moral principles