secret thoughts, those which I have never uttered to mortal man or woman, have been freely spoken to, as if I had uttered them." He again speaks of them as thoughts called up from the solitude of his study, where they had been buried for a quarter of a century. His principal prop as regards intelligence to prove spirit-manifestations fails him, and shows that he is here deceived.

In this long quotation it will be also perceived, that the impression on the mind of the Judge, that he must go and see a certain clairvoyant and magnetize him, and the results that followed in accordance with this impression, all go to prove that he is in the electropsychological state, and hence a writing-medium, and whose mind can be impressed with interesting and beautiful visions.

How natural it is, then, that while the Judge was yet warm with the deep-stirring impressions on his mind of what the clairvoyant had revealed in regard to his most secret thoughts, and believing it to be done by spirits, that he should be prepared to hear the ringing of the bell by an invisible intelligence, and which took place at the very next interview. And however incredulous he was when he first commenced his investigations, and however scrutinizing and exact to detect what he then deemed imposture, yet it is easy to conceive how a man, even of Judge Edmonds' capacity and talent, and who had not, till the time above stated,

even seen a clairvoyant, should be thrown off his vigilant guard by his secret thoughts being disclosed, and be prepared to believe any thing and every thing that might be performed by mediums. Human nature is so constituted, that the greater the skepticism, opposition, and vigilance of a talented man, the greater will be his credulity and passivity when the reaction fairly comes. Hence I am not surprised that he should sit entirely passive, and have bass-viols and violins hung about him by mediums, be beat with a fiddlebow, and have his chair jerked from under him, and yet so far from resisting, take the whole in good part! Whereas if this had been done by any individual when the Judge was upon the bench and trying a cause, he would not only have had him indicted and punished for contempt of Court, but also tried and fined and imprisoned for assault and battery.

But the Judge being perfectly convinced that he was dealing with immortal spirits who had placed these instruments in his hands and about his neck, was not in a condition, at that instant, to scrutinize this matter, and the mediums might have touched the strings, or struck the Judge with the bow, with perfect ease and unobserved by him, while he was in such an overwhelming state of excitement and awe as a scene like this must have naturally produced on his mind. Such matters are personal concerns that each must witness for himself, or else receive the united testimony of a

promiscuous audience of four or five hundred persons as to the certainty of their having in reality occurred. Let me see this performed without a mortal hand on instruments of music held by myself or any other person, and all others kept at a distance, and I am prepared to enter on a new scene of action and continue to pursue it faithfully to my dying day. I am then ready to move my philosophy one step higher, and show that the spirits of our departed friends-those dear and former loved ones of earth-do indeed impress the involuntary powers of our minds with heavenly impulses, and hold communion with us through the mysterious instincts of our nature in those beautiful mystic fields that lie beyond the realms of human reason and consciousness-those fields where wonders reign-where dreams inspire-where presentiments are born and beauty unfolds.

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LECTURE X.

I SHOULD have closed my examination of Judge Edmonds' book on "SPIRITUALISM" in my last Lecture, were it not for the circumstance that he has adopted the views of Von Reichenbach of the existence of an Odic-force in nature. I have said all that is necessary in the preceding nine Lectures as regards the doctrine of spiritual intercourse, and which will cover every important point contained in his book, or in the entire subject of the spirit-manifestations, so far as it has, as yet, been developed and published to the world. But as may be said that I have entirely overlooked the Odicforce that pervades all nature, and exists in our bodies, and through the energy of which spirits are enabled to impress human beings, and communicate with them, so I have not fully met the subject in all its important bearings. This objection, however, would be of but trivial moment, because I admit that electricity, in some of its forms, is the connecting link between mind and matter, and through which spirits have rendered themselves visible in past ages, and held converse with mortals, and for which the Odic-force would only stand as

a substitute. I would, therefore, be distinctly understood that I admit the possibility of spirits now communicating with us, but as the revelation of divine truth, for man's duty, interest, and happiness is complete, so there is nothing more can be revealed as an addition to the stock already on hand. All future revelation, therefore, must regard the making known to mankind how the doctrinal truths recorded in the Scriptures are to be understood. And this I am satisfied will be done, as man's nature becomes more and more developed so as to require it; and just as much light will be let in upon the empire of mind as it is able to bear.

On this subject Emanuel Swedenborg was consistent, who undertook to explain how the Scriptures should be understood by man. And though I am not of his faith, yet I must confess that his powers were as immense as his gifts were wonderful. I entertained strong expectations that Mr. Davis would follow on, and advance the work, but was disappointed when his "Nature's Divine Revelations" appeared. And I am moreover satisfied, that some new revelation, as regards the true understanding of the doctrines of the Savior, will be revealed to the world.

Having made these introductory remarks, I now proceed to the consideration of Reichenbach's claims to having discovered a new power in nature which he calls Od, or Odic-force. I might here incidentally remark, that if such a power does exist, he has been preceded