every case, they are not so viewed by those who engage in them. They regard them as the work of spirits. They are therefore deceived; and those who follow them are deceived. Both suppose that they are receiving utterances from the other world, when nothing is uttered but vain fantasies from their own minds and hearts. Now, a delusion such as this is manifestly a hurtful one. It is one full of danger to all concerned. To mistake our own fancies for Divine revelations, and feel conscience bound to obey them as such; why this is the very essence of fanaticism. It is fanaticism in its most frightful form. Under the influence of such an impression, persons may be led to perpertrate the greatest cruelties, and the most horrid crimes, and vainly think they are doing God service. I have read of "a lady of birth, taste, high connections, and literary accomplishments, who committed suicide, leaving written testimony of her being prompted thereto by revelations from the spiritual world." "Another young woman cut off her hand with a carving knife, thrust the bleeding stump into the fire, and then put out her eyes, declaring that she was directed to do so by the spirits." A Mr. SC, of WCo., Ohio, under the influence of the rapping delusion," became possessed with the idea that he must like Abraham, offer a sacrifice to the Supreme Being. Accordingly, he cut of one of his feet. His family, fearing that some other of his limbs might fall a sacrifice, had him conveyed to the asylum at Columbus, where he was confined."

Such are some of the evils resulting from the practices we are considering, when viewed as the result of natural causes. And are they not frightful evils? Do they not call for the united efforts of all the friends of religion and humanity to remove them?

I need say but a few words to show the evil of these practices, on the third mode of accounting for them, viz., that they are produced by demoniacal agency. For who are those "familiar spirits," to whom, on the supposition, persons give themselves up, and to whom they are given up of God? They are the spirits of darkness, liars from the beginning, and the father of lies-the first and greatest enemies of the human race. And can it be otherwise than evil to have commerce with such beings; to receive and follow their suggestions; pleasing ourselves meanwhile with the thought that we are conversing with departed friends, or receiving, it may be, revelations from heaven? I can conceive of nothing more terrible than this-more perilous in all its influences, both upon the individual and society, upon the body and the soul. In a state of society like that in Israel, requiring that the penal code should be stringent and severe, I wonder not at all that these, and the like practices, should have been punished with the utmost rigor of the law.

I have said that the practices which have been considered are of heathen origin. They originated with the heathen; they were early spread over the greater part of the heathen world; and they continue to pervade and curse it to the present time. In various portions of heathendom, at this very day, scarcely an affliction occurs, a dearth, a flood, a fit of sickness, or an instance of death, but some poor creature, and often more than one, is accused and put to death as being the cause of it. The sick man, it is said, is bewitched. Who has bewitched him? His death, if he chance to die, has been brought about by evil spirits. Who has sent the spirits upon him? To answer these questions, some old hag or conjurer is consulted; the cause of the mischief is soon discovered; and

an innocent person is put to death. Probably hundreds die every year after this manner among the heathen, even in this nineteenth century. And the case would soon be no better among ourselves, if we were to go extensively and confidently into the practice of consulting with familiar spirits. For the spirits would unravel all mysteries; they would reveal all secrets; and not a man, or woman, or child would be safe from their malicious accusations. "An elderly gentleman in Indiana was living in peace and harmony with his family, until the spirit-rappers visited the neighbourhood. He attended their exhibitions, and believed their revelations. And it was revealed to him, among other things, that his second wife, with whom he was living, had caused the death of his former companion. From this moment his peace was fatally interrupted. He was living with a murderer. And if the community around him had been deluded like himself, the poor woman must have suffered.

Some years ago, the Lunatic Asylum in Maine took fire, and a portion of the inmates were smothered and consumed. And there are hundreds of persons among us, who affirm that the building was set on fire by the keepers. They know it was so; they have not a doubt of it; not because they have a particle of evidence to that effect from this world, but because the spirits have so informed them. Now let these utterances become common, and be commonly received; and how long would it be before these keepers, every one of them, would be dragged to the gallows, or the stake, while they were as innocent of the charge preferred against them as a child unborn.

I cite these instances just to show the sin, the evil, the exceeding peril of indulging in those practices which have been exposed. Let all who hear me, then, beware of them, and shun them. I feel solemnly called upon to lift a voice of warning on this subject. Let us "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." If any of us are capable of becoming what are called mediums, we had better not know it, or, if we know it, we had better refrain from all experiments. To tamper with such a power is to tamper with an already shattered nervous system, the only effect of which will be to shatter it the more. Or it is to tamper with infernal spirits,-to have communion with the Evil One.

Or, if any persons will consent so to abuse and degrade themselves as to act as mediums, let no one follow them. Let them have their marvels and their revelations all to themselves. "Their policy is to awaken curiosity, and then cry, investigate; and if you will only attend their sittings, at a dollar a visit, for the purpose of investigating, their end is accomplished. They have your money, and have your example, to induce others to go and do likewise."

They can tell you nothing which is of the least importance to you. They never have told you anything that was of any importance. I challenge all the workers with familiar spirits to show, that a single disclosure has ever been made, which was of the least importance to the world. They can tell us nothing which we have any reason or right to believe, at least on their testimony. And if any do believe them, and put confidence in them, they will surely be led astray.

The Bible has faithfully warned us on this subject, as on almost every other, where there is danger. "Regard not them which have familiar spirits, neither seek after them, to be defiled by them." "Give no heed

to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." the unfruitful works of darkness."

"Have no fellowship with

Indeed, the result of this whole discussion should be, to lead us to prize the Bible more, and give heed to it with the greater diligence and confidence. It is "a light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path," It is "a light shining in a dark place." There is nothing more striking than the difference between the Scripture representations of the future world, which we know are true, and those which are given by the revealers of modern times. The former are solemn, weighty, exciting, impressive, some of them awfully, gloriously so. While the latter, as one says, are "so uniformly and monotonously silly, that we are compelled to think, if these are really the spirits of the dead, in dying they must have lost what little of common sense they ever possessed. If these are actual specimens of the spirit-world, then this world, however hard and imperfect, is altogether the most respectable part of God's creation."

In the Bible, there are frequent accounts of persons who were literally raised from the dead,-who actually returned from the spirit-world to this. But they returned, in every instance, with sealed lips. In no instance do we hear them making disclosures. But our modern revealers of things unseen pursue a very different course. They practise no reserve. They go into the minutest particulars,-sometimes into the most disgusting details, and publish, as one expresses it, "a penny magazine of the spiritual world."

The result of all our enquiries then should be, to bind us more closely to the Bible; to lead us to cling to it, and follow it as our sole and sufficient guide, in things pertaining to the future world. God has told us in his word all that we need know respecting that world. He has told us all that he intends we ever shall know, until we get there. He has told us enough to awaken the most lively interest, and the most earnest care. And what he has told us, we have on his own infallible authority. It is to be depended on. It is the word of him that cannot lie.

Let us, then, study his holy word. Let us believe it, love it, and live according to it. Let us diligently prepare for that world on which we are so soon to enter, and not be vainly trying to pry into its secrets, nor be running after those who can know no more of the subject than we do ourselves.

SERMON DCXXI.

BY REV. E. CUTLER.

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. ALBANS, VT.

THE TRIUMPHS OF FAITH IN THE PREACHER.

"And the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."-GEN. viii. 11.

THE incident recorded in the text occurred while Noah was shut up in the ark, aground "upon the mountains of Ararat." To identify the Ararat has required considerable research. The location of it as now generally received, however, has been objected to on account of the distance of olive trees; none being found nearer than the province of Akhaltzikhi and the basin of the ancient Colchis, a hundred or more miles away. But tourists, who have mentioned this objection to the monks of Echmiadzin, have been met with the shrewd refutation, that it would not be very hard work for a pigeon to fly to Akhaltzikhi and back again in a day. And when compared with some recent experiments on the fleetness of carrier pigeons, the reply of the monks appears satisfactory.* "And the dove came in to him in the evening.' The phrase

in the evening is important as a beautiful though undesigned coincidence with geographical facts, and as a caution against being hasty in questioning the statements of "holy men-moved by the Holy Ghost." The mission of the dove was one of inquiry. Though mute, she was expected to give an intelligible report. She returned with an olive-leaf. Ôn examining the stem, Noah perceived that it had been "pluckt of;" that is, taken, not afloat, but fresh from the tree. And by this "evidence of things not seen," he "knew that the waters were abated from off the earth." To faith was awarded the olive-leaf.

The text, if now rightly interpreted, proposes "for reproof," and "for instruction in righteousness," THE TRIUMPHS OF FAITH IN THE PREACHER, In treating of this subject, it is proper to consider.

I. The meaning of faith. Faith is of different kinds. There is a natural, and a supernatural or Christian faith. And it is possible to confound either kind with the other, and curiosity with both. Curiosity and faith have reference alike to something beyond our immediate beholding. But the object of faith is definite and clear, while that of curiosity is indefinite and vague. Curiosity is a longing after something without any knowledge of what it is to be. Faith is a grasping after something which though "not seen" is yet known. Curiosity is satisfied with the obtaining of any thing-no matter what. Faith is satisfied with nothing less than the definite object it

*Bib. Rep. ii. 204; vii, 395,

seeks. Curiosity is a vane-veering "with every wind of doctrine.” Faith is a needle-by which the voyagers of probation nothing wavering are guided "into their desired haven." Faith may be defined in general inward sight, or that which supplies the want of sight. What sight is to the body, faith is to the spirit. When our sight is bounded by the horizon, faith looks beyond; and we are none the less confident of the reality of the objects of our faith, than of that of the objects of our sight. When we have come to the first horizon, our faith has become sight to the second. Thus our faith becomes sight, and our sight follows our faith, till our sight can no longer be bounded, and our faith is swallowed up in our immediate beholding. And thus, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Natural faith is comprehended entirely within the sphere of natural objects. In one sense all men live by this kind of faith. One need only reflect upon the power of motion in the body, and the connection of that power with the will, to be convinced of his dependence upon natural faith in even walking by sight. Men sow and gather and eat by natural faith. It is by this faith that we engage in the various pursuits of the world. And it varies in degree according to the dangers and difficulties with which our enterprises are beset.

But Christian faith is concerned with spiritual things; those heavenly and divine "things not seen as yet." This kind of faith is possessed only by such as have been born of the Spirit. This is that faith by which a man is "justified from all things." It is this supernatural faith by which a man is united to Christ as a branch of the vine; by which a man prays and labors and contributes of his substance for the spiritual reformation of a wicked world; by which the missionary to foreign lands casts his bread upon the waters, and by which he finds it again after many days. This is so superior to natural faith, as by common consent to need no qualifying terms to distinguish it. Supernatural or Christian faith is the faith treated of in the Scriptures. "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac," notwithstanding the promise, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: "accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead," By faith, many a saint, now in heaven, has suffered the most cruel martyrdom. This supernatural faith is a spiritual eye by which its possessor discerns spiritual things; with which he looks through Revelation, as with the natural eye he looks through a telescope, and beholds the Star of Bethlehem, the Sun of Righteousness, eternity folded up and comprehended in time in the person of the Saviour. And this is the faith contemplated in the subject of this discourse.

II. The conditions upon which faith may become triumphant. A triumph pre-supposes a conflict. Faith is antagonist to unbelief. If faith is "able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand," it is appropriately called triumphant. But unbelief presents itself in a variety of forms. Sometimes it presents itself simply as unbelief: and then it may be either the remnant of "sin dwelling in" the renewed heart, or the entire unbelief of the heart "dead in trespasses and sins." Sometimes it presents itself as cold indifference; and then faith, seeming to itself to fight as beating the air, often becomes disheartened, and weary in well-doing." Unbelief may then arouse and advance towards faith in the form of doubt, to see if faith is in earnest. Again it presents

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