seek for truth in Nature, simple and undisguised, still the very marvel of its production by an unlearned youth is foremost in its commendations, and by this means nas most obtained.

APPENDIX.

DAVIS ON SPIRITUALISM.

As Mr. Davis is now figuring quite largely in the spiritual ranks, and as his sayings are by many considered unfailing truths, we propose in this connection to consider briefly some of his reasonings upon that subject. And we shall select that portion which reflects most directly upon the moral philosophy of N. D. R.

It is unimportant that we inquire into his mode of conversion to modern spirit manifestations, any farther than to say, that when the "Rappings" were first emerging from Hydesdale, N. Y., he declined endorsing them as real. However, as he has since written much in favor of "Spirit Manifestations," we accept him as a convert to the truthfulness of the phenomena.

That which we propose to consider is his phi losophy of good and evil spirits. Upon this subject the reader is referred to p. 206, of a work written by him and published in 1853, entitled: "THE PRESENT AGE AND INNER LIFE OF MAN; A SEQUEL TO SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE." "Although I have impartially examined all socalled demonstrations of evil spirits, and have been careful to be led in willingness of mind to

any legitimate conclusion, nevertheless I have been utterly unable, from the evidences, to arrive at any results antagonistic to those expressed in the foregoing chapter. But the doctrine of evil spirits will be reconsidered in succeeding pages. I am persuaded that the reader who has accompanied me through the 'Table of Explanations,' will not be terrified by the demonological disclosures to which the present chapter is devoted. These are a class of nocturnal, mysterious, and exceptional phenomena quite worthy the consideration of thinking men. Swedenborg and his followers-The Receivers of the Doctrines of the New Church'-unreservedly advocate the theory, that corrupt and evil spirits, of both sexes, utterly dissolute and abandoned, enter in at the open door of every correspondingly-inclined mind, and tempt it to the commission of crime,-deeds dark and destructive to all the divine interests of the soul.

And

a doctrine no less hideous, though not so manifestly involved amid psychological complications, imagination, and pandemoniacal windings, is indefatigably taught by nearly every catholic and protestant clergyman. These doctrines, I think, are not wholly imaginary. There is, unquestionably, some hidden psychological source whence they spring. And as the media through whom these revelations are professedly made

are usually firmly convinced, as already shown, that the communicators are malignant spirits. real demons from a veritable pandemonium therefore kind reader, it becomes us, as candid examiners of all facts in the wide field of spiritual intercourse, now thrown open, to let no prominent demoniac cases pass without a careful and impartial inquiry. With this motive prompting us, we will hesitate no longer, but proceed directly to cite and examine several strange revelations. In the 'New Era,' dated Boston, March 9, 1853, I observed an article containing graphic descriptions of several 'Astounding Facts,' arranged for publication by J. A. Gridley, M. D., which should not remain unnoticed. The circle in which the facts are reported to have occurred, was composed of strong nerved men, with their families, who could not be induced to continue in the circle while several of the astounding facts were in process of development. It seems the proceedings were terrific. 'We have seen the medium evidently possessed by Irishmen and Dutchmen of the lowest grade.' The medium was seen to 'snap and grate his teeth most furiously, strike and swear, while his eyes flashed like the fires of an orthodox perdition.' These are strange freaks of Nature! Few facts come to us so freighted with discord and indications of pandemonium. 'We have heard

him (this medium) hiss, and seen him writhe his body like the serpent when crawling, and dart out his tongue, and play it exactly like that reptile. These exhibitions were mingled with the worst wrangling and horrible convulsions.'

6

"The preceding and subsequent facts are related with particularity, and the writer is manifestly a full believer. 'If we have ever been skeptical before,' he remarks, after what we have witnessed, we shall never doubt again the Bible statement, that an obsessed man in olden time, who was well acquainted with Christ and Paul, but who possessed but little respect for the seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, so he leaped upon them, and before they could make their escape from the house, he overcame the whole of them, stripped them of their entire clothing, and tore their flesh, so that they left the house naked and wounded. We have heard these evil spirits lie a score of times, as fast as they could speak.' One of the spiritual friends of the writer, Briant, 'has told us that if he and his associates in goodness should deliver N. over to his tormentors, during his worst seasons of obsession, these demons would, in all probability, permanently possess him, like the man who dwelt among the tombs.'' Such facts are truly startling, especially to persons who cannot penetrate the thin gauze which separates effects from