Gathean giant, and was met with songs of triumph and dances of joy by the daughters of Israel; so you, armed with the panoply of truth, have gone forth with the weapons of philosophy and reason to prostrate the hydraheaded monster; and will, I trust, receive in your turn the acknowledgments and love of your grateful friends.

997.

"There is a nobler strife than clashing spears,

A nobler peril than the battle-field;

'Tis when, with trust in God, worn as a shield,
'Midst universal hisses, scoffs, and sneers,
The man of truth with brow serene appears
And stands forth singly, for the right appealed
To the Eternal Umpire; nor will yield
One backward step, from policy or fears.
The savage, bandit, nay, the brute, is steeled
'Gainst bristling danger-e'en the worm uprears
Beneath the foot his tiny sting, to crave

A venomed vengeance; but immortal years
Are full of glory for the Christ-like brave,

Who dare to suffer wrong, that they from wrong may save."

Very truly yours,

MARGARET B. GOURLAY.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE PRACTICAL BENEFIT OF SPIRITUALISM, IN THE HAPPINESS IMPARTED BY THE CONVERSION OF AN UNBELIEVER TO A BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY.

998. CERTAINLY, in one conclusion all zealous religious sectarians will coincide. I allude to that which makes belief in a future state of existence of the highest importance to the happiness of reasoning mortals.

999. Those who, for faith in immortality, have been satisfied to rely on the creed which they may have chanced to derive from their ancestors through education, and have consequently felt the comfort of a belief in immortality thence arising, may readily conceive of the benefit which must ensue to those of their fellow-creatures upon whom such a creed has not been impressed, but who are quite sensible of the immense value of any facts tending to create such a belief in life to come. It is to be lamented, however, that persons who have this impression contingently from a peculiar education, are irritated at having analogous impressions created in a different way.

1000. But in obedience to any dissatisfaction thus arising, to assail those who may acquire a knowledge of futurity by a new route, is manifestly inconsistent with the golden rule. As an exemplification of the benefit which the new evidences of another and a better world may pro

duce in the minds of those who are not satisfied with that of revelation, I will subjoin the account of his conversion indited by one of my esteemed friends, Doctor W. Geib, who preceded me in spiritual investigation, and has longer enjoyed the influence which Spiritualism exercises over its votaries.

1001. The author was a member of the circle under whose auspices my experimental tests were for the most part applied, and was present on the very occasion when my own apparatus, which had been contrived to disprove spiritual agency, demonstrated its existence.

1002. "The verdure and warblings of fifty springs had elevated the souls of the writer of the present sketch in wonder, admiration, and gratitude, to the great Omnipotent Father of the Universe, without opening to his longing view a world beyond the grave.

1003. "There was pain in the thought, that scenes so enchanting, feelings so susceptible to their charms, a mind constituted to appreciate their miraculous wonders and pervading fascinations, and to do homage to the great Intelligence which gave them existence, should in a few short years be destined, like the foliage of the forest, to death and decay

1004. "Still, to his mind their was arrogance in the thought that man could ever be the recipient of joys beyond those provided for him in common with all animal creation; and he chased from his mind the sombre thought of death, as a dreaded incubus upon life and the enemy of his few remaining joys.

1005. "But how changed the scene! Death, once so disturbing to his peace, so discordant with the moral attributes of his nature, which puzzles the will,' and leads the mind to seek in wonder and discouragement the motive for human life, is now but a 'consummation devoutly to be wished,' when this race of earthly life shall have been duly run; when we may have filled the measure of our destined usefulness, and secured by our moral affinities a joyful reception in the spheres above.

1006. "And why this change in thought and feeling? How are the horrors of the grave, the dread of dissolution into the primordial elements of creation, exchanged for the blissful assurance of immortal life for the soul of man, in all its associate identity, after it shall have departed from its earthly tenement of flesh?

1007. "The answer to this all-absorbing question, which sheds light into the gloomy recesses of the skeptic's mind, and gives joy to his despairing heart-which supplied evidence where none had been sought, conviction where it had been sought in vain, and imparts to the accepted hope and faith of the professional believer, the confirmation of a demonstrated fact is to be found in the irrefutable evidence of Spiritual Philosophy.

1008. "How invaluable is this dispensation of an Almighty Providence, which has made his despairing creature, a believer in the immortality of the soul of man; has cleared from his mental vision the clouds of doubt

and disbelief, and has opened to his rejoicing mind the irrefragable evidence of a future life beyond the grave!

1009.

'Hail now on earth the glorious day,
When infidels have learnt to pray;
When heaven's laws by reason blessed,
Are all with fondest love confessed!

When man in bliss can look above,
And see a God in all his love;
Can own with joy the mighty King,
And loud his hallelujahs sing.

Throw back the gates, ye heavenly band,
To loved ones show the spirit land;
Hang out the beacon lights to see
A home for all, the bond and free.

And now the dreams of former days
Behold in those celestial ways;
Where sorrow's eye is never seen,

Where love and hope are ever green.'-W. G.

1010. "The exhibition of so-called spiritual agency in New York City by the Misses Fox and their mother, was the first incident that claimed my notice, and excited my laughter and ridicule, in this apparent new phase in the science of legerdemain.

1011. "Blitz and his wonders crossed my mental vision, and seemed outdone by the results of this feminine exhibition, in which the spirits of another world were invoked, and aided in the performance.

1012. "This happened when psychology had been developed to a wondering world, as the climax of magnetic phenomena in the wonderful attributes of man, and was regarded by myself among many as the culmination of human research in the science of animal life.

1013. "Meeting an intelligent friend who had bestowed much pains in the investigation of this department of science, and inquiring of him as to the progress of magnetism, I was answered, that something much more wonderful than magnetism engaged his attention and occupied his mind at that time.

1014. "Asking what the subject might be, and being asked in return, if I had not heard of the wonders of Spiritualism, a painful impression was made on my mind and feelings that, where all had been regarded as sound and straight, there must be some latent obliquity of thought; that my friend, as the Spaniards say, was a little tonto, or that he was likely soon to become so, was quite apparent.

1015. "However, my strictest scrutiny could detect no decline of his intelligent and ingenuous mind, and his well-digested remarks addressed to my incredulous cars, gave proof enough that this might be another demand for the investigation of science, and a step forward in the progressive development of nature's laws.

1016. " Being the leading member of a circle that held its meetings at his house, and kindly acquiescing in my request to be present and witness the phenomena, I found myself shortly afterward seated at a table, on a Sabbath evening, with about twenty ladies and gentlemen, whose every appearance was fatal to my preconceived prejudices against the understanding of those with whom I expected to be associated.

1017. "It was evidently a meeting for religious devotion. Sacred songs took the lead, and my own voice, as if impelled by a foreign influence, was raised for the first time by the impulse of feeling to participation in this vocal prayer of gratitude and praise, sung to the great, almighty Founder of the universe.

1018. "Indeed it would be well for the cause of spiritual philosophy if all exhibitions of its wonderful and sacred phenomena were made under circumstances calculated to impress the mind with the greatness and dignity of its source. To feel protected from the nefarious cupidity of the world is an important first step for the successful investigation of a subject so sacred in its character, and so absorbing, in contemplating the prospective existence of man.

1019. "Seeing my associates place their hands flat on the table, I followed their example, and was soon made sensible of the reason, by feeling what was recognised as electric concussion, made by spirits to denote their presence.

1020. "And ever will my mind recur with delight and gratitude to the influence on my moral nature of this mission of love and salvation to an invulnerable heart! It flashed like electricity across the mind; the clouds of skepticism were ruptured, and shed a grateful and refreshing shower of hopeful joy on the feverish doubts of an unbelieving soul. This beginning led to progressive investigation, and that, as is uniformly the case, to a confirmed conviction of the communion of spirits with their friends on earth.

1021. "Hearing much of physical demonstrations, but having witnessed only the concussions, vulgarly called the raps, the question was put to my friend, the gentleman already referred to, if a demonstration could be had to gratify my curiosity, and strengthen my assurance, when the following dialogue occurred:

1022.."Will the spirits be so obliging as to make a physical demonstration? Answered by three raps on the table, which were responded to by an affirmative expression from the whole circle. My seat was at the side of the medium, a married lady of considerably more than ordinary weight. Question. Will the spirits move Mrs. D. in her chair? Ans. Yes. 1023. "As this demonstration was intended for my special benefit, and our invisible friends were fully committed for its performance, my attention was riveted on the lady who was to be the subject of it. Madam, will you please put your feet on the spar of the chair?' This being fully

accomplished and your hands in your lap,' was added. As her hands. dropped, the lady left my side, passed about two feet backward, and immediately returned to her former position at the table.

1024. "My astonishment was naturally raised to the highest pitch, demanding of Dr. P., who sat on her opposite side, if I could believe my own eyes, and that Mrs. D. had really been moved from my side. 'Oh, certainly,' he replied; that is nothing. I have seen far more wonderful manifestations than that.'

1025. "The idea of collusion was too ridiculous to be entertained for a moment; every consideration condemned it. The carpet on which the chair stood on its slender legs, with at least one hundred and fifty pounds added to its gravity, must have been extensively injured had the chair remained in contact with it. But not even a sound was audible, and my mind was left to contemplate an invisible power that had effected the movement of a ponderous body in mid air.

1026. "Showing the interest of my own dear invisible guardian friends, it was spelt out by the card, the primitive mode of communication at that time, that I should change my seat to the side of the medium; and it was only after this change had been made that my mind was impressed to ask for a demonstration.

1027. "By this demonstration of supernal agency I was delighted, humbled, and convinced. As the octogenarian Robert Owen, of London, proclaimed to the world in a published letter, in relating his own case, I became a convert to spiritual life and intercourse by the force of this evidence, because I should have considered any man a fool, who, with a mind free from the curse of a bigoted education, and whose thoughts and feelings were not mortgaged to the world, could reject such palpable and convincing proof, and entertain a different conclusion.

1028. "Being subsequently in the city of New York, I visited the public circles of Mrs. C., a medium for automatic writing and the sounds. Being requested, as the rest had been, but without response, to ask if any of my spirit friends were present, my interrogation was answered by three distinct raps on the table. Now ask who it is; a father, mother, and so on;' and I was informed it was a son. 'Is your sister with you?' 'Yes.' 'Will you spell her name?' 'Yes;' and it was correctly given. Is her little son with her?' 'Yes.' 'Will you spell his name?' 'Yes;' and a name of seventeen letters was correctly spelt out by the card, the letters being indicated, when pointed to, by three raps.

1029. "My spirit son also informed me when he had died and of what disease. I asked if they were happy. It will be observed that my son's name had not been mentioned, reserving it for a test. Three raps had replied in the affirmative to my question, when the medium spasmodically seized a pencil, extended a sheet of paper toward me, and wrote upside down, so that I might read it as written: We are looking forward