Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

174 ALPHABETIC CONVERSE WITH SPIRITS,wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath tlio Lord done this thing unto theethis day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into thehand of the Philistines : and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be withme : the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of thePhilistines." 1 Sam. xxviii. 11-19.898. It is represented in this quotation, that the ghost of Samuel cameand conversed with Saul ; that he '^ asccndeth out of fJie earth ; an oldman comcth v^i, and he is covered tci'fh a mantle." Where is there anything in common between this representation and the process by which Icommunicate with my fiimiliar spirits,—not coming up from the grave, orthe disgusting heaven of Josephus, but from their magical abodes in tlieskies ! I challenge any one to adduce the idea, as having ever been expressed,that any one had found any mode of conversing with spiritsresembling in its operation that which we now have discovered. Thisseems to be as new to the spirits as to us, beingas much a novelty as theelectric telegraph. The very limited degree in which it has been recentlyaccomplished has been attained with very great difficulty.It appears thateffi)rts were made to establish this intercourse in England at the mansionof the celebrated Wesley, without any beneficial result. If ever this arthad been discovered, certainly it would not have been lost. Even the ideaof rapping or knocking indejyendentJi/ of mortal agenri/, had the fact everbeen established, could not have been held so incredible as it was, almostuniversally, when it took place at Hydesville, or in Great Britain, as abovementioned.899. The learned Dr. Priestley, utterly incredulous that the rappingsat Wesley's could be ascribed to any supermundane agency, attributes itto some trick on the part of servants, assisted by neighbours. It appearsthat in general the most scientific and well-read persons are themost backward in ascribing such phenomena to invisible spirits. If,therefore, during past ages such inscrutable noises and movements ofbodies had occurred, resembling those recently noticed, still no such usehad been made of them as we now behold. Such manifestations beingonce so far demonstrated as to induce people of sound mind to unitein referring them to the immortal spirits of departed friends, is a fact ofsuch awful, thrilling interest, that it never could have become obsoleteespecially as the same state of things which permitted it once to besuccessfully witnessed, would have led to its reiteration. Neither thespirits nor mortals had laid it aside, any more than the telegraph or therailways will be disused, after experiencing the advantages of those inventions.900. Is there not as much reason for the lateness of this discovery, asfor that of any of those inventions by which modern times arc distinguishedfrom ancient ? Even now, with what difficulty has it been accomplishedto the degree to which it has arrived. After eighteen months of laborious