"It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell: God knoweth): such a one caught up to the third heaven. "And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth): how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." 2 Corinthians xii. 1-5. 66 Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews xii. 1. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 66 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." I Timothy iv. 1, 2. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 66 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. "Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 66 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. "For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts; "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. "But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men." 2 Timothy, iii. 1–9. · IV. PERMITTED AND PROHIBITED SPIRITUALISM. "HRISTIAN people have often attempted to sup CHI port truth with artificial props and expedients, instead of trusting it to the virtue of its own vital power. When the Puritans came to this country, they thought the interests of religious faith required them to abolish all the forms and polity employed by the Established Church of England. Plainness of dress, unadorned churches, the absence of all instrumental music, and standing, instead of kneeling, while in the act of prayer, were things religiously enjoined. A few years ago, during and just after the Miller excitement, certain important and glorious doctrines of the church were passed in silence. The doctrines of the millennium, of the second coming of Christ, the prophecies of Daniel, the disclosure of the future by our Saviour, the Apocalypse of John in Patmos, were rarely alluded to in the church or at home. To some extent, we find at present another illustration of this same tendency and timidity concerning the developments and claims of modern spiritualism. The church has been betrayed thereby into an unfortunate and painful silence respecting the condition of our friends after death. Whether they are consciously active or inactive, whether they make us frequent, occasional, or no visits, are questions rarely asked except by professed spiritualists. The mourner has been denied every shadow of comfort from this source, and from the child has been taken away all impressions of the presence of a mother or a friend in his journey and struggle through life. The effort of the church has been to banish the dead to the greatest possible distance from the earth, and into perpetual inaction. Truths which were once preached with an inspiring force and confidence, awaking in the heart a desire for a new and better life, have been denied all discussion except in secret, and all support except in our convictions. This condition of things, however, is not a subject of congratulation to the church, but rather one of regret. The church has gained no power thereby; it has betrayed a certain weakness. It has gained no hearers, but has left comfortless many hearts which might have been cheered. Whatever temporary advantage may be gained by modern spiritualists, the church ought fearlessly to speak its convictions. Through timidity. it should not withhold the publication of any scriptural doctrine. The deepest and highest truths ever lie nearest to the deadliest heresies. The most dangerous counterfeit is most like the genuine coin. The greatest lights have continually beside them the darkest shadows, and the snow is always whitest and purest at the mouth of a grave. Permitted Spiritualism will first claim our atten tion. Few will deny the statement that mankind may receive certain impressions from a deep and pure spiritual life, which cannot be received without it. May there not be such purity of heart and life as to allow one to talk with, or even walk with, God, as Enoch did? This kind of communication is granted, however, not through the mediation of others, but directly and by means of impressions. It consists in permitted visits to hearts, rather than to eyes, or ears. They are invisible angels of mercy, which come to the good, often unsought, but never unwelcome. The apostle Paul, in one of his most forcible and beautiful exhortations, represents mankind as running on a race-course, upon either side of which he supposes that illustrious witnesses are standing in great numbers. The connection in which the passage occurs conveys the impression that the dead of this world are among those witnesses, in a thick cloud to us, but in a cloud so thin to them that they are able to hear distinctly our songs of praise, our voices of sorrow, and our footfall echoes upon the pavements of the highway to immortality. Revelation elsewhere invites the belief that by means of impressions these friendly witnesses, unrecognized, communicate with us, inspiring our hearts and cheering our lives. In addition to this impressional communication from the immortal world, the Scriptures tell us of something more, and different, involving audible and visible manifestations which have sometimes spoken to the ear and flashed before the eyes of men. This is not unreasonable, nor impossible. What evangelical Christian will not admit that Christ is always with his followers? Who will deny that he could, as an everpresent being, reveal himself instantly in the same or in different forms, in the same or different places, as a friend or companion? Was it impossible for him, after his resurrection, to appear as a Jewish traveller and stranger on the road to Emmaus; as a gardener to the women at the tomb; to Cephas in one place, and to all, if circumstances had required it, at the same instant? Cannot the Holy Spirit manifest his power, on the same evening and at the same hour, to the multitudes of worshipping Christians everywhere? Cannot God manifest his power in the sun shining in the heavens, in the leaf trembling in the breeze, or in a rose-bud crushed in the hand of a child? May not that vision be a reality which has left "A smile so fixed, so holy, on the brow, Death gazed, and left it there; He dared not steal that signet-ring of heaven"? - May not "thy rod and thy staff” have a vital meaning to every dying Christian? May not the promise of Christ, "Not as the world giveth give I unto you," be so verified that no Christian shall be left to go through the dark valley without the visible manifestation of his Saviour to precede him? Do not the voice that spoke to Moses in the burning bush, the mysterious visitor whom Abraham entertained, and to whom he prayed, — the personality with whom Jacob wrestled, the form of the fourth in the blazing furthe vision of the host of God granted to Elithe visions of Cornelius at Cesarea; of Paul, who knew not whether he were nace, sha and his servant, |