“By the way,” remarked the Doctor, “and you remind me of the subject, what a strange delusion is this Spiritualism, to the ‘manifestations’ of which you refer, and how singular it is that men of strong natural sense and cultivated minds, should be drawn into it.  We all know such.  Their delusion, too, is stronger than mere speculative belief.  It is a faith which to them appears to amount to absolute knowledge.  They have no doubt or hesitancy on the subject.  Their convictions are perfect; such, that were they as strong in their faith as Christians, as they are in the reality of Spiritualism, they would be able to move mountains.”

“I have noticed this intensity of their faith,” said Smith; “and while I utterly reject the whole theory of Spiritualism, I could never join in the ridicule of its earnest devotees.  There is something that commands my respect in this strong faith, when honestly entertained, however stupendous the error may be to which it clings.  There is something, to my mind, too solemn for derision in the idea of communing with the spirits of the departed, or that the time is approaching when living men and the souls of the physically dead, are to meet, as it were, face to face, and know each other as they are.  It is one which I can, and do reject, but cannot ridicule.  The world, however, regards it differently.  And yet with all the contempt and derision that has been poured upon this singular delusion, its devotees have multiplied beyond all precedent in the history of the world.  They number, it is said, in this country alone, millions, and have some forty or more newspapers in the exclusive advocacy of their theory.”

“The wise people of this world,” said Spalding, “that is, those who are wise in their day and generation, laugh at the believers in this modern theory of Spiritualism.  They pity them, too, as the unhappy devotees of a faith which sober reason and all the experience of the past prove to be as unsubstantial as the moonbeams that dance upon the waters at midnight.  Still these same devotees point to the demonstrations of what they regard as living facts, phenomena palpable to the senses, things that appeal to the eye, the ear, and the touch, and say that these are higher proofs than all the dogmas of philosophy, all the observation and experience of former times, all the logic of the past.  And here is the issue between Spiritualism and the mass of mankind who deride and condemn it.

“Now, be it known to you, that I am no Spiritualist.  I reject not all the evidences of the phenomena upon which it is based, but I utterly deny that such phenomena are the works of disembodied spirits.  I myself have seen what utterly confounded me, and while I reject all idea of supernatural agencies, all interposition of departed spirits, yet I have become thoroughly satisfied that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.  These phenomena of which the Spiritualists speak, I will