invisible sources as does Spiritism; and many seem not
only willing but anxious to walk by sight rather than
by faith. Every one has friends who have died, and
thousands are anxious to communicate with them if
possible, and to receive from them some message or
some advice. It is not surprising, therefore, to find
people greatly absorbed in these matters, and very will-
ing to be directed by those whom they esteem their
truest friends and most competent advisers.
They visit a medium for the purpose of holding
communication with the dead. The medium describes
the hair, the eyes, etc., ‘and certain little peculiari-
ties, such as a mole or an injured or deformed finger
or foot (which the father or son or sister or wife iden-
tities as the description of the loved one deceased)
and delivers a message which, however vague or in-
definite, is construed to be very important. The no-
vices are filled with a sort of reverent joy mixed with
a humble feeling of the inferiority of their own condi-
tion, and with a pride that they have been counted
worthy to receive communications from “the spirit
world,” while so many good and great people are not
so favored, but are “blind to the wonderful facts of
Spiritism.”
The feelings thus started are somewhat
. akin to some kinds of religious feelings, and straight-
way the “converts” are ready to believe and obey the
advice and instruAions of those whom they believe to
be so much wiser and holier than themselves, and so
deeply intaested in their welfare, present and eternal,
as to leave the joys and ministries of heaven to com-
mune with them and instruct them.
The majority of people have no true Christian
faith built upon the foundation of the Word of God: