DECEIVING SPIRITS.

DECEIVING spirits are those who deceive. To deceive is to disappoint. To disappoint is often to produce wisdom. When disappointments occur, wisdom may be gained. When disappointments occur, the mind is sometimes corrected. It is only when they occur that men are reminded of their dependence on a superior power. A knowledge of such dependence, quickens the soul with gratitude for favors received and enjoyed. Minds will see that gratitude is what favors produce, but nothing will be considered a favor when the mind is insensible to its dependence on the giver.

Deceiving spirits in the body perform this office. They disappoint the expectations of those whom they allure. They cast discouragements in their pathway. They wound the aspirations of hope. They blight the prospect of the mind for good. They throw dejection over the soul. They scatter anticipations of promise to the wind. They wake up despondency where waters of consolation were expected. They weave a snare where birds of paradise light to feed the world with welcome tidings. They weave a net where the angel of mercy comes with news from heaven to chase away the wrongs of ignorance. They weave a web where comes the messenger of light to dissipate the gloom of the grave. They work a work where the weary lie down to rest, where the sorrowful seek repose, where the disconsolate wish for relief, and the widow and orphan pine in want. They work a wrong where

wisdom is not. They work a wrong where truth is not. They work a wrong where the unfoldings of wisdom from heaven have found no abiding place, where the silver stream of divine mercy dissolves no favors in thankfulness, where the intelligence of spirits warms no heart with gratitude, where dependence is in self, and self is God, and where nothing is worshiped but the idols of human hands.

When deceiving spirits work, the conditions which will impart vitality to their operations must be accessible to them. No mind, all conditions being the same, will be accessible to the design of deceiving spirits, when under the control of that wisdom which is from above, which is pure, gentle, unselfish, impartial, and fall of good fruits, which is in harmony with nature and the workings of God in nature, which is consonant with the development and consequent happiness of the whole brotherhood of man. No mind will be deceived by any spirit, not under the control of worldly wisdom, not under the control of ignorance, not under the control of selfish motives. No mind in the body can establish the assumption, that any spirit out of the body is under the control of all, or any of these influences. No mind can prove by any sophistry, however ingenious, what is not true, without perjury on the part of the witness, or witnesses; and proof, such as perjury, establishes nothing in controversy; it settles no assumption, it controverts, successfully, no truth, because it is of no weight, in the result; and, therefore, all testimony, conflicting with truth, is perjury on the part of the witness. In whatever attitude the witness may offer his testimony, under whatever pretext he may seek to conceal the truth or pervert the facts, one thing is clear, what is truth is truth. The witness neither makes the truth true by his disclosure, nor can he make the truth untrue by prevarication or concealment.

Who, then, are deceiving spirits? We have said, they are those who deceive, and we have said, those who deceive are those who are controlled by influences not found in the second sphere. And we may repeat, that no one in the body can disprove this fact, which we offer from an experience of over fifty years in that sphere. No one will ever be able to contradict the fact which we have assumed to utter in the face of over one hundred mediums, through whom witnesses may be interrogated on this important statement, whose views, when in the body, were dissimilar to our own, and our own at variance with the eternal things of this sphere of existence.

Where, then, dwell deceiving spirits? In the body. The rudimental sphere is the residence of deceiving spirits. And it is the misfortune of many, that they are often deceived by their own spirits. We know of some, at least, who have deceived themselves with the witnesses before them. They have charged that upon the witness, which truthfully belonged to themselves. They have accused the witness of faults which were their own, and have tenaciously held the witness in durance for crimes that never emanate from this sphere. They have decried the wisest and purest as evil, because they deceived themselves by presuming to judge of things and circumstances too far removed from their wisdom to admit of a correct decision. They have speculated upon probabilities, and deduced conclusions unwarrantable by facts. They have not only deceived themselves, but being deceived, have deceived others. They have spoken of spirits, as they do who think evil—as they do who see a mote, because the beam is in their own eye—as they do who, are devoted to gods made with hands—as they do who need instruction but heed it not—and as they do who despise a wholesome philosophy—the wisdom of a superior sphere—because the light of truth is not in them. Being deceived, they deceive others.

No mind can work out a contradiction of these facts. They are as naked as they are public. From the day of spirit manifestations to the present hour, suspicion has rested on every effort made by messengers of this sphere; and we have come to the conclusion, that such as are blind can not see, such as are deaf can not hear, such as are decrepit can not walk, and such as are aided, as we aid, need not be mistaken. We have come to the conclusion, that they who will not see, must remain blind; they who will not hear, must remain deaf; they who cannot walk, must be assisted; but assistance must be, henceforth, acceptable, or it will not be offered. We have seen professions without practice. We have seen the beggar at the gate of the temple, and the priest without the gate. We have seen the rich and the destitute open their mouths for bread, and pray for the spirit to descend and give them that bread; and we have seen the spirit descend and carry the precious boon, and the mouth of the suppliant was closed to receive it not. And why? Alas! they know not why; but we shall venture to tell the why.

Vice is never without excuse, will is never without an apology, and justice is never without its necessity. We will expose the whole secret—men are slaves. Men are what conditions make them, and conditions, such as appertain to the body, are conditions of servitude to some selfish gratification, or some fear of disapprobation. Men are tyrants and slaves—tyrants in government and discipline, and slaves in obeying such government and discipline. When the liberty of this sphere shall overcome the tyranny of the rudimental, men will not control the wisdom which will be manifest for their good. They will not prejudge before they know, they will not presume to know when they are ignorant, nor will they assert that to be evil which seeks the good of all, individually and collectively. It is this passion of premature judgment of things not understood, which has involved the conclusion, or produced it, that every thing incompatible with the condition of minds in the body, must originate with evil spirits. And it does in one sense, but not in the one usually understood. The evil of ignorance is disciplined by spirits of this sphere to renovate and prepare the mind for greater usefulness, and such means, and such only are employed by us as will produce this desirable result. No spirit has ever employed any other means than those required by the condition they sought to change. And when the result shall be unfolded, the truth of this statement will be verified.