heard of previously and who died nearly thirty years before I was born, and the other a man whom I had never seen in life. Was I to assume that these manifestations were produced by some mysterious operation of my own soul, since they could by no possibility have been produced by collusion among the mediums? Or was it to be assumed that some deceiving decarnate soul was producing the manifestations? If false spirits can communicate with incarnate souls, why not truthful spirits? And it being demonstrated in the phenomena of hypnotism that the soul adheres primarily to truth, and is distressed when doubted, is it not also to be expected that, as a rule, decarnate souls will speak only the truth?

I know of no means by which I can demonstrate absolutely, to the physical consciousness, that the intelligences who have thus assumed to communicate with me are the decarnate souls of John Murray and Phillips Brooks; but if the fact of spirit return is accepted, why should I doubt the personality of these particular spirits who have presented themselves to me? Both were active and earnest workers for the good of men's souls, as they saw the light, during physical life; and who more than they would be likely to seek means for laying the truth as they have found it in the decarnate life, before the incarnate world? Accepting these manifestations as truth, everything is consistent and logical. But if we seek to account for them upon any other hypothesis, the attempted explanation will be found illogical, and filled with improbabilities.

1

At the sitting reported above, after Mr. Brooks had spoker. to me through the control, Mr. Murray's spirit controlled the medium, and said:

By our united help you shall spread the cause of spirit return to the farthest ends of the world. Your son died not in vain. It took that terrible sorrow to bring you where you were most needed to spread the wonderful cause of spirit return. In giving up that loved one, what was your loss was not only his gain, but that of the whole universe.

Be steadfast and true, and we will ever be near you. We will give to the world truth and facts that never have been given through the Bible or tracts. We will give to the world something far superior, that will fill the aching heart when the soul and the mind have been benumbed by a sorrow and a grief too great to be expressed, sorrow and grief that can not be erased by a simple promise of a future life. But when it is shown to the world that life is eternal, that the ego must and will live, proving to the whole world the continuity of life, you will heal all wounds and soothe all sorrowing hearts. They will then realize that their loved ones are not dead, but have only crossed the river, a silver lighted river not a darkened one of terror, as has been taught in early ages.

We desire to thank you, as many poor, sorrowing hearts will do, for the light that you are enabling us to give through the thick and great darkness of the past. Your work will bring to you knowledge hitherto unknown, that you will give to the world.

I am your guide and helper,

JOHN MURRAY.

A few weeks later, after Mr. Brooks had spoken to me for some time, Mr. Murray controlled the medium and said:

I am glad to be able to communicate with you, though perhaps it may be in a broken way, being later than the rest of them. I feel that I can only add a word or two to what the bishop has said as to your work, which I know you are so interested in; but all the interest that you have in it is but a mite to the intense feel ing we have for this work.

You are doing nobly and grandly, far beyond my expectations. When I first came to you I well knew that I could use your brain power, but I feared not in the manner that we have been able to do. With the assistance that the band has given me I have been able to do a far greater work than I had anticipated. You are able to tell the difference, when you are writing, between Mr. Brooks' impressions and my own. Where one leaves off and the other begins you have a perceptive sense of the change; not in the ideas exactly, but in the impressional thoughts that come to you. We are thankful that it is so, because it shows to us how susceptible the brain is that we are so anxious to use. You well know now that it is a spirit power which inspires you; that it is a spirit hand which guides the pen; that it is a spiritual brain which fixes all the ideas that flash like electricity through your mind, sometimes so fast that you can scarcely pen them.

We know that you are doing this work with a clear knowledge of the soul power, and we will fill your brain with our thoughts, so that you will be able to give them to the pen. And as

we maintain our strength and bring to bear upon you so perceptibly the elements of the spiritual world, we shall through your brain prove to the world the affinity of man to God, the Infinite Power that overrules the universe. And as we gather near you we can see that your brain power is not at a loss for any words that we can place within it; thoughts that flow from the pen which will teach to the world the grandest ideas that have ever been given to it.

We feel that we are doing a noble work. We know the sacrifice you are making of time, patience and the physical, and we appreciate all this. We realize the benefit that shall come out of it, for yourself, for the spirit world, and for the physical world at large. The world has waited for many years for something of the kind which should prove to men, not only the soul power, the connecting link between the Infinite Power and the finite power, but the spirit power as well, which should connect the earth-plane with a beautiful spirit home.

We realize what a work we are doing. If we did not have you we could not do this work. Were it not for the soul thus placed in our hands in a passive mood we could not use your brain power as we have done. `And in so doing we are proving to the world the greatest achievement in all the universe; proving that life is everlasting; that the Spirit of God is like any other spirit; although it is from an Infinite Being, when it comes to a finite being it brings its power with it. It is only spiritual. It is the breath of that Great Soul Power from which all derive their life and their being.

We realize how much of your time we occupy, and we wish to say to you, don't work too hard. When you feel weak and fatigued let us know; give us to understand it. We know our greediness to use your brain power, and forget almost that we are using the physical too strongly, and that we are weakening the powers themselves. You must waive us aside unless you can get the strength from the spirit physician who stands near.

I said Mr. Murray, how did you happen to be attracted to me?

Reply: I was directed to you a long time ago; long before your trouble, as you call it, came. Through a thought that flashed across your brain,-if I can bring it to your memory,-years ago, that you wished you really knew whether there was any heaven. You thought you would like to be able to prove to the world, if such was a fact, that it was so; but how could you do it? You knew of no proofs. You knew of no way of finding proof. You were skeptical. And in your thoughts I came to you, and I impressed upon your mind, if you can remember, that there would be a time when you would place a work before the public that would stir the the whole universe up, and it would prove so conclusively all the powers that were hidden that it could not be doubted. These ideas have passed through your brain for a long time, but you could not bring them together. It was all chaos to you. You could not bring the thoughts to bear, and we could not, to make you understand what there was of it. But the moment we saw a time, when you were standing, almost broken-hearted, and had at last concluded

to investigate what there might be in the continuity of life, then your sorrow helped us to impress these great truths upon your mind.

Was it really the spirit of the religious reformer, John Murray, who thus addressed me? In view of all the demonstrated facts of the soul's existence and individuality, and the continuity of life, I see no good reason to doubt the fact.'

CHAPTER XXXIII.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM BISHOP PHILLIPS BROOKS-AN INVOCA-
TION HIS MISSION IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FACT OF

THE CONTINUITY OF LIFE TO THE PHYSICAL WORLD-
SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH GIVEN IN PICTURE
WRITING THROUGH A MEDIUM, IN RESPONSE TO AN UN-
SPOKEN REQUEST-THE DECARNATE LIFE IS ETERNAL
PROGRESSION.

But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.—Matthew, x, 19-20.

HUS did Jesus Christ declare the fact and philos

THUS

ophy of spirit influence and control. And in view of this specific declaration, how can any Christian doubt that individual spirits, which are from and of the Spirit of God, may and do impress incarnate souls with thoughts, and with words which they may and do speak?

The following invocation was delivered by a spiritualist minister, Mrs. R., while under spirit control, on Sunday evening. It was taken by a stenographer, who was unable to read a portion of his notes when he undertook to write them out the next day. I took the sheets, with part of a sentence missing, to a sitting with Mrs. R., on the subsequent Monday evening. It was a dark seance for physical manifestations. During the sitting the control, speaking for Bishop Phillips Brooks, dictated verbally the missing words. I said, "I cannot remember them; can you not write them on the paper I brought with me?" The answer was that they would try.