The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

Preface.

The first edition of this volume has been commended and criticized by the public. It was admitted to be a valuable compendium of the curiosi­ties of literature generally, and especially of that pertaining to magic, but that it was at the same time calculated to foster superstition, and thereby promote evil — a repetition of the charge made against the honorable Horst, the publisher of a magical library.²

In our enlightened age, the unprejudiced will observe in the publication of such a work, only what the author claims, namely, a contribution in reference to the aforesaid literature and culture of no trifling merit; but in regard to the believer also, the issue of a cheap edition will be more serviceable than the formerly expensive productions on sorcery, which were only circulated in abstract forms and sold at extortionate rates. What other practical value the above named edition may possess is not the question! Let us not, therefore, underrate this branch of popular lit­erature; the authors wrote in accordance with a system which was, or at least, seemed clear to them, and illustrious persons, in all ages and climes have not considered the labor requisite to fathom the mysteries of magic as labor expended in vain, and although they condemned the form, they could not deny the possibility or even fact that gifted men, of inherent worth, could accomplish such wonderful things.

In regard to the present edition it can only be said, that what has previously been presented as the so-called Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, which have for several centuries at­tracted the popular faith, in reality was in accordance with a single old manuscript (the most legible among many), and given word for word, divested only of orthographical and other errors which the best interest of literature demand — with unerring fidelity. The publisher protests against this practice, but has instead augmented it with different readings on the topic, likewise supported by old manuscripts of the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses so that the whole group is now brought together for the sake of completeness, which were previously only available by lucky coincidence to the die-hard enthusiast.³

To the first edition of this book, as an introduction, I have added an important essay on Mosaic magic taken from Ennemoser's Geschichte der Magie ("History of the Magic"), (Leipzig, 1844).⁴

Introduction.

THE MAGIC OF THE ISRAELITES.¹

The complete and reliable history of the human and divine — the divine revelations, and the influence of godly or pious men are found in the scriptural monuments of the old Hebrews in the Holy Scriptures.

The Bible is justly styled the Holy Scripture, because it contains the knowledge of the saints, while at the same time, it unites and harmonizes word and deed, doctrine and action. It points out the true relation of man to the Omnipotent — it affords the most direct reference to the great truths of the spiritual and intellectual; it treats of the origin of the universe and its laws, through which all things have to be brought to light — of the anterior and posterior history of mankind — of his future destiny and how to attain it; of the living and visible agents which God employs in the great work of redemption, and, finally, of the most exalted of all be­ings — of the world's Savior, who was an universal expression in his own person, and who exhibited all divine power and action in one person, while all his forerunners were endowed only with single powers and per­fections; who revealed to fallen man the highest and purest ends of his life and the means of his purification and restoration.

We find among oriental nations every grade of magic — the steps neces­sary to solve the mysteries of somnambulism and second-sight, and the in­finitely multiplied operations by which unusual occurrences are produced; in like manner we also find these things among the Israelites, but differing totally in character. In the former instance, it was the individual and his presence; in the latter, it was not the individual upon which magic depended, but upon mankind in general, and upon the great future. There, the light of man was made to shine by skilful actions, produced by the lowest arts; here, shone a pure, unclouded, quiet life, vitalized by the warm breath of the Almighty, a light shining into the future, and upon this light depended all life and action. To the Israelite seer not only the fate of single individuals stand revealed, but the fate of nations, yea, of mankind, which in the end must be reconciled to God by the un­folding of magical art, as often happened under the old dispensation, by instinctive somnambulistic influences. If we examine the history of the old covenant we shall find that this remarkable people stood solitary and alone like a pillar of fire amid heathen darkness.

Although we find, among other nations, worthy men, who seek after the divine light, surrounded by darkness and uncertainty, here are men of God, bearing the impress of true faith, who give undoubted evidence of higher powers, by visible acts and signs which everywhere separate life from death, and truth from error, and while the ancient remnants of other nations show only theory without application, here we find a connected chain of acts and events — in fact, a divine and lifelike drama. Of all these things the various books of the Holy Scriptures speak with confidence, so that the history of no other people, interwoven with fables, can be compared with them. According to this, the Bible contains the light which illuminates every dark phase in life; it is the groundwork of all human actions, the guiding star of the earthly to the eternal &mdash of the intellectual to the divine, the aim and end of all knowledge. It is the first of three great lights, guiding and governing our faith, and bears no rela­tion, to the other two great lights of the angle which shall make these actions lawful, the circle which sensualizes the fixed limits of the con­dition of mankind. The Bible is also more instructive and richer in ref­erence to our subject than all other books taken together. We will, therefore, cite a few principal points, as well of the phenomena as of the mode of action and theory relating to magnetism, and then call attention espe­cially to the healing of the sick according to scriptural teachings. We will give an account of the dreams, a great many of which are recorded in the Bible.

The dreams recorded in the Bible are many and remarkable. The voice with which God spoke to the prophets and the men consecrated to Him, were generally heard in dreams.

The visions of the ancients, according to the testimony of Moses, were nearly always dreams. Numbers xii. 6: "And he said: Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." Job 33:15: "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." I Kings iii. 5: "In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, etc., give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" Gen. 20:3: "But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife; and God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also with­held thee from sinning against me." Gen. 31:23: "And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad." The dreams of Joseph concerning his brethren are also remarkable. Gen. 37:5: "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more: and he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamed: For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright: and behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?" And he had still another dream, and be told it to his brethren and said: Behold, I have dreamed a dream more: and behold, the sun and the moon and the stars made obeisance to me. And his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren in­deed come to bow down ourselves to thee on the earth?"

Sacred history proves that after Joseph was sold by his brethren to the Egyptian traders that he actually became their king in the court of Pha­raoh. The power of Joseph to interpret dreams is further shown by the interpretation of the dreams of the butler and baker while in prison, Gen. 1:40; so, also, of the dreams of king Pharaoh, of the seven fat and lean kine which came out of the water, and of the seven rank and good ears of corn and the seven thin and blasted ears, Gen. 41:1. In the New Testament many dreams are mentioned through which God designed to speak to his followers. In this manner Joseph, the husband of Mary, was told by an angel (Matt. 1:20), that she should conceive of the Holy Ghost and bear a son, who would become the Savior of the world; and then again, that he should take the child and flee into Egypt to escape the murderous intent of Herod; and after the death of Herod, that he should again return to Nazareth (Matt. 2:13-19). In like manner, the three wise men of the East were warned in a dream, that they should not return to Herod, but depart to their own country another way. The Apostles frequently had visions in the night; for example, Paul was commanded to go to Macedonia (Acts 10:9). And in the same book of the New Testament (Acts 18:9), we read: "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace." Many similar passages might be quoted, e.g., 23:11; 27:23, etc., etc.

Let us begin with the history of the creation, as recorded by Moses. "In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

Herein lies the great first cause. God is an uncreated being — heaven and earth are the first things created; the antithesis: that which was made of God. In reference to a second antithesis, Moses speaks of light and darkness: "And darkness was upon the face of the earth, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Here, too, the question is about light as a creation, which, however, had for its opposite darkness; therefore did the old Egyptians regard darkness as the beginning of all things. Even according to the writings of Moses, this was the Egyptian doctrine, for he says, "Darkness was upon the face of the deep." But as the Egyptian doctrine in its first inception may be regarded as good authority, their error originated in this, that they accepted the darkness be­fore the light; as also a like error of the Persians, inasmuch that they accepted the light before the darkness as being created, the one before the other. The light stands beside darkness as its natural opposite, created and present, as Moses plainly says: "And God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night." The Bible also points oat another antithesis in the first germs and figures of the earth, namely, water and spirit — the water as matter, as the germ of the figurative, and the spirit, the Elohim, as the fruitful, active principle. "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." One-sided views led the earlier philosophers into numerous error. In this manner Thales brought everything out of the water and overlooked the spiritual active whole, in all of which he was imitated by subsequent champions of Materialism. The other one-sided view is, to hold everything as spiritual and regard matter only as an inert abstrac­tion (caput mortuum), which was the case from the earliest period of time among Spiritualists and the advocates of Spiritualism. Moses, therefore, shows his superiority over all the disciples of Egyptian temple-wisdom, as well as of the more modern sects, inasmuch that he was enlight­ened by divine wisdom, and represented this subject, not in a partial manner, but in its true bearing and significance; he ascribed to matter its true worth and placed the spiritual beside it. Moreover, Moses has given the narrative of the creation in beautiful and captivating language, as for example, in regard to the waters — the difference between the wet and the dry, and how the dry land came forth from the water; how the grass and herbs, which bore seeds, and fruitful trees grew upon the earth; how the mighty deep was filled with living and moving animals, and the birds that fly in the firmament of heaven; how the earth finally brought forth living animals, each after its own kind, and last of all, how God made man "in his own image," to whom he gave "dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the fowls of the air, over the cattle, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

The Mosaic Eden was the habitation of the originally purely created beings, within whose boundaries grew the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The figure of the serpent shows the nature of the fall of man. We spoke, in another part of this work, of the original purity and wisdom of godly men. Here is the place to record additional Bible principles. To this end we avail ourselves of a mystical, interesting manuscript from which we extract what follows: (MAGIKON; or, the Secret System of an Association of Unknown Philosophers, etc., v. 27-31. Frankfort and Leipzig, 1784. A rare book, whose teachings, in many respects, agree with the Indian Brahmin doctrine).

In view of his divine origin, as an unconditional emanation from God, Adam was not only the noblest being, which, as an expression of divine power, had the preference of all others, for he never owed his existence to a mother; he was a heavenly Adam, brought into being by God him­self and was not born into the world in the ordinary manner. He also enjoyed, in consequence of his nature, every prerogative of a pure spirit, surrounded by an invulnerable veil. But this was not the sensual body of the present time, which is only an evidence of his degradation — a coarse mantle — by which he sought to protect himself against the raging elements. His garments were holy, simple, indestructible, and of an in­dissoluble character. To this condition of perfect glory, in which he enjoyed the purest happiness, he was destined in order to reveal the power of the Almighty, and to rule the visible and invisible. Being in possession of all the prerogatives and insignia of a king, he could also use every means to fulfill his high destiny. As the champion of unity, he was secure from the attacks of all inward and outward enemies, because the veil by which he was covered (the germs of which are still within us), rendered him invulnerable. One advantage that the original pure man possessed was, that no natural poison, nor all the powers of the elements could harm him. Christ promised invulnerability to his apostles and all his followers, through the regeneration of man. In this condition man also bears a fiery, double-edged, all-penetrating sword, a living word, which combines in itself all power, and through which "everything is possible to him.

Of this sword Moses says, Genesis 3:24: "So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the tree of life." In Revelations 1:16, we; read: "And out of his mouth went a two-edged sword," etc. By this sword we are to understand the living word, which was originally inherent in man, and which can only be restored to him by his return to a pure state, and by being cleansed from the blot of sensualism. It is the word of which we read in Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit."

Most extraordinary is the powerful, all-conquering Honover (word of power),² of Zoroaster, which fully corresponds with the foregoing, by which Ormuzd overcame Ahriman and all evil. To continue with our quotation:

In this condition of kingly honor and power, man, as the most lifelike image of his father, (whose vice-regent he was on earth), could have enjoyed the purest happiness had he properly guarded his Eden, but he committed a breach of trust. Instead of ruling over the things of sense and striving for a higher spiritual state, to which he was ordained, he im­bibed the unhappy idea of exchanging the great cardinal points of light with truth, that is, he confounded light with truth, and in this confusion he lost both and robbed himself. Because he lost sight of the boundary of the kingdom over which he was placed as a watchman, and confined himself to only a portion of it, namely, the sensual, the glitter of which blinded him so greatly as to make him forget all else; because he flattered himself that he could find the light in another place than the first great fountain, he fastened his voluptuous eye on a false existence, became enamored of sensualism and became sensual himself. Through this adultery he sank into darkness and confusion, the result of which was, that he was transplanted from the light of day into the night of innu­merable small twinkling stars, and now he experienced a sensual naked­ness of which he was ashamed. The abuse of the knowledge of the connection between the spiritual and the bodily, according to which man endeavors to make the spiritual sensual and the sensual spiritual, is true adultery, of whom, he who is moved by the female sex is simply a conse­quence and an imitator. Through sin man lost not only his original habi­tation, and became an exile into the religious state of the fathers and mothers, having to go in the way of the flesh, but he also lost the fiery sword, and with it everything else that had made him all-seeing and un­conquerable. His holy garments now became as the skin of animals, and this mortal, perishable covering afforded him no protection against the elements. With the wasted half of his body, the spiritual also added to the confusion, and discordant sounds were heard in the dark places of his spiritual domain.

Although man had sunk deep in sin, the hope of a full restoration was given to him on condition of a perfect reconciliation. Without such reconciliation, however, he sinks deeper and deeper, and his return be­comes still more precarious. In order to be reconciled he must become self-abased, and resist the false allurements which only serve to steep him in the mire of the elements, and he must seek, by prayer, to obtain the more exalted blessings of benevolent influences, without which he cannot draw a pure breath. In this reconciliation he must gradually overcome everything, and put away everything from him that will cloud his inner nature and separate him from the great source of his being; because he can never enjoy peace within himself and with nature around him until he has thus overcome everything opposed to his own nature, and gained the victory over all his enemies. But this can only be done when he re­turns the same road upon which he had wandered away. He must wean himself by degrees from the sensual by a heroic life, and like a weary, footsore wanderer, who has many steep mountains to scale con­tinue to mount upward, until he reaches the goal, which is lost in the clouds. Overcoming one obstacle after another, he must dispel the dark vapors that intervene between himself and the true sun, so that in the end the pure rays of light may reach him without interruption.

The follow­ing is a genuine scriptural doctrine according to the Indian creed, differ­ing, however, in character:

The Almighty has provided means to aid man in the work of recon­ciliation. God has appointed higher agents to lead him back to Him from the error of his ways. But he can only be fully restored through the Savior of the world, who finished and perfected all that these agents had accomplished only in part at different times. Through Him all power became animated: and exalted; through Him he approaches the first and only true light, a knowledge of all things, and especially, a knowledge of himself. If the man is willing to accept this offered help, he will surely arrive at the desired goal, and he will be so firmly established in faith, that no future doubts can ever cause him to waver. If he elevates his will, so as to bring it in unison with the divine will, he may spiritualize his being already in this world, so that the higher spiritual kingdom may become visible to his eyes, and feel God nearer to him than he ever thought it possible; that all things may become possible to him, because he adds all power to his own, and in this union and harmony, with a fullness of a higher vitality, the divine agents, Moses, Elias, yea, even Christ himself, may become visible to him, when, living amid thought, he requires books no longer. In short, man can attain to such a degree of perfection, even in this life, that death will have nothing more to do than to disrobe him of his coarse covering in order to reveal his spiritual temple, because he then lives and moves within the eternal. Only when he arrives at the end of this vale of darkness, will he receive, at each stage of his journey, more extended life, greater inward power, purer air, and a wider range of vision. His spiritual being will taste nobler fruits, and at the end of his race nothing can separate him from the exalted harmonies of those spheres, of which mortal sense can draw but a faint picture. Without distinction of sex, he will begin to live the life of angels, and will possess all their powers, of which he had but a faint sign here; he will then again enjoy the incense of the eternal temple, the source of all power, from which he was exiled, and Christ will be his great High Priest (Heb. 7:17, 24, 25). Man will not only enjoy his own gifts, but he will have a part in the gifts of the elect, who constitute the council of the wise; that holy sovereign will be more ex­alted there than he could be here; there will be no rising or setting or the light of the stars; no changes of day and night, and no multiplicity of languages; every being will in that moment be enabled to read the name of that holy book, out of which flows life for every creature (He­b. 12:22, 23).

And here, too, the views of Zoroaster are in accord with the foregoing, for he also speaks of a heavenly meeting, and the participation of every follower of Ormuzd in the sacrifices and prayers of all, etc.

In placing this prominent treatise so plainly before the reader I felt no hesitation, because it was so clear and true, and because it seemed so proper for this work here, and to show why only pure and truly Christian men can perform great wonders and see visions of which the worldly-minded have not even a conception. I will now relate a few instances of magnetic appearances and occurrences, many of which are recorded in the Bible.

The first and most striking one we find in connection with Adam. Moses writes (Gen. 2:21) as follows: "And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept." And now, the question arises, What kind of a sleep was this? The answer is, it was a deep sleep. It was either the sleep of death (karon), or a state of lethargy (katawora), or a trance (ekstasiV raptus divinus), or, was it merely an ordinary sleep? The first appears im­probable, and had this been the case, we know, that in the release of the body from its earthly bonds, and shortly before death, the clearest instan­ces of second sight have occurred; but the question is not of a mortal ill­ness, but of a deep sleep. If it was a trance, then that inward second-sight may be regarded the more probable. The seventy-two translators of the Bible actually regard this sleep as a trance, and Tertullian says, in direct reference to it, "The power of the prophecies of the Holy Ghost fell upon him." (Accidit super illum spiritus sancti vis operatrix prophetiæ.)³

Another remarkable vision is that which Noah had of the ark long before the deluge occurred. Again, the call of Abraham, in which he was commanded to leave his fatherland and move toward Haran in Ca­naan. Abraham had many visions, or was the conversation of the Lord with him, recorded in the Bible really only than a figurative expression of intuition? Through these visions or conversations, as you will, he was taught that he would be greatly blessed, and that he should be the father of a great nation, etc. As he came into the sacred grove of Moreh, the Lord again appeared unto Abraham and said: "This land will I give unto thy seed."⁴

The innocent life of the shepherds, and their frequent abode in sacred groves, very naturally brought such intuition to the very highest point of perfection, and this was especially the case, when their minds were occupied with God and godly things. And this is particularly shown in the history of the shepherd-life of the pious Israelites, not only by the ancient fathers, but subsequently, in the time of the kings and judges. Isaac and Jacob had visions similar to those of Abraham. We notice especially the vision of Jacob while journeying into Mesopotamia, in which he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. It is written (Gen. 28:10 ff.): "And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set: and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord, etc. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, etc. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And Jacob awake out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. This is none ether but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." How truly was Jacob's dreamed fulfilled! The promised land became the possession of the Jews; through his seed, namely, through Christ the Savior, who is the heavenly ladder upon which the angels of God ascended and descended, all the nations of the earth have been or will be blessed.

We find another remarkable instance of the magnetic influence in changing the nature and complexion of living objects, in the history of Jacob. It is as follows: Jacob agreed with Laban that he would still guard his sheep, provided, that Laban would give him as a reward for his service, all spotted lambs and goats that should in the future be added to his flecks. Laban consented to this proposal, and Jacob became im­mensely rich. It is worth the trouble to insert the passage relating to this transaction, as an application of the mysterious doctrine of magne­tism.

When Jacob would no longer watch over the sheep and desired to go away with his wives and children, Laban said unto him, Genesis 30:27-43: "I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now in­creased unto a multitude: and the Lord hath blessed thee since my com­ing: and now, when shall I provide for mine own house also? And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day the he-goats that were ring-streaked and speckled, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hands of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut-tree: and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And it came to pass whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in; so the feeble were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses."

This proves clearly that the sheep and the goats could be made to bring forth their young changed in color and appearance corresponding with the pilled rods which were placed before them by Jacob as they drank from the water. In these days, the theory that the features of the offspring of a human mother can be affected by an object upon which the mother gazes, is pronounced absurd; and yet this theory, in the very na­ture of things, is as fully established as the fact that the mental qualities of many children differ totally from those of their parents. The fact that the sheep and the goats, upon seeing the objects which Jacob so skillfully placed before them, brought forth their young differing in appearance from themselves, has a very deep significance. Either Jacob knew what the result of this stratagem would be from experience, or it was revealed to him in a dream, for we read, Genesis 31:10: "And it came to pass at the time the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-streaked, speckled, and grizzled." With the water which they drank, and in which at the same time they saw their own reflection, they transmitted the image of the speckled rods to their young.

We have not the space here to enter into a more extended argument to prove the truth of this phenomenon, but the fact that the female progeni­tor, both human and animal, is capable at the period of gestation to trans­mit to her offspring the image and likeness of surrounding objects, has a surer foundation than is commonly believed to be possible. The great army of Materialists, who represent the spirit of the scriptures and of life as an ordinary earthly matter, so as to make it appear that nothing is hidden in the sanctuary that they cannot comprehend by their intellect, will never be converted, and those who rely upon the benign influences of a higher light in the temple, which will exist beyond the life of this world, will never need conversion.

Moses himself, the great man of God, had many remarkable visions. These visions consisted in part of dreams and partly in ecstasies, and for this reason was he educated in all the mysteries of the Egyptians and in all their magical arts, in which he excelled all others. On account of his extraordinary piety and wisdom he has made the savior of his people from the thralldom of Pharaoh. His visions were of a diversified char­acter. His ability to lead and govern the people was the direct result of a deep intuition. If we regard this ability as mere inward sight, then we must admit that it was a purely magical gift; if as the result of direct command of the voice of God (for according to the scriptures God often spoke personally with Moses), we find in it a confirmation of the truth, that a pious mind, open to divine influences, can also perform divine acts.

The first important vision of Moses occurred at Mount Horeb, while he was yet engaged in watching over the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law (Exod. 3:2): "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a burning bush: and Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the burning bush, and said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

Moses, the prophetic seer, acquainted with the weakness of his brethren, full of religious zeal, and gifted with a glowing phantasia, came to the lodge of his father-in-law in Midian, where he had time and oppor­tunity, as a shepherd, to store his mind with religious contemplations, so that in a state of ecstatic second-sight, he could review the ways and means by which he might become the leader and shepherd of his people. The centrum of his mind was open to the higher influences of God, who appeared unto him as a light in the burning bush which was not con­sumed, and with whom, with veiled countenance, he conversed familiarly. We find in Moses the emotions of an inward psychological struggle with hopes and fears, with extreme weakness and supernatural strength of will; of submission, reverence and obedience; of confidence, and finally of an enthusiasm, that, regarding all earthly obstacles as naught, he over­came all things. While he was thus equipped with godlike powers, he subdued the elements of nature and compelled them to testify to the greatness and glory of God by the marvelous wonders which he per­formed. In such ecstasies Moses could tarry long on the mountains and separate himself from the people on the journey in the wilderness, and would yet be venerated as a man of wonders. The visions of Moses em­brace the present and the future. He not only delivered the commands of God from the mountain, but he also foresaw the offerings that were brought to the golden calf; he foresaw that he could prepare the children of Israel for the pure worship of God, and guard them against error and idolatry only by isolating them in the wilderness from the heathen na­tions around them. In addition to the above indications we need only call attention to the special visions of Moses, his gifts, his ability to trans­fer the power of divination to others, and class them among magnetic occurrences; we may omit the different kinds of sacrifices, the consecra­tion and blessing with water, oil and blood, and laying on of hands, etc, as well as the stringent prohibitions against taking any part in sorcery, false divination, conjuring and inquiring of the dead.

Among a few instances, resembling magnetism, we mention particu­larly the rod with which Moses performed his wonders before Pharaoh, and the stretching out of his hands by which he divided the waters of the sea (Exod. 14:16): "But lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and as Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the waters were divided. And when the Egyptians pursued them, Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea, so there remained not so much as one of them." The stretching out of the hand of Moses and the wonders he performed with his rod are of great signifi­cance. With his rod he smote the rock in Rephidim, and the water gushed forth to quench the thirst of the murmuring people (Exod. 17:5): "And the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river take in thy hand and go; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall water come out of it, that the people may drink." And when Amalek came and fought against Israel, Moses said unto Joshua (Exod. 17:9-11): "Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomor­row I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed."

The gift of prophecy seems also to have been given to the pious elders of Israel through their intercourse with Moses, for it is written (Num. 11:23-29): "And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered together the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit tested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them: and they were of them that were written, but went not out into the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!

The various conditions of clairvoyance are clearly described by Moses. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian whom he had married, and they said (Num. 12:2-8): "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us? And the Lord heard it. And the Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." And so it was also among the Israelites and other nations, and is now in our magnetic appearances and revelations by visions, and especially in dreams and dark words and figures, which is frequently the case in the lower condition of somnolency; but in the highest grades of clairvoyance, when the mind is pure as in the case of Moses, it is to behold in the true form.

The personal conversations of God with Moses, and his power of be­holding the Almighty in his true similitude are figurative expressions, and must not be taken in a literal sense. For the Lord speaks through revelation and by means of the light, and not by word of mouth, neither can God be seen by mortal eyes, for He says in another place, "No man can behold me and live." This language is the expression or impression of the divine word, and a light from the very purest source; it is the spiritual gift and revelation of the Deity to man, which must be taken accord­ing to the various grades of intelligence of beings, as in nature, according to the kind of light produced by different actions, whether the effect be produced upon near or distant, thick or thin, hard or soft objects, etc.

This language was understood by prophets and consecrated men in all ages, and these could not communicate the light they had received in any other language than those which were spoken in their day, although, that which came over them was much more simple, comprehensive and spirit­ual than any spoken communication could have been. The language of God is the influence of a higher light through which the spirit which he pervades becomes electrified. God acts as a centrum only on the centrum of things, that is, on the inner or spiritual, and the outward manifesta­tions follow ex post. It is not less significant that the bite of the fiery serpents was healed by gazing upon the brazen serpent. "And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way, and spake against God and against Moses. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee: pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." (Num. 21:4-9.)

The visions and prophecies of Balaam, son of Beor, to whom Balak sent Messengers, that he might curse Israel, are also of a remarkable character. (Num. 22:23, 24): "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, my God, to do less or more." So spake Balaam to Balak, who tried to bribe him to do evil.

In Numbers 24:4, 15, 16, 17, 19, we have an account of the visions of the heathen seer, in which was announced the advent of Christ: "And the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he took up his parable and said: And the man whose eyes are open hath said : He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the visions of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open, I shall see him, but not now; I shall beheld him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion." The history of Balaam proves that the power to perform wonders was not possessed by holy seers alone. Balak, king of the Moabites, being afraid of the Israelites, desired to form a league with the Midianites. But since neither the Moabites nor the Midianites felt like engaging in hostilities with the Israelites, they resorted to magic, and since they had no magician among themselves, they sent for Balaam, who was celebrated for his powers of charming and divining. The messengers came to Balaam with costly presents in their hands (for he took money for his serv­ices as soothsayer), and demanded that he should curse this strange people. Balaam invited them to tarry over night; in the morning he arose and made known to the messengers that God neither permitted him to curse the Israelites, nor allowed him to accompany them to their country, for "that people was favored of God." Balak thinking he had not offered enough, sent more costly presents by the hands of his nobles, in order to induce Balaam to visit him and curse Israel. Balaam, a mixture of faith and fickleness, of truth and avarice, of true prophecy and magic, said to the servants of Balak: "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more." And yet, after he had spoken with the Lord during the night, he arose in the morning, saddled his ass, and prepared to go with the Moabite princes, and afterward told the enemies of Israel how they could lead them into idolatry.

Here follows the history of Balaam's perfect somnambulism. Being a visionary, he was divided within himself, because he tried to serve God and Mammon. His conscience upbraided him. "And God's anger was kindled against him because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in his way for an adversary against him." Now he changed his inward per­ception from the angel and transferred it to the ass, which now also be­held the angel standing in the way, and therefore began a rational con­versation with its rider. The ass, with characteristic obduracy, preferred the fields to the uneven paths in the vineyards, and when force was employed to turn her in the way, she thrust herself against the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, for which he smote her with his staff; and since there was no path to turn aside either to the right or to the left, the ass fell down under Balaam, and he smote her again. Finally the ass spoke to Balaam and pointed out to him his unreasonable conduct, and when he came unto himself he again saw the angel instead of the ass; but his conscience smote him ; he confessed his sin and promised to go back again. But the angel permitted him to proceed upon condition that he should speak only what the Lord had commanded him to say, which condition he fulfilled in spite of every temptation that Balak could offer; and he went not at other times to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness." Instead of cursing the Israelites he blessed them, and afterward actually prophesied concerning the Star of Jacob. (Num. 24.)

This spurious prophet had no truly divine inspirations, but he prophesied in the same manner as do our mesmeric clairvoyants. For, first, he always went into retirement, when he was about to prophesy, to avoid outward disturbance, which no true prophet ever did. Second, His inward perceptions were opened by closing his outward senses. "So sayeth the hearer of the word, whose eyes will be opened when he bows down." It is evident that the angel with the drawn sword was a vision, and the fact that the ass speaking did not appear strange to him, proves clearly that he could not have been awake. According to the Arabic, Balaam was called "the man with the closed eye," and this induces Tholuck to compare his condition to a state of magnetic ecstasy. Third, Balaam was so incapable of distinguishing between the real object and the ap­parent subject, that the ass, gifted with speech, made no impression upon him, so that, after he had regained his senses, he saw the angel standing before him and bowed himself before him. Fourth, Balaam made use of certain external means to throw himself into an ecstatic state, which true prophets never did. He was led from place to place in order to obtain visions, differing in their nature, so as to make them conform with the pleasure of Balak. He even employed magic, for it is written: "And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness." Fifth, finally, Balaam's ecstasies were unstable and uncer­tain, and his figures and expressions were symbolical, for we read, for ex­ample: "He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion." This false prophet then returned to his dwelling, but appears again later in the camp of the Midianites, where he finally perished by the sword at the hands of those whom Moses sent out to fight.

In the days of the judges and kings, dreams and prophetic visions signified the same thing. In 1 Samuel 28:6, we read: "In olden times in Israel, when men inquired of the Lord, they said: Come let us go to the seer, for they were called seers who are now called prophets." In Numbers 27:18-21, when Moses asked the Lord to give him a worthy follower, it is written: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take Joshua, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, etc., and thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, etc. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord," etc. I have already quoted pas­sages from the Bible to show that dreams and prophetic visions were re­garded as the same thing; and indeed, so important were dreams, that a dreamer was placed in the same category with a prophet. "And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." (1 Sam. 28:6.) We read in Deuteronomy 13:1-4: "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying Let us go, after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them: Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." From this we learn that persons who were not prophets, and who were not of a pure heart, also had prophetic visions.

It would be tedious as well as superfluous to recite all the visions of the prophets. In the meantime we will not pass over the most remarkable in silence. In 1 Samuel 16, we find the history of Saul, who, after the spirit of God had departed from him, became gloomy and ill, and whose condition could only be ameliorated by the sweet sounds of music. "But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on the harp: and it shall come to pass when the evil spirit of God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well: and Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, etc. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." When Saul saw the Philistine host his heart failed him, and he inquired of the Lord, but the Lord answered him not, "neither by dreams, nor by Urim nor by prophets. If there arise among you prophets, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth a sign, etc. Saul was a seeker after signs and wonders, for he at one time inquired of Samuel about his missing asses; at another time he inquired of the witch of Endor, and at another time he depended upon deceptive dreams. The witch said to Saul: "Wherefore dost thou ask of me, seeing that the Lord is departed from thee, and thy kingdom is gone out of thy hand."

In the books of Samuel, who was a clairvoyant in his youth, we find many prophetic visions recorded. The most remarkable of these visions were those of Samuel and David. Even Saul attempted to prophesy un­til the spirit of the Lord departed from him. The history of the aged king David, who could no more obtain warmth of body, even though he was covered with clothing, we have already related. A young virgin was procured, who slept in the king's arms and cherished him, and so he ob­tained heat. (1 Kings 1:1.)

Among all the prophets of the old dispensation there was none more exalted than Elias, whose very name was a synonym for a higher grade of being. We find in him an example of great significance in magnetic transactions. He imparted the most important doctrines of life, and he gave life to such as had apparently died, a history of which is here in­serted verbatim: "And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elias, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and car­ried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elias; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elias took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother." (1 Kings 17:17-24.)

Of a similar kind a still more remarkable instance of the striking and powerful magnetic influence is given in the history of the Shunammite's son who was restored to life by the prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 4:18-37.) "And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head! And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door and went out. And she called unto her husband and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? it is neither new moon, nor Sabbath. And she said It shall be well. Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, ex­cept I bid thee. So she went, and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take thy staff in thy hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said. As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore, he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. And when Elisha had come into the house, behold the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said. Call this Shu­nammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, take up thy son."

What may we learn from this? First, that one must be a man of God as Elisha was. Second, Elisha must have been well acquainted with the transferring of this power by means of a conductor, or he would not have sent his servant before him with the staff, by simply laying the same upon the face of the dead child, and thereby restore him to life. Third, the command that he gave unto his servant, to salute no one by the way, has a deep significance. He was to give his undivided attention to the busi­ness of raising the dead unto life, and not to be led away by any other consideration or occasion whatever. A proof that is highly necessary and important that a magnetic physician should be free from all diversions in order to concentrate all his energies upon the one object, — the patient. Fourth, the very management in this case, is incomparable. Fifth, it is a proof that perseverance and continuance is a chief requisite in a magnetic operation: you cannot fell a tree with one stroke, so Elisha, after the first effort, arose and walked to and fro in the house, and only upon the second effort did the dead lad begin to breathe. By the conduct of Elisha (and Saul), we may learn, that the inner sense may also be developed by music, as for instance, when Elisha was called upon to proph­esy to the kings of Israel and Judah, against the Moabites, he said: "But now, bring me a minstrel." And as the minstrel played the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he prophesied. (2 Kings 3:15.) That they knew the method of healing by laying on of hands, and that they practiced it, is proven in the passage (2 Kings 5:11.) Naaman, the Syrian captain, expected Elisha to move his hand over the leprous part, and thus put away his leprosy.

We often read that the remains of saints worked marvelous wonders and healed the sick long after their decease. This was the case with Elisha, for we read (2 Kings 13:20): "And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass as they were burying a man, that behold they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet."

If it might prob­ably appear, that in the earliest ages men were chiefly given to prophecy and inner perceptions, in our day and among us the female more fre­quently possesses these gifts: still, there are numerous instances of prophetic women recorded in the Bible also, as, for example, the woman of Endor, who possessed the spirit of divination and to whom Saul went to inquire of, Huldah, the Prophetess, (2 Kings 22:14), and Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, etc.

Let us once more take a retrospective glance upon the people of Israel, according to the history of the Old Testament, and upon the ancient days of the Orientals, and compare the magic among them to that of later years and we shall find many and essential differences. In the first place, I have remarked before, how that the people of Israel stood single and alone before all the heathen nations, and how the magic among them assumed an essential and diversified form. For although the Jews re­mained so long in Egypt, they brought very little Egyptian magic with them on their return; that is, of the genuine theurgical magic art, which is the result of natural powers and of human inventions. These magi­cal ecstasies and wonder workings were more of the nature of divine in­spiration, while the black art, practiced by natural means, which was to produce supernatural effects, was met with severe punishment as an un­holy work of sorcery and witchcraft. We find quite the contrary in heathendom, since here the true knowledge of the divine was either lack­ing altogether, or it was adulterated by traditions and darkened by mys­teries. As for instance, in Egypt Athor, according to the Theogony of Hesiod, the darkness of night was worshipped as the great unknown, through profound silence; but to the Israelites the light appeared in the unity of God, whom they worshipped with loud hymns. In the entire old world of Heathendom the power of the principle of nature governed, and brought down the spiritual vibration to the level of the terrestrial or earthly. The true magic of the divine was hid from that erring people, being covered with a veil through which but few glimpses of light pene­trated. The light shown in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. Hamberger says: "Heathendom was capable only to take up single rays, as it were, in an oblique direction, but the elect of God, as the posterity of Shem, in whom mankind was to be exhibited as such, and to whom all the rest of mankind, as the mere common people (eJnh Gojim) were retained, they could rejoice not only in a circuitous, but in a central influence on the part of the Lord. "Thou art a holy people unto the Lord, says God. (Deut. 7:6.) The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people to Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."

Israel was appointed thereto, not so much to conceive and grasp the outward glory of God, the ideal world, but much more His inner being, to be led deeper and deeper into the sanctuary of divine personality. This, however, cannot be done at once; and if Israel is not the only par­doned and favored, but if through him all the nations of the earth shall blessed, this could only be accomplished gradually, and by degrees. Madam Schlegel says: "A longing or love is the root and beginning of every higher and divine knowledge. Perseverance in searching, in faith, and in the contest of life, only prefigure the middle of the way; the ter­mination must always remain something that is hoped for. The necessary epoch for preparation to this gradual process may not be overturned nor set aside by the noblest strivings of man. The character and the history itself of the Hebrew nations are greatly misunderstood, for the very rea­son, that these things are not duly observed. The whole existence of this people was built only upon hope, and the highest centre of their inner life was placed at a great distance in the future. Upon this also rests the chief difference in the method of the holy deliverance of the Hebrews, as is exhibited by other old Asiatic nations. In the old records of these nations their glance in the proper historic parts is directed more toward the glorious past, with a regretful feeling in consequence of that which man has since lost. Out of all the fullness of these touching, holy re­membrances, and out of the oldest joint proverbs, Moses, in his most direct and fixed revelations for the Hebrew children according to the wisest law of economy, brought out but very little, and only what seemed the most indispensable and necessary for his people and the object of God with the same. And as all the writings of the first lawgiver, who for this sole ob­ject led and brought out his favorite people from Egyptian servitude in a spiritual sense and according to the whole mode of thought, until up to the time of the prophet king and singer of psalms to the last voice of warning and promise that died away in the wilderness — the outward con­tents and the inward understanding are, according to prophetic writings, so may the people themselves be called a prophetic people in the highest sense of the word, and is such really, taken historically, in the whole course of the world and in their wonderful destinies they were and are such.

Molitor⁵ says further: — "The leading of the Israelites furnishes the most apparent proof of the divine nature of religion. Among all nations there are oracles, and in all important affairs and transactions inquiry is made of them, and nothing is undertaken in life unless the favorable judg­ment of the gods is first obtained. Meantime these oracles do not appear to be positive leaders of the people. They simply reply to inquiries made. Not in a single heathen religion, therefore, do we observe a really positive, sensitive and divine guidance. But man stands here, solely in his own power. The case is entirely different with the people of Israel, who are nothing, and have nothing of themselves, but whose whole ex­istence and guidance is singly the work of Divinity. Where is there a nation to be found that had such an ethical guidance? Where do you find a people who have made humility and obedience and a childlike sur­render to God, their first and chief duty, and accepted chastisement as a token of love, and were brought to their destination through adversity and humiliation? True, there are guidances and trials also in Heathen­dom, but they are trials only in the vigorous subduing of evil, and the Courageous bearing of great burdens. Nowhere, therefore, do we find merit or praise for baseness or lowness. When, for instance, it was said of Moses: "He was an humble man," it was a compliment which was never bestowed upon a heathen hero." (Kabbalah, Part III., page 116.)

The Hebrew prophets and the heathen seers present an essential difference. Even if the ground-work of natural magical visions appear here as elsewhere; if imagination and sympathy — if the outer influences of na­ture often produced like affects, and if the Israelites had learned and brought with them many and various Egyptian secrets, as for instance, Samuel's School of Prophets in the Old Testament gives ample proof, as also the holy inspired dance, the prophetic signing, etc., has in it some­thing contagious, insomuch that prophetic students were seized and over­come, as was also Saul, who fell in with them and prophesied, so that the proverb, "How came Saul among the Prophets?" still shows some­thing very curious and surprising; yet, in view of the motive and effect, great differences are found, so that they well deserve to be held to view in this place. They are as follows:

1. The Magician, the Indian Brahmin, the mystical Priest, etc., brings himself into an ecstatic condition, and into supposed union with God, by self-elected methods; Moses and the true prophets of Israel receive an unexpected call to serve Him.

2. The Magician elevates himself by his own innate strength to a higher state and condition than the world by whom he is surrounded; he isolates himself intentionally and his isolation becomes imperative, and through it follow the various castes and grades in life, as, for example, the Indian and Egyptian castes, which produces a special influence upon the diversified conditions of earthly life and intellect; Moses and the prophets are more casual, and in the passive dread of deep solitude, they suddenly hear the call and follow in humility, with veiled countenances. The liberation of his people is not effected by a strong will, and he claims no preference; he does not separate the different castes, but he separates the organic unity of the people from heathen blindness, which he dedi­cates to God; he is himself the expounder of the faith of God's overruling providence; of the hope in future punishment; of the love of God, and of order and justice among men.

3. Contempt of the world and pride in his own worthiness and knowl­edge characterize the magical seer. A wise use of life, obedience in serv­ing God and a constant recollection of his sinful weakness, incites the prophet to implore divine help, to pray for a knowledge of the truth, to fulfill not his own, but a higher will. To the Brahmin, for example, the earth is a hell, a place of torment; to the prophet it is a school, through which, in the performance of duty, the peace of true happiness may be found.

4. The magician is a lawgiver, the prophets are obedient disciples, who preach and explain the revelations of God.

5. There we have the means of falling into a state of ecstasy, self-denial and unnatural mortification of the body. Here the world is adapted to the most judicious enjoyment of life. The prophet does not require extraordinary means to fall into a state of ecstasy ; he utters the immediate word of God without preparation and without mortifying the body, presents it, and lives among his kind.

6. The index of prophecy itself, in the highest ecstasies of the magi­cians, is a kind of light luster; when they are steeped therein, the world with its signatures, and perhaps too, the inner condition of the spirit may become plainly visible, like unto the clairvoyants of our day; but their lips are sealed in this ecstatic state of happiness and in the dazzling luster of a pathological self-illumination. Therefore, the numerous antagonistic figures of truth and deception, of sensational emotions and phantasmagoria in broken and jarring forms, of convulsions and contortions of the body and the soul, which we find among our mesmeric subjects. Their vi­sions are, like those of certain somnambulists, not reliable, and cannot, in their proper surroundings, be understood without a previous explanation. With the prophets, the visions according to form, are the illumination of a mildly divine light, reflected from the mirror of a pure mind, which re­tains a perfect personality, and causes a feeling of dependence on God and the outer world. The index of their visions relates to the general concerns of life in respect to religion and citizenship; the prophet speaks and his words are true doctrines, uttered clearly for the benefit of all men and ages, and comprehended by all. He seeks happiness yet finds it not in penance, but in his calling, in spreading abroad the word of God, not in secret contemplations, but by imparting it to his fellow-beings through active cooperation. The true prophet, therefore, is not lost in inward contemplations, neither does he forget himself in the world, but he con­tinues in living relation with God and his neighbor, in word and in deed. Finally,

7. Since the motives and proceedings differ essentially among inspired races, so their aims and results also differ. The Indian magician mourns on account of the gradual lowering of the spiritual from its original luster, following the rapidly succeeding eras of the world into perishing nature and into the kingdom of death, and deprecates the misery connected therewith, namely, discontent, the confusion and laceration of the spirit, all of which we may find among the different heathen nations. On the other hand, how greatly has universal brotherhood and companionship increased, step by step, through the agency of the true prophet, and how has the spiritual been glorified! The spirit that waved over the Jewish religion in the west spread its peaceful influences farther and wider, and while in the former instance everything is lost in weakness and darkness, in the latter mountains are removed by active faith, and trees are planted by mutual help and counsel, whose fruit will only ripen for enjoyment in another world, toward which we should turn our faces and our exertions.

The aim of the magician's life is to secure a pleasurable inward con­templation; the true prophet lives by faith and not by sight.

Historians and philosophers of modern times have declared that the ecstatic visions of the prophets of Israel and those of the apostles were identical with magnetic appearances. In order to form a clearer judg­ment of the circumstances given above, we will add the following:

True prophets receive an extraordinary call from God, and are urged by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the will and counsel of God. They are called seers, men of God, servants and messengers of the Lord, angels and watchmen. The marks of the true prophets of the Old Testament were: 1st. That their prophecies agreed with the doctrines of Moses and the patriarchs (Deut. 13:1). 2nd. Their prophecies were ful­filled (Deut. 18:21; Jer. 28:9). 3rd. That they per­formed miracles, but only when a special covenant was made, or when a special reformation was to be undertaken. 4th. That they agreed with other prophets (Isa. 8:2; Jer. 26:18). 5th. That they led a blameless life (Jer. 27:4; Mic. 2:11). That they exhibited a holy zeal in the work of God (Jer. 26:13) ; and 6th, That they possessed great elocutionary powers (Jer. 23:28, 79). Their office consisted in this, 1st, That they instructed the people, when the priests, whose duty it was, became indifferent. 2nd. That they restored the slack and decayed worship of God (2 Kings 17:18; Ezek. 3:17). 3d. That they foretold future events, and to this end asked counsel of God (1 Kings 14:2, 3; Ezek. 22:5-8). 4th. That they prayed for the peo­ple and in this manner averted impending judgments (Gen. 20:7; 2 Kings 19:2); and 5th, That they composed the will of God (1 Chron. 29:9).

The same may be said of the apostles and the preachers of the living word. They were called ministers because Christ had himself chosen them and sent them to the ends of the earth to proclaim the atonement and gather His elect. They did not force themselves in to his service, but Christ called them in a direct manner, and taught them personally to proclaim the advent of the Messiah, and with these credentials, to perform wonders through the divine word. This new doctrine originated ex­pressly from the prophets of the old covenant: repent and believe in the gospel of the atonement, and prove thereby that ye love God above all things and your neighbor as yourselves. Their lives proved that they were true followers in the footsteps of their Lord and Master, in word and deed, in works and in suffering.

If we select these characters by which to form our judgment, it will not be difficult to distinguish between magnetic sight and prophetic inspira­tion, not to regard the former too highly, and not to underrate the latter. For if their superficial appearance at first sight seems the same, their difference will soon become apparent when we examine them in a threefold point of view, namely, of cause, content or form and intention.

According to the cause, the palpable difference consists in this, that mag­ical and magnetic second-sight is mainly the work of man, which grows out of a diseased physical soil, no matter whether it is developed by the arts of the physician or whether it is unfolded by chance. An abnormal condition of health always precedes it, and the somnolent state of the outward senses is the first condition of it. If in one person this mesmeric disposi­tion is greater than in another, then the physiological foundation is in his own body, and if occasional circumstances promote second-sight in others, then such causes belong to the kingdom of nature, which binds the clair­voyant in strong bonds and which remains his determinate state even should he reach the highest degree.

Prophetic inspiration is not a procreation of nature or of man but it is an emanation of the Holy Spirit and a divine decree. The divine call comes unexpectedly, and the physical condition has no connection with it whatever. The physical powers can never become the determinate powers, but they remain dependent upon the spirit, which makes it a means to spiritual aims. A mesmeric life with changed functions of the senses and a physical crisis does not take place here.

Secondly, according to form, magnetic second-sight depends directly upon the health and on the life of the seer, or rather, it predominates in the relative modes of earthly life. The clairvoyant directs his attention at will to self-selected objects, at least in a majority of instances, or he in­terprets his own visions, conducts his own affairs or those immediately surrounding him, or he suffers himself to be outwardly determined with­out active and persistent independence, and without activity for the com­mon good. Purely human nature, affectation and inclination are never wanting in the magic circle of the seer, and the operation of his will and his faith produces no supernatural or permanent effect, either upon him­self or upon others.

The true prophet, according to form, has no diversity of visions, but an unchanging index of scriptural work — the annunciation of Him, who is the Beginning and the End, and by whom all things were created. A prophet is not only a seer, but he is the organ of the divine will. In­struction in the true knowledge of God, and spreading abroad his king­dom, which is truth and love, is his only and constant occupation, there­fore he fights against error and wickedness, in order to overcome the world. That which is worldly or changeable — bigotry or sensuality, health, riches and honor in the world, and dominion over his fellow-men, is not his affair. He does not preach a present, but a future state of hap­piness, genuine peace in God, and the hope of eternal life in His pres­ence, not from personal impulse or selfishness, or from human considera­tions, but as a willing instrument of perpetual enlightenment, inspired by God himself—a worthy example in work and walk; as an obedient serv­ant and a mediator between God and man, between time and eternity, between heaven and earth. Through prayer, and in word and deed, the prophet continues in a living relation with God and his fellow-beings.

True prophets do not isolate themselves, neither do they sink into the absorbing depths of their own visions, feelings and relations. Their prophecies do not refer to personalities, but to the fate of nations and the world, therefore, are they able in their works to exhibit supernatural powers, strengthened by the omnipotent power of their faith and will, and this power they exercise over their own bodies as well as over the bodies of others and over all nature in its wide and temporal boundaries. The sudden conversions and changes of opinion, the instantaneous healing of severe and lingering diseases, the warnings against threatening dangers, and help for the needy from a distance, giving consolation and strength in trouble and suffering, etc., are proofs of their divine powers.

As we have already stated, the aim of the true prophets was, the rev­elation of the divine word to man; the spread of the kingdom of God on earth; the ennobling and well-being of the human race. Impelled by the spirit of God, upon whose assistance they relied, their efforts were di­rected to nothing less than to spread the light of truth and to infuse cour­age into their fellow-beings, to fight against evil; to awaken mutual attention and assistance, and to extend peace and happiness among men. Self-aggrandizement and the personal advantage of these organs of the Deity were not thought of. The foundation of all their works was faith in the power of God, and they fulfilled the whole sum of the command­ments through love, the noblest of all virtues, "but the fruit of the spirit is love" (Gal. 5:22); "And God gives wisdom to them that love Him," (Eccles. 1:10); "And His banner over me was love." (Song of Sol. 2:4.)

To these obvious variations the children of Israel bear special witness. 1st. That the causes of inward visions were actually objective, and that there is something outside of human intelligence that governs and con­trols the world of man, and that too, independently of the inner centrum of the mind, while the peripheral sense of day and nature are either inactive, or while they are in a very subordinate condition. 2nd. That there is a still more exalted spiritual region which takes a positive hold upon the reason and offers revelations which are not of a natural order, and which cannot exist in these lower regions, and which are not merely phantasies, illusions or hallucinations of an abnormal condition of the brain. "The hand of the Lord was upon them." 3rd. The ignoring, or rather, the denial of sophistical rationalism, especially by the Israelites is also represented superficially, just as the pantheistical philosophy of nature is, which distils everything into a common mass, and which represents the prophets and the saints only as somnambulistic sects, upon a somewhat higher plane than is ascribed to them in the partial Tellurian dark ages. 4th. Notwithstanding that this class of visions has an out­ward resemblance to the magical and magnetic, as well according to the anthropological expression as to the symbolical representations as we have already seen, and it should remind us of magnetic relations Inas­much as prophetic revelation agrees with the purest forms of second-sight, and whereas dream-visions and fortune-telling originate from cir­cumstances and conditions, so we may find many preparations and ar­rangements in the old covenant, the same as we have learned to know them among the rest of the magicians of the Orient. We often find among the prophets also, that they secluded themselves in solitary places, and that they fasted and gave themselves up to quiet contemplation. They, like the clairvoyants, speak of an inward higher light, of a light that enlightens them, and they admit this higher illumination to be the spirit of the Eternal, whose hand came upon them and transfigured them, and they walked, as the Psalmist says, in the light of His countenance, "For in Thy light, we shall see light; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. Thou art the living fountain and in thy light we see the light." (36, 10, 18, 29.)

The prophets describe the divine higher light as an instantaneous view, presented very frequently in the most familiar symbols, of which the vision of Daniel, by the side of the great river Hiddekel, is one of the most re­markable, and which will serve as an illustration (Dan. 10:2—21): "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint my­self at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: Yet I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength, for how can the servant of this my lord, talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strength­ened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, Fear not; peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? but I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth, etc." The following passage from Passavant will serve as an illustration of this vision:

"Such a condition, and so penetrating an illumination of the spirit can find its agreement only in the original relation of the creature to the Creator. The created spirit does not generally exist for itself, nor by itself, but only in reference to absolute being. The more perfect the creature, the more inward and free is the communion between the creature and the Creator — the more is man a free agent and a co-worker with God. That which holds good in human nature and in all spiritual power in percep­tion and accomplishment, holds good also especially in the region, in which the human spirit, free from earthly nature and of the bonds of time and place, is more active. As we have, therefore, assumed, that the highest magical operation is, where the human spirit becomes the divine organ, so we are justified in assuming, that the highest magical knowl­edge must be a divinely illuminated power of second-sight, a spiritual be­holding, which is moved and led by the divine spirit. So far now, as we must regard the most inward communion of the creature with the Creator as the final destiny of created spirits, so may we regard the holy power of prophecy as an anticipation of a higher and more perfect condi­tion, in which man knows as he is known (1 Cor. 13:9), where his spiritual freedom shall have attained a knowledge in which he can no longer be circumscribed by earthly laws. But since man must elevate himself to that which is good as well as receive good, so this law of the free and created spirit will repeat itself, because man can raise himself, in different degrees to a higher order in this world, and become enlight­ened in the same degree. If taken in this connection, the power of the divine seer is not to be regarded separately from other spiritual powers by which he can overcome anything foreign to his nature, but rather as a fixed form, a normal and regenerated soul-power. The spirit of man, the image of God, may become the mirror in which the divine type is reflected just in proportion to the purity of this image." (Passavant's Mag­netic Life. Second edition, p. 167.)⁶

Further it will only be necessary to remark, in a general way, that God has made use only of the nobleness of the spirit of Israel for the educa­tion and redemption of the human family, and that this people, which had become attached to heathen idolatry, and were disobedient and re­fractory, could only be brought slowly to their true destiny in the severe school of adversity and by heavy chastisements. The way from Ur in Chaldea to Canaan, which was taken by the patriarch Abraham, how far it stretched through its lengths and breadths across to Egypt, and from thence through the wilderness to the promised land of which they were to take possession! Yea, the children of Israel were compelled to wan­der hither and thither in the wilderness during a period of forty years on account of their vacillation between the service of God and heathen idol­atry ; were sent in captivity to Babylon; the holy city had to be destroyed, and finally, they were compelled to endure the very fullness of woe and persecution, and all because of their vacillating between the service of the true God and of heathen idolatry. If Israel then is, as it is represented, the favored people of God, then it can be nothing less than the pearl of perfection, and consequently the mirror of perverseness, which always strives after outward forms and ceremonies, and seeks happiness in nature and the dissipations of the present, a happiness which cannot be found on earth. The divine word of revelation alone can dis­close the happiness of the peace and blessedness of Paradise, and in order to become partakers thereof, the spirit of man must become inured to two great qualifications, namely, natural obedience to the law and a more than natural hope of reaching his final destiny beyond the life of earth. In order to teach the children of Israel humble obedience to the laws, they were exposed to the severest trials and subjected to the meanest slavery.

To this people and to no other, the commandments were communicated in thunder tones by divinely appointed leaders, in order that it might heed with the inner depths of the mind and not merely superficially with the outward senses. Sacrifices and feasts were not to serve as temporal occasions of rejoicing, but they were to serve as a typical covering through which might be seen the true light of the coming Messiah, as the flower-bud turns toward the approaching light of the sun. The Mercy-seat, the Cherubim, the Holy of Holies, the Pillar of Fire, and Solomon's Temple, are all symbolical manifestations originating in magical visions and point to the coming of Christ. That the entire Mosaic regulation was symbolical and hieroglyphical is admitted by every expert, and the following words express this fact clearly: "and look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." Moses, the man of God, therefore, constitutes in the history of the children of Israel the second period of the beginning of religious development. The forms and ceremonies of the law were only now strictly enforced in order to impress men with the importance of the revealed word. But how long a period, intervened between the wanderings and sufferings of the Israelites, the wonders by which they were surrounded, the death of the firstborn in Egypt, the lightning which flashed from the heights of Mount Sinai, and the time of King David, with whom commenced the third period. "He was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to," (1 Sam. 16:12) and he, the shepherd of his father's sheep was chosen by the Lord to be king over His people. His obedience toward God, and his unwavering faith not only caused it to be said of him, "that he was a man after God's own heart," but as the root of Judah, born in Bethlehem, he also became the type of Christ. He was both king and prophet, and had to bear many troubles and trials. As a servant of God he sought to lead the children of Israel to God at Jerusalem, the mountain of peace, where finally, the mild, illuminating light of the divine Prince of Peace appeared to the world out of the dark, transitory night, on the cross.

"Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant, though he be Lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the World." (Gal. 4:1-3.)

"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4, 5.)

The coming of Christ on earth was not an accidental occurrence as other natural events were. His coming was a revelation ordained by God from the foundation of the world. I have already shown in my anthropological views, that Christ, if he actually was the Son of God, would necessarily have to appear at a fixed time and place, and that his appearance would constitute the beginning of the second period of human power, and that this event would take place on the western coast of Asia.

THE NEW COVENANT.

Having brought forward many of the most extraordinary events of the old covenant which have reference to magic and magnetism, it seems important in more than one sense, also to speak of the new covenant, in order to extract from it that which concerns us so directly, because in the new covenant the magical healing of diseases was effected in so many instances without visible means, as well by Christ himself as by the apostles, from which it would appear that all these miracles and healings were the result of nothing else than magic or magnetism. There are a few extremes here which have been maintained by both the advocates and opponents of these miracles, which we will notice more particularly in this place. In concluding this section we will glance at the existence and signification of Christianity in a general sense, as well as the relation which it bears to magic.

The men of God under the old covenant, who performed such great wonders, and accomplished such wonderful works, were always rather more on the side of humanity than that of the divine, that is, they always evinced only single powers and perfections. The universal expression of full perfection became an absolute reality only through Christ. He it was who first unbarred the new door — severed the chains of slavery, and pointed out the true image of perfection and wisdom in all their fullness to man. Christ again restored to humanity the assurance of immortality. He elevated the spiritual being to a temple of holy fire, and made it a living altar and incense to an eternal peace.

"Since the first man Adam" we read in the Magikon,⁷ "is the first fountain of evil, so none of his posterity could be the Savior, because weakness could not rule over strength; to be a Savior it required a being that was more than man. Since God alone is superior to man, this agent or Savior could be nothing less than the essential idea of divine powers. In order to awaken a consciousness in the soul of man of what God really was, he had to bear the Divine character in himself. Even the various judgments of men regarding Christ, show conclusively that all power, all gifts and perfections were united in him."

There are beings for whom the Redeemer has already come, others for whom he comes now, and still others for whom he is yet to come. Since his advent all things have become simplified, and he will simplify him­self more and more until everything earthly will vanish. A great sab­bath of universal love and peace, as it was in the creation, will signalize the end. He entered the Holy of Holies as the true High Priest, and restored to the elect, through his spirit, not only the lost words of the old book, but gave them a new one, richer in content for the healing of all evil, and for making them invulnerable. In addition he gave to them the holy incense of prayer, and showed them, that without it they would be unable, except through Him alone, to obtain every principle of life. He performed on earth what is found above. He was constantly active, as the highest embodiment of wisdom, in spiritual and temporal acts of charity, and united both in one. But this could only be when He himself was joined in this unity on earth in which he was joined from all eternity. In the end he crowned his work by conferring a spirit which created a knowledge and vitality that were never experience before. He chose an object of sense as a channel through which to communicate the highest powers of life. Even man may transfer his weak powers on any object: how much more must the mysteries (baptism by water, the communion through bread and wine), instituted by Himself, have possessed a power which man could never possess. The action of the Holy Communion is at the same time corporeal, spiritual and divine, and all things therein contained must become spirit and life, because He himself, who instituted it, was the spirit and the life.

Each true Christian is a living expression of this doctrine and an image of its author. He possesses fervor enough to absorb everything that is diseased and dissolute, and his life is a daily offering in humility and holy fear before God, for the mysteries of God are only revealed to those who fear Him. The true Christian relies upon the commandments of the author of his name. Only such a man can enter into the counsel of peace. If the highest human wisdom continues to be a tottering and perishable structure, a single ray of the sun of the world will make him purer and wiser than all the wise of this earth. Since there are mysteries in every religion, so there are certain things of indescribable power and of the highest weight in Christianity which cannot be explained. So long as these were known only to the true possessors as a sanctuary, Christianity was at rest. But after the great of earth began to set their feet within this sanctuary and desired to see with unprepared eyes; so soon as it was converted into a political machine, divisions and uncertainties ensued. Upon this came the High Priests who separated themselves farther and farther from original purity, and in this way a misshapen mixture of a true monstrosity resulted. Sophists, who flourished like weeds, multiplied these evils by their subtleties, separating that which was united, and covering with darkness and death what was formerly light and life. If even a few traces of purity, zeal and power could be seen here and there, they could accomplish nothing, because the horrors of desolation had already become too general and were preferred by too many. These corruptions were the cause, in later times, that the structure of Christianity was sapped in its very foundations. Only one step from Deism to utter ruin. Out of Deism grew a still worse brood of materialists, who declared that all connection of humanity with higher powers to be idle imagination, and who did not even believe in their own existence. It was very seldom that the generations of the earliest times sinned through great enterprises; those of later periods, on the contrary, sinned through nullity. But there is a truth whose sanctity cannot be shaken, and which will remain firm as long as the world exists.

But if man, through his reconciliation and return to God, and through a true Christian life, receives the powers which the Savior promised to his followers, namely, "To expel serpents, to heal the sick, and to cast out devils," and this to the same extent that he did himself, (John 14:12), and if such a Christian man can in deed and in truth perform greater wonders than one who lives in a state of sin (and we find this to be the case not only with the apostles, but with all godly men of every age), then we must accord to man what is human. I have already spoken of the Christian method of healing, and inasmuch as I refer back to it in this place, the fact will not admit of a doubt, that the healing of Christ as well as by the apostles really had reference to magic and magnetism. They never obtained the means to heal diseases from the apothecary, neither did they possess any secret remedies or magical essences; they possessed an inherent power to heal diseases, and by words they cast out devils, restored the dead to life, healed, through prayer and the laying on of hands, the lame and paralytic, and caused the blind to see and the dumb to speak. To prove this, not however to represent them solely as magnetic cures, but to examine them as humanly divine wonders, I will mention a few cures performed by Christ and his apostles as they stand recorded by the Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles:—

"When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes fol­lowed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, say­ing, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immedi­ately his leprosy was cleansed." (Matt. 8:1-3.)

"And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him to heal his servant. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed: Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour." (Matt. 8:6-13.)

"And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto him." (Matt. 8:14, 15. Mark 1:29.)

"When the Even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick." (Matt. 8:16. Mark 1:32. Luke 4:40.)

"And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." (Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:3.)

"And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself. If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith has made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." (Matt. 9:20-22.)

"And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said onto them, Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose." (Matt. 9:23-26)

"And when Jesus departed from thence, two blind men followed him, etc. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came unto him: And Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened." (Matt. 9:27-30.)

The man with the withered hand he healed through the words: "Stretch forth thine hand: and it was restored whole like the other." (Matt. 12:10-13.)

"And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." (Matt. 14:35, 36.)

The daughter of the woman of Canaan, who was grievously vexed with a devil was restored through the faith of the woman. (Matt. 15:22-28