he is grateful for his body. He regards himself as he truly is, as a compound of wondrous appetites in such relation to all things in heaven and earth, that they may bless him, within and without-that heaven may pour in its celestial riches, and earth its lower but yet beneficent treasures. He rejoices, from love, in the arrangements of Divine Providence, and humbly seeks to adapt himself to them. Thankful for all the blessings he obtains, thankful too for the difficulties which prepare him for higher blessings; he bears what Mercy sees it fitting he should bear. He applies himself firmly when necessary, to the stern work of life, but he is lovingly grateful for every benefit he receives. He loves and labours in the work of regeneration. He blesses the Lord for his Word, as well as for his world; and the constant grateful acknowledgment of the true Spiritualist is, "Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." Such is the true Spiritualist. His loving, faithful obedience to the Divine commandments by power from his Saviour, neither seeking to go above nor below them, is the righteousness of God in him. He strives to walk by the Divine rule. He hears the Word like a voice behind him, saying, "This is the way, walk thou in it, when he would turn to the right hand or to the left.' (Isa. xxx. 21.)

Such is TRUE SPIRITUALISM; and to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

There is, however, a spurious spiritualism, a psuedospiritualism, a melancholy mixture of piety and bile, which jaundices the soul, and under the persuasion of being very religious, deems it a duty to be very miserable. Such a spirit throws a pall over creation, and sees nothing anywhere but lamentation and woe. Instead of the reasonable commands of the All-wise and All-good, this pseudo-religiousness caricatures religion, and condemns the greatest blessings and all the innocent enjoyments of life. This pseudo-spiritualism, in one department of Christendom, has frowned upon marriage, making

its highest saintship consist in the rejection of life's highest responsibilities, and its sweetest gifts. This Pseudo-spiritualism placed the dirty saints of the Egyptian deserts on their pillars for years, imagining their lazy instincts to be holiness, and their grovelling hideousness, until they approached a resemblance to the brutes amongst which they lived, the best preparation for heaven,-the land of highest purity, and Divinest beauty. This fanaticism induced Pascal to be walled out from the lovely sights and sounds of nature, lest he might be allured to be happy, by the beauteous world of his Maker.

This pseudo-spiritualism, but real fanaticism, does not distinguish between the world of God, which is pious and beautiful, and worldliness, which is evil. In some, it condemns music; in others, painting and sculpture; in others dancing, as ministers to the senses, as if the senses were not from the Lord, and had not the sacred office of making the world subordinate to the eternal world in us. This morbid spirit makes religion sour, and hateful to the young: while true religion, embodied in the Saviour, ever says, 66 I come not to take your joy away from you, but that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be full." (John xv. 11.)

This pseudo-spiritualism looks condemnatorily at the world, yet in its own bitter way is most keenly bent on having as much power and pelf in it as possible. It slights the easy, blessed commandments of the Lord, which are the laws of happiness, and has given hard commandments of its own, which take away all the delight out of life.

Pseudo-spiritualism makes long prayers, has a whining speech, revels in cant; but when weighed by the standard of doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with the Lord, is greatly deficient.

The world in man, unregenerated, like the world out of him, uncultivated, is a world in disorder. The work of true religion is to reduce this inner world to order and beauty; to tame the passions, to conquer evil habits, to correct the temper, to learn the laws of truth and duty, and, humbly, but faithfully and lovingly carry them out, into every work of life. To do this in meek dependdence on the Saviour, and by His spirit, word, and

example, thus to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" but with trust, love, and perseverance; this is true Spiritualism.

Dark sensualism never does this holy life-work; for the soul whom it governs loves darkness rather than light, because its deeds are evil. Pseudo-spiritualism never does it. It pretends that the world cannot possibly be regenerated; so it builds castles in the air, and exults in fancied security. It lives upon morbid sentimentalities, and vainly dreams that with the body all the sins it fails to subdue, because it really loves them, will at last be put off.

Pseudo-spiritualism will not be merry, because it says this is worldly, as if anything could be less worldly than the hearty enjoyment of another's joy, and the delighted smile that recognizes our Heavenly Father's goodness; but it is grasping and keen in dealing, which is the essence of worldliness. Pseudo-spiritualism either rejects business as altogether unspiritual, and thinks that salvation will follow praying well and singing well, but cannot possibly have anything to do with working well; or it will submit to do business as an unmanageable necessity, as a totally different thing from religious duty. It wishes to be out of the world. It bans the world as a possession of evil ones, as an incurable den of the depraved. The Divine language of the Saviour, "I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the world, but that thou wouldst keep them from the evil," is not understood by pseudo-spiritualism. Only the truly spiritually-minded trust in the Omnipotent power of God, their Saviour, and work in faith, and hope, and love, until every department of mind and life, and business, with them, has been corrected, transformed, and brought under the spirit of heaven. In them "the wilderness has become like Eden, the desert like the garden of God; joy and gladness is found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody."

When every man enters upon this holy work, of bringing heavenly feeling, and justice, and judgment into his avocation, whatever that may be: whether that of workman or employer, tradesman or merchant, statesman or subject, whether monarch or cottager, then will the world around us and the world within us, be like the world

above us, the stars and those grand and solemn planets which do their work to a moment of time, and declare the glory of God. This is Christian work. This is true saintly duty. Here is holy hardihood required; to go into each walk of business-life, and work out there the Christianisation of trade and employment of every kind, "until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.”

O for the Christian workman who, from love to his Saviour, will subdu● his own evils, and the disorders of his trade, and help his fellows to work from the spirit, and by the laws of heaven. O for the Christian employers who will deliver their workmen from unhealthy workshops and unhealthy hours, who will be content with modest gain, so that comfort and health may exist round them. O for the tradesman, the merchant, the broker, and the banker, who will have no frauds, either patent or concealed, in their transactions. O for Christian jurists who will do battle for the sake of Him who is the Truth and the Life, against all legal fictions, and let law be equity, and justice and judgment everywhere prevail. May "Thy kingdom come," O Lord Jesus, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven." This is true Spiritualism. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (John v. 4.) "O the golden chains that link heaven to earth, The rusts of all time cannot sever;

Evil shall die in its own dark dearth,
And the good liveth on for ever.

And, man, though he beareth the brand of sin,
And the flesh and the devil have bound him,
Hath a spirit within, to old Eden akin,

Only nurture up Eden around him.”

We come now to the second form of pseudo-spiritualism, that which accounts it spiritualism, to consult with spirits, and seeks comfort and direction by spiritrappings, and other modes of dealing with the dead.

True Spiritualism, we have seen, is, holding communion with the Spirit of the Lord, and the means of doing that, are the truths of the Holy Word. The Word is a Divine ladder, reaching from earth to heaven, on which the angels ascend and descend. With this means, pro

vided by Heaven, our communications will be safe and sure. He who reads, loves, and practises the Word, will be associated with Heaven. "All these are come to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first-born." (Heb. xii. 22.)

But this association of men and angels takes place by the Divine care, unknown, except in special instances, on both sides. Time was, no doubt, when men and angels were visibly associated with each other; but since men fell from order into sin, the mercy of the Lord has interposed a veil between the two worlds, the world of spirits and the world of men; and, for kindest, obvious reasons. The law of association is, that like minds associate with like; evil men are associated with evil spirits; men in false principles with spirits like themselves, but with this difference, spirits are fixed in their principles, and far more subtle in them than men. If, therefore, a man were open to receive communications from spirits, they would be in similar principles to those he cherished, only more deeply in them; and the echoes of his own phantasies from his associate spirit, would come back to him, invested with the supposed authority of heaven. Evil spirits would infuse lusts and infernal subtleties into their dupes, rendering salvation impossible. Instead of being led by the Lord, and freely working out his regeneration by the power of truth, he would be the creature of familiar spirits.

To some minds the entire consideration of this subject is an idle labour. They know nothing of angels or spirits, nor of their connection or association with man. The philosophy of the past century was so Sadduceean, and so widely spread, that, to vast numbers, the subject of spiritual existence, was a thing exploded. When the Papal dignitaries had compelled Galileo to sign the declaration that the world was stationary, the truth compelled him, while he threw down the pen, to say"And yet it moves." So, men may ignore the spiritworld and immortal life, as much as they please; but yet, the facts of human experience, and the yearnings of the soul, as well as the teachings of Scripture, show that res after death, in a world not far from us—a