Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-04-17

Christians, which was so severely punished I'M
der the old dispensation
Granting that one man can acquire so great
a power over the mind of another man or wo.
man, as to make him or her the complete slave
of his willis there not something demoniacal
and devllish in it ? 1t cannot be done, We know,
without a willing bowling OF the mind in the
first place-the individual enslaved must remain
passive until the chains are put on him or her,
and thus the justice of the creator is vindicated;
but has any one a right, even for the sake Of ex-
pertinent, thus to tamper with the great gilt OF
free agency which his Maker has conferred up
on him? We think not.
AS we read the Old Testament, we see con"
tinual %reproofs of all attempts to penetrate the
secrets of the spiritual world, by any magical
means. Are not all such means as are now be-
ing employed by A.. ]. Davis and l.. AIph. Ca
hagnet (see book notices. open to this charge?
We say not that we believe they are, absolutely
and without doubt-for we do not feel entirely
clear upon the subject-but we fear that they
are. And if such inquiries be unlawful, can
any certain or beneficial truth come from them ?
If spirits be really communicated with, as it is
~aliedged, are they not false spirits, who can
clothe themselves for the purposes of deception.
in the garb of the angels of light? The rea-
soning of Shilling (see quotation in book notices.
seems to us very strong.
And yet we are not Of those who think these
late manifestations productive of unmiXed evil,
although, as we have said, we are inclined
to think them evil in themselves. Evil is fire.
quently overruled for good. Fifteen years ago,
men laughed at their forefathers for their belief
in ghosts and apparitIons-we had found out the
folly of all that-certain statements in the Bible
of the appearance of apparitions we're believed
with a great degree of allowanco-the world
had reached the eliminating point OF the intense
ly material and practical, and thought itself
about the wisest generation that had ever lived
change! We may not yet believer in ghosts, but
we are not so confident in our disbelief of them.
Our opinion in our own wisdom has fallen some
twenty five or fifty per cent. And, singular
enough, q certain class of radical and reforma'
tory minds, who do not so much lead the age as
they are propelled forward by the spirit of the
age-as light bodies always get to the head of
a strong current this class of radical minds,
formerly the most skeptical in all spiritual mat
tiers, are now becoming the most credulous. We
do not attach much importance to the course or
judgment of such minds, except as indicating
the turn of the current. For in order to deter.
mine this, we know no better rule than that be-
fore alluded to, to watch the L" light stuff"
DR.. johnson has been much laughed at for
the last forty or fifty years for his belief in ghosts
He did uot believe in ghosts absoluteIy-he on
ly said, in effect, if we rightly remember, that he
thought that the weight Of evidence was in their
favor, while the belief in them was not %irration-
al. And, curious enough, many leading minds
mot of the " light stuff" order are almost pre-
pared now osay the same thing which they have
rldiculed the old Doctor again and again for de-
claring.
And, while we are not prepared to say exactly
what we believe on these ques'ions-for cur be-
lief is, we confess it, rather unsettled-we are
free to say that we think Il modest attitude OF
mind, such as at present prevails to a consider
able extent among thinking men, much more
suitable to such "a creature as man, than the
self-satisfed, very confident attitude Of ten or
fifteen years ago. For there are
t. more truths in Heaven and earth,
Than are dreamt Of in OUR philosuphy.'
When VIC consider how limited is the intellect
of man, how gross and clouded his perceptions,
it seems to us the very vanity of %vanitles for him
to pronounce positively Or confdentlally upon
what may or may not be true Of a higher state
or states of existence. Two things only per-
haps can he be certain of: that what contradicts
revelation cannot be true; and that all that 1t is
necessary for him to know concerning higher
spheres than this, is contained in revelation
And another hing he may p~lausibly surmise :
that to endeavor to pry into spiritual facts not
revealed, is producti'e-not of good, but of
eyil.--Sat. EUe. Post.