said, 'I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;' and Moses hid his face."—-Ex. iii. "And the angel of the Lord found her (Hagar) by a fountain of water in the wilderness, thou?"— Gen. xvi: 7. * * "This Moses, whom they refused, and said, Whence camest did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush."-Acts vii: 35. "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.". Gen. xxxii: 1. "And as he (Elijah) lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then, an angel touched him and said unto him Arise and eat.'"-1 Kings xix: 5. "Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,"-Num. xxii: 31. Saul consulted a medium at Endor. "And she said, 'An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle.' And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself."-1 Sam. xxviii : 14. "Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. still; but I could not discern the form thereof. * heard a voice saying, 'Shall mortal man be more just than God?"Job, iv: 14-17 * * * It stood * * I "While I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, * * touched me * about the time of the evening oblation."-Dan. ix: 21. "Then Nebuchednezzar spake and said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the King's word.'" Dan. x: 9-10. "Yet heard I the voice of his words, and behold a hand touched me." * "Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me."-Dan. x 18. * "And it came to pass, when I, even I, Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision."-Dan. viii: 15-16. "Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation."-Dan. ix: 21. A most interesting case of the return of spirits to mortals, is related of Ezekiel. On one occasion the "Lord," that is the ruling spirit of the Jewish nation, appeared to the prophet, and by the hair of his head floated him away to Jerusalem. "And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens and brought me in the vision of God to Jerusalem to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north."-Ezekiel viii: 3. Arriving at the temple after this ærial voyage, he entered, and there stood before him seventy spirits, who appeared as men; men who had lived many centuries before his time: "And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in hand."-Ezekiel viii: 11 At another time, being in vision, having been carried thither as before, he saw five and tweny men, or spirits, some of whose names were given, who were known as conspicuous actors in the ancient days of Israel: "Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looked eastward and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people."-Ezekiel xi: 1. About 3260, B. C., a powerful Mede, visiting Sardanapalus, reproved him for the luxuriousness of his court, and conspired with Belesis, of Babylonia, to overthrow him. Diodorus Siculus informs us, that when Sardanapalus heard of it, he laughed the whole thing to contempt, saying, an ancient prophecy, since confirmed by the voices of the 'gods,' had promised that Nineveh should never be taken by force. This exhibits the faith those old Assyrians had in omens and oracles from the immortals. Berosus states that the winds, aided by the gods, angels, or spirits, destroying the towers of Babel, introduced the confusion of tongues; and that their wise men, in dreams and visions, frequently foretold the ruin of nations. The terms gods, lords, angels, demons, spirits, were used interchangeably by Egyptian, Phoenician, Persian, and the more ancient Grecian writers. This understood, much of the mysticism connected with God and Jehovah, Lord and Angel, as used by theologians, is cleared away. In the Old Testament we read: "In the beginning Gods, (Elohim, plural) created the heaven and the earth." Hesiod has a poem entitled Theogonia, giving the "generation of the gods." "In the book of Moses," says that learned church authority, Calmet, "the name of God is often given to the angels. Princes, magistrates, and great men are called gods. If a slave is desirous to continue with his master, he shall be brought to the gods. The Lord (an exalted angel) is seated amidst the gods, and judges with them." * The testimony of the truly eminent Philo Judæus, relative to the identity of god, lord, angel, spirit, etc., is exceedingly important. We quote from Yonge's translation: "Those (referring to gods) of the most divine nature are utterly regardless of any situation on earth, but are raised to a greater height, and placed in the ether itself, being of the purest possible character, which those among the Greeks that have studied philosophy, call heroes and demons, and which Moses, giving them a most felicitous appellation, calls angels, acting, as they do, the part of ambassadors and messengers. Therefore, if you look upon souls and demons and angels as things differing indeed in name, but as meaning in reality one and the same thing, you will thus get rid of the heaviest of all evils-superstition. For as people speak of good demons and bad demons, so do they speak of good and bad souls; and also of some angels as being by their title worthy ambassadors from God to men, being sacred and inviolable guardians; others as being unholy and unworthy. Hence, the Psalmist David speaks of the operation of evil angels.'' * * In harmony with the above, from a different source, yet in confirmation of the same general idea, we quote from the third volume of Plato, by Burges, Trinity College, Cambridge: "They are demons, because prudent and learned. Hence, poets say well, who say that when a good man shall have reached his end, he receives a mighty destiny and honor, and becomes a demon according to the appellation of prudence." Concurring with the general belief of those ages, the Grecian poet Hesiod, in his "Works and Days," says: "But when concealed had destiny this race, Also, this significant line occurs: "Holy demons by great Jove designed." Earnest Renan, one of the most eminent Shemitic scholars living, speaking, in his "Life of Jesus," of the group that assembled upon the banks of Lake Tiberias to listen to Jesus says: "They believed in spectres and in spirits." These citations from Hesiod, Plato, and especially Philo Judæus, a few years the senior of the Galilean, clearly demonstrate the fact of the identity of gods, spirits, demons and angels, that there were good, learned, and holy demons, and those denominated unholy; and that these demons, or spirits and angels, held intercourse with, and were the guardians of mortals. As a general thing, the magi, magicians, or media of Egypt, excelled Moses in the production of wonders manifest in the different phases of phenomenal Spiritualism. Taking their account, they were doubtless always the victors. They certainly had several trials for the mastery. Accepting the scriptural rendering, it is evident that the wonderful works wrought by Moses were also accomplished, with hardly an exception, through the "enchantments" of Pharaoh's "wise men and magicians." This enchantment was the mesmeric will-force-a part of the very "wisdom" that Moses had learned in Egypt. Psychologists are always aided more or less by their spirit guides. Referring to the so-called miracles recorded in the 7th chapter of Exodus, we find that the magicians turned their rods into serpents (psychologically, of course); water into blood; and produced the frogs also, with seemingly the same ease and celerity that Moses and Aaron did, and by the same psychologic law. But when the Lord, through Moses, commanded Aaron to "stretch out his rod" and go to manufacturing "lice," the magicians begged to be excused; it was too small business-utterly beneath the magi, or media of old, proud and classic Egypt! They would not thus degrade their psychologic knowledge-a portion of their sacred mysteries. To be sure Moses says they "could not." This is Moses' version of the matter, however, (if indeed, he ever wrote the Pentateuch); and Moses, holding himself in high estimation, wrote in his own interest; and, what is more, a man, courting fame, that could write an account of his own death and burial, is entitled,write what he may, to little credit. Never charmed with Moses' characteristics, we do not deny his mediumship, nor the truth of his frequent conversations with the "Lord God, face to face;" that is, his familiar spirit, but we rate it second to the mediumistic powers of the seers of Egypt and Persia, and immeasurably inferior to that of the Judean prophets. See the power of the gods when the Syrians came to seize Elisha: "When the servant had risen early and gone forth, behold an host encompassed the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, 'Alas! my master! what shall we do?' "And Elisha prayed, and said, 'Lord, I pray thee open his eyes (clairvoyant eyes) that he may see."" And the Lord, angel or spiritual being, opened the eyes, that is, the interior or spiritual eyes, of the young man, and he saw -saw because the inner vision was unsealed-and "behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.-2 Kings iv. * * Titus, in his address to his soldiers before Jerusalem, said, "For what man of virtue is there that does not know |