INVISIBLE PERSONALITIES.

A belief in good and evil spirits seems to be as old as the human mind; but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the growing intellect—and shall we not say growing materialism?— has sought to do away with all belief in either good or evil spirit intelligences.

There has existed and still exists in the heart of man a secret fear of everything of a spiritual nature, or of anything that is unknown, coming from the invisible side, and the growing intelligence of the race has been struggling hard to wipe out of existence such timidity by denying its existence. But that a fear as great as ever still lurks in the human heart is evident from the fact that as soon as anyone mentions that a spiritual intelligence has revealed certain things to him, the clergy and laymen of the church at once exclaim, "That is spiritualism! That is of the devil!" Yet it is true that the existence of a personal devil has been rejected by many, but the belief in something-they know not what-belonging to the invisible world is as strong as ever, notwithstanding all the denials. It is because of this that there is so much opposition by the members of the church to everything pertaining to the manifestation of spirit. We often hear people say that a visit from an angel, or a spirit presence would frighten them to death. Another class say: "If there are such intelligences, why do they not come to us? Why do we not know something about them?" But the very ones who are so emphatic and who ask: "Why do we not know something about them?" are the ones that would be most frightened if they saw a spirit entity. This unbelief is the reason the people do not see, and the angels of God do not

more frequently visit the sons of earth. On the other hand, there have been in all the history of the past persons who have made it a business of seeking conjunction with the invisibles, which has led to many stories in the past of men and women being in league with the devil, "selling their souls to the devil," and in more modern times it has given rise to what has been called "Modern Spiritualism."

Modern spiritualism has been much misunderstood by its advocates and by its enemies. Its advocates have been from all classes of thought and morals. Some who are really seeking knowledge and purity of life have been recipients of visitations, and all classes from these down to the individuals who open themselves without discrimination to the invisible side have received spirit manifestations.

We have spoken to people about there being dark and unclean spirits, but they have answered, "It does not make any difference to me, they are all good to me." From years of investigation in the phenomena of modern spiritualism we have been convinced beyond question that there is a reality in it; and also that there is a great variety of intelligences that manifest themselves. We have also watched carefully its effects upon the people who have given themselves up to even the highest and most intelligent influences, and we have yet to find one instance where the morality and health of the individual has not seriously suffered in consequence.

In addition to the experiences of spiritualists, there is a chain of experiences beginning with the living of the regenerate life; and every individual that we know of, who, through purity of life and earnest aspiration toward God, has sought to know God and to do his will, has had the same experience. All find, sooner or later, that there are invisibie, malignant forces that answer well to that which has been denominated by the mystics of all times as, "the monster of the threshold," for it seems as if there is a boarder world, where, as soon as one seeks to

return to conscious unity with God, he meets intelligences which he must overcome or else be overcome by them.

The reason the mystics of all times have been so careful about scattering their knowledge of the msytic, or in attempting to lead individuals in pursuit of it, is that they know if the individual starts on that road and is overcome by these dark forces that he can never return to his normal standard of morals or peace of mind.

Those who are simply living in generation and know nothing and fear nothing regarding the invisible side, are to a very great extent immune from the influence of dark spirits; but it is their belief that these forces cannot influence them, which gives them a firm will and a decided character, and when their mind seems to be affected unpleasantly they intuitively exert their will and turn their mind to the duties of everyday life. They are largely immune from those influences until they are attacked through the mind causing them to feel that they are diseased. Swedenborg and many others claim that all diseased states are due to the influence of evil spirits, demons, and this is not without justification in the teachings and life of the Christ of whom it is recorded that in healing the sick he cast out demons and the sick recovered, and the insane were also healed by the casting out of demons.

Everyone who lives the regenerate life and consecrates his life to God without reserve and seeks to penetrate that within the veil knows that he has invisible enemies to meet and conquer; but these adversaries can only attack one through his sympathy with that which belongs to the material conditions of this world. It is as the Christ said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." As the Christ had nothing in him that belonged to the prince of this world, therefore he could not touch the Christ, but as Jesus had a material body, which, of course, belonged to the material world, therefore the enemy, the dark forces, working through the people could slay the

body, but as Christ said, “I have power to lay it [his life] down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." Therefore it was said that the dark forces could not hold control over his body; they were allowed to kill it, but he demonstrated to the world that he had power to take it again.

We are persuaded beyond question that if the people would banish the fear of evil spirits and would study their influence and ally themselves to God in whom is all the power in the universe, that the time would soon come when the diseased states of the race would pass away, insanity would be unknown and crime would be a thing of the past, for all these are the works of evil spirits in the invisible world.

The question has often arisen in the mind of the thinker at the present time: Where do these evil intelligences spring from?— Who are they and what are they?-Could the Creator who is all good create something that is evil? and many similar questions. In the effort to account for these evil spirits the answer has come: They are fallen angels. But many deny the liability and possibility of angels of God who are in the full light of Divine spirituality sinning and consequently being cast down into darkness. But this denial arises from an improper conception of what an angel is. Many believe that the angels are special creations-perfect beings-that they never were men on the earth. There is, however, not a particle of evidence to support such a theory, in fact, all the evidence is on the other side. There are many instances in the Scriptures where angels are sent to the faithful and to the righteous to aid and to assist them, who admit their origin in the earth life, but strange to say all the books of the Bible in which this has been made most pointed are called doubtful books-the Apocrapha of the Old Testament. The word "apocrapha" has come to mean “doubtful," but it originally meant "sacred" or "hidden," the books that were intended for the esoteric teachings of the people. In

the book of Tobit we read that an angel assisted Tobias on his journey to get his father's inheritance that had been left with his uncle, and at the same time to free his uncle's daughter from the influence of an evil spirit, and also to bring together two souls that belonged to each other. This angel who assisted Tobias informed Tobit who he was while in the earth body, and Tobit said that he had known his father well and that he was an honest and good man. There are many instances throughout the accounts in the Bible of the manifestation of angels to lead the mind to believe that angels are spirit messengers who have once had an earthly body and who lived a righteous life on earth and passed into the spirit world. Jesus declared this inferentially when he said to the Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

The Apostle in speaking of the angels said, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Now mark you, he said they were come to the church of the firstborn in heaven. By what means did he say that they had come to that church?-By means of conversion and following the teachings of the Christ they began to live a spiritual life, which brought them into conjunction with the sprits of just men made perfect.

The Apostle said in another place, speaking of those who had lived a righteous life and departed from the earth, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" These words are equivalent to saying: Are they not all angels? for the word angel means messenger, and when he said, "Are they not all ministering