I refuse either to cast aside the records of the past, or to belittle those of the present, by denying admission to all facts in the past or in the present time that clearly indicate a spiritual origin; and I wish to draw the line of distinction most clearly and methodically between that class of Spiritualists who say, " But mediumship is only the result of natural law," and that other claim of theologians that it is a divine gift. Both are correct, but both state only a portion of the truth.

A natural law can be a divine gift as well as any other. I would like to have those who say mediumship is a natural law, tell me under what circumstances either of generic processes, of germinal growth, or of external evolution, they can produce mediumship, if they have discovered that it is only a natural law '? I would like to have them say what temperament, what particular form of human being, must be necessary to make inediumship possible. I would like to have them declare in what particular direction they have traced medium-ship as the working of natural law only, and how they can be certain that it has its origin in any one of the generic processes of nature.

On the other hand, those who say that it is the gift of God alone, deny the presence of angelic ministrants and mediatorial agents of times past, and refuse to accept the whole recorded word, wherein, for more than fifty times, God gave his message to man in the record of the Bible through mediatorial agents, either of angels, ministering spirits, prophets or men. Clearly, then, spiritual gifts are a direct inpouring of another intelligence and spiritual power into man, and if man had no spiritual nature, he could certainly have no spiritual gifts. But whatever spiritual gifts he receives, is neither dependent upon his temperament, his education, his station in life, nor any physical or earthly human condition whatsoever. The fishermen chosen by Christ for his disciples clearly indicate that station was not a consideration at that time, and also, that he chose to set at naught the sarcedotal rules of the Hebraic Church by making his chief apostles those who had the learning of the Church. Clearly the fact that Paul became a convert to Christianity proves that intellectual culture did not debar every one from being a disciple or the possessor of spiritual gifts; and clearly the fact that those in high authority came to Christ recognizing his gifts, as well as those who were lowly, proves that the recognition of them, (i. e., these gifts,) does not belong to any class, or state, or human condition.

From long study, too brief, however, to be thoroughly acquainted with all the laws pertaining to this important subject, your speaker is persuaded that there is no secret of physiology, no secret of anatomy, none of the nervous system, none of the physical structure, none of the mechanism that surrounds the individual, that will explain the fact of mediumship. Mediums are found among children, among gray-haired sires and matrons, among men and women of middle age. Mediums are found in all classes and conditions of life, from the Ger man prince or baron to the peasant; from the farmer or mechanic to the lawyer, physician, and clergyman. Clearly no temperament is indicated by mediumship; for, very often, nervous temperaments, those of bilious temperament, those of sanguine temperament, are mediums. Health makes no difference; for there are those in feeble health and those inmost excellent condition of body and mind, who are equally good as mediums. Clearly the educational qualification is nothing; for from among those who are entirely unlearned in schools are chosen some who are the most prominent mediums of your own or other countries. Certain it is that being a professor does not prevent mediumship, unless the incrustation of learning and self-conceit be such that the spiritual powers are turned away by that. Certainly the fact of being a minister of the Gospel does not seem to indicate spiritual gifts to-day, as it did in the time of Christ, but it is not necessarily a barrier, since we know in many instances that the clergy are inspired, and since we have in our knowledge the fact that several clergy in this country and in England write their sermons distinctly under spiritual control and dictation, showing an acknowledgment in private life at least of this wonderful power; while the Rev. Heber Newton, now on trial for heresy, and the Rev. Dr. Newman. have at their own firesides received distinct direction and indication of that which they have announced in public.

Manifestly, then, mediumship is neither generic, organic, physiological, nor has it to do with the education of the schools of the present day. It must be then a spiritual gilt; something bestowed or called into existence by the action of a power independent of the individual. But there can be no certain indication to whom this power will come, under what circumstances it will come, or what are the requisite conditions for developing or expressing the power. Certain it is that those conditions, whatever they are, are spiritual; and he who would endeavor either to cultivate mediumship or to explain it from a purely physical or scientific basis will be baffled the first step that he takes; for he cannot form one of the terms that will not in the next step be overthrown, nor formulate one theory that the very next experiment that he tries will not distinctly contradict.

An intelligence acting in the super-atmosphere upon the physical and mental structures of men possessing the knowledge of how to control the occult forces that relate to man's spiritual nature, must necessarily use those forces, and apply them independently of man's will or volition. If in accordance with the will and volition, it is because the will has been taught or bent to the inclination of superior will, not because the will that is controlled desires it.

Spiritual truth, like the first principles of sunlight, pure air and the elements of nature, must be under the control of the superior forces of the universe. By superior I do not mean greater than you will be; but the majority of the intelligence in the universe cannot be at any one time upon the earth; it must be disembodied. It must be that the larger proportion of intelligence in the universe is outside of human lives, since in the millions of spirits who are disembodied from this planet - to say nothing of those probably disembodied from other planets, who have progressed even in the slightest degree beyond the condition of the planets' themselves when they lived there; there must be by this time, such an accumulative power of spiritual force in the spirit world, as to constitute a positive element at all times and under all circumstances above the intelligence of man.