Has it ever occurred to you that this physical phenomena that you consider trivial and trifling, is an indication of a subtle power over material law that will eventually revolutionize the whole intelligence of man? And if true that sounds are produced independently of the usual known laws of nature, does it not indicate a realm in which you will one day be glad to enter and take your seat by the side of the savans of science, conscious that there are more forces in the universe than you have ever dreamed of?

In regard to the question of having mediums at all, I will say, in the first place, that you are yourselves, physically, but mediums. Your spirit employs your body for manifesting to others, and the physical senses are but the mediums of communication between one spirit and another on the earth. If this be true of your own material bodies, and you still in daily contact with one another, must it not also be true that the disembodied spirit, wishing to reach you through the ordinary channels of intelligence, must necessarily employ such methods and forces as will best appeal to your intelligence?

If, therefore, you refuse to accept the gift of the spirit; if you refuse to accept the inspiration that comes from within; if the voice of intuition has been closed either by blind fear and prejudice or by over-culture of the intellect; if there is no other avenue by which humanity can be reached than the very avenue which appeals to the senses, the intelligence and the intuition must be approached from the external side. And as I said before, uncomplimentary as it is to the spirtiual condition of this enlightened age, it is, notwithstanding, a fact in physical science which is of importance to commemorate, and may be the stepping-stone to that vast inner realm with which you are vet unfamiliar and which girds you round about with its wonderful powers.

There are many who say: " Why may I not be a medium? Why must I always receive my message through another?"

You know not what you say. You receive most of your intelligence, most of your teaching, most of your mental growth, most of your training, your knowledge of music, of mathematics, of art, of religion, of poesy and of .history, through other people; and you do not hesitate to study the works of the man of science, of the astronomer, though you know nothing of astronomy; of the geologist, though you have no knowledge of geology; and yet when there comes to you a message through another from a departed friend, which gives indication of other intelligence, other growth, other culture, and that fact is demonstrated, you still cavil, and say, " Why can it not come to me?" For the very reason that you say " Why?" There are those of your class of mind, who, when mediumship comes to them, either in writing or any other phase, say, "Oh, this is only my imagination." My dear friend, that which comes to you through another person cannot be your imagination. And if it gives you intelligence which that person through whom it comes did not know beforehand, it cannot be your imagination. Therefore the theory of imagination is cut short at once. It is to just such persons as you are that this reason applies. You are not a medium, because you are not satisfied with anything.

Then mediumship comes only to those who are satisfied? By no means; it conies frequently to those who are dissatisfied just to prove that it did not come because they wanted it; just to show that their wish and desire did not make it. It comes frequently in direct violation of their individual wish and will, to prove it is governed by a law superior to their own will.

Then you say, "Only those who oppose it can be mediums?" Not so. Frequently it comes to those who are neither in opposition nor have any active desire for it; who have no knowledge of mediumship; who do not know before it conies what it means, but who are made receptive to it, perhaps for that very reason, to illustrate that it is not desire nor objection that produces mediumship.

The truth is, as stated, it comes to no individual class; there is nothing in the individual condition that creates it, but it chooses (that is, spirits do,) those whom they will use. Perhaps you have noticed that when Neilson, Jenny Lind, or some great song-bird from over the ocean came, it set all inferior birds to warbling, and many aspirants for fame would spring up in the groves of your own native land; and gradually, as the wave passed, the music would die away, leaving one, or two, or three who were fitting followers.

Spiritualism poured itself out upon the world thirty-five years ago, and there were mediums everywhere; there were rapping, writing and seeing mediums. The wave subsided; a test had been applied; the shower had fallen, and here and there one was chosen to carry forward the work. The songbirds had sung their little song, and the wave of spiritual truth had come. "Many are called but few are chosen " applies to mediumship as well as to any other work in the world. The qualifications, however, for being chosen are not within the individual will of the one chosen.

Now, every little while you will hear of some new phase of mediumship, notably that of materialization. The clairvoyant wishes to leave her seeing; the rapping medium wishes to leave her table; the healing medium wishes to leave his patients - all wish to leave their avocations and chosen calling' to become materializing mediums. Why? There is a sensation in human minds to be something else; to be that which others are; that which will attract the most attention, and especially, to be something different from what they are.

Christ enjoined the seeking of that which was highest and best. Paul enumerates gifts of every kind, and shows that each cannot possess all gifts. Now, the fact is that those who have spiritual gifts cannot prize them too highly; cannot, if they understand the great moral meaning of the message that is given to them, be too careful in keeping themselves in suitable condition for the exercise of these gifts. What I mean by a suitable condition is not handcuffs, ropes, barriers, prison laws against mediumship or against healing; but a condition clear as the sky, as transparent as the atmosphere; to have no wish or will that will cloud the direct channel between you and the spiritual world. I say, whatever message the spirit world wishes to give, if you are a medium, you have no right to decide what that message shall be, any more than the faithful telegraph operator has a right to decide whether a clergyman or a bandit shall send a message over the wires. It is best to keep the wires open and clear, and all you can do for mediumship in this world is to keep the channel of communication free.