From the earliest revelations of man that have come down to us, writers have been bold in ascribing their talk and interviews with spirits, angels and God. They seem to distinguish between good and bad spirits, and place the angels on a somewhat higher plane than that of the spirits. May it not be possible that these writers, with the unfoldment which had come to them, mistook in their clairvoyant visions, exalted spirits that had progressed for angels - even for God? May it not be that those called inspired writers were, in reality, what to-day we would call advanced mediums who dedicate their psychic gifts to truth? When passive, mediums have waited for some spirit from the spirit realm to reach their consciousness, and over and over again other spirits than those expected have entered their aura, claiming to be this or that one, and given messages of strange and confusing natures. Well-developed mediums who cling close to truth learn how to prevent these spirits from controlling or confusing them by directly asking aid from the guides whom they have learned are worthy of absolute trust. Unfortunately, there are many mediums who, in a trance state, open wide the door for any spirit to enter. Such mediums bring to the sitter often the strangest and most unintelligible messages. I have sometimes felt that these undeveloped, undisciplined mediums were the sport of the lower spirits that had ascended from mortals who passed from the earth plane before they had learned anything of the depth and beauty of meaning reflected from the lives of those representing progressive humanity.

I have boldly stated here some conclusions, as it would be out of the province of this paper to go over the work of years in detail to present all the premises upon which they are based. Still, some experiences must be related to give my inferences weight to the reader.

As we went on with our sittings, I was, of course, having other sittings with other mediums. In fact, each of us four took occasion often to do this. Sometimes the messages received in sittings with other mediums were only in symbols, and these were interpreted at our own table. Again, strange clairvoyance would be experienced by our principal medium and a note made of it. Later, its meaning and purpose would appear - often relating to the good of another and in no way connected with us. One illustration of this kind which interested us all (and yet for a time seemed purposeless) I will relate. We had just placed our hands on the table one evening when our medium, who is also a prominent physician, said: "Let me relate a strange experience I had to-day. In fact, I seem to be called upon to do this. I was in a street car and saw a young lady enter, leaning on crutches. The vision was very real and I rose, offering her my seat. She smiled and disappeared, and then I resumed my seat, recognizing that I had mistaken a clairvoyant for a real vision." We all searched our memories, but none of us could remember of having any young lady relative or friend who was so afflicted, and who had passed to the other side of life. I however made note of the incident. Nearly six months after that the physician told us when walking up the street he had distinctly heard one walking on crutches behind him and his mind recalled the vision above related. He said the thumping on the sidewalk was very pronounced, and he also thought he heard the rustle of a lady's skirts. Turning around, nothing was to be seen. On several other occasions, as months went by, he heard the thumping of crutches and caught glimpses of the face now clearly defined in his consciousness. He related these incidents, and added that the meaning must appear. He questioned if it were a warning that one present at the table might suffer accident. This, he added, would hardly be the purpose of the vision, for the face of the lady was clearly impressed on his mind and she bore no resemblance to any one he had ever seen.

About one year after the street car incident, a lady's maid called at his office one morning, asking him to come to a house he had never visited, and she gave a name he had never heard. As he looked up he saw clairvoyantly the crippled lady behind his caller bowing and smiling at him. This maid told him that she was sent to call him on account of a young lady who was seriously ill with nervous prostration - that this lady had been growing much worse of late, and that one of his patients (whose name was given) had recommended him. Upon reaching the young lady's room, he found her almost in delirium and striving to break away from her nurse with the avowed purpose of throwing herself out of an upper story window. As the Doctor entered he saw again, clairvoyantly, the young lady on crutches standing at the head of the bed bowing and smiling at him. He noted that upon taking hold of the patient's wrist to count the pulse beats, she immediately grew calm and remained so during his visit while he diagnosed the case and wrote out the prescription, which the patient, now quiet and passive, smilingly said she would take. Rising from his seat, he observed a large photograph, hanging on the opposite side of the room; and then he recognized the face of the crippled lady he had seen in these several visions. His eyes naturally remained fixed on this picture for a few moments, when the mother of the patient addressed him saying, "You note the resemblance, perhaps. That is my daughter's sister. She, poor girl, was a cripple and forced to use crutches from childhood. She, however, was always smiling and cheerful. She died nearly two years ago and her sister, for whom you have prescribed to-day, has been ill almost from that date." Within a few weeks from that time the patient became perfectly well and strong under this physician's care. Though the occurrence took place several years ago, this young lady continues in excellent health.

Did that sister, a spirit, on the other side, recognize in this physician one who could understand her sister's case? Was she striving for over a year to bring about a way to introduce the case to him? Of course, new cases often came to him, and come to every physician upon the recommendation of patients. There are features about this case that, coupled with other experiences of my own, I feel the sister on the spirit side divined - learned through sources we may not know here - that this physician could restore her sister to health, and she made it her work to bring about the meeting. Evidently from this and innumerable other cases with which I am familiar, the spirit guides often find difficulties in solving the problems they undertake just as man on the earth plane. Can we not give them help in their work and so hasten the coming of our own good to us?