is objected by judicious people, or such as have
devoted themselves to analogous subjects, that these assumed facts are in
direct opposition to all that is known of the course of nature, that the
universal experience of the past affords a powerful presumption against
their truth, and that in proportion to the gravity of these objections,
should be the number and competence of the witnesses. The answer is a
ready one. What do we know of the mysteries of Nature? Do we understand
the intricate machinery of the Universe? When to this is added the
never-failing quotation,

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,"--

the question is thought to be finally disposed of.

Take the case of astrology as an example. It is in itself strange and
incredible that the relations of the heavenly bodies to each other at a
given moment of time, perhaps half a century ago, should have anything to
do with my success or misfortune in any undertaking of to-day. But what
right have I to say it cannot be so? Can I bind the sweet influences of
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? I do not know by what mighty
magic the planets roll in their fluid paths, confined to circles as
unchanging as if they were rings of steel, nor why the great wave of
ocean follows in a sleepless round upon the skirts of moonlight; nor cam
I say from any certain knowledge that the phases of the heavenly bodies,
or even the falling of the leaves of the forest, or the manner in which
the sands lie upon the sea-shore, may not be knit up by invisible threads
with the web of human destiny. There is a class of minds much more ready
to believe that which is at first sight incredible, and because it is
incredible, than what is generally thought reasonable. Credo quia
impossibile est,--"I believe, because it is impossible,"--is an old
paradoxical expression which might be literally applied to this tribe of
persons. And they always succeed in finding something marvellous, to call
out the exercise of their robust faith. The old Cabalistic teachers
maintained that there was not a verse, line, word, or even letter in the
Bible which had not a special efficacy either to defend the person who
rightly employed it, or to injure his enemies; always provided the
original Hebrew was made use of. In the hands of modern Cabalists every
substance, no matter how inert, acquires wonderful medicinal virtues,
provided it be used in a proper