ut of the dust; they
spoke out of the ground, and whispered; or, as in the margin, did "peep"
or "chirp" out of the dust. These "rap" and mutter. They respond from
beneath chairs, tables and floors.

2. They exercised similar physical powers. They threw down and tare the
persons they possessed. They turned the swine into the sea, &c. These
claim that chairs and tables, are lifted and moved at will by an invisible
agency.

3. They made similar pretensions to credibility. Simon Magus gave out
"that himself was some great one;" and these, that they utter divine
truths.

4. Similar regard was bestowed on those, which is claimed for these. To
Simon "they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This
man is the great power of God." Yet "he had bewitched them with
sorceries." Similar claims by, and regard for these modern pretenders to
the same art, do not relieve them from the suspicion of a like agency.
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his
_ministers_ also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness: whose
end shall be according to their works," 2 Cor. 11:13-15.

5. Both have given utterance to some truths. The legion of demons who were
cast out of the man into a herd of swine, acknowledged Jesus to be "the
Son of the Most High God;" and the pythonic spirit which so grieved Paul,
declared the apostles to be "the servants of the Most High God, which show
unto us the way of salvation." Such communications with the invisible
world being forbidden, their _credibility_ is disproved.

They claim that spirits of the departed are brought into direct and
intelligent communication with the living, who desire to interrogate them.
What more was claimed by the necromancers of old? Said Saul to the woman
of Endor: "Divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom
I shall name unto thee," 1 Sam. 28:8.

They claim that not all, but only those persons are mediums who are
peculiarly susceptible to spiritual influences. Wherein, then, admitting
their claims, do the "mediums" differ from those of old, who divined by a
familiar spirit?

Their responses are frequently disproved by facts; and themselves admit
the existence of unreliable spirits, which communicate like them. They
give contradictory responses, and mutually criminate ea