cience, and who yet remains the slave of superstitious
notions and vain fears? Of all the philosophers of America and Europe,
is there one who is alarmed at an eclipse, at a comet, at an _ignis
fatuus_, or at the notes of a death-watch? or who postpones his
experiments on account of what is called an unlucky day? Who ever heard
of a specter appearing to such a person, dragging him from bed at the
dead hour of midnight, to wander through the forest, trembling with
fear? Such beings appear only to the ignorant and illiterate, at least
to those who are unacquainted with natural science, and we never hear of
their appearing to any who did not previously believe in their
existence. But should philosophers be freed from such terrific visions,
if substantial knowledge has not the power of banishing them from the
mind? Why should supernatural beings feel so shy in conversing with men
of science? These would, indeed, be the fittest persons to whom they
might impart their secrets, and communicate information respecting the
invisible world; but it never falls to their lot to be favored with such
visits. It may therefore be concluded that the diffusion of useful
knowledge among mankind would infallibly dissipate those groundless
fears which have banished much of happiness from the human family, and
particularly among the lower orders of society.[34]

[34] Dr. Dick, to whom I have frequently referred, and whose writings I
have freely consulted, expresses in a note a sentiment in which I fully
concur. "It would be unfair," says he, "to infer, from any expression
here used, that the author denies the possibility of supernatural
visions and appearances. We are assured from the records of sacred
history that beings of an order superior to the human race have 'at
sundry times and in divers manners' made their appearance to men. But
there is the most marked difference between vulgar apparitions and the
celestial messengers to which the records of revelation refer. They
appeared not to old women and clowns, but to patriarchs, prophets, and
apostles. They appeared not to frighten the timid and to create
unnecessary alarm, but to declare 'tidings of great joy.' They appeared
not to reveal such paltry secrets as the place where a pot of gold or
silver is concealed, or where a lost ring may be found, but to
communicate intelligence worthy of a God to reveal, and of the utmost
importance for man to receive. In t