ANCIENT PROPHETS OF THE SPIRITUALISTS. 139

"Divine communications were not made at the option of men in general; these are made at the option of men without respect of character.

"The whole affair, beginniug, middle, and ending, is unlike anything God ever did. The removing of tables and chairs, and the 'raps,' rather indicate 'the spirits of devils working miracles,' than the work of the 'finger of God' in raising the dead, healing the sick, and doing good to fallen humanity. The work of God is like himself: the work of the devil is like himself; By their works we know

them."

This class of prophets was anciently found pandering to the prejudices and desires of sinful mendetailing the minutia in the fortunes of a dupeprophesying "smooth things," and crying peace! peace to those whose hands were reeking with crimes of the deepest dye, and committing the greatest wrongs for the sake of gain.

Did they, by their enchantments and deceptions, gain the royal patronage, and constrain the deluded throng to replenish their coffers and laud their names ? Their successors are not behind the very chiefest of them all in their zeal, absurd pretences, and delusive wiles.

Were they pronounced "false prophets?" No reliance can be placed in these! Did the Saviour declare that false prophets should show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect? Hundreds of our

age will no doubt realize, in despair, that his words are true.

The faithful man of God who possesses the Scriptures is "thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”* "The word of His grace," says Paul, is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified."+ Hence we are not authorized to expect any Divinely inspired revelation in addition to the Bible.

On the other hand, the Old Testament cautions us against necromancers, and false prophets, and "adding unto his words ;" and the New Testament warns us against the insidious wiles of "deceivers," "false Christs," "false prophets," "seducing spirits," "doctrines of devils," and "lying wonders." Hence we infer that the great danger lies not in any liability to reject any recent Divine revelation, but in a liability to receive spurious communications on the authority of "lying wonders."

We are thankful for the Holy Bible as a standard of appeal. While others may choose the revelations of heathen divinities, and departed spirits, let us have the "living oracles." Theirs of the past are revelations lost and forgotten: ours are those which have survived the conflicts and revolutions of ages. Theirs of the present are such as must perish with their dupes and the enemies of Jehovah. ours must endure when the heavens and earth shall pass away.

But

* 2 Tim. iii: 16, 17.

† Acts xx: 32.

CHAPTER IX.

ANCIENT ORACLES OF THE SPIRITUALISTS

"Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods."-ISA. xli: 23.

“THERE were many places in Greece where oracles were delivered. The most ancient and most celebrated of these were attached to the sanctuaries of Zeus and Apollo, at Dodona and Delphi.

Herodotus says, that Dodona was by far the most ancient of the Grecian oracles; and tells us on the authority of Egyptian priests, that it was founded by a priestess, whom the Phoenicians had carried away from Thebes in Egypt, giving also another version of the story related to him by the priestesses of Dodona-but indeed of the same import. In confirmation of this narrative, he tells us that the two oracles of Egyptian Thebes and Dodona resembled each other entirely, and hence draws the conclusion that the art of divination as practised in his time in Greece, was derived from Egypt.*

* Lib. ii., c. 58.

The oracle of Delphi vied with that of Dodona in the truth and perspicuity of its answers, but surpassed the latter by far, in magnificence and wealth. The place in which the oracles were delivered was called Pythium, and the priestess who consulted the god, was named Pythia.*

Diodorus relates that there was a cave on Parnassus, whence rose an exhalation that caused the goats to leap and skip about, and which intoxicated the brain. A shepherd having approached it, to learn the cause of so extraordinary an effect, was immediately seized with a violent agitation of his frame, and pronounced words which, though unintelligible to himself, revealed future events. Others having experienced the same effects, rumors of it were soon spread throughout the neighborhood. The cave was no more approached without great The exhalation was deemed to have something supernatural in it. A priestess was appointed for the reception of its wonderful effects, and a tripod placed over the vent. The priestess was seated on the tripod, when she pronounced the

awe.

* From Pytho, a serpent-as Apollo was said to have killed a very large one at the mouth of the cave. † Diod. Dic., Lib. xvi. What kind of a machine this celebrated tripod was, has caused much inquiry by the ancient antiquarians—but without leading to any certain result. Some consider it to have been a brass vessel through which a miraculous vapor was conveyed into the belly of the priestess, and then came out of her mouth; others say that it was large enough to plunge herself into it. But these are all mere conjectures. It was called tripod because it had three feet.

answers of the god. A temple to Apollo was erected near the cave, and the city of Delphi rose by degrees in its vicinity.

At first a single priestess or Pythia, was sufficient to answer those who came to consult the oracle, as they were then few in number; but in the course of time its reputation rose, and the applications for advice became more frequent. Two Pythias were then appointed to mount the tripod alternately with each other, and still a third was chosen as a substitute in case of death.

When Pythia had to consult the god, which at first could only take place at a certain period in each year, but afterwards every month, she had to prepare herself for that purpose by sacrifices, purification, and a three days' fast. Then, having washed herself in the fountian of Castalia, at the foot of Parnassus, and shaken the laurel tree that grew by it, she crowned herself with a garland of those leaves, and sometimes even swallowed a portion of them. Then she seated herself on the tripod, and waited for the impulse of the god as it was called. As soon as she had received the divine afflatus she began to swell, her hair rose, her looks grew wild, her mouth foamed, a sudden and violent trembling seized her whole body with all the symptoms of distraction and frenzy. Sometimes the paroxysm was so terrible, that the priests as well as the consulters, withdrew from fear; and once it caused the death of Pythia, as we are told