Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: EDITOK’S PREFACE. The subject of spiritual agencies, and the investigation of their mysterious operations, is one of deep interest to mankind. From the earliest ages it has afforded ground for superstition, investigation, and speculation. Various as the theories of the present are found to be, they all, or nearly all, have their counterparts in the dim distance of ages past. and within the period covered by historic records, both sacred and profane. The belief in a race of invisible and superhuman agents, who are. more or less intimately concerned in terrestrial affairs, is found in all past ages, and is common alike to the Jews and the Barbarians, to the wise and the unwise, to Christians and to heathen. The subject has always boen interesting. It is now increasing in interest, from the fact that attention has been called to it, and investigations have been made to a much greater extent than heretofore, especially since
Spiritualism
has become the faith of millions, and the amazement of millions more.? The writer had hoped ere this to have presented to the public a statement of the results of his researches on the subject; he still hopes to do so in due time, if God permit. The subject is ample; the field wide. The present treatise by a learned and able student and theologian, who was for years a missionary to India, and was there conversant with the various oriental forms of supernatural influences, will be found interesting; and, brief as it is, the writer has seen nothing that meets the requirements of the case so fully as this little treatise. The Bible is made the basis of the argument. Some Spiritualists will object to this. To such, we will say that the foundations upon which that rests are neither known nor assailed as yet. by most who reject it with p…
