the will of Heaven, which we should naturally expect from those over whom we could rejoice with confidence, or even rest in assured hope of their resurrection unto life eternal.

But, further; this state, namely, the vision of angels, and revelation of future glory, is common to the maniac; who, in his hallucinations, mixes up himself as a principal actor in these glorious scenes, but who still details them with a sufficient degree of approach to truth and consistency, to be classed under the same view. If, then, the particular vision in question be common to the unrighteous, as well as to the righteous and if its traces be clearly visible in the delirations of the insane; surely, is it not more wise and prudent, more just to God, and more consonant to his dealings with mankind, to believe that this appearance really owns a bodily origin, and is to be ascribed to the imperfect, failing, or perverted powers, of the organ of mental manifestation?

This result leaves entirely intact all the revelations of Scripture; which are of a totally different order, and which, in mercy and in love to poor perishing sinners, have been vouchsafed to man, for the establishment of his faith, the extension of his hope, and the increase of his knowledge. Although, therefore, I fully

agree with H. B., that such things have been under a different situation of the Christian world, and of the church, I cannot accede to his position, that such things are, until the preceding facts and arguments are refuted. Possibly, under some future great change, such things may again be; but of this we are not called upon to determine.

The charge of enthusiasm, or superstition, is not preferred against H. B., or against any one who differs from me: for, in the first place, I do not believe that it would attach to him; and, according to my own principles, the precise point of light, in which facts, and views, and opinions, are received by the individual, do very greatly depend upon his physical temperament, and upon its peculiar state, as influenced by health or disease. This, of course, does not affect the truth of any particular point: but it does affect the impression of that truth, and the zeal and earnestness with which it is received; or the caution, and doubt, and prejudice, which absorb and enthral the mind.

CHAPTER XI.

On Presentiments.-Omens;-the case of martyrs, and their extraordinary, supernatural aid;-opinions of Dr. Hibbert, and of the author of " Past Feelings Renovated."

We must now say a few words on the subject of what are called presentiments.

I apprehend that, in every instance, presentiments may be referred to some antecedent physical or moral impression, and to its near or distant associations, however difficult it may be to trace them, and however illogically they may seem to be concatenated.

Strong testimonies have been urged to prove that individuals under the influence of magnetism, or, as it has been perhaps more correctly designated, magnetic somnambulism, possess the power of predicting the day, the hour, the severity, the duration, of an attack; for instance, of hysteria or epilepsy, and of various other

bodily states. Now if these testimonies are valid, (if they are not, we cut the Gordian-knot at once by denying the existence of presentiment,) there may be a peculiar state of the brain, produced by disease, as well as artificially induced by the agency of animal magnetism, in which it may be enabled to feel the approach of any great disaster to the constitution.

But even if the possibility of such a case were admitted, it cannot be believed to be of frequent occurrence; and with this single alleged exception, presentiments may be always traced to antecedent powerful impression upon an anxious mind. There are two grounds on which this conviction is founded; first, that frequently the expected results are not realized; and, secondly, that even when they are so, coincidence will often offer a just explanation; and, if not, the influence exerted by the presentiment itself upon the brain, and, through it, upon all the other functions of the body, will be sufficient to induce a morbid state, which will border on the very verge of distraction. In order to be admitted as consequential, the results should be invariable, and should have no tendency to produce themselves; whereas they are confessedly rare, and these rare instances

may easily arise from the physical influence of the first morbid impression.

To illustrate these positions by example: A. B. told me that he had a presentiment of his approaching dissolution, and that medicine would be of no avail; for that his days were numbered, his hour was determined, and he must die. Upon inquiry, he referred this impression to the "abundant revelations which he had received." It is scarcely necessary for the author of the present Essay to add, that he thought differently from his patient; neither need he point out the source to which both the presentiment and the revelations were conjointly referred. Under the influence of medicine, this patient recovered perfectly; a proof of the absence of truth in the prediction of the sick man, and of the delusion under which he had laboured relative to these supposed spiritual communications from on high; the whole of which had evidently resulted from the influence of disease upon the intellectual organ of a highly enthusiastic individual. Of such cases I have known many, greatly exceeding those of an opposite description, of which, however, several have occurred to me. The following instance shall suffice, as an example taken from the genus.