"Modern Spiritualism dates from March, 1848; it being then that, for the first time, intelligent communications were held with the unknown cause of the mysterious knockings and other sounds similar to those which had disturbed the Mompesson and Wesley families in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries."--_"On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism" (London, 1875), p. 146._ It was in Hydeville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. Fox, that the modern cult originated, it being found that by mysterious but clear sounds of knocking, unseen intelligences were able to communicate answers to questions asked. The rapidity of the spread of the great deception was remarkable. One of the Fox sisters, Mrs. A. Leah Underhill, wrote: "Since that day, starting from a small country village of western New York, Spiritualism has made its way--against tremendous obstacles and resistance, but under an impulse and a guidance from higher spheres--round the civilized globe. Starting from three sisters, two of them children, and the eldest a little beyond that age,... its ranks of believers, privately or publicly avowed, have grown within thirty-six years to millions."--_"The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism," Introduction._ Many at the time thought, as have many since, that the "rappings" with which the manifestations began were caused by some trickery on the part of the Fox sisters, but men of unimpeachable standing and intelligence certified to the contrary. Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New York _Tribune_, wrote in his paper that the sisters had visited him in his home and courted the fullest investigation as to "the alleged manifestations from the spirit world." As the result of his observations, he wrote: "Whatever may be the origin or the cause of the 'rappings,' the ladies in whose presence they occur do not make them. We tested this thoroughly and to our entire satisfaction."--_Id., pp. 160, 161._ It was no mere sleight of hand that launched this cult upon the world as the last days came. Beyond all the physical manifestations, the religious idea in Spiritualism has leavened the religious thought of millions. No one can deny that the basic idea is the one that the serpent promulgated in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die." Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, another of the Fox sisters, says of the discovery of 1848: "On the night of the thirty-first of March, 1848, we found beyond a shadow of a doubt or peradventure, that death had no power over the spirit.... In a word, we found our so-called dead were all living."--_"Nineteenth Century Miracles" (Manchester, England), p. 554._ [Illustration: THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT One of the historical settings of Spiritualism. A poor woman accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft.] Now the Scriptures teach plainly what these agencies in Spiritualism are not, and what they are. What They Are Not