I replied that I was very glad to see him; but, as to the conversation on spirit-manifestations, I must decline taking part in it myself. I was very weak, and I did not think I could give him any information of importance. He could probably learn much more from the shades of Franklin, William Penn, or George Washington, than from me. George Fox and Oliver Cromwell could tell him many things; Swedenborg and Joe Smith more yet. I advised him to call up the Mormon prophet, who could probably give him more light on the subject than any one who had gone to the spirit-world since Mahomet. I should, however, be most happy to hear him and my highly esteemed friend Mr. Merton, who was present, converse on the subject. “Mr. Merton,” said the Judge, “I perceive is not a believer, and I am not fond of conversing with sceptics.” “Judge Preston,” said Mr. Merton, “can hardly call me a sceptic, and I think, were we to compare notes, he would find me believing too much rather than too little.” “It may be so,” said the Judge, “but I feel as if I was in the presence of an unbeliever, and an enemy of the spirits.” “We must not place too much reliance on our feelings; and the habit of carefully noting them, and taking them as our guides, is not to be encouraged,” answered Mr. Merton. “Our feelings become warped, obscure our perceptions, and mislead our judgment. I certainly do not deny the facts, or the phenomena which you call spirit-manifestations, although I may not, and probably do not, admit your explanation of them, nor the doctrines concerning God, the universe, and man and his destiny, which I find in your book.” “But do you believe that spirits from the other world do really communicate with the living?”