and the roar of wild beasts, and the sighing of the wind the only sounds? Before Christ can be at peace he must know what he is to do and how to do it. No peace till that is answered with a yea like his other queries.

It is quite evident, too, that the strain of mind and heart make him oblivious to the callings of bodily appetite. He fasts the whole time. Some of us of smaller soul than Christ have known such lengthened and dread periods. Christ may stand alone among men in the loftiness of his risings, like Mont Blanc among the Alps; but there are human companions in that experience all along the tale of time, that, like Mount Rosa and Mount Cervin, rear themselves around him, as a brilliant staff looking on and surrounding a commander-in-chief on the battle-field.

The first appeal is one of a subtle nature. It is to Christ's consciousness of inherent power, allied with his consciousness of need. "If thou be the son of God command that these stones be made bread." Jesus is evidently conscious of powers that he displays afterwards in a hundred brilliant forms. That consciousness brings with it a new moral problem. How is that power to be wielded? Is he to carve out for himself plenty? Is he to use it for the momentary gratification of crying appetite? The answer of Jesus shows what he thought about it. "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." It is better to have one's circumstances planned or ordered by God, than to follow self-will. There is something higher than mere feeding, housing, and clothing in human life. There is such a thing as right and wrong placing. What I want to know, the soul of Christ is saying, is why am I? Mere ease as to my bodily needs will not answer that. Where does God want me to be? Is it in poverty or in riches? I want to be rightly placed, not simply to be fully fed and clothed. If the placement be God-done the feeding and clothing will be met by him. That temptation is searched into by the keen thinking and discrimination of Jesus.

The form of temptation is now varied. Such a soul as Christ, if it follow out its impulses, will be surely met by danger and crises of peril. Danger necessarily lurks in the path of the true and active soul. Christ knows his work, and he guesses its perils, too. With the danger will there come the protection? Is God not only a guide but a shield? So goes on the thinking in that lonely spirit, with a great future and mighty issues looming out as the result of his action onward. The Evil One takes him to a pinnacle of the temple, with the yawning valley of Jehoshaphat beneath him. Test it, it is the subtle injection. Before you advance, obedient to the inner promptings of reason, conscience, and heart, test God by a fair experiment. Ah me, what pain there is in that early venture upon the unknown path of the spiritual pioneer. If God be prompting me to this adventure full of peril to life and fame, will he meet me and bear me up? "If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down: for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." It looks fair enough, that is, to an undisciplined soul. Not so to Christ. "There is something faulty in thy exegesis of God's word, oh, subtle tempter! Well hast thou pieced the inspired page together, and well hast thou timed it, but there is something better, higher, purer, than that. 'It is written, again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' God is not to be tested, but to be trusted. He is not fickle like a human being. He always is the same. God is my Father. He always has been. He changes not. He will be my guide, and he will be my protector. If I test him now there is yet the possibility that, at the moment of peril, he might not intervene. That would not be a test, after all. I want something firmer than that. It is here-God is love, and, being such, eternally such, livingly such, I can depend on him.

I will trust him, not spur him on to puerile tests that achieve nothing." So I imagine reasons the Christ.

Again the tempter is foiled, by the reasoning and moral judgment of Jesus; and again the temptation is varied. "The devil taketh him up into a high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." worship me." It is impossible to believe that the surface coarseness of these words could impose on Christ. Material wealth in itself, or mere worldly pomp, could not have been temptation to one like Christ. Before this journey into the wilderness began he had advanced beyond that in spiritual light. Why, then, does the temptation assume this form? Christ would reason, I apprehend, like this. May I not achieve my life-destiny, my inner throbbing purpose and mission, better by the means of worldly pomp, and the power of such a position, than through the way of poverty and humiliation that seems to loom yonder? Could I not use it all to glorify my God, and carry out this idea in my life? It would be a rapid means of achieving what I so long for. But against it comes up the thought, it will not then be by the agency of God. He has not planned it thus. If done at all it must be done by the agency of this being with whom I am conversing, and of him what do I know? How can I trust him? He is not God. He speaks fair, but his moral standard thus far I have discovered, penetrated, and it is not so high as I see it ought to be. I will not trust him. God alone shall direct my path. It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.'" To that Christ stands, and with this God-consciousness fixed, unalterable, Christ determines to face the outcome of his life.

If such be not the psychological meaning of this temptation, I am unable to see any reality in it all. He "suffered, being tempted." It was a real struggle or it was a farce.

Now, it is well to note for our own guidance, how Christ detected the sophistry of his tempter, and how he overcame him. He conquered by reason and moral judgment. He brought to that seance a splendid moral integrity, and a trained intellect. Hence the great lesson from this development of Christ in spirit-communion is that all the spirit-world says must be tested by reason and moral judgment. If a man be faulty in himself he will be deceived by casuistical communications. However specious a communication seem to be will it stand analysis at the bar of reason and conscience? It is not enough to develope in the mere power of spirit-communion. That is one stage; but after that commences another, and a more grievous one, the process of discrimination. Who are they who are talking with us? Test them by the faculties God has given us to scrutinise all truth-reason and conscience in combination. We are not to stand passive and simply take what the spirits give. "Try the spirits," says Paul, and so says this awful scene.

"And when the devil had ended all his temptations, he departed from him for a season." That Evil One was exhausted. He had met his conqueror. There was no longer a point of attack till Christ ran down, if that time should ever come. "For a season.' There are powers in that Unseen world, then, that have their interests, and who see on earth men whose lives are foils to their purposes. "For a season." They never abandon their purposes, then. Tenacious of their ambitions and schemes, even when foiled, they lurk for their chance. As in earth-life so in the contact of man with that spirit-world (and that contact, let us remember, is not voluntary on our part, but, whether we sit as Spiritualists at seances or not, that contact with us goes on) it depends on us, whether we are susceptible to its good or its evil side. There is only one defence, an enlightened reason and purified moral life, and that defence to evil designs, spiritual or earthly, is invincible.

Never again did that Evil One come into personal contact with Christ. No doubt his subtle, distorted genius conjured up circumstances of peril and bafflement in the path of Jesus, but at every point he meets the counter-working and counter-planning of higher and nobler spirits, filled with the mind and heart of God. That subtle one may elaborate schemes like that at Nazareth, when the infuriated crowd, only impressible by such spirits, seek to hurl the noble teacher over the hill-side, but Jesus escapes through the crowd. And if, at last, he pushes the death-scene of Calvary to an apparent success, is is only because "mine hour is come."

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we may."

"And behold, angels came and ministered unto him." The seance of combat merges into the seance of ecstacy and joy. Jesus had risen above the lower spheres of spirit-communion to the loftiest and blessed ones. Our inner life is thus the measure of our environment by the heavenly.

Perhaps, in a future paper, I may take up a thought I would like to elaborate in this connection. The centralising power of a single soul by which he draws into the affairs of earth, through his nobility, the higher forces of the spirit-world. It is with regret I leave, in this cursory study, one of the most awful and yet brilliant seances ever held. "Follow me," said that tempted but overcoming Christ. Aye, do; let every medium and Spiritualist follow him. OURANOI.

THE DIFFUSION OF SPIRITUALISM.

FOUR MONTHS' TRAVELS AND LABOURS: FROM HOWDEN-LE-WEAR THROUGH THE PROVINCES, ΤΟ LONDON AND BACK; WITH LESSONS TO BE DERIVED

THEREFROM.

To the Editor.-Sir,-A canny old preacher up in the North used to say to his brethren: "If the people won't or can't come to hear us, and seek the truth, we must carry it to them." Thousands have done so, and the world has been blest and saved thereby.

Others, as well as myself, are trying to take example by the preacher, and carry the truth of Spiritualism to those who are prepared to receive it.

On January 15 of this year we left our home to journey south. The weather was cold and bleak, but on reaching Darlington, our first place of work, the warm hearted friends and warm firesides soon made us feel lively and fit for our mission. In the morning we visited many friends-Messrs. Scott, Dixon, Elliott, and Fellows; our old friend, Mr. Richmond, also our dear brother, that noble worker, John Hodge, now gone to his home in the summer-land.

"Bretimo" lectured to a fine and congenial company on the Sunday evening, on a subject chosen by the audience. At the close a vote of thanks was tendered to the lecturer. Another lecture was arranged for in Mr. Hodge's rooms, which was received in the same spirit as the first. We held another meeting in Mr. Archer's, and then turned our attention to more private or closer work. We held several pleasant meetings, and on leaving for Malton went to bid "good-bye" to Mr Hodge. He took my hand, and at the same moment broke out in beautiful poetry, full of inspiration, on my mission and work. It touched me very much, it was so full of kindness and sympathy. I regret that I could not have it put on

paper.

At Malton I found the friends not so strong as one could wish, but still possessing the real germ of truth. "Bretimo" lectured in the Temperance Hall, and important conversation and questions followed.

We went on to Selby and stayed a few days with Mr. Parrott, who is a medium of some years' standing. He and Dr. Knott are the principal Spiritualists in the town, and hold occasional meetings in their houses. If the friends in Selby would try to get a little new element into their circle, I feel sure they would progress.

We proceeded to York, and visited Mr. and Mrs. Slater, the Mrs. elder, but were sorry to find them both in ill-health. Slater related a vision, in which one of my guides, "Sarah," appeared and spoke to her, saying, "Let us engage in prayer.” I was introduced to Mr. J. Slater, Junior, and his wife. We had some interesting conversation, and on leaving Mr. Slater presented me with a handsome book: "The Life and Times of Gladstone," the present prime minister.

stayed one night, in Leeds, but had only time to see a few friends

On to Halifax; we spent a pleasant evening with a few kind and sympathetic friends, who cheered us on our path as we passed along.

Our next stage was Manchester; reaching that busy city rather late in the evening. As I had forgotten most of the addresses of old friends-not having been in that city since our trip to South Africa-I was at a loss where to go for the night. I tried several hotels, but without success, and at last stood in Piccadilly rather desponding, and repeated the wellknown lines of the poet :"No foot of land do I possess,

No cottage in this wildernessA poor wayfaring man."

When I had concluded these words, "Bretimo," my guide, said, "Cross the street to the other side, go along about 300 yards, turn to your right down a street, stop at the first door and then ask for a night's lodging." I went to the place as directed and rapped at the door. A gentleman answered my rap. I asked to stay one night. The gentleman looked and paused, then said, "We don't lodge anyone." I said I didn't expect he did, but I only wanted shelter for one night. By this time the good lady of the house put in her word, and said, "He looks a respectable man, let him come in; we can manage." I went in, had a good night's rest and rose in the morning much refreshed. Both husband and wife treated me kindly, and said on leaving that I was never to want a place again whenever I came to Manchester.

I stayed a few days with Mr. 'Allen Hall, since gone to America. On the Sunday afternoon I went to Grosvenor Street Hall to hear Miss Hall. I was invited to a seat on the platform. The lecture was plain and practical—all seemed to enjoy it. I was kept busy, and held some important meetings while in Manchester.

The remainder of the tour must be described in another communication. T. M. BROWN.

Howden-le-Wear, R.S.O., Durham.

on

Next Sunday evening Mr. Morse will give a trance address, at 7 p-m. 161, Manor Place, Walworth Road, S.E. W. TOWNS, Sec.

QUEBEC HALL, 25, GREAT QUEBEC STREET. On Sunday, May 8th, at 7 p-m. prompt, Mr. Mac Donnell will discourse Religion in Business," questions and remarks at the close. Monday the 9th, at 8.30, Comprehensionists will meet to discuss a paper read by Mr. Wilson, Tuesday at 8.30, a musical and elocutionary entertainment, admission free.

On Wednesday, at 8-30, Mr. F. O. Matthews will hold a meeting for clairvoyant descriptions.

On Saturday, at 8 punctual, the usual seance; Mr. Hancock attends half an hour previous to speak with strangers. Mr. F. O. Matthews, medium at present.

On Sunday evening, May 15th, 'Mr. Hunt will deliver an addrees, subject: "The Spiritualist's last Sickness, and Death." I feel sure all who hear Mr. Hunt will be spiritually blest.

J. M. DALE, Hon. Sec.

MR. J. HOLMES, 6, Charlotte Street, Leicester.-Appointments: Bradford, May 1; Keighley, 8 and 9; London, 29; Stamford, June 18; Liverpool, Manchester and Oldham open.

MOTTO. The Discovery of Truth, the Diffusion of Truth, and the Application of Truth to the Welfare of Humanity. OBJECT.-To supply Educational Agencies to Spiritual Workers and Inquirers, and in all possible ways to promote a knowledge of Spiritual Science, and dispense such teachings as will benefit mankind morally and spiritually, inducing a better state of society, and a higher religious life.

CONSTITUTION. - On the voluntary principle, free, and unsectarian, and independent of party, society and human leadership. We work with all who see fit to work with us, allowing every Spiritualist to take advantage of our agencies, whatever his opinions, societary relations, or position may be.

POLITY.-No officials, no salaries. Those engaged in the work, after earning their living by industry give their whole time to the Cause free of charge; the expenses, in addition, which are heavy, are partly met by voluntary contributions from Spiritualists in Great Britain and other countries. Contributors are earnestly desired to take out the value of their contribution in the use of books from the Library for perusal, or to lend to inquirers.

LEICESTER.- SILVER STREET LECTURE HALL.

On Sunday last Mr. Bent gave a trance address in the evening, it being a continuation of the previous Sunday morning's address; subject. "And there was light." The guides spoke for an hour or more, and it was very interesting and full of truth and light to the human race.

Mr. Wallis, of Nottingham, will give two trance addresses on Sunday, May 15, it being the last time of visiting Leicester, as he intends leaving England for a tour in America. We hope friends will make their presence on that occasion and wish him God speed.

56, Cranbourne Street, Leicester. R. WIGHTMAN, Sec.

THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR THE

ABOLITION OF COMPULSORY VACCINATION, Gray's Inn Chambers, 20, High Holborn, W.C.

OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.

I.-The abolition of Compulsory Vaccination.

11.-The Diffusion of Knowledge concerning Vaccination. III. The maintenance in London of an Office for the publication of Literature relating to Vaccination, and as a Centre of Information. The minimum annual subscription constituting Membership is 2s. 6d. Every opponent of Compulsory Vaccination in the United Kingdom is earnestly invited to join and co-operate with the society.

APPOINTMENTS.

Ashington and North Seaton.-7 and 8.
North Shields and Darlington.-To follow.
Nottingham.-15 and 16 (probably).

London.-22. Goswell Hall. Farewell visit.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.-June 19 and 20.

Barrow-in-Furness and District.-26.

Mr. Wallis will accept calls to deliver trance orations in all parts of the United Kingdom.

N.B.-Mr. Wallis also gives entertainments, consisting of songs, readings, an 'ecitations. Write for programme and terms

SOUTH LONDON MEETINGS.

28, Peckham Park-road, Old Kent-road (opposite Gas Works).

Tuesdays, at 8 p-m. 8, Bournemouth-road, Rye-lane, Peckham.-Thursdays, at 8 p.m., and Sundays, at 3 p-m. 224, Albany-road, Camberwell or Old Kent-road.-Sundays, at 7 p-m:

OLDHAM Spiritualist Society, 176, Union-street.-Meetings, Sunday at 2-30 p.m., and 6 p.m. Mr. Alfred Farrar, secretary, 7, Dawson-street, Lees, Oldham,

MR. TOWNS, Medical Diagnosis, Test, and Business Clairvoyant, is at home daily, and is open to engagements. Address-161, Manor Place, Walworth Road, London, S.E.

WRITING AND SPEAKING MEDIUM, CAROLINE PAWLEY Free of charge. Appointments made by letter only, with di recte envelope, 43, Earls' Court Road, Kensington.

A

SEANCE for CLAIRVOYANCE and TRANCE at Mrs. PRICHARD'S, 10, Devonshire Street, W.C., Tuesdays at 8 p.m

O. MATTHEWS, Clairvoyant, 126, Kensington Park Road, W., • five minutes' walk from either Notting Hill or Notting Hill Gate Stations. Public seances for Spiritualists and friends, every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 8-30 prompt. Other seances by arrangement. At Ladbroke Hall, Notting Hill, every Sunday evening at 7 o'clock.

PHYSICAL & TEST MEDIUMSHIP at Mrs. Ayers', 45, Jubilee Street, Commercial Road, E., Sunday, at 7-30; also on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 o'clock. Mrs. Walker, physical, trance, and test medium, may be specially engaged.

MRS. OLIVE has Receptions on Wednesdays at 3 p-M, and on Fridays at 7 P-M. Privato sittings by appointment. All new visitors must be introduced.-121, Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, W

AND

MEETINGS.

REMARKS ON THE TUNES.

A subdued joy and gratitude, not quite unassociated from the darkness and dread of the past, pervade the hymn 122 and tune "Aurelia" given this week. The melody is cheerful but not bold and exultant, but the harmony is rich and expressive. The music should be sung rather slowly and with expression. It is a spiritual composition, and will be best rendered by a spiritual appreciation, in the singers, of the truth it speaks.

The time is very easy. Make four beats to each bar-one for each minim, and consequently two for the semibreves. Those at the ends of the lines having a dot after them take three beats, which causes the last word of every second line of the poetry to be sung very long, but without making up the time by pause. The true expression comes by singing the notes out to the full time.

The following tunes have already appeared in this department:

February 11.-Moscow-Chester-Dijon.

.

April

.

18.-Missionary. 25.-Melcombe.

4.-Rockingham. 11.-Belmont. 18.-Bishopthorpe. 25.-Jerusalem.

1.-Bristol.

8.-All Saints.

And in addition those given this week, nineteen in all.

HYMN No. 80 (continued).

2 With us all the meek-voiced angels, Reverent and adoring stand;

While we hear divine evangels

From the Soul's great Father-land.
Oh! though Sorrow's chain hath bound us,
All our grief shall pass away;

For the Father's hand hath crowned us
In his glorious courts to-day.

HYMN No. 69 (continued).

2 No more we sigh and mourn
O'er loved and loving gone;
They throng around the path we go;
They bless us in our home,
Are with us when we roam,
Our conflicts and our triumphs know.
3 The grave has lost its dread,
To us there are no dead,
But all do live and love as one;
Our doubts and fears depart :
In each and every heart
The holy will of God is done.

4 Thanks, grateful thanks, we raise
To Him who crowns our days
With blessings numberless and free;
In one united band,

As brothers, hand in hand, Henceforth mankind in joy shall be

HYMN No. 122 (continued).

2 A still, small voice addressing,
Awakes the sleeping mind,
For everniore progressing,
It secks for joys refined.
That voice from spheres supernal,
Comes down the world to bless,
And tells of life eternal,

And bids it onward press.

3 The light of truth now spreading
O'er error's darkened day,
Tells to the sad, the dreading,
There is a better day.
To those, who long in sadness,
Have looked for joys to come,
That light proclaims with gladness,
A brighter, better home.

4 Bright angels hover o'er us,
The welcome news to bring,
Of better scenes before us,
In rapturous joy they sing.
Earth's millions from their sadness,
Awake with joy and love;
And, filled with peace and gladness,
Look to their homes above.