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telling events. This one I can tell on my own authority for I was in the house, and heard the prediction; and was present when the man fell overboard. The current was strong, and the body was not reached until life was extinct."

One can easily imagine how such occult sciences, in ancient times, led to "the worship of the host of heaven" but no enlightened person could ever suppose that the planets, or the stars, could of themselves rule, or influence, the destinies of men; and the only reason why educated persons in these days, fall into such snares of the devil," and are thus taken captive by him at his will," is because they have rejected the Scriptures of truth": which tell us that "all things pertaining to life and godliness are by the "Divine power" "given" unto the people of the Lord, "through the knowledge of Him that hath called" them "to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto" them "exceeding great and precious promises that by these" they they "might be partakers of a Divine nature"; and thus " escape the corruption that is in the world through lust." And it need surprise no one that Satan is able to predict some future events: because the Lord Himself has expressly told us that such will be the case; and that He will permit it, to test the faith, and to try the obedience of His people. "If there arise among you,'

1 Deut. iv. 19; 2 Kings, xvii. 16; Jer. viii. 1, 2; Zeph. i. 4, 5 ; Acts vii. 41-43. 2 2 Tim. ii. 26. 32 Pet. i. 3, 4.

1

says He, a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder COMETH TO PASS, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for Jehovah your God PROVETH YOU, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul." And again, "The prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously : thou shalt not be afraid of him."2 These two directions, then, will alone enable any enlightened person, to test the pretensions of any false prophet what

soever.

I have spoken in a former part of this work, of divining by the cup;3 and I will here give a case of this kind, which took place in India, some few years since. A nephew-in-law of mine, who was then a merchant in Calcutta, and the Danish Consul there, told me that a merchant friend of his lost a considerable sum of money

1 Deut. xiii. 1-3.

2 Deut. xviii. 20-22.

3 See page 13.

in rupees; which he suspected had been stolen by one of his Hindoo clerks; but he was unable to trace the theft home to any one of them. A merchant friend of his advised him to consult a Brahmin diviner, who would soon discover who the thief was; and, acting upon his suggestion, he employed him. When the diviner came, he requested the merchant to summon. all his clerks into one of his large warehouses; and, disposing them in a circle, he placed himself in the centre of the circle, and setting down a small vase, or divining cup, before him, he performed over it some magical incantations; shortly after which it began to move. Its movements were first in small circles, which gradually increased, until they nearly approached the outer circle of the several clerks; when it suddenly darted towards one of them, whom the Brahmin at once declared to be the thief. The man, struck with terror, confessed that it was true, and restored the money which he had stolen.

And is it not a "sign of the times" that " "divining' is now coming up again in this, and other countries? Only as late as October, 1888, the "Hull and North Lincolnshire Times" devoted several columns to the successful operations of a diviner by the rod, for the discovery not only of water, but of metals likewise. The "Standard" newspaper had an article also upon the subject in its issue of the 25th of December, in the same year. This was followed by no less than 21 letters from various writers in the same paper, most of whom spoke of its virtues; and one of them actually

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advocated its use for the discovery of murderers and other criminals! ignoring the solemn statement of the Divine Word, that Jehovah hath threatened to “frustrate the tokens of the liars, and " to "make diviners mad.' "For these nations, which thou shalt possess," said He, addressing the Israelites, who were about to enter Canaan, "hearkened unto observers of times" Astrologers" and unto diviners: but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."

The late Bishop Smith, in his work on China, speaking upon Buddhism, which was undoubtedly of Babylonian origin, says: "An honest Romanist priest must often be stumbled at the similarity between the religious forms of Popery and those of Buddhism. The existence of monasteries and nunneries, the celibacy, the tonsure, the flowing robes, and the peculiar caps of the priesthood (of Buddha); the burning of incense, the tinkling of bells, the rosaries of beads, the sacred candles on the altar tables; the intonation of services, the prayers in an unknown tongue, purgatory, and the offerings for the dead in their temples; and above all, the titles of their principal goddess, the Queen of Heaven,' and 'Holy Mother,' represented by the image of a woman with her child in her arms, present features of resemblance which must strike every candid mind. Such a remarkable similarity of details, although it may facilitate a transition from Buddhism to Popery, must occasionally

1 Isa. xliv. 25. 2 Deut. xviii. 14.

give rise to perplexing comparisons. A former Popish missionary declared," the Bishop says, "in the distress of his mind, that Buddhism must have been the rival system and master-plot of Satan, to hinder the progress of the Christian (i.e., Romish) faith." Poor man he little knew that his own religion was, like the Buddhists, derived from the same Babylonian source; both being undoubtedly of Satanic origin, and expressly designed by the author of them in direct antagonism to the truth.1

And if it be true, as some writers, well versed in this subject have affirmed—and I have myself not the least doubt of the fact that when the Talé-Lama in Thibet dies, and his child successor is elected, and Buddh is said to come down and possess the one, who is to manifest him in future to the faithful, a child of not more than three or four years old is made to assume the countenance of a wise and solemn legislator, and to utter discourses that none but the most highly cultivated intellect could possibly have delivered; we have in this case the clearest and most unmistakable evidence of demoniacal possession; and that Buddhism itself was invented by Satan, and is still upheld by spirit mediums and demoniacal power.2 That Satan

1 See the Writer's "Babylonianism; or, the Devil's Travesty of the Kingdom of the Son," advertised at the end of this volume.

2 Messrs. Huc and Gabet, in their Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, speak of the then Talé-Lama, as "a child of nine years old," and state that he had then "for six years occupied the palace of the Buddha-La": so that he could have been only three years old, when he was elected! Vol. ii., p. 197.