y lecturing
engagements, I met with a number of persons who had been converted, by
means of spiritualism, from utter infidelity, to a belief in God and a
future life. Several of those converts told me their experience, and
pressed me to visit some medium myself, in hopes that I might witness
something that would lead to my conversion. I was, at the time, so
exceedingly skeptical, that the wonderful stories which they told me,
only caused me to suspect them of ignorance, insanity, or dishonesty;
and the repetition of such stories, to which I was compelled to listen
in almost every place I visited, had such an unhappy effect on my mind,
that I was strongly tempted to say, "All men are liars." I had so
completely forgotten, or explained away, my own previous experiences,
and I was so far gone in unbelief, that I had no confidence whatever in
anything that was told me about matters spiritual or supernatural. I
might have the fullest confidence imaginable in the witnesses when they
spoke on ordinary subjects, but I could not put the slightest faith in
their testimony when they told me their stories about spiritual matters.
And though fifty or a hundred persons, in fifty or a hundred different
places, without concert with each other, and without any temptation of
interest, told me similar stories, their words had not the least effect
on my mind. The most credible testimony in the world was utterly
powerless, so far as things spiritual were concerned. And when the
parties whose patience I tried by my measureless incredulity, entreated
me to visit some celebrated medium, that I might see and judge for
myself, I paid not the least regard to their entreaties. I was wiser in
my own conceit than all the believers on earth.

At length, to please a particular friend of mine in Philadelphia, I
visited a medium called Dr. Redman. It was said that the proofs given
through him of the existence and powers of departed spirits were such as
no one could resist. My friend and his family had visited this medium,
and had seen things which to them seemed utterly unaccountable, except
on the supposition that they were the work of disembodied spirits.

When I entered Dr. Redman's room, he gave me eight small pieces of
paper, about an inch wide and two inches long, and told me to take them
aside, where no one could see me, and write on them the names of such of
my departed friends as I might think fit, and then wrap them up like
pellets and bring