modification, as that of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, father, mother,
and son, type of the family; or Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, the
three great elements; these outward and visible expressions lose
force and significance, making place for that Law of which they
are the rude exponents. The marvellous spread of Spiritualism,
whose god is the UNKNOWABLE, and whose prophet was Swedenborg, is
but the polished form of the Mpongwe Ibambo and Ilogo; the
beneficent phantasms have succeeded to the malevolent ghosts, the
shadowy deities of man's childhood; as the God of Love formerly
took the place of the God of Fear. The future of Spiritualism,
which may be defined as "Hades with Progress," is making serious
inroads upon the coarse belief, worthy of the barbarous and the
middle ages, in an eternity of punishment, easily expressed by
everlasting fire, and in ineffable joys, which no one has ever
successfully expressed. The ghosts of our childhood have now
become bona fide objective beings, who rap, raise tables, display
fireworks, rain flowers, and brew tea. We explain by "levitation"
the riding of the witch upon the broom-stick to the Sabbath; we
can no longer refuse credence to Canidia and all her spells. And
the very vagueness of the modern faith serves to assimilate it
the more to its most ancient forms, one of which we are studying
upon the Gaboon River.

The missionary returning from Africa is often asked what is the
religion of the people? If an exact man, he will answer, "I don't
know." And how can he know when the people themselves, even the
princes and priests, are ignorant of it? A missionary of twenty
years' standing in West Africa, an able and conscientious student
withal, assured me that during the early part of his career he
had given much time to collecting and collating, under