—— SEERS Of THE AGES: EMBRACING SPIRITUALISM, PAST AND PRESENT. DOCTRINES STATED AND MORAL TENDENCIES DEFINED. By J. M. PEEBLES. I have Btolen the golden keys of the Egyptians ; I will indulge my sacred fury.—Kepler. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. The highest state- ment of new philosophy complacently caps itself with some prophetic maxim from the oldest learning. There is something mortifying in this perpetual circle —Emerson. Master mind and you master the universe. Perasee Lendanta. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. Apostle John. FOURTH EDITION. LONDON: J. BURNS, PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY, 15 SOUTHAMPTON ROW, W.C. BOSTON: WILLIAM WHITE AND COMPANY, BANNER OF LIGHT OFFICE, lf,8 WASHINGTON STREET. 1870. To the English Reader. The great cordiality and interest with which our labours have been received in Great Britain, and the increasing demand for facts and thoughts on the pheno- mena and tendencies of Spiritualism, have induced us to accede so far to the request of many acquaintances, and the wishes of the friends of Spiritualism generally, as to grant an English edition of "The Seers of the Ages." The price has been fixed so as to meet the wants of almost every reader, and much lower than it could possibly be imported from America. It is not yet twelve months since the first edition appeared, and if the present step increases the usefulness of the work, and proves an aid to the inquiring mind, then shall we feel recompensed for our risk and trouble in preparing this issue. J. M. P. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SG9, by JAMES M. PEEBLES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of -Massachusetts — PvEETING Pure Spirit of Aaron Nite Love is immortal. Golden is the chain that unites the past with the present. More beautiful is the spirit-blossom for the sweet love- budding of earth. Precious in spirit-history is Yorkshire, England not so much for thy noble descent and clerical culture, as for thy happy home there, whose first memories of incarnate life, maternally pure, cling to thy soul as lingering melodies from inspired minstrels. Passing early through the pale-curtained doorway of death, to thy " Pear drove Cottage," in the upper kingdoms of irnmoriality, rapid and rythmic has been thy march of progress. Though gathering pearls of knowledge from the risen seers of India, Syria and Greece, storing thy receptive nature with those heavenly truths and divine experiences that abound so full and free for all in the ever-green gardens of the Infinite—thou hast not forgotten thy mortal brothers and sisters, who feel their way in comparative darkness, and, like children, continually cry for light and wise spirit guidance. Oft as hearts have ached, tears fallen, or martyred feet, on missions of mercy, have crimsoned the soil, thou hast turned thy calm presence earthward, laden with balms, baptisms and benedictions. To me hast thou come in lone evening hours, bringing the dewy freshness of a foreshadowed morning, pearling the veiled moments of ! IV GREETING. despair, diffusing inner sunshine and gladness ; in wintry seasons oi discontent, scattering delicious blooms, laden with love's ir.cense, and speaking words of tenderness starry with promise—words so aglow with heavenly instruction as to make music in the blissful homes of the glorified. How oft hast thou come with " Celestia," " Morning Star" and " Queen of Morn"—Sisters of Purity—who prelude thy philosophy with the harmonizing melodies of the harp, the lute and the lyre ! How indebted am I to thee for thy symbolic illustrations, logical acumen, originality of thought, and messages warm with sympathy from an overflowing heart Spirit Brother ! as a feeble token of appreciation and soul-fell gratitude, for thy watch-care and many favors, permit me to dedicate this volume to thee, as one of my immortal Teachers. J M. PEEBLES. ; T he Horoscope. soul, hungering, thirsting soul ! for thee the fountains of the great deep are breaking up, and sweet life-waves, long obscured in the debris of ages, are flowing love at thy feet, " Whosoever will, let him take of the waters of life freely." Truth is immortal, and long after the lips that spoke it have mingled their dust with the Lethean stream, traceable afterwards by the freed spirit, it echoes through the arches of heaven, the choral base of angel song that celebrates the eras of progress. What, then, cares "Brother James," for praise or blame, approbation or censure? "I testify of myself! " is the language that speaks from his heart, beating along the sun-mantled shores of time " to seek and to save that which was lost." This brother has subpoenaed me, under solemn oath, to write this " preface—actually ordered it as a "Thus saith Perasee Lendanta ! "Well," I said, "tell Perasee, the Italian prince of gods, so majesti- cally calm and commanding, that neither he nor you shall change " one " jot or tittle of my testimony ; nor shall either of you know what is written about you and your work, until the same is stereotyped. This proviso being very meekly accepted, I would like your eyes, dear reader, for a deep insight into the ocean mind of " St. James." Earnest, determined, full of innocent sarcasm which no man can tame toned to sympathy, sparkling with wit and lofty thought; beloved throughout America ; himself impressed upon the present age ; a con- fiding companion of his loving brother, John, the disciple of Jesus, it : a; VI THE HOROSCOPE. is not too much to prophesy, that his book, here offered the world, will be as a sun in myriad homes on the Western and Eastern continents. Let me snatch from oblivion one of his manuscripts, indexing the man himself, bringing us nearer his soul, so buoyant and free, so childlike and parental "Pythagoras lives in sacred memory, as well as in Jamblichus' classic prose. Jesus lives, though the mould is deep over the gardens and olive groves that once felt the pressure of his bleeding feet. Demos- thenes lives in that oration upon the crown. Mozart lives in those undying melodies that inspired with diviner ideals the courtly and the sceptered of Europe. The writes its history on the plant dewdrop ; the stream its on the mountain side ; the fossil its in the rock the flower its on the passing breeze; you, yours, dear reader, on the sensorial faculties and future organisms of a world-wide brotherhood, and you will live, too, on earth forever in the forces you put in motion, the work you accomplish, the good you do. I shall live when this parchment will have been smothered under the rubbish of such viewless waste-winds as swept over those fearful midnights that gloomed in darkness the mediaeval ages. Inspiration over-swept and over-arched all the past generations. There were paradises lost and gained, scores of centuries since ; and, during their growth, or decline, Spiritualism, in some form, was a star of promise in their midst. It is to-day a light, a voice, a power from heaven— divine power acknowledged by millions, rolling the "stone" of doubt away from the door of a long entombed humanity. It is not only the " second coming," but virtually a continuous coming in the clouds of heaven with attending angels, the hope and the pledge of universal redemption." The Pastophora is the production of years of close and severe searching, amid other pressing claims upon his attention. With iudefatigable labor, James has gathered rich lore where others saw only alloy. A band of spirits, some of them very ancient, and all lovers of antiquity, desirous of blossoming into life " things new and old," has directed his mind and hi- steps adown the sombre walks of the past, THE HOROSCOPE. Vll amid the brooding silence of buried civilizations. The pyramids had voices for him; the obelisks glared forth a hidden mystery in their inscriptions; rocks and tombs, scepters and swords, dust and ashes, all bore traces of oracles that once built kingdoms and empires, all were prints of events readable under the spirit- vision of his guides, aflash with the truth that ministering angela have ever been the arbiters of human destinies. The Pasto- phora is the faithful record of this pilgrimage of study offered now to the world as a beautiful repository of " Ancient and Modern Spiritualism." It is doubtless the first and only work ever published that has placed the past wave-eras, with their representative spiritual chieftains, in chronological and systematic order. As such, in construction at least, it is " something new under the sun." A book 6*f biographical and spiritual reference, it is of inestimable value. Its literary and philosophical qualities are obviously of a high tone, both in style and sentiment, all throbbing through with a pure love of truth, and a deep reverence for whatever ennobles humanity and lifts it up to divine life. The greatest difficulty he has had to encounter, amid such a profusion of spiritual evidences, was to do justice to the great multitude of witnesses rising on every side, demanding a hearing. In his descent into the ocean of the past, he found so vast a plain of precious pearls, there is not room to enshrine them all in this beautiful cabinet; but enough are gleaned to show that our heavenly philosophy, like silver veins, branches in all possible directions—a vast and inexhaustible mine of immortal wealth, exhuming for incorporation into the spiritual temple we build. A complete analysis of the spiritual phenomena, variegated with eclectic beauties, sweet with the love of truth, it may be properly styled—" Paradise Regained." Another attractive feature is its spiritual symbolism—which is the language exalted angels use—conveying to the senses, as well as understanding, truth set as diamonds in gold—a speculum of the spiritual philosophy reflecting the " soul of things." Even the title of the book is peculiarly significant.