Page:The Other Life.djvu/166

 that they think they are Jehovah while speaking. Thus the divine of Jehovah, which is supreme, descends into the lowest spheres of nature in which man sees and hears. Hence it may appear how the angels spake by the prophets, viz., that the Lord himself spake, although by angels, and that the angels did not speak at all of themselves."

This possession of one spirit by another so that the latter thinks, speaks, acts, or writes at the dictation of the former, without the least intervention of his own individuality and without his subsequent remembrance of what had occurred, has been frequently and abundantly confirmed and illustrated by the strange psychological phenomena which have excited so much credulity and incredulity during the present century.

The appearance of Jehovah to Abraham under the form of three men can thus be made credible. Jehovah can take spiritual possession of a man in the flesh as easily as of a spirit. In modern times it might be called mesmeric possession. Three strangers or travelers passing through the country may have been used as mediums or ministers. They are brought to Abraham, who perceived by interior illumination that they represent the Divin-