Refer to the Americal Cyclopaedia for account of Chrysostom.

Underlying all religions, the Spirit of Chrysostom tells us, was the fact of spirit control of mediums, and then says, in terms not unworthy fo his high reputation for eloquence: "Men and women of all nations of the world have, throughout all time, been mediums for spirit control, but their minds were so confused with the superstitions of their day that they could not give what the controlling spirits really intended to give to the world through them. You will never obtain the unadulterated truth through mediums whose minds are prejudiced. If the mediums leaned toward error, no matter how wise and truthful the controlling spirits were, their utterances became tinctured with their own thoughts, as the thoughts of the spirit flowed through their brains." In that paragraph we have the secret fully laid bare, of the cause of so much foolishness and error having been taught to mankind in the names of revelation and religion. The sensitives through whom those revelations came were not less sensitive to mortal surroundings, conditions and tendencies, than to the spirit influences who sought, through their mediumship, to impart a knowledge of truths that were necessary for the growth and progress of humanity. Hence such a jumble of truth and error in every religious system that has found a foothold among men, the Christian religion not excepted. This very experienced spirit imparts a knowledge of a fact which seems to have been too little observed and considered by those who are seeking to determine the laws governing the spirit control of mediumistic sensitives. It is, that the spirit controlling the physical organism of an entranced medium is compelled to make use of the brain of the medium to materilize, in words, the thoughts which they desire to convey to mortals; and that in doing this, they find it impossible to entirely overcome the effects of the mental habits of thought to which the medium's brain has been subjected. That this is a great and important truth which should be fully considered in estimating the value of any spirit communication, needs no demonstration which common experience does not afford. With enlightened and unprejudiced mediums through whom to work, the wise, good and loving spirits of earth's noblest, best and greatest departed ones would long since have banished error from the earth, and truth would now have a universal reign among men. Let it be the especial object of those who desire to promote so desirable a condition of human affairs, to encourage in every possible way, the attainment of "enlightened mediumship" in order that the salvation of humanity may be rendered possible.

As if to give weight to this point of his testimony, the spirit says: "But here and there, among the mediums of antiquity, there have been minds that were unbiased, and it has been through those mediums that you have received the gems of truth that constitute your treasures of knowledge to-day." By unbiased mediums, the spirit refers to such prophets, seers and sages as had escaped the psychological influence in the midst of which they had lived, and thus were rendered susceptible to the more perfect influence of wise and good spirits who ever seek to enlighten mortals and lead them from the deeply worn highways of error over which they are journeying, unconscious of the nearness of the better way into which spirits of light and truth seek so persistently and lovingly to lead them. In Spiritualism at least, away with all prejudice, selfishness and bigotry, in order that unadulterated truth may descend from the supernal realms of wisdom and love.

In the stormy mundane experiences through which Chrysostom had to pass, the reader will see how vividly the returning spirit recalled them when he said: "In my mortal life all was confusion and strife, and the conflict was fierce and heated--not as to how much truth there was in religion--but upon such useless topics as the Trinity, Baptism, &c., which I call foolish by-paths." No one can read the accounts of Chrysostom's earthly career and not see that he cared little if anything about the theological dogmas which caused such fierce contentions among the prelates of the Catholic Christian Church, not only in the time of Chrysostom, but long after that time. We have seen with what reluctance he was forced to become the archbishop of Constantinople, and how, against the imperial power of Arcadius and the corrupt influences of Eudoxia, he insisted on the practical observance of the moral precepts of the Christian theology, rather than upon the observance of the doctrinal speculations which were put forward as the more essential requirements of the Christian Catholic Church. It is not at all surprising that his great benevolence, purity of life, unselfishness and love for humanity, should have been so little appreciated by the people of his time, who were so completely besotted by the effects of unknown centuries of spiritual ignorance, superstition and bigotry that the unusual virtues of Chrysostom should be regarded by them as criminally antagonistic to their hoary and cherished prejudices. As a spirit Chrysostom returns to earth the same great, fearless and steadfast friend of truth and humanity that he was when he was on earth, and points us to the great need of the hour, unenlightened and unprejudiced mediumship.

How modestly and apologetically the spirit introduces his testimony in relation to the history of Jesus! and with what impressive asseveration he says: "Upon all my hopes of an immortal life and the happiness to come from it, I will say that the real Jesus was Apollonius of Tyana. This I know, and will at some future time write a pamphlet, any one of the statements of which I will challenge the Christian Church to disprove. In it I will prove conclusively that there was no Jew named Jesus Christ, nor any such person as Jesus of Nazareth." The spirit says he knows these things now, and leaves us to infer that he knew them when he was creating such a commotion among the Christian prelates of the Eastern Church in the latter part of the fourth century. But this is not all, for he tells us that he had knowledge of the Epistle sent to the emperor Trajan by Potamon of Alexandria, which contains the absolute proof to which he refers, that no such man as Jesus of Nazareth ever existed. More than this, he tells us that this Epistle of Potamon to Trajan is in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, at this time, having escaped destruction at the hands of the Christian priesthood. If this be so, it shows very plainly that the spirits, or some of them at least, know just where the proofs of the truth of their testimony may be found by mortals, and gives us reason to hope, if not to expect, that some day the truth in relation to all these ancient matters will become known to the world generally. In order that the reader may be able to judge the probable correctness of this very positive statement of the spirit of Chrysostom, I cite the following in relation to the Ambrosian library from the encyclopaedia Americana:

"This collection of books at Milan, famous in modern times on account of the discoveries made by Angelo Maio, was opened to the public, in 1609, by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, a relation of St.Charles Borromeo. The cardinal archbishop of Milan, a lover of knowledge, caused the books to be purchased by learned men whom he sent through Europe, and even Asia. At the opening of the library, it contained about 35,000 printed books, and about 15,000 manuscripts in all languages. It now contains 60,000 printed books, (according to Millan, 140,00). It was called the Ambrosian Library, in honor of St. Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan. Angelo Maio, in his preface to the fragments of the Iliad, which he obtained from the treasures of this library, has shown how the collection has been improved, particularly by the addition of the Pinellian manuscripts."

It is to this precious repository of ancient literature that the spirit of Chrysostom refers, as containing the proof positive that no such persons as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth ever lived. It seems hardly possible that any spirit, much less the spirit of the good and benevolent Chrysostom would invent such a statement untruthfully. It is no doubt so far correct, as it was possible for the spirit to communicate the information through the brain of the medium. It was no doubt the principal object of his communication, to make known the facts that Potamon of Alexandria wrote an epistle to the emperor Trajan, in which he disclosed facts which showed that Apollonius of Tyana was the real author or founder of the Christian religion, and that Jesus of Nazareth was not. It is not a little significant, in this connection, that the whole book of Diogenes Laertius, in which he gave an account of the life and teachings of Potamon of Alexandria, has been suppressed intentionally, while the history of all the Greek Philosophers, down to the time of Potamon, by the same author, have been preserved intact. Indeed, but for the fact that Diogenes Laertius mentioned in the preface to the Lives of the Philosophers that he had devoted a special book to the treatment of Potamon and his philosophical teachings, we would not have been permitted to know that such a man ever lived. Notwithstanding the time when Potamon lived and Diogenes Laertius wrote concerning him has been concealed, and the impression has been promoted that he lived late in the second century at the latest. If what the spirit of St. Chrysostom says is true, and it be a fact that Potamon wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan, who was himself a philosopher, he must have flourished in the reign of that learned and liberal emperor, which extended from A.D. 97 to 117. Now, it is a well known fact that Potamon, in his Eclectic system of philosophy mainly followed the spiritual teachings of Apollonius of Tyana, and was in all probability a contemporary of the latter, who died at the advanced age of nearly a hundred years in the beginning of the reign of Trajan. It is therefore in the highest degree probable that Potamon did write just such an epistle to Trajan as Chrysostom says was extant in his time on earth, and which is still extant in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. As Diogenes Laertius closed his Lives of the Philosophers with that of Potamon of Alexandria, the probability is that he was his contemporary and lived and wrote in the early part of the second century.

If there are those who think that the spirit of Chrisostom would not have given that testimony as a returning spirit, let him or her remember the reason which the spirit, in closing, assigns for his so testifying. "I come here to-day," says he, "only because I want to do something towards emancipating mortal man from superstition." Is it unnatural that a spirit, after nearly fifteen hundred years in spirit life, who knew the evil effects of propagating religious errors, should seek to undo the evil to which he contributed when in mortal form? Would it not be most unnatural and cruel if he did not seek to do so? The brevity of the communication shows how inadequate the opportunity was that he availed himself of, to do himself full justice. Let us all the more appreciate his effort and be grateful that under the circumstances he was enabled to give us so much instruction.