THE X E AN r S C I E X C E 
 
 A SERIES OF INSPIRATIONAL DISCOURSES 
 
 BY MRS. CORA L. V. TAPPAN. 
 
 Xo. 1. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE, 
 
 AXD 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 « 
 
 AN ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED IN'DER SPIRIT-INFLUENCE. 
 
 ' * St. George's Hall. London. Sunday Evening, Sept. 21st, 1873. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 J. BURNS, 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, HOLBORN. W.C. 
 
 NEtt ORK: A. J. DAN IS A Co., - 4 , East Fourth Street. 
 BOSTON: COLBY & RICH, “ Bajtxer of Light * Pubi.ishls-g House. 
 CHICAGO: S. S. JONES, Religio-Phtlosophicai. Pfbi.ishi.vg House. 
 
[ These Orations are also being published in a separate form, 
 price Five Cents each.] 
 
 MRS. TAPPAN’S ORATIONS 
 
 Are REPORTED WEEKLY in the 
 
 “MEDIUM AND DAYBREAK,” 
 
 PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, PRICE Id. 
 
 MAILED TO ANY ADDRESS!IN AMERICAIFOR sS2,50 PER ANNUM, 
 
 The following have already appeared :— 
 
 Spiritualism as a Science and as a Religion, in Medium 
 No. 182. 
 
 The Greatest Teacher, in No. 183. 
 
 The Realm of Spirit, in No. 184, which is a Double Number, 
 containing a Portrait and Biography of Gerald Massey and a 
 series of Epigrams by that Poet. 
 
 There is no Death, in No. 185. 
 
 The Spirit, in No. 186. 
 
 The Individual Human Spirit, in No. 187, which is a Double 
 Number, and contains two Orations, the other being 
 
 The Connecting Link between Spiritualism and 
 Science. 
 
 Mediumship, in No. 188. 
 
 Is Spiritualism Sorcery and Witchcraft? in No. 189. 
 
 Others~to follow weeldy. 
 
 THE “MEDIUM” 
 
 Is supplied by the American Agents for Mrs. Tappan’s Works, 
 and by the Publisher, 
 
 J. BURNS, 
 
 PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY & SPIRITUAL INSTITUTION', 
 
 15, SOUTHAMPTON ROW,'LONDON W.C. 
 
% 
 
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 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/newsciencesserie01tapp 
 
/ <s / 2 4 
 
 / X 7 
 
 153.9 
 TI74-K 
 
 SPIRITUALISE! AS A SCIENCE AND 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 An Inspirational Oration given under spirit influence by Mrs. Cora 
 L. V. Tai’pa.v, in St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, Regent Street, 
 London, on Sunday Evening, September 21st, 1873. While Mrs. Tappax 
 spoke this Oration (her first in London) she was almost totally uncon¬ 
 scious of physical existence, and the matter was unpremeditated. 
 
 INVOCATION. 
 
 Our Father, infinite Spirit of light and of love, whose name we 
 call God, but whose wondrous power, whose ineffable spirit, 
 filleth every atom of the universe : thou wonderful, thou immortal 
 sourco ot light and love, we praise Thee ! No other purpose hath 
 our utterance than to give songs of praise to Thee for life. We 
 praise Thee, O Spirit of Life, for every form of being: for the 
 light and for the darkness; for the morning and for the evening; 
 for the spring’s refreshing shower and the winter’s icy snow; for 
 the harvest with its rich sheaves and the glory of the earth 
 abounding with plenty. We praise Thee for all gifts of nature : 
 for the rapt voices of solitude that give forth songs unto Thee ; 
 for the wilderness teeming with life that praises Thee with its 
 myriad voices; for the songs of wild birds that go up to Thee in 
 rejoicing; for the streamlets that dance and babble in bright 
 sunlight; for the everlasting mountains which reach their hoary 
 heads to the skies in praise of Thee; for the ocean—broad and 
 boundless—which is ever bearing us .over its mighty bosom to the 
 infinite; for all the sights and sounds of nature, and for the 
 
 1 
 
4 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 immortal voices of the lone stars. We praise Thee for the living 
 soul of man, filling- earth with the influence of intelligence and 
 art—the products of that thought with which Thou hast endowed 
 him; for science with her rich treasures of knowledge; for art 
 with her manifold industries ; for the institutions and governments 
 of men, that, when war is not, bring happiness and peace to the 
 earth—for the governments, reared upon the principles of truth 
 and justice, which Thou hast caused thy children to form, are true 
 forerunners of those diviner governments which are to come. We 
 praise Thee for the thoughts of the living that vivify all time and 
 space, and for those who, living above all worldly motives, seek only 
 Thee and thy loving spirit; for that breathing presence which fills 
 every atom in this room, and far and wide in space fills every 
 living soul with the divine spark of life ; for all these do we praise 
 Thee. We praise Thee that this inextinguishable fire, this living 
 spark, can never die, but mounts upwards and onwards through 
 worlds and systems living and developing for ever, instinct with 
 immortality. If loved ones are here whose friends have been 
 snatched away, and whom they have buried as with loving faith, 
 may they here understand those truths that shall bring them the 
 dear ones that are not lost; may they listen until the clouds of 
 despair and the grave are rent in twain, and the life that is 
 immortal opens to their glad vision. 0 blessed immortals throng¬ 
 ing around us here, receive our praises, and let them ascend 
 through circle upon circle of angel ones until, vibrated to the 
 distant orbs, the whole of the glad world of angels join in the 
 praise of our Father, 
 
 Q 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE. 
 
 5 
 
 DISCOURSE. 
 
 In tlie light of modern science all thought, whether that which 
 relates to the philosophy of spirit or mind, or whether that which 
 belongs to mundane or material science, is attributed as the result 
 of organisation,—organisation alone being held responsible for, and 
 organisation alone producing, the wonderful results of human 
 thought, human philosophy, and human religion. For many years 
 science has been at war with religion, and there has been discovered 
 no general solvent that will bring them together. Chemists have 
 found solvents to bring together antagonistic principles of the 
 material world, and through that wonderful system of material 
 science already mentioned the first agents or what we may be 
 allowed to call the spirit of matter have been arrived at; but 
 between mind and matter no oneha9 been able to find a solvent which 
 shall blend the two. Hitherto there has been no super-science— 
 no science beyond matter. It is true that Baron Reichenbach 
 carried on a series of experiments in this sphere of inquiry; and 
 in America Hare and others have investigated the secrets of 
 mind and matter; Professor Faraday investigated Spiritualism 
 until he found it was the result of a nervous force, od 
 force, as it was called, a force similiar to what one of 
 your chemists has found to be odylic force. But we must 
 bear in mind that the scientist is under a disadvantage in 
 the investigation of Spiritualism. The formulae of science are 
 learned in the schools of direct experiment, and if any one wishes 
 to investigate he mu9t first learn the established formula. But 
 in this science of Spiritualism there is no formula; it has no 
 alphabet: how therefore is the scientist to proceed to investigate 
 it ? Spiritualists must not be too hasty in blaming scientific men. 
 What is needed is that some scientific man should establish a 
 formula; some one learned in modern thought must take upon 
 himself its investigation. We will give him the first lesson, and 
 that is that for every material substance there is a super-material: 
 you are accustomed to call it supernatural; but everything is 
 natural—even to Deity. But super-material and super-mundane 
 substances are governed by their own laws. 
 
 Now, some of the laws which control material substances are 
 known; whereas the laws which control the super-material and 
 super-mundane are not known. To find out these laws, to investi¬ 
 gate these and establish a formula, will give a key whereby every 
 manifestation that is known and the form and material of spiritual 
 manifestations can be found out. Everything in nature—wood, 
 metal, &c.—has an aura surrounding it. Clairvoyants have dis¬ 
 covered this fact, and if scientists would acknowledge it they 
 would have the key to this phenomenon. When clairvoyance first 
 came into notice it was scouted by all; and when mesmerism came 
 
 3 
 
6 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 up clairvoyance was used to explain it; then in its turn psychology 
 wa9 attempted to be explained by mesmerism, and now scientists 
 would fain explain Spiritualism by psychology. But the super¬ 
 atmosphere they attempted to explain Spiritualism by did not 
 reach far enough ; it ouly went so far as the laws of mind, that is, 
 embodied mind, were known. There are two sources of human 
 thought; one is mind embodied in material form, and the other is 
 disembodied mind. Now, whenever a mind embodied in human 
 form acts upon organism it is through volition, or through in¬ 
 voluntary action. Thus it is that the mesmeriser or the spirits 
 control another mind. Psychology reveals the involuntary action 
 of mind on mind. Thus you are involuntarily acted upon-by 
 thought; but there is always an embodied source for such a 
 thought. Now it only needs that you take one step farther, that 
 disembodied mind acts upon embodied mind, and even in the 
 light of modern science you will see that the spiritual manifesta¬ 
 tions have only to be called super-mundane, and the science super¬ 
 science, to make out a formula in the phraseology of the schools, 
 and establish a general term—and by general term we mean 
 something all scientists will understand — whereby any person 
 wishing to investigate will have the key in his possession. Now 
 this super-science seems to have laws antagonistic to mundane 
 laws. There is said to be a law of gravitation, discovered by 
 Newton, whereby things tend to the centre of the earth; and 
 according to the scientists things cannot be raised from the earth 
 without some mechanical force adequate to counterbalance this 
 physical law. But Spiritualism shows that without any known 
 mechanical force materials are lifted some distance from the 
 surface of the earth. “ But that cannot be,” says the scientific 
 man ; “ for it is in opposition to the law of gravitation,” But did 
 it never occur to you that there might be some law in opposition 
 to this law, just as the centripital acts in opposition to the centri¬ 
 fugal force P And did it never occur to you that by ascertaining 
 what this other law is, or by attempting to find out whether there 
 is another law, the first step is taken in the investigation of the 
 science of Spiritualism ? Then again; things are lifted and floated 
 in the atmosphere without any apparent mechanical maintaining 
 cause. “ That cannot be,” says the scientist; “even if I saw it I 
 should know it to be a delusion, because I know there can be no 
 movement of objects without cause.” But the super-mundane 
 cause steps in. Don't you know that electricity, the finest of your 
 material substances, often controverts and contradicts your estab¬ 
 lished science ? and did it never occur to you that in the realms 
 of space there may be another and more subtle element than 
 electricity, whereon mind may act and produce mechanical results ? 
 Here super-science steps in and explains that there is another 
 agency which produces the transportation of bodies through the 
 atmosphere. By its influence persons are moved to write and 
 4 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE. 
 
 7 
 
 speak, the organs of the body are controlled and swayed without 
 the agency of individual volition. “ But all this is biology,” says 
 the scientist. But does biology act involuntarily ? and if not, has 
 it been taught in the schools how the subject can transcend the 
 thought of the biologiser, giving the thought of the presence of 
 departed friends when he, the biologiser, has no such thought ? 
 If so, would it not be well for scientists to learn a few things they 
 never learned in their schools, and, by means of these experiments, 
 transcend the schools in which they have been instructed ? 
 
 We have sometimes gone back to the German school of meta¬ 
 physicians, in which Kant and others tried to disprove the immor¬ 
 tality of the soul from a materialistic stand-point, and their philo¬ 
 sophy had just the opposite effect to what was intended. Then we 
 wer6 indebted to Gall and Spurzheim for showing by the organisation 
 of the brain the development of individual mind. By these labours 
 theytook us too much into materialism. Butwenote anotherreaction 
 has now begun. Whatever services these men did to science they 
 failed to account for all the manifestations of mind. But for all 
 effects there must be a cause ; and presuming there is a cause other 
 than that taught, and by so presuming—because there can be no 
 •expression of thought or manifestation of matter without a sus¬ 
 taining mind—we are insensibly led towards the operating cause. 
 By presuming such a cause the scientist will have arrived at the 
 solid and sure process of spiritual science. But if material science 
 is inadequate to solve this problem, then it must be presumed there 
 are other means whereby it can be solved. Twenty-five years ago, 
 Robert Hare, of Philadelphia, assumed that he could explain 
 Spiritualism by natural causes, and so set to work with all the in¬ 
 telligence of the school of which he was a member, determined to 
 find out in what this mystery lay concealed. And in order that no 
 deception or trickery could be practised, he constructed a piece of 
 mechanism whereby it would be utterly impossible for the medium 
 to deceive him in any way. He persisted in his object with all the 
 nonchalance of a man of science, determined to overturn this 
 strange delusion. The result was that instead of finding anything 
 in his own scienco to explain it, he was forced to adopt the super- 
 science to explain these manifestations. They purported—and that 
 was maintained—that they came from departed friends: names 
 were given, writings were created, all forms of tests were tried, 
 and Professor Hare became a Spiritualist. When, some years ago, 
 William Ilowitt became a Spiritualist, it was said: “Oh, lie is 
 becoming old, and has no longer tho brightness of intellect he once 
 possessed.” And when Robert Owen, in his old age, became con¬ 
 vinced of its truth, men said: “Oh, he was always taking up with 
 some new-fangled and absurd notion.” And again, when Robert Dale 
 Owen announced his belief in it, it was said he was doubtless insane. 
 So also, when Judge Edmonds, one of the brightest ornaments of 
 ike American bar, said he found nothing in physical science to ex- 
 
8 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 plain it, lie was said to be in bis dotage. But all this does not 
 affect the one basis to which we wish to call your attention. 
 Before you can wish to investigate any science, you must know 
 there is a scientific basis. You have only then to consider that 
 besides the elements already named in science, and the laws and 
 forces of material matter, there are many thousands of forces which 
 scientists do not claim to have discovered, and which they are still 
 seeking to understand. Chemistry has discovered some sixty odd 
 primates in nature; yet the science of chemistry is still in its 
 infancy, and we may expect it to go on until it solves the mystery 
 of the atomic world, and thus through its instrumentality lead to 
 this super-science, and discover the one general solvent of nature 
 which we have been seeking. But until that day has arrived scientists 
 must be patient, and the world must be patient, and Spiritualists 
 must be patient. Where there is no scientific basis there can 
 be no continuance of investigation until it is so established. It is 
 only an alphabet with Spiritualists. You ask them how these 
 manifestations are produced, and they will say, “ I do not know; I 
 only know it requires some particular conditions, and when these 
 conditions are not favourable, no manifestations can take place; 
 but when they are favourable, the manifestations occur.” “ What 
 are these conditions ?” asks the scientific man, “ and then I will sit 
 in my laboratory and produce the manifestations.” If a man in 
 America makes a discovery in chemistry, he at once transmits it to> 
 London and Paris, and his formula gives the scientists there the 
 key to his discovery. Or if a new star is seen in the heavens, the 
 astronomers of Washington and Greenwich, from the formula 
 given, are able to turn their telescopes to the constellation in which 
 it is to be found. But here is a science which defies the schools : 
 tables are moved, forms are raised in the air, people are made to 
 write and act, and there i3 no science for it. Yet a man sits down 
 in his laboratory, sits down without any preparation, and says, “ 1 
 can find no spirits.” Remember, that the mechanism of the spirit 
 is far more delicate than the rays of light transmitted through the 
 atmosphere, and upon this delicate fabric mind must act. This 
 subtle element cannot be discovered by the chemist; it cannot be 
 analysed in his laboratory; there is no 'experimentum crucis which 
 can tell him the nature of thought or its power in the human 
 mind. He has tried in vain ; and though he may discover the 
 formation of the brain and the forces brought to bear upon it, he 
 cannot tell you the substance of which thought is formed, for it 
 is through its subtle power that these words are at this moment 
 proclaimed to your mind. But no chemist, however subtle his 
 skill, can explain it, much less the laws which govern this 
 mysterious principle. 
 
 But as we have already stated, patience, a distinct desire to 
 ascertain these truths, and to establish a formula which shall 
 answer all inquiring minds and all longings—such are the first 
 6 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENCE. 
 
 9 
 
 conditions for the investigation of spiritual science. In this 
 light it will bear every test; under these conditions there are all 
 forms of manifestation to satisfy the inquiring mind; and if one 
 form fails there is always another at hand; for mind is always 
 active, and the forms of its manifestation are infinite. Thus a 
 new era is being inaugurated in the world of thought, and subtle 
 forms of invest igation are being made known. And though Herbert 
 Spencer says that these inquiries will always lie in the region of 
 the unknowable, we would like to ask him if he knows what the 
 unknowable region is, and whether the line has been drawn for 
 him between the known and the unknown. The causes of the 
 formation of the rainbow were once said to be unknowable, and it 
 was whispered that anyone who had anything to do with these 
 forces was in league with his Satanic majesty. The same was said 
 with reference to those who dug into the ground for fossils, or who 
 delved the earth to find out its geological formation. But the 
 region of the lmowable continues to expand, and as we go on step 
 by step it grows more and more remote, and it may possibly one 
 day be revealed to the men of science and philosophy that there 
 is no limit to the power of the human mind when properly guided 
 and honestly seeking for the truth. It may probably occur that 
 this region beyond matter and above mundane influences is just as 
 tangible a realm, governed by laws capable of being known and 
 understood, and that for every thought of the human mind there 
 is an adequate cause, and that for every inspiration there is an 
 adequate law and source of law; and it may possibly dawn upon 
 scientific men that to limit the powers of the human mind is to 
 limit Deity; that God Himself, the Infinite Spirit of boundless 
 Nature, devised the universe, and that, if there is a law hidden, it 
 is only hidden by our ignorance and prejudice. But we build 
 around us little fortresses, and construct little grooves of philosophy 
 in which we are willing to run without seeing great cycles which 
 are rolling on beyond us. Professor Huxley thinks it is not worth 
 while to listen to the spirit-world. One would not like to live in 
 the post-office and listen to the subjects of all the letters that pass 
 through it, though each has no doubt an interest to someone. 
 But did it never occur to him that any truth that has for its 
 foundation the greatest question that can affect humanity is not 
 too insignificant for the consideration of so accomplished a scholar ? 
 He may not wish to read your letters, and he might not like to 
 listen to all communications from the spirit-world, but letters can 
 be written, and human beings can exchange thoughts and loving 
 intercourse with one another when distant; and it would doubtless 
 be a great deprivation to the distinguished gentleman himself if 
 he were prohibited from writing; and if he were dead, would 
 it not be gratifying to have a telegraph wire that this world might 
 be favoured with communications from so shining a light ? 
 and does he not know that the question which affects the heart 
 
10 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 and soul of humanity the most of all is, Do my friends live, aud 
 can they speak to me P and that upon the answer to this question 
 is hinged the happiness now and hereafter of the human family. 
 Say what you will of science, it affords means for material life and 
 usefulness; hut when death comes—the great living terror of the 
 ■world, before which even sages pale, and" before which science has 
 no answer to give—when death comes knocking, then professor 
 and sage ask themselves the question, Do the dead live P is there 
 any proof that beyond this change there is another life, and that 
 sentient immortal souls will meet me and commune with me 
 there? And if there is an answer to this question brought 
 to the world, is it not indeed worth all the deductions 0 of 
 science to know it ? He would like a letter from his daughter 
 or son in Italy or America. But if gone farther, and hidden 
 out of sight beyond the veil, dqes he have no longing 
 to know whither they are gone, and if in that unseen "but 
 Hear world they still live and love ? Oh, death no longer is 
 a mystery. It is a sweet and silent messenger of change—the 
 putting off of the outer and the recreation of the inner soul! 
 No longer a terror, but evident to the senses, made tangible to the 
 human ear and sight and understanding, there comes the proof that 
 another, an outside intelligence, known by name aud calling those 
 they loved, can come and speak to us. Is not this of more value 
 to us than all science ? And if it is not worth anything to the 
 scientist, and if he has not time to listen to it, let him not scoff 
 at those who think it worth their while to know of the other life. 
 If he has not time to leave his fossils and insects, to cease his 
 delving in the earth for dead stones, or to relinquish his fine-spun 
 theories of philosophy, let him not carp at those who have 
 had time to listen to the intelligences who come witli word of 
 mouth and can give positive testimony to the world—who can 
 prove as the result of their investigations that it is true our friends 
 live—that there is a science and philosophy born of their investi¬ 
 gations and earnest thoughts, which has made death a myth and 
 deprived it of its sting, by pointing out another life, the con¬ 
 tinuance of this, where all thought and feeling and humanity still 
 abides. This is the super-science. 
 
 Is Spiritualism a religion ? says one. It is not a theology. If 
 religion has to do with the human soul; if religion has to do with 
 the spiritual of man’s nature; if, indeed, it lifts, elevates, and 
 strengthens, then it has to do with religion; but it has no creed. 
 It has no institution where theology is taught. It has no altars, 
 ho shrines, no priests—save the altar of the fireside, the shrine 
 of the human heart, the priest that prattles through the lips of 
 the young babe on its mother’s knee, or the grey-haired man 
 moved to utterance, or the young man and maiden made to 
 prophesy. It has not institutions, but it enters all institutions. 
 It walks up to the priest in his stole, and in the voice of a child 
 8 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 11 
 
 makes him tell his astonished hearers that the lost are not dead, 
 but living, and can participate in our good words and works. 
 But, says he to his auditors, this is not Modern Spiritualism I am 
 telling you. It goes to the laboratory of the scientist, and it makes 
 him move to its wonderful voice; it says, There is another life 
 and a higher; this is but a stepping-stone to another sphere, but 
 the entrance to the temple of life. He pauses, and says it is 
 wondrous strange. Is it a religion? It inspires the pure and 
 holy, no matter what creed he belongs to, so that the worshipper 
 may bow under any form of service, it matters not so long as the 
 conscience is satisfied. Seers have seen through its living light; 
 poets have seen and have described in living rhythm the beauties 
 of the spirit-land. Is it a religion ? It makes known its voice 
 whenever death comes; and those long schooled in the darkness of 
 the past, when they thought there was no hope and no life, now lift 
 up their voices and see there is life and there is hope. Is it a 
 religion ? The All-Father, whose ways we are now somewhat 
 finding' out, bendeth in loving care over his children, and by these 
 various means, and through these various forms of inspiration, He 
 speaks to the nations of the earth, and what does lie say ? That 
 no age is without its revelation, and no nation without its divine 
 and distinct inspiration; that all ages aud nations have had 
 prophets, and seers, and saviours, reared by the divine mind, the 
 instruments of his divine messengers. Does it speak to-day in 
 the churches? Yes; wherever its voice may bo heard; but if 
 forms instead of life he there, then it does not speak; it speaks to 
 the devout in their homes, aud reveals to them the wonders of 
 the other life. Has it ever been heard before, and why does it 
 n»t come to us? Oh, ask you why ? Sepulchres aud tombs do 
 not possess the living spirit; outward forms and ceremonies do 
 not invite the divine; but wheresoever the true spirit is found, 
 wheresoever the honest worshipper bends the knee, there is the 
 light and life of the spirit-world. Will it then overturn our 
 sacred and revered institutions ? Sacred and revered institutions 
 cannot be overturned. God Himself hath fashioned them; they 
 are his. Destructive changes may come by the hand of man. 
 Truth alone is eternal; God’s hand hath planted the true living 
 life. The things of man may pass away, and be abolished, but 
 the truth remains the same in all ages, and in all climes, and the 
 voice of its awakening is near. It is the fatherhood of God over 
 all the nations of the earth; the brotherhood of man beneath 
 every clime and sky, and of every tongue and colour; it is the 
 immortality of the soul. The religion of Spiritualism has for its 
 assistants bards and seers, prophets and sages. It has for its 
 mouthpiece those who are the humblest in their labours, and 
 those who are the most exalted: the king may be inspired; 
 the cottager may hear voices; the babe on its mother’s knee 
 mav see the spirit and give utterance to its voice; the man in 
 
 9 
 
12 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 priestly raiment, if his soul be humble, may see and behold and 
 question. It is indeed the solvent of all religions. It unites the 
 past and the present. What before was in the dark is explained 
 now. The long warfare between religion and science is at an end ; 
 for where science leaves us and merges into this spiritual life, there 
 does Spiritualism begin! It unites as with the key-stone of the 
 arch the two conditions of mankind; on one side is materialism, 
 bound and shackled to the senses, receiving only that which sense 
 can give ; on the other side is religion or theology, receiving only 
 that which comes alone from divine revelation and divine 
 prophecy. 
 
 You remember the French Academy three or four years 
 ago proclaimed the discovery of a new sense. There were 
 iive, and now there is a sixth—that sixth is intuition. It 
 needed another sense to account for many of the phenomena in 
 the world ; and if you leave the French Academy and the scien¬ 
 tists alone they will doubtless find another. We hope so. This 
 sixth sense comes nearly to the centre of the arch. The broad base 
 rests on the material sciences ; then come mesmerism, psychology, 
 and clairvoyance ; and finally intuition, with its fine spiritual light 
 and unaccountable laws, steps in to aid the French Academy to 
 solve the problem of the nineteenth century. On the other side is 
 theology. It has age and all the respectability that antiquity can 
 give. It has existed throughout all ages. In some instances, the 
 spirit has been crushed out for the letter ; but the spirit still lives 
 and is abroad in the world. We know there are no end of sects ; 
 but they are every one of them true, because each one answers the 
 purpose of some hungry soul. They are only barges to take spirits 
 to the other world, and" it does not matter much in which you em¬ 
 bark, so long as you have the harbour in view. You know the 
 Church of Rome claims pre-eminence, by reason of its power and 
 antiquity ; but then the Jews were before it, and before the Jews 
 had produced their holy books, other inspired peoples had brought 
 forth their Zend-Avesta, their Shasters, the Vedas of the Indians, 
 and the sacred books of the Chinese. Every nation has had its 
 holy book, and every one was inspired; for God has left no age 
 uninspired, and those theologies which were before the Jewish 
 and before the Christian era, even those possessed a kernel of 
 truth. The Koran of the Mohammedans was an inspired 
 work, and Protestantism was in itself a divine inspiration. 
 Well, it is upon this basis that the theology of the day 
 has been reared. The Christian Church answers the purpose of 
 disseminating far and wide its truths and inspirations. One 
 simple truth it teaches, and so long as it inculcates that it does not 
 matter under what name it is given, and under what church 
 spire it is delivered: it is the truth of God’s love to man; 
 it is the truth of the brotheriiood of man; it is that mankind 
 shall love one another. This is the lesson of Jesus in his lowly 
 10 
 
8PHUTUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 13 
 
 life, and his wonderful words of inspired love. He lived the 
 spiritual life. When this life is attained, when the other 
 side of the arch is reached, where sense leaves off, and the 
 life of the spirit begins, there the eyes are opened, and we 
 have the sight of the spirit, and we can see with it. And we 
 can behold that broadcast and as with a flame of fire angels are 
 lighting the torches on many an ancient altar, and the Promethean 
 fire kindles and burns again as of old in the hearts of men; it is 
 no longer a myth and a fable. Sinai is repeated, and the Sermon on 
 the Mount is brought home to many hearts by angel-messengers. 
 It is no longer merely a hope, for we leave the grave behind, and 
 the mount of transfiguration is before; the glorious light of immor¬ 
 tality is spread out above us as with a flame, the truth is revealed 
 to man by ministering spirits, the angels ascend and descend as of 
 old, and once more the teacher is in your midst, and blesses you 
 through the mouths of little children. 
 
 After the oration Mrs. Tappan again rose and recited the 
 following impromptu poem :— 
 
 The old world was dead, with his face 
 Lying downward and silent, a space, 
 
 Bound in error’s dark night; 
 
 Swathed and bound in the irons of wrong, 
 
 That the ages have forged and made strong, 
 
 Moaning, fainting for one ray of light. 
 
 Hungry world, that has famish’d for bread, 
 
 Ye have given them stones, husks instead ; 
 
 No radiance pierced the deep gloom, 
 
 Save where, lighting history’s page, 
 
 Immortal sang poet and sago 
 
 Of the life that surviveth the tomb. 
 
 One famine hung o’er the fair earth, 
 
 Like a wolf that devoureth ere birth, 
 
 Grim and gory with direful despair ; 
 
 One wild longing—a pent-up, sad strain 
 That came forth with a sobbing refrain, 
 
 Like the pitiful patience of prayer. 
 
 Do they live ? Do the dead live when wound 
 In their shrouds, when the cold clammy ground 
 Doth conceal and engulph those we love ? 
 
 Does the soul, the immortal glad soul, 
 
 Spring to new life and mount to its goal, 
 
 Like a wandering, homeward-bound dove ? 
 
 It will come, the bright day of the world, 
 
 Like a beautiful banner unfurl'd, 
 
 By seer and prophet foretold : 
 
 They saw, and their fstters were riven, 
 
 And martyrs sprang, heavenward driven 
 By flames, changed to chariots of gold! 
 
 11 
 
14 
 
 THE NEW SCIENCE. 
 
 It will come : for the ages have wrung 
 From the earth bitter tears ; they are strung 
 Round the brow of old Time, and he wears 
 Them for gems: they will evermore live; 
 
 All things else being dead they survive, 
 
 And the angels account them as prayers. 
 
 It will come; for the prophecy woke 
 The past ages ; they, echoing, spoke 
 Of the mystical, wonderful plan 
 That hath given the truth from God's home— 
 For Jesus hath said, “ It shall come ”— 
 
 The Elder Best Brother of man ! 
 
 It is here. Even now doth its voice 
 Bid the sorrowing earth to rejoice. 
 
 For the lone weeping mother hath heard 
 How her babe, her beloved is near— 
 
 Is not dead, but doth speak; she can hear 
 Each glad murmur, each low-spoken word. 
 
 Yes ’tis here; o’er the mountains of time 
 Dawns the day, wakes the anthem sublime, 
 Reaching even the lowliest home ; 
 
 Not with trumpets nor splendour of gold, 
 
 But hushed voices, the story is told, 
 
 The bright day-dawn of Truth. It has come 
 
 12 
 
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 
 
 SONGS FROM TIIE SUMMER LAND. 
 
 INSPIRATIONAL POEMS, 
 
 PRINCIPALLY IMPROVISED AT THE CLOSE OP LECTURES, 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. CORA L. V. TAPPAN. 
 
 Now Ready, in One Vol., 12 mo., price 1 \D6tt. 75 Cents r 
 
 HESPERIA, 
 
 AN EPIC OF THE PAST AND FUTURE OF AMERICA, 
 
 BY MRS, CORA L, V, TAPPAN, 
 
 The fullest and clearest statement of the phenomena, of Spiritualism and 
 their relation to scientific facts is contained in Mr. Burns’s speeches in 
 
 H uman immortality proved by facts. Being 
 
 the Report of a 
 
 TWO NIGHTS’ DEBATE ON “MODERN SPIRITUALISM,” 
 Between C. Bradlaugh, Secularist, and J. Burns, Spiritualist. 
 Price 6d., post free, or 3s. per dozen post free. 
 
 “Mr. Burns’s late argument with Mr. Bradlaugh was, on Mr, Burns’s 
 side, a discussion in behalf of every religion that teaches a belief in 
 spirit, and in behalf of every church. For what Mr. Burns has done, 
 all Spiritualists and all churches owe him, in reality, deep gratitude;, 
 as, indeed, do tlio Materialists, for whom only an overwhelming testi¬ 
 mony of spiritual facts, from one whose honesty and uprightness they 
 cannot doubt, can be hoped to act with any efficacy at all.'’— Rev. Wm . 
 R. Tomlinson. 
 
 This work is adapted for circulation either amongst Materialists or 
 Christians, and will be read with interest where other publications are 
 disregarded. 
 
 THE '‘JOHN KING" NUMBER OF THE "MEDIUM," 
 
 Containing an Engraved Portrait of the materialised form of the spirit 
 “ John Kino,” as seen in daylight, should be read by all.—Price Id. 
 
 London : Sold by J. Burns, 15, Southampton Row. 
 
 A. J. Davis & Co., New York; and all Agents for Progressive Works. 
 
A Cheap Edition, price 2 Dollars.—Original Edition, 4 Dollars. 
 
 THE REPORT 
 
 -L OF THE COMMITTEE 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 ON SPIRITUALISM 
 
 OF THE LONDON DIALECTICAL 
 
 This Edition (printed from the Original Plates, by special arrange¬ 
 ment with the Publishing Committee), contains the following items 
 
 WITHOUT ABRIDGMENT. 
 
 L—The names in full of the Clergymen, Barristers, Solicitors, 
 Physicians, Surgeons, Editors, Literati, Scientists, Merchants, and others 
 forming the Investigating Committee. 
 
 U. —The Report in full, as presented by this body to the Society, 
 after an investigation extending over many months, during which oral 
 and written testimony was obtained from 
 
 NEARLY ONE HUNDRED PERSONS. 
 
 HI-—The whole of the test-experiments made by the investigators in)' 
 six sub-committees, 
 
 WITHOUT PROFESSIONAL MEDIUMS. 
 
 IV.—The minutes and reports of the six sub-committees in full. 
 
 V. —The names of the witnesses ; and the whole of the evidence given 
 under cross-examination by persons of known credibility, in every 
 grade of society, being a record of extraordinary spiritual phenomena, 
 directly attested—Apparitions—Levitations of heavy bodies, animate 
 and inanimate—Spirit-Voices and Music—Spirit-telegraphy, Messages, 
 Writing, Drawing, and Painting—Spirit-healings—Visions in Crystals 
 —Trance-speaking—Prophecies—Speaking in Unknown Tongues—The 
 Handling of red-hot Coals, &c., &c. 
 
 VI. —The whole of the correspondence as originally printed, being the 
 letters, opinions, and experiences of many public and professional 
 men of high repute; to which is added 
 
 Original Papers and Notes of Seances. 
 
 VII, —A list of ancient and modern works on Spiritualism and 
 kindred subjects ; and a copious Index. 
 
 To the above will be added a resume of the press critiques— an 
 original paper, analysing the arguments of the reviewers—Rules for the 
 guidance of investigators—and a Digest of useful modern works on the 
 subject of Spiritualism and its phenomena, for the information of in- q 
 quirers. |\3 
 
 This handsome volume is acknowledged to be the most complete, useful, and ^ 
 the cheapest work ever published cn the subject of Spiritualism. It should be 
 obtained by every inquirer, investigator, and Spiritualist, and be placed in 
 every public library, for which purpose it may be obtained at a special JO 
 price. -- 
 
 London : J Btjkns, 15, Southampton Row, W.C 
 
 And the American publishers of Mrs. Tappan’s Works.