Class " BF LCAI Book TT4 5 GUPghtW. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. THE REALITY AND EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM OR THE IDENTITY OF SPIRIT AND MIND, AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN SPIRIT AND SOUL. A WORK IN WHICH SPIRITUALISM IS DISCUSSED IN THE LIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURES, THE SCIENCES AND PROFANE HISTORY. BY MINA THOMAS, ST. LOUIS, MO. ST. LOI/I&:: PUBLISHED BY THE THOMAS LIBRARY CO. I903. 1% mm Cobvowsmt b»«twv P~ot i><\- > 4o i CLASS ^-XXo, No. 7 / s- o xT : 7i COPYRIGHT 1903 BY ^/^ir*^^-* ^*-^&-v^^*-*-w Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England, 1903. L IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF HER MOTHERLY KINDNESS THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO "AUNT" MARY BLACKWOOD OF LA GRANGE, MO. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE 13. The School of Natural Development. A knowledge of an Intermediate state as old as man himself — Monotheism man's first religion — Spiritualism one of the daughters of the Theory of Development — The Advent of Spiritualism one of the surest signs of National decline — The origin is alone explain- able by the Theory of Development, or by the teachings of Divine Creation — The folly of attempting to confuse the teachings of these opposing schools — Darwin not a consistent evolutionist — We must either acknowledge a God or dispense with one entirely — Spiritual- ism a mixture of Scripture and Atheism — Haeckel's views of Matter — The most ancient ancestors of man and all other organisms — The monera — From the monera to speechless man — The "missing link" — Genuine men developed out of Ape-like men — Development of Articulate Language — Differentiation of the Larynx and the Brain — Science finds r.o evidence of the existence of speechless Man — The resemblance between the lowest wooly-haired men and the highest man-like Apes — Haeckel's description of Speechless man — The process of fertilization — The Evolutionist makes no dis- tinction between mind and soul — Insists that man is simply a highly developed Ape and not capable of obtaining immortality — The Evo- lutionist regards religion as a worthless superstition — Sir John Lubbock's explanation of the origin of religion — The first great stages in Religious thought — Atheism — Fetichism — Nature Worship or Totemism — Shamanism — Idolatry or, Anthropomorphism — Mono- theism. ii CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. PAGE 24. The School of Divine Creation. The Creation of the heaven and the earth — The earth without form and void — The introduction of light — The Day and the Night — The first day — The Firmament — The division of the Waters — The Firmament called heaven — The waters under the heaven gathered into one place — The dry land appears — The dry land called Earth — The gathered waters called Seas — The introduction of plant life — The lights in the firmament of heaven — The introduction of Animal life — The fish and the fowl — The introduction of the land animals — The Creation of man — Man given dominion over the earth and the animals — The Garden of Eden, etc. CHAPTER III. PAGE 29. The Teachings of Spiritualism. The teachings of Spiritualism as presented by A. J. Davis — Davis and the geologists of Europe — Davis' account of the formation of the universe — "Let us make man" — The Attributes of Wisdom — Use, Justice, Power, Beauty, Aspiration and Harmony — The Universe organized for the purpose of developing man — The unpopularity of the philosophy which accounts for man's existence upon principles of progressive development — The most repulsive feature of this phil- osophy is the proposition that man came from the animal creation — Nature a vast and powerful organization — The Ultimate use of nature is to individualize and immortalize the human spiritual principle — Nature a magnificent machine — The Divine Mind, the Omnipotent Artisan — The Development of the first form of Animal Life — The Radiata, etc. — Minerals and Vegetables unfolded the Fish Kingdom — Fish Kingdom unfolded the Saurian — The Saurian un- folded the Bird Kingdom — The Birds unfolded the Marsupial King- dom — The Marsupial unfolded the Mammalia — The highest quad- rumana and the lowest of the human type — The development of Man — Man's innate tendency onward toward perfection — Man a coronation of universal nature — The anatomical and physiological laws — The Diagram illustrates the true order of Nature's physical developments — The eternal mind — The principles of Association, Progression and Development — Spiritualism does not belong to either of the two schools of learning; nor is it a school of learning in itself. CONTENTS. iii CHAPTER IV. PAGE 42. God and Nature. The high and superior state — The great sphere of knowledge — Mr. Davis derives no assistance from the reading of books — What is Mr. Davis' God — Mr. Davis undecided as to what he means by the term God — The Holy Artisan — The Divine Architect — Two great co-eternal principles mind and matter — No distinction between mind (or God) and matter (or Nature) — God is nature — Matter, is in all things and is all things — God, the Holy Artisan, etc., simply matter — Mr. Davis' failure to explain the origin of the universe without an intelligent Creator — Mr. Davis and Prof. Winchell's views of God compared — Diety proclaimed in the creation— Every effect im- plies intentionality — The universe an effect — The causal act implies Will — Will implies intelligence and sensibility — Will closes the cir- cuit of causation — -Will and sensibility the attributes of a personal existence — Mechanical structures not the result of development; but the expression of intelligence controlling matter — Haeckel on the eternity of matter — Hudson Tuttle on the eternity of matter — Spiritualism based on materialism — Matter not eternal — Prof. Max- well on the molecules of matter— We cannot flee from Deity — The world depends upon divine support — The atom floats in the breath of divine power — Science affirms the creative power — The Sciences sustain the Mosiac Record — What is a Creation and what forma- tion. CHAPTER V. PAGE 60. The Spiritualistic Theory as to the Origin of Minerals and Vege- tables. The universe the effect of certain laws governing matter — Atheists minutely explain the operation of their so-called laws — Spiritualists silent as to the operation of their laws of Association, Progression and Development — Similarity between LaPlace's Cen- tral Sun and Davis' Great Central Mind — The Nebular Hypothesis — Guyot on the Nebular Hypothesis — The Nebular Hypothesis op- posed to the Sciences — Patterson on the Nebular Hypothesis — Ball on the Nebular Hypothesis — Proctor on the Nebular Hypotheis — LaPlace's "distrust" of the Nebular Hypothesis — Speculation and conjecture not science — The ether the vehicle of light — LaPlace's iv CONTENTS. theory cannot explain this ether — LaPlace's gaseous rings — The sun never threw off this ether — Ether different in composition from the sun — Every Hypothesis is hound to explain the facts it proposes account for — LaPlace's central sun and Davis' great central mind opposed to the sciences and the scriptures — Davis' unequivical knowledge opposed to the teachings of the sciences and the Bible — Science disproves Mr. Davis' theory that the planets developed the minerals — The constituents of rocks are minerals — That the planets developed the minerals is opposed to the scriptures — Gun- ning on the minerals — The elements of plant life a part of the mat- ter creation — Davis' explanation as to the origin of minerals and vegetables opposed to sciences, scripture, reason, etc. CHAPTER VI. PAGE 84. The "Unfolding of the Animal Kingdom," or The Transmutation of Species. Davis' account of the origin of animal life — Vegetables and minerals are supposed to unite and form the fish kingdom— Davis unable to agree with himself as to what was the anticedents of the animals — The Sciences prove the fallacy of Davis' teaching that vegetables "lose" themselves in animal life — The vegetable and animal kingdoms the opposite parts of one system of life — Dana plainly demonstrates the impossibility of the vegetables developing into animals — Opposites can not spring one from the other — Min- erals did not develop with vegetables — Minerals and vegetables did not develop the first form of animal life — How can life exist in inorganic matter — Davis not only attributes life to the minerals but they are actually engaged in generating many elements of life and vitality — This is opposed to all scientific research — Dawson on the flora of our globe — The first form of animal life made its appearance ages prior to the carboniferous period — The highest forms of vegetables, the fruit bearing trees, did not appear until long after the introduction of animal life — Fruit trees and land plants could not develop into the first form of animal life, water animals — The first form of animal life followed not the highest but lowest forms of vegetation and both appear in the archean period — Plant life and animal life identical— What distinguishes the animal from the plant — Animals are conscious of an outer world — Consciousness proof of the animal's possession of mind — Mind distinguishes the animal from the plant — School of Development cannot explain the origin of mind — The School of Creation alone CONTENTS. v explains the origin of mind — We deny the existence of the law of Association, Progression and Development — Science proves that the "lower kingdoms" did not develop into higher — Scientists are unable to discover transitional forms — Mivart on transmutation of species — Winchell on the transmutation of species — Patterson on the ab- sence of transitional forms — The same evidence that "squashes" Darwin's theory of development squashes Davis' unfolding of king- dom — The geological record of life on our earth contradicts Davis' "unequivical knowledge" — Davis on the origin of man — Davis like all evolutionists teaches that the quadrumana developed into man — Science proves that there is not, nor never was, a quadrumana — This exploded theory taught in every school of today — Huxley on the quadrumana — The ape a biped — Impossibility of the quadruped developing into a biped — Man created in the image of God. CHAPTER VII. PAGE 111. Mind Common to Man and the Animals. The absurdity of supposing that animal intelligence due solely to instinct, and that man alone possesses mind — The mind of man and the mind of the animal differs only in degree — The intellectual and moral faculties of man and the animal can be traced in a similar manner — Love, Rage, Shame, Pride, Reason, etc., are all characteristics of the mind and are common to man and the animals — Hypnotism a mental process — The three schools of hypnotism — Animals can be hypnotised. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE 135. Identity of Spirit and Mind. Matter, Mind and Soul distinct substances — Modern theologians and spiritualists use the terms spirit, mind and soul synonymously — Soul and mind distinct — Soul and Spirit distinct — Spirit and Mind identical — The attributes of spirit and mind the same — Bible proof of the identity of spirit and mind, and the distinction between spirit or mind and soul — Pride, Humility, Sorrow, Faith, Anguish, etc., which are characteristics of the mind, are also characteristics of the spirit, and show the identity of spirit and mind. vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGE 146. What is Soul, and is it Immortal? Davis on the immortality of the soul — Three kinds of belief and their influences — Davis says the immortality of the soul rests upon the eternity of matter — The immortality of the soul in nowise de- pends upon the eternity of matter — The marriage between the cere- brum and cerebellum — There are children born among all races of men being defective in their mental structure, never reach the equinoctial line that separates the animal from the human — Davis a very erratic writer; he is peculiar in that he can not agree even with himself; does not consider himself bound by any previous statement — No materialist would attempt to evolve immortality from mere matter; this absurdity is left for the Spiritualistic evolu- tionist — Spiritualism demonstrates that the mind does not perish with the body — Spiritualism proves the falsity of materialism — The first man did not possess immortality — Some are born im- mortal, some may attain immortality; and some are wholly lacking — The absurdity of supposing that immortality depends upon a greater or less amount of intelligence — Tuttle on spirit — The basis of Tuttle's argument is wrong — Edmond's is nearer right — The soul a part of the substance of God — Immortality not inherent in the soul — The term immortal soul of spiritualistic origin — Immortality must be acquired — Man must seek eternal life — Bible proof that immortality can only be acquired by a life of righteousness — No scriptural support for the belief of the inherent immortality of the soul — The Bible disproves the spiritualistic teaching of soul devel- opment. CHAPTER X. PAGE 163. Man a Trinity. Davis says spirit and matter are the same identical substance — Davis regards soul, spirit and mind as unqualifiedly synonymous — Davis regards man as composed of only one substance, matter — Edmonds says man is a duality — Ambler says man is composed of two substances, but he shows that there is a third, which he terms that "internal soul of the spirit" — Spiritualists disagree among themselves as to whether man is composed of one or more sub- stances — Spiritualists also disagree with all ancient philosophers and many of the moderns who regard man as a trinity — Carroll on the three creations — The Bible teaches that man is a trinity. CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER. XI. PAGE 171. Reproduction. Edmonds on the reproduction of the spirit — Ambler on the repro- duction of the spirit — The immortal germ — No power in the uni- verse by which the spirit can be destroyed — The first introduction of the germ of the spirit — Beauty of the spirit depends upon this germ — The first element transmitted is the interior germ of the spirit — The information of the spirits not entirely correct — Carroll on the reproduction of "the three creations" — Ambler on death — The death of the body is the birth of the spirit — Davis on death —The soul will preserve its identity after death — There is no death — Davis' description of the birth of a spirit — There is a physical body and a spiritual body — The mind survives physical dissolution — Man possesses a trinity of lives. CHAPTER XII. PAGE 196. The Intermediate State. The spirit not immortal — Departed spirits not denizens of eter- nity — Nothing supernatural in the manifestations of departed spirits — Being mortal the spirit requires a natural home — The interme- diate state known to the ancients — The Bible teaches the existence of an intermediate state — Ambler on the home of departed spirits — Edmonds on the condition and location of spirit-land — Davis on the spirit-land — Holcombe on the home of the spirits — The con- flicting descriptions of spirit-land as given by Ambler, Edmonds, Davis and Holcombe — God created the intermediate state — Bible teaches the existence of an intermediate state — After His crucific- tion Jesus went to this intermediate state — What Jesus did while in the intermediate state — Prison a place of detention, not hell — Paradise a part of spirit-land — Hades a part of spirit-land — Hell not a place of eternal punishment — Neither paradise nor hades will survive the end of time — Separate places of abode in spirit-land for good and evil spirits — Stephen's prayer — How Protestants lost a knowledge of the intermediate state — Catholics have a knowledge of the intermediate state — The intermediate state not a preparatory place — The earth the preparatory place — Holcombe's description of a judgment more nearly resembles a transformation — Spirits lose viii CONTENTS. all knowledge of the earth and their associates; this is equivalent to annihilation — The place of departed spirits almost an infinite world — The mind or spirit will perish with all that is material — The Soul alone will stand forth before God to be judged — The warn- ing given Adam could not mean physical or mental death — The Bible teaches that "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" — David realized that his soul could die — Soul's conditional immortality; it will merit either eternal life or death — Catholic, Protestant and Spiritualist make no distinction between mind, spirit and soul — Mind as mortal as the body it survives — The judgment as recorded in Revelation — The inherent immortality of the soul is an error — The doctrine of eternal punishment is an error — There is no place where eternal punishment is inflicted upon the wicked — The "lake of fire" is the result of the general conflagration described in Reve- lation — Revelation teaches all will be judged according to their works — All things material will perish; spirit-land, paradise, hell and even death — Nothing survive save God and those whose names are "written in the book of life" — Eternal death a punishment suffi- cient to satisfy even an outraged God. CHAPTER XIII. PAGE 232. Contradictions. i Spiritualists claim to derive their information from the "Foun- tain Head of All Knowledge" — There should be no disagreements in the teachings of spiritualists — Discord prevails in the teaching of spiritualists — Spiritualists contradict the Bible — Moses Hull's at- tempts to twist and distort the teachings of the Scriptures — Evi- dence of the attempt of Moses Hull to degrade the utterances . of inspired writers to the level of the teachings of the mediums of our day — Moses Hull a mere reader, not a student of the Bible — No discrepances in the Bible— The first chapter of Genesis a condensed account of creation — The second chapter of Genesis a more detailed account of creation — The elements of plant and animal life a part of the matter creation — Man's physical organism composed of mat- ter — Man a living soul — A considerable period between the creation of man and that of woman — Man assigned to a fixed place of abode and a definite task — The Garden of Eden — The origin of domestic plants — Irrigation began in the Garden of Eden — The Bible sus- tained by the sciences- — Conflict between the sciences and the the- CONTENTS. ix ory of development — Lectures by two spirits supposed to be Bacon and Swedenborg, through the mediumship of Edmonds and Dr. Dexter, on the plan of creation — These lectures in opposition to the Bible — Davis on the revelations of the Bible — Biblical authority is overthrown by thousands of "equally good revelations daily made to us" — Davis gives nine reasons why spirit communications are unreliable — The chief cause of contradiction between spirits — Davis states the difference between his teachings and those of Jesus Christ — Proof of Davis' error — Such scientists as Professors Dana, Guyot, Dawson, Pierce, Sillman, and Maury all declare in favor of the Bible — Carroll compares the teachings of the Bible with those of ancient philosophers — Such statesmen as Buke, Pitt, Washington, the Adamses, Webster, Davis, Gladstone, etc., regarded the Bible as the highest authority — Such jurists as Grotins, Montes- quien, Selden, Blackstone, Marshall, Somers, Story, Kent, etc., re- garded the Bible as the court of ultimate appeal — Davis' charge that Jesus did not debate disproved — Edmonds himself annoyed by the conflicting statements of spirits — Mediums not certain of the source of their information— Proof that spirit communications are unre- liable and contradictory — Spirit contradictions concerning Christ. CHAPTER XIV. PAGE 262. Contradictions Continued. Contradictions among spirits as to the existence of evil spirits and hell — Ambler's spirit informants say there are no "evil spirits" — Hull says, there are evil spirits — Davis' not "evil" but "misdi- rected" spirits — Edmond declares in favor of the existence of evil spirits and hell — Place of evil spirits far below the earth — Dark spirits do progress — Edmonds' hell a progressive hell — Holcombe's a retrogressive hell — Hell the heaven of evil spirits — There were no angels that fell from heaven and became devils — All angels and all devils once men or women — God the sole life of the universe; does not create life but gives it — Hell and heaven organic states of the soul — Love the life of heaven, hatred the life of hell — The miseries of hell — The new church — No times and spaces in the spiritual world — The doctrine of evil spirits as old as spiritualism itself — The Bible teaches that there are good and evil spirits. x CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. PAGE 279. Ancient India. No limit to the credulity of mankind — The mythologies or the fabulous histories of the gods of the heathens— In what have we displayed our superiority to the ancients — The deceptions prac- ticed by spiritualistic leaders in attempting to explain the origin of things — But little excuse for the laity — Spiritualism not a religion —Death of the body is simply the birth of the spirit — To the spirit- ualist nothing beyond spirit-land — Should not mourn the death of our loved ones — Nothing to fear but much to love in the natural death — The misconceptions of the intermediate state — The mind survives the death of the body — Mental characteristics survive the death of the body — Mediums express the opinions of their spirit controls — Bible teaches the reality of spiritualism — Spiritualists re- gard Jesus Christ merely as a great medium — Christ never appealed to spirits for aid as spiritualists do, but relied on His heavenly Father — Bible treats spiritualism as a great evil — God forbade the prac- tices of spiritualism in Israel — Evidence of God's abhorence of a medium or one having a familiar spirit — The penalty of death vis- ited upon the mediums, etc. — The deceptiveness, worthlessness, and criminality of spiritualism — Why spiritualists deny a personal God — The spirit or mind will live until the end of time — The final death of the sprit or mind — The soul survives the death of the spirit or mind — Evidence that the spiritualists are dealing with the mind or spirit and not the soul — Animals in spirit-land — If the animal pos- sessed articulate speech we could communicate with its departed spirit or mind — A talking animal would make as good a medium as a person — Tuttle on matter and spirit — Moses Hull on the growth of modern spiritualism — The facts contradict Moses Hull — The spiritualism of India — Hudson on the adepts of India — Hudson mis- took the meaning of the adept — Jacolliot on the fakirs of India — Modern spiritualism has no schools of training, no ceremonies, no forms of evocation, etc.; its mediums the result of chance — Spirit- ualism in India has its schools of learning — Spiritualism in India almost a science — The Brahmin lord of all creation — Everything the world contains the Brahmin's — It is through the Brahmin's gener- osity that other men enjoy the goods of this world — The origin of the doctrine of divine right — For thousands of years the Brahmin's (priests) ruled without dispute — The kings or chiefs the agents of the Brahmin — The masses maintained the upper classes in idleness — The Brahmin's principal motive was the maintenance of their CONTENTS. xi temporal power — The chiefs with the aid of the people conquered the priests, and assumed the title of "lords of creation" — The chiefs said to the priests preach that we are the elect of God and we will give you all the wealth and privileges you desire — For twenty thousand years the people have never been able to break up that argument — Three degrees of initiation — The first degree included the Brahmins — The second degree included the exorcists, the sooth- sayers, the prophets, and the evocators of spirits — The Brahmins of the third degree had no direct relation with the people — Above the last degree was the supreme council under the presidency of the Brahmatma — The common people thought the Brahmatma im- mortal — The death of the Brahmatma — The ceremonies of initiation — The life and duties of the Brahmins — The Brahmatma ends his days in dissipation. CHAPTER XVI. PAGE 307. Manifestations. Mrs. Piper under "test" conditions — Wm. Hudson on spirit phe- nomena — Edward M. O'Connor on spirit phenomena — Dr. Rother- mel's seance — Mrs. Julia A. Dawley on spirit phenomena — Judge Reed on spirit communications. CHAPTER XVII. PAGE 330. Manifestations Continued. The conditions under which the fakir produces phenomena — The moving of the vase without visible means — The water spout — The magic stick — Phenomena of elevation and knocking — The bam- boo stool — The mysterious punkah — The stationary table — A shower of knocks — The little mill — Flying feathers — The harmonfiute — Sand drawing — The metor and the bucket of water — Mind reading — Reading in a closed book — The flying palm-leaf — Elevation of the fakir — Spontaneous vegetation — Apparitions. CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE 365. The Origin of Spiritualism. God revealed to Adam a knowledge of spiritualism — Adam transmitted his knowledge of spiritualism to his descendants — The xii CONTENTS. antidiluvians possessed a knowledge of spiritualism — India not the cradle of spiritualism — Noah possessed a knowledge of spiritualism — Noah transmitted a knowledge of spiritualism to his descendants — The Hindoos led into spiritualism by their priesthood — The priests taught monotheism among themselves — The oath administered to the initiates — Fetichism, Shamanism, etc., spiritualism in its decay — Spiritualism practiced by all nations of antiquity — All the old civilizations developed under montheism; their ruins show the dis- tructive influences of spiritualism — Monotheism the religion of Israel — God forbade the practice of spiritualism under penalty of death — The priests induce the Israelites to accept spiritualism — The Jewish cabala, its origin and practices, and its relation to the spirit- ualism of other countries — The cabalists brought upon Israel the punishment of God — Spiritualism stamped out of Israel — No trace of spiritualism in Jewish theology of today — Spiritualism destroyed the great nations of antiquity, and it will do the same for us. CHAPTER I. The School of Natural Development. To intelligently discuss spiritualism, or any subject, it is necessary to inquire into the causes, the circumstances that produced it. While we admit that a knowledge of an intermediate state is as. old as man himself yet, comparatively speaking, spiritualism, either as a religion or as a science, so called, is a thing of recent date. We are taught that in the be- ginning man was created a "little lower than the angels" and given as his religion monotheism, a belief in one God — the Creator of the universe ; but as man multiplied in num- bers, he also increased in wickedness and lived in open viola- tion of the laws of God, until his descendants finally became so depraved and corrupt as to renounce their God and their religion, monotheism, and accept in its place spiritualism, one of the daughters of the theory of Development. One of the surest signs of national decline is the ad- vent of spiritualism. For all history, both sacred and profane, of which we have any knowledge, teach that the great nations of antiquity attained their highest civ- ilization and refinement under the wholesome, elevating influences of monotheism; and that under the pernicious influence of spiritualism they became utterly depraved, and that finally under the curse of God they either descended to barbarism and savagery, as in the case of the Hindoos, Persians, etc., or were utterly destroyed from the 13 14 THE REALITY AND earth,, as in the case of the Chaldeans, etc. Thus as mono- theism stands for all that is elevating and ennobling, so Spiritualism stands for all that is corrupt and depraved. Two of the ablest and most radical thinkers of modern times, one an atheist, who stands for all that the theory of Development implies, the other a monotheist, who stands for Divine Creation and all that it implies, though repre- senting the extremes of these opposing beliefs, are agreed that the origin of the universe is alone explainable by the Theory of Natural Development or by its antithesis, the Scriptural teaching of Divine Creation, and that there is no third course. Mr. Carroll, who advocates the Doctrine of Creation, and regarded by many as the most accomplished Bible scholar of the age, says : "There are only two schools of learning which propose to explain the existence of the heavens and the earth with all their phenomena. These are (1) the Bible school of Divine Creation; (2) the Atheistic school of Evolution or Natural Development." (Tempter of Eve, p. 94.) The distinguished German naturalist, Prof. Haeckel, who advocates the theory of Natural Development, in dis- cussing the origin of animal life, says: "As is now very generally acknowledged, both by the adherents of and the opponents of the theory of descent, the choice, in the matter of the origin of the human race, lies between two radically different assumptions : We must either accustom ourselves to the idea that all the various species of animals and plants, man also included, originated independently of each other by the super-natural process of. a 'Divine Creation,' which, as such, is entirely removed from the sphere of scientific ob- servation — or we are compelled to accept the theory of de- scent in its entirety, and trace the human race, equally with EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 15 the various animal and plant species, from an entirely simple primeval parent form. Between these two as- sumptions there is no third course." (The Evolution of Man, Vol. ii., pp. 36, 37.) This being true, it is folly to attempt to confuse the teachings of these opposing schools. In attempting to ex- plain the origin of things, we cannot consistently attribute the origin of a part of the phenomena of the universe to the intervention of a God and a part to evolution. To be con- sistent, we must attribute the origin of all things either to Divine Creation or to the theory of Natural Development. We must either attribute the origin of life to Divine Crea- tion or to Spontaneous Generation. While Darwin is generally recognized as a leading au- thority on the theory of Natural Development, he really belongs to neither school ; he is not a consistent evolutionist. Too intelligent to attempt to account for the origin of or- ganic life by spontaneous generation, he held that a few first forms owed their origin to Divine Creation, but insisted that evolution perfected them. That a man of Darwin's ability could so blunder and thus attempt to confuse the funda- mental teachings of these opposing schools, seems incredible, but he did. When he needed a God, he had one; when he fancied he could dispense with one, he laid Him aside. Either "God * * * made heaven and earth and the sea, and all things that are therein," and Divine Creation is cor- rect, or, He made nothing and Natural Development is cor- rect. We must either acknowledge a God or' dispense with one entirely, there is no middle course. This necessarily ap- plies to Spiritualism. As we will show in a following chap- ter, Spiritualism is very much like Darwinism, which 16 THE REALITY AND at the same time has and has not a God. "O, consistency, thou art a jewel." In order to show that Spiritualism is a mixture of Scrip- ture and atheism, we will give a brief synopsis of the teach- ings of these two schools as presented by their leading ad- vocates. And while Professor Haeckel is audacious beyond belief, yet he is an out and out evolutionist, and at no time recognizes the existence of a God. Therefore, in presenting briefly the teachings of the theory of Development, we quote largely from him. In discussing matter, he says : "Natural science teaches that matter is eternal and imperishable, for experience has never shown us that even the smallest par- ticle of matter has come into existence or passed away. Where a natural body seems to disappear, as for example, by burning, decaying, evaporation, etc., it merely changes its form, its physical composition or chemical combination. In like manner- the coming into existence of a natural body, for example, of a crystal, a fungus, an infusorium, depends merely upon the different particles, which had before existed in a certain form or combination, assuming a new form or combination in consequence of changed conditons of exist- ence. But never yet has an instance been observed of even the smallest particle of matter having vanished, or even of an atom being added to the already existing mass. Hence, a naturalist can no more imagine the coming into existence of matter, than he can imagine its disappearance, and he therefore looks upon the existing quantity of matter in the universe as a given fact. If any person feels the necessity of conceiving the coming into existence of this matter as the work of a supernatural creative power, of the creative force of something outside of matter, we have nothing to say against it." (History of Creation, Vol. i., pp. 8, 9.) EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 17 In discussing the origin of life, Prof. Haeckel says : "The most ancient ancestors of man, as of all other organisms, were living creatures of the simplest kind imaginable, organ- isms without organs, like the still living Monera. They con- sisted of simple, homogeneous, structureless and formless little lumps of mucous or albuminous matter (plasson), like the still living Protamceba primitiva. The form value of these most ancient ancestors of man was not even equal to that of a cell, but merely that of a cytod ; for, as in the case of all Monera, the little lump of protoplasm did not as yet possess a cell-kernel. The first of these Monera originated in the beginning of the Laurentian period by spontaneous generation, or archigomy, out of so-called inorganic combi- nations, namely, out of simple combinations of carbon, oxy- gen, hydrogen and nitrogen." {Ibid., Vol ii., p. 380.) The theory of development traces man on up from the Monera through twenty-four ancestral stages to speechless man, commonly termed the "missing link," regarding which, Prof. Haeckel says : "Although the preceding ancestral stage is already so nearly akin to genuine men, that we scarcely require to assume an intermediate connecting stage, still we can look upon the Speechless Primeval Men (alali) as this intermediate link. These Ape-like men, or Pithecan- thropi, very probably existed towards the end of the Tertiary period. They originated out of the Man-like Apes, or An- thropoids, by becoming completely habituated to an upright walk, and by the corresponding stronger differentiation of both pairs of legs. The forehand of Anthropoides became the human hand, their hinder hand became a foot for walk- ing. Although these Ape-like Men must, not merely by the external formation of their bodies, but also by their internal mental development, have been much more akin to real Men 18 THE REALITY AND than the Man-like Apes could have been, yet they did not possess the real and chief characteristic of man, namely, the articulate human language of words, the corresponding de- velopment of a higher consciousness, and the formation of ideas. * * * * Genuine Men developed out of the Ape- like Men of the preceding stage by the gradual development of the animal language of sounds into a connected or ar- ticulate language of words. The development of this func- tion, of course, went had in hand with the 'development of its organs, namely, the higher differentiation of the larynx and the brain. The transition from speechless Ape-like Men to Genuine or Talking Men probably took place at the begin- ning of the Quaternary period, namely, in the Diluvial period, but possibly even at an earlier date, in the more re- cent Tertiary/' {Ibid., Vol. ii., pp. 398, 399.) Although science has found no evidence that such a crea- ture ever existed, yet Mr. Haeckel, with his accustomary boldness and out of his vivid imagination, proceeds to de- scribe this creature of his creation in the following lan- guage : "We as yet know of no fossil remains of the hypo- thetical primeval man. (Protanthropos atavus — Homo primi genius.) But considering the extraordinary resemb- lance between the lowest woolly-haired men, and the highest man-like apes, which still exist at the present day, it requires but a slight stretch of the imagination to conceive an in- termediate form connecting the two, and to see in it an ap- proximate likeness to the supposed primeval men, or ape- like men. The form of their skull was probably very long, with slanting teeth; their hair woolly; the colour of their skin dark, of a brownish tint. The hair covering the whole body was probably thicker than in any of the still living human species; their arms comparatively longer and EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 19 stronger ; their legs, on the other hand, knock-kneed, shorter and thinner with entirely undeveloped calves, their walk half erect." {Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 438.) In still further discussing the theory of development, Mr. Haeckel writes: "Those processes of development which led to the origin of the most Ape-like Men out of the most Man-like Apes, must be looked for in the two adaptational changes which, above all others, contributed to the making of Man, namely, upright walk and articulate speech. These two physiological functions necessarily originated together with two corresponding morphological transmutations, with which they stand in the closest correlation, namely, the dif- ferentiation of the two pairs of limbs and the differentiation of the larynx. The important perfecting of these organs and their functions must have necessarily and powerfully reacted upon the differentiation of the brain and the mental activities dependent upon it, and thus have paved the way for the end- less career in which Man has since progressively developed, and in which he has far outstripped his animal ancestors. "The first and earliest of these three great processes in the development of the human organism probably was the higher differentiation and the perfecting of the extremities which was effected by the habit of an upright walk. By the fore-feet more and more exclusively adopting and retaining the function of grasping and handling and the hinder feet more and more exclusively the function of standing and walking, there was developed that contrast between the hand and foot which is indeed not exclusively characteristic of man, but which is much more strongly developed in him than in any of the apes most like men. This differentiation of the fore and hinder extremities, was, however, not merely most advantageous for their own development and perfect- 20 THE REALITY AND ing, but it was followed at the same time by a whole series of very important changes in other parts of the body. The whole vertebral column, and more especially the chest, the girdle of the pelvis and shoulders, as also the muscles be- longing to them, thereby experienced those changes which distinguish the human body from that of the most man-like apes. These transmutations were probably accomplished long before the origin of articulate speech; and the human race thus existed for long, with an upright walk and the characteristic human form of body connected with it, before the actual development of human language, which would have completed the second and the more important part of human development. We may therefore distinguish a special (24th) stage in the series of our human ancestors, namely, Speechless Man (Alalus), or Ape-man (Pithecanthropus) , whose body was indeed formed exactly like that of man in all essential characteristics, but who did not as yet possess articulate speech. "The origin of articulate language, and the higher differ- entiation and perfecting of the larynx connected with it, must be looked upon as a later,' and the most important stage in the process of the development of Man. It was, doubtless, this process which above all others helped to create the deep chasm between man and animals, and which also first caused the most important progress in the mental activity and the perfecting of the brain connected with it." (Ibid,, Vol. ii., pp. 405, 406, 407.) Concerning the development of the brain, Mr. Haeckel writes : "With regard to the human 'soul organ/ the brain, the application of the fundamental law of biogeny has been finally established by the most careful empiric observations. The same may be said of its functions, the 'activity of the EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 21 soul.' For the development of a function goes hand in hand with the gradual development of every organ. The morpho- logical differentiation of the various parts of the brain, cor- responds with its physiological separation or 'division of labour.' Hence, what is commonly termed the 'soul' or 'mind' of man (consciousness included), is merely the sum total of the activities of a large number of nerve-cells, the ganglia- cells, of which the brain is composed. Where the normal arrangement and function of these latter does not exist it is impossible to conceive of a healthy 'soul.' This idea, which is one of the most important' principles of our modern exact physiology, is certainly not compatible with the widespread belief in the personal immortality of man. * * * We now know for certain, and can demonstrate the fact at any moment under the microscope, that the wonderful process of fertilization is nothing more than the commingling of two different cells, the copulation of their kernels. In this pro^- cess the kernel of the male sperm-cell transmits the indi- vidual peculiarities of the father, the kernel of the female egg-cell transmits those of the mother ; the inheritance from both parents is determined by the commingling of both kernels and with it likewise begins the existence of the new individual, the child. It is against all reason to suppose that this new individual should have 'an eternal life' without end, when we can minutely determine the finite beginning of its existence by direct observation." (Ibid., Vol. ii., pp. 494, 495.) Denying the teachings of the Scriptures and accepting as he does, Development in its "entirety," Haeckel makes no distinction between mind and soul, but regards them as iden- tical. And insists that man is merely a highly developed and cultivated ape, and no more capable of obtaining immor- 22 THE REALITY AND tality than any Other animal, and that our religion is simply a worthless superstition. In attempting to explain the origin of religion, Sir John Lubbock says: "The first great stages in religious thought may, I think, be regarded as — "Atheism; understanding by this term not a denial of the existence of a Deity, but an absence of any definite ideas on the subject. "Fetichism; the stage in which man supposes he can force the deities to comply with his desires. "Nature-Worship or Totemism; in which natural objects, trees, lakes, stones, animals, etc., are worshiped. "Shamanism; in which the superior deities are far more powerful than man, and of a different nature. Their place of abode also is far away, and accessible only to Shamans. "Idolatry or Anthropomorphism ; in which the gods take still more completely the nature of men, being, however, more powerful. They are still amenable to persuasion ; they are a part of nature, and not creators. They are represented by images or idols. "In the next stage the Deity is regarded as the author, not merely a part of nature. He becomes for the first time a really supernatural being. "The last stage to which I will refer is that in which morality is associated with religion." {Origin of Civiliza- tion, pp. 209, 210.) If the teachings of the Theory of Development are true and if man is only an intellectual and highly cultivated ani- mal with no immortality, and if monotheism the sublimest religion the world has ever known, is merely the result of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 23 development from the most degrading and savage supersti- tion, if all this is true, then Byron is right when he says : " 'Ay, but to die, and go,' alas! Where all have gone, and all must go! i To be the nothing that I was Ere born to life and living woe! "Count o'er the joys thine hours have seen, Count o'er thy days from anguish free, And know, whatever thou hast been, * 'Tis something better not to be." CHAPTER II. The School of Divine Creation. Genesis. Chapter I. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. "And the earth was without form, and void; and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. "And God said, Let there be light : and there was light. "And God saw the light, that it was. good : and God di- vided the light from the darkness. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night; and the- evening and the morning were the first day. "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament : and it was so. "And God called the firmament Heaven. And the even- ing and the morning were the second day. "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land ap- pear : and it was so. "And God called the dry land Earth ; and the gathering together the waters He called Seas : and God saw that it was good. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb 24 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 25 yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth : and it was so. "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind : and God saw that it was good. "And the evening and the morning were the third day. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and, years : "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth : and it was so. "And God made two great lights : the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also. "And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to di- vide the light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good. "And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and. fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament heaven. "And God created great whales, and every living crea- ture that moveth, which the waters brought forth abund- antly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind : and God saw that it was good. "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multi- ply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. "And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living crea- 26 THE REALITY AND ture after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the. earth after his kind: and it was so. "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and God saw that it was good. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping, thing that creepeth upon the earth. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat : and it was so. "And God saw everything that he had made, and, be- hold, it was. very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." CHAPTER II. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 27 "And on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : be- cause that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became aliving soul. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. "The name of the first is Pison; that is it which com- passeth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold ; "And the gold of that land is good : there is bdellium and the onyx stone. "And the name of the second river is Gihon ; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 28 THE REALITY AND "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel : that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. "And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him. "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them : and what- soever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. "And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an helpmeet for him. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. "And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one flesh. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed:" (The Bible.) CHAPTER III. The Teachings of Spiritualism. Since we have presented the teachings of the Theory of Development in the language of its leading authorities ; and those of the Scriptural school in the language of the inspired writer, it is now in order to give the teachings of Spir- itualism, and who could better present those views than "The Great Poughkeepsie Seer" A. J. Davis, who says : "The geologists of Europe, with two or three excep- tions, are mortgaged to the early doctrines of Egypt and Persia, regarding the ORIGIN of the physical universe. Brewster, Burke, Murchinson, Hugh Miller — the talented master-builders of the terrestrial science — begin with the popular dogma of original special 'creation ;' and so, although they are compelled to differ from supernaturalism in their secondary conclusions, yet primarily, modern science and popular theology are wholly at peace — being equally my- thological." {Present Age and Inner Life, p. 39.) Mr. Davis gives us quite a full account of the formation of the universe from a Spiritualistic stand-point in these words : "Previous to the present structure of the Universe, the immeasurable realms of immensity were channels through which flowed seas of unformed materials. Infini- tude was filled with elements of divine power, and with es- sences of progressive and eternal tendencies. And residing in the centre yet spreading to the unimaginable circumfer- ence was the Holy Artisan — the Divine Architect — the 29 30 THE REALITY AND Great Positive Mind! This Almighty Power and Creative Principle, is called God. The eternal elements of his being-, were conceiving, in their utmost depths, a sublime creation — a sacred embodiment of Celestial principles. For there was then but two great co-eternal principles in all the wide- spread universe — Mind and Matter, or, God and the ele- ments of his physical organization. And having perfected the plan of the universe — God said, with the full co-opera- tion of his indwelling elements and essences of Love — 'LET Us Make Man/ "And then the first attribute of Wisdom, which is Use, said : 'Man shall be a culmination of universal nature ; he shall be so organized in his body as to receive and elaborate the animating elements of nature unto an eternal and un- changeable Soul; and his Soul — being constituted of those principles which are in themselves pure, everlasting and in- finite — shall possess and obey the tendency to unfold arid progress forever.' "And then the second attribute of Wisdom, which is Justice, said — 'Man shall occupy such a position in the Uni- verse as will secure to all things, organized or unorganized, visible or invisible, a permanent equilibrium of power, pos- sessions and demands.' "And then the third attribute of Wisdom, which is Power, said — 'Man shall be created through the mediums and intrumentalities of countless Suns and Planets, and also through the regular and harmonious development of minerals, vegetables, and animals; each of which shall cor- respond to, represent, and embody, some particular portion of his organism.' "And then the fourth attribute of Wisdom, which is EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 31 Beauty, said — 'Man shall represent and embrace all Suns and Planets, all minerals and vegetables ; and also the energy and strength, and symmetry, and structural beauty of all animals, in his form, organs, and functions.' "And then the fifth attribute of Wisdom, which is Aspi- ration, said — 'Man shall know himself to be immortal, he shall be the King, the Lord, the Crown, the Coronation of Nature; he shall aspire to an Angel, a Seraph, a God.' "Then the sixth and highest attribute of Divine Wis- dom, which is Harmony, said— 'Man shall be an exact em- bodiment of the Great Spirit who creates him ; he shall rep- resent, in a finite degree, the elements and attributes of the Infinite; he shall desire, and be capable of, and shall enjoy, the most ineffable blessedness; he shall aspire after har- mony, shall unfold it, and shall give his eternal existence to its maintenance; he shall be an embodiment of Nature, a revelation of Harmony, and an image of God.' "Such is deeply impressed upon my spirit as the far shadow of the Divine plans and celestial Contemplations of the Great First Cause, previous to the creation of man and the elaboration of the present illimitable universe. And im- mediately subsequent to this concurrence of plans and deci- sions in the wisdom-chambers of the Supernal Mind, there rolled forth, into the sublime depths of infinity, an endless chain of the most magnificent orbs — suns of immeasurable magnitude and unutterable grandeur. And in like manner, circle after circle of suns were unfolded from out the deep bosom of the previous seas of unorganized materials; and thus the universe was organized and spread throughout the innumerable realms of boundless infinitude. "But for what purpose were- all these suns, planets and satelites unfolded? What use was this universe of moving 32 THE REALITY AND orbs to subserve? Why create them at all? Because the great attribute of Omnipotence, in accordance with immuta- ble principles of being and doing, hath said that 'Man shall be created through the mediums and instrumentalities of countless suns and planets ; and also through the regular and harmonious development of minerals, vegetables, and animals.' "From these Divine revealments we must draw the fol- lowing conclusions : "I. That the stupendous universe is organized for the ultimate purpose of developing and organizing Man. "II. That the anatomical and physiological construc- tions of Man are designed to receive and elaborate t l -e ani- mating elements of Nature into an immortal and endlessly progressive soul. "The subject under consideration is now before the mind. I will therefore proceed to a more minute examina- tion of the proposition that Man is a culmination of uni- versal nature. "Notwithstanding the unpopularity of the philosophy which accounts for Man's existence upon principles of progressive development, nevertheless it is the only philoso- phy which reason can sanction and the soul cherish as its own. But it is exceedingly difficult for those minds who have been born and educated in the midst, and under the influence of mythological theology, to see its truth and un- derstand its application. It is easier for a blind man, who never saw the light, to understand the properties and beau- ties of the distant landscape, than for an uneducated, or a wrongly-educated mind, to comprehend the truths of this philosophy. Should the reader therefore have his reason clouded, or his' intuition so buried beneath a superficial and EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 33 dogmatic education as to cause him to shrink from the pres- ent investigation, then he should arise with manly strength to unshackle his thoughts, and to burst open the dungeon door, that his imprisoned understanding may come forth and be free. One breath of liberty's atmosphere — one glimpse of the serene light which emanates from truth and knowl- edge—is sufficient to compensate the soul for years — yea, for a life-time of intellectual and spiritual slavery. "Probably the most repulsive feature of this philosophy, to the uninitiated inquirer, is the proposition that Man came from the animal creation ; or, perhaps, the implied denial of the generally received doctrine which maintains that Man, i as wei: as everything in Nature, is a direct and immediate creation from God's own hand. But here on the threshold of our examination, let it be deeply impressed that, I do not teach that there is any sudden, miraculous or unnatural meta- morphosis of the quadrumana into Man ; nor that Man is an effect of the immediate transfiguration of any particular organization to be found in the animal kingdom ; but I am impressed to affirm that Man was developed, subsequent to minerals, vegetables, and animals, by a focul concentration of all the elements, essences and substances, under the most perfect conditions and influences which exist in Nature. The Deity operates and creates according to unchangeable and impartial laws. For as much as the general of anything includes innumerable particulars, it is agreeable to the highest reason to believe that God made provision for the minutest objects in the universal plan. Thus : having a mighty and sublime End to accomplish, God instituted the widespread Universe, with all its parts and powers perfectly and ex- quisitely adjusted. And as the growing plant arrives at a period when Branches are unfolded, and at another when 34 THE REALITY AND Buds burst forth, at another when Fruit is developed, and yet at another when the fruit is Matured; so has Nature, ac- cording to the unchangeable workings of Divine law, arrived at a period when Minerals were unfolded, and at another when Vegetables burst forth, at another when Animals were developed, and yet at another period when all conditions, elements and essences conspired to the organization of Man. It is just as reasonable to believe that God creates and shapes, like the potter, from the dust of the earth, each little twig, and bud, and acorn of the oak, and places them upon the tree, as to believe that he created, by any special and personal action, the multifarious forms and human struc- tures that breathe and move upon the earth's surface. "But here the reader may inquire — 'If by perpetual and harmonious development Nature has produced plants, brutes, and Man, why do we not see these different organizations and springing up spontaneously, without a germ, from the ever advancing earth?' The answer is, that Nature is a vast and powerful organization; and that it was originally designed to unfold through countless series, degrees and groups of physical and sentient organizations, the material and spiritual constitution of man. Therefore, when Nature arrived at the point where she could accomplish this portion of her mission, it was no longer necessary, nor possible that she should continue in the old path of specific formation. The ultimate Use of Nature is to individualize and immor- talize the human spiritual principle. It is proper, therefore, to consider Nature as a mighty and Magnificent Machine, and the Divine Mind as the omnipotent and omniscient Ar- tisan. Now we may consider the machine as perfect — as not wanting in anything — as being complete and adequate to the great ultimate End for the accomplishment of which it was EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 35 instituted. That Nature is perfect and complete in all her parts, is demonstrated by the perpetually presented fact that human beings are born, and that human spirits ascend to higher spheres. If, then, God has constructed this great Machine upon principles of unchanging order, harmony, and progression — and if it is perfect, even to> the adjustment of an atom — it is unreasonable to inquire why he is not still engaged in constructing it. "We must understand that every mineral bed is a foun- dation stone, that every class of plants is a belt, and that every Animal is a wheel in the sublime mechanical structure of Nature; and Man — that wonderful, fearful, enigmatical being— is the glorious result of its harmonious movements. Hence, should we see plants growing without their germs ; or the quadramana changing into man ; or Man developing other than by the familiar means of impregnation and repro- duction — I say, should we behold these phenomena which belong to centuries past, then would Nature be imperfect, because God would still be engaged in constructing and in perfecting this vast Invention. But since the Whole is in a high state of perfection, we may not expect to 1 behold such aberrations of creative principles; on the contrary, it is only righteous to expect the various wheels in Nature to move harmoniously in the ceaseless performance of their allotted labors. "At an early period in the earth's history and subse- quent to the formation of the primary and secondary strata, a mighty and universal change occurred in the constitution of the atmosphere. This change, being caused by a general earthquake, was attended with a corresponding alteration in the situation of many intermediate strata, and also with an improvement in the condition and refinement of almost 36 THE REALITY AND ' all the terrestrial and divine elements which were previously tending to higher formations. In consequence of the favor- ableness of this change, new strata were formed, and new elements and essences were unfolded, capable of developing and sustaining new and various vegetable organizations. Now let the mind pass rapidly over many centuries — remem- bering that the principles of progression and development were incessantly working out their legitimate mission ; that there was going on a constant refinement and rarencation of all atoms, substances, and vitalizing essences throughout Nature — and now we come to an interesting era in the system of physical development. The igneous rocks are formed; the primary, secondary, transition, and superficial strata are fully confirmed in their structure and position; the diluvial and alluvial systems are nearly complete; the mineral formations are perfect, and are engaged in generat- ing and eliminating many elements of life and vitality; and the various orders and groups of the vegetable kingdom have arrived at the summit of their susceptibility to the pro- lification of surrounding substances, essences and condi- tions. Now there occurred a marriage between the highest forms and essences in the vegetable kingdom — in other language, those particles of matter, and elements of life in each system, which experienced an affinity for one another, converged and united; and the consequence was, assisted by surrounding conditions and circumstances, a development of the first form of animal life. "It is not my present intention to examine the evidences which support this system of organic creation; my object now is, to trace the progressive development of the animal kingdom up to Man. By the first form of animal life, I mean the most inferior order of the radiata — including, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 37 in its subsequent developments, the various and almost in- numerable classes of Zoophyta, polypiaria, etc., which then abundantly peopled the sea. But another Bra arrived in the order of creation, and then came forth a new and a higher class of organizations — fitted to the conditions and influences of food and atmosphere which then existed. Thus the Saurian kingdom was unfolded — including, in its many and various developments, every species of avertebrated animals — such as the conchifera, Crustacea, pterodactyles, ichthosaurus, together with every species of crocodiles, rep- tilia, crustaceous fishes, and batracians. The last named or- der, batrachia, includes frogs, toads, salamanders, and every species of the protens. The protean animals are such as alter their anatomy and physiology several times during their brief existence. This phenomenon in Nature is illus- trated by the frog, which — previous to assuming its ulti- mate form — undergoes two distinct and important anatom- ical changes. After minerals and vegetables unfolded the Pisces or fish kingdom, and after this kingdom unfolded the Saurian kingdom, then the latter arrived at a point of ex- treme development and unfolded the Bird kingdom. Of course, the first order of birds was vastly inferior to those which now exist ; but, by constant progressive improvements in the physical condition of the earth and the atmosphere, the inferior orders gradually advanced to the confirmation of the most perfect of that form of animal life. And then there was another focal-concentrated convergence of the elements and substances which planted the germ, which germ being urged on and quickened into full development by the conspiration of universal nature, resulted in the un- folding of the Marsupial kingdom. Marsupia are animals possessed with pouches in which they carry and cherish their 38 THE REALITY AND young — such as the opossum and kangaroo. Succeeding this kingdom, in consequence of a similar process of concen- trated germinal-properties and circumstantial-prolification, the Mammalial organization was unfolded. Mammalia em- brace all animals which suckle their young. Thus the higher we ascend in Nature, the more closely allied do we find the various organizations to Man. It is almost im- possible to contemplate Nature with a comprehensive, gen- eralizing eye, and determine which to first term man — whether the highest of the quadrumana or the lowest of, the human type — so gradual and progressive is the emergement of one kingdom into another ! The mammalia order of or- ganizations includes the cetacea, rumantia, edentala, pachy- dermia, digitigrade, planitigrade, and the quadrumana. "The primary change from the quadrumana into the in- ferior types of the human organism, is so easy and uncon- spicious, that to the scientific and systematic investigator, the anatomical and physiological transformation is scarcely perceptible. For when Nature was sufficiently perfected to unfold, from out of her inexhaustible properties and es- sences, the Fish, the Saurian, the Bird, the Marsupial, and the Mammalial kingdoms, it had become an easy, imper- ceptible and a comparatively harmonious work to develop Man. Every atom, every element, every essence, every min- eral, vegetable and animal organization in Nature aspired to be Man. The vast spiral of ascending forms in creation strove to be Man ; for he was the grand ultimate end which those forms were originally deigned to accomplish. Hence, when every form of organic life arrived at the consummation of its development, and when Nature was spread all over with beauty and with good atmosphereic and geographical con- ditions, the earth was prepared for Man ; and by a universal EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 39 combination and conspiration of tendencies and efforts on the part of each and everything, he was unfolded. Though at first huge and unrefined, and resembling, in his anatom- ical and physiological constructions, the quadrumana more than any other or higher type of the animal creation, yet man's innate tendency was onward toward perfec- tion, and hence he finally became, in his anatomy and phy- siology what he now is — a coronation of universal Nature i and an image of God ! "The anatomical or structural law, and the physiological or functional law, operate with an omnipotent influence throughout the empire of Nature. Commencing with the elaboration of worlds, these laws display themselves in the geological, in the vegetable, in the animal, and in the bimanal developments and organizations, which constitute and deco- rate those world's surfaces. The anatomical law is mani- fested in vigorous action long prior to the physiological law. But when the vegetable organism is reached, the two prin- ciples become married, as it were, and thereafter move and work upon parallel or nearly identical planes through all the ascending kingdoms of Nature up to, and in, Man. * * * . "Minerals and vegetables converged at a very distant era in the earth's physical and organic history, and, by the commingling of their living forces, merged into and un- folded the fish kingdom. The fish kingdom expanded for many centuries, and then it also converged and unfolded the Saurian kingdom ; and thus, by a constant succession of di- vergences and convergences on the part of each ascending kingdom, the whole animated creation arrived at a high state of perfection, which state is represented in the anatom- ical, physiological and psychological possessions of Man! The diagram, therefore, is illustrative of the true order of 40 THE REALITY AND 1VIAIJE FKMALE v f'| t^™^^ ^emNDIlUn^ '°-i/ e \^ e a. '*/ , ^**«"vtfi fc* Mr. Davis' Diagram from The Great Harmonia, Vol. I. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 41 Nature's physical developments. A full synopsis of Man's creation may be obtained by simply interrogating Nature; for she points up to the Eternal mind who instituted laws that manifest themselves throughout her unfoldings, and bids us consider the principles of Association, Progression, and Development." (The Great Harmonia, Vol. i., pp. 15-25, inc.) "Motion was first especially manifested in the Mineral kingdom ; Life in the Vegetable ; Sensation in the Animal ; and Intelligence in the Human kingdom ; but, as we ascend the successive kingdoms in the development of Nature, we perceive these principles of action to be more and more pro- gressive towards perfection. They become more perfect, both in their approximations to vital or spiritual organiza- tion, and in their modes of acting upon matter. Thus the vegetable is actuated not only by motion but also by life; and the animal not only by motion and life, but by sensation combined with them ; and the human organization is actuated by motion, life, and sensation,' in a perfect state of com- bination, which combination develops an eternal intelli- gence." (Ibid., Vol. i., p. 49.) From the above utterances of Mr. Davis, it is plain that Spiritualism does not belong to either of the "two schools of learning," nor is it a school of learning in itself. It op- poses the Scriptural School in that it presents a colder ma- terialism than even Haeckel's, and opposes Atheism in that it advocates immortality. In a word Spiritualism is Atheism run to seed. In the next world or after physical dissolution has taken place, Spiritualism affirms that there is still endless progression towards the "Great First Cause," at which no one ever has, can or will arrive. CHAPTER IV. God and Matter. In Great Harmonia, Vol. 1, Mr. Davis says: "Thus unaided by any individual, he enters this high and superior state of mental exaltation; and while in this independent condition (which necessarily emancipates his spirit from the influences of the physical organism, and brings him into immediate conjunction with the great sphere of knowl- edge), he receives his spiritual impressions, and rapidly records them with a pencil. In the composition of his works, the author derives no assistance from the reading of books ; nor does he refer to any, except, in rare instances, to the Dictionary, by which he verifies the orthography of those technical terms, which, while in the superior condi- tion, he perfectly understands and employs with great ease and propriety of application." {Preface, pp. 6, 7.) Since Mr. Davis, by his own admission derives his in- formation from the "great sphere of knowledge,' , then all things whatsoever he imparts to us while in that "superior condition " should be absolutely true ; and modern scientific research should only reveal the strength and correctness of his position. In the light, therefore, of the sciences and the scriptures, let us examine his statements as recorded in the preceding chapter. In the natural order of events the first question to be investigated is, what is Mr. Davis' God? Is it a person, a principle, or simply nature? It must be one of the three, 42 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 43 for nothing can at the same time be a person, a principle, and nature That he is undecided as to just what he means by the term God is shown by the following : "And residing in the center yet spreading to the unimaginable circumfer- ence was the Holy Artisan — the Divine Architect — the Great Positive Mind! This Almighty Power and Creative Principle, is called God. The eternal elements of his being, were conceiving, in their utmost depths, a sublime creation — a sacred embodiment of Celestial principles. For there was then but two great co-eternal principles in all the wide- spread universe — Mind and Matter, or, God and the ele- ments of his physical organization. And having perfected the plan of the Universe — God said, with the full co-opera- tion of his indwelling elements and essences of Love — 'Let us make man.' " One would naturally suppose from such expressions as the "Holy Artisan — the Divine Architect," that Mr. Davis accepts for his God a Creator distinct from his creations, for artisan' and architect are terms employed solely to de- scribe a person. But after referring to the "Holy Artisan — the Divine Architect — the Great Positive Mind," as if it were a per- sonality, he says : "This Almighty Power and Creative Principle, is called God." Thus indicating that his God is not a personality but a Principle. Then, again, he indicates that this "Creative Principle" is an intelligent personality, for he says: "The eternal elements of his being were con- ceiving, in their inmost depths, a sublime creation — a sacred embodiment of Celestial principles." How could a mere principle conceive that is, "plot or plan" or devise anything? The absurdity of accrediting a mere principle with reason- ing powers seems never to have occurred to Mr. Davis, and 44 THE REALITY AND if it had he doubtless would have ignored it, as he does other well established facts. Again, he tells us that his God, this Creative Principle, is not only capable of conceiving, planing, devising, etc., but is also capable, of expressing his designs in articulate speech, for he says : "And having perfected the plan of the Uni- verse — God said, with the full co-operation of his indwelling elements and essences of Love — 'Let us make man.' " This be it observed, is simply a proposition and one would nat- urally suppose that a proposition could emanate solely from a personality. The execution of this proposition is assigned to Wisdom. But whether he considers Wisdom, God per- sonified, or whether it is one of the "elements and essences of Love," we are left to conjecture. Be that as it may, at any rate he endows Wisdom with articulate speech, and, therefore, it must of necessity represent a personality. After the various attributes of Wisdom, such as Justice, Power, Beauty, etc., had each had their say, as to what man shall be, "then the sixth and highest attribute of Divine Wisdom, which is Harmony, said — "Man shall be an exact embodi- ment of the Great Spirit who creates him; he shall repre- sent, in a finite degree, the elements and attributes of the Infinite; he shall desire, and be capable of, and shall enjoy, the most ineffable blessedness; he shall aspire after har- money, shall unfold it, and shall give his eternal existence to its maintenance; he shall be an embodiment of Nature, a revelation of Harmony, and an image of God." Thus man was to "desire and be capable of, and shall enjoy the most ineffable blessedness," etc. Since man was to be an exact "embodiment" of the Great Spirit who creates him, it follows that this Great Spirit possessed "desire," and the capacity to enjoy, etc. Under the meaning which EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 45 ordinarily attaches to words these "attributes of the In- finite" would further indicate that the Great Spirit is a personality. This obscurity as to the meaning of the term God, as employed by Mr. Davis is maintained throughout his works. He says, for example: "In one sense, He is an individual, and in another sense, He is not an individual." (Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 272.) Then, again, he says: "We must admit that Mind (or God), and Matter (or Nature) are uncreated and eternal." (Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 246.) From this one would naturally suppose that he makes a distinction between "Mind (or God) and Matter (or Nature)," when he declares each to be uncreated and eternal. But in this we are mistaken, for he tells us that "all we know of creation is simply con- fined to that unceasing and universal change of atoms which is going on in the vast, immeasurable organization of God, called nature." Thus we find that the distinction which he had just drawn between these uncreated and eternal things is obliterated, and that God is nature. But the uncertain meaning of all terms previously employed by Mr. Davis, descriptive of God, are destroyed, and finally merged into one term, as shown by his statement that "it (matter) is in all things, and is all things, and there is nothing that is not matter." (Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 237.) Thus we find that the "Holy Artisan," the "Divine Architect," the "Great Positive Mind," the "Almighty Power," the "Creative Principle," "God," "Wisdom," and ks "attributes" and "Nature" are one, and all simply mat- ter, that Matter is all things and that "there is nothing that is not matter." If these absurdities arid contradictions are the best re- sults obtainable from the "great sphere of knowledge," then 46 THE REALITY AND Mr. Davis and his followers would have been far better in- formed had he devoted more time to the "reading of books," and less to the "superior condition." The evident play upon words in which Mr. Davis indulges reveals a pitiable effort upon his part to explain the origin of the material universe without the intervention of an intelligent Creator. In pleasing contrast to the contradictory and confusing statements of Mr. Davis, we present the following learned argument by Prof. Winchell, as to the existence of a per- sonal God: "I join here in swelling the testimony of antiquity and of the large majority of thinkers of all ages, that Deity is proclaimed in the creation; that it is legitimate to deduce divine motives from the structure of the cosmos, and to point out motives as the moving causes of divine activity. * * * "Every effect, whether simple or complex, implies inten- tionally, and this implies intelligence. From the moment we recognize the world as an effect, we are compelled, by the necessary laws of thought, to recognize also intelligence. I do not refer here to the character of the effect, but simply to the fact that the world is an effect. * * * "Finally, the consummation of the causal act implies the exertion of will. There must be an executive deter- mination of conscious efficiency toward the contemplated effect which has awakened desire and purpose. All the other causative steps converge here. Will is the last condition of effect. Being the last condition, Will always implies In- telligence and Sensibility. 'Will is the synthesis of Reason and Power.' In strict language, 'intelligent will' is a tauto- logical phrase. Will is the only force in existence. * * * "Will, then, closes the circuit of causation. Will com- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 47 pletes and implies the exercise of the three classes of psychic activities which characterize personality. Intellect, Sensi- bility, Will — these are the prime factors of a personal dif- ferentiation from the objective datum of causality. Once before we reached the principle of duality. Now we per- ceive that one term of the duality must be a personality. It is impossible to interpret truly an effect without discovering Intellect, Sensibility and Will; and it is impossible to think of these except as the attributes of a personal existence. ,, (Reconciliation of Science and Religion, pp. Ill, 116, 117, 118, 119.) Thus we find that Prof. Winchell, the distinguished sci- entist, can not conceive of First Cause or Deity, except as possessing "Intellect, Sensibility and Will," and these attri- butes he tells us are inseparable from a personality. In this he voices the best thought of many of the leading profane writers of both ancient and modern times. This is fully sustained by the inspired authors. While the Bible does not propose to give an account of the origin of God, it does clearly and concisely teach that there is a Creator — a personal God, distinct from His works. The Bible is the only book that gives a cosmogony of the uni- verse fully sustained at every point by modern scientific re- search. It must be admitted that the existence of God can jiot be proved by actual observation. It must also be ad- mitted that inasmuch as the teachings of the Bible upon all other important subjects are proved true that this funda- mental teaching of an intelligent Creator is demonstrated by deduction. When we see some fine mechanical structure, such as a palace or a temple, it never occurs to us that it evolved into its present magnificent proportions under the influence of 48 THE REALITY AND some natural law or some principle innate in matter. On the contrary, we recognize it as an expression of intelligence controlling matter. So it is with the universe, except in an infinitely greater degree; when we observe its varied phe- nomena and the laws governing their movements we should see in these the expression of an Infinite intelligence con- trolling matter. It is preposterous to seriously ask any one to accept as their God, a Creator who begins by being a "Holy Artisan," a "Divine Architect," a "Great Positive Mind," and, finally dwindles down to mere matter, such as Mr. Davis offers for our consideration. This offensive appeal to our credulity is emphasized by the fact that to accept it we must renounce the elevating and ennobling teachings of the Bible as to the existence of a Creator of infinite intelligence. Prof. Haeckel says of matter : "Natural science teaches that matter is eternal and imperishable." In dicussing the eternity of matter Hudson Tuttle says : "The origin of matter and force evade the grasp of the human mind. Consistent philosophy can only rest its sure foundations on the admission of the co-eternity of the atom and the forces which emanates therefrom. We have no knowledge of the creation or destruction of the least frag- ment of matter. We are only acquainted with change. * * * Here on the assumed co-eternity of Matter and Force, on the foundation of Materialism, we plant our philosopy of Spiritualism. Without such basis, scientific reasoning is futile and vain." (The Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 21.) Mr. Davis, like Hudson Tuttle and other spiritualists "on the assumed co-eternity of Matter and Force, on the foundation of Materialism," plants his "philosophy of Spirit- ualism," as shown by the following : EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 49 "The foundation of the whole superstructure is the ab- solute indestructibility of Matter, or of that universal sub- stance which gives us a tangible individuality, and which constitutes the outer physical organization of the Great Posi- tive Mind. Matter is eternal. * * * God and his Body are eternal. There was nothing prior to Deity by which He could have been created ; nor was there ever a period in the depths of time when Matter did not exist. God was not created — Matter was not created. Anything that is created contains within itself the elements of change and disorgani- zation. Anything uncreated is beyond the sphere of change and distruction. I mean if anything was created as theo- logians believe that matter was created out of nothing, then that thing would contain within itself the elements of return- ing to a similar state — it would change back to nothing. We must admit that Mind (or God) and Matter (or Nature) are uncreated and eternal." (Ibid., Vol. ii., pp. 237, 245.) From the above, it will be observed that Atheism, as pre- sented by Prof. Haeckel, and Spiritualism, as presented by Andrew Jackson Davis, have a common basis in the as- sumed indestructibility and eternity of matter. For we hold and will prove both by the sciences and the Bible that matter is not eternal, but that it was created. In arguing to prove that matter is not eternal, Dr. Pat- terson says : "Homogeneous, gaseous matter has been sepa- rated, investigated and found to bear the Creator's mark. Science has penetrated even into the constitution of matter, and from the constitution of its smallest parts, the mole- cules of which each element is composed, it has demonstrated the necessity for, and the proof of, the existence of a Maker. The ultimate molecules of matter are made, manufac- tured, and bear the manufacturer's brand indelibly stamped 50 THE REALITY AND upon each one of them. Allow me to cite the words of one whose name will ensure respect from all scientists — Prof. James Clerk Maxwell, in his lecture before the British As- sociation as given in the Scientific American, and cited in the Interior, Sept. 4, 1873 : " 'Professor Clerk Maxwell lately delivered an interest- ing lecture before the British Association upon Molecules, by which is meant the subdivision of matter into the greatest possible number of portions, similar to each other. Thus, if a number of molecules of water are combined, they form a mass of water. Molecules of some compound substances may be subdivided into their component substances. Thus the molecule of water separates into two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen. " Trofessor Maxwell has calculated the size and weight of hydrogen molecules, and finds that about two millions of them, placed side by side in a row, would occupy a length of about one twenty-fifth of an inch, and that a package of them, containing a million million million million of them, would weigh sixty-two grains, or not quite one-eighth of an ounce. " 'Each molecule throughout the universe, bears im- pressed on it the stamp of a metric system as distinctly as does the meter of the archives of Paris, or the double royal cubit of the Temple of Karnac. " 'No theory of evolution can be formed to account for the similarity of molecules, for evolution necessarily implies continuous change, and the molecule is incapable of growth or decay, of generation or destruction. None of the processes of nature, since the time when nature began, have produced the slightest difference in the properties of any molecule. We are, therefore, unable to ascribe either the existence of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 51 the molecules or the identity of their properties to the mole- cules, or the identity of their properties to the operation of any of the causes which we call natural. On the other hand, the exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind, gives it, as Sir John Herschel has well said, the essential character of a manufactured article, and precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent. " 'Thus we have been led, along a strictly scientific path, very near to the point at which science must stop. Not that science is debarred from studying the internal mechanism of a molecule, which she can not take to pieces, any more than from investigating an organism which she cannot put to- gether, but in tracing back the history of matter, science is arrested when she assures herself, on the one hand, that the molecule has been made, and on the other that it has not been made by any of the processes we call natural. " 'Science is incompetent to reason upon the creation of matter itself out of nothing. We have reached the utmost limit of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that because matter cannot be eternal and self-existent, it must have been created. It is only when we contemplate, not matter in itself, but the form in which it actually exists, that our mind finds something on which it can lay hold. That matter, as such, should have certain fundamental properties, that it should exist in space, and be capable of motion, that its motion should be persistent, and so on, are truths which may, for anything we know, be of the kind which metaphy- sicians call necessary. We may use our knowledge of such truth for purposes of deduction, but we have no data for speculating as to their orgin. But that there should be ex- actly so much matter and no more in every molecule of hydrogen, is a fact of a very different order. * * * They 52 THE REALITY AND continue this day as they were created, perfect in number and measure and weight, and from the ineffaceable charac- ters impressed on them we may learn that those aspirations after accuracy in measurement, truth in statement, and jus- tice in action, which we reckon among our noblest attributes as men, are ours, because they are essentially constituents of the image of Him, who in the beginning created, not only the heaven and the earth, but the materials of which heaven and earth consist/ " (The Errors of Evolution, pp. 73, 74, 75, 76.) Thus we find that modern scentific research reveals the fact that matter is not self-existent — is not eternal ; but is a manufactured article and that "each molecule throughout the universe bears impressed on it the stamp of a metric system." As might have been expected, the distinguished scholar, Professor Winchell, in opposition to materialism, and in harmony with modern science, affirms that matter is not eternal, but is an effect, he says : "Albertus Magnus, in the face of the prevailing senti- ment of antiquity, follows the instinct of causality to its legitimate conclusion, and affirms that even matter is an effect. * * * "I am ready to admit the expression 'caused from eter- nity ;' though I should deny the necessary existence of mat- ter or motion from eternity, or from any other assignable epoch. I can conceive that before the beginning of the existence of the present cosmos, or even its matter, Deity had ordained an infinite series of schemes of existence, none of which involved the employment of what we call matter. Thus, it seems to me, the fundamental postulate of what we call atomism can only be granted by creation. * * * * The universe, as an effect, must be subsequent to its cause. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 53 The existence of matter can not run parallel with the being of Deity. Matter may be eternal in the mathematical sense; but the being of God is precedent both logically and historic- ally. (Ibid., pp. 99, 102, 103, 104.) If matter is only mathematically eternal — this means that it is eternal in a limited sense only — which means that it is not eternal at all — which means that it is created. Continuing, Prof. Winchell says: Cause is a word which I have used in a sense somewhat restricted. I have not admitted as real cause any agency supposed to be exerted, in the natural world, by what we call matter. The energy, however, which emerges from matter, and impinges upon matter, has generally been taken as the type of efficient cause. It has been assumed that energy may be pocketed in portions of matter, to be let loose on certain occasions, and produce effects. Not denying for the moment, the possibil- ity that matter may become the repository of force, it is im- possible for me to conceive of matter as a fountain of force. A thing which is itself an effect must be an effect in all its parts and in all its attributes. All energy emanating from an effect must be itself an effect; and all results of its effi- ciency must be results of the first or original cause. * * * * "Thus the assumption of independent, originative voli- tion in matter would be a new thing in philosophy — a theory sounding a dissonance with the tenor of human thought; and awaking in antagonism the historical instincts of hu- manity. Moreover, the investiture of matter with thinking and voluntary attributes would summon us to the funeral of God and the soul. If matter thinks, there is no need to postulate spirit. If matter creates, and ordains, and co- ordinates, this is our god which we trample under our feet and sweep from our door-sills. 54 THE REALITY AND "It is perfectly safe to assume that matter is not self- conscious and self-motive. Two alternatives remain. It may be conceived as absolutely passive and adynamic — a mere channel for the transmission of energy, from some original fountain of force; or, as is conceivable, at least as a formula of words, it may be a repository of delegated force. The latter alternative approaches the current concep- tion; which, however, represents natural force as a blind energy, resident in matter, and constituting an essential property of matter. Let me inquire, first, what is involved in the popular idea that force inheres in matter. Under the prevailing conception, the myriad motions of the physical world are but the phenomena produced by the effort of force to reach a state of equilibrium. Gravitation is the cause of myriads of movements. * * * * "That if these undiscerning mechanical forces inhere in matter, they must have been made inherent by some agent or cause. If so made, the event must have transpired in time. The theory necessitates an intelligent, uncaused Author of matter, with its properties. This is the current theistic con- ception. "The other thought is an anticipation of the end of this physical ferment, and the quest for some datum not involved in the final subsidence of cosmical activities. The transmission of heat from the sun to the earth, and from the earth's interior to external space, has been the physical cause of the terrestrial changes of millions of years. But the heat which escapes from the earth never returns to it ; and the sun loses not only the thermal energy imparted to the earth, and the other heavenly bodies, but the infinitely greater amounts disseminated through the unoccupied spaces of the universe. Hence the basis of the doctrine of the 'dissipation of energy.' EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 55 The epoch is separated from us by only a finite interval, when these great perennial sources of physical activity shall have been exhausted, and, however the ferment may be prolonged by agencies impossible to compute, the whole world, the whole solar system, shall have settled at length into that condition of stagnation and death towards which creation is daily marching with strides as visible as the approach of those wintry frosts which are browning the meadows and shaking the scarlet leaflet to the ground. This impending crisis marks an end of the cosmical ferment as sharply as its historical purport pronounces as beginning; and leaves us at both extremities of existence, with no support but the same All-sufficiency already revealed in the dependent nature of force and motion and matter. "Such conclusions are necessarily involved in the popular idea that force inheres in matter. * * * * Is it think- able, for instance,, that a molecule of inert matter should be made the repository of an energy which should perpetually draw its neighboring molecule towards it, and of another energy which should perpetually repel it ; or that these two forces should act respectively at certain distances, and cease to act at distances greater or less than these; or that, both forces acting, they should be found in equilibrium at sev- eral different intervals of distance between the molecules? Is it thinkable that either atomic or molar matter is capable of exerting efficiency at a distance ? Is it not a necessity of thought that efficiency requires presence in space as well as in time — activity here as well as now? I confess that, with all my efforts at abstraction and invention, I am unable to think 'dead' matter — for that is the kind of which I speak — as acting or as the seat of a 'dead' energy which acts. * * * "Of delegated force residing in matter I can form no 56 THE REALITY AND other conception than that it is actuated by the delegating power — a sort of form or husk, the substance and vitality within which is imparted from some source superior to mat- ter. * * * If such force is delegated, it is dependent, and destitute of autonomy; and it can only be a matter of mere speculation whether its accredited power is enduring or re- quires to be instantly renewed. In any case, the very form of words implies a source of power superior to matter and material energy, and no interest remains in the question, save as a mere contingency of science. * * * * "Thus we find ourselves, by whatever path we pursue our explorations through the mysteries of matter and force, always confronted by the divine presence. We cannot flee from Deity. There is no way to invent a world which must not depend first and last upon divine support. There is no way to think of an atom of matter, or that which may be called an atom, without conceiving it afloat in the breath of divine power." (Ibid. , pp. 120-130, inc.) Again we have shown by the sciences that matter is not eternal. That Prof. Winchell, Albertus Magnus and others affirm that "even matter is an effect" And now this distinguished biologist adds his testimony to that of other scientists in favor of the necessity of a Creator : "Lord Kelvin, the distinguished scientist, in mov- ing a vote of thanks to Prof. Henslow, for his lecture before the University College Christian Association, demurred to the professor's assertion, that with regard to the origin of life, science neither affirmed nor denied the creative power. "On the contrary, he said, "science positively affirmed the creative power. Science made every one feel that he was a miracle in himself. Modern biologists were coming EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 57 to the firm acceptance of a vital principle. They have been absolutely forced by science to admit and believe in a direc- tive power; in an influence other than physical, dynamical and electrical forces; there was nothing between absolute scientific belief in a creative power and the acceptance of the theory of the fortuitous concourse of atoms. " 'Was there,' he asked, 'anything so absurd as to believe that a number of atoms following the ground of their own accord, could make a crystal sprig of moss, the microbe of a living animal. Nobody could think that anything like that could, unaided, give us a beautiful world like ours. Let no body be afraid of true freedom of thought. Let us be free in thought and criticisms, but with freedom we are bound to come to the conclusion that science is not antagonistic, but is a help to religion.' " {Special to the St. Louis Star, May 3, 1903.) Thus the teachings of the sciences sustains the Mosaic Record that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This evidently does not mean that God created them as they are to day, for the Mosaic Record proceeds to give an account of the formation of the heavens and the earth and their various phenomena. But it simply means that in the beginning God brought into existence and intro- duced into what was formerly empty space, the molecules of matter, the material of which our physical universe is composed. Thus we have shown by the sciences and the scriptures that matter is not eternal, but that it is artificial. This de- stroys the basis of Atheism. It also sweeps the foundation from under Spiritualism, for Mr. Davis himself admits that if we deny this "fundamental conviction of truth (the eter- nity of matter) we have no grounds or foundation from 58 THE REALITY AND which to reason." Thus the sciences and the scriptures teach that modern spiritualism, so far from being based upon "unequivocal knowledge," is founded upon the grossest error. In discussing a creation, Mr. Davis says: "That there is no creation but Formation." (Present Age and Inner Life, p. 39.) But,' as usual, he contradicts himself a few pages further on by asserting that, "creation is a beautiful sermon ; terminating with a grand, glowing, glorious conclu- sion — the human soul." (Ibid., p. 50.) Before proceeding further, let us inquire what is a crea- tion, and what a formation ? In discussing this subject Prof. Dawson says: "What, then, is creation in the sense of the Hebrew writer? The act is expressed by the verb bara, a word of comparatively rare occurrence in the Scriptures, and em- ployed to denote absolute creation. * * * * "In the first chapter of Genesis, after the general state- ment in verse i, other verbs signifying to form or make are used to denote the elaboration of the separate parts of the universe, and the word 'create' is found in only two places, ' when it refers to the introduction of 'great whales' (reptiles) and of man. These uses of the word have been cited to dis- prove its sense o£ absolute creation. It must be observed, however, that in the first of these cases we have the earliest appearance of animal life, and in the second the introduction of a rational and spiritual nature. Nothing but pure mate- rialism can suppose that the 'elements of vital and spiritual being were included in the matter of the heavens and the earth as produced in the beginning; and as the Scripture writers were not materialists, we may infer that they recog- nized, in the introduction of life and reason, acts of absolute EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 59 creation, just as in the origin of matter itself. In Genesis ii and iii, we have a form of expression which well marks the distinction between creation and making. God is there said to have rested from all his works, which he 'created and made' — literally, created 'for or in reference to mak- ing/ the word for making being one of those already re- ferred to — (asah). The force of this expression consists in its intimating that God not only finished the work of crea- tion, properly so-called, but also the elaboration of the va- rious details of the universe, as formed or fashioned out of the original materials. * * * 'In the Hebrew Scriptures this word bara is applied to God only as an agent, not to any human artificer; a fact which is very important with refer- ence to its true significance." (The Origin of the World, pp. 90, 91, 92.) In discussing the difference between creation and forma- tion, Mr. Carroll says: "A creation is the bringing into existence, and introduction into the material universe of some new element. A formation is something made out of some pre-existing material — the result of a mere change wrought in the form of the original element. ,, (Tempter of Eve, p. 42.) This enables us to readily perceive the difference between the terms creation and formation. Thus, by the aid of the Scriptures and the sciences we have disproved the information obtained by Mr. Davis from the "great sphere of knowledge," while in the so- called "superior condition." Mr. Davis himself admits that his teachings are not only opposed to the teachings of modern theology but to those of the sciences ; he says : "The Harmonial Philosophy, on the contrary, in opposition to the primary teachings of modern theology and science, affirms the eternity of matter." (Ibid., p. 39.) CHAPTER V. The Spiritualistic Theory as to the Origin of Min- erals and Vegetables. In attempting to account for the origin of the universe, Atheism teaches that the universe is the effect of the opera- tion of certain laws governing matter. These laws, how- ever, are not the result of Infinite Intelligence, but came into existence of themselves — that is, spontaneously. For example, Darwin accounts for the transmutation of lower species of plants and animals into higher forms, and the transmutation of the higher species of animals into man by the operation of what he terms the law of "Natural Se- lection, or Survival of the Fittest." He then proceeds mi- nutely to describe the operations of that law. Thus giving something real, something tangible to investigate. Not so the Spiritualists. For while they teach that the universe, and everything therein contained, is the effect of the operation of the laws of "Association, Progression and Development," yet they are absolutely silent as to the origin of these laws ; how they operate, or why they operate at all. Thus leaving us in absolute ignorance on these important questions. According to the Universal Dictionary, "Atheism may be termed Materialism in its naked, and not its transcen- dental sense." Therefore, since Materialism is one branch of Atheism, and since Materialism is the basis of Spiritualism, and since 60 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 61 Spiritualism disdains to explain the operation of her so- called laws, in order to show the absurdities of Spiritualism it is necessary first to successfully assail Atheism and Ma- terialism and thus destroy the foundation of Spiritualism. For example, in a preceding chapter, Mr. Davis says : "Such is deeply impressed upon my spirit as the far shadow of the Divine plans and celestial contemplations of the Great First Cause, previous to the creation of man and the elaboration of the present illimitable universe. And im- mediately subsequent to this concurrence of plans and de- cisions in the wisdom-chambers of the Supernal Mind, there rolled forth, into the sublime depths of infinity, an endless chain of the most magnificent orbs — suns of immeasureable magnitude and unutterable grandeur. And in like manner, circle after circle of suns were unfolded from out the deep bosom of the previous seas of unorganized materials; and thus the universe was organized and spread throughout the innumerable realms of boundless infinitude." (Ibid., Vol. i, p. 17.) In attempting to analyze the writings of Mr. Davis, we must bear in mind that whatever term or terms he may em- ploy in referring to what we would call Deity, he is always speaking of matter in different degrees of development, for he says: "It (matter) is in all things, and is all things, and there is nothing that is not matter." Therefore, it is not intellect but matter that "plans" the universe; and there rolled from the "Supernal Mind," that is from Matter "mag- nificent orbs" and "suns of immeasurable magnitude and grandeur." A more minute discussion of this subject is given by Mr. Davis in the following language: He says: "Let us interrogate nature. She points up to the eternal 62 THE REALITY AND mind, who instituted laws that manifest themselves through her unfoldings, and she bids us consider the principles of Association, Progression and Development. "Under the powerful and constant direction of these laws, we perceive the unbroken perpetual tendency of all forms and substances toward unity, perfection, and organi- zation. From the Great Central Mind proceed innumer- able elements and substances which form innumerable nuclei. These individually attract those elements, and substances that have corresponding individual affinities; and these ac- cumulate, and condense, and purify and form suns, system of suns, comets, planets, and satellites. Then from the central mass and fertile womb of each planet rudimental particles ascend, and undergoing a process similar to that by which the planets were made and developed, they ultimate and develop mineral combinations." (Ibid., Vol. ii., pp. 237, 238.) Those at all familiar with the Nebular Hypothesis will observe that there is a striking resemblance between the teachings of the Great French infidel, La Place, and those of Davis, the Spiritualist. For example, they each attempt to account for the origin of the universe without the aid of a Creator ; they each hold that matter is eternal and fills all space and that "there is nothing that is not matter." Davis' "Great Central Mind," from which "proceed elements and essences" which "accumulate and condense, and purify and form suns, system of suns, comets, planets and satellites," bears a close resemblance to La Place's great "Central sun," or "nebulous star" which threw off gaseous rings which cooled and condensed and formed the earth, the planets and the stars, etc. Since there is so striking a resemblance between Davis' EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 63 theory of the origin of the solar system and La Place's Nebula Theory, in proving the fallacy of the one, exposes the inconsistency and absurdities of the other. As the Nebula Hypothesis is the one now most generally accepted among Atheists, Materialists and Spiritualists we will, therefore, investigate this theory in the light of the Scriptures and the sciences. In presenting this theory, Prof. Guyot says : "In the genesis of our solar system, as explained by the genius of La Place, * * * we see how a family of planets has been detached from a vast central body which holds them in bondage in their orbits by the power of its mass. "This last history, which immediately concerns the earth as one of the daughters of our sun, is so important in help- ing us to understand the phases of development undergone by our globe, that it may be well to give a short outline of the foundation on which it rests. "1. It is found that the distances of the orbits of the planets from the sun follow a nearly regular law, which is, that, starting from the orbit of Mercury and counting the place of the asteroids as one planet, each succeeding orbit is about double the distance of the preceding one. "2. On the whole, the planets nearer the sun are smaller than the more distant ones. "3. Their density is increasing with their nearness to the sun. "4. All the planets and their satellites revolve around the sun in the same direction and nearly in the same plane as the equator of the sun itself. "5. The velocity of their revolution is diminishing with their distance from the sun. 64 THE REALITY AND "6. The rapidity of their rotation on their axis, on the contrary, is increasing. "All these coincidences point to a common law which seems to indicate a community of origin. "To explain it La Place had not to go so far back as Herschel, to the point where matter begins to gather from the immensity of space around a nucleus forming a nebulous mass. He assumed, as his starting point, the sun as a nebu- lous star with a powerful nucleus, revolving on its axis, and whose hot gaseous atmosphere extended beyond the limit of the orbit of Neptune. Plunged in the cold abysses of heaven, in which it loses incessantly, by radiation, a part of its heat, it cools and contracts; its centrifugal force increasing rap- idly at the same time. Under its action, the cool and heavier particles rush toward the equatorial parts, where, owing to the continual contraction of the main body, they are soon left behind in the shape of a ring similar to those which we observe around Saturn. "According to the laws of motion, the ring continues to move with the same velocity as the main body from which it is detached. But as the ring itself shrinks in cooling, its inner surface, receding from the sun, begins to move less rapidly, while the outside, approaching nearer the sun, moves with greater rapidity. The equilibrium being thus disturbed, the ring tends to break up, and the outside gaining upon the inside, the whole is rolled up into a single globular mass with a rotary motion in the same direction as that of the ring itself. The result is a planet revolving around the sun and rotating on its axis in the same direction as the sun and in the plane of its equator. By further contraction of the sun, the same process is repeated and new planets are formed. They decrease in size, because the detached rings EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 65 grow less at every step. They increase in density, because the later planets are detached when the density of the sun is increased. The larger planets have a more rapid rotation, because they have been contracting during a longer period of time." (Creation, pp. 67, 68, 69, 70.) That the Nebula Hypothesis is opposed to the sciences is shown by the following high authorities. In commenting on the Nebula Hypothesis, Dr. Patterson says: "La Place, the best infidel mathematician of his day, set himself to investigate the construction of the solar sys- tem; with such success in his own opinion, that he was able to suggest several improvements on the creator's plan, by which we might have better climates, and moon light all the year. It involved, as Lionville shows, the slight inconveni- ence that the arrangement would not last six months, and that its breaking up would involve moon, earth; planets, and sun in one universal crash of destruction. Our cosmogonist, however, was not daunted by such contingencies, from at- tempting a plan by which these worlds might have made and arranged themselves as we now find them. He devoted him- self to the solar system merely; since, if he could show how that created itself, it would not be difficult to extend the process to all the stars. The planets, as we now see them, display so many common features that it was perceived they must have had a common origin; and there are so many similar and orderly movements among them that the notion of a chance origin could not be entertained. * * '* "It is not science. Science is something known, but this theory is not known. It is not founded on facts; it is not proven ; its advocates acknowledge that they cannot prove it at present. * * * 'The theory is contradicted by the densities of the planets. At the time La Place constructed 66 THE REALITY AND his theory, the densities of the planets were either unknown or erroneously valued. He constructed his theory to suit these errors. Astronomers are now agreed as to the error of Newton, and La Place, and Kepler, in supposing that the densest bodies were those nearest the sun. Kepler declares the sun to be the densest of all cosmical bodies; because it moves all others which belong to his system.' Newton argues : 'The bodies of Venus and Mercury are more ripened and condensed, on account of the greater heat of the sun. The more remote planets, by want of heat, are deficient in these metallic substances and weighty minerals with which the earth abounds. Bodies are denser in proportion to their nearness to the sun.' "La Place calculated his system accordingly, and made his outside planets, which were first cast off, light in propor- tion to their distance from the sun, while those nearest, which had condensed most, were made heavy accordingly. For instance, he calculates the density of Mercury, to make it square with his theory, at 2.585 ; which indeed was a little less than was then generally supposed ; while it is in reality now found to be only one-half of that or 1.234 — a very little heavier than the earth. The sun, which ought to be the densest body of the system by the theory, is actually much lighter than the earth, and stands fifth in the order of densi- ties. There is no correspondence whatever between the dis- tances and the densities of the planets. The actual order of the solar system, as to density, is given by Humbolt as fol- low: Saturn, 9.140 of the earth's density; Uranus, 0.178; Neptune, 0.230; Jupiter, 0.243; Sun, 0.252; Venus, 0.940; Mars, 0.958; Earth, 1; Mercury, 1.234. Thus it appears that the sun is but little denser than Neptune, the outer EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 67 planet of the system exactly the reverse of La Place's nebu- lar hypothesis. "This objection, of the inconsistence of densities, comes with even greater force from the comets of our system. They are by far the most numerous family we have. Kep- ler says that there are more comets in the heavens than fishes in the ocean. At any rate, astronomers calculate their num- bers within our solar system at two or three millions. Now these, according to the theory, should not be within the solar system at all, nor within millions of miles of it, but away in the outer margins of space among the nebula, since they are lighter than vanity. Every comet which shows its light head among solid world mocks at the Nebular Hypothesis. "The other arrangements of the solar systems were found to be equally at variance with the demands of the theory. The orbits of the comets, being inclined at all angles to the sun's equator, are often out of the plane of his rotation, and fly right in the face of the theory. The moons of Uranus revolve in a direction contrary to all the other bodies, and so contrary to the theory. The palpable difference between the luminosity of the sun and of the other bodies, is in itself a sufficient refutation of the theory which would make them all out of the same materials, and by the same process, and moreover refutes the notion of their common origin by any mere mechanical law, as Newton shows: 'The same power, whether natural or supernatural, which placed the sun in the center of the six primary planets, placed Saturn in the centre of the orb of his five secondary planets, and the earth in the centre of the moon's orbit; and, therefore, had this cause been a blind one, without contrivance or design, the sun would have been a body of the same kind with Saturn, Jupiter, and the earth; that is, without light and 68 THE REALITY AND heat. Why, then, is one body of our system qualified to give light and heat to all the rest ? I know no reason but because the Author of the system thought it convenient." {Errors of Evolution, pp. 15. 16, 24, 34, 35, 36.) Sir Robert Ball regards the nebula theory as a mere speculation : "Nor can it be ever more than a speculation ; it cannot be established by observation, nor can it be proved by calculation." {The Story of the Heavens, p. 500.) In referring to the theory of La Place, Mr. Proctor says: "But this ingenious theory does not account for some peculiarities which are scarcely less remarkable than those on which it has been based. In particular it does not ac- count for the strange disposition of the masses of the solar system. Why should the inner family consist of minor bodies, in the main unattended, while the outer consists of giant orbs with extensive families of satellites ? Why should the innermost members of the outer family of planets be the largest, while just within there lies the family of asteroids, not only individually minute, but collectively less (as Lever- rier has proved) than Mars or even Mercury? Why should the two middle planets of the inner family be the largest members of that family? La Place's theory gives no ac- count of these peculiarities; nor perhaps could it be insisted that these peculiarities should be explained; yet, if any other theory should give an account of these features, ex- plaining also the features which we have seen accounted for, then such theory would have a decided advantage over La Places'. It is to be noticed also that La Place's great nebu- lous contracting mass is a very unsatisfactory conception to begin with. No such mass could rotate as a whole. And lastly, La Place's theory does not in any way correspond EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 69 with processes still taking place within the solar system. It gives no account of the immense number of meteor flights and comets still existing within the solar domain." (The Expanse of Heaven, pp. 182, 183.) While many advocates of the Nebular Theory speak of it as a demonstrated fact, we should not be surprised that the more conservative minds, like Sir Robert Ball, should pronounce it "merely a conjecture," when La Place himself offered it to the world with expressed "distrust" of its cor- rectness as shown by his language, as quoted by Prof. Ennis as follows : "Whatever may have been the origin of this arrangement of the planetary system, which I offer with that distrust which everything ought to inspire that is not the result of observation or calculation, it is certain that its elements are so arranged that it must possess the greatest stability, if foreign observations [influences?] do not dis- turb it." (The Origin of the Stars, p. 380.) It must be admitted that speculation and conjecture are not science. As shown by Dr. Patterson, La Place's theory was based upon an error as to the relative density of the planets. This in itself is fatal to his theory. Besides, as Mr. Proctor has shown, La Place's theory does not account for the "strange disposition of the masses of the solar system," nor for the "immense number of meteor flights and comets still existing within the solar domain." In describing the phenomena of the heavens, Prof. Tyndall says : "The luminiferous ether has definite mechanical prop- erties. It is almost infinitely more attenuated than any known gas, but its properties are those of a solid, rather than those of a gas. It resembles jelly, rather than air. A 70 THE REALITY AND body thus constituted may have its boundaries ; but although the ether may not be co-extensive with space, we at all events know that it extends as far as the most distant visible star. In fact, it is the vehicle of their light, and without it they could not be seen. This all-pervading substance takes up their molecular tremors and conveys them with inconceiv- able rapidity to our organs of vision." (Fragments of Science, p. 10.) La Place's theory was constructed without any reference to, nor can it explain the existence of, this ether which sur- rounds every star and is the "vehicle of their light." Pos- sibly La Place never heard of this ether, although it was discovered during his time by an English astronomer, Thomas Young; or, if he heard of it, possibly he did not recognize its importance. Be that as it may, at any rate his theory makes no provision for it, nor does he attempt to explain how heat and light would reach the earth without some such medium to transmit the sun's rays; nor does he seem to understand that his theory in failing to make such provision, would leave our earth in darkness and devoid of heat and utterly incapable of habitation. This ether which surrounds the earth, the sun and every star and fills all space is the "most extensive formation in all the material universe." Not only does La Place's theory fail to explain the existence of this immense body of ether, but the very presence of this ether proves the fallacy of his theory. It is plain that "the sun as a nebulous star" never threw off this immense mass of ether in the form of gaseous rings, as La Place assumed that it did the earth and the celestial bodies. Even if we accept La Place's assumption as to the origin of the great bodies, we are still at a loss to account for the ether by which they are surrounded, for how could the sun throw off a substance EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 71 different in composition from itself ? And again, is it rea- sonable to suppose that this wonderful combination of the luminaries which produce the light and the ether by which their light is transmitted to the earth is the result of mere chance ? Since the Nebular Hypothesis can only account for a small part of the phenomena of the universe, while the great bulk of the phenomena is utterly opposed to it, this hypothesis "falls to the ground" under the law laid down by Huxley, as follows : "Every hypothesis is bound to explain, or at any rate not to be inconsistent with the whole of the facts it professes to account for; and if there is a single one of these facts which can be shown to be inconsistent with (I do not merely mean inexplicable by, but contrary to) the hypothesis, such hypothesis falls to the ground — it is worth nothing. One fact with which it is positively inconsistent is worth as much, and is as powerful in negativing the hypothesis, as five hundred" {Lectures on the Origin of Species, p. 140.) With matter filling all space and no God to aid, where would the power come from sufficient to impart motion to that inert gaseous mass? For, as Mr. Proctor has well said, "no such mass could rotate as a whole," and without rotary motion the initial step in the construction of the universe could never have been taken. This applies with as much force to Davis' "Great Central Mind," as to La Place's "Central Sun," for motion is absolutely essential to the development of each theory. And Mr. Davis, we must remember, gains his information from the "great sphere of knowledge," therefore whatever he offers for our consideration, should be "truth" — "is," as he affirms, "unequivocal knowledge" La Place's Nebula Theory and Davis' "unequivocal 72 THE REALITY AND knowledge" are opposed to the teachings of modern science and at the same time are in striking contrast to the plain teaching of the Bible that God made the luminaries and placed them in the "firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." Thus the Bible teaches that God not only made the luminaries, but that they are not situated in empty space, but were placed in the "heavens." Mr. Carroll is the only modern writer who shows that the Bible teaches (1) that the heavens and luminaries are dis- tinct bodies ; (2) that the heavens and the ether are identical ; (3) that it is not to the luminaries alone, but to a combina- tion of the luminaries and the heavens that the earth is in- debted for its light. He shows that this is in absolute har- mony with the sciences which teach (1) that the luminaries are not situated in empty space; (2) that an ether surrounds the luminaries and is the "vehicle of their light;" (3) that it is not to the luminaries alone, but to the luminaries and the ether which surrounds them that the earth is indebted for its light. As shown by the above, Davis' theory and the Nebula Hypothesis both purporting to explain the origin of the earth and the celestial bodies, are the antithesis of the Bible's narrative of creation. And that they are also in conflict with the teachings of modern science. Thus, we have shown the errors and absurdities of the Nebular Hypothesis and at the same time exposed the fal- lacy of Mr. Davis' theory as to the origin of the solar sys- tem; thus demonstrating the unreliability of at least that part of the information purporting to be derived from the "great sphere of knowledge." We should always bear in mind that Mr. Davis' statements are founded upon "un- equivocal knowledge." Keeping this clearly before the EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 73 mind, we now offer for consideration the following state- ments obtained by him from the ' 'great sphere of knowl- edge" while in a "superior condition" : "Thus : having a mightly and sublime End to accomplish, God instituted the widespread universe, with all its parts and powers perfectly and exquisitely adjusted. And as the grow- ing plant arrives at a period when Branches are unfolded, and at another when Buds burst forth, at another when Fruit is developed, and yet at another when the fruit is Matured; so has nature, according to the unchangeable workings of Divine law, arrived at a period when Minerals were unfolded, and at another when Vegetables burst forth, at another when Animals were developed, and yet at another period when all conditions, elements and essences conspired to the organization of man." This same idea is expressed throughout his works, as the following will show: "Then from the central mass and fertile womb of each planet rudi- mental particles ascend and undergo a process similar to that by which the planets were made and developed, they ulti- mate and develop mineral combinations." (The Great Har- monia, Vol. ii., p. 238.) We will now investigate the statements of Mr. Davis as to the origin of the minerals, vegetables, animals and man, as illustrated in his diagram in Chapter III, of this work, and see if they will stand the test of the Scriptures and the sciences. We wish particularly to call attention to the order of the appearance of the different kingdoms as presented by him since he declares that "this diagram, therefore, is illustrative of the true order of nature's physical develop- ments." By observing the diagram, the reader will see that Mr. Davis places the origin of the mineral kingdom in the "Transition — Old Red Sand Stone" formation and this 74 ' THE REALITY AND "Old Red Sand Stone'' formation he places above what he terms the "Igneous Formation, Coal/'' Now, coal, as everyone knows, is of vegetable origin. In opposition to Davis' teaching, geology teaches that the earliest rock for- mations contain minerals. Mr. Dana says : "The constituents of rocks are minerals," and that an "abundance of iron-bearing minerals is a striking character- istic of the Archaean rocks." ("Manual of Geology," pp. 47, 151.) Thus we find that minerals did not develop in the earth after the coal beds were formed, as Mr. Davis would have us believe, but that they exist in the earliest rock formations of the globe. The "Great Central Mind" is a term employed by Davis descriptive of matter as it existed in its primitive or gaseous state prior to the formation of the universe. And as from this gaseous mass "proceed elements and substances which form * * * suns, systems of suns, comets, planets," etc., so from the planets rudimental particles ascend and undergo a process similar to that by which the planets were made and developed, they ultimate and develop mineral com- binations." This is Davis' philosophy, this is the "unequivo- cal knowledge" he offers from the "great sphere of knowl- edge." Mr. Davis' statement that the planets developed the min- erals is merely a bald assertion, anti-scriptural, unscientific and unsupported by one particle of evidence. And science will demonstrate the fallacy of his position and will prove that instead of the minerals being the result of development they are simply an inherent part of the matter creation and were diffused throughout all space prior to the formation of the earth and the planets. This is shown by the fact that all minerals are not confined to our globe, as the spectroscope EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 75 reveals traces of gold and other minerals in the sun, the planets and the stars. With the aid of the spectroscope Dr. Patterson says : "We discover in the sun, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, aluminum, nickel, barium and copper. The sunlight reflected from the planets give the same system of lines; but the fixed stars give each a different system, showing the presence of different metals in each." (Errors of Evolution, p. 65.) The condition of the minerals depend solely upon the condition of the bodies of which they are a part. For ex- ample, if the body, whether it be a sun, a planet or a star, or whatever it may be, is, like our sun, in a state of combus- tion, its minerals are in a molten state ; if, on the other hand, the minerals exist in a body like our moon, and many of the stars, which are destitute of water, and are not in a state of combustion, they will be found in a solid state. While on our globe, which is composed of land and water, they exist both in a solid and a liquid state ; in the earth they are found in a solid state, in the oceans they are held in solution. In discussing the minerals of our globe Mr. Gunning says : "Strip from the earth all animals, all plants, and whatever lives and is neither animal nor plant, and you will have a mineral world. Break from its crust a fragment and make it an object of study; you will find no interdependence of parts. You can not see the whole animal in a limb, nor the whole plant in a leaf; but you can see all the iron of a mine in a bit of its ore, all the granite of a ledge in a detached fragment, all the ocean in a water drop. But while you find no interdependence of parts, you will find a union of ele- ments. Oxygen is an element which turns like the point of a dagger toward everything that lives, and its incessant attack on leaf and blood occasions all movement in the or- 76 THE REALITY AND ganic world. But rocks, being already saturated with oxygen, are free from attack. In them the elements have satisfied their affinities, and are therefore at rest. * * * "The waters were here from the beginning; here in their elemental gases. As silica is the oxide of silicon and im- plies a time when its elements were free, so water is the oxide of hydrogen and implies a time when its elements had not combined. * * * The primeval atmosphere was loaded with other vapors than those of water. * * * Chlorine and sulphur and carbon, in the form of acid gases mixed with watery vapor, would have formed a dense at- mosphere. These acids would have come down in the rain, entered into combination with certain bases and loaded the sea as they had loaded the air. "We are not left to conjecture. We have portions of the primitive sea imprisoned in pores of the rock formed on its bottom. This fossil sea-water, as Dr. Hunt has shown, is far richer than our seas in the salts of lime and magnesia, but not in common salt. Most of the chlorine in the present seas has entered into combination with sodium and formed common salt, but half the chlorine in the primeval sea was combined with lime and magnesia — a fact, we shall find of great significance in the after-history of the globe. "Gold and silver and copper and lead are held in solution by the sea. Copper is found in the blood of marine mol- lusks, and copper, silver and lead are found in the ashes of marine weeds, while a German chemist has announced the discovery of gold in sea water. Sonstadt's experiments have led him to estimate one grain of gold to each ton of ocean, or one dollar to each twenty-five tons, and if this estimate is correct Jthe oceans hold eleven million two hundred thou- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 77 sand times as much gold as all the nations of men have dug from the earth. "These metals were held in solution by the primeval sea in larger stores, we have reason to believe, than they are contained in the seas of our own time." (Our Planet, pp. 13, 17, 18). Thus, so far from our globe developing its minerals, it is shown that if stripped of its plant and animal life it would be a "mineral world" and that its minerals were held in solution by the primeval seas which enveloped the earth prior to the separation of the dry land from the waters. Having again shown the fallacy of Mr. Davis' informa- tion derived from the "great sphere of knowledge" we have no alternative than to accept the teaching of the scriptures and the sciences as to the origin of the minerals. They were not developed by the planets, but are an inherent part of matter, and consequently existed prior to the formation of the earth and the planets. In other words, the minerals are older than the planets which Mr. Davis would have us believe developed them. In explaining the origin of plant life, Mr. Davis says : "Then again by the incessant action of body upon body, and essence upon essence, and substance upon substance, mineral compositions, not only generate vivifying fluids and medi- ums, such as electricity, magnetism, etc., but actually and constantly lose themselves in vegetable organization." (The Great Harmonia, p. 283.) While the evolutionists generally gladly accept any theory which proposes to account for the origin of things without the aid of an intelligent Creator, yet in his teaching that the planets developed the minerals and that the minerals devel- oped into the vegetables, Mr. Davis stands alone, unsup- 78 THE REALITY AND ported either by the theory of development by the sciences or by the scriptures. By referring to the diagram one can readily see that the dotted lines showing the origin and course of vegetation begin in the "Tertiary Period — Carboniferous Era" while the science of geology teaches that in the carboniferous era vegetation obtained its greatest luxuriance, and that there is "strong evidence" that plants existed in the archean rocks. In discussing the Archean Time, Mr. Dana says : "The occurrence of graphite in the rocks, and its making 20 per cent, of some layers, is strong evidence that plants of some kind, if not also animals, were abundant. For graphite is carbon, one of the constituents of wood and animal matters ; and mineral coal, whose vegetable origin is beyond question, has been observed, in the carboniferous rocks of Rhode Island, changed to graphite; and even coal plants, as ferns, occur at St. John, New Brunswick, in the state of graphite. Further, the amount of graphite in the Laurentian rocks is enormous. Dawson observes (taking his facts from Logan) that it is scarcely an exaggeration to maintain that the quantity of carbon in the Laurentain is equal to that in similar areas of the carboniferous system. * * In Europe graphite occurs in the archean rocks of Bavaria." {Manual of Geology, p. 157.) Thus we find that Mr. Davis is wholly mistaken as to the period in which vegetation appeared upon the earth, and we may also observe that his "unequivocal knowledge" should have restrained him from confusing two distinct periods of time in the geological history of our globe; the Carboniferous and Tertiary Ages, which are separated by immense intervening periods of time. Having shown the unreliability of Mr. Davis' informa- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 79 tion as to the time vegetation appeared we should not be sur- prised to find him equally in error as to their origin. In discussing the history of an atom of iron, Mr. Gun- ning says : "It is the province of science to make the mind see where the eye cannot. Our eyes cannot see an atom, but we t must see it. We symbolize the iron atom by Fig. 2 at 1. We cannot question it as to its essence or origin. We do not know that it ever had an origin, and we must take it as the mathematician takes his numbers. The first step we find nature taking with that atom is to bum it. The atom combines with one and a half atoms of oxygen and is then a molecule. Our molecule is insoluble in water. If it were in the sea it would find its way to the bottom and rest there in the mud. If this oxidation occurred when the world was young and there was yet 'no sea,' the molecules would lie as cinders on the earth. They would be diffused through the rocks forming at the time of their oxidation. They are dif- fused through almost all the rocks of the earth's crust. And as gravel and clay and sand and soil are merely abraded rocks, they .are diffused through almost all the top-dressing of the rocky crust. As they are insoluble in water, the rain which sinks through the soil has no power to pick them out and carry them away. But if the rain falls on a soil over- grown with vegetation, the result may be different. Moss, ferns, grass, leaves — all forms of vegetation — while rotting, yield portions of their carbon to the water which falls on them. Freighted with this carbon the water sinks into the soil, and every molecule of iron it finds on the way it picks out and carries with it. For the molecule gives up one portion of its oxygen to the carbon in the water and forms with it carbonic acid. What remains now is a protoxide — one atom of iron to one of oxygen — and this is soluble in 80 THE REALITY AND water containing acid. The water can move the molecules as soon as this interchange has occurred. If we look now on a stagnant ditch in a meadow, or a stagnant pool on a wayside where vegetation is rank and rotting, we may see it mantled with an iridescent scum. This scum is the iron picked from the soil and carried hither by the acidulated water. The molecules which lay against the air took' from it each another portion of oxygen, and, becoming again in- soluble, separated from the water and formed this thin, shining film. After a time the film sinks to the bottom where it is followed by other films which appear now as a reddish ochre. If the water comes up in a bog the iron molecules it brought are precipitated as bog-ore. "We have found the atom oxidizing and becoming a molecule. We have seen molecules diffused through rocks and soil. We have seen them giving up to the carbon of de- caying vegetation, brought to them by water, a portion of their oxygen and becoming soluble. We have seen them taken up then by the water and carried to ditches or ponds or bogs and there aggregated as iron-ochre or bog-ore. By other agencies this ochre or bog-ore, is changed into any of the forms of iron found in the earth's crust. "The shining film on the pool will give us a vision of other times. For as nature works to-day in gathering up and aggregating her molecules, so she has always wrought. A little bed of iron-ochre on the bottom of a ditch tells you that so much vegetation had to grow and die and rot and yield its carbon to percolating waters, before so many mole- cules of iron could be gathered from the soil and brought together on the face of a ditch. A mountain of iron-ore — as that in Missouri — tells you that so much vegetation, the same in proportion as the mountain to the ochre, had to EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 81 grow and die and rot on the face of a primeval world, and yield its carbon to be burned by iron-molecules and thus to acidulate the percolating waters, before so many particles of iron could be gathered from the ground and aggregated in a bog or under stagnant waters. "The iridescent film we see so often we do not see at all, may give wing to our imagination and show us a vision of other worlds as well as other times. A law here is a law of the universe. Our minds are so made that when we see the result of a process going on before our eyes, and then see the same results brought to us, even from interplanetary spaces, we must assert a like process for a like result. * * * "Less abundant than iron is lead, but not less interesting as an episode in the earth's history is "The History of an Atom of Lead. "Lead is held in solution by the seas, and was held in larger per cent by the primeval seas. Where is the excess? How has it been abstracted from the sea and laid to rest in the limstones? "Prof. Whiteney prepared the way for an important reform in geology, w T hen, in a government report on the lead region of Wisconsin and Illinois, he called attention to the fact that metals had been introduced into the rocks of the Northwest at the very time when life was introduced on a grand scale into the oceans of the globe. From the oceans came the lead — not from an imaginary ocean of lava at the earth's core. Suppose we had a tank, filled with sea-water. And suppose we were to introduce a solution of lead until the water is saturated with it. The lead must be in a form known as sulphate, a compound of the metal and sulphuric acid. Symbols will help us, and we write the chemical sym- 82 THE REALITY AND bol of this compound, Pb. S±, which we are to read, lead combined with sulphur combined with four portions of oxygen. "Lead in this form the sea can hold in solution, and in this form we are to suppose all the lead was held while it was yet fluent. Our tank sea, heavy with sulphate of lead is an epitome of the primeval sea. We may cover it over to prevent evaporation, and then wait and watch for the appearance of lead. ' But no lead is apparent. Not a spangle appears on the walls of the tank. It is evident that the lead cannot help itself out of the sea. Calling to mind the fact that lead was introduced into the rocks when life was introduced into the sea, we stock our tank with sea- weeds and low forms of animal life, like polyps and medusae. We watch and wait again, but no lead is precipitated. It is evident that life cannot help the lead out of the sea. We wait till death has occurred — the death of a plant, or of some animal, as a polyp or jelly fish, whose body is com- posed chiefly of carbon. The glass would now reveal minute cubes of lead spangling the floor of the tank. As deaths are multiplied the crystals grow larger. It is evident that in some way death helps the lead out of the sea into the rocks on its bottom. How ? As the molecule of iron gave up a portion of its oxygen to the carbon of the dead plant and became soluble, so the molecules of lead give up their oxygen to the carbon of the dead, and become insoluble. We change the symbol now and read Pb. S., which means that a lead atom has combined with a sulphur atom. This form of lead we call plumbic sulphide, or galena. Being in- soluble it sinks and crystalizes in cubes on the floor of the sea. Currents may sweep it into fissures in the rock, and after-changes wrought on the containing rock may modify EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 83 its form or chemical structure." (Our Planet, pp. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.) Thus the sciences prove the fallacy of Mr. Davis' "un- equivocal knowledge," and show that the minerals could not, nor did not develop into vegetables, but that minerals have existed since matter was created; on the other hand the presence of decayed vegetable or animal matter was necessary to change the minerals, from their -fluent state in the primeval seas to their present fixed state in the rocks. Having shown that Mr. Davis' explanation of the origin of the vegetables is opposed to the teaching of the sciences, we should not be surprised to find him in conflict with the teaching of the scriptures, as shown by the following: "There are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field be- fore it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." (Gen. ii, ver. 4, 5.) And, as Mr. Carroll has said, the Bible teaches that the elements of plant life are a part of the original creation — matter. And that they existed in matter prior to the forma- tion of matter into the earth. The assertions of Mr. Davis as quoted in the preceding pages of this chapter do not deserve serious consideration, nor would we have noticed them if he occupied a less promi- nent place in spiritualistic literature. But being recognized as a philosopher and teacher, we feel compelled to show how utterly absurd and opposed his statements are to all known scientific research, scriptures, reason and common sense. CHAPTER VI. The "Unfolding of the Animal Kingdoms" or the: Transmutation of Species. In attempting to account for the origin of animal life Mr. Davis says : "By a similar action, and a new and higher combination of appropriate particles, the vegetable loses itself in the animal organization, and this emerges into the organization and development of Man." (The Great Har- monia, Vol. ii, p. 238.) By observing Mr. Davis' diagrams the reader will see that in it the vegetables and minerals are supposed to unite and form the fish kingdom, but this is a flat contradiction of the quotation above, for there the vegetables only are accredited with developing into the animals. While Mr. Davis can not agree with himself as to what was the ante- cedents of the animals, yet from his statements we must con- clude that he has decided that something must have de- veloped into them, for he holds that "there is not a pebble, a plant, an animal, nor a human being, which has not had parents and relations." (Ibid., p. 214.) It will not be difficult to show by the sciences the fallacy of Mr. Davis' teaching that vegetables "lose" themselves or develop into animals. For example, in discussing "vege- table and animal life" and "their distinctive characteristics," the eminent scientist, Prof. Dana, says : "The vegetable and animal kingdoms are the opposite, but mutually dependent, sides or parts of one system of life. The following are some of their distinctive characteristics : 84 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 85 "(1) Plants take nutriment into the tissues by absorp- tion, and assimilate it without the aid of a stomach, or any digestive fluid ; animals have a mouth, and receive food into a sac or stomach. * * * "(2) Plants find nutriment in carbonic acid, appropri- ate the carbon, and excrete oxygen, a gas essential to ani- mals; animals use oxygen in respiration, and excrete car- bonic acid, a gas essential to vegetable life. "(3) Plants take inorganic material as food, and turn it into organic ; animals take this organic material, thus pre- pared (plants), or other organic materials made from it (animals), finding no nutriment in inorganic matter. "(4) The vegetable kingdom is a provision for the storing away or magazining of force for the animal kingdom. This force is acquired through the sun's influence or forces acting on the plant, and so promoting growth ; mineral mat- ter is thereby carried up to a higher grade of composition, that of starch, gluten, and vegetable fibre, and this is a state of concentrated or accummulated force. To this stored force animals go in order to carry forward their develop- ment; and, moreover, the grade of composition thus rises still higher, to muscle and nerve (which contain much nitro- gen in addition to the ordinary constituents of the plant) ; and this is a magazining of force in a still mo.re concentrated or condensed state. "(5) Plants of some minute kinds, and the spores of some larger species (some Algae), have locomotion, or a degree of contractility in certain parts that corresponds to an infinitesimal amount of mechanical power; but the loco- motive spores, as they develop, become fixed, like the plants from ordinary seeds, and no increase of mechanical power ever accompanies vegetable development. In animal devel- 86 THE REALITY AND opment from the germ, on the contrary, there is always an increase of power — an increase, in all, of muscular power, and, in the case of species above the lower grade, of psychical and intellectual power — until an ant, for example, becomes a one-ant power, a horse, a one-horse power. Whence, an animal is a self-propagating piece of enginery, or various power according to the species. "(6) In the plant, the root grows downward (or dark- ward) and the stem upwards (or light-ward) , and there is thus the up-and-down polarity of growth — the higher devel- opments, those connected with the fruit, taking place above, or in the light. In the animal, there is an antero-posterior polarity of power, as well as growth — the head, which is the seat of the chief nervous mass and of the senses, and the locus of the mouth, making the anterior extremity. Con- sequently, there is in animals a connection between grade and the greater or less dominance and perfection of the head extremity. An animal, as its ordinary movements manifest, is pre-eminently a go-ahead thing. Even the inferior sta- tionary species, like the polyp, show it in the superior power that belongs to the mouth extremity. "(7) Plants have no consciousness of self, or of other existences ; animals are conscious of an outer world, and even the lowest show it by avoiding obstacles. "From the above diverse characteristics of plants and ani- mals, it follows that, however alike the germs of the two are chemically (that is, although containing the same elements in the same proportions), they must be in their chemical nature fundamentally different." (Manual of Geology, pp. 115, 116.) Thus Prof. Dana plainly demonstrates the impossibility of the vegetables developing into the animals when he shows EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 87 that they are the "opposite, but mutually dependent, sides or parts of one system of life." For no one, not even the most unreasonable, would attempt to assert that opposites could spring one from the other. Not only does he prove that the vegetables did not develop into the animals, but he also proves that the minerals did not develop into vegetables, but that minerals are taken into or absorbed as food by vege- tables. The teachings of the sciences being true, then the teaching of Mr. Davis, which is in opposition to the sciences, must be false, and the "first form of animal life" did not re- sult as he says, by a marriage : "Now there occurred a marriage between the highest forms and essences in the vegetable kingdom — in other language, those particles of matter, and elements of life in each system, which experi- enced an affinity for one another, converged and united ; and the consequence was, assisted by surrounding conditions and circumstances, a development of the first form of animal life." Are we to take Mr. Davis' statement seriously? Does he really wish us to accept as absolutely true, as "unequivo- cal knowledge," his assertion that life, vitality, actually exists in minerals? His unsupported statement may be to many proof suffi- cient that it is true, but for the benefit of those of a more skeptical turn of mind, it is to be regretted that from his store of "unequivocal knowledge," he did not condescend to enlighten us as to the source from which life sprang. Of course we recognize the fact that the elements of life are an inherent part of matter ; but the question is, how did they combine to form life? There are only two schools that at- tempt to account for the origin of life, which did Mr. Davis accept, the school of Creation or of Development ? It would 88 THE REALITY AND . depend entirely upon his mood. Did he feel the necessity of an Intelligent Creator, then the "Divine Architect," the "Holy Artisan" would by a combination of the elements of life produce life; but were he in an atheistic mood, then matter which "is in all things and is all things" would spon- taneously combine the elements of life and so produce life. Which school he accepts as the correct solution of the origin of life we are left largely to conjecture, although from his statements the general inference is that he attributes it to spontaneous generation. But, let the origin of life be what it may, whether the product of an intelligent Creator, or the result of spontaneous generation, this question still remains to be answered, how can life, which requires an organism for its support, exist in inorganic matter? The idea of life existing disassociated with an organism is inconceivable, yet we find Mr. Davis not only attributing life to the minerals, but they are actually "engaged in generating and eliminat- ing many elements of life and vitality." Mr. Davis would have us believe that the "highest forms and essences" of life in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms "united" and "assisted by surrounding conditions and circumstances" developed the "first form of animal life." This is opposed to all scientific research ; while upon the au- thority of Professor Dawson the flora of our globe is divided into "three great classes of cryptogams, seed-bearing herbs, and fruit-bearing trees," which made their appearance in the order named. And "farther, we find that even in the carboniferous period scarcely any plants of the higher orders flourished," while it is a well established fact that the "first form of animal life" made its appearance ages prior to the carboniferous period. This proves: (1) That the "highest forms" of vegetables, the fruit-bearing trees, did not make EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 89 their appearance upon the globe until long- after the intro- duction of animal life, and could not under any "conditions" or "circumstances" develop that which is older than they, the "first form of animal life." (2) That the fruit-bearing trees are land plants and it is absurd to suppose that land plants could "assisted" or otherwise possibly develop into the lowest forms of animal life, which are water animals. (3) That the "first form of animal life" followed not the highest but the lowest forms of vegetation, and that both made their appearance away back in the Archaen period, ages before the appearance of any land plant. Consequently no plant, especially a strictly land plant, could possibly he the parent of the "first form of animal life." Evidently Mr. Davis makes a distinction between plant life and animal life, whereas Professor Dana says that they "are the opposite, but mutually dependent, sides or parts of one system of life." Since there is but "one system of life," and since plants and animals "contain the same elements in the same proportions" there then can be no distinction be- tween them as to life. , The teachings of the sciences is sustained by the scrip- tures. As has been shown, the elements of plant life are a part of the original creation matter, and existed in matter prior to the formation of matter into the universe. This being true, it follows that the elements of animal life, the other side or part of the system, is also a part of the matter creation; this is further shown by the fact that the animals like the plants were brought forth by divine command. (Gen.) Since plant life and animal life are identical, what, then, distinguishes the animal from the plant? Consciousness, is it not? "Animals are conscious of an outer world, and 90 THE REALITY AND even the lowest show it by avoiding obstacles/' What, then, is Consciousness? "The perception of what passes in one's mind." (Worster.) Thus, consciousness is proof of the existence of mind ; and the animal's possession of conscious- ness is proof of its possession of mind. Therefore, it is not life, as Mr. Davis would have us believe, but mind that dis- tinguishes the animal from the plant. The Spiritualistic evolutionist holds that mind is simply refined matter capable of endless progression; while the Materialistic Evolutionist agrees that mind is a part of mat- ter, they disagree as to the endless progression, holding that physical dissolution ends all consciousness. But the more conservative evolutionist, such as Darwin, admit that the School of Development can not explain the orgin of mind. In discussing this subject, he says : "In what manner the mental powers were first developed in the lowest organisms, is as hopeless an inquiry as how life itself first originated. These are problems for the dis- tant future, if they are ever to be solved by man." (Descent of Man, p. 74.) The School of Creation as presented in the Bible alone explains the origin of mind, that it is a creation distinct from matter, and made its appearance in the material universe in combination with matter in the physical organism of the fish, on the fifth creative day.* Mr. Davis' employment of contradictory terms in pre- senting his views of God leaves us in doubt as to his true meaning, both as to what his God really is, whether an intelligent Creator or merely matter, and as to the origin of life. But he does not shield himself behind this doubt and uncertainty in explaining the "unfolding" of the lower ♦The Tempter of Eve. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 91 animal kingdoms into the higher, but employs terms, the meaning of which are clear, and at once takes his place among the evolutionists, and as such can be reached, and his statements disproved. Materialists, as a rule, deny the existence of an intelli- gent Creator and attribute the origin of life to spontaneous generation. The evolutionists, as a class, advance the theory of "natural selection or survival of the fittest" to account for the development of the lower and simpler organ- ism into the higher and more complex, and also explain minutely the operations of their so-called law of "natural selection or survival of the fittest," thus giving us something real, something tangible to assail and disprove. But not so with Mr. Davis, he simply gives us what he is pleased to term the law of "Association, Progression and Development," but fails in the least to explain the operations of this law. Thus giving us no evidence that there is such a law beyond his bald assertion, and nothing to assail and disprove, but the results which he claims for it. We deny the existence of such a law and will prove that the animals never "unfolded" the lower kingdom into the higher, as he claims they did in the following language: "After minerals and vegetables unfolded the Pisces or fish kingdom, and after this kingdom unfolded the Saurian kingdom, then the latter arrived at a point of extreme devel- opment and unfolded the Bird kingdom. Of course the first order of birds was vastly inferior to those which now exist; but, by constant progressive improvements in the physical condition of the earth and the atmosphere, the in- ferior orders gradually advanced to the confirmation of the most perfect of that form of animal life. And then there was another focal-concentrated-convergence of the elements 92 THE REALITY AND and substances, which planted the germ, which germ, being urged on and quickened into full development by the con- spiration of universal nature, resulted in the unfolding of the Marsupial kingdom. * * Succeeding this kingdom in consequence of a similar process of concentrated germinal properties and circumstantial prolification, the Mammalial organization was unfolded. Mammalia embrace all animals which suckle their young." While his division of the animals is unscientific and thereby differs from that of every naturalist, it is plain his "unfolding" of the lower kingdoms into the higher could only be accomplished by what evolutionists term the "trans- mutation of species," or the development of lower into higher species. The theory of transmutation of lower into higher species demands the presence of innumerable inter- mediate or transitional forms in every stage of development from the lower to the higher species. The same is true of Mr. Davis' kingdoms. These king- doms are necessarily composed of species, and the "unfold- ing" of the lower kingdoms into higher kingdoms could only be accomplished through the transmutation of lower species into higher species. In this case the fossil remains of the transitional forms through which this development was accomplished should abound in the strata of the earth. While we claim no similarity between the operations of Darwin's law of "Natural Selection or survival of the fittest" and Mr. Davis' law of "Association, Progession and Devel- opment," yet the results are identical, they each require what no scientist has yet been able to discover, transitional forms, as shown by the following: " 'If Mr. Darwin's theory be true, the number of varie- ties differing one from another a very little, must have been EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 93 indefinitely great, so great indeed as probably far to exceed the number of individuals which have existed of any one variety. If this be true, it would be more probable that no two specimens preserved as fossils should be of one variety than that we should find a great many specimens collected from a very few varieties, provided, of course, the chances of preservation are equal for all individuals.' 'It is really strange that vast number of perfectly similar specimens should be found, the chances against their perpetuation as fossils are so great ; but it is also very strange that the speci- mens should be so exactly alike as they are, if, in fact, they came and vanished by a gradual change.' "Mr. Darwin attempts to show cause why we should believe a priori that intermediate varieties would exist in lesser numbers than the more extreme forms; but though they would doubtless do so sometimes, it seems too much to assert that they would do so generally, still less universally. Now little less than universal and very marked inferiority in numbers would account for the absence of certain series of minutely intermediate fossil specimen. The mass of paleontological evidence is indeed overwhelmingly against minute and gradual modification. It is true that when once an animal has obtained powers of flight, its means of diffu- sion are indefinitely increased, and we might expect to find many relics of an aerial form and few of its antecedent state — with nascent wings just commencing their suspensory power. Yet had such a slow mode of origin, as Darwinians (or Davis) contend for, operated exclusively in all cases, it is absolutely incredible that birds, bats, and pterodactyls, should have left the remains they have, and yet not a single relic be preserved in any one instance of any of these differ- 94 THE REALITY AND ent form of wing in their incipient and relatively imperii functional condition! "Whenever the remains of bats have been found they have presented the exact type of existing forms, and there is as yet no indication of the conditions of an incipient eleva- tion from the ground. "The pterodactyls, again, though a numerous group, are all true and perfect pterodactyls, though surely some of the many incipient forms, which on the Darwinian theory have existed, must have had a good change of preservation. * * "But the number of forms represented by many individ- uals, yet by no transitional ones, is so great, that only two or three can be selected as examples. Thus those remarkable fossil reptiles, the Ichthyosauria and Plesiosauria, extended, through the secondary period, probably over the greater part of the globe. Yet no single transitional form has yet been met with in spite of the multitudinous individuals preserved. Again, with their modern representatives, the Cetacea, one or two aberrant forms alone have been found, but no series of transitional ones indicating minutely the line of descent. This group, the whales, is a very marked one, and it is curi- ous, on Darwinian principles, that so few instances tending to indicate its mode of origin should have presented themselves. Here, as in the bats, we might surely expect that some relics of unquestionably incipient stages of its development would have been left. "The singular order Chelonia, including the tortoises, turtles, and terrapins (or fresh-water tortoises,) is another instance of an extreme form without any, as yet known, transitional stages. Another group may be finally men- tioned, viz., the frogs and toads, ' anourous Batrachians, of which we have at present no relic of any kind linking them EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 95 onto the Eft group on the one hand, or to reptiles on the other." (Mivart, The Genesis of Species, pp. 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147.) In discussing the transmutation of species, Professor Winchell says : "The great stubborn fact which every form of the theory encounters at the very outset is that, notwithstanding vari- ations, we are ignorant of a single instance of the derivation of one good species from another. The world has been ran- sacked for an example, and occasionally it has seemed for a time as if an instance had been found of the origination of a genuine species by so-called natural agencies ; but we only give utterance to the admissions of all the recent advocates of derivative theories when we announce that the long- sought Bxperimentum Cruris has not been discovered." (Doctrine of Evolution, p. 54.) Noting the absence of transitional forms in the geologi- cal strata, Professor Winchell, citing M. Joachim Barraude, says : "Eleven family types are known in the primordiarfauna. These are as trenchantly differentiated from each other as the same types in any succeeding age, or even in the actual fauna. For example, among crustaceans we have trilobites, phyllopods, and astracods. But between a trilobite like paradoxus, somewhat lobster-like, and an astracod like pri- mitis, a little bivalve crustacean, the difference of conforma- tion is so marked, that, were we to refer them to any com- mon ancestry, we should necessarily conceive of a multitude of intermediate forms which must have existed before para- doxides, and the astracods co-existing in the primordial fauna. Such intermediate forms have left no trace of them- selves, either in the rocks, which enclose the primordial 96 THE REALITY AND fauna, or in those which represent the anterior ages. Simi- lar observations apply to the contrasts between any two of the family types of the primordial. It may also be observed that such observations apply to the family types of all the palaeozoic ages. The forms intermediate between them are universally wanting. One cannot conceive why, in all rocks whatever, and in all countries upon the two continents, all relics of the intermediate types should have vanished. "This disappearance of intermediate types is so general and so constant in the series of geologic ages, and over the entire surface of the explored formations, that it seems im-. possible to explain it except by regarding it as the effect of a grand law of nature. "The absence of intermediate forms characterizes the gaps between genera and even species, as well as between orders and families." {Ibid., pp. 139, 140.) Dr. Patterson, in commenting upon the failure of scien- tists to discover any trace of intermediate forms, says: "M. Barraude, * * * noticing the fact that no trilobites are found below the Silurian rocks, though remains of plants and marine worms are preserved there, and that the trilobites appear at once in great abundance, thus comments upon its bearing upon Darwinism : 'All these sudden manifestations of life under new typical forms, appearing constantly and everywhere with the plenitude of their distinctive charac- ters, are in complete discordance with the hypothesis of a gradual development by insensible and successive variations, since such a transformation can only be wrought out through and indefinite series of intermediate forms, of which no trace has been found in any country.' * * "The Lower Orders should Appear First, but Frequently the Higher Orders Precede them. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 97 "The theory is devised expressly to account for the deri- vation of the higher animals from the lower. Of course the lower orders, being the parents, should come into being be- fore their children. But, in many regions, the contrary rule prevails, and the higher orders come into being first — the children, * * are born before their parents. The four-gilled cephalopods are found in the Silurian strata, but the two- gilled, their Darwinian ancestors, are not found below the lias. They are many thousands of years younger than their children. Prof. Mivart goes on to notice another in- stance with the following remarks (Genesis, p. 123.) : 'If we admit the hypothesis of gradual and minute modifica- tions, the succession of organisms on this planet must have been a progress from the more general to the more special, and no doubt this has been the case in the majority of in- stances. Yet it cannot be denied that! some of the most re- cently formed fossils show a structure singularly more gen- eralized than any exhibited by older forms ; while others are more specialized than are any allied creatures of the existing creation/ * * * "But the most satisfactory and comprehensive illustra- tion of this subject is found in the exhaustive work of M. Barraude, on The Silurian System of Bohemia. * * * Hav- ing examined that system from Spain to Bohemia, he gives a diagram, showing the percentage of the simpler forms which might be expected to precede those more highly de- veloped, and he contrasts it with the actual numbers of species found. The contrast between the theory and the fact is obvious and startling. Of trilobites, for instance, 108 species are found in the lower strata, where, according to the theory, none at all should appear. Then of sponges there are only two species, where the theory requires 100 ; while 98 THE REALITY AND of the polyps and foraminifera, which should be as numer- ous, there are none at all! "One should read the whole of this work to appreciate the force of this general conclusion. It abounds with such observations as this (found on p. 130) : 'When we thus consider that the relative development of trilobites and mollusks underwent a gradual diminution to give place to lower forms, we recognize the fact that it presents an order diametrically opposed to that which ought to be observed according to the theories.' He shows that the foraminiferse, the next in structure above the eozoon, being free from the terrible 'struggle for existence/ since they would have had the world to themselves according to the theory, should have been numerous in the Cambrian system beyond all parallel; whereas they do not appear at all. 'Thus the foraminiferse, the immediate descendants of eozoon by filiation and trans- formation, ought to have propagated themselves under all imaginable forms during the ante-primordial era.' Whereas they do not appear till the mesozoic era, many millions of years later, and successfully keep the field in the tertiary and the quaternary periods against higher forms of life. Many other equally rebellious families lift up their heels against Mr. Darwin's theory. * * * "The crustaceans adopted the policy of putting their best foot foremost. Trilobites two feet long, and of from twelve to twenty segments, appeared before those of six or nine. The pteregatus ricylinus, a lobster-like crustacean, could have sent specimens six feet long and two feet broad to the London market some million of years ago. Take, for ex- ample, the Mount Diablo oyster shells, fifteen inches long. Can our Fish Commissioners now match either these old- fashioned oysters or lobsters, with all our modern progress ? EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 99 That old lobster would have made protoplasm of them had they incautiously tried any experiments with him. Its an- tennae were armed with powerful claws. It had four pairs of great serrated jaws, the largest as large as a man's hand. It was wide-a-wake too, having ten eyes on the top of its head, and ten below. It had also two great paddles at its side, and a great flat tail, and could reverse engines, and dart backwards on its prey. We cannot match it now-a- days. The plants were gigantic in those early days. Our modern mare's tails are about the thickness of one's finger ; those of the coal measures are as thick as a flour barrel. "But the reptiles of the old world are by far the most astonishing and terrible for size. The labyrinthodon, a newt, had teeth three or four inches in length. The ancient iguanodon was a gigantic biped deinosaur, twenty feet or more in height, with legs like those of an ostrich, but thick as those of an elephant, and an immense tail on which it rested, making a tripod with its legs. (Dawson, p. 203.) The megalosaurus was as large, but far more swift and ter- rible. The celosaurus had a thigh bone sixty-four inches long, and thick in proportion; it stood ten feet high, was fifty feet long, and must have weighed as much as a dozen modern crocodiles. The bats of the mesozoic age were as large as eagles, and one specimen was twenty feet in the spread of its wings (p. 206). The plesiosaurus were fifty feet long, with long necks like cranes for gobbling up their prey from the shallow waters. The pliosaur had a head eight feet long, armed with conical teeth a foot in length. It had four paddles, each seven feet in length. The sea-serpent has been found by geologists, in St. Peter's Mount, near Maestrecht, with a skull three feet long, and a body not less than eighty feet! No modern sea-serpent can equal that! L.rfC. 100 THE REALITY AND After describing its terrible armament, Mr. Dawson very fitly observes: * Perhaps no creature more fully realize, in the enormous length and terrible powers, the great tanninim (the stretched-out or extended reptiles) of the fifth day of the Mosiac record.' (p. 217.) Of another, a land animal, the dinotherium, he says: 'The skull was three feet four inches in length, and when provided with its soft parts, in- cluding a snout or trunk, it must have been at least five or six feet long. Such a head if it belonged to a quadruped of ordinary proportions, must represent an animal as large in proportion to an elephant as an elephant to an ox/ (p. 251). He describes a tortoise with a shell twelve feet long, and this huge roof must have covered an animal eighteen feet long and seven feet high. Of an ancient four-horned antelope, or deer, the livatherium, he says: 'It is supposed to have been of elephantine size, and of great power and swiftness.' (p. 254.) But why refer to books? You can see the resurrected mammoth in the various museums, as much larger than the circus elephant as the elephant is larger than a cart-horse. This gigantic beast plants his foot squarely on the breast of Darwin's doctrine and squashes it into the mire forever." (Errors of Evolution, pp. 231-236, inc.) Let us bear in mind that the same evidence that "squashes" Darwin's theory of the development of lower forms into higher, also "squashes" Mr. Davis' teaching of the "unfolding" of lower kingdoms into higher kingdoms. And were either theory correct geology would have as faith- fully preserved the intermediate forms, as she has the "spe- cific fossils," and there would be no gaps in the record but a gradual "unbroken genealogical succession," which unfortu- nately for both theories is not the case, for we find the geological record very incomplete. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 101 In answering the objection that the intermediate forms may be buried in the breaks of the earth's strata, in citing Professor Agassiz, Dr. Patterson replies : " ' However long and frequent the breaks in the geologi- cal series may be in which they would bury their transition types, there are many points in the succession where the connection is perfectly distinct and unbroken ; and it is just at these points that new organic groups are introduced with- out any intermediate forms to link them with the preceding ones.' * * * • "Geology knows nothing of the missing intermediate forms. But had they ever existed, she would have preserved them as faithfully as the specific fossils she has kept safely so faithfully and so long. The conclusion is irresistible, that the multitude of intermediate forms, invented by Mr. Darwin, never had any existence save in his own brain. They are only ghosts seen in his mind's eye. But as they are vital to his theory, with their disappearance his theory melts into such stuff as dreams are made of. * * * "The Geological Record of Life on our Earth in Former Times, Contradicts Darwinism. "We have seen that the present state of the world offers a complete contradiction to the theory. But here, as in the case of spontaneous generation, there is a tendency to im- agine that though species may be stable now, having, as it were, set and hardened in the mould, they were more plastic in the early and formative period of the world's young life. It is therefore important to turn to the record of the stone book, and learn what it teaches about the early introduction of life upon the earth. And, happily, the record, though not perfect, is quite full and quite legible. Though some leaves are wanting, the record on those preserved is very 102 THE REALITY AND plain; and the illustrations are abundant, amounting to many hundreds of thousands, not of wood engravings of the objects, but the actual fossils themselves, some of which are to be seen in any geological cabinet. Let us then ask what the geological record says about the derivation of species from lower forms by imperceptible, gradual, and slow vari- ations. And the answer given by the best geologists is, that * * * "There has not been Time during all this immense dura- tion, for the Slow and Gradual Evolution of Widely Diversi- fied Geological Specimens from a Fezv Common, Simple Ancestors. "While geology only presented a few scores of speci- mens in her cabinets, it was possible to suppose these might have been, in some way or other, developed from each other in some calculable period. But since her discoverers have accumulated many thousands of species, and these so widely differing from each other in size and shape and function and habitation, as the mammoth and the oyster, it has be- come almost self-evident to all geologists that at Mr. Dar- win's rate of development, ten times or a hundred times the actual duration of the earth would not be sufficient for the development of the oyster into the Mammoth ; not counting the antecedent period needed for developing the moneron into the oyster. And this is a fatal objection. It kills Dar- winism before its birth, as an abortion which could never have had a natural existence.' , (Ibid., pp. 226, 227, 228, 237.) We desire to call attention to the fact that the theory of development or Darwinism which teaches that "there is a tendency to imagine that, though species may be stable now, having, as it were, set and hardened in the mould, they were EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 103 more plastic in the early and formative period of the world's young life," is in absolute harmony with Davis' theory as to why we do not now see the different species springing up spontaneously around us and "unfolding from lower king- doms into higher ones ;" as shown by the following : "If by perpetual and harmonious development nature has produced plants, brutes, and man, -why do we not see these different organizations springing up spontaneously, without a germ, from the ever-advancing earth? The answer is, that Na- ture is a vast and powerful organization; and that it was originally designed to unfold through countless series, de- grees and groups of physical and sentient organizations, the material and spiritual constitution of Man. Therefore, when Nature arrived at the point where she could accomplish this portion of her mission, it was no longer necessary nor pos- sible that she should continue in the old path of specific formation. The ultimate use of Nature is to individualize and immortalize the human spiritual principle. It is proper, therefore, to consider Nature as a mighty and magnificent Machine, and the Divine Mind as the omnipotent and om- niscient Artisan. Now we may consider the machine as per- fect — as not wanting in anything — as being complete and adequate to the great ultimate end for the accomplishment of which it was instituted. That Nature is perfect and com- plete in all her parts, is demonstrated by the perpetually pre- sented fact that human beings are born, and that human spir- its ascend to higher spheres. If, then, God has constructed this great Machine upon principles of unchanging order, harmony and progression — and if it is perfect even to the adjustment of an atom — it is unreasonable to inquire why he is not still engaged in constructing it." {The Great Har- monia, Vol. i., pp. 20-21.) 104 THE REALITY AND And further, if the geological record proves that "there has not been time" for the development of Darwin's lower forms into higher forms and thus "kills Darwinism," it would apply with equal force and be as fatal to the "unfold- ing" of Davis' lower into higher kingdoms. Also the geological record contradicts the order in which Evolutionists would have us believe living beings appeared on our globe. In discussing this subject, Dr. Patterson says: "The Order in which Living Beings Appeared on our Earth is not at all that Demanded by the Theory, but often the Reverse. "Geology reveals to us the order of succession of the ap- pearance of the different classes and genera and species of such living beings on our globe whose remains were capable of preservation. We see from it that the simple forms were first created, shell-fish, fishes, birds, animals and last of all, Man. But while this is the general order, when we look at the particular species and genera, we find them, not only not in agreement with the theory of slow, regular, gradual improvement, but frequently in direct opposition to it in important lines of facts, (i.) Species ought to come in gradually, whereas their actual appearance is sudden, (ii.) The lower classes and orders and genera should always pre- cede the higher, whereas in many cases the higher classes come first, (iii.) The largest insects, birds, reptiles, and animals ought to have grown from the smaller, and should have been preceded by them; but the contrary is the fact; the largest came -first, (iv.) The theory demands a com- plete gradation of all the actual species from the lowest to the highest in each locality, as well as of all the intermediate EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 105 species or connecting links between species; but there is no such gradation nor continuous series. "* * * The Various Orders and Genera should come in Gradually and Slowly — on the Contrary, they Appear Suddenly. "The theory is one essentially of slow, of very slow, progress. That is its very condition of success. But Mr. Darwin could not deny that new families, and new genera, and new species, do not generally appear gradually and slowly, but suddenly and in great numbers. And what ag- gravates the difficulty, these great changes in the forms of life appear almost simultaneously in the most distant places. * * * "On his theory it should not be so. The chances that the numberless millions of individuals of any given species, say mussels, should begin to vary towards the same higher form simultaneously are so enormously, I might say so infinitely, against such an accident — for it is only that in this theory — that they amount to a moral certainty. But this sudden ap- pearance of new species has happened not once only, but half a dozen times. It is explicable only, however, as the result of God's creating new races all over the earth at once." {Ibid., pp. 229-230.) Thus we find that geological evidence shows the absurd- ity of Mr. Davis' so-called "unequivocal knowledge" and demonstrates the utter worthlessness of the information ob- tained from "the great sphere of knowledge" while in the "superior condition;" that step by step the science of geology disproves the theory of development or the transmutation of species, or as Mr. Davis terms it, the "unfolding" of one kingdom into another and proclaims Creation. 106 THE REALITY AND In presenting his views as to the origin of Man, Mr. Davis says : "It is almost impossible to contemplate Nature with a comprehensive, generalizing eye, and determine which to first term Man — whether the highest of the quadrumana, or the lowest of the human type — so gradual and progressive is the emergement of one kingdom into another. * * * "The primary change from the quadrumana into the inferior types of the human organism, is so easy and uncon- spicuous that, to the scientific and systematic investigator, the anatomatical and physiological transformation is scarcely perceptible. For when nature was sufficiently perfected to unfold, from out of her inexhaustible properties and es- sences, the Fish, the Saurian, the Bird, the Marsupial, and the Mammalial kingdoms, it had become an easy, imper- ceptible and a comparatively harmonious work to develop Man. Every atom, every element, every essence, every min- eral, vegetable and animal organization in Nature aspired to be Man! The vast spiral of ascending forms in creation strove to be man ; for he was the grand ultimate end which those forms were originally designed to accomplish. Hence when every form of organic life arrived at the consumma- tion of its development, and when Nature was spread all over with beauty and with good atmospheric and geograph- ical conditions, the earth was prepared for Man; and, by a universal combination and conspiration of tendencies and efforts on the part of each and everything, he was unfolded. Though at first huge and unrefined and resembling, in his anatomical and physiological constructions, the quadrumana more than any other or higher type of the animal creation, yet man's innate tendency was onward toward perfection, and hence he finally became, in his anatomy and physiology, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 107 what he now is — a Coronation of universal Nature and an Image of God !" (The Great Harmonia, Vol. i., pp. 23-24.) Thus we see that Mr. Davis, as Darwin or any other evolutionist, teaches that the quadrumana developed or "un- folded" into man. At the time the above quotation was written the whole world was laboring under the delusion that the ape was a quadrumana and Davis simply voiced the ig- norance of his time. And it was not until eleven years later, not until the great English naturalist, Professor Thomas H. Huxley, proved by comparative anatomy that every ape, from the lowest to the highest, is a biped with a well formed hand and foot, that the modern world was informed of the error it was teaching. Yet to-day in every school and col- lege in our land we find the so-called educators teaching that the ape is a four-handed animal, notwithstanding the fact that science proved this false more than forty years ago. With what scorn and contempt must the coming generations regard them, and justly so, when they realize that this false teaching is either the result of willful carelessness or of the grossest ignorance ; both are equally inexcusable and unpar- donable. In discussing the anatomy of the ape, Professor Huxley says: "Let us now turn to the limbs of the Gorilla. The terminal division of the fore limb presents no difficulty — bone for bone and muscle for muscle, are found to be ar- ranged essentially as in man, or with such minor differences as are found as varieties in man. The Gorilla's hand is clumsier, heavier, and has a thumb somewhat shorter in proportion than that of man; but no one has ever doubted its being a true hand. "At first sight the termination of the hind limb of the Gorilla looks very hand-like, and as it is still more so in 108 THE REALITY AND many of the lower apes, it is not wonderful that the appel- lation 'Quadrumana,' or four-handed creatures, adopted from the older anatomists by Blumenbach, and unfortunately rendered current by Cuvier, should have gained such wide acceptance as a name for the Simian group. But the most cursory anatomical investigation at once proves that the re- semblance of the so-called 'hind hand' to a true hand, is only skin deep, and that, in all essential respects, the hind limb of the Gorilla is as truly terminated by a foot as that of man. * * * "Throughout all these modifications it must be recol- lected that the foot loses no one of its essential characters. Every Monkey and Lemur exhibits the characteristic ar- rangement of tarsal bones, possesses a short flexor and short extensor muscle, and a peronoeus longus. Varied as the proportions and appearance of the organ may be, the terminal division of the hind limb remains, in plan and principle of construction, a foot, and never, in those respects, can be confounded with a hand." (Man's Place in Nature, pp. 108, 109, 112.) Thus we see that Professor Huxley proves that Davis' "unequivocal knowledge" can not be depended upon and that there is not, nor never was such a creature as a quadru- mana, or four-handed animal. Nothing could more forcibly demonstrate the unreliability and worthlessness of the source of Mr. Davis' information than the fact that he believed and taught the existence of such a creature as a quadrumana. All geologists are agreed that up to a certain period in the world's history the higher Mammals were quadrupeds, and that suddenly there appeared over the entire globe a different order of animals, the apes, which, as we have seen, Professor Huxley proves are bipeds. While Mr. Davis may EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 109 have been deceived as to the "unfolding" or gradual develop- ment of one kingdom unto another, it is evident that had he known that the apes are bipeds he must have seen that his so-called law of "Association, Progression and Develop- ment" could not explain the sudden transformation of the quadrupeds into bipeds. Further evidence that no such de- velopment occurred is shown by the fact that no transitional forms have ever been found. Since neither Mr. Davis' theory of progression nor any theory of evolution can explain the origin of the apes, it fol- lows that their origin is alone attributable to an intelligent Creator. It is impossible to consistently attribute the oc- currence of certain events in the world's history to an intel- ligent Creator and then suppose that the other events are the results of the operation of the so-called law of "Association, Progression and Development." All theories of evolution recognize Man as a development from the ape. But this, like the development of other lower into higher forms, would require innumerable intermediate forms, and all evidence of these transitional forms is wholly wanting. Realizing that the gap between the ape and Man was too wide to span by a single leap, Mr. Haeckel and other Evolu- tionists have advanced the theory that there was a transi- tional form which they termed Speechless Man, Homo- primogenius, commonly called the missing link, yet they ad- mit that no evidence of the existence of such a creature has ever been found. Man being, comparatively speaking, of recent origin his remains are found nearest the surface of the earth, and any transitional forms between the apes and Man would long since have been discovered; and the fact 110 THE REALITY AND that they have not, shows that his origin could not have been the result of development. Since neither Mr. Davis' "unequivocal knowledge/' nor the general theory of development held by evolutionists can satisfactorily account for the origin of Man, we are com- pelled to seek elsewhere for a correct solution of his origin. And Creation as taught by the Bible, and which harmonizes with the sciences, offers the only explanation that appeals, not to our credulity, but to our intelligence. The Bible teaches that after the creation of the animals that "God said, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness : * * ' * So God created Man in his own im- age, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Genesis, i., 26, 28.) Thus it is shown that so far from Man "unfolding" or developing, as any theory of Evolution would have us be- lieve, he is a creation distinct from the animals. CHAPTER VII. Mind Common to Man and the Animals. Love, rage, curiosity, shame., pride., joy, revenge, etc., are attributes of the mind and are common to Man and the animals, thus clearly showing that the animals as well as Man possess mind, and forever silencing the absurd state- ment that animal intelligence is due solely to instinct and that Man alone possesses mind. For the mind of Man and the mind of the animal is the same in kind, differing only in degree. "The old method of referring the intelligence exhibited by animals to instinct no longer finds supporters. It is ad- mitted by those who have studied the subject most pro- foundly, that the mental powers of animals and of Man are the same in kind, only differing in degree. * * * His intellectual and moral faculties can be traced in a similar manner. The distance between the intellect of Newton and that of the dog is immeasurably great, but the difference between him and the Bosjesman, who is unable to count four, is greater than between the intelligence of the latter and the dog." (Hudson Tuttle, The Ethics of Spiritualism, pp. 30, 31.) The following are mental attributes which the animal possesses in common with Man. Maternal Love. "We see Maternal affection exhibited in the most trifling details; thus, Rengger observed an American monkey (a Cebus) carefully driving away the flies which plagued her infant: and Duvaucel saw a Hylo- 111 112 THE REALITY AND bates washing the faces of her young ones in a stream. So intense is the grief of female monkeys for the loss of their young that it invariably caused the death of certain kinds kept under confinement by Brehmi in N. Africa. Orphan monkeys were always adopted and carefully guarded by the other monkeys, both males and females. One female baboon had so capacious a heart that she not only adopted young monkeys of other species, but stole young dogs and cats, which she continually carried about. Her kindness, however, did not go so far as to share her food with her adopted offspring, at which Brehm was surprised, as his monkeys always divided everything quite fairly with their own young ones. An adopted kitten scratched this affectionate baboon, who certainly had a fine intellect, for she was much astonished at being scratched, and immediately examined the kitten's feet, and without more ado, bit off the claws." (The Descent of Man, p. 79.) Love. The love that animals manifest for each other and for their masters is a character so common as to scarcely need mention. "A dog is the only thing on this earth that luvs you more than he luvs himself. " Rage. "Several observers have stated that monkeys certainly dislike being laughed at; and they sometimes in- vent imaginary offenses. In the Zoological Gardens I saw a baboon who always got into a furious rage when his keeper took out a letter or book and read it aloud to him ; and his rage was so violent that, as I witnessed on one occasion, he bit his own leg till the blood flowed." (Ibid., p. 80.) Curiosity. "I then placed a live snake in a paper bag, with the mouth loosely closed, in one of the larger compart- ments. One of the monkeys immediately approached, cau- tiously opened the bag a little, peeped in, and instantly EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 113 dashed away. Then I witnessed what Brehm has described, for monkey after monkey, with head raised high and turned on one side, could not resist taking a momentary peep into the upright bag, at the dreadful object lying quietly at the bottom." (Ibid., p. 81.) Shame. "There can, I think, be no doubt that a dog feels shame, as distinct from fear, and something very like modesty when begging too often for food." (Ibid., p. 80.) Doubtless, there are few who have not observed the shame displayed by a dog as he hangs his head and walks away when scolded. Pride. "Animals manifestly feel emulation. They love approbation or praise; and a dog carrying a basket for his master exhibits in a high degree self-complacency or pride." (Ibid., p. 80.) Revenge. "Dr. R. A. Kammerer, one of the best known of the local veterinarians, has a wonderful story of an intel- ligent horse that also showed remarkable affection for a cat. The horse was not known to the doctor himself, but he has heard the story vouched for by an out-of-town V. S. "The horse belongs to a physician," said he, "and always showed great delight in making the daily calls with the doctor. When in the stable his almost constant companion was a cat, who spent most of her time perched upon his back. "One day the cat gave birth to some kittens, and the horse became very jealous of the new comers. About the same time the doctor purchased an automobile and the horse was given to the doctor's children. "He felt keenly his downward step and missed greatly the daily drives to the homes of the patients, where the doctor now went in his horseless carriage. 114 THE REALITY AND "One day the automobile was left standing in the yard where the horse was running free. A few moments -later the old cat and her kittens climbed into the rig and were soon enjoying a quiet nap on one of the cushioned seats. "That was too much -for the horse. Quietly he went over to the automobile and took the old cat in his mouth, just as he had seen her carry the kittens, and placed her safely on the ground. "Then, without paying any attention to the other mem- bers of the cat's family, he suddenly began to kick the auto- mobile to pieces before anyone could interfere. "Three of the kittens were killed and the automobile was badly wrecked by the horse, who felt that he was getting square with everyone at once." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 10, 1902.) Observation. "I have heard many stories of horses who showed intelligence out of the ordinary," said Dr. Charles Doerrie, of Boonville, Mo. * * * "but I call to mind one case in particular where the intelligent animal was owned by myself. "She was a splendid black mare, rather under-sized, and at the time I speak of, was ten years old. "My wife and I frequently visited a farm about nine miles from town and always drove 'Nelly,' as we called the animal, on our trips. There were many turns from the road, but we always went in a straight direction, not making any turns until we came to a place in the road where a sign-post, pointing the other direction, said, 'Boonville, seven miles.' "Now the mare had made the trip so often that we never paid any attention to her on the way. and she always turned at the right place. "One day some boys, in an attempt to play a joke, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 115 changed all the sign-posts along the road, and the seven-mile sign was moved to a turn in the road three miles nearer to town. • "The same day we started on a drive to the farm and Nelly jogged along as usual until she came to the sign. She was almost past it when she saw it. She stopped still, as if considering whether she might not have traveled part of the way in her sleep and then she turned slowly down the new road. "I turned her back the right way, but it was with diffi- culty that I got her past the sign. She seemed to think I did not know where I was going. "The next day the signs were put in their right positions, and .then everything was all right again." (St. Louis Post- Dispatch, August 19, 1902.) This Horse Loves Woman Only. "My favorite horse is the one I purchased when I came from Chicago College and settled in Clinton, fourteen years ago," said Dr. L. M. Klutz, a veterinary surgeon of Clinton, Mo. "He is dun- colored and was bred by Sam Hazzard, the once noted pacing horse, who made the circuit of Southern Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, and had a record of 2.17 j£. "He was the first horse I ever bought in Missouri. I still own him and money cannot buy him. He is now the family horse and they feel that they could not do without him. He is cared for with utmost zeal, is insured, and several years ago I had the famous equestrian painter, Booker, come all the way from New York to paint a life- size picture of him, which now hangs in my office at Clinton. "He possesses one of the most commendable peculiari- ties that one could imagine. He is unusually fond of ladies. The only reflection that can be cast upon him being his utter 116 THE REALITY AND disregard of the ordinary proprieties by loving them all. Any woman or girl who shows the slightest appreciation of him is instantly engraved upon his big heart, and he shows his affection in a most apparent manner. "When a woman, who shows by her actions that she desires to be friendly with him, passes by the place in which he is kept, he will run to the fence, poke his nose over it, rub his head against her and hold up his head and attempt our human kiss in an unmistakable manner. "All that is necessary is for a woman to raise her hand as though she would like to stroke his neck, and he is right there with his horse caresses. A man may do the same thing, and he doesn't accord him the least attention." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 19, 1902.) Happiness. "Happiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, lambs, etc., when playing together, like our own children. Even insects play together, as has been discovered by that excellent observer, P. Huber, who saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many puppies." (Ibid., p. 77.) Magnanimity. "A great dog scorns the snarling of a little dog, and this may be called magnanimity." (Ibid., p. 80.) Imitation. Darwin, in citing Desor, says, "that no animal voluntarily imitates an action performed by man, until in the ascending scale we come to monkeys, which are well known to be rediculous mockers." (Ibid., p. 82.) Our observations lead us to different conclusions. Mac was given us when a puppy, and has been raised very much as a member of the family. He has never been associated much with other dogs, and is very human in many of his actions and a very observing animal, and he certainly tries EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 117 as best he can to do as he sees us do. For example, having observed us sitting on one step with our feet resting on the next step below, he comes and seats himself on one step with his fore- feet on the next step below, as nearly in imitation of us as he can ; though he was never trained to do this, he never sits on the steps in any other way. Mrs. Gregg, of 1224 Hickory street, has a remarkably intelligent cat ; he is a half-breed Maltese and Angora. His name is Bob; he is eleven years old, and weighs eighteen pounds. When Bob was a kitten, Mrs. Gregg lived in the country. At a very early age Bob displayed a fondness for the chase and was in the habit of climbing trees in his effort to catch birds; while thus engaged, he was frequently at- tacked by quite a number of Blue Jays, whose vicious on- slaughts often threatened to knock him off the limbs. On one of these occasions Mr. Gregg came to Bob's assistance with his gun, and shot some of the birds ; Bob seemed to be delighted at this fortunate turn of affairs, and by way of manifesting his appreciation of the service rendered him, he hastened down, picked up the dead birds and carried them to his master. Since then, Bob has frequently accompanied his master hunting, and always retrieves his game as nicely as the best trained dog would do. Bob is careful not to mutilate the birds in retrieving them, but after bringing them to his master, he insists upon being allowed to eat them. We never before heard of a cat retrieving. Bob has very good table manners, too; when placed at the table he carries the food to his mouth with his forepaw, never putting his mouth to the plate, unless the pieces are so large he cannot otherwise manage them ; but if fed from the floor, he eats like any other cat ; when he finishes a meal he always washes his face. 118 THE REALITY AND Bob has observed how the door is opened and he can turn the knob and always open the door if it swings from him, and sometimes if it opens toward him, but not always. ]^e does not like babies and will not stay in the room where they are, being so jealous of any affection shown them, having always been accustomed to receive all the pet- ting himself. But he is fond of larger children, playing hide and seek with them just as they do; a child can hide and he will hunt until he finds it, then he will hide and wait until he is found. He prefers dogs to cats and his chum was a neighbor's dog; the dog was recently stolen and now Bob is disconso- late. Bob's remarkable intelligence and varied accomplish- ments have attracted the notice of the local press ; The Post- Dispatch of March 23rd, 1902, says: "Everybody in the neighborhood of Thirteenth and Hickory streets knows the big Gregg cat. As well might one look in the. Siamese jungle for a native who never heard of the white elephant as to seek around the Gregg residence, for someone who does not know all about the big cat that goes hunting with Mr. Gregg and brings in the birds ; that washes its face after it eats ; that wakes and sleeps by the clock ; that eats at table, and has a dog for a playmate. "All the neighborhood knows that the Gregg cat's name is Bob, and that he is just as much a member of the Gregg family circle as though he were a little girl or boy." Memory. "I had a dog who was savage and averse to all strangers, and I purposely tried his memory after an absence of five years and two days. I went near the stable where he lived and shouted to him in my old manner; he obeyed me exactly as if I had parted with him only a half an hour before. A train of old associations, dormant during EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 119 five years, had thus been instantaneously awakened in his mind." (Ibid., p. 83.) The above incident affords striking evidence of memory in the animal, but doubtless, there are many who can recall similar incidents. Humor. "Dogs show what may be fairly called a sense of humor as distinct from mere play; if a bit of stick or other such object be thrown to one he will often carry it away for a short distance, and then squatting down with it on the ground close before him, will wait until his master comes quite close to take it away. The dog will then seize it and rush away in triumph, repeating the same manceuver and evidently enjoying the practical joke." (Ibid., p. 80.) In discussing the difference between Men and animals, Prof. G. M. Dupart, of the University of Lyons, says : "The time is no more when Descartes refused to recognize reasoning powers in the animals. "Nor do we live in the days of Michelet, who pleaded eloquently for our 'lower brothers;' we put the monkeys and the dogs in the same class with ourselves when we wish to study psychology, and find them and all the other animals lower in the animal hierarchy much easier to experiment upon than Man, for whose investigation along certain lines moral considerations place invincible obstacles. "It has usually been regarded as essentially and charac- teristically human to possess the reflective power which permits us to reason, be scientific, exert the will, and to act morally. But it is no longer so. We are obliged to see in Men and animals representations of the same nature, the same sentiments, the same motive conceptions, in brief, a mental life obeying the same laws. "Even Leibnitz said that we are empirical, tenative, or 120 t THE REALITY AND experimental during the largest part of our existence, and that we are related to the animals who are always empirical, and whose consecutive ideas are the shadows of our own reasoning power. . "In our own days it has been perceived that animals are creatures of habit, that they obey its dictates without taking cognizance of them as such. Herein we distinguish Man from them, for he deliberately employs abstract concepts, considers habits in themselves. "But there is not a person among us who dares to deny to the brutes perception, imagination, memory, association of ideas, a certain degree of generalizing power, emotivity, desire and a complex mental activity respecting conceptions, which themselves are complex. "Thus that mysterious word, 'instinct/ which hovers so darkly above animal existence, becomes a phenomenon easier and easier of explanation. Man himself is not totally de- prived of instinctive activity. "This is a convincing argument and proof of the fact that instinct is perfectly in accord and congenial with the other psychic phenomena and activities. The instincts of the animals merely are more differentiated, appearing and dis- appearing naturally in their usual course." (Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 3, 1901.) After discussing the various attributes of the mind, as displayed by animals, Darwin says : "Of all the faculties of the human mind, it will, I presume, be admitted that Reason stands at the summit. Only a few persons now dis- pute that animals possess some power of reasoning. Animals may constantly be seen to pause, deliberate, and resolve. It is a significant fact, that the more the habits of any particu- lar animal are studied by a naturalist, the more he attributes EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 121 to reason and the less to unlearned instincts." (Ibid., p. 84.) Reason. When we painted our back hall and kitchen floor, for some reason the paint did not dry sufficiently by morning so we could use the kitchen. When evening time came, the paint v/as still too moist to step on without leaving footprints. Every once in a while during the day, Mac, our Scotch Terrier, before referred to, would sit up, bark, and beg us to let him in the kitchen ; but this, of course, we could not do. It was not so difficult putting him off during the day, but when supper time came, he seemed determined to make us let him in the kitchen. Anyone who knows Mac, will readily agree that make is the proper word, for a more persistent and determined animal to get what he wants, we never knew. Of course, he is dreadfully spoiled ; we have always treated him as if he were one of us. A common saying among us is that, "Mac does not know he is a dog, but thinks he is just as good as white folks." So, as we said before, when evening came Mac was determined to make some of us open the kitchen door for him. We could not move or look at him but he would sit up on his hind legs and bark, his way of asking for anything he wants, and in this case he wanted the door opened that communicated with the kitchen. He tormented us so that finally we concluded to let him out front into the street ; ordinarily that was a great treat, but at this time it did not satisfy him at all ; he came in directly ; we let him out and he ran towards the kitchen. To obtain any peace at all we had to scold him, and this we hated to do, first, be- cause he is such a pet ; second, he takes a scolding so to heart and grieves and pouts over it just like a spoiled child. But the scolding quieted him, and we saw nothing more of him 122 THE REALITY AND until about 8 o'clock, when the painter came to see what was wrong with the paint that it did not dry more quickly. You can imagine our surprise when, upon opening the door between the dining room and kitchen, to find Mac standing in the kitchen door, deliberately waging his stub tail, as much as to say, "Well, you see I did get in the kitchen after all." Our front hall and stairs are separated from the back hall and stairs by a door, and this door was closed and bolted, so he could not have gone that way ; but the upper hall extends the entire length of the house, so it is possible to go up the front stairs, cross the hall and down the back stairs, into the back hall, and then into the kitchen. That was the only way he could have managed it, and his foot- prints in the moist paint plainly told that was what he did. After that when the bell rang and we would close the door between the back hall and front hall to keep him from the front door, he would run up the back stairs, cross the hall, down the front stairs and arrive at the front door almost with us, plainly showing he remembered how he had gone before. This was an entirely new way for Mac to go, and he could only have studied it out by hard thought and much reasoning. The door between the front hall and back hall is seldom closed; and if it is sometimes accidentally closed, all he had been accustomed to do was, to scratch on the door and it was opened for him. The idea of his going up the front stairs, crossing the hall and down the back stairs and into the kitchen, was all thought out by him and acted upon as his own solution of the difficulty. No child could have reasoned it out more clearly than he did. The Weekly Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 18, 1901, says: "A farmer trapped a large red fox and carried it EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 123 home and shut it up in his corn crib until he could tell the neighbors and plan for a fox chase. The next morning the fox was gone. The fox had worked away on the inside and loosened a board, but he could not get out unless the board was held up from the outside. The farmer then found tracks of another fox, no doubt his mate, who had come and helped the prisoner to escape." Falkenstein, as quoted by Hartmann, gives the following account of a captive gorilla : "In the course of a few weeks he became so accustomed to his surroundings, and to the people whom he knew, that he was allowed to run about at liberty, without fear that he would make any attempt to escape. He was never chained, nor confined to a cage, and was watched only in the way that little children are watched when they are at play. He was so conscious of his own helplessness that he clung to human companionship, and displayed in this manner a wonderful dependence and trustfulness. He showed no trace of mis- chievous, malicious, or savage qualities, but was sometimes self-willed. He expressed the ideas which occurred to him by different sounds, one of which was the characteristic tone of importunate petition, while others expressed fright or horror, and in rare instances, a sullen and defiant growl might be heard. "In his moods of exuberant satisfaction and simple pleasure, he might be seen to rub his breast with both fists, while raising himself on his hind legs. Moreover, he often expressed his feelings after quite a human fashion, by clap- ping his hands together, an action which no one had taught him; and he executed such wild dances, sometimes over- balancing himself, reeling to and fro, and whirling round, that we were often disposed to think that he must be drunk. 124 THE REALITY AND Yet he was only drunk with pleasure and this impelled him to display his strength in the wildest gambols. "His dexterity in eating was particularly remarkable. If any of the other apes chanced to enter his chamber, noth- ing was safe from them; they snatched greedily at every- thing, only to throw it away with a certain aversion, or carelessly to let it drop. The gorilla behaved quite differ- ently : he took up every cup or glass with instinctive care, clasped the vessel with both hands, and set it down again so softly and carefully that I cannot remember his breaking a single article of our household goods. Yet we never taught the creature the use of our vessels and other manu- factured articles, since we wished to bring him to Europe, as far as possible in a state of nature. His behavior at meal- times was quiet and mannerly; he only took as much as he could hold with his thumb, fore and middle finger, and looked on with indifference when any of the different forms of food heaped up before him were taken away. If, how- ever, nothing was given him, he growled impatiently, looked narrowly at all the dishes from his place at table, and ac- companied every plate carried off by the negro boy with an angry snarl or a short, resentful cough and sometimes he sought to seize the arm of the passer-by in order to express his displeasure more plainly by a bite or a blow. In another minute he would play with the negroes as with his fellows, and this distinguished him altogether from other apes, and especially from baboons, who appear to feel an instinctive hatred against many of the black race, and take a peculiar pleasure in displaying their animosity against them. "He drank by suction, stooping over the vessel without even putting his hands into it, or upsetting it, and in the case of smaller vessels, he carried them to his mouth. * * * His EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. ?25 cleanliness was remarkable, for if, by accident, he touched a spider's web, or rubbish of any kind, he sought to brush it off with absurd horror, or held out his hands to have it done for him. There was no offensive smell about him. It was his favorite amusement to play and paddle about in the water, nor did the fact that he had just taken a bath prevent him from amusing himself by rolling in the sand with other apes immediately afterwards. His good humor and shyness, or rather roguishness, deserves special mention as his strongest characteristic. When he was chastised, as it was necessary to do at first, he never resented the punishment, but came up with such a beseeching air, clinging to my feet, and looking up with an expressive air which disarmed all displeasure. When he was anxious to obtain anything, no child could have expressed its wishes in a more urgent and caressing manner. If in spite of this he did not obtain what he wanted, he had recourse to cunning, and looked anxiously about to see if he was watched. It was just in these cases, when he obstinately pursued a fixed idea, that it was im- possible not to recognize a deliberate plan and careful calcu- lation. If, for example, he was not allowed to leave the room, or again, was not allowed to come in, he would, after several attempts to get his own way had been baffled, ap- parently submit to his fate and lie down near the door in question with assumed indifference. But he soon raised his head in order to ascertain whether fortune was on his side, edging himself gradually nearer and nearer, and then look- ing carefully round, he twisted himself about until he reached the threshold; then he got up, peered cautiously round, and with one bound, galloped off so quickly it was difficult to follow him. "He pursued his object with equal pertinacity when he 126 THE REALITY AND felt a desire for the sugar or fruit, which was kept in a cup- board in the eating-room ; he would suddenly leave off play- ing and go in an opposite direction, only altering his course when he believed that he was no longer observed. He then went straight to the room and cupboard, opened it, and made a quick and dexterous snatch at the sugar box, or fruit basket, sometimes closing the cupboard doors behind him before beginning to enjoy his plunder, or, if he was dis- covered, he would escape with it, and his whole behavior made it clear that he was conscious of transgressing into forbidden paths. He took a special, and what might be called a childish pleasure, in making a noise by beating on hollow articles, and he seldom omitted an opportunity of drumming on casks, dishes, or tin trays, whenever he passed by them — a noisy amusement to which he was much addicted during our homeward voyage on board the steam vessel, in which he was at liberty to roam about." (Anthropoid Apes, pp. 261, 262, 263, 264, 265.) "According to the account of Captain Grandpre, a fe- male chimpanzee on board his vessel would heat the oven, taking care that no coals fell out, and carefully watching until it was of the right heat, of which she would inform the baker. She fulfilled all the duties of a sailor, such as drawing up the anchor, furling and making fast the sails. She patiently endured maltreatment by a brutal mate, stretch- ing out her hands imploringly to' ward off the blows. But after this she refused all food, and died in five days of grief and hunger." (Ibid., p. 268.) Mechanism. The comb of the honey bee. "Every comb contains two sets of cells, one opening on each of its faces. The cells of one side, however, are not exactly op- posite to those of the other ; for the middle of each cell abuts EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 127 against the point where the walls of the three cells meet on the opposite side, and thus the partition that separates the cells is greatly strengthened. This partition is not flat, but consists of three planes which meet each other at a particular angle, so as to make the centre of the cell its deepest part. Of the three planes which constitutes the floor of each cell, one forms part of the bottom of each of the three cells, against which it abuts on the opposite side. "Now it can be proved by the aid of a difficult and elabo- rate mathematical calculation that in order to combine the greatest strength with the least expenditure of material, the edges of these planes should have a certain fixed inclination ; and the angles formed by the bees were ascertained by the measurement of Maraldi, to be 109° 28' and 70° 32', respect- ively. "By the very intricate calculation of Konig, it was deter- mined that the angles for such a purpose should be 109° 26' and 70° 34'. Here was a wonderful coincidence! the bees and the mathematicians differed by the small discrepancy of two minutes of a degree, or ^"th part of a circle, an infinitesimal space in so small a thing as a bee-cell. "Were the bees by this minute fraction at fault ? Or did the geometrician err? We shall see. "Mailaurin, the Scotch mathematician, was not satisfied with this explanation, and applied himself to a fresh and careful invesitgation of the question. He showed that owing to a slight misprint in the lograthmic tables, the result pre- viously obtained was erroneous to the exact amount of two minutes! So that the bees were in the right, even to this infinitisimal fraction, and the mathematicians wrong." {Kinns, Moses and Geology, pp. 329, 330.) Hypnotism is purely a mental process and can be dem- 128 THE REALITY AND onstrated only where some degree of intelligence is dis- played, and the fact that animals are susceptible to hypno- tism is only another evidence of mind in the animals. For the benefit of our readers who are not familiar with the different methods of hypnotizing, nor how it happened to be so-called, will offer in explanation the following from Mr. Hudson, who says: "For some years subsequent to this, the investigation of the subject was confined to its psychological and therapeutic features; but every scientist who dabbled in it was tabooed by the majority of his asso- ciates. Many able works were produced on the subject, but none of them attracted the attention of the academicians until Dr. Braid, of Manchester, undertook to demonstrate the theory that the hypothetical magnetic fluid had nothing to do with the production of the phenomena. Braid dis- covered that by placing a bright object before the eyes of the subject, and causing him to gaze upon it with persistent at- tention, he could be thrown into the hypnotic sleep, during which many of the well-known phenomena ascribed to mag- netism could be produced. This seemed to point to the pos- sibility of a physiological explanation of the subject-matter. It attracted the attention of the scientists, and thus to Braid belongs the credit of causing the subject to be at last ac- knowledged as being within the domain of the exact sci- ences. The acadamicians were mollified. The pet theory of the mesmerists appeared to have been demolished. The method was simple and easily applied. The phenomena of thought transference could not be produced by its methods. It promised a physiological explanation; and, best of all, it had been given a new name. It had received many names before Braid undertook the task of rechristening it ; but, with the exception of 'mesmerism,' each was objectional, because EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 129 it implied a theory of causation. The name of 'mesmerism' was obviously improper, because Mesmer was neither the discoverer of the force, nor the inventor of the practical method of evoking it. 'Animal Magnetism' implied Mes- mer's theory of magnetic currents. 'Mental or animal elec- tricity' implied practically the same theory. 'Neurology' in- dicated the science of the nervous system. 'Patheism' (from the Greek radical signifying disease or suffering) and 'ether- ology' ( which means the science of the refined part of the atmosphere) were equally meaningless as applied to the subject. 'Psycodunamy' signified the power of the soul; and 'electro-biology' was American, and not to be tolerated. But when Braid denominated it 'hypnotism,' — from the Greek word signifying sleep, — it was hailed as a compro- mise sufficiently non-committal to entitle it to recognition, and 'hynotism' it will be called until some academician drags to light the ultimate cause of all things. * * * The leading points of difference between the three schools may be briefly stated as follows : "1. The theory of the Nancy School is that the differ- ent physiological conditions characterizing the hypnotic state are determined by mental action alone; that the phe- nomena can best be produced in persons of sound physical health and perfect mental balance; and that this mental action and the consequent physical and psychological phe- nomena are the result, in all cases, of some form of sugges- tion. "2. The Paris School holds that hypnotism is the re- sult of an abnormal or diseased condition of the nerves ; that a great number of the phenomena can be produced independ- ently of suggestion in any form ; that the true hypnotic con- dition can be produced only in persons whose nerves are 130 THE REALITY AND diseased; and that the whole subject is explicable on the basis of cerebral anatomy of physiology. "3. The mesmerists hold to the fluidic theory of Mes- mer; that the hypnotic condition is induced, independent of suggestion, by passes made by the operator over the subject accompanied by intense concentration of mind and will on the part of the former; that from him flows a subtle fluid which impinges upon the subject wherever it is directed, and produces therapeutic or other effects in obedience to the will of the operator; that these effects can best be produced by personal contact ; but that they can be produced at a distance and without the knowledge of the subject, and independently of suggestion." (The Law of Psychic Phenomena, pp. 86, 87, 88, 90.) "The difference between the effects of mesmerism on man and animals is one of degree only ; and the difference of degree is determined only by their difference in intelligence. The law is the same." (Ibid., pp. 119, 120.) "Tha't the majority of animals can be hypnotized is something a number of people have only a very limited knowledge of, although it is easily done, and also of great interest to all who think seriously on such matters — espe- cially for scientists. I have experimented with quite a num- ber of the larger animals, such as horses and dogs, and always had complete success. Some animals can easily be brought into the hypnotic state. This has long been known. The bringing of animals into the hypnotic condition is easily accomplished, because the methods are very practical ; we can almost call them mechanical. They immediately produce their effect; it is not necessary to follow all the rules such as for hypnotizing people. So far as some of the animals are concerned, it evidently plays a prominent part that they EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 131 have a great respect for us, who at all events to a certain extent are the animals' god. As early as 1646, Father Athanasius Kircher relates in a book entitled Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, that if a cock with his legs tied together be placed before a line made upon the floor with white chalk, he becomes at the end of a few moments perfectly mo- tionless ; if the string be untied and he is excited, he does not issue from the cataleptic state. This experiment may be of still earlier date, since it has been ascribed to Daniel Schren- ter (1636). However this may be, in many countries the hypnotization of poultry became a source of popular amuse- ment." (Carl Sixtus, Hypnotism, pp. 20-21.) "There is in this country a young man who, as a snake charmer, has, perhaps, no equal on the habitable globe, writes a Gainesville (Tex.) correspondent of the Globe-Democrat. His name is Frank Kerr, about thirty-two years of age, who aside from its marvelous power over reptiles, is distin- guished chiefly by his aversion to any kind of work. His wonderful power over the most venomous reptiles — a power which it is his delight to use constantly — has long been the wonder of everyone hereabouts. It is his custom to walk proudly up the street with the heads of three or four snakes hanging out of his pockets, and his neck decorated with a big rattler or copperhead. It is related, and well verified, that sleep to him is almost an impossibility if he has not sev- eral snakes in his bed ; and it is seldom, indeed, that he misses much sleep. He delights to fondle a big rattler before a crowd of wonder-stricken spectators, compelling it to put its head in his mouth, and 'capping the climax,' by making it protrude is forked tongue to meet his own. This feat is about his only source of revenue. "Last March he went to Ardmore, a small town in the 132 THE REALITY AND Indian Territory, a few miles north of here, hoping to make some money by giving public exhibitions of his snake feats. He left here with two snakes, a copperhead and a rattlesnake, but the rattler died en route. Not wishing to perform with one snake, he took his flute, the work of his' own handicraft, and started for the woods in quest of the reptiles. To the tune of his own weird music, like Jack the Piper, he marched along. "He returned to town in about three hours with thirteen snakes of different species crawling after him. Selecting a few from among them, he exhibited his feats to wondering and liberal crowds. "This story has been told so often and abundantly veri- fied, that no one now questions it. He has a preference for the copperhead, but as he expresses it, he 'loves them all,' and frequently caresses a little harmless green snake as ten- derly as he does the big rattlers." (Ibid., pp. 127, 128, 129.) "This power is often used by man to disarm the fury of the most enraged quadrupeds. This is peculiarly seen at times in the case of watch-dogs, over whom house-breakers have found out the secret of exercising so seductive and quieting a power as to keep them in a profound silence while the burglary is committed. Lindecrantz, of Sweden, tells us that the natives of Lapland and Dalarne are in possession of this secret generally, insomuch that they can instantly disarm the most ferocious dog, and oblige him to fly from them, with all his usual signs of fear, such as dropping the tail and becoming suddenly silent. "Grooms are sometimes found possessed of a similar power over horses. Mr. Townsend gives a striking anecdote to this effect in his account of James Sullivan. The man — an awkward, ignorant, rustic of the lower class — was, by profession a horse-breaker, and generally nick-named EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 133 the ' Whisperer,' from its being vulgarly supposed that he obtained his influence over unruly horses by whisper- ing to them. The actual secret of his fascinating power, it is very likely, was unknown to himself, for it died with him, his son, who was in the same occupation, knowing nothing of it. It was well known to everyone, that how- ever unbroken or vicious a horse or even a mule might be, when brought to him, in the short space of half an hour, he became altogether passive under his influence, and was not only entirely gentle and tractable, but in a very considerable degree continued so, though somewhat more submissive to himself than to others. There was a little mystery in his plan, but unquestionably no deceit. When sent for to tame an unruly horse, he ordered the stable door to be shut upon himself and the animal alone, and not to be opened until a given signal. This singular intercourse usually lasted for about half an hour; no bustle was heard, or violence seem- ingly had recourse to, but when the door was opened, on the proper sign being given, the horse was always seen lying down, and the fascinator by his side, playing with him familiarly as a child with a puppy. Mr. Townsend once saw his skill tried on a horse that could never be brought to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's half hour lecture, he went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's shop with many other curious spectators, who were eye-witnesses of the complete success of his art. This, too, had been a troop horse, and it was supposed, not with- out reason, that after regimental discipline had failed, no other would be found availing. He observed the animal seemed afraid whenever Sullivan either spoke to or looked at him. In common cases, the mysterious preparation of a private interview was not necessary, the animal becoming tame at once." (Ibid., pp. 129, 130, 132.) 134 THE REALITY AND "Turtles may very easily be charmed by the use of slow, monotonous music. There are in Brazil several well-known turtle charmers, who make it a specialty by the use of their art to catch all the turtles they want. The charmer uses his instrument, often at the same time imitating with his voice various animal calls, and the result comes in about fifteen to twenty minutes. If any turtles are in the vicinity they will come first one, two, then a whole herd, grouping them- selves around the charmer, listening to his music with great attention. The charmer has assistants to throw the nets over the turtles. The nets are fastened to the ground by heavy weights and the turtles are caught. Nearly all animals may be brought under influence, but the proceedings are different. "The experiment of Father Kircher, in 1646, with the hen which lay motionless on the ground when a long chalk-line was drawn from her bill, has often been repeated. To the same class of phenomena belong all kinds of charming by the eyes or fascination — as when the snake charmer by his eye tames serpents, or when snakes paralyze frogs and other small animals. The art of Rarey, the famous horse- tamer, appears to have consisted principally in hypnotic ma- nipulations. Hypnotism and fascination play a very great role in taming wild animals, much more important than people generally believe ; especially when they are used with the proper manipulations. How many true cases are re- ported in 'Descriptions of Travels' when a man in utmost danger of death, with destroyed or poor weapons, has had only his will-force and the power of his eyes to thank for saving life that seemed lost." {Ibid., p. 136.) In the face of this mass of evidence those who deny animals the possession of mind and accredit them with mere instinct, present such woeful ignorance and obstinacy that to attempt to enlighten them would be a hopeless task indeed. CHAPTER VIII. The Identity of Spirit and Mind. A careful investigation of the Mosaic Record reveals the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that when God made the plants, the animals and Man, that He employed three dis- tinct substances, which we term Matter, Mind and Soul; and Mr. Charles Carroll is the first and only writer of modern times who holds to the teaching of the Bible and insists that mind and soul are distinct creations. As we have shown, mind is common to Man and the animals, therefore, it is not mind that distinguishes Man from the animals, but God "breathed" into Man's "nostrils the breath of life," a sub- stance different from matter and from mind which we term soul, and it is this that is peculiar to Man and distinguishes him from the animals. In fact, modern theologians, the spir- itualist and all modern writers confound Spirit, Mind and Soul and use them synonymously. Whereas, as a matter of fact, Soul and Mind are distinct, and Soul and Spirit are distinct ; but Spirit and Mind are identical. That Spirit and Mind are identical will be readily seen and acknowledged, when we remember that we have always considered certain attributes peculiar to Mind, but when we find that these same distinguishing characteristics, which we have been taught, applied to Mind only, are also dis- tinguishing characteristics of Spirit, we are forced to the conclusion that Spirit and Mind are one. Though the term Spirit is sometimes applied to one of 135 136 THE REALITY AND the Trinity or to the Deity as : "God is a Spirit," just as the term Soul is sometimes used to describe the whole person, both soul and body, as : "And Abram took Sari his wife and Eot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haram." (Gen. xii, 5.) We can always determine whether the term spirit refers to the Deity or to the mind by the connections in which it is used; but in the great majority of cases the term Spirit is used to describe the mind, as is shown by the following : "And the earth was without form, and void ; and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Gen., i, 2.) "And the Spirit, that is, the Mind of God, was beginning to operate upon gaseous matter and form the wondrous phe- nomena of our universe. For example, a Man is about to build a house, he has all the materials out of which the house is to be builded ; but it is the Mind or Spirit of the architect, not his soul, that forms the plans and carries out the design in which the house is to be erected. And so it is with God. He had in the beginning created the materials out of which to construct the universe, but as yet everything was without form and void." And as the architect, by the exercise of his mind, combined his materials into a beautiful home; so the Great Architect of the Universe by the exercise of His Spirit or Mind, not His Soul, combined and moulded form- less matter into a beautiful home, a paradise, for His yet un- created children. The correctness of our conclusions that it was the Mind of God, termed the Spirit, which operated to plan and form the universe, of which Man is a part, is shown by the fol- , EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 137 lowing : "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." {Job, xxxiii., 4.) Further evidence of the identity of Spirit and Mind is found in the following : "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with Man, for that he also is flesh. Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." {Gen., v\., 3.) It is plain from the above that the antideluvians were living a life of disobedience, and that God's Spirit or Mind had striven to induce them to turn from their evil way and live in obedience to His laws ; that He had even set a limit to the period, "an hundred and twenty years," in which they might repent and turn to Him. This was evidently wholly a mental effort. It was God's Spirit or Mind, not His soul operating on Men's minds to induce them to renounce their evil course. The following texts further indicate that the inspired writers employ the terms Spirit and Mind indiscriminately in referring to the mental organism : "But he that is spir- itual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no Man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. ii., 15, 16.) "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." (Phil, i., 19.) "Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil, ii., 5.) "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." (1 John iv., 13.) All the above texts clearly indicate that spirit and mind are identical. Additional evidence of the identity of Spirit and Mind is shown by the following : "And they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them : and when he saw the 138 THE REALITY AND wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their iather revived." (Gen. xlv., 27.) Undoubtedly the mental shock which Jacob sustained upon being told that Joseph still lived prostrated him; and it was his spirit or mind, not his soul, that was reviving. "They angered him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes : "Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke un- advisedly with his lips." (Psal. cvi., 32, 33.) One may be angered to such an extent that they lose control of their speech; yet no one for a moment imagines it is their soul that is provoked ; on the contrary, we all know it is the mind that is thus affected. Thus the text above shows that spirit and mind are identical. The following texts are much the same: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." (Prov. xvi., 32.) That spirit in this text has reference to mind, and not soul, is so plain that it seems almost useless to attempt any com- ments. "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls." (Prov. xxv., 28.) A certain amount of self-control is absolutely essential to success and they who lack this but follow every impulse of the mind will certainly have "failure" written on their monu- ments. In this text it is plain that the term spirit is applied to the mental organism, thus showing the identity of spirit and mind. Willing. "And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service and for the holy garments." (Exod. xxxv., 21.) "And thou, Solomon my EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. , 139 son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind" (1 Chron. xxviii., 9.) Thus the Old Testament teaches that willing which is a mental operation is also a spiritual operation. The same is true of the New Testament, as is shown by the following: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Mat. xxvi., 41.) "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted ac- cording to that a Man hath, and not according to that he hath not." (2 Cor. viii., 12.) Thus both Old and New Testa- ments show the identity of spirit and mind. Humility. "Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." (Prov. xvi., 19.) "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews." (Acts xx., 19.) These texts further prove that certain mental conditions are common to the spirit; thus showing that trie terms spirit and mind are synonymous. Pride. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. xvi., 18.) "But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was de- posed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him." (Dan. v., 20.) The fact that we find pride, which is a state or condition of the mind, accredited to spirit, shows the identity of spirit and mind. Sorrow. "And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the soul of thy foot have rest : but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of minds" (Deut. xviii., 65.) "And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrow- ful spirit : I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but 140 t THE REALITY AND have poured out my soul before the Lord." (1 Sam. i., 15.) Here we find that sorrow, which is also a mental condition, accredited to the spirit ; thus further showing the identity of spirit and mind. Fervent. "And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord ; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John." (Acts xviii., 24, 25.) "And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind towards me; so that I rejoiced the more." (2 Cor. vii., 7.) Fervency is still another condition of the mind, and the above references to the fervent spirit and the fervent mind clearly indicates the identity of spirit and mind. Faith. "We have the same spirit of faith, according •as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." (2 Cor. iv., 13.) It is easy to see that "faith" and belief are mental operations, and since we find them associated with spirit in this text it fur- nishes us with additonal proof of the identity of spirit and mind. Groaning. "Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Laza- rus is dead. * * * Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." (St. John xi., 14, 32, 33.) This narrative teaches that Lazarus, a brother of Mary, had EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 141 died and had been buried four days when the Savior ar- rived, and found Mary and others weeping and mourn- ing for him. In his deep sympathy for them in their distress "he groaned in the spirit and was troubled;'' that is, he shared their grief, and it is plain that grief is merely a condition of the mind. Consequently, this text presents further evidence that spirit and mind are identical Truth and Error. "We are of God : he that knoweth God heareth us : he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (1 John iv., 6.) This text teaches that those who had a knowledge of God and believed in Him would listen to the truth concerning Him ; but those who had no knowledge and did not believe in God were in error concerning Him. Thus they were able to distinguish between the spirit or mind that accepted the truth from the spirit or mind that entertained error. To entertain truth or error is a mental operation, and the term spirit as above used, describes the mind ; thus again demonstrating that spirit and mind are one. Trouble. "And in the second year of the reign of Ne- buchodnezzar, Nebuchodnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrolo- gers,, and the sources and the Chaldeans for to shew the king his dreams. • So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream." (Dan. ii., 1, 2, 3.) Nebuchadnezzar had "dreamed dreams," it was impossible for him to understand, and because of this, he was troubled in spirit or mind, and sent for the wise men of his kingdom, hoping they could explain to him their true significance, that he might thereby regain, not the tranquility of his soul, but 142 THE REALITY AND his peace of mind. In this text the term spirit is evidently applied to the mental organism ; thus showing the identity of spirit and mind. Anguish. "And Moses spake so unto the Children of Israel; but they harkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage." (Exod. vi., 9.) "Anguish, anything fitted to excite intense bodily or mental pain." (Universal Dictionary, Volume i.) As it does not in this text refer to bodily pain, it must refer to a mental state of the mind. Consequently, anguish of spirit or anguish of mind are synonymous terms. Sad. "But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread." (1 King xxi., 5.) Sadness is simply a state or condition of the mind : so a sad spirit or mind is that mental condition to which the mind is reduced by some outward influence. It is clear, therefore, that the "sad spirit" above referred to, fur- nishes additional evidence of the identity of spirit and mind. Anger. "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." (Eccl. vii., 9.) Anger is unquestionably a mental condition ; thus this text presents further evidence of the identity of spirit and mind. Understanding. "But there is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." (Job xxxii., 8.) It is easy to see that it is the mind of man that is inspired with understanding or knowledge by the Almighty. Thus this text furnishes additional proof that spirit and m,ind are identical. Guile. "Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord im- puteth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." (Psal. xxxii., 2.) Guile, which means deception, duplicity, etc., can only be entertained and expressed by the mind- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 143 Thus, this text presents further proof of the identity of spirit and mind. Excellent. "Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belte- shazzar : now, let Daniel be called and he will shew the in- terpretation." (Dan. v., 12.) The ability to acquire "knowl- edge and understanding," the "interpreting of dreams," "the shewing" or explaining of "hard sentences;" and "the dis- solving," or removal of doubts, were characteristics which constituted the excellency of Daniel's spirit; and no one can for a moment doubt that these are characteristics of the mind. Thus this text furnishes additional evidence of the identity of spirit and mind. The following text is much the same as the one above; but is in such perfect harmony with our views, that we offer it also: "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; and over these three presidents ; of whom Daniel was first : that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him : and the king thought to set him over the whole realm." (Dan. vi., 1, 2, 3.) The above narrative shows that such was the excellency of Daniel's spirit — such the high order of his mentality — such his great executive ability — that "the king thought to set him over the whole realm." Thus, this narrative shows the identity of spirit and mind. Sighs. "And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven tempt- ing him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why 144 THE REALITY AND doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation." (Mark viii., 11, 12.) Sighs are certain peculiar expressions of the mind and are usually the symptoms of grief or dis- appointment; in this case the Savior seems to have sighed from disappointment on account of the question put to him by the Pharisees, or grief at their efforts to tempt Him. Thus, this text gives another illustration of the identity of spirit and mind. The confusion of Spirit, Mind and Soul is a modern error. The Ancients knew and admitted the identity of spirit and mind. And while it is true that the correct meaning of many of the ancient Hebrew terms were lost, they still re- tained a knowledge of the identity of the spirit and mind; and the distinction between spirit or mind and soul, as is shown by the ^utterances of Josephus, the Jewish historian, who says : "That God took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a soul." (Antiq. of the Jews, B. i., chap. i., sect. 2.) It is plain that Josephus recognized that man is composed of three elements, body, spirit and soul ; and thus this ancient and learned Jew is in perfect harmony, not only with the teachings of the Mosiac Record, but with those of the New Testament as well, as is shown by Saint Paul, who says : "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thes. v., 23.) The most positive evidence of the distinction between spirit and soul is shown by the following : "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit * * *." (Heb. iv., 12.) EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 145 As already shown, the Bible plainly teaches that soul is peculiar to man ; and that mind is common to man and the animals. Inasmuch as spirit and mind are identical, it would follow that the animal, like the man, has a spirit. This being true, we should not be surprised to find that the inspired writer accredits both man and the animal with a spirit, as shown by the following : "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" (Eccl. iii., 21.) Further evidence that soul is peculiar to man, is found in Peter's reference to the deluge from which "few, that is eight souls were saved." (1 Pet. iii., 20.) These were Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, in all eight persons. It will thus be seen that the animals in the ark are not accredited with souls. Thus, while there were only eight souls in the ark, there were just as many minds as there were men, women and animals. And in view of the fact that spirit and mind are identical, there were just as many spirits in the ark as there were men, women and animals. CHAPTER IX. What is Soul, and is it I m mortal f Spritualism teaches that mind, spirit and soul are synony- mous terms and to that extent it is in harmony with modern theology ; but Spiritualism also teaches that matter and mind are the "same identical substance," that mind is matter in the highest state of advancement and refinement. This being true, then matter, mind, spirit and soul are identical, and soul is simply refined matter, therefore, from the spir- itualistic standpoint, immortality of the soul does not depend upon the purity of our lives, but upon the eternity of matter. Mr. Davis, in discussing this question, the soul's im- mortality, says : "But before laying the foundation upon which rests the individualization of the elements of the human mind, as well as all true knowledge concerning it, I feel impressed to say a few words in reference to the origin and influence of three kinds of belief therein, which are entertained by many lay- men and clergymen, and by individuals in general, viz., a be- lief of ignorance, a belief of desire, and a belief of the understanding. "1. A belief of ignorance is a faith unaccompanied, and consequently unsupported by adequate reasons. It is derived from the hereditary inclinations of the mind, or from doc- trinal education imparted by the prevailing Theology or influence within the sphere of which the individual exists. "2. A belief of desire is an instinctive or intuitive faith 146 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 147 in the endless perpetuation of personal existence. It arises from the central desire of the human mind, which is un- consciously considered as a living internal prophecy of its eternal destiny. This belief is grounded in no universal principles, nor has it any substantial basis upon which to rest and stand secure, except an inference derived from its own aspirations and the general tendency of all created things. "3. A belief of the understanding is a faith based upon absolute and unequivocal knowledge. It grows out of a complete recognition and thorough understanding of those immutable principles which flow from the bosom of the Di- vine Cause into the Universe, and, by which everything is governed with an unerring and unchangeable government. "The influence of the first is to generate Skepticism, because the believer can neither furnish himself, nor an in- quirer after truth and rest, with a tangible and substantial reason, and because, too, he refers the intelligent seeker to historical accounts of supernatural phenomena and occur- rences, at once startling, absurd, and incomprehensible. "The influence of the second is to cause an anxiety in the understanding, because the believer has no ground upon which to rest his faith, except internal desires, external in- ferences, and vague probability; and because when he at- tempts to investigate the basis of his belief (which is seldom ever attempted) he discovers it to be unsound, and conse- quently unsatisfactory — not sufficiently expansive and strong to cover the whole ground occupied by doubts and objections, and to remove all obstructions to a full confidence in the sub- lime truths of an immortal personality. "The influence of the third is to promote happiness be- cause the believer can give a reason for the faith and hope within him — because his understanding is convinced beyond 148 THE REALITY AND the sphere of ignorance, and desire, and inference, and prob- ability — and because he has a divine guaranty in the fact of individual existence, because he is himself a note drawn on the bank of an eternal life, and signed by an Almighty Hand, payable in such installments as are measured by his entrance into, and departure from, each sphere on his voy- age round eternity. "I think you will agree with me when I say you occupy the second position with regard to a belief in a future state ; for you 'believe the Soul or Spirit does not lose its identity, but continues progressively, increasing in knowledge, wis- dom, and happiness.' But like thousands of our fellow-men, who strive to believe in and hope for immortality — you are not in the third position, else you could not have said, 'Still I am not as well convinced as I wish to be/ Now that we may obtain and secure a belief of the understanding, which alone communicates internal rest and positive encourage- ment in the faithful discharge of our duties on earth, I will proceed to place before you 'what proofs we have of a con- tinuation of identity at death/ or to show you why we are immortal. "The foundation of the whole superstructure is the ab- solute indestructibility of Matter, or of that universal sub- stance which gives us a tangible individuality, and which constitutes the outer physical organization of the Great Posi- tive Mind. Matter is eternal, and is everywhere present. It is in all things, and is all things, and there is nothing that is not matter or substance. Upon the universality and inde- structibility of matter, therefore, rests the all glorious reality of an eternal life." (The Great Harmonia, Vol. ii., pp. 235, 236,*237.) It is now our privilege to inquire into and inform our- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 149 selves concerning this "absolute and unequivocal knowledge" which Mr. Davis offers as the only correct solution of the problem under discussion, the soul's immortality. Knowledge. "That is or may be known." (Universal Dictionary.) Knowledge, therefore, is something tangible to the senses. Consequently, the information given by Mr. Davis, as "unequivocal knowledge," should be something acquired by actual observation and experience and of which there is no possibility of doubt or else it is not knowledge. We could not better illustrate the unreliability of this so- called "unequivocal knowledge" than he himself has when he affirms that upon the "absolute indestructibility" of and "eternity of matter" rests the "all glorious reality of an eternal life;" for, as shown in a previous chapter, the Bible teaches that in the beginning God created matter. That it had a beginning and will as surely have an ending. The sciences, as has been shown, also teach that matter is not eternal, as shown by the utterances of both Prof. Maxwell and Sir John Hershel, who affirm that each molecule of matter has the "character of a manufactured article," that so far from being eternal, it is artificial. Because matter under- goes change and is apparently indestructable is no reason that it is eternal. Thus both the Scriptures and Modern Science sweep away what Mr. Davis terms, the foundation of the soul's immortality, and he himself admits that if we deny this "fundamental conviction of truth (the eternity of mat- ter) we have no grounds or foundation from which to rea- son." Thus it is plain that so far from the proof of what Mr. Davis terms the soul's immortality being based upon "unequivocal knowledge," it is founded upon the grossest error. Therefore, if, as he asserts, the eternity of matter is the foundation upon which rests the immortality of the soul, 150 THE REALITY AND then we have absolutely no basis for our belief in an eternal life. But, happily, the immortality of the soul is nowise de- pendent upon the eternity of matter. Continuing his discussion of the soul, Mr. Davis says: "Inasmuch as this aspiring progressive tendency is found to be a universal attribute of man, may we not reasonably conclude that the soul thus emulous, will ultimately reach the summit of an immortal being. Man will sacrifice his com- fort, his character, and his wealth, to attain to some emi- nence of worldly power, or mental distinction — a position which, even when attained, can only gratify the internal at- tribute which thus aspires! Even in his lowest condition, Man has desires which point and center far above his body, in some higher and better individuality. The animals pro- gress also ! The brute seeks to gratify the needs and rela- tionships of the body. The parental and maternal desires the animal seeks to gratify, often in a manner so touching and beautiful, that man would do well to learn the lessons of protection and kindness which the lower creation teaches; yet, unlike the animal, the human Soul elevates its eyes to- wards the skies, implying that its Real Home is in the heavens ! The desire of the private soldier to' become a General ; the child to emulate its Father ; the ruler to become King ; the patriarch to become Emperor — yea, and the desire of Man, even to exceed himself — does not all this prove the workings of that Interior Principle of Progress, which may confer immortality on the human soul ? "Nature is prophetic. Her Scriptures cannot be voted canonical, or otherwise, to suit the caprices of undeveloped minds. Truth is stamped upon every sentence, and love glows from the temple of every Thought. "In the human organism, be it remembered, are con- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 151 centrated all the elements and essences of surrounding Na- ture. Man feels a friendship, more or less remote, for every- thing; because everything has, in one shape or another, en- tered into his being. Solids and fluids, elements and gases, powers and essences, have climbed up the granite hills of creation, flowed through vegetables and animals, and taken up their residence in the human constitution. It seems that the first part of the Volume of Nature is divided into four grand chapters, viz. : 1st, The Formation of Minerals ; 2nd, The Formation of Vegetables ; 3rd, The Formation of Ani- mals, and lastly (which concludes the fourth chapter), the formation of Man. "All the principles of the preceding ages bloom out in the human type! Creation is a beautiful sermon; terminating with a grand, glowing, glorious conclusion — the human Soul. No novel ever terminated so harmoniously with our best desires ! no drama, so worthy the Divine Author. Now, let me ask, do you think creation will prove a failure? Do you think another chapter, more beautiful than the fourth, will never be added to the Volume of Nature ? "Do you think that man is a temporary being, the mortal insect of a season merely, the highest animal in creation, with a soul, like a breath, destined to be diffused in the vast ocean of life, or, as a dew-drop, lost in the sea. To suppose that man stands on the summit of the lower kingdom of crea- tion, with mental powers, exalted and progressive in their nature, with no objects beyond to which those powers might eternally rise, is to suppose a defect in the scheme of existence, unworthy the character of a wise and perfect Deity. Indeed, to believe that Man blooms on the moun- tains, like the vigorous oak, ultimately to die an eternal death, is to believe contrary to all the prophecies of God, as 152 THE REALITY AND written upon the living faculties of the human type, and upon everything that lives. Nature is not man's invention ; is not capable of uttering a falsehood. "Now be it duly impressed, that creation is brought to a focus in Man. The voice of Truth is heard, whispering its first melodies in the soul's intuitions ! At first, her words are soft and low; so low and soft, indeed, that superstition is often allowed to make man doubt the voice of Truth within, causing him to lose sight of his immortal inheritance. But in the properly unfolded and virgin soul, the forces of nature are summoned to one point, and the prophecy comes forth — 'That the Spirit of Man is Eternal/ " {Present Age and Inner Life, pp. 49, 50, 51.) As presenting a more detailed account, of Mr. Davis' views of soul development, we offer the following : "Remember, it is not the possession of the human form, but the accomplishment of the perfect marriage between the cerebrum and cerebellum, which settles the question of the soul's immortality ! "There are children or persons born among all races of men, who, in consequence of being defective in their cerebral structure, never reach the important crisis, never pass that equinoctial line which separates the animal from the human ! Such, feeling no immortality, are without it. The Bushmen of New Holland, the inhabitants of the interior of Africa, the Cannibals to some extent, and Children whose brains are so structurally unbalanced as to make them idiots from birth — such, belong wholly to the outer world and have no immortality. "The spiritual side of man's nature needs cultivation, in order to make his future existence a certainy. If the child should be born on the animal side, still the perfect human, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 153 with its immortal consequences, may be developed and con- firmed by cultivation, into the spiritual or intellectual direc- tion. Man may reach and confirm his immortality by a good life, even if he was born below the proper human point. But the reverse is, not possible. If a man be born on the human side, then the fact or certainty of his immortality is settled, although he may never be internally conscious of the pros- pective reality. This truth, in its fullness, is illustrated by clairvoyance. This power resides in every mind; but very few minds become conscious of the fact." {Ibid., pp. 271, 272.) We wish our readers to constantly bear in mind that Mr. Davis always writes under spirit "control," and the informa- tion he presents for our consideration he obtains, he supposes from the spirit side of life and gives it to us as "unequivocal knowledge." Anyone at all familiar with Mr. Davis' writ- ings must acknowledge that he is a very erratic writer in that he allows imaginings and not his reason to control his pen. His fancy plays him many a prank and leads him into the most absurd illogical and contradictory admissions. He is peculiar in that he is the only author we ever read who finds it impossible to agree even with himself. He does not con- sider himself in the least bound by any previous statements he may have made. So what can one do with such a writer more than call attention to his absurd and contradictory statements. And yet in justice to Mr. Davis, we feel com- pelled to say that we believe he errs from the "best of inten- tions" and that while he imagines he is giving us "unequivo- cal knowledge," he is in reality presenting the distorted im- aginings of some misguided mind. We must also bear in mind that Mr. Davis, like all evolutionists, recognizes man as the result of development from lower forms. That in the 164 THE REALITY AND beginning it was almost impossible to "determine which to first term man" — whether the highest of the quadrumana or the lowest of the human type, so gradual and progressive is the emergement of one kingdom into another." No evolutionist, no materialist, would attempt to evolve "immortality" from mere matter, that absurdity is left for the spiritualistic evolutionist. Yet claiming, as it does, materialism for its basis, spiritualism in reality proves the falsity of materialism, for spiritualism teaches and can dem- onstrate that the mind does not perish with the body, but survives physical dissolution. Spiritualism teaches that this mind, or spirit, or soul, which is simply matter in the highest state of refinement and organization, will finally develop an immortal soul and that this eternal life is man's "immortal inheritance." If im- mortality is the result of development then the first man did not posses immortality. And if this creature which was so low in the scale of humanity as to raise a doubt whether it was animal or human, had not "aspired after and desired to possess" immortality, the soul, if Mr. Davis' reasoning is correct, would never have been developed; but "even in his lowest condition man," thus aspires and "has desires which point and center far above his body in some higher and better individuality," thus showing that "the human soul elevates its eyes towards the skies, implying that its Real Home is in the heavens," and "inasmuch as this aspiring, progressive tendency is found to be a universal attribute of man," the soul finally developed into or reached "the sum- mit of an immortal human being." After man had sufficiently developed to attain immor- tality after he had once passed the "equinoctial line," which separates the animal from the human, and immortality was EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 155 his inheritance, we would naturally suppose that all would be born immortal irrespective of condition. But such is not the case, for Mr. Davis tells us that there are exceptions to this "universal attribute," that there are children born among "all races of men," that the Bushmen, the Negroes of Af- rica, the Cannibals, and children whose brains are "structur- ally unbalanced," who "feeling no immortality are with- out it." Anything to be universal must be common to all, or it is not universal. Therefore, if this "aspiring progressive ten- dency" were a "universal attribute of man," then there could be no exceptions. If there are exceptions, then it is not "uni- versal" just to that extent, which, in the the above cases, would mean a considerable portion of the inhabitants of the globe. Thus Mr. Davis would deny immortality to a large part of the so-called human family. Then, again, he says : "If the child should be born in the animal side, still the perfect human, with its immortal conse- quences, may be developed and confirmed by cultivation." That is to say, if through the process of evolution a person has failed to attain the proper human point," and is born on the "animal side" of the "equinocial line," still that person need not be wholly discouraged, for, by personal exertion, by the cultivation of the spiritual and intellectual faculties and by a "good life," "man may reach and confirm his im- mortality" Then, again, Mr. Davis assures us that if a child is born on the "human side" of the "equinoctial line," then that child is immortal, whether it is conscious of it or not, and regardless of the kind of life ft may live; in short, Mr. Davis would have us believe that some are born immortal, some may attain immortality, and some are wholly lacking 156 THE REALITY AND and can never attain it. "It is not," he says, "the possession of the human form, but the accomplishment of the perfect marriage between the cerebrum and cerebellum which settles the question of the soul's immortality." One great difficulty in discussing Mr. Davis' writings, is his employment of terms the meaning of which no human on earth knows, and we doubt if he himself understood just what he meant, when he said that "immortality" depended upon a <( perfect marriage between the cerebrum and the cere- bellum!' Had he said immortality depends upon a perfect, a well developed brain, then his terms would be compre- hensible to anyone, but a "perfect marriage" between differ- ent parts of the same brain is too absurd for serious consider- ation. It is absurd to suppose that because a child is born with a greater or less amount of intelligence, that it is also born with or without a soul. It is absurd to suppose that immor- tality, eternal life, depends upon or is connected with mind. In discussing and criticising the "received definition of spirit," Hudson Tuttle says : "Definition of Spirit. "How far removed this subject is from the path of exact observation or scientific thought, I need only to quote the received definition of spirit to show. It is, according to the standard lexicon, 'the intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of human beings.' If immaterial, spirit at once escapes us. The methods by which we investigate physical nature are worthless, and it is amenable to no laws which we can ascertain. But how can an immaterial being have intelli- gence? How, even can it exist? It is an absolute nothing, an intelligent nothing, an immortal nothing! And this EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 157 nothingness, is not a fact of our organization, but a gift from God! Ardent, indeed, is the imagination of the metaphysi- cian, who accepts such an existence, and maintains its de- sirability. This immaterial part, they say, is a fragment from the Divine Being, and is an image of him in quality, but differs in degree. Not a step has been made since the Brah- mins of the Ganges, so remote that our historic dates are of yesterday, perfected their system of theology. Man's spirit was, after passing through a certain sycle, re-absorbed into the divine bosom, to flow out again in an endless succession of beings. This theory is plausible, but being entirely imaginary, is no more worthy of credence than the vaga- ries of a dream. Here the speculations of one man are as reliable as those of another, and all are as idle con- jecture, for at the very beginning it is impossible for finite man to know anything of the Infinite Spirit, and how then so flippantly assert that the spirit of man is a detached frag- ment or spark from this Infinite Source.'' (The Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 23.) The basis of Mr. Tuttle's argument is wrong. It does not follow that because the "immortal" part of human beings is "immaterial," that it is nothing. God is. an immaterial Be- ing, yet the material universe is the most positive evidence of His existence. Edmonds is nearer right: "Say what men may, teach what men may teach, still the soul of man is a part of God himself. It lives forever and has lived, ere the morning stars recognized the glory of the God-head." {Spiritualism, p. 103.) The generally accepted teaching is that soul is immortal, because it is a part of the substance of God. While we ac- knowledge that soul is a part of the substance of God and is peculiar to the human family, and it is this that distinguishes 158 THE REALITY AND us from the animals and makes us "children of God," we hold that the Bible nowhere asserts that man was created an immortal soul. We accept the plain statement of the Bible that when God "breathed into" man's "nostrils the breath of life," man became not an immortal, but only a "living soul," capable of acquiring immortality, eternal life. The Mosiac account of the origin of soul is sustained by Paul, who says : "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul." (Cor. xv., 45.) If God had had like Himself an immortal Consort, and Adam had been their begotten son, then immortality, eternal life would have been transmitted to him absolutely by his Divine parents. But being only a created and not a begotten son, God could give or withhold eternal life to a creature of His creation, or make it something for which he should seek and which can be found, but only by a life of obedience to Divine law. The term, "immortal soul," is of spiritualistic origin. In the remote past, ancient spiritualism taught, as does modern spiritualism, that spirit, mind and soul, are synony- mous terms and that mind or soul is immortal. Herodotus, styled the father of history, says that the Egyptians were the "first of mankind to have defended the immortality of the soul," and it is well known that spiritualism flourished in ancient Egypt. As spiritualism grew and flourished, until it finally became thoroughly organized and one of the most popular and powerful beliefs of the ancients, this idea of the immortality of the soul became almost universal. Although Christianity spread among the more enlight- ened nations, this spiritualistic idea of the immortality of the soul retained its popularity and readily became one of the tenets of modern theology and thus descended to us and is EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 159 again ag universally taught and accepted by modern Chris- tians as it was by ancient spiritualists. We must remember that soul is neither a scientific nor an atheistic term, it belongs wholly to the Bible, therefore, to the Scriptures alone should we go for a proper understanding of its origin and meaning. Is it not significant that it is not to the Bible but to profane history we must look for an explanation of the origin of the idea of the immortality of the soul, while the Bible emphatically asserts that God "only hath immortality" (1 Tim. vi., 16), and that man must seek eternal life. While admitting that our views upon this subject are in conflict with modern thought, the Bible fully sustains our contention that immortality is not inherent in the soul, but is something that must be acquired and that can only be ac- quired by a life of obedience to God's law. In support of the correctness of our views, we offer the following texts : 'To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." (Romans, ii., 7.) Here we find the most posi- tive proof that "immortality, eternal life," is not innate in man, but that it is something that he must seek to obtain, and that can only be acquired by a life of righteousness. This is further shown by the following question addressed to the Savior : "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life." (Mat. xix., 16.) This clearly shows that this young man realized that he did not possess eternal life, but that there was some "good thing" he must do to obtain it. And that the Savior realized this to be true, is shown by the advise given the young man : "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? there is none good but one, that is, God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 160 THE REALITY AND "He saith unto him, Which ? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother : and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self. "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come and follow me. "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions." (Mat. xix., 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.) Thus while the young man longed to obtain eternal life, he loved his earthly possessions better, and his refusal to relinquish his wealth in order to obtain eternal life, drew from the Savior his famous remarks con- cerning the rich : "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Mat. xix., 23, 24.) Not that there is anything wrong in the possession of wealth itself, but in the effort to acquire and retain riches, little or no thought is directed to the acquirement of immortality. Further evidence that eternal life is something that must be acquired is shown by St. John: "That whosoever be- lieveth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Chapter iii., 15.) Prior to the coming of the Savior, a be- lief in God and an upright righteous life was all that was necessary to obtain eternal life, but in addition to this a belief in Jesus Christ is now essential. Again it is said : "These words spake Jesus, and lifted EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 161 up his eyes* to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee : "And as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." (St. John xvii., 1, 2.) In the following it is posi- tively stated that eternal life, which was lost to man through sin, is given again through Jesus Christ to all who accept him : "For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans vi., 23.) The above emphatic statements leave no room for doubt that eternal life is God's reward for righteousness. We also find eternal life spoken of as an inheritance : "And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (St. Luke x., 25.) Thus, we find that in our Savior's day, even those who opposed him, recognized eternal life as an inheritance, a something that must be acquired. The Savior recognized this and proceeded to instruct this lawyer in what he should do to inherit eternal life: "He said unto him, What is written in the law ? how readest thou ? "And he, answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." "And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right : this do, and thou shalt live." (St. Luke x., 26, 27, 28 ; see, also, xvii., 18, etc., Mark x., 17, etc.) The fact that eternal life is an inheritance is further taught as follows : "To an in- heritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." (1 Peter i., 4.) The above emphatic statements, of the inspired writers, leave no room for doubt that eternal life, immortality is God's reward for righteousness. On the other hand we fail to 162 THE REALITY AND find a single passage of Scripture in support of the belief that immortality is inherent in the soul, but that God de- signed from the beginning that immortality, eternal life is something to be acquired, is shown by the following : "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus i., 2.) This text clearly teaches that .we are not born immortal, but that immortality, eternal life, is something we must hope for and strive to attain as a part of God's plan of creation. Thus the preceding facts show that soul is not as the spiritualists would have us believe, the result of develop- ment, or an "unfolding;" but that it is a special bestowal upon man from God, by which we may obtain eternal life. "Immortal life is something to be earned, By slow self-conquest, comradeship with pain, And patient seeking after higher truths. We cannot follow our own wayward wills, And feed our baser appetites, and give Loose rein to* foolish tempers year on year, And then cry, 'Lord forgive me, I believe,' And straightway bathe in glory. Men must learn God's system is too grand a thing for that. The spark divine dwells in our souls, and we Can fan it to a steady flame of light, Whose luster gilds the pathway to the tomb, And shines on through Eternity, or else Neglect it till it glimmers down to death, And leaves us but the darkness of the grave. Each conquered passion feeds the living flame; Each well-born sorrow is a step towards God; Faith cannot rescue, and no blood redeem The soul that will not reason and resolve. * # * * * * Cast out all envy, bitterness and hate, And keep the mind's fair tabernacle pure. Shake hands with Pain, give greeting unto Grief, Those angels in disguise, and thy glad soul From height to height, from star to shining star, Shall climb and claim blest immortality." (Ella Wheeler Wilcox.) CHAPTER X. Man a Trinity. The world has for so long, with only here and there an exception, regarded man as a duality that we wish to add our protest against this pernicious teaching, and join the few, and in unison with them, declare that Man is a Trinity. And this at once brings us in conflict with the views of Modern Spiritualism as entertained and expressed by Mr. Davis, who says : "What difference is there between Matter and Spirit? Almost all words which describe the quality of anything are relative — they have a relative significance. We speak generally from contrast. Indeed, in a Universe like this — so replete with varieties and differences — it is almost impos- sible to employ any other than relative words to communi- cate our ideas. The general opinion is, as you are doubtless aware, that spirit is something entirely unlike matter. But reason refers us immediately to this simple conclusion : that spirit is something ; and something must be substance, or else it will be nothing; or else, in plainer language, there could be no such a thing as spirit. Receiving reason then, as our guide to truth, we cannot resist the conviction that spirit is substance, 'matter/ We must not confound the question under consideration with others of a similar character. The question is not respecting the source from which the Spirit proceeded, nor the elements and principles involved in its indestructible constitution, but it is, What difference is there 163 16 i THE REALITY AND between matter and spirit? I answer, — spirit is a word which signifies, in my mind, an organization of matter in the highest state of advancement, refinement, and perfection. Spirit is an indissoluble unity of the finest particles of mat- ter. There is as much difference between spirit and elec- tricity as there is between electricity and the common earth; but electricity is matter, and so is spirit. If we were above the plane of material development where spiritual organization takes place, then we would be, surrounded with illustrations and analogous processes; but as it is, you will readily perceive that a spirit can not investigate and com- prehend itself, and hence the obscurity which gathers around the investigation after we pass a certain point in the attempt to get above and look down upon the spiritual organization. But the difference between the apple and the appearance and substance of the tree which gave it birth and individuality, or between the wild rose and the rocky and mossy substances which gave that rose its nourishment and beauty, is not less strikingly wonderful than the difference which exist be- tween the matter we see and the spirit we feel. Detach the apple from the tree and compare it with the form and' sub- stance of that tree, and you have a no less powerful con- trast than that which we find when comparing what we feel and know of spirit with what we can see and handle of mat- ter. The phenomena of the former are no more understood and appreciated than the phenomena of the latter. Spirit is organized and eternalized at the highest point to which gross, or what is termed inanimate matter can ascend. Spirit is, therefore, matter in the highest state of refinement and organization ; and the difference consists simply in this : Matter is gross, inferior, and external — and spirit is refined, superior, and interior. The term Matter and Spirit, are EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 165 thus indicative of the difference in the condition, form, and influence of the same identical substance, and nothing more. "Are Soul, Spirit and Mind Synonymous, or are they not? I am thankful for this question, because no oppor- tunity has presented itself, since the delivery of those lec- tures which compose the 'Revelations/ when an explanation seemed appropriate. And I have not been insensible to the vast amount of obscurity and contradiction which the diver- sified employment of these terms has produced among those who have struggled to become philosophically metaphysical, and even among those who consider themselves accom- plished reasoners. "Some philosophers, and Swedenborg among the num- ber, consider and affirm that the soul is the outermost en- veloping medium, that the spirit is the intermediate or con- junctive medium, and that the mind is the seat or center of the thinking Principle. Thus what I denominate Life is sometimes termed soul; what I denominate sensation, is sometimes termed spirit ; and what I denominate intelligence, is sometimes termed the mind. Theologians, I believe, do not attempt to discriminate between these progressive states of human individuality. I except, of course, the metaphy- sical portion of that profession. Now, in order to prevent misunderstanding hereafter, at least among those inquiring individuals who read what I have produced, or may produce, I cheerfully respond to the question. "1. I consider motion the first manifestation of mind, — an indication of the Great Mind which resides back of, and in, Nature; and a prophetical indication of the existence of a corresponding mind as an ultimate or perfection of Nature. "2. I consider Life the first development of Motion, and the second indication of Intelligence. 166 THE REALITY AND "3. I consider Sensation the first development of life, and the third indication of future or ultimate Intelligence. "4. I consider Intelligence the highest development of Motion, Life, and Sensation, and a perfect manifestation of the internal living and unchangeable organization. And when I employ the terms Soul, Spirit, and Mind, I mean the internal and immortal Individual. When Motion, Life, Sensation and Intelligence are conjoined and organized, I term that organization a unity of elements and attributes; and these elements and attributes arrange according to their natural order, under the comprehensive- terms of * * * Love and Wisdom — terms which are perfectly expressive of the natural characteristics and legitimate manifestations of those internal principles. Therefore, when I use the nouns substantive — Soul, Spirit, Mind, and Individual — the thought which suggests their employment is resting invari- ably upon the inward Homo, upon the individual oneness, which is constructed upon those principles which elevate that oneness above the plane of change and disorganization. Hence the question is answered affirmatively — 'the terms are unqualifiedly synonymous." {The Great Harmonia, Vol. ii , pp. 248, 249, 250, 251.) If, then, Mr. Davis' argument is correct and matter and spirit are the "same identical substance, and nothing more," and if spirit, soul and mind are "unqualifiedly synonymous," then man so far from being a trinity is not even a duality, but, according to Mr. Davis' philosophy, is composed of only one substance — Matter, in different "states of advance- ment, refinement, and perfection." But if Mr. Davis is right, Judge Edmonds must be wrong, for he says : "That I have endeavored to show that EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 167 man, in the beginning, possessing both a spirit and body, was connected by his body to the material part of creation. * * * "It was thus that God created man with a body to con- form to the natural system around him, and also with a spirit to appreciate that he was created by a Spirit with whom he was eternally to dwell." (Spiritualism, pp. 106, 108.) While Mr. Ambler states that "the human being is com- posed of two substances, which are known as matter and spirit," yet he argues to prove that there is a third substance distinct from matter and spirit, which he terms "that in- ternal soul of spirit," which really makes man according to his own argument, a trinity consisting of Matter, Spirit and "Soul of Spirit." While these prominent Spiritualistic writers, each claim- ing to receive his information from the spirit side of life, are disagreed as to whether man is composed of one, or two substances, they also disagree with the teachings of many of the ancient and a few of the modern writers, who insist that Man is a trinity. In discussing this subject, Mr. Hudson says: "That man is a trinity, made up of 'body, soul, and spirit,' was a cardinal tenet of the faith of many ancient Greek philosophers, who thus clearly recognized the dual character of man's mental organization. Plato's idea of ter- restrial man was that he is a 'trinity of soul, soul-body, and earth-body.' The mystic jargon of the Hermetic philoso- phers discloses the same general idea. The 'salt, sulphur, and mercury' of the ancient alchemists doubtless refers to man as being composed of a trinity of elements. The early Christian Fathers confidently proclaimed the same doctrine, 168 THE REALITY AND as is shown in the writings of Clement, Origen, Tatian, and other exponents of Christian doctrine. "Indeed, it may be safely assumed that the conception of this fundamental truth was more or less clearly defined in the minds of all ancient philosophers, both Christian and Pagan. It is the basis of their conception of God as the Trinity in His personality, modes of existence, and mani- festations, — a conception of which Schelling says: 'The philosophy of mythology proves that a trinity of divine po- tentialities is the root from which have grown the religious ideas of all nations of any importance that are known to us/ "In later times, Swedenborg, believing himself to be divinely inspired, declared that 'There appertains to every man an internal man, a rational man, and an external man, which is properly called the natural man.' Again he tells us that there are three natures, or degrees of life, in man, — 'the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial.' ' (The Law of Psychic Phenomena, pp. 27, 28.) Thus we find that among all ancient nations "of any im- portance," Man was recognized as a trinity. Commenting upon the statement of Josephus, "That God took dust from the ground, and formed man, and in- serted in him a spirit and a soul," Mr. William Whiston says : "We may observe here, that Josephus supposed Man to be compounded of spirit, soul, and body, with St. Paul 1 Thess. v., 23, and the rest of the ancients." (Antiquities of the Jews, B. i., p. 12.) This furnishes additional proof that among the great nations of antiquity the knowledge was universal that Man is a trinity. This teaching that Man is a trinity is further explained EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 169 by Mr. Carroll, who clearly shows that man is composed of "three creations." He says: "That the broad distinctions which exists between man and the animals, is not due to man's possession of more per- fect physical and mental organisms, for, in these respects the difference between them is merely one of degree, not of kind. Hence, when, in the creation, man's physical and mental organisms were completed, he, like the animals, was simply a combination of matter and mind. At this period in his history there existed between God and man, as existed between God and the animals, only such relationship as naturally exists between the Creator and His creature — the relationship of the artist to the product of his art. In this condition, man, possessed of physical and mental organ- isms of the highest order — and life — physical life — derived from the combination of the elements of life, which were inherent in the matter of which his physical organism was composed, might have lived out a mere animal existence on the earth, without further endowments from the hand of God. * * * "God entertained nobler, grander, more sublime con- ception with regard to man, that peerless creature whom He proposed to honor by the bestowal of His likeness, and His image, and to whom He would confide dominion over the works of His hands. He desired that between Himself and man there should exist a close relationship of father and son ; that the intercourse between the Heavenly Father and His earthly son should not be confined to time, but would continue throughout eternity ; this required that, in addition to his physical life, derived from matter, man should be endowed with immortal life; this required that God would incorporate with man's physical and mental organisms, a 170 THE REALITY AND part of his own substance; in the accomplishment of this; ennobling, far-reaching design, God 'breathed into his nos- trils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul/ Thus the three creations, Matter, Mind, and Soul, which are neces- sary to perfect man, were combined in 'Adam, the son of God.' " (The Tempter of Eve, pp. 292, 293, 294.) The existence of a trinity in man is an inseparable part of the teachings of the Bible. In addition to matter and mind, man is composed of another substance, a soul which God "breathed into his nostrils," and it is his possession of these three distinct substances, matter, mind, and soul, which makes Man a trinity. j CHAPTER XL Reproduction. As previously stated, soul is a part of the substance of God ; it is this which distinguishes mankind from the ani- mals; it is this that makes us "children of God" — it is our inheritance. Do you ask how is the soul transmitted? And at what period does it enter the body of the infant? In discussing this subject, Edmonds says: * "The spirit which enters the body of the child on being born, is the principle or germ. It has not existed previously in a sentient form, but has existed, as a principle, from the beginning. So intimately blended are the two, both body and soul, that the one was created to grow and expand with the other ; and though a child may die, yet the spirit grows and expands, and assumes very much the character here, which the full-grown man would have occupied on earth. "I think I can not be mistaken, that the child which has never been impressed with external effects, does not receive the soul which was destined for that body, but the germ enters a new body. The principle or germ constituting the soul has no more to distinguish it than the human embryo has, and neither has the soul any particular body designed for it ^ ^ "I mentioned that the spirit emanated from one source, which was God, or the universal germ. This germ has neither sex nor specialty, but being implanted in the em- 171 172 THE REALITY AND bryo, there assumes the characteristics of the body which is to be developed. The exact time when the spirit is intro- duced into the embryo is not yet known, but the embryo must possess sufficient vitality to permit the development of both spirit and body. Life is distinct from spirit, and the union of the two is not understood, even by spirits of a higher development. "But the embryo must possess sufficient of life to main- tain the spirit connection; thus, when the spirit enters the embryo, there must be vitality enough to maintain an equi- librium of the two forces." (Spiritualism, pp. 108, 109- 118, 119.) Although the above statements were made by a spirit calling himself Swedenborg, who says that "beyond this life, in the bright regions where dwell the spirits made per- fect, are manifest the glories and attributes of God. From that region come I." Yet, neither he nor "even spirits of a higher development" have yet attained the knowledge of the reproduction of the immortal germ. Ambler's spirit friends have done better; they have, they say, a knowledge of how soul is made and reproduced. Writing under spirit control, he says: "It should be ob- served that in the human organization, the elements of spirit exist in a concentrated and organized form, constituting a separate and distinct personality with the material and ex- ternal frame. This indwelling organization is formed by the attractive influence of the germ of the soul, which germ is the essence of the Divine Being that has an existence in the most interior portions of all matter and becomes con- centrated in the structure of man, because he is the perfect flower of creation. Therefore, this internal organization, which is termed the human spirit, contains the essence of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 173 the Divinity as the inmost heart by which it is moved, ani- mated and governed, and it is by the power of this pure and heavenly germ that the organization of the inward man is maintained and preserved. * * * "In the ordinary condition of individuals, the elements of the spirit, being retained in the organization to which they belong through the power of the inward germ, are diffused to a certain extent throughout the entire system, and are caused to pervade the gross materials of which the body is composed. Therefore the spirit, in this condition is depend- ent on* the external organs — receives its intelligence chiefly through the medium of the external senses and produces the manifestations of its presence and power by an exercise of the material limbs. From this cause the existence of the spirit has been a matter of doubt with many intelligent and reason- ing minds, and there has been no evidence which would entirely remove the unbelief of the skeptic, with the excep- tion of that which is being produced in the present age by the inhabitants of celestial regions. But the spirit has a no less substantial and vigorous existence, though the more outward essences are intermingled with material elements, — because these essences are caused to maintain their appropri- ate position in the spiritual organization, through the power of the inmost heart which lives within its depths. Accord- ingly the spirit preserves the identity with which it is en- dowed, and continues under all circumstances the same separate and independent organization which it was origin- ally created. From the sentiment which is now before the mind, the spirits will proceed to remark that the spirit in the human body commences its existence where it does, because it was necessary that the elements of which it is composed should have a framework by which they 174 THE REALITY AND might become properly arranged, and because it was re- quired that these elements should have a temporary basis in which to rest during the process of internal organization. But when the spirit has been created and caused to dwell within the external frame as an interior organization, then there can be no power or change in the whole Universe by which the spirit can be destroyed; and this reflection leads immediately to the subject on which the spirits proposed to address the reader. * * * "This, then, relates to the situation and development of the immortal germ of the spirit in the human body. The question arises with many individuals as to the first primary introduction of this germ into existence, and the mode of its development in the physical frame. This question shall be answered by the writers of this book so far as it relates to the essential formation and development of that internal soul of spirit, which is the source of its exhaustless life. "In commencing this revealment, the spirits desire to re- mark that the beauty and perfection of the spirit itself de- pends upon the presence of the interior germ to which refer- ence has been made. Without this, the spirit would dissolve and die like the external body, because it is not the external elements of which it is composed that renders it immortal, these elements having such an assimilation of nature with the surrounding materials of the Universe that they would be liable to become absorbed and swallowed up in the chaos of the external world; but it is the germ of purity — the spark of divine intelligence, which makes the immortality of the spirit, because these act as the magnet — the concen- trated union of essence which attracts the remaining ele- ments of the spiritual body into one perfect and individual- ized organism. In this germ is the assurance of endless EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 175 being; in this is the seed whose indwelling essence is the at- tractive power which controls all mere external elements, and binds them together with a power which no outward force or change can separate. Therefore it is the germ of the soul which constitutes its endless being. It*is the spark of the divine essence, which dwells in the human spirit in its most concentrated form, that composes the deathless nature which is enstamped upon the living man. With this, there- fore, the spirits desire to commence, in the elucidation of the important point which was previously introduced. "They desire to say that the human being produces the corresponding type of its own nature, through the same principles of reproduction which are manifested in the ani- mal and vegetable kingdoms. But it is in the human body, the refined essences of spirit have become concentrated and individualized by the constant operation of the lower forms of matter, and hence in this is presented a spirit which is organized on similar and corresponding principles to those which are exemplified in the outward organism. The germ of the spiritual being, let it be understood, is the most in- terior of the spirit itself, or, in other words, the soul of the spirit ; let it be also impressed that the beauty and illumina- tion of the whole spirit depend upon the presence of this germ. From this truth it will be rendered clear to the mind of the reader that the perfection of the spirit implies the existence of the internal germ, as much as the perfec- tion of the human structure depends upon the existence of the spirit. Hence, it will be seen that, when the inherent qualities of the parent are transmitted to the offspring in the process of reproduction, the germ of the spirit becomes implanted as the seed of life — as the magnet which attracts all other elements which have an inherent affinity with this 176 THE REALITY AND — and thus acts as the central and controlling power by which the material elements are gathered so as to form the external body. The first attribute, element, or quality which is transmitted in the process of reproduction, is the interior germ of the spirit; it is this which constitutes the inward power which combines the elements that compose both the spirit and the body. When the germ of the spirit has been transmitted and implanted, then this begins to at- tract and gather to itself the surrounding elements which have a kindred relation and character, even as the little seed implanted in the earth is expanded by the attraction of the materials which is gathered in the womb. of earth. Then, after this process has commenced, the more external form of the spirit begins to be created on the principle which has been explained, — magnetism makes the clothing of the in- ward germ, and electricity as a still grosser element, forms the clothing of the magnetic essence, and thus, through these beautiful gradations, the entire spirit is at last formed within the exterior womb and gradually attracts to itself those materials of a grosser nature, which make up the body of the infant, and compose the shelter and tabernacle for the undeveloped inhabitant of the earth." (Spiritual Teacher, pp. 145, 146, 147, 30, 31, 32, 33.) One would naturally suppose that the "spark of divine intelligence, which makes the immortality of the spirit," would be peculiar to man ; but in this we are mistaken, if the spirits are correct, for they tell us that the "germ of soul" has an existence in the most interior portions of all matter." Then "all matter" must be immortal ; no, we are again mis- taken, for while this "germ of the soul" or "spark of divine intelligence" can by the very power of its presence, render the soul immortal, and without it the "spirit would dissolve EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 177 and die like the external body," yet this same "divine intel- ligence/' which has an "existence in the most interior por- tions of all matter" has not the power to preserve the body, but allows it to "dissolve and die." Is it reasonable to sup- pose that this "germ of the soul" could appropriate unto itself the attributes of Deity and give "immortal life," and at the same time be powerless to save the mere external frame if it did actually exist in "all matter ?" For some reason the information of the spirits is not en- tirely correct. Perhaps they have not "progressed" far enough, or have not as yet sufficiently "unfolded," or may- hap they have obtained only a part of a truth. What the spirits term "divine intelligence," the "soul of spirit," a "spark of divinity," is what we term soul, a part of the substance of God ; it does not, however, exist in "all nature," but is peculiar to man and it is this which enables him by a life of obedience to Divine law to obtain eternal life. But they are correct in their statements that the soul is reproduced at the same time and in the same way as the physical and mental organisms. In discussing the reproduction of the "three creations," of which the soul is one, Mr. Carroll says : . "In discussing this question, let us bear in mind that matter is the basis of all formations in the material uni- verse, whether it exist alone, as in the plant ; or in combina- tion with mind, as in the animal; or in combination with mind and soul, as in man. It should be unnecessary to say that the reproduction of these three creations, as they exist in plants, in animals, and in man, are governed by laws which God enacted in the creation, and which are positive and unerring in their operations and results. "By way of ascertaining the operations and results of 178 THE REALITY AND these laws, we shall first investigate the reproduction of plants, in which only the matter creation is represented ; and, inasmuch as the manner in which they are reproduced is generally understood, we shall take as our illustration the flowering plants, in which the sexes are represented in the male and in the female bloom. It is well known that the re- production of these plants results from the union of the pollen, or fecundating dust of the stamen of the male bloom with the pollen or fecundating dust of the pistil of the female bloom. This indicates that one side or part of the matter creation, with all the elements of life — physical life — exists in the male bloom; and that its corresponding side or part exists in the female bloom ; these opposite, but mutually de- pendent sides or parts, each act as a magnet which attracts its corresponding side or part in the opposite sex; and, when the two are united in the female bloom, the matter creation is perfected and reproduced in the young plant. But if, as frequently occurs, the matter creation as it exists in its im- perfect state in the respective germs of the male and female blooms, are not united in the female bloom, these vital ele- ments are wasted, and the reproduction of the matter crea- tion in the young plant is not accomplished. "The same law governs the reproduction of the animal, in which the two creations — matter and mind — exist in the respective germs of the male and the female. One side or part of the matter creation, with all the elements of life — physical life — and one side or part of the mind creation, exists in ah imperfect state in the male animal; the corre- sponding sides or parts of these imperfect creations exist in the female animal. Observation teaches that by uniting the imperfect sides or parts of these creations in the female, re- sults in their being perfected and reproduced in the young EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 179 animal. This indicates that each of these creations main- tains its individuality in their respective germs of the male and the female animal, and that each side or part of these imperfect creations acts as a magnet, which attracts its cor- responding side or part in the opposite sex. Hence, when sexual union occurs, each side or part of these two creations — matter and mind — are united and perfected in the female, conception and birth results, and the combination of matter and mind as they existed in the parents is reproduced in the offspring. "But if, as frequently occurs, from various causes, these imperfect matter and mind creations, as they exist in the respective germs of the male and female animal, are not united and perfected in the female, these vital elements are wasted, conception does not result, and the reproduction of these two creations in a young animal is not accomplished. The strength of our argument is demonstrated by the ac- tions of our domestic fowls; it frequently occurs that the female fowl, when not associated with the male fowl, will lay eggs ; but such eggs will not 'hatch.' This is due to the fact that but one side or part — the female side or part of the two creations, matter and mind, as they existed in the germ of the female — was represented in the egg ; their cor- responding side or part in the male, which was necessary to perfect the two creations in the female, were not present ; and as a result the effort of the female to reproduce these two creations in a young animal, independently of the male was abortive. "The same law which governs the reproduction of the matter creation in the plant and the reproduction of the matter and the mind creations in the animal, must also govern the reproduction of the three creations — matter, mind, and 180 THE REALITY AND soul — as they exist in the respective germs of the male and female man. One side or part of the matter creation with all the elements of physical life ; and one side or part of the mind creation; and one side or part of the soul creation with its peculiar characteristic — immortal life — exists in an imper- fect state in the germ of the male man; the corresponding sides or parts of these imperfect creations exist in the germ of the female man. By the union of these imperfect crea- tions in the female man, they are perfected and reproduced in the offspring. This indicates that each of these imper- fect creations maintains its individuality in the respective germs of the male and the female man; and that each of these imperfect creations acts as a magnet, which attracts its corresponding side or part in the opposite sex. When sexual union occurs, each side or part of these imperfect creations unites with its corresponding side or part in the female, and is thus perfected ; conception results, and the three creations — matter, mind, and soul — are reproduced in the off-spring. Thus, it is shown that the reproduction of the immortal soul, in combination with matter and with mind as it exists in man, is as natural and as simple a process as the reproduc- tion of the animal or the plant; and that it is governed by the same laws." (The Tempter of Eve, pp. 302, 303, 304, 305, 306.) Mr. Carroll has so clearly and fully explained the man- ner of the reproduction of the physical, mental and soul or- ganisms that he leaves little or nothing to be added except to say that it is the only rational explanation, we ever* read, of the process by which these great ends are accomplished. We have inquired into the mysteries of life and have learned how matter, mind and soul are reproduced or born ; EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 181 it is now our privelege to inquire into and inform ourselves concerning the mysteries of death. In presenting the spirit's explanation of the term, death, Mr. Ambler says : "It is universally known upon the earth, that there is a change which passes upon the human frame whereby its vitality is extinguished and its elements dissolved. It is known that this change has been the essential attribute of the physical frame — an attribute by which it becomes like the perishing flower of summer or the falling leaves of au- tumn. It is known that this change has been a source of the deepest grief and sorrow — and that it has been the cause of the most heart rendering suffering which mortals can experience, and that it is has been the direful destroyer of human hopes and the dreaded desolation of earthly joys. This change has been denominated death by those who do not properly appreciate its nature, which term does not ex- press the reality of the change that is here indicated. The term death indicates an entire extinction of being, and is appropriate only to apply to the external appearances that is visible in physical dissolution. As has been shown in a previous paragraph, the spirit — the organization which lives within the man — can never die. The storm and tempest may breath upon it, but it remains ever firm and steadfast as the eternal rock; the outward tabernacle in which it has been nurtured may dissolve, but this endures as the sub- lime creation of the Infinite; and when the change which passes upon all flesh brings destruction to the physical frame the spirit by which it was sustained soars upward with a freed wing towards the attractive sky. Death, therefore, which has been the cause of sorrow and mourning to the inhabitants of the earthly world, is not an entire extinction 182 THE REALITY AND of being as has been supposed, and as this term indicates; but it is the glorious birth of the spirit, a process or change by which it is released from the fading tabernacle of clay, and is enabled to exercise its own exalted powers on the light of a more expanded sphere. "The spirits have now arrived at a point where it will be necessary to elucidate the nature of the birth which is here mentioned. They desire to speak of the beautiful and interesting process by which the spirit becomes separated from its material structure and is born into the celestial world. It has been stated that the elements of the spirit or- dinarily diffused through the entire organization of the body, and are not in a state of perfect concentration so as to be withdrawn from it as a perfect and undivided form. There- fore, when the vitality which forms the connecting link be- tween the spirit and its frame-work is destroyed, the ele- ments of which the spiritual body is composed are attracted from the surface and extremities of the organism to the brain, from which they are eliminated in the form of an emanation or atmosphere that constitutes the substance of the spirit. When this emanation or atmosphere has become completely thrown off from the perishing body, then this gradually forms into a perfect figure, through the attractive power of the most interior essence which has been denomi- nated the germ of the soul. After this process has been completed, and the spiritual form has been rendered perfect and indestructible by the combination of kindred elements, then the spirit is gradually separated from the structure to which it was previously attracted, and is borne away by the aid of congenial companions to the position in the spiritual world which it naturally and appropriately occupies. Thus the death of the body is the beautiful birth of the spirit ; and EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 183 the spirits have presented this explanation simply that the perfection of the existing universe and the laws which govern it, may be made clearly manifest." (Spiritual Teacher, pp. 147, 148, 149.) Since the spiritual body is composed of a substance dis- tinct from the physical body, we should not be surprised that it has an independent existence. In discussing this question, Mr. Davis says : "It is evident that the use of Nature is to individualize Man; that it is the use of man to individualize the spirit. But now the question spontaneously arises: how can the spirit exist independent of the body, and how can its per- sonality be preserved ? I am taught to reply that the spirit can exist separate and independent of the body on the same ground that the body can exist separate from or independent of Nature. For nature made the body even as the body made the mind, and be it remembered, the same unchange- able and eternal principles of creation operate uniformly everywhere and at all times. And I am further taught that the spirit preserves its identity on the ground that every or- ganization is absolutely different. This fact precludes the possibility of absorption, or amalgamation, or disorganiza- tion. The difference in the arrangement of inherent ele- ments establishes the individual in this life, and through all eternity. If spirits were constituted alike, they would in- evitably and irresistibly gravitate to but one center, would desire to occupy but one position, and to fill but one locality. But being constitutionally dissimilar, they can not, nor do they desire, to be absorbed by, or amalgamated with other spirits, nor can they lose themselves, as some have been led to suppose, in the universal Spirit or Great Positive Mind. "There are three evidences, therefore, that the soul will 184 THE REALITY AND preserve its identity after the change which is called death. They are these: 1. It is designed that Nature should de- velop the body. 2. It is designed that the Body should de- velop the Mind. 3. It is designed that the Mind should develop itself differently from other minds, and to live for- ever. These are no inferences, no conclusions based upon hypothetical reasons, but they are the universal testimonies and absolute demonstrations of creation — indeed, they are simply Nature's own instructions.* You can readily, I think, believe and comprehend, why there will exist a 'recol- lection of the past and a recognition of friends' in the other world, by reflecting upon and understanding the ultimate condition which exists between the first and second spheres of human existence. The relation is as intimate as that between youth and maturity, love and wisdom, perception and mem- ory. The experience, character, and progress of an indi- vidual in this life is recorded upon, and will be, to a modi- fied extent, manifested by that individual in the life to come. And the friend or companion who has impressed us with friendship and affection here, will be remembered hereafter. "The passage from this sphere into the next is no more a change to the individual than a journey from America to England, excepting the almost complete emancipation consequent upon the change, from rudimenetal misdirection and earthly imperfections. "So I am taught concerning the principles upon which rest the sublime and heavenly realities of an eternal life. And so I am taught concerning the transformation known as physical death. Aid I can assure you that, to the con- vinced and enlarged understanding, there is no death, — *"There are two other demonstrations of the soul's immortality, viz. : The independence of the mind from the bodily organism, as manifested in clair- voyance; and spiritual communication, through electric vibrations." EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 185 only the most important and delightful change in the mode of personal existence. And as we are immortal, and the memories of this life remain with us until displaced by more profitable and spiritual ones, let us at once resolve to insti- tute and manifest henceforth a well ordered life, and a godly conversation." (The Great Harmonia, Vol. ii., pp. 240, 241, 242.) Mr. Davis had a very rare experience when he witnessed the separation of the spiritual body from the physical body, which he describes in the following language : "Death is but a door which opens into new and more perfect existence. It is a Triumphial Arch through which man's immortal spirit passes at the moment of leaving the outer world to depart for a higher, a sublimer, and a more magnificent country. And there is really nothing more pain- ful or repulsive in the natural process of dying (that which is not induced by disease or accident) than there is in passing into a quite, pleasant, and dreamless slumber. The truthful- ness of this proposition is remarkably illustrated and con- firmed by the following observations and investigations into the physiological and psychological phenomena of death; which my spirit was qualified to make upon the person of a diseased individual at the moment of physical dissolution. * # * "I saw that the physical organization could no longer subserve the diversified purposes or requirements of the spiritual Principle. But the various internal organs of the body appeared to resist the withdrawal of the animating soul. The muscular system strove to retain the element of Motion ; the vascular system strove to retain the element of life; the nervous system put forth all its powers to retain the element of Sensation; and the cerebral system labored 186 THE REALITY AND to retain the principle of Intelligence. The body and the soul, like two friends strongly resisted the various circum- stances which rendered their eternal separation imperative and absolute. These internal conflicts gave rise to mani- festations of what seemed to be, to the material senses the most thrilling and painful sensation; but I was un- speakably thankful and delighted when I perceived and realized the fact that those physical manifestations were in- dications, not of pain or unhappiness, but simply that the Spirit was eternally dissolving its co-partnership with the material organism. "Now the head of the body became suddenly enveloped in a fine — soft — mellow- — luminous atmosphere; and, as in- stantly, I saw the cerebrum and the cerebellum expand their most interior portions ; I saw them discontinue their appro- priate galvanic functions; and then I saw that they became highly charged with the vital electricity and vital magnetism which permeate subordinate systems and structures. That is to say, the Brain, as a whole, suddenly declared itself to be tenfold more positive, over the lower portions of the body, than it ever was during the period of health. This phenomenon invariably precedes physical dissolution. "Now the process of dying, or of the spirit's departure from the body, was fully commenced. The brain began to attract the elements of electricity, of magnetism, of motion, of life, and of sensation, into its various and numerous de- partments. The head became intensely brilliant ; and I par- ticularly remarked that just in the same proportion as the extremities of the organism grew dark, and cold, the brain appeared light and glowing. "Now I saw, in the mellow spiritual atmosphere, which EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 187 emanated from, and encircled her head, the indistinct out- lines of the formation of another head ! The reader should remember that these super-sensuous processes are not visible to anyone except the spiritual perceptions be unfolded; for material eyes can only behold material things, and spiritual eyes can only behold spiritual things. This is a Law of Na- ture. This new head unfolded more and more distinctly; and indescribably compact and intensely brilliant did it be- come, that I could neither see through it, nor gaze upon it as steadily as I desired. While this spiritual head was being eliminated and organized from out of, and above, the ma- terial head, I saw that the surrounding aromal atmosphere which had emanated from the material head was in great commotion ; but as the new head became more distinct and perfect, this brilliant atmosphere gradually disappeared. This taught me that those aromal elements, which were, in the beginning of the metamorphoses attracted from the sys- tem into the brain, and thence eliminated in the form of an atmosphere, were indissolubly united in accordance with the divine principle of affinity in the universe, which per- vades and disseminates every particle of matter, and de- veloped the Spiritual head which I beheld. "With inexpressible wonder, and with a heavenly and unutterable reverence I gazed upon the holy and harmonious processes that were going on before me. In the identical manner in which the spiritual head was eliminated and unchangeably organized, I saw unfolding in their nat- ural, progressive order, the harmonious development of the neck, the shoulders, the breast, and the entire spiritual or- ganization. It appeared from this, even to an unequivocal demonstration, that the innumerable particles of what might 188 THE REALITY AND be termed unparticled matter, which constitutes the man's Spiritual principle, are constitutionally endowed with cer- tain elective affinities analogous to an immortal friendship. The innate tendencies, which the elements and essences of her soul manifested by uniting and organizing themselves, were the efficient and imminent causes which unfolded and perfected her spiritual organization. The defects and deform- ities of her physical body, were in the spiritual body which I saw thus developed, almost completely removed. In other words, it seemed that those hereditary obstructions and in- fluences were now removed, which originally arrested the full and proper development of her physical constitution; and, therefore, that her spiritual constitution, being elevated above those obstructions, was enabled to unfold and perfect itself, in accordance with the universal tendencies of all created things. "While this spiritual formation was going on, which was perfectly visible to my spiritual perceptions, the ma- terial body manifested to the outer vision of observing indi- viduals in the room, many symptoms of uneasiness and pain ; but these indications were totally deceptive ; they were wholly caused by the departure of the vital or spiritual forces from the extremities and viscera into the brain, and thence into the ascending organism. "The spirit arose at right angles over the head or brain of the deserted body. But immediately previous to the final dissolution of the relationship which had for so many years subsisted between the two spiritual and material bodies, I saw — playing energetically between the feet of the elevated spiritual body and the head of the prostrate phy- sical body — a bright stream or current of vital electricity. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 189 This taught me, that what is customarily termed Death is but a Birth of the spirit from a lower into a higher state; that an inferior body and mode of existence are exchanged for a superior body and corresponding endowments and ca- pabilities of happiness. I learned that the correspondence between the birth of a child into this world, and the birth of the spirit from the material body into a higher world, is absolute and complete — even to the umbilical cord, which was represented by the thread of vital electricity, which, for a few minutes, subsisted between, and connected the two organisms together. And here I perceived, what I had never before obtained knowledge of, that a small portion of this vital electrical element returned to the deserted body, immediately subsequent to the separation of the umbilical thread; and that that portion of this element which passed back into the earthly organism, instantly diffused itself through the entire structure, and thus prevented immediate decomposition. ' "It is not proper that a body should be deposited in the earth until after decomposition has positively commenced; for, should there be no positive evidence of such structural change, even though life seems surely to have departed, it is not right to consign the body to the grave. The umbilical life cord, of which I speak, is sometimes not severed, but is drawn out into the finest possible medium of sympathetic connection between the body and the Spirit. This is in- variably the case when individuals apparently die, and, after being absent for a few days or hours, return, as from a peace- ful journey, to relate their spiritual experiences. Such phenomena are modernly termed, Trances, Catalepsy, Som- nambulism, and Spiritual extasis. There are many different 190 THE REALITY AND stages, or divisions, and subdivisions, of these states. But when the spirit is arrested in its flight from the body, and when it is held in a transitional or mediatorial state, for only a few hours or minutes, then the mind seldom retains a recollection of its experiences — this state, of forgetfulness, seems, to a superficial observer, like annihilation; and this occasional suspension of consciousness (or memory) is fre- quently made the foundation of many an argument against the soul's immortal existence. It is when the spirit entirely leaves the body — only retaining proprietorship over it, through the medium of the unsevered umbilical thread or electric wire, as it might be called — and that the soul is enabeled to abandon its earthly tenement and interests, for many hours or days and afterward to return to the earth — ladened with bright and happy memories. "As soon as the spirit, whose departing hour I thus watched, was wholly disengaged from the tenacious phy- sical body, I directed my attention to the movements and emotions of the former; and I saw her begin to breath the most interior, or spiritual portions of the surrounding ter- restrial atmosphere. * * * 'At first it seemed with dif- ficulty that she could breathe the new medium ; but in a few seconds, she inhaled and exhaled the spiritual elements of nature, with the greatest possible ease and delight. And now I saw that she was in the possession of exterior and physical proportions, which were identical, in every possible par- ticular — improved and beautified with those proportions which characterized her earthly organization. That is to say, she possessed a heart, a stomach, a liver, lungs, etc., etc. just as her natural body did previous to (not her, but) its death.' This is a wonderful and consoling truth! But I EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 191 saw that the improvements which were wrought upon, and in her spiritual organization, were not so particular and thorough as to destroy or transcend her personality; nor did they materially alter her natural appearance or earthly characteristics. So much like her former self was she, that had her friends beheld her (as I did), they certainly would have exclaimed — as we often do upon the sudden return of a long-absent friend, who leaves us in illness and returns in health — 'Why, how well you look, how improved you are!' Such were the nature — most beautifying in their extent — of the improvements that were wrought upon her. "I saw her continue to conform and accustom herself to the new elements and elevating sensations which belong to the inner life. I did not particularly notice the workings and emotions of her newly awaking and fast unfolding spirit; except that I was careful to remark, her philosophic tranquility throughout the entire process, and her non-par- ticipation, with the different members of her family, in their unrestrained bewailing of her departure from the earth, to unfold in Love and Wisdom throughout eternal spheres. She understood, at a glance, that they could only gaze upon the cold and lifeless form which she had just deserted; and she readily comprehended the fact, that it was owing to a want of true knowledge upon their parts, that they thus ve- hemently regretted her merely physical death. * * * "The period required to accomplish the entire change, which I saw, was not far from two hours and a half; but this furnishes no rule as to the time required for every spirit to elevate and reorganize itself above the head of the outer form. Without changing my position, or spiritual percep- tions, I continued to observe the movements of her new-born 192 THE REALITY AND spirit. As soon as she became accustomed to the new ele- ments which surrounded her, she descended from her ele- vated position, which was immediately over the body, by an effort of the will-power, and directly passed out of the door of the bedroom, in which she had lain (in the material form) prostrated with disease for several weeks. It being in a summer month, the doors were all open, and her egress from the house was attended with no obstructions. I saw her pass through the adjoining room, out of the door, and step from the house into the atmosphere! I was over- whelmed with delight and astonishment when, for the first time, I realized the universal truth that spiritual organiza- tion can tread the atmosphere, which, while in the coarser earthly form, we breathe — so much more refined is man's spiritual constitution. She walked in the atmosphere as easily, and in the same manner as we tread the earth, and ascend an eminence. Immediately upon her emergement from the house, she was joined by two friendly spirits from the spir- itual country; and, after tenderly recognizing and commun- ing with each other, the three, in the most graceful manner, began ascending obliquely through the ethereal envelopment of our globe. They walked so naturally and fraternally together, that I could scarcely realize the fact that they trod the air — they seemed to be walking upon the side of a glorious but familiar mountain ! I continued to gaze upon them until the distance shut them from my view ; whereupon I returned to my external and ordinary condition. O, what a contrast! Instead of beholding that beautiful and youth- fully unfolded spirit, I now saw, in common with those about me, the lifeless — cold — and shrouded organism of the cater- pillar, which the joyous butterfly had so recently abandoned ! EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 193 "Death is but the local or final development of a succes- sion of specific changes in the corporeal organism of man. As the death of the germ is necessary to the birth or develop- ment of the flower, so is the death of man's physical body an indispensable precedent and indication of his spiritual birth or resurrection. That semi-unconscious slumber into which the soul and body mutually and irresistibly glide, when dark- ness pervades the earth, is typical of death. Sleep is but death undeveloped; or in other words, sleep is the incipient manifestation of that thorough and delightful change, which is the glorious result of our present rudimental existence. Night and sleep correspond to physical death; but the bril- liant day, and human wakefulness, correspond to spiritual birth and individual elevation." (The Great Harmoniq, Vol. i., pp. 163-173, inc.) The spiritualistic teaching that there is a physical body and a spiritual body, we accept, because it is taught in the Bible, for Paul says: "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." (1 Cor. xv., 44.) The spiritualistic teaching that at death there occurs a separation between the natural body and the spiritual body and that the spiritual body survives physical dissolution, we also accept because it is taught throughout the Scriptures. As has been shown, and is universally recognized, plants are a combination of the elements of matter only, and at death, these elements disunite and resolve themselves into their original forms. The same laws that govern the plants control the phys- ical organisms of the animals and man and when death ensues, the same results follow, so far as matter is concerned. 194 THE REALITY AND But the mind, whether of man or the animals, being something distinct from and in nowise dependent upon matter, it naturally follows that it would be operated and governed by laws distinct from those that govern matter. Consequently, when the body, which is composed of matter, undergoes the change called death, and the elements return to their original conditions there is nothing to indicate that the mind also perishes. On the contrary we accept the teaching of the Bible and hold that the mind survives the death of the body, as for example the case of Samuel (1 Sam. xxviii., 7, 8, ect). To that extent spiritualism is true. But because the mind does survive death, let us not make the same mistake our spiritualistic friends have and claim for it immortality, for the mind is as mortal as the body. Somewhere in this material universe the departed mind or spirit exists as a living, thinking, reasoning conscious entity, and will so exist as long as time endures, but when the angel shall stand with one foot on the sea and another upon the land, and declare, "That there shall be time no longer," then will the spirit with all that is material, perish. Thus it is plain that it is not the spirit or mind, which we hold, are identical, and common to the man, and the animals, that attains immortality ; for if this were true, the spirit of the animal, could acquire eternal life the same as that of man. But that which may attain immortality, and which pre-emi- nently distinguishes man from the animal, is the soul. As the mind or spirit resides within the body, so does the soul reside within the spirit and body. And as the mind or spirit at death assumes a separate and conscious existence from the body, so will the soul at the death of the spirit assume a conscious and independent existence. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 195 In this crash in which all organization both celestial and terrestrial is destroyed, the mental organisms of man and the animal will perish ; but the soul of man — "the breath of life," survives the end of time and returns to the God who gave it. As man is composed of a trinity of substances, matter, mind, and soul, so is he composed of a trinity of lives, each one separate and distinct and in nowise dependent upon the other. Physical life, he holds in common with the animals and plants ; mental or spiritual life, in common with the ani- mals ; soul-life — eternal life — he may hold in common with his God. The child is born to inherit body, mind or spirit and soul. Like the flower the body withereth and returns to mother earth; the spirit freed from the habitation of clay, passes into spirit land to await the judgment day from whence the soul elect passeth with its God to immortality. CHAPTER XII. This Intermediate State. That our departed friends and relations still reside within our material universe may occasion some surprise to those not at all familiar with spiritualism or who have never in- vestigated the subject. Since the spiritual body survives death and exists sepa- rate from and independent of the physical body, and yet is mortal, it is but natural that it should occupy a portion of our material universe. The majority of people look upon departed spirits or minds as something supernatural, something "uncanny," and in speaking of their return and manifestations, a cold, creepy feeling goes up and down the spine, even among those who claim that they are "not afraid." After a prolonged dis- cussion of spiritual manifestations or after attending a "seance," there is a disposition among most persons to avoid entering or being left alone in a dark room, as though dread- ing some supernatural occurrence. This is all wrong and is the result of ignorance and superstition. We should always bear in mind that departed spirits or minds, are not immor- tal, but mortal, and that they are no more a denizen of eter- nity now than formerly and that there is really nothing more supernatural in the manifestation of spirits or minds out of the body than any other phenomenon of nature. They are 196 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 197 still a part of the material universe, and as such, are con- trolled by laws instituted by God. Being mortal, they require a material home. The exist- ence of an intermediate state in which departed spirits or minds reside was a belief common among the ancients ; but it is not to the ancients alone, but to the Bible also, that we are indebted for a knowledge of such a place; besides the evidence presented by modern spirits or minds who have at- tempted to describe their place of abode, their occupations, what they eat, their religion, etc. But where is this inter- mediate state, this home of the departed spirits or minds? Mr. Ambler, as the mouth-piece of the spirits, says : "The spirits wish, in the present Lecture, to unfold the beauties and glories which pervade the celestial home. They desire to reveal as far as possible to the gross and darkened minds of mortals, the attractions which are visible and ap- parent in the Heaven of the Spirit, that the inhabitants of earth may attain some feeble conception of the destiny which awaits them, in the change or birth, which passes over the outward frame and gives to the spirit its longed and sighed for freedom. The truths which they desire to present have no assimilation with the groveling doctrines and theories of men; nor do they correspond in all respects with the reve- lations of the seers who have illuminated the world with many truthful and important sayings. It will be the design of the present writers to reveal what is true and wise — to unfold the real reality, and not the external representative — to speak of what they see, and feel, and realize to be the truth, independent of all previous revelations, and apart from all erroneous and imperfect statements of former writ- 198 THE REALITY AND ings. It will be their object to present the subject to be dis- cussed in a rational and philosophical light, and not, as has been commonly presented, in the light of dark sayings and superstitious views. It will be the desire of the writers to reveal the living thoughts and the inexpressible happiness which dwell in the bosom of the redeemed spirit, and per- vade the mansion which it inhabits. Therefore, will they commence the statements which they desire to make, by un- folding the truth that the Heaven of the spirit is the abode of the immortal being, which is enshrined within the human frame — that this is the home for which this being is born on the earth, and the sphere to which it is destined in the fu- ture expansion which it will enjoy in the change from the mortal to the immortal, and from the scenes of decay and death to the realms of brightness and life. * * * "It should be stated that the heaven of the spirit is not the material heaven which has been imagined by the re- ligionists of earth — that it is not the abode of slothful ease and inactivity, which is the desire only of the material na- ture — that it has no correspondence with the mansions of the wealthy, the couch of the voluptuary, or the green fields in which the brute reposes. The abode which is here repre- sented indicates the home of the active, energized and ever- aspiring soul ; it is a home where there is rest of a spiritual nature — rest which is independent of an ease of body, or a satiety of taste, but rest which frees the spirit from all the burdening shackles of the animal nature — which gives freedom from all bondage of sensual passion — which consists in the peaceful, yet heavenward flow of all the most interior thought, and which is enjoyed in the tranquil harmony that EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 199 pervades the bosom of the immortal being, and lingers in all the atmosphere which it inhales. "The spirits desire that this portion of the subject should be duly understood; because it is necessary that the true object to be attained should be clearly revealed, in order that the inward aspirations may be righteously governed. The materialist who dreams of Heaven as a place where he can feel the external pleasures which he enjoys on earth, should be informed that there is no abode in all the mansions of the Father where his dreams will be realized ; and the sen- sualist who looks at the home of the spirit only as a place of ease — where the rivers of pleasure flow through all the ex- panding plains and feasts of fat things are spread to allure the earthly taste, should distinctly understand that he can never enter the home of the immortals until he has become freed from the low desires and sensual feelings by which he is moved in his present state. Heaven, so far as regards the enjoyment which is received by the spirit, is no place, and hence it can never be enjoyed simply by rising a certain distance above the plane on which the earthly being gropes and grovels; and though the home of the soul has reference to substance as well as condition, this can never be truly enjoyed — its beauties can never be fully realized, until the internal being is in harmony with the visible glory. Therefore is it important that this Heaven should be first regarded as a state, the true enjoyment of which will de- pend upon the presence of certain qualities in the heart of the spirit. * * * "But though it is true, as has been stated, that Heaven must commence with the spirit itself, and be made dependent 200 THE REALITY AND upon no external conditions, yet it is true that the human spirit, when it leaves the outward tabernacle in which it pri- marily resides, is introduced into a Sphere which has a cer- tain relation to the sphere of the earthly world, presenting the refinement, sublimation and perfection of all the external beauties which are here visible, and breathing upon the senses of the spirit those elevating and congenial influences which are adapted to promote its growth and expansion. This Sphere is situated at a distance of about fifty miles above the surface of the earth. It is formed by the spiritual emanation, which flows off from this planet and all the ob- jects which it contains, and presents the out-birth or refined atmosphere of the lower world. Spirits see that the process by which this reality is formed is sublime and beautiful in the extreme, though it is difficult in the present state of the human mind, to unfold this in such a manner as to render it fully comprehensible. It should be known that there is both a material and a spiritual atmosphere, which flows off constantly from the surface of the earth ; that the material atmosphere rises to the distance of fifty miles, at which point it ceases to ascend, on account of the attracting influence of the materials which exist upon the earth be- neath, but that the spiritual atmosphere still continues to as- cend from the force of the affinity which it has for the more refined regions of space — this, therefore, constituting the basis of the Spirit-world, which extends above the common atmosphere about fifty miles, or about one hundred miles above the earth. In this locality is presented the home of the spirit when it is released from the tenement of clay. To this home it ascends by the power of that attraction which EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 201 is formed from the affinity that exists between the soul itself, and the elements of which its dwelling-place is composed. This is the real Heaven of the spirit; this is the world of light, and joy and rest; this^ is the home of the weary, the refuge of the wandering, and the haven of the storm-tossed mariners of life. Above the clouds where the storms gather, above the darkness where the light is obscured, and above the corrupting streams of human passion, the spirit soars to the regions of unfading light and indisturbed harmony. The inhabitants of the earth may be assured that this Heaven of the spirit is the fulfilled prophesy of all the illu- minated minds, whose thoughts and perceptions have been turned to the brightness and beauty of the celestial abode. This is the sweetness of the air which the immortals breathe; it is the undimmed radiance of the divine essence; it is the living fragrance of eternal flowers which no storm or frost can wither. "It is now the desire of the spirits to present some of the external beauties of the heavenly mansion — to speak of some of the glories which gladden the hearts of angels. They are aware of the difficulties and obstacles which lie in their way; they fully comprehend the feebleness of the earthly mind which is not enlightened with the wisdom of Heaven, and they understand the want of a proper assimila- tion between the gross conceptions of the groveling multi- tude, and that purity which is the reflecting mirror of the Great Spirit. Still will they endeavor to delineate in the language of earth, the attractions of their glorious home. To commence the delineation, they would say that the beau- ties which are beheld in the external world, are simply repre- 202 THE REALITY AND sentatives of the Teal reality — the shadows of the inward substance, which is alone divine and immortal. The human eye gazes upon the freshness and verdure of the spring-time, and rejoices in the beauty which covers the blooming fields, or gleams from the shining sky ; but the eye rests only on the forms which fade and change beneath the cold wind and the angry storm. Therefore these are not the appropriate objects which the spirit seeks — they are not the fixed and un- changing realities on which the soul can rest with unfailing confidence ; but are simply the representatives of some more interior being which bears a relation to the undying soul. This interior being — this reality, is found in the Second Sphere, which has been termed the Heaven of the spirit. "The objects which adorn the expanse of earth, contain an internal essence which, through the same principle by which the external atmosphere is evolved, rises to the height which has been referred to as the point at which the spir- itual emanations commences its separate ascension, and thus extends through the surrounding atmosphere till it is born into the spiritual world. This process represents the manner in which the objects of the heavenly abode are created, and the real, intrinsic nature which they possess. But the beauty which clothes and pervades every object that dwells upon the earth, is really unseen by the human eye, and the ema- nation which constantly flows from these, and which is born into the Second Sphere is likewise unperceived and unknown, excepting only by the disenthralled spirits which have arisen to their appropriate home. It should be known that the emanation which ascends from the various substances of the earth, does not maintain in its ascension the precise EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 203 form which it preserved in connection with the object in which it previously existed; but it passes upward towards the Second Sphere as a lengthened atmosphere, whose in- ward beauty, brilliancy, and clearness no mortal can prop- erly conceive. In this emanation which constitutes the ex- ternal beauty of the heavenly abode, there exist the most beautiful and gorgeous hues, the most inexpressible radi- ance, and the most perfect transparency of which no sub- stance on the earth is an appropriate symbol. The spirits can gaze upon this as it ascends from the earth and watch its progress till it reaches and enters into the heavenly sphere. They see that, when it issues from the material object and mingles with the external atmosphere, it is com- paratively gross and unilluminated, but that as it advances upward and retreats from the unrefined materials with which it was connected, it becomes gradually purified, sub- limated, and refined, so that, when it becomes the resident of the celestial home, it is the perfect essence of all interior elements, and presents the transcendent beauty in which the angels rejoice. "It has been stated, and should be clearly understood, that the emanations to which reference is here made, does not, in its passage from the lower to the higher Sphere, pre- serve the precise form which it had while in connection with the material objects from which it ascends; but it presents simply an interior and lengthened atmosphere of such, ob- jects, whose form is in precise correspondence with the nature of the substance from which it flows, and the force of the impelling power by which it is evolved. When, there- fore, this emanation enters the spiritual world and becomes a 204- THE REALITY AND part of the etherial beauty which is here displayed, it exists only as a beautiful and harmonious blending of the most clear, brilliant, and gorgeous hues, which, to some extent, resemble the colors of the rainbow, which is the refined emanation of the divided light. Therefore, is it true, that, while the Spirit-home is filled and pervaded with outward beauties which are perceived by the senses of the spirit, these beauties are not presented as mere external forms — as fixed and tangible substances, but they are revealed as the essence of all light and beauty — as the liquid sea in whose clear depths the purity of the indwelling germ of life is mirrored, and on whose bosom rests the reflected radiance of the over- shadowing heavens. There are forms, but they have no definite outlines — there are groves, and vales and streams, though these are not presented as the fixed and localized substances which dwell upon the earth, but rather as the mingling, blending, and harmonious emanation which is constantly flowing from these objects. Hence the spirits find no obstruction in any of the forms which exist in their illuminated abode; they are not enclosed by any external lines or boundaries, which might confine the movements of the material body, but they delight to bathe in the ocean of purity which surrounds them — to bask in the cheering light by which they are warmed and strengthened, and to gratify that absorbing desire which is sometimes felt by the refined soul on earth, to mingle with the very essence of the glory which fills the earth and heavens." (The Spiritual Teacher, pp. 52-62, inc.) Having presented the information given Mr. Ambler by "Spirits of the Sixth Circle," concerning Spiritland, its EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 205 condition and location, we now present the information de- rived by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter from disembodied spirits or minds upon this subject. They say : "Let it be understood, then, first, that this is a world occupied by spirits, or, rather, men, women, and children, mingling as their desires, tastes, inclinations or pleasures impel them, accomplishing and carrying out the great ob- jects of their formation, the development of the spirit itself to that exact state when and where it will manifest the prop- erties and attributes so corresponding to those of the Great First Cause, that they can live and exist eternally in direct communication and connection with all that possibly can be known or realized as God; and, second, that the different spheres are localities assigned to the progressed spirits, and they represent a state of elevation, and are reached only by a still more sublimated and refined materiality and advance of knowledge and goodness of the soul than belonged to the bodies or spirits occupying the sphere below. "Now, when I arrived at the sixth sphere, I found myself surrounded by spirits whom I had known on earth, and was immediately made a member of a community, com- posed, for the most part, of spirits of relatives or friends with whom I was connected in life. The newness of every- thing impressed me with delight. The air was pure, and the whole heavens were bright and clear beyond all com- parison. I saw no difference in the sky, except its brightness and purity; and on looking abroad on the earth, I could detect no difference in its appearance from our earch, except in the heavenly beauty and harmony in the arrangement of the landscape. The diversified character of the scenery, the 206 THE REALITY AND mountains, not ragged and steep as on earth, but rounded with every regard to the harmony and beauty of all the other scenery. The trees, the rocks and mountains, the flowers and birds, the gushing torrents and the murmuring rivulets, the oceans and rivers, man, woman, and child, all passed before me, so far excelling everything I had conceived or imagined in the beauty of form, in the glorious demon- strations of their nature, in the palpable and evident exhibi- tion that they were beings who inhabited an earth near to the gates of heaven, that my spirit, lifted beyond itself, sprung forth in one spontaneous gush of love and praise, and I blessed God who had vouchsafed to me the privilege I then enjoyed. "We occupy earth — tangible, positive earth — as much as your earth ; but the advanced state of both spirit and locality renders it unnecessary for us to labor much to obtain food for the support of our bodies. Then, again, the earth brings forth spontaneously most of the food required for our bodies. And I would say, the advanced spirits do not require as much food as those who are below them. Their bodies, in every sphere to which they are elevated, lose a portion of their grossness, and as they are more refined, they become more like the spirit itself. We have trees — real trees and flowers, and mountains and rivers, and rocks, and every- thing material; but you, who have traveled into some un- settled and far-off land, can realize the great difference there is in your own land in the various manifestations of nature. You can behold mountains on mountains piled to heaven, and at their feet vast plains spread out, where not one blade of grass, not one green twig gives evidence that it is fit for EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 207 the habitation of man. You can go farther, and behold the rugged and barren places which have been conquered by man's indomitable efforts. The dark forest which for ages covered the land, has fallen before the determined energy and labor of man; and the sombre recesses, fit habitations for the bear, the tiger, or some poisonous reptile, have been made to yield to man a tribute of labor, of effort, of mind. Thus, when comparing this condition of things, your mind can the more readily perceive what is the state of those world's fashioned for the residence of spirits, whose minds, filled with knowledge and incited only by the strong feelings of love and adoration to God, are placed there to live, to in- habit that earth, and to form just such connections and as- sociations as the same spirit did on earth." (Spiritualism, pp. 174, 175, 176.) Do spiritualists read spiritualistic literature? If so, how do they decide what is true and what false? Take, for example, the above quotations. Mr. Ambler's spirit con- trols or informants seemingly possess but one desire, and that is, to benefit, to elevate and to properly instruct man- kind. In all seriousness they tell us that the "Heaven of the spirits" is situated at a distance of "about fifty miles above the surface of the earth," and that it is formed by "spiritual emanations which flow off from this planet." Thus, while placing the abode of the disembodied spirits or minds within the material universe, they claim for it only a shadowy existence for "emanations" could hardly be con- sidered as substantial as shadows. This "ocean of purity" is all very well, is pleasing to the fancy, is poetical, is beau- tiful if true ; but if it is true, what can we say for the Judge's 208 THE REALITY AND spirit informants. For a disembodied spirit or mind calling itself Swedenborg tells us that in the "bright regions where dwell the spirits made perfect * * * from that region come I," and he also comes with love and peace and a desire to elevate and benefit and truthfully instruct mankind. But oh, what a difference between the "Spirits of the Sixth Cir- cle's" shadowy heaven and Swedenborg's "tangible positive earth — as much as your earth." There is no similarity be- tween the two. One is the exact opposite of the other. Which is true ? Is there any particular reason for deciding that either is correct? A person seriously investigating spiritualism would, upon reaching the above contradictory teachings of departed and advanced spirits or minds, be compelled if he made a decision to accept one and reject the other. But if feeling that before taking such an important step it would be better to investi- gate further instead of lessening, his troubles would only be augmented for Mr. Davis, the "Poughkeepsie Seer," while in the "superior condition," describes a heaven unlike either Ambler's or Edmonds'. He says: " 'The Spirit Land V What do you mean by these terms? Something figurative, or something literal ? I mean a substantial world ; a sphere, similar in constitution to this world, only, in every conceivable respect, one degree superior to the best planet in our solar system. "The highest planet in our system is Saturn, being nearly eleven times larger than the earth ; its surface is equal to an hundred worlds, and surrounded by a magnificent girdle ; or rather it is set, like a jewel, in the midst of several conceh- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 209 trie circles, presenting the grandest spectacle possible to con- ceive. Being as substantial — but one degree superior in point of beauty and refinement — the Spirit-Land presents itself to our vision. We, therefore, mean a literal world, having latitudes, longitudes, poles, revolutions, atmosphere; with all the higher phenomena which pertain to the present world. "How was the Spirit-Land formed? This question may be answered by asking : "What law was it which, formed the sparkling girdles of Saturn? What becomes of the fine, invisible particles of matter which emanate from vegetation — from minerals., from all animal bodies — and from the entire globe? This earth, alone, gives off eight hundred millions of tons of in- visible emanations every year. Where do these atoms go? The earth perspires, like the human body. The fine par- ticles arise, like bubbles, to the surface. Where do they gravitate? Fluids may be reduced to solids, just as chaos precedes harmony. All the other planets — Mercury, Venus, the vast group of Asteroids, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the three orbs beyond, together with all their moons — give off fine emanations just like the earth. Where do these emanations go? These questions are left with you, as replies to queries as to the formation of the Spirit-Land. Just think for one moment of the vast quantity of evaporation of refined par- ticles into space. If our earth eliminates eight hundred mil- lions of tons every year, what must the mass amount to when all the planets do the same work, not to say vastly more ? "Where is the Spirit-Land located f 210 THE REALITY AND "Seest thou that beautiful zone of worlds, at night, called the 'Milky Way?' Seest thou how it encircles im- mensity, so to speak — a wreath of suns and planets 'round infinity?' And, besides, seest thou the countless stars and constellations of stars in every other direction? Thinkest thou that this visible panorama of stars, in the heavens, con- stitutes the universe? As well might one say, that four thousand dewdrops, sparkling in the sun, constitute the ocean ! "Again, it is asked : 'Seest thou that magnificent girdle, spanning the heavenly arch?' "Listen, therefore, to the answer! Yon 'milky way' is composed of myriads of suns and planets — each system resembling our sun with its planets — having specific posi- tions, orbits, revolutions, seasons, and inhabitants, just as we have on this globe. Our sun, our earth, and all the neighboring planets, constitutes but one group in the circle. "On these planets the human spirit First begins to be; in the state (I mean) from which it may date its existence as an immortal being! Hence, this circle of planets (taken altogether) may be termed — 'the first sphere of human ex- istence.' But, as has been shown, the spirit of man, at death, passes away to another world ; which is termed, very natur- ally, 'the second sphere.' "'But where is this sphere located?' Look again at those beautiful rings surrounding the planet Saturn. See how gently they embrace the planet, and each other! Yet the distance between them is fixed, and there are no per- turbations ! As the changing caterpillar is a symbol of death EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 211 from which the beauteous butterfly, phoenix-like, arises into freedom; so the planet Saturn, with its rings, is a perfect symbol of the first and second spheres. "The second sphere girdles the first sphere, 'the milky way' — just as the rings girdle the planet Saturn. The rep- resentation is perfect. This universal analogy must be true. A foot rule will measure the universe, as well as twelve yards, and the doctrine of correspondence must be equally applicable to all spheres of being. * * * "What is the external appearance of the Spirit-Land? "It appears like a beautiful morning! The surface is di- versified endlessly, with valleys, rivers, hills, mountains, and innumerable parks. These parks are particularly attractive. The trees and shrubbery resemble nothing on earth; more the vegetation of Saturn. The ten thousand varieties of flowers lend a peculiar prismatic charm to the far-extending territories and the soft divine ether in which the entire world is bathed, surpasses all conception. You feel in the presence of Holiness — every tree speaks to your Heart — every flower pronounces a perpetual Benediction. "Canst thou form an idea of the magnitude of the 'Sec- ond Sphere?' "Multiply our earth by twenty-seven million times its present size, and it will give you the exact extent of one of the countless parks of the second sphere ! Did you ever think of 'Infinity?' Let imagination do its utmost! unchain your thoughts! Let them fly outwardly — into the far, far off! Let them stand upon the topmost zone of Immensity, and contemplate the vast spectacle of the universe ! 212 THE REALITY AND "What do you see? Do you behold infinity? Nay, thou beholdest, merely, the surface of an apple compared with that which your imagination cannot grasp ! ' And this unper- ceived, this unsuspected immensity, is girdled by the second sphere ! It is a magnificent belt, all bespangled with count- less jewels, buckled around the waist of the Infinite Alan! This, and all the spheres besides, is the attire of God. 'Let expressive silence muse his praise !' ' (Present Age and Inner Life, pp. 273, 274, 275, 276, 277.) While both Ambler and Davis teach that the spirit-home is formed by emanations thrown off* from the earth and other bodies, they disagree as to the kind of Spirit-Land these emanations form. Ambler holding that "while the Spirit-home is filled and pervaded with outward beauties which are perceived by the senses of the spirit, these beauties are not presented as mere external forms — as fixed and tangible substances, but they are revealed as the essence of all light and beauty." Davis, on the contrary, affirms that these "invisible particles of matter, which emanate from vegetable — from minerals, from all animal bodies — and from the entire globe" crystalize and form a real, a substantial, a material Spirit-Land. And while Edmonds and Davis agree that the spirit- home is "earth — tangible, positive earth," the description given to each by his spirit-friend, is entirely different, thus leaving us still in doubt and uncertainty concerning what spirits themselves teach of Spirit-Land. But, however, much these authors disagree, Holcombe takes issue with them all and presents an entirely different Spirit-Land. In describing the intermediate state, he says : EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 213 ''The world of spirits is an intermediate state of exist- ence with its corresponding objective phenomena, into which all men are ushered immediately after death, by the process of the resurrection, which is only the withdrawal of the spiritual body from the natural. The state is intermediate between heaven and hell. Men are called spirits while liv- ing in that world; angels, ii they pass into heaven; devils, if they direct their steps to hell. Heaven, hell and the world of spirits constitute together the spiritual world. "This is the sheol of the Old Testament, the hades of the New, erroneously translated in our English Bibles, hell and the grave; and known by tradition as 'the place of de- parted spirits.' "It is strange that Protestant Christianity has lost the knowledge of this intermediate state, and that its acute thinkers and biblical students have not re-discovered and proclaimed it. "The idea of an intermediate state in which souls are kept for judgment, previous to ^entering heaven or hell, is to be found in the most ancient mythologies and philosophies. "It was a current doctrine with the Jews. Josephus ex- pressly defines the word sheol, which our translators render hell, as 'that place wherein the souls of the righteous and of the unrighteous are detained/ "It was universally accepted as an article of rational faith in the Christian church until the time of the Protestant reformation. "Dr. Jung Stilling, in his 'Theory of Pneumatology,' affirms: 'The Universal Christian world from the very 214 THE REALITY AND commencement, believed in an invisible world of spirits, which was divided into three different regions, heaven, or the place of the blessed; hell, or the place of torment; and then a third place, which the Bible calls hades, or the re- ceptacle for the dead, in which those souls which are not ripe for either destination, are fully prepared for that to which they have adapted themselves in this life.' "The only theory which can account for the manner in which the scriptural doctrine of an* intermediate state has been ignored by Protenant theology, is, that it was done to counteract as much as possible the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. The perversions of truth on this subject, calculated to extend the spiritual dominion of the Catholic clergy and to augment the revenues of the ohurch, were so revolting to reason and so dangerous to society, that the reactionary spirit carried the Reformers to the extreme of dropping from their creed an article of faith, which was necessary to a proper understanding of what the Scriptures teach about the spiritual world. If there is no intermediate state or life, the soul must go consciously into heaven or hell after death, which is a prac- tical judgment upon it, rendering useless the formal judg- ment which is expected at the last day. Or it must remain for ages in a state of unconsciousness or insensibility, which is an idea utterly unscriptural. " 'This day,' said our Lord to \he penitent thief, 'thou shalt be with me in paradise.' * * * "Heaven and hell are extremes; they are antepodal, an- tagonistic states of the spirit. All in heaven are good, all in EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 215 hell are evil. They have attained their final states by the separation of the good from the evil, of the true from the false, so that there is an impassable gulf fixed between them. The introduction of anything good into hell, or of anything evil into heaven would produce confusion of mind, disorder, and pain in either sphere. "Millions of human beings die every week and pass into the spiritual world. They are generally in states of mixed good and evil. There are few men so regenerate that the searching light of heaven will not discover some dark cor- ners in their minds and some evil spot in their hearts; few so reprobate, but they have some invisible chord in the spirit which can be attuned to heavenly music. The vast major- ity of men are mixtures of good and evil blended in appar- ently inextricable confusion. "Now man wakes from his death-sleep into the spiritual world the same as he was when he lay down to die. The mere act of death produces no change in the affections, thoughts, opinions, aspirations, appetites or habits. No re- ligious exercises, no prayers or faith can instantaneously change evil into good. There is no sudden transformation of a sinner into a Christian or of a Christian into an angel. Such an idea is a theological fiction without basis in reason or Scripture; and he who trusts to it will be fearfully de- ceived. "When a man rises from the dead — that is, when his spiritual body is extricated from his physical form, the laws of the spiritual world instantaneously operate upon him. He comes into the exercise of spiritual thought. He speaks 216 THE REALITY AND spontaneously the rich and wonderful language of spirits. The objects around him have no externity independent of him, but they are the interior things of his own spirit pre- sented in visible forms as a world outside of him. "This newly-risen spirit cannot instantly enter heaven. Why ? Because his spiritual states of affection and thought do not accord with those of the angels. He could neither see what they saw nor hear what they heard. If it were possible for him; without the necessary changes of state or the intervention of intermediate spirits, to be placed sud- denly and bodily in the midst of a heavenly society, what would result ? He would be a discord in their assembly, a blot in their sky, a source of pain and terror. They would tremble at the sphere of his evil thoughts and desires. His life would project itself outwardly around them in terrible or disgusting forms, black clouds in the sky, dark caverns in the earth, lurid fires in the distance, serpents or toads or ob- scure birds. Heaven would be rent as with an earthquake. Such a thing is therefore organically impossible. "Neither can the new-comer from earth go at once into hell. He bears with him some traces of goodness and truth^ some touch of kindness, some remnant of humanity, which would produce similar disorder in the infernal sphere. It would be like the approach of an angel to the hells, when darkness comes over them, and terror seizes them and fright- ful pains lay hold of them. "The new-comer himself would be more dreadfully tor- tured by the experiment than either the angels or the devils. The sphere of heaven would be intolerable to the evil ele- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 217 merits, and the sphere of hell equally so to the good elements in his nature. Between the two conflicting elements he would be torn asunder with sufferings far more severe than he would experience in the hell suited to his evils when they have been isolated from alb his better life. It is plain that the law of spiritual relation — namely, that the objective world springs up in correspondence with the subjective states of the spirit, demands and effects the total separation of good and evil spheres, so that heaven and hell stand eternally apart. This separation is gradually effected in the world of spirits. It is called in Scripture the judg- ment. "The world of spirits is therefore created just as heaven and hell are created. It is to outward appearances a vast world; not fixed in time and space like our material orbs, but plastic and changeable to the outflowing thoughts and affec- tions of its inhabitants. It appears differently to different classes or societies of spirits, and external objects come and go, appear and disappear, are created or annihilated in corre- spondence with the spiritual panorama which is passing in the interiors of the souls of those who live there. "The form which the world of spirits assumes to men recently deceased is very much like that of the world they have left. The reason is that they are still in possession of their exterior memory, thoughts, affections and life; for man has an external and an internal life which are frequently very different. Newly-arrived spirits think from their memories of time and space, reason from the sensuous ap- pearances which dominated their intellects in this life, and act from external motives as they did here. 218 THE REALITY AND "The consequence is that they at first build up around themselves, by the law of spiritual creation, things similar to those they had known and loved in the earth-life. They collect together in nationalities, are divided according to their religious opinions, and has civil cliques and social coteries just as we do here. The external world around them is somewhat similar to that they have left behind. The English have some spiritual counterpart of their Lon- don, the French of their Paris, the Italians of their Rome. They are concerned about what they shall do and how they shall live. They manifest the spirit of trade, the lust of of- fice, the zeal for science, and have the same loves and appe- tites and opinions there as they had here. It is difficult for the new-comers into that extraordinary world to believe that they are dead to the world of nature and living in a world of spirits. "All this, however, is transitory. The population is ever shifting. Millions appear every week on this new field of action, where good and evil spirits are contending for the supremacy over man, but as many disappear as come. They do not die. What has become of them ? No one sees them go away; no one can follow them; but millions weekly (to speak in a temporal manner) disappear from the sight and thought of those who remain behind. Where are they? "They have gone away into heaven or hell. A great change has come over them. Their exterior spiritual life has been taken away from them or made quiescent. Their interior natures have come out to view. They no longer have two faces. They no longer think one thing and say another. All external bonds and restraints are removed.. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 219 forgotten, despised. There is no fear of the law, or public opinion, no influence of fashion, no conventionalisms, no re- spect for wealth or position, no sacrifices to decorum, no con- cealment from interested motives. The man or the woman stands out in utter spiritual nakedness, every thought, every feeling exposed to view, everything which had been whis- pered in the ear in closets proclaimed on the house-tops ! "With this change from the exterior to the interior of the spiritual life, a corresponding change occurs in their exter- nal surroundings. The shadowy London and Paris of the external man disappear; nationalities are lost forever; churches are gone ; outward organizations are nothing ; con- ventionalisms perish; their own names and history are for- gotten as shadows not worth a thought. Their qualities alone survive. From them they love, think, feel, see,, live. "When the exterior mind is thus closed in a good spirit, he is led by angels into places of instruction. He is then di- vested of all his errors of opinions and taught the truths of heaven, which he receives with inexpressible delight. Soon he discovers some way or road invisible to others, some way overarched with flowers and fragrant with odors and flagged with precious stones and brilliant with a great light, a way that leads him upward and onward into the heavenly society for which he is now prepared and where he will live forever. "The interiority evil spirit, however, does not go to any place of instruction. In his conceit of superior wisdom he refuses it; in his aversion to spiritual truth he abhors it. The exteriors of the world of spirits disappears also from 220 THE REALITY AND his vision, and he seeks those whose interior life and loves are similar to his..x>wn. He also discovers a road or way in- visible to others, but it is a dark cleft between frowning rocks, a downward path, pervaded by horrible stenches and overhung by lurid vapors, and he treads it eagerly with the delight of an obscene bird flying to a dark wood where the carcass of some w T ild beast is lying. He finds himself at last in some one of the hells which are opposite to the soci- eties of heaven. "What is the cause of these remarkable phenomena? "The judgment : 'It is appointed unto all men to die, and after this the judgment.' "Yes, these spirits have been judged. The books have been opened, and they have been judged out of them and 'according to their works.' The sheep have been separated from the goats. Those who had oil in their lamps have gone into the marriage-feast, and against those who had none the door has been shut. Those who had used their talents wisely have had their spiritual riches indefinitely in- creased ; those who ihad buried their gift in the earth, have been stripped of all and cast into outer darkness. "There are two judgments : a special or individual judg- ment for each soul and a general judgment which takes place at the end of every Church, or at the close of every Dispen- sation. These processes occur always in the world of spir- its ; not in heaven, nor in hell, nor upon the earth. The great work and use of the intermediate state is the judg- ment. "What is the judgment? EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 221 "Our ideas on this matter, drawn from civil associations, are wholly erroneous. Our 'mind's' eye sees a tribunal, a judge empowered to pass sentence, an array of witnesses, ev- idence given and* substantiated, the scales of justice pro- duced, the balance struck, the sentence pronounced accord- ing to law, and finally executed. "Nothing of this happens in the judgment of the spiritual world. Judgment is the preparation of the soul for heaven or for hell, by the separation of the good from the evil and the true from the false in all the constituent elements of the life and character. It is an unfolding of the ruling love, a revelation of the inmost life and abiding qualities of the spirit. From the good, all the evil and false things derived from their earth-life, adherent but not inherent, are taken away, so that they become thoroughly good and fit for heaven. From the evil, all the apparent goodness and truth they possess, adherent also but not inherent, are taken away, and they become thoroughly evil and can live nowhere but in hell. * * * "The world of spirits is very populous ; far more so than our earth, over which it hangs like a vast spiritual cloud hid- ing the light of heaven, not only from our natural but also from our spiritual eyes. Not only are the dead of a whole generation there, but angels from heaven and evil spirits from hell in great numbers. Our own attendant spirits, good and evil, are there ; our guardian spirits who befriend and guide us, and our evil spirits who assault and tempt and accuse us night and day. This vast multitude which no man can number, is under the government of angejs, who are engaged in organizing and reorganizing the various 222 THE REALITY AND elements into different societies, so as to detect the organic spiritual affinities of each individual and to give full play to the ruling love which finally determines his abode. " 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' He did not create hell nor the world of spirits. They sprang into being as necessities, caused by the volun- tary perversion of divine order by man. If the earth was perfect and all men lived and thought like angels, the heav- ens could rest upon the earth, like the upper stories of a house upon its foundations, and at death no intermediate state would be necessary, but men could pass instantaneously to their proper places in heaven." * * * (The Other Life, pp. 233-247 inc.). We disagree with Mr. Holcombe's statement that God "did not create * * the world of spirits," we hold that it did not spring into being as a necessity, "caused by the voluntary perversion of divine order by man," but recognizing as we do the mortality of the mind, the world of spirits is just as necessary as our physical universe and forms a part of God's creation. That there is an intermediate state where spirits or minds go after death is clearly taught in the Scriptures. And that it was to this place that Jesus referred when He said to the dying thief on the cross : "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" and not to Heaven the home of God and the im- mortals, is clearly illustrated by the language of our Savior, who after His resurrection said : "Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father ; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (St. John, xx., 17.) EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 223 Our Savior's promise to the dying thief shows that there is a distinction, a separation between the repentant and the unrepentant sinner. And while He prayed, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," His promise to the re- pentant thief showed He had no doubts as to which part of spirit-land He would enter. And that "to be with me in Paradise" meant that instead of going where evil spirits or minds go that this thief would be with Him, with the good, with the repentant in "the Paradise" of departed spirits. The Bible not only teaches that there is an intermediate state and that Jesus went there after His crucifixion, but it tells us what He did while there that "He went and preached unto the spirits in prison." (1 Peter iii., 19.) Many re- gard the term prison in the above text as synonymous with the term hell, and upon that base their teaching that Jesus descended into hell ; but the text will bear no such reading. Prison as here used simply means a place of detention where spirits await the end of time, and this applies to the abode of the good spirits as well as to that of the evil. Continuing, the narrative clearly .shows that Jesus "preached" not only to postdiluvian but to the antediluvian spirits, "Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." (1 Peter iii., 20.) This text sim- ply shows that these spirits at some period of their earthly lives were disobedient ; but that they repented, before dying, is shown by the fact that they found their abode in Paradise, the part of the Spirit-land where Jesus went after His death. But that these spirits were not in the final abode of 224 THE REALITY AND the soul is shown by the fact that Jesus left them and "as- cended" unto His "Father" in Heaven. Then since Paradise is not Heaven, but is merely that part of spirit-land in which the good abide and to which Jesus led the repentant thief, it becomes plain that hades (hell) is not, as we have been taught, a place of eternal pun- ishment, but is simply that part of spirit-land in which the wicked abide. This being true, it follows that neither Para- dise nor hades (hell) will survive the end of time. Further evidence that in spirit-land there are separate places of abode for the good and evil is shown by the prayer of the martyred Stephen : "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." When we accept the plain teaching of the Bible as to the identity of spirit and mind, and the distinction between spirit and soul, we can see from Stephen's prayer that what most concerned him in his dying moments, was not the welfare of his soul in eternity, but the abode of his spirit or mind in the intermediate state, for he was fully aware that only the spir- its of the redeemed could enter Paradise. We accept Mr. Holcomb's explanation as to how the Protestants lost the knowledge of this intermediate state. And while the Catholic priest-hood teach the existence of: such a place, they have so distorted and misrepresented the facts as to render the knowledge of it worse than useless. To the Catholic the entire intermediate state is a hell differ- ing only from the orthodox hell in that it is not eternal. We cannot accept Mr. Holcomb's idea that the inter- mediate state is a place where spirits or minds are "prepared" for heaven or for hell; the earth is the preparatory place. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 225 Neither can we agree with him in his ideas of the judgment. He tells us that in Spirit-land the evil is finally eliminated from the spirit in which the good largely predominates and that this spirit goes to heaven and thus disappears from Spirit-land. And that the good is finally eliminated from the spirit in which the evil largely predominates and the spirit goes to hell and thus disappears from Spirit-land. This would not be a judgment, but something more nearly resembling a transformation. As we die, so will we continue to be. There is no progression, no retrogression in Spirit- land for "the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." (Bcc. xi., 3.) If, as Mr. Holcomb tells us, that when spirits pass either into heaven or hell, they first lose all knowledge of the earth and their associations here, that even "their own names and history are forgotten as shadows not worth a thought," this to us would be equivalent to annihi- lation and we do not accept such a heaven. The place of departed spirits is almost an Infinite world, beginning in the air about us and extending out, out, into boundless space until it almost touches the border of Infinity. Composed of organizations political and religious, of all grades of society, of all cliques and clans that the world has known since time began; and will so continue until He maketh all things new. And then the mind or spirit which envelops the soul or forms its body, being mortal, will perish with all that is material, and the soul alone will stand forth before its God in utter nakedness to be adjudged and to receive its reward or punishment. To keep and to hold eternal life, eternal happiness or to die, for we hold that the Bible speaks a literal truth when it says : "The soul that 226 THE REALITY AND sinneth, it shall die." {Bzek. xviii., 4.) What else could the warning given Adam, mean : "For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," could not mean physical and mental or spiritual death, for not being divine, they were preordained to 'die. It means soul death — ETERNAL death. Had Adam retained his original purity, then would his im- mortality have been assured, for it was by sin alone that we lost eternal life. "Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: * * * For if, through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. "For if, by one man's offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. "For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." {Romans v., 12, 15, 17, 19.) We are thus taught that as one man by disobedience brought death — eternal death upon his soul, and that death reigned over all because of their disobedience; so one by His righteousness restores eternal life to all who accept him. And that just as eternal life is the reward of the righteous soul, so is eternal death the reward of the wicked soul, as shown by the following text: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our L,ord." {Romans vi., 36.) Further evidence of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 227 the soul's liability to eternal death and the necessity for its redemption is clearly stated as follows : "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." {James v., 20.) That the inspired writers realized and taught that the soul is liable to death, is shown by the following : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come unto condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (St. John v., 24.) Evidence of the antiquity of this belief in eternal death is expressed in the language of Solomon: "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death." (Prov. xx., 2.) "Riches profit not in the day of wrath : but righteous- ness delivereth from death." (Prov. xi., 4.) In that remote period when God communicated with the Israelites through His prophets, and the people were thor- oughly informed upon this subject, they were aware of the fact that the soul could die, as shown by the language of David: "For thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living." (Psl. lvi., 13.) Inasmuch as eternal death reigns in the world, every soul walks in the shadow of death; this is beautifully ex- pressed by David, who says : "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psl. xxiii., 4; see, also, Isa, ix., 2; l/Lat. iv., 16; Luke, i., 79, etc.) 228 THE REALITY AND Accepting the teachings of the Bible as to the reality of the eternal death of the soul as well as its eternal life, we are thus enabeled to obtain a clearer and a truer meaning of the old familiar text : "For this corruption must put on incor- ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. xv., 53.) • The conclusion to which we have arrived upon the im- portant question of the soul's conditional immortality; that it will merit either eternal life or eternal death, may seem new and even revolutionary, because not supported by any religious sect. But we have learned to think independent of creed and anyone who thinks to any purpose, must do the same. They must be willing to investigate the whole truth and allow the facts to speak for themselves. It is because Catholicism, Protestantism and Spiritualism have each been content with a part of the truth and unable to renounce their isms and accept the whole truth that they nave never under- stood these questions, and in the very nature of things never would. Because, while Catholicism recognizes the existence of an intermediate state they have degraded it to a mere matter of commerce from which the priesthood derives a large revenue. A Catholic friend invited us to attend the funeral of their mother ; which we did. But we can never forget a re- mark made by the officiating priest during the course of his sermon over the dead body ; in speaking of the virtues of the dead, he said : "She has been a devoted wife and mother, has always done her duty and lived an exemplary Christian life, and is now burning in the flames of purgatory." To a Protesant or a Spiritualist, that would have been horrible, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 229 revolting, but we detected no unusual emotion in any of the family. The church had taught them from childhood that pernicious doctrine and they accepted it without question, and believed that a devoted wife and mother or husband and father would suffer in purgatory until paid and prayed out, as a part of their religious training. The Protestant, on the other hand, does away with a general judgment and at death send all direct to either heaven or hell, and deny the existence of an intermediate state, while nothing is more clearly taught in the Bible. The Spiritualists would never be able to properly under- stand the soul and its relations to God, because, while differ- ing from both Catholics and Protestants, they make the in- termediate state their all in all, some going so far as to derty a personal God, thus doing away with a final judgment. And all, Catholics, Protestants and Spiritualists alike make no distinction between Mind, Spirit and Soul, but re- gard them as synonymous terms. But until they properly understand these terms and recognize the fact that spirit and mind are identical and as mortal as the body it survives, will they ever understand the soul and* its relations to God. We accept the Biblical account of the final judgment as recorded in Revelation. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of 230 THE REALITY AND those things which were written in the books, according to their works. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged, every man according to their works. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." (Chap, xx., 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.) Having shown that the inherent immortality of the soul is an error, and that the doctrine of eternal punishment is an error, this naturally does away with a place where eternal punishment is inflicted upon the wicked. The "lake of fire" above referred to, is supposed to be identical with hell, the place of eternal punishment, but this is an error. This "lake of fire" is the result of the general conflagration de- scribed in Revelation, in which all organization, celestial and terrestrial, will be destroyed. It should be noted that this universal destruction followed the angels' declaration of the end of time and consequently occurred in eternity proper. Revelation teaches that there will be a judgment, a literal judgment, in which all mankind will appear before "the great white throne," and be judged "according to their works." That all things material will perish, that Spirit-land with its paradise and its hell and even Death itself will be destroyed, together the souls of the wicked; and nothing survive save God himself, and those whose names are "writ- ten in the book of life." EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 231 A soul stripped of all materiality and for the first time fully conscious of the immortality for which it was created and to see the infinite happiness it had lost and to> know that within the hour it would die, is a punishment, we think, suffi- cient to satisfy even the justice of an outraged God. The gravest punishment known to man for crime, is death; the gravest punishment known to God for sin is eternal death. CHAPTER XIII. Contradictions. The advocates of Spiritualism affirm that they can come en rapport with the higher intelligences of the spirit world and thus obtain their information from the Fountain-head of all knowledge; this being true, the doctrines they promul- gate, should be absolutely a unit among their writers, lec- turers and teachers. Claiming to be instructed by intelli- gences, who derive their knowledge from "Absolute Truth," there can be no shadow of an excuse for misunderstandings or disagreements concerning their teachings. Among spir- itualists, if no place else on earth, we should find absolute harmony on all points and in all things. But strange to say, no such harmony exists ; on the contrary, the utmost discord prevails, as is shown by the contradictory views entertained and expressed by the leading authorities on the subject of Spiritualism. And as might be expected, they also contra- dict the teachings of the Bible. Among the writers o>f mod- ern spiritualism, no one has more systematically attacked the Scriptures than Moses Hull. Attack, perhaps, is not the proper word, as it is not so much an attack on the Bible as an attempt to twist and distort the meaning of the Scrip- tures and make them stand in the same relation to the an- cients as modern spiritualism does to us; to degrade the utterances of the inspired writers and prophets of old to the 232 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 233 level of the teachings of the mediums of our day. In proof of which we offer the following: "If there is any history in the Book of Genesis, it begins in chapter twelve, with the call of Abraham. The first eleven chapters are, perhaps, Babylonish records of the somewhat contradictory tradition of the supposed beginning of things ; the flood, and the supposed origin of the various nationali- ties. But as even these traditions are based on the constantly recurring phenomena among the people, they are valuable as showing how far back these phenomena can be traced." (Encyclopedia of Biblical Spiritualism, p. 33.) As Moses Hull denies all else contained in the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, it would be difficult to im- agine upon what authority he accepts the phenomena. In further discussing Genesis, he says : "In all my discourses on this subject during the last third of a century, I have asserted and tried to prove that this book had at least two authors. In the first place, there are two sets of gods running through the book. * * * Re- ligionists have tried for a thousand years to harmonize the first and second chapters of Genesis, as well as some other things in the book, and have failed." (Our Bible, pp. 100, 101.) If Moses Hull were the student of the Bible he would have us believe, and not a mere reader of the sacred writ- ings, with some thought devoted to the first and second chapters of Genesis, he should have seen that there are no discrepancies for "Religionists," himself, or anyone to har- monize. But that the first chapter of Genesis "acquaints 234 THE REALITY AND us with the leading events of the creation in the order of their occurrence." While the second chapter enters into a more detailed account of the events recorded in the first chapter; and without the second chapter of Genesis, we would have no means of ascertaining (1), that the elements of plant and animal life are a part of the original creation matter; (2), we would have no means of ascertaining that God formed man's physical organism "of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul;" (3), we would have no means of ascertaining that a very considerable period inter- vened between the creation of man and that of woman, nor how woman was made; (4), we would have no> means of as- certaining that unlike* the animals God prepared for man a fixed place of abode and assigned him to a definite task ; ( 5 ) , we would have no means of ascertaining that God planted the Garden of Eden for man's reception, and commanded him "to dress it and to keep it ;" (6) , we would have no means of ascertaining the origin of domestic plants, which require soil tillage, and which made their first appearance in the Garden of Eden as "God's special gift to man;" (7), that irrigation which was universally practiced by the ancients, was first employed in the Garden of Eden.* The Bible is not contradictory in its statements. The trouble is that for ages men attempted to make the Bible conform to and support Atheism; and by so doing, they utterly failed to make any sense out of the Scriptures ; and in their egotism decided that God's narrative of creation was wrong; and that man's theory of development was right. *"The Tempter of Eve." EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 235 Blinded by their ignorance it never occurred to them to in- vestigate and see whether the sciences harmonized with the teachings of the Bible or with those of the theory of develop- ment. But recent investigators, after carefully comparing the School of Divine Creation and the School of Develop- ment with the facts revealed by modern scientific investiga- tion find that the Bible is* sustained at every point ; and the conflict is not, as we have been taught to believe, between the Bible and the sciences, but between the sciences and the Theory of Development. And, however much the Atheist and the infidel may disregard these important facts, the earnest inquirer after truth will carefully consider them. Through the mediumship of Judge Edmonds and Dr. G. T. Dexter, two spirits, claiming to be Bacon and Sweden- borg, deliver a series of lectures. In discussing the plan of creation, the spirit calling himself Swedenborg, says : "That there was a first man specially and particularly created to occupy the Garden of Eden, is opposed to all my belief of what the character of God is and ever has been. And here let it be understood, I do not teach anything op- posed to the action of God in all his dealings with man. No ! To confine God to the formation of one man, ready made to his hand, cannot exemplify the power of the Creator, for if that Creator had established laws for the working of this globe, he must have adhered to their principles as he him- self could not have been their first violator. Now do you suppose there is any difference in the birth and growth of animals and of man? And is there any account of the cre- ation of any animal as man was created? Now this man was created as were all created, from the same causes, and 236 THE REALITY AND their action has not been changed or altered since the world was fashioned." (Spiritualism, pp. 126, 127.) This is in direct opposition to the Bible, which plainly teaches that there was a first man created and placed in the Garden of Eden. And at the same time it shows that while Swedenborg has been for eighty-one* years a denizen of the spirit- world, and has had every possible opportunity for en- joying all the advantages offered by personally communicat- ing with the "higher intelligences," and thus positively in- forming himself concerning the truth of Divine Creation, that he still knows absoluely nothing about it. And the best he has to offer is that a " specially" created man is "opposed" to all his "belief in what the character of God is, and ever has been." But "belief" is not knowledge, and Swedenborg's "belief" is entitled to no more consideration than the belief or opinion of anyone in this world, who does not claim or pre- tend to such exceptional opportunities for acquiring in- formation on all subjects. As previously stated, there are only two schools oif learning in the world that propose to account for the origin of all things : The School of Divine Creation and the School of Development. One would naturally sup- pose that in opposing the School of Divine Creation that Swedenborg would be compelled to accept the Theory of De- velopment, but such it seems is not the case; for while the School of Divine Creation is "opposed" to his "belief," at the same time he is not sure concerning the Theory of De- velopment. In proof of which we offer the following : "Mr. Warren inquired if man was the product of the gradual progress and development of the creation below *Swedenborg died in 1772. Spiritualism- published in 1853. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 237 him, as is maintained in the work called 'Vestiges of Cre- ation ?' "It was answered : "I can't tell. It is so far back, our oldest inhabitants here would probably not remember ; but I can make some in- quiries, if you wish, and let you know some time during these lectures." (Ibid., p. 129. ) It is evident that Swedenborg knows no more on these important subjects since he "passed-over" than he did before, and seems to have no means of finding out. We have read the lectures referred to several times and have, so far failed to find where he gave the promised information. We can only explain his failure to keep his promise and answer the questions on the ground of his inability to obtain "in the bright regions where dwell the spirits made perfect," the desired information. The question in our mind, which now clamors for answer, is this, has Mr. Swedenborg "pro- gressed," and, if so, how far, and in what way? Yet, Bacon, a friend and co-laborer of Swedenborg, claims full knowledge as to the origin of man, and answers with ease the question that so embarrassed Swedenborg as shown by the following: "The whole history of man must convince you in spite of all oppression, despite all combinations, and against all tyranny too, religious, civil, or political, he has manifested the true object of his existence, the sublimation of his ma- terial nature or Progression. "Now, I pretend to say that in every department of na- ture this statement can be corroborated ; that even from the 238 THE REALITY AND earliest period, when erst the incongruous masses of matter were fashioned into shape by the omniscience and omnipo- tence of the First Cause — even from this period has, step by step, the whole creation developed itself as from a simple germ." (Ibid., p. 152.) Now the only difference between Bacon's account of the origin of man and that contained in Chamber's Vestiges of Creation, is that Chambers goes one step farther back than Bacon, and allows God to create a law which developed a germ, which progressed and developed on up through all the lower animals and finally produced man. This is what Bacon teaches and what Chambers teaches; and why the "oldest inhabitant here would probably not remember" so fundamental a doctrine as the origin of things, or why Swe- denborg did not know and could not find out beyond all question of doubt the true origin of things, is one of many unexplainable contradictions which is constantly cropping out in spiritualistic literature. In replying to the question whether there were spirits advanced so far that they were as invisible to them as the spirits were to the questioner, the spirit called Bacon, said : "There is no state of existence, Judge, but has its better spirits above it. There is no mind so advanced and enlight- ened but there is a mind more developed, more progressed, to which the other will look, with deference and respect." (Ibid., p. 179.) Yet, in absolute contradiction to the above, the same spirit states that there is a place where development ceases or a "last process of refinement." In proof of which please note the following : EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 239 "What are considered by you as angels, are but the beautiful spirits of men, in whom the progress of their na- ture has developed all that there is of beauty and perfection of form. "They are, as I am led to believe, the spirits of men whose organization has passed the seventh and last process of refinement, and are constantly in intercourse with all that can be known of God." (Ibid., p. 200.) Davis in discussing Biblical revelations, says : "The orthodox doctrine, that the portals of heaven were forever closed at the moment when the last sentence of the Apocalypse was written, is put to an endless sleep by the unfolding Light of the nineteenth century. The doctrine proclaimed every succeeding Sabbath, that all necessary Revelation is behind us, that we must repose, like unrea- sonable but confiding babes upon the bosom of patriarchal and biblical authority, is overthrown for evermore by the thousands of equally good revelations daily made to us." (Present Age and Inner Light, p. 63.) So the word of God, which has triumphantly withstood the assaults of some of the mightiest intellects the world has ever known, and is without a flaw, without a contradiction from Genesis to Revelation is deserving of no more reverence and should be accorded no more authority, than we would give to a modern spirit communication. Yet, these "thou- sands of equally good revelations," which we are asked to accept, and for which we are expected to repudiate our Bible, are not to be relied upon, as is shown by the fact that Mr. Davis himself gives nine reasons why spirit communications are contradictory, from which we quote the following: 240 THE REALITY AND "The chief cause of contradiction. A medium may ob- tain thoughts from a person sitting in the circle, or from a mind even in some distant portion of this globe * * * and still be wholly deceived as to the source of them. Be- cause, so far as all the primary interior sensations and per- sonal evidences are concerned, such impressions do appear and feel, to the receptive vessels of the medium, precisely identical with those which emanates from a mind beyond the dominion of the tomb! This is true, because the laws of mental sympathy are the same on earth, identical between mind and mind here, as in the Spirit-Land. Hence it is that some media and clairvoyants, and minds also in prayer- ful or supplicatory moods, quite frequently receive responses to their thoughts and prayers, from terrestrial sources and minds; even while the interior conviction may be sanguine to the contrary, that the answer really descended from some super-sensuous intelligence and invisible power! * * * "Sixth. Inasmuch as most media are, as yet, nearly destitute of that indispensable sub-stratum of spirit culture and interior experience which are essential to the formation of a correct, discriminating judgment as to' the precise source from which their impressions emanate; so, therefore, for this reason, it is not safe to rely without the entire approba- tion of their own judgments and powers of understanding, upon what may be thus communicated." (Ibid., pp. 202, 203, 204. ) This shows the unreliability of spirit communi- cations, they may be from the living or the dead ; even the mediums have no means of determining the source from which they emanate. Yet in the face of his admissions, Mr. Davis himself places the utmost confidence in their relia- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 241 bility and offers them to the world as "unequivocal knowl- edge." In discussing the difference between Jesus' teaching and that of the Harmonial Philosophy, Mr. Davis says : "The Carpenter's son of the earlier time, according to testamental relation, although richly endowed with powers of interior discernment, and with a holy love for man, did not attempt to philosophize, on the nature of God, on the law of Immortality, on the structure of the universe, or upon social Organization; and, consequently, not having received this kind of information, the 'world needs', calls for light upon the eternal science of Cause and Effect ; more light upon the ever-pressing problems of our present and perspective existence ! "The Harmonial Philosophy is the Harbinger of these additional revelations. "I know I shall be told, as I frequently have been, that Jesus manifested his exalted dignity, that he gave evidence of his supernal nature and inspiration, in the fact that he never descended to reason and debate upon these great ques- tions. It is affirmed that he knew the truth in the innermost, foresaw its ultimate triumph, and differing from all other teachers before or since, he simply majestically announced it, trusting in its own inherent power to work its own way into and through the world. And in addition to this, it is also said, that the Testaments contain all the wisdom, all the light necessary for man. But Time, time, bringing with it the combined and conspiring testimony of departed and retir- ing generations, has demonstrated this assertion to be a fal- 242 THE REALITY AND lacy. For while mankind have intuition and moral percep- tions to which Jesus directed his teachings, they possess re- flective faculties, also, and reasoning powers, which 'need/ yea, require for their development, to be judiciously ad- dressed. This, be it remembered, the Man of Love did not do; it is this which the Harmonial Philosophy is designed to do. Jesus introduced the era of Love; but an era of Wisdom is also required. An age of impulse demands an age of Reason." {Present Age and Inner Life, pp. 23, 24.) Mr. Davis is wrong in supposing that Jesus was an in- dependent teacher, that he came to inaugurate a new school of philosophy, for as a matter of fact he only taught what every prophet who preceded him taught. The narrative of Creation as recorded in the first and second chapters of the book of Genesis proclaims the existence of God; discusses, (1) the creation of matter; (2), the formation of the great bodies; (3), the formation of plants, animals and man; (4), the relation of man to God; (5), man's relation to man and to the animals ; ( 6 ) , the conditional immortality of the soul. Jesus accepted Moses' cosmogony of the universe, conse- quently to him all other cosmogonies were false. And for him to have discussed these great questions would have been simply a repetition of the teachings of Moses and the other prophets. The world had, therefore, all the "light" needed upon these important questions, and if it had not, we fail to see how Mr. Davis, with his atheism, which he is pleased to term the "Harmonial Philosophy," has thrown any addi- tional "light" on the subject. Had Mr. Davis read the 46th and 47th verses of the sec- ond chapter of Luke, he would have found Jesus at the age of \L ■ EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 243 twelve in a discussion with the doctors of his day; and as he was "both hearing them, and asking them questions/' their argument must naturally have been in the form of a debate. In addition to this, his whole teachings were in op- position to the corrupted teachings of the Jewish priest- hood, paganism and atheism and necessarily partook more or less of the nature of a debate. This statement that time has demonstrated the fallacy of the teachings of the Testaments is a bald assertion un- supported by any proof. On the contrary, his statement is in direct conflict with all modern scientific research, and is clearly disproved by the utterances of the most distinguished scientists and most profound thinkers of the age ; America's g*reat geologist, James D. Dana, says : "The first thought that strikes the scientific reader is the evidence of divinity, not merely in the first verse of the rec- ord and the successive fiats, but in the whole order of crea- tion. There is so much that the most recent readings of science have for the first time explained, that the idea of man as the author becomes utterly incomprehensible. By proving the record true, science pronounces it divine; for who could have correctly narrated the secrets of eternity but God him- self?" Another geologist, Arnold Guyot, says : "To a sincere and unsophisticated mind, it must be evident that the grand outlines sketched by Moses are the same as those which modern science enables us to trace. The same divine hand which lifted up before the eyes of Daniel and Isaiah the veil which covered the tableau of time to come, unveiled before- the eyes of the author of Genesis the earliest ages of the crea- 344 THE REALITY AND tion ; and Moses was the prophet of the past, as Daniel and Isaiah and many others were the prophets of the future." Chancellor J. W. Dawson, another distinguished geolo^ gist, says : "The order of creation, as stated in Genesis, is faultless in the light of modern science and many of its details present the most remarkable agreement with the results of sciences born only in our day." Professor Benjamin Pierce, of Harvard College, another eminent scientist, says : "Science and religion were born in the same house, and that house is not divided against itself. There is, and will be, an apparent conflict between them; but it is of human origin, arising from the defects of our knowledge and not from the greatness of it." Professor Sillman, of Yale College, another high au- thority, says : "The relation of geology, as well as as- tronomy, to the Bible, when both are understood, is that of perfect harmony." In an unpublished manuscript by Charles Carroll, to whose kindness and courtesy we are indebted, he says : "The astronomical views of the ancients, many of whom were con- temporary with the Bible writers, were perfectly absurd. Leucippus held that the earth has the form of a drum; and Anaximenes taught that it was in the shape of a table. Philo- laus believed the sun to be a crystal whose light is simply a reflection of the light of the earth. Anaxagoras held that the sun was made from a mass of iron. Pharnaces believed the moon to be 'wholly a mixture of air and wild fire.' Plato believed the stars to be of a fiery nature mixed with some- thing like glue. The ancient Persians held that the stars are Gods. There were many others who entertained opin- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 245 ions as absurd as these. The Bible has always been in con- flict with the theories of these old philosophers; and now modern science comes forward and at once endorses the Bible and demolishes these ancient speculations. Sir John Herschel, one of the most distinguished astronomers of the age, expresses his opinion of the effect of modern research upon the Bible as follows : 'All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures.' "Moses was born, and reared, and educated in Egypt, the nation which is supposed to have been the birth-place of astrology. Astrology was universally taught in all civilized countries that were contemporary with Israel ; and even the Israelites were misled into accepting it. Astrology swayed Europe, even in modern times, and was taught in the univer- sities of Italy as late as the fourteenth century. Yet neither Moses, nor any one of the Bible authors made the mistake of giving astrology the stamp of his approval; on the con- trary, the teachings of astrology are in conflict with all the teachings of scripture. Now, modern science has dealt the death blow to astrology ; thus again declaring the correctness of the Bible." The late Commodore M.F. Maury, another distinguished scientific writer, says : "I have always found in my scientific studies, that, when I could get the Bible to say anything upon the subject, it afforded me a firm platform to stand upon, and a round in the ladder by which I could safely ascend." Such masters of political science as Burke, Pitt, Wash- ington, the Adamses, Webster, Lincoln, Davis and Glad- stone, recognized the Bible as the highest authority. Such 246 THE REALITY AND jurists as Grotins, Montesquien, Selden, Blackstone, Mar- shall, Somers, Story and Kent, always regarded the Bible as the court of ultimate appeal. In the face of this mass of evidence, from the highest authorities, the unsupported statement of Davis, that time has demonstrated the "fallacy" of the Testaments, looks absurd In contradiction to the statement of Davis that Jesus in his teachings appealed only to the "intuitive and moral per- ceptions" of mankind, we would refer the reader to the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, which is a continuous argu- ment illustrated by parables to simplify and make his mean- ing clear, and afterwards, "When he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they w r ere astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works ?" Instead of the teachings of the Bible, we are offered the Harmonial Philosophy by Davis. W r l at is it that the Harmonial Philosophy promises ? Why, a philosophy, does it not, that will appeal to our in- telligence, to our reason, and leave intuition to the "Man of Love." But strange as it may seem, Mr. Davis, after ar- raigning the Saviour for merely appealing to the intuition of his hearers at once proceeds to inform us that, "In the Harmonial Philosophy, Intuition is regarded as the soul's authority in all religious development." {Ibid., p. 35.) Such glaring contradictions are discouraging to say the least, to those seeking the truth. Again we find these spirit communications, these "equally good revelations," whose teachings we are to accept and follow as more worthy of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 247 acceptance and credence than the Bible, contain contradic- tions which annoyed even Judge Edmonds, a leading au- thority on Spiritualism. In his writings we find the follow- ing: "On Thursday, you said children do not grow in size in the spirit-land faster than on earth. On Friday, I heard read a beautiful and otherwise instructive communication from the spirit world, which says they do*. Which is right, and why this discrepancy ? "It w r as answered: "I teach you in accordance with God's laws, both on earth and in the spirit-world. Therefore, when I have said anything seemingly incompatible with the operation of those laws, and which to your minds, does not correspond with what you know of the effects of laws which is apparent, then you have good right to question the correctness of my teaching. But I have taught you that God has instituted laws predicated upon principles coeval with himself, and therefore he can not depart from them. Now spirit pos- sesses, organization, and is subject to the laws of that organ- ization as well as you on earth are subject to the laws of ma- teriality. The effect of the laws operating on our organiza- tion is almost precisely the same as the laws operating on yours. We are divested, it is true, of the grosser particles o. For in one stage of existence the affinities which attract male to female, and otherwise, might act as a repellant in another stage. "Besides, when the soul leaves the body, it might be at- tracted by its affinities to some part of the universe where the mate of this soul would not — could not follow." (Spiritual- ism, pp. 138, 139.) In direct contradiction to Edmonds, Holcombe says : "The spiritual bodies in which we find ourselves after death, are male and female. Man is man and woman is wo- man, morally, intellectually and organically forever. One can not live the life or fulfill the functions or be transmuted into the form of the other. The anatomical differences flow EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 251 from the spiritual differences ; and both are essential, organic and eternal. Sex is mental. The sexes were made for each other, not only in time but for eternity. It is only in heaven that we learn the true nature of love. It is only in heaven that marriage is spiritual, celestial, perpetual, divine." (The Other Life, p. 46.) The reader will see that it is impossible to reconcile the above contradictory statements, yet they are fair specimens of what is obtained from the spirits. Is it not strange that if spirits do come in touch with the "Fountain of All Knowledge" as spiritualists claim they do, and can obtain correct information concerning the origin of the universe and its phenomena, is it not strange, we say, that they can so correctly inform themselves upon these im- portant questions as to be able to give us "unequivocal knowledge" and yet can obtain no positive information con- cerning Jesus Christ and his mission ? That they know ab- solutely nothing about Him is shown by the contradictory views entertained and expressed by these departed spirits through the various mediums, as shown by the following: "Ques. — Have you ever seen Confucius or Zoroaster ? "Ans. — Yes, many times. "Q. — In the order of degree, which stands the higher in moral excellence — Jesus Christ, Confucius, or Zoroaster ? "A. — Confucius in morality higher than the other two * * * Jesus himself claims to have been inspired to a large extent, by this same Confucius. And if we are to place reliance upon the records concerning each individual, we shall 252 THE REALITY AND find that Jesus spoke the truth when he tells us that he was inspired by Confucius." (Banner of Light, June 4, 1864.) In contradiction to this, is the following: "Ques. — Do you accept Jesus as the model of spiritual knowledge ? "Ans. — Shall you give us a better example? "Q. — Well, we are willing to accept him as one of many, but not as chief. "A. — Change the name. Call him by other names — Buddha, Krishna, or Mohammed, the spirit is one — is ever and ever the same. Spirit is one, not many, however often the name is changed. "Q. — Were not Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed distinct personalities ? "A. — No more than atoms emanating from the same source — parts of the great All of Being, partaking of the general characteristics of the grand whole — -but yielding to environments, showed individualism, such as the force of the times in which they appeared would create in their char- acters. , "Q. — Are these leaders of religions thought not distinct individualities now? "A. — No, not on spiritual planes, which do not recog- nize any now." (Automatic, or Spirit Writings, pp. 149, In commenting on the above, Uriah Smith says : "Thus they persist in denying that Jesus holds any pre-eminent position as a religious teacher. He may as EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 253 well be called Buddha, Krishna, or Mohammed as Jesus. They are all the same spirit, all atoms of the great 'All of Being,' all as much alike as three drops of water from the same ocean, and what is more bewildering still, they have now all lost their individuality in the spirit world. How, then, can it be told that Christ is in the sixth sphere, and Paine in the seventh?" (Modem Spiritualism Considered, p. 87.) Uriah Smith, in quoting Dr. Weisse, says : " 'Friend Orton seems to make rather light of the com- munications from spirits concerning Christ. It seems, never- theless, that all the testimony received from advanced spirits only shows that Christ was a medium and reformer in Judea, that he now is an advanced spirit in the sixth sphere; but that he never claimed to be God, and does not at present. I have had two communications to that effect: I have also read some that Dr. Hare had. If I am wrong in my views of the Bible, I should like to know it, for the spir- its and mediums do not contradict me!' "The peculiar insult here purposely offered to the Sa- vior will be appreciated when it is noted that at about the same time the spirits located Thomas Paine, the well known skeptic, in the seventh sphere, one sphere above that of Christ. He must, therefore, have progressed very rapidly, seeing he so quickly surpassed Christ who had over 1700 years the start of him." (Ibid., pp. 84, 85.) The spirit informants of Judge Edmonds contradicts all the above spirit communications, as the following will show: 254 THE REALITY AND "In all our teachings you will observe that we have omitted to say anything regarding the Christ, or the views we have of the true intent and purpose of his mission on earth, as well as his connection with the great Being, who it was said was not only his father, but the God-head made manifest in the form of this very Christ Jesus. We have felt that the idea of intercourse with spirits out o>f the form would be denied and scouted at, and that this idea alone was of itself sufficient for our purpose, first to establish, and that the advance of any opinion, opposing the very basis of the faith of much of the Christian world, would, before the fact of spirit-communion being recognized, destroy all that we intended to accomplish, and would raise up such a host of opposers that there could be no chance for the proper circulation of the truth of the facts which we labored to teach. "Thus, in this subject, as well as other matters of great importance, the advanced spirits have refrained from im- parting their knowledge of the true mission of Christ, and were it not that I feel I can say to you what is proper should be said at this time, I should decline even now from calling your attention to the true facts of the case. "But it is well you should understand that I can only reason. Your inferences are within the control of your own thoughts, and you have received so many ideas lately which you have reasoned rightly upon, that I am confident I can venture to give you my arguments without any apprehen- sion of their being misunderstood. "One consideration should always be borne in mind, it must be assumed as a fact, not only as regards your world, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 255 but our world, too, in fact, the whole operation of God's laws, whether pertaining to himself, or whether in refer- ence to any department of man or matter, that God never works by miracle. "This idea received and established will satisfy you, that all the vague and incongruous theories of the power of the Creator and his manifestations are but the confused impres- sions of what God might do, not that which He does exhibit. "Thus, at the bottom of all religious doctrines which recognize Christ as the son and incarnation of God, there is an incomprehensible idea that some wonderful act, out of the common way, was performed by the Creator when he im- pressed his own identity on a being of his own creation; that instead of a body or being, born into the world with the usual spirit-part also, God in a miraculous manner con- nected the whole of his universal being with the embryo, and thus was born Christ as a man in body, but in spirit the very God himself. That also out of the common course he gene- rated a living soul; that in a miraculous manner he created out of the life-principle in the woman a being partaking of all the properties and attributes common to man. "I can not comprehend why that Being to whom is as- scribed a- knowledge commensurate with his very nature and pretentions, and who is considered to be Being without change, and who, it is believed and taught, has established laws which are sufficient to accomplish all that they were designed to fulfill, should so far deviate, in a mat- ter so completely under the control of certain laws, the effect of which has obtained, and does obtain, in the propa- gation of every species of man and animals as well as in 256 THE REALITY AND vegetables, in the most minute insect, as well as the most powerful animals known to man, should, I say, in a matter so well understood and so completely established in the very impulse and sentiments of our nature, deviate from the ordinary operation of those laws, and create a man in such a singular way, when it would have answered his pur- pose just as well to have complied with the requisites of the laws he had instituted for the effect of this very purpose. But there never was a successful system of religion without its grave mysteries, mysteries not to be understood by any but those who were the high priests of its altars. "A popular religion without its indistinct mysteries would not stand a year. No, the moral influence which guides and controls the Christian, aye! the savage world, is the dark and profound ideas of the mysterious powers granted to those who teach their doctrine's, the awful powers and the dark shadowings of that Being whom they rep- resent as inchangeable, 'without shadow of turning.' "It is said that God created man from the dust of the earth. Now this is very well ; but can it be conceived that when God had fashioned this world, and had instituted laws for its government, had created animals under this law, that he should so far deviate in the very commencement from those laws and create man, who ever afterwards came under the full influence and workings of those rules, in an out-of- the-way manner, as if he were afraid to trust himself or the laws he had founded? * "What sort of being can he be who makes laws, and commands all his beings to respect and obey them, and who has made the very instincts of their nature conform to their EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 257 proper influence, and then he, the framer, the Being of all others the most likely to regard them, should, to accom- plish an object just as well effected under those laws, be- come the first infractor, the first violator? Human intellect can not reason on this subject. It would appear so contra- dictory, that the good sense of man would reject the idea, were it not surrounded by the incomprehensible mystery which has been attached to it; so that man, fearing to in- vestigate, yields a blind belief, and trusts the keeping of his own judgment to the control and custody of men who play with it to suit their own purposes, and direct it as they wish or please. "Therefore I can not be mistaken in my views. You must comprehend me when I say the very res in rem is not tenable. It wants proof to satisfy the sterling common sense of man, and had he acted on the fair properties of his mind, and had not trusted his very judgment to the priests and churches of all sects, from a slavish fear, long, long ago this idea would have been exploded, rejected as unfit for the spirit which claims kindred with God himself. "But suppose all that has been written of the manner of Christ's birth and conception is true, suppose we admit that it was compatible with the nature of God, how shall we reconcile the object of his birth with what we know of the Creator and the very laws by which he governs man as well as all created beings? "To presume a necessity existing which made it ex- pedient that the Creator should go round the effects of cer- tains acts contravening the laws he had founded, and this, too, on the part of man, would, in spite of all willingness to 258 THE REALITY AND admit the most absurd ideas, to my view, conflict with all the received notions of God as revealed in his works, or even taught by the high priests of any religion accepted by man. "How could he propose any method of evading a law? Why, the law must be presumed to be the very principle most fitted for man and his action under it, and that the proposition emanated from him to transcend the effect of this law would be virtually to say as from God himself, 'If you find my laws too stringent, I will devise a way in which you can escape the true purpose for which I established them. I will set aside my own nature, and in contradiction to the universal command I have issued to you toi obey them, will show you how you may violate them, and yet come under no punishment.' " {Spiritualism, pp. 208, 209, 210, 211, 212.) The next evening the lecture was opened by Judge Ed- monds, putting to the spirit, calling itself Bacon, the fol- lowing question : "At one time you say you 'can only reason,' at another, you speak of 'the facts of the case.' Now, has it not been possible for the advanced spirits to ascertain certainly about the existence, and birth, and actual history of Jesus?" This was the answer given: "Although I mentioned 'facts,' yet you will observe I cited no evidence except the principles on which I suppose the laws of God were predicated. I meant that you should accept my reasonings for what they were worth, as I could not give you the true history of the birth, and life, and mis- sion of Jesus Christ. "Yes, there are spirits who know everything in relation EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 259 to the circumstances which gave birth to Christ. They are far above my position. They occupy those glorious spheres where all that can be known of God is revealed to them. But those omnipotent truths we are not permitted to know for a certainty, till we are divested of all that is gross in our or- ganization, and all that is of error in our minds. Certainly it is not to be told you again, that there is as much conflict of opinion on the true nature of Christ here as with you. But I am reasoning from causes which come under the full operation of the principles on which they are founded, and the effect of which is observed in everything which ema- nates from God — -everything natural, everything divine;. (Ibid., p. 213.) Continuing, farther on, the same spirit says : "Christ I never saw. The very faculties of his nature, which enabled him to progress so much while on earth, have so materially advanced his passage through the spheres that he has far outstripped the rest of his race. Christ, in the de- velopment of all the high, noble and good characteristics of his nature, became perfect even as God is perfect, and he now dwells in those happy spheres where God is made mani- fest in all the mighty effects of his being. I doubt if he has descended to these spheres since his advent to' this world. A nature so pure would seek its happiness where there was no grossness to pain it, and no material barriers to interrupt its progress. Thus, I believe Christ is with God, where I shall see him, and so shall you, when thousands and tens O'f thousands of years shall have passed away; when divested of sin, when pure as the morning star, your spirit shall wend its way through the eternal glories of the celestial spheres ; 260 THE REALITY AND when in the immortal splendor and brilliance of your own purity you shall be able to stand in the presence of the spirits who are in themselves God; when not a thought shall ani- mate you, not a feeling influence you, but such as shall dis- tinguish you as a spirit given off from the First Cause, holy, immaculate, and regenerated forever. "Then shall you, and I, and all of us, see Christ, for then shall we be like him, then shall we possess the courage to seek him, and then shall he say, Ye are my brothers and ye are my sisters." {Ibid., pp. 384, 385.) Spirits who claim to have come in personal contact with Jesus Christ, or with spirits who have, deceive us wilfully or, are themselves deceived. For Christ is not in the world of spirits, nor has he been for lo, these many years. We wish to call attention to the fact that even the spirits realize that there are spirits occupying "those glorious spheres," which no doubt is paradise, who understand all there is to be known concerning the nature of Jesus Christ; and these are those who believed in His divinity, realized and appre- ciated His mission upon the earth, and accepted Him as their Savior. The great truths concerning the Savior known to those spirits in paradise, can not be acquired by others; and ' even if they knew they would not be permitted to tell to us ; this clearly shows that we have nothing to expect from the spirits, and that the only source of informa- tion we have is the inspired word of God — "ye have the law and the prophets." The spirits assert that Jesus Christ "is an advanced spirit in the sixth sphere," in opposition to this, the Bible plainly states that Jesus "was received up into heaven, and sat on EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 261 the right hand of God." (Mark xvi., 19.) This also shows the unreliability of the statement of the spirits that Jesus is not a "distinct personality." The spirits also assert that Christ "never claimed to be God;" yet Jesus said: "I and my Father are one. "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said I am the Son of God." (St. John xi., 30, 36.) Jesus Christ not only recognized God as His Father, but at the baptism of our Saviour God recognized Jesus Christ as His son: "Above the spot where Jordan's rushing waters clove in twain Judea's sunny land, the skies were vent ; and out of this clift made in the clouds, the voice of God issued, saying, 'This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.' " CHAPTER XIV. Contradictions Continued. Are there evil spirits or are there not ? One would naturally suppose that the spirit communica- tions received from the other side of life would be a unit in this subject; but such is not the case; instead, there seems to be almost as many views on the subject of evil spir- its and hell, as entertained and expressed by the departed spirits themselves through their mediums, as there are me- diums who write, each one having their own pet theories or views to advance without any reference to what may already have been stated on this subject; thus flatly contradicting each other. In proof of which we offer the following con- tradictions : In discussing this subject, Mr. Ambler says : "The spirits utterly disclaimed all truth in the imagina- tions of individuals who believe in the doctrine of evil spirits, and would have it distinctly understood that the Divine Being has no power to create that which is evil, and that the spirits which He has created have been formed in his own likeness and impressed with his divine image." (The Spiritual Teacher, p. 116.) In discussing the same subject and in direct opposition to the views above ex- pressed, Moses Hull says : "That there are wicked spirits in the heavenly regions, no Spiritualist doubts more than he 262 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 263 doubts that there are wicked men in the earthly regions. Spiritualists who place themselves en rapport with the spirit world, unless they live upright and temperate lives, will be likely to have trouble with wicked spirits; just as I would expect, if I kept a resort for bad people, to have trouble with some of them." {Encyclopedia of Biblical Spiritualism, p. 363.) Davis disagrees with Moses Hull, and instead of "evil" he has "misdirected" spirits ; and asserts that the body may do evil and the spirit still retain its purity. A very peculiar and dangerous doctrine and one we are happy to say is not generally preached from Spiritualistic rostrums of today; but we will let Mr. Davis speak for himself : "The word 'misdirected,' stands before my mind as a truer epithet, and adjective, better describing the actual condition of those minds which are unbrotherly, denounced as 'devils damned,' or the 'evil spirits' of earth and other spheres. Popular ideas of evil begin with the oriental myth of intrinsic, unwrought, unmitigated corruption — sin- fulness of the inmost heart, in the sight of the All Seeing! But, -most grateful am I for the blessing of interior percep- tion. To penetrate the superficial veil of superstition — to appreciate the 'total depravity' of all arguments and theologic systems predicated upon it — were an easy thing. I find no intrinsic corruption of the soul of Man. All 'evil,' so-called, and 'sin' are external. How can God be inwardly depraved ? If the spirit of man comes not from the Infinite fountain of goodness, and love, and wisdom, and perfection, whence, then, is his life derived? The idea of 'evil spirits' in the other world is necessarily grounded upon the primary no- 264 THE REALITY AND tion of intrinsic evil in this world.' But all human evil, so- called, can be incontestably and mathematically demon- strated to proceed, not out of the essence of the soul, but from the following external and superficial sources. "First. Progenitive or hereditary misdirection; "Second. Education or sympathetic misdirection; "Third. Circumstantial or social misdirection. * * * "In either instance, the inmost nature or essence is not corrupted — it is still pure and immaculate — tending, like the fragrance of flowers, towards heaven ; but the external, the symbols of life, the outward character is changed, and this only ! And it is the essence, not the shape of it, which indi- cates and insures destiny." {Present Age and Inner Life, pp. 215, 216, 217.) Edmonds disagrees with Davis and declares in favor of "evil spirits," goes even farther than most spiritualistic writers, by furnishing us a description of hell in these words : "But to the spirits who have lived a life of selfishness, disregarding the claims of their race, who have toiled and struggled for no other motive than to accomplish their own ends, at no matter what cost, who have bowed their spirit to the rule of error, and who have delighted to cir- cumvent their fellows, who have, while they professed to serve God, denied him by their acts — they die, and their spirits enter new bodies. Now I beg, in this connection, to say that, there must either in man's residence on earth be the development of his spirit and the corresponding progress, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 265 or there must be a retrogression and a consequent de- preciation of the true desires of his nature. Thus it is, when the spirit by its acts retrogrades the true type of that con- dition is most distinctly manifest after death in the acquired tastes of that spirit for the scenes which on earth afforded him pleasure. And it turns from the contemplation of what is around, above, and beyond, to the constant yearning after that which is below, which is gross, which is circumscribed in the limits of your globe. It does not associate with those whose aspirations are for the good. Its affinities lead it toward those whose desires correspond with its own, and it chooses for its companions those whose habitations are near this earth, and whose tastes are of the same character. Its body is not as specifically light as are those of the progressed spirits, for with us as with you, certain localities change the very particles of our organization, and develop characteristics really opposed to the intent of our creation. I cite in corroboration of this statement the tribes of Hot- tentots, whose organization is so gross that the very forma- tion of certain organs of the body is so changed that they do not resemble that of a human body. By living near the earth, obtaining their sustenance from the bodies near to it (for we can transport ourselves miles without number in a moment of time), they acquire an aspect differing widely from our external appearance. Their bodies are sublimated, it is true, but still, were you able to see them, you would scarcely distinguish the difference between them and men of your own earth. I now speak of spirits whose minds are not really evil, but not progressive. "There is another class to which I will direct your at- 266 THE REALITY AND tention, as belonging to that division who are really bad, and who, by a long course of evil life, have denied their obli- gations to man, to God, and to the laws which He has es- tablished. After these spirits have passed into their new bodies, they are so heavy, so much more dense than are the other spirits mentioned, that they can not maintain them- selves even near the earth, but sink far below it, and are really of so dark a hue that they are almost black. "Now the place of their residence is far below that which I ever had a desire to visit, and I cannot tell you from actual observation what it is, but it is said to be an extensive plane, with but one single mountain in the center. So attached are the inhabitants to this intermeniable level that they scarcely attempt for years to ascend this mountain. Now it is almost always night there, or rather a condition midway between night and day, and if they were to ascend this mountain, it is said they would catch a glimpse of the brighter lands beyond, and a desire would be created in their minds to leave this place for the world beyond. How true- this is, I can not say ; probably there is some condition or state resembling this, and it may be this is true. Sometimes, inspired by their own wicked feelings, they make a strong effort and force themselves to your earth, and then it is that some unfortunate one is impressed with wicked thoughts, and is pursuaded to do wicked things; but God in his infinite wisdom does not leave the administration of his divine or material laws to beings of so corrupt a nature. "He prefers that man shall have no one to blame but himself, and the circumstances around him for his sinful acts ; and it would conflict with the laws he has instituted if EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 267 he permitted man to be controlled by spirits inferior to him- self But you can imagine the darkness of ignorance into which these spirits are plunged, by comparing the benighted cannibals of your own earth with yourselves, only adding to the comparison the fact, that in one it is a developed spirit, advanced one step beyond the earth, and in the other it is of earth. "The first class referred to are those who confuse these revelations most, particularly by misrepresentation and deceit. They are always on the alert to seize on impressi- ble mediums, and through this channel to impart incorrect statements relative to 'life in the spheres.' "Now, allow me to say that the first idea embraced in the revelations made to your family, Dr., was the correct one; that is, that spirits (unprocessed ones) dare not assume the personality of any other spirit, so you demand of them the truth in the name of God. But they misdirect, bewilder, confuse, make false statements of the nature of these manifestations, and would willingly create doubt; for these spirits are allowed to mix with other spirits, whose duties bring them to earth, and thus they are enabled to make false statements regarding them. In short, they de- light in inculcating error, as they did in receiving and learn- ing it when on earth. "The dark spirits do progress, but it is in a cycle of years. The mischievous spirits progress also in much less time, but both have laborers among them from the advanced spirits, whose duty and pleasure it is to instruct, to disabuse their minds of ignorance and. prejudice, and to point them to 268 THE REALITY AND God as the source of all things." (Spiritualism, pp. 168, 169, 170, 171.) Edmond's hell, you will notice, is not an orthodox hell from which there is no escape, but a progressive hell, from which spirits can, if they desire, and do advance to the higher spheres. While Holcombe, on the contrary, gives us a hell from which there is no escape, and instead of pro- gression, there is retrogression to such a degree that men and women cease to remember that they are or ever were human beings and are reduced almost to the point of ex- tinction, as this shows : "We now approach that dark and doleful world which is the opposite of heaven; where love is turned into hatred and wisdom into folly; light into darkness and pleasure into pain ; which the Scriptures symbolize to us as a 'bottomless pit,' or the 'lake burning with brimstone and fire/ and which men have in all ages imagined to be a fearful prison-house, down, down deep in the caverns of the earth, or far be- yond the faintest ray of sun or star in the darkness of the outermost abyss. * * * "Hell is not a place created by God for the punishment of sin. On the contrary, it is the heaven of the wicked, cre- ated by themselves. They rush into it and abide in it of their own accord. "There is no attribute of God which calls for the punish- ment of sin or which could receive the least satisfaction from such punishment, any farther than it may be made a means of reforming and blessing the sin. God is infinite love. His anger is a false inference drawn by the sensual man from EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 269 his own state of evil and misery. God wills the same love, wisdom, peace, joy, to all in hell that he wills to all in heaven. He is the I Am, the sole-existing, the unchange- able. "There were no angels who fell from heaven and be- came devils; but all angels and all devils were once men or women on some earth in the physical universe.*- * * "The same universal truths which unfolded the mys- teries of heaven, will reveal to us also the dreadful secrets of hell. These universal truths or keys are the doctrines of Influx, Free Agency, Degrees and Correspondence. "God is the sole life of the universe. He does not create life, but gives it. It is uncreated. We live by his life; not by a force, derived perhaps from Him, but now fully our own and independent of Him; but by life from moment to moment flowing from Him and received into our spirit. This is influx. There is not, therefore, one God in heaven and another or a different one in hell; one law in heaven and an opposite in hell; an economy of grace in one and an economy of wrath in the other. The entire universe is held together by one breath, one life, one law. • * * * "Hell, therefore, is created just as heaven is created. It is first an organic state of the soul, and then an external place or world produced in correspondence with that state. There are three hells opposite to the three heavens ; for the three degrees which exist in the human soul, natural, spir- itual and celestial, open after death into the heaven or hell which man has chosen for himself by his life in the world. 270 THE REALITY AND "Love is the life of heaven ; hatred, the life of hell. The hatred of hell is the outward manifestation of a life which has been changed into its opposite by its passage through an utterly selfish form. The common spirit of all the hells, their connecting bond, is hatred to God and the neighbor. This hatred is the legitimate result of the love of self, when it rises from the place it was designed to occupy — the last and lowest — and absorbs and governs the whole soul. * * * 'The hatred of evil spirits against the angels, against little children, against the good and the true in any other spirit, and especially against the Divine Word and the sphere of the Lord, is intense and almost incredible. * * * The cause of it is the interior antagonism between evil and good, so that the sphere of love and wisdom produces severe pain in the wicked. * * * "The heat and light of the spiritual world correspond to the love and wisdom of those there, or to their opposites. The mind of an angel is radiant with intelligence, because his heart is glowing with love. The mind of a devil is dark with falsity, because his heart burns with hate. His thoughts correspond to his affections. The ignorance, the stupidity, the hallucinations, the malicious cunning, the absurd opin- ions, the monstrous conceptions, the ridiculous fantasies, the vituperative argumentation from false premises to false conclusions, which prevail continually in every society in hell, and which produce a representative sound like snarling or gnashing of teeth, heard by those approaching from a distance; all these things have no analogies upon earth ex- cept what may be found in some vast insane asylum, where EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 271 men bereft of reason are congregated in every stage of mad- ness — from the raving maniac to the drivelling imbecile. Wisdom is light; its absence is darkness. Heaven is a world of light ; hell a world of darkness. Think of a king- dom of darkness ! a world without the silvery or golden rays of a sun, but lit by flames as from burning coals or sulphur- eous vapors, or by the wanderings ignes fatui and ghastly blue lights of swamps and wildernesses. Such is hell. Some evil Spirits are at times plunged in total darkness. Even comparatively good spirits, undergoing vastation or judg- ment in the world of spirits or intermediate state, are some- times kept for a long time in utter darkness. * * * "These poor souls in hell cannot be visited by the light of heaven. Its accompanying heat would torture them by being turned into intense cold, and its light would not be seen by them at all, but would obliterate what little light of their own they were enjoying in their sad, painful, pit- iable way. The reason is that the light of heaven and the light of hell, although coming originally from the same source, flow through different media, and do not accord or correspond. An analogous phenomenon is seen on earth. Two waves of light, not according or corresponding, but coming into collision, produce darkness. , Two rays of heat can also be made to produce cold or a fall in the ther- mometer; and two waves of sound may result, not in a sound of double intensity, but in absolute silence. "Heaven is concealed from the spirits in hell; for they cannot feel its heat nor see its light nor breath its atmos- phere. They deny its existence, they scoff at the idea of God, rave against the name of Christ and the Word, and at- 272 THE REALITY AND tribue all things to nature as stoutly as the most inveterate, scientific infidels of our own day. They can be brought back, however, into their earthly states of thought, and then adjoined to the intellectual sphere of the angels, so that they can think from their standpoint, and thus see all the wonders of heaven and understand all the truths of the Lord's spirit- ual kingdom. But when they return into the state of thought, which corresponds with their own emotional life (and they cannot rest permanently in any other), they forget every- thing they had seen or heard, and regard the wisdom of heaven with intense aversion. "What bodies have they ? The spiritual body being the effigy of the soul, that which effigies a hateful and false na- ture must necessarily be hideous and ugly. The Devils are therefore deformed and monstrous, fierce and cruel in as- pect, hairy, black, filthy, a horrible mixture of man and beast. Their faces are sometimes lurid, sometimes like those of corpses, always fearful and disgusting. The sound of their voice is harsh and grating ; the tones full of subtlety, malice, hatred and revenge. The stench that exhales from them is intolerable, differing with every society and every individual. All these external horrors are in strict corre- spondence with their interior states. "Yet such is the 'infinite self-conceit and delirious intel- lectual fantasies of these unhappy creatures, that they seem to each other to be men and women, wise and accomplished and enjoying a fare share of personal attractions ! 'This is. of the Lord's mercy,' says Swedenborg, lest they should seem as filthy, one to another, as they appear before the an- gels/ EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 273 * * * "In what occupations are devils, spiritual forms of evil and falsity, likely to engage? The will ever strives to go forth into act. The delight of life is to do and to be what one loves. The delight of heaven is to obey the Lord and to do good to the neighbor. The delight of hell is the gratification of an evil selfhood and supremacy over the neighbor. Harmony is the spirit of heaven. Discord is the spirit of hell. * * * 'In hell, therefore, no one applies himself to any good and useful labor for the benefit of others, except under dire compulsion. Each one despises others in comparison with himself. , Strange as it may ap- pear, evil spirits delight to inflict sufferings and punishments upon all they meet. Their cunning, subtlety, cruelty, hatred and spirit of revenge are almost incredible. They make war upon each other and upon men in the flesh, and would if they could destroy the order and peace of heaven it- self. * * * " 'When, therefore, a spirit of his own accord or from his own freedom, directs his course to his own hell and enters it, he is at first received in a friendly manner, and is thus led to believe that he is among friends. This, however, continues only for a few hours. In the meantime he is examined with a view to discover the degree of his cunning, and thence of his power. When this is ascertained they begin to infest him; and this they do in various ways, and with gradually increasing violence and severity. This is done by introduc- ing him more interiorly and deeply into hell ; for the spirits are more malignant in proportion as the hell they inhabit is more interior and deep. " 'After the first infestations they begin to torture him 274 THE REALITY AND with cruel punishments, which they continue until he is re- duced to the condition of a slave. But because rebellious commotions continually exist there, for every one in hell de- sires to be greatest and burns with hatred towards others, fresh outrages occur. Thus one miserable scene is changed into another. They who are made slaves are taken out of their thraldom to assist some new devil' in subjugating others ; when they who refuse to submit and to yield implicit obedience are again tormented in various ways. And this goes on perpetually.' * * * "The hells of different kinds of criminals differ as widely from each other as the societies of heaven differ. Each infernal society is placed opposite to some heavenly so- ciety, of which its life is the specific corruption or perver- sion. When the hells are in great fermentation they react against the governing powers in heaven so forcibly that the light and peace of the angels would be sensibly diminished, and their influences upon men in the world vastly weakened, if the evil spirits were not reduced to submission and a kind of dormant state by intense suffering and fear. This is meant by 'the kingdom of heaven suflereth violence.' The punishment is effected by the mere approach of the angelic spheres. "The miseries of hell are therefore threefold. First, the self-inflicted miseries which flow from the organic state of the soul itself so that its surroundings are necessarily wretched and loathsome, by the spiritual law of correspond- ential creation. Second, the miseries inflicted by some upon others in a thousand subtle and astonishing ways. Third, the miseries inflicted by the visitation of angelic spheres EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 275 when it becomes necessary to maintain that degree of order and equilibrium upon which the stability of the universe de- pends. "Observe that these are not the punishments of the sins committed in the flesh, but the punishment of sins contin- ually being committed on account of the organically evil state of the soul. No spirit is ever punished for what he did in the world, but only for what he is now doing to afflict and destroy others. He has indeed acquired by his life in the world the peculiar spiritual constitution, the conformations of heart and mind that continually impel him to the commis- sion of the evil which precipitates him into suffering and punishment. * * * "The New Church, * * * affirms that God has no justice which can be outraged and insulted by a violation of his laws, and which demands a retribution in shape of pun- ishment for sin. Spiritual laws are organic. They are ex- pressions or modes of life and are not created. They exist in the nature of things, by primal necessity, coincidently with God himself. God is law. He creates and governs man by the laws of his own being. There is not one law for God and another for man, but the same for both. "When man violates the divine commandments, which are the laws of God's life, he does not incur God's displeas- ure, but excites his pity. He suffers a dreadful organic change in his own spiritual nature, which entails upon him eternal and painful consequences ; but they are not legal pun- ishments of sin, but necessary effects of a cause which he himself has put into operation, viz., the turning himself away from God so as to receive the influx of his life into a 276 „ THE REALITY AND perverted and disorderly form. Hell is only punishment of sin as a burn is the punishment for putting your hand in the fire. "Hell, therefore, is not created by God at all, but by man, and it is created through his violations of the divine laws. Hell is not governed by any other laws or with any other spirit than the laws and spirit which prevail in heaven. The miseries of hell flow from the influx and operation of the laws and spirit of heaven into perverted and disorderly forms. Man changes; God is unchangeable. * * * "Is this state to be eternal? "In the spiritual world there are no times and spaces such as in ours; no archives of government, no record of events, no historical evolutions. Spirits know nothing of time. The spiritual idea of eternity is not an idea of an in- terminable succession of events, but an idea of fixity or per- petuity of state. The question then resolves itself into this ; can the state of evil spirits be changed so as to be brought into harmony with the laws of heaven? "In despair of such a result, seeing no causes at work likely to produce it, the benevolent mind, intolerant of an eternal hell, indulges the hope that the sufferings of the wicked will be terminated by a process of gradual annihila- tion. Swedenborg does not teach this doctrine, although some of his statements invest it with a little plausibility. He says that some spirits are so far deprived of their own evil life by long-continued sufferings, they lose their memory and their reflective faculties to such an extent, that they do not know they are men or that they ever were men. They EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 277 appear imbecile arid almost lifeless; sometimes as skeletons, sitting solitary in sandy wastes or among stony ruins ; some- times as almost formless masses, mere ghosts in our view, flickering in dark caverns or gliding along the forest shades. It seems that a step farther and they would cease to be. ( The Other Life, pp. 197, 229, inc.) The doctrine of evil spirits is as old as spiritualism it- self, notwithstanding the assertions of some modern spirit- ualists, to the contrary, as is shown by Jacolliot in the follow- ing language : "The following are the transformations of the bad spirits : * * * 'bad spirits who are constantly attempting to creep into the bodies of men, and return to terrestrial life, which they have to pass through anew. These bad spirits are the malign secretions of the universe. Their only means of regaining the degree of purity required for the higher transformations is through thousands and thousands of transformations into minerals, plants, and ani- mals." {Occult Science in India, p. 124.) The Bible teaches that there are. good spirits and that there are evil spirits, for example : "And God wrought spe- cial miracles by the hands of Paul : So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." (Acts xix., 11, 12,) Thus, we see that the spirit- ualists who hold to the doctrine of evil spirits are right ; but they have higher authority for it than spirit communica- tions, they have the Infallible Word of God. When we fully comprehend the fact that spirit and mind are identical, we must see that it must follow of necessitv that there are 278 THE REALITY AND good and evil spirits or minds; that the mere fact of dying would not change persons mentality, but that they would naturally be the same in the other side of life as on this, good and evil. CHAPTER XV. Ancient India. Is. there any limit to the credulity of mankind ? Is there any belief, no matter how absurd, rediculous or preposterous it may be, which mankind will not accept providing it is clothed in a religious garb? History answers these questions in the negative. The Egyptians, Hindoos, Greeks, etc., accepted and promulgated as their articles of faith opinions which we of the present century do not consider worthy the name of religion, but term them mythologies, or the fabulous his- tories of the gods of the heathens. Yet, where in the his- tory of any nation has there been a greater demand made on the credulity of mankind that is required of one who accepts the teachings of spiritualism. We of the twentieth century boast of greater enlightenment and knowledge than pos- sessed by the ancients. In what have we displayed our su- periority, when we pause and consider that the opinions advanced by spiritualistic leaders are opposed to the results of all scientific research, the scriptures, reason, and observa- tion, and yet are entertained by tens of thousands who call themselves the most liberal, enlightened and progressive peo- ple of modern times? The most prominent leaders of Modern Spiritualism admit that it is based upon materialism, and as has been shown, materialism finds no support in either 279 280 THE REALITY AND the scriptures or the sciences ; on the contrary, it is in open conflict with each. The idea of a universe without a personal God — a crea- tion without a Creator — is inconceivable. It would be no more absurd to suppose that the most intricate and most per- fect piece of machinery came into existence of its own voli- tion than to suppose that the machinery of the universe with all its phenomena is the result of evolution, or what Mr. Da- vis terms the "laws of Association, Progression and Devel- opment." The deceptions practiced by spiritualistic leaders on their followers in their attempts to explain the origin of things is the result of ignorance and imposition. Them- selves deceived by their spiritual controls, they unintention- ally deceive all who come within the scope of their influence. There is little or no excuse for the laity when we consider the mass of absurdities, inconsistencies and contradictions which they are called upon to believe and accept which forms so large a part of modern spiritualism. When viewed in the light thrown upon it by its leading advocates it be- comes plain that spiritualism is not a religion, it is impossi- ble to raise it to the dignity of a religion. Though pro- fessing to deal with things here and hereafter even so prom- inent a leader as A. J. Davis terms it merely a philosophy. And from all the evidence introduced it must be admitted that the "Philosophy of Spiritualism" is far from being phil- osophical ; on the contrary, it is weak, defective and decep- tive. Spiritualism teaches that physical death is simply the birth of the spirit into a new and higher and more refined state of existence and that there it enters upon a life of end- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 281 less spiritual progression, therefore to the spiritualist there is nothing beyond spirit-life. For this reason they teach that we should not mourn the death of our loved ones, but rather rejoice at their birth into this higher state of exist- ence. On this subject Mr. Davis says : "The excessive weeping and lamentation of friends and relatives, over the external form of one departed, are mainly caused by the sensuous and superficial mode by which the majority of mankind view the phenomenon of death. For, with but few exceptions, the race is so conditioned and edu- cated on the earth — not yet having grown into spiritual per- ception — not yet progressed to where 'whatever is hid shall be revealed' — realizing only through the medium of the nat- ural senses, the nearness of the beloved — watching and com- prehending only the external signs and processes of physical dissolution — supposing this contortion toi indicate pain, and that expression to indicate anguish — I say, the race is so sit- uated and educated, that death of the body (to the majority of the earth's inhabitants) is equivalent to an annihilation of the personality of the individual. But I would comfort the superficial observer, and I can solemnly assure the in- quirer after truth, that, when an individual dies naturally the spirit experiences no pain ; nor should the material body be dissolved with disease, or crushed by the fearful ava- lanche, is the individuality of the spirit deformed, or in the least degree obscured. Could you but turn your natural gaze from the lifeless body, which can no longer answer to your look of love ; and could your spiritual eyes be opened ; you would behold — standing in your midst — a form, the same, but more beautiful and living! Jience, there is great 282 THE REALITY AND cause to rejoice at the birth of the spirit from this world into the Inner Sphere of Life — yea, it is far more reasonable and appropriate to weep at the majority of marriages which oc- cur in this world, than to lament when man's immortal spirit escapes from its earthly form, to live and unfold in a higher and better country ! You may clothe yourself with the dark habiliments of woe, when you consign at the altar a heart to a living grave; or when you chain the soul to breathe in an uncongenial atmosphere; but robe yourselves with gar- ments of light to honor the spirit's birth into a higher life. * * * "In conclusion, I desire to impress the reader that there is nothing to fear, but much to love, in a purely natural or non-accidental death. It is the fair stranger who conducts the immortal soul to more glorious scenes and harmonious societies. Let mankind never lament because of the mere departure of an individual from our earth; for the change though cold and cheerless to the material senses, is, to the in- terior vision, and to the ascending spirit, bathed in auroral splendor! To the enlightened mind 'there is no more death;' 'nor sorrow, nor crying;' to those who live in con- stant conjunction with Eternal Truth. "Let tranquility reign throughout the chambers of the dying; but, when the body is cold, and when the immortal soul is gone, then. calmly rejoice, and sweetly sing, and be exceeding glad ; for when a body dies on earth, a soul is born in heaven. "You may rest upon the strong foundations of truth; may strive to learn how to live peacefully and purely on earth ; may enrich and adorn the inner spirit with gems of EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 283 scientific and philosophic knowledge; may wreathe every thought with the sweet flowers of virtue; may robe every impulse with the mantle of contentment ; for there is nothing lost by the putting off of mortality, and leaving the material and evanescent things of this world, to pursue life's journey amid immortal beauties in the Spirit Land." (The Great Harmonia, Vol. I., pp. 170, 171, 188, 189, 190.) Their misconceptions of the intermediate state deceives spiritualists into the belief that they have nothing to fear, no future pain or death awaits them, but, that in the World of Spirits, the spirits already ushered into eternity, have only "to pursue life's journey amid immortal beauties in the Spirit Land." Recognizing no distinction between the mind or spirit and the soul, they deceive themselves into the belief that the spirit or mind is immortal and that spirit-land is eternal. This leads to the further error of believing that at death the spirit or mind at once receives its final reward ; that there is no arraignment before God "who will render to every man according to his deeds;" that there is no spirit death which the soul will survive; no final judgment in which the soul will be rewarded with eternal life, or consigned to eternal death. It is this teaching so utterly opposed to the facts that renders spiritualism so dangerous, so degrading and so deceptive. We agree with the spiritualists that the mind or spirit survives the death of the body ; we also agree with them that death makes no change in the individual. In discussing this subject, Moses Hull says : "Death makes man no better, no worse; each one finds himself, morally and spiritually, on 2S4 THE REALITY AND the other side of its stream, where he left himself here. He opens his books where he closed them, commences living where he quit, finds himself surrounded with all the dark- ness and all the light in the summer-land that he has earned by his life here/' (Two in One, p. .46.) This leads to the inevitable conclusion that, what a man is in this life he is in spirit-land. Only with this difference in this life he de- ceives himself and others, sometimes intentionally, some- times unintentionally ; for example : persons sometimes im- agine that they believe in the Bible, when, in reality, they are evolutionists ; in that case in spirit-land those persons would be evolutionists no matter what or how much religion they professed in this life; and it would make no difference whether the deception was intentional or otherwise the re- sults would be the same ; the departed spirits or minds would appear what they are in reality and not what they wished or seemed to be. And again the disposition undergoes no change; if individuals were serious and studious here, they are serious and studious there; if they were frivolous and jocu- lar here, they are frivolous and jocular there; if they were unreliable and inclined to take advantage of and deceive mankind here, they are unreliable there; if they were vicious here, they are vicious there ; if they were amiable here, they are amiable there. Whatever mental or moral characters they possess here, they carry with them into spirit-land and retain until the end of time. Their prejudices for or against certain individuals here survive there; that departed spirits retain their mental and moral qualities which characterized them here, and even their sentiments towards certain indi- viduals is clearlv demonstrated in the case of Samuel, who, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 285 upon being called up by the woman of Endor, at the request of Saul, at once showed his ill will and manifested the same resentment towards him that he entertained in this life and immediately renewed his controversy with Saul. (1 Samuel xxviii.) The conflict of opinions existing among spirits them- selves explains the contradictory statements given out by the various mediums. Mediums under the control of departed spirits or minds practically lose their individuality and gen- erally express the sentiments of the spirits controlling them at the time. For example, if a medium is controlled by a spirit who in this life was an ardent advocate of the nebular theory, that medium would explain and advocate the nebular hypothesis, even though in his normal state he knew nothing about it. Our full acceptance of the teachings of the Bible compel us to recognize the reality of Spiritualism. This is as clear- ly taught in the scriptures as is the existence of God or the divinity of the Savior. It is inextricably interwoven in the scriptural narrative from Genesis to Revelation. The case of Samuel above referred to and other incidents in the Old Testament may be cited, while the New Testament abounds in spiritual manifestations. The Savior's recognition and control of spirits enters so largely into His history that modern spiritualists regard Him simply as a great me-, dium. But it is significant that in all the Savior's deal- ings with spirits, whether casting out devils, that is, re- lieving people from spirit control, or in raising the dead, He never once appealed to the spirits for aid, but always relied upon the assistance of His Heavenly Father. "I can of 286 THE REALITY AND mine own self do nothing." (St. John v., 30.) Spiritual- ists, on the contrary, cast out spirits by the aid of spirits and recognize no higher power. The Savior's views concern- ing the spirits and their power are diametrically opposite to those of the spiritualists and He pursued an entirely different course in dealing with them. While the Bible recognizes spiritualism as a reality it also recognizes its deceptiveness, its demoralizing, degrad- ing influences and treats it as a great evil. This is clearly shown by the fact that spiritualism and its practices were forbidden in Israel and is given as one of the reasons for God's destruction of the nations which preceded them in Canaan, as shown by the following : "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an en- chanter, or a witch. "Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. "For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord ; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. "For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners ; but as for thee, The Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do." (Deut. xviii., 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.) Further evidence of God's utter abhorrance of a medium or one having a "familiar spirit" is shown by the fact that EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 287 the penalty of death was visited upon them under God's law to Israel : "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death ; they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them." (Lev. xx., 27.) And even those who sought the aid of mediums were punished with death : "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his peo- ple." (Lev. xx., 6.) It was in the execution of this law that Saul, the first king of Israel, "put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." (1 Sam. xxviii., 3.) And it was to this that the woman of Endor referred when she said : "Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spir- its, and the wizards, out of the land ; wherefore, layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to> die." (1 Sam. xxviii., 9; see 2 King xxi., 6, xxiii., 24, etc.) In order that Israel should have no excuse for invoking ing the aid of spirits God promised them a prophet like unto Moses : "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall harken." (Deut. xviii., 15.) This array of evidence plainly shows the deceptiveness, worthlessness and criminality of spiritualism and God's ut- ter detestation of spiritualists. This, perhaps, more than anything else, explains why spiritualists deny the existence of a personal God, repudiate the Bible with its doctrine of Divine Creation and base their so-called philosophy on ma- terialism. 288 THE REALITY AND From all the facts presented it is plain that the Catholic, the Protestant and the Spiritualist should each renounce his errors and unite on some common ground, and the Bible fur- nishes the only ground. This will lead to a recognition of God the Creator, the inspiration of the scriptures; the ex- istence of an intermediate state where the spirit or mind will, after physical death, live until the end of time; the final death of the spirit or mind when the soul will be released from its mental body to appear at the final judgment, to re- ceive its reward of eternal life or eternal death. Further evidence that the spiritualists are simply dealing with the mind or spirit, and not the soul is shown by the fact that the mind or spirit of the animal, like that of the man, survives physical dissolution and finds its abode in spirit- land, as shown by the following: "Here there was a clump of trees, entwining their tan- gled arms together over the deep shade that rested below, and there a single tree or two, beneath whose shelter ani- mals were seen, giving life at once and repose to the scene. And, in fine, as the light of the morning increased, it opened to my view a lovely landscape, gently undulating and diver- sified by land and water, and field and forest. Many ani- mals were seen moving about, or reposing quietly, playing wildly, or grazing or slumbering. Birds in great numbers, and with every variety of song and plumage, were flying across the scene in all directions, some just skimming the surface of the water, and others soaring aloft, up, up, until their melody seemed mingled with the distance. (Edmonds, Spiritualism, p. 249.) EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 289 And if the animal possessed articulate speech or we un- derstood its language we could communicate with the spirit or mind of the animal as easily as that of the man. This be- ing true, it follows that a talking animal would make as good a medium as a person. In discussing the relations of matter and mind, Mr. Hud- son Tuttle says : "I here freely admit that the material is wanting to bridge the existing gulf between matter and spirit; but it must be borne in mind how brief has been the period since investigation has been intelligently directed to this subject, and also the great difficulties in the way." (The Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 35.) It will be observed that Mr. Tuttle, unlike most spiritualistis writers, admits that there is a gulf between mater and spirit or mind, and that he also admits that the material is wanting to "bridge the ex- isting gulf." But he would have us believe that the absence of the needed "material" or information is due to the brief "period since investigation has been intelligently directed to this subject, and also the great difficulties in the way." As a matter of fact, the most systematic investigation has been directed towards this subject for thousands of years, so that our ignorance of the relations existing between matter and spirit or mind cannot be fairly attributed to the "brief period" in which attention has been directed to it. The woe- ful ignorance upon this important subject is due solely to the rejection of the teaching of the scriptures that matter and mind or spirit are distinct substances, between which there is a gulf that no material can bridge ; and though combined in an organism they each retain their distinctive characteris- tics and may exist independent of each other. 290 THE REALITY AND In referring to the growth and spread of spiritualism, Moses Hull says : "Twenty-two years ago it was nothing — not a book ex- cept the Bible written in its behalf, and that was regarded more as a dead letter than anything else; not a press to ad- vocate its claims ; not a lecturer in the field ; not a medium in the country ; not a believer in the world. At that time one figure, and that a cipher, told all there was of Spiritualism. Not a quarter of a century since it commenced, amid the most determined opposition, has waded through it, and marched steadily on until now its mediums are counted by thousands, and it would require a column and a half of "The New York Ledger," set in agate type, to hold the names and postoffice addresses of its public lecturers." {Two in One, p. 203.) In his handling of this subject Mr. Hull's astounding statements would lead us to infer that Spiritualism is a thing of recent origin, dating back but little more than half a century. At the same time he tells us that the Bible, the latest book of which was written nearly twen- ty centuries ago, was the only work in print in its favor, when he must have known that India abounded in spiritual- istic literature older than the Bible. He tells us' that there was not "a lecturer in the field" when India numbered its public lecturers by the thousands ; that there was not "a be- liever in the world," when India, to say nothing of other countries, numbered its believers by the tens of millions, the whole population are spiritualists ; it is practically their only religion. Such sweeping statements from the most obscure spiritualist would provoke surprise, but when made by one EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 291 of their most talented and accomplished leaders is simply amazing. Granting all that the occidental, mediums claim for them- selves, even then they do not understand the fundamental principles of mediumship compared with the adepts of the Orient. In support of our position, we quote Mr. Hudson, who says : "The Oriental adepts claim they have learned much more of the laws of nature than is dreamed of in Occidental phil- osophy. Doubtless they have, if half the stories we hear of them are true. They have learned to> produce phenomena which far transcends anything done by our spirit mediums. Moreover, they have learned the true source of the power - and they do not ascribe it to spirits of the dead. Said one of them, in my hearing : "I have often been asked the ques- tion, 'What is an adept?' An adept is a spirit medium who knows that the power to produce his phenomena resides within himself, and who possesses the intelligence and pow- er to control and direct it." (The Law of Psychic Phe- nomena, p. 261.) Mr. Hudson doubtless mistook the meaning of this adept ; if he was a Brahmin and had been closely questioned he would have said : "Every thing that exists is in the power of the gods. The gods are in the. power of magical con- jurations. Magical conjurations are in the power of the Brahmins. Therefore the gods are in the power of the Brahmins." (Jacolliot, Occult Science in India, p. 24.) Further evidence that the adepts do rely on spirit aid is shown by the following: "We use the modern term spirit- 292 THE REALITY AND ualism to designate the Hindoo belief in the Pitris, for the reason that no other word exists in our language which suf- ficiently characterizes it. "The belief in the Pitris is a positive belief in spirits as manifesting themselves to and directing men. * * * "The spirits with whom they communicate are the shades of holy personages who have quit the world after leading a life of privation, good works, and virtuous exam- ple; they are the objects of a regular worship, and are in- voked as the spiritual directors of their brethren, who are still bound by the ties of their earthly existence. * * * "Those Pitris which have not passed the degree immedi- ately above that of man are the only spirits which are in communication with the latter. They are regarded as the ancestors of the human race and its natural directors from whom it derives its inspiration. They are themselves in- spired by the spirits of the next degree above them, and so on, from one degree to another, until the divine word, or, in other terms, until revelation is imparted to man." (Ibid 94, 112, 128.) In the face of the above facts the statement of Mr. Hudson that the adepts of India do not rely upon spirit power is as ridiculous as that of Mr. Hull's that "twenty-two years ago there was not a believer (in spirit- ualism) in the world." So-called modern spiritualism has no instructors, no schools of training, no ceremonies of initiation, no forms of evocation, in short, no systematic method of selecting and developing their mediums. They are discovered by mere chance, and consequently their powers are wholly natural EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 293 and not in the least the result of cultivation. The result is that their accomplishments are very limited and their success by no means certain. While there are many who recognize the reality of their phenomena they are not agreed as to whether it is the result of spirit influence or mental telep- athy. So that modern spiritualism cannot properly be re- garded either as religion, a philosophy or a science. In striking contrast to this, spiritualism in India has its schools of learning, in which the results of thousands of years of observation and investigation are taught. They have three degrees of initiation; the first degree is taken after a novitiate of about ten years ; it then requires twenty years of training in order to enter the second degree, and twenty years more before they enter the third and last degree. During these years they are subjected to the severest discipline and only a few have the necessary qualifications and are initiated into these higher degrees. By this means spiritualism in India has been reduced almost to a science. Jacolliot, who, during his long residence in the French East Indies and Oceanica, obtained from the Brahmins and their literature a considerable knowledge on this subject, says : "Manu, the legislator, who sprang from the Temples of India, attributes to the Brahmins a Divine origin. "For the propagation of the human race, from his mouth, from his arm, from his thigh, from his foot, the Sov- ereign Master produced the Brahmin, priest — the Xchatrya, king — the Vaysia, merchant — the Soudra, slave. "By his origin, which he derives from the most noble 294 THE REALITY AND member, because he was the first born, because he possesses the Holy Scriptures, the Brahmin is, by right, the Lord of all creation. "Everything that the world contains is the Brahmin's property ; by his primogeniture and his eminent birth he is entitled to everything that exists. "The Brahmin eats nothing that does not belong to him, receives no garment that is not already his, and bestows no alms from the property of others that does not also belong to him. It is through the Brahmin's generosity that other men enjoy the goods of this world. (Manu, book i.) "This is the original source of the doctrine of divine right. "For several thousand years the Brahmins (priests) ruled over India without dispute. The kings, or, as we might rather say, the chiefs, were only their agents. The mass of the people, like a flock of sheep, maintained the up- per classes in luxury and idleness by their labor. "In the temples, which were vast sacerdotal storehouses filled with the treasures accumulated by the toil of the labor- ing classes, the priests appeared before the eyes of the as- sembled multitude clad in gorgeous vestments. Kneeling before idols of wood, granite or bronze of their own con- trivance, they set an example of the most absurd supersti- tion. Their principal motive in the performance of their re- ligious duties was the maintenance of their temporal su- premacy, and when the sacrifices were over, the Vaysia and Soudra returned to their tasks, the chiefs to their pleasures, and the priests to their mysterious abodes, where they en- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 295 gaged in the study of the sciences and of the highest philo- sophical and religious speculations. "The hour came when the Xchatrias, or kings, made use of the people to throw off the theocratic yoke, but when they had conquered the priests, and assumed the title' of Lords of Creation, they abandoned their late allies and said to the Brahmins : " 'Preach to the people the doctrine that we are the elect of God, and we will give you all the wealth and privileges you desire.' "That was the basis of their agreement, and for twenty thousand years and more the Soudra, the servumpecus, the people, have never been able to break it up. "Reduced to a purely religious role, the Brahmins used all their power to keep the multitude in ignorance and sub- serviency. Mistrustful lest some members of their order more ambitious than the rest might, one day or other, seek to further their own ends by stirring up the lower classes to revolt, they placed the secret of their religious belief, of their principles, of their sciences, under the shield of an initiatory ceremony, to the highest grade of which those only were ad- mitted who had completed a novitiate of forty years of pas- sive initiation. "There were three degrees of initiation. "The first included all the Brahmins of the popular cult, or those who officiated at the pagodas, whose business it was to work upon the credulity of the multitude. They were taught to comment upon the three first books of the Vedas, 296 THE REALITY AND to direct the religious ceremonies, and to perform sacrifices. The Brahmins of the first degree were in constant communi- cation with the people. They were its immediate directors, its gurus. "The second degree included the exorcists, the soothsay- ers, the prophets, and the evocators of spirits, whose busi- ness it was, in times of difficulty, to act upon the imagina- tion of the masses, through supernatural phenomena. They read and commented upon the Atharva-Veda, which was a collection of magical conjurations. "In the third degree the Brahmins had no direct rela- tions with the populace, the study of all the physical and su- pernatural forces of the universe being their only occupation. They never appeared outside except through awe-inspiring phenomena, which spectators were not allowed to scrutinize too closely. * * * "It was impossible to arrive at the highest degree with- out having passed through the first two, where a process of weeding, as it were, was constantly going on, having regard to the ability and intelligence of the candidates. "It would have been impossible to conceive of a more af- fective instrument of social conservatism, and our modern doctrinaires may well regard it with a jealous eye. "Those who were too intelligent, or who were not suffi- ciently amenable to discipline, owing to their inflexibility of character, were soon lost amid the crowd of bigots and fa- natics of the first degree, who were as submissive and free from ambition as could possibly be desired. The lower clergy, if we may be allowed to use the expression, were not much EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 297 above the level of the rest of the Hindoo people, whose su- perstitions they shared, and whom they taught, perhaps, honestly. Absorbed in the ordinary observances of relig- ious worship, that independence of mind which usually ac- companies knowledge was not to be apprehended from them. It was not until twenty years had elapsed that promo- tion was possible from the first to the second degree, where the veil of the occult sciences first began to be uplifted, and the same period of time was necessary in order to surmount the mysterious barriers of the third degree. That class of initiates studied the Agronchada — Parikchai, or the Book of Spirits. "Above this last degree of initiation was the Supreme Council, under the presidency o; though three or four did go up, and pronounced everything all right. Next, the lady medium went into the cabinet. The light was lowered a little, but there was sufficient light left, for I took out my watch and saw what time it was. Mr. Caffray then wound up a large music box, set it playing, and then all was quiet. It would occupy too much space in your columns were I to describe all that happened. I will mention a few only of the many remarkable incidents. "A little girl, apparently about nine years of age, came to the cabinet door, and calling me by name, asked me to approach her. I did so and she gave me a beautiful rose. She then called everyone in the room singly the same way, and gave each a rose. But what ,to me was the greatest wonder of all was this : a light about the size of a cent was seen about two feet in front of me. It commenced to en- large and grow more luminous, and continued to do so, until it became a full-size adult female form, and brighter than the burning gas above our heads. It then spoke, gave me my mother's name, and said : 'I am your mother/ and told me never again to laugh at what I knew nothing about. I easily- identified my mother by a private mark on the spirit's face that my mother had on her face while living in this life. She then handed me a beautiful flower, diminished in size back to the little bright spot I first saw, and then vanished entirely. I have the rose to this day. If Mr. Caffray uses every skeptic as he used me, he must have set many a mind thinking." (Edward M. O'Connor, Facts, July, 1884.) "On Friday morning, August 2, 1884, about twenty per- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 319 sons met at Dr. Rothermel's cottage for a seance. His cabinet, which is open at the top, is low enough for most persons to look over, and see all that it contains. The doctor sat in front of one of the curtains, with another thrown over him, but with his head through an opening made in it for that purpose. Before taking his seat he was securely tied. "Almost as soon as the curtain dropped over him, hands were seen in a number of places, one appearing at the side of the cabinet that wound and started the music box, which stood outside the cabinet in full view of the audience, and which requires considerable strength to wind. 'Home, Sweet Home,' 'When the Mists are Cleared Away,' and other pieces were played on the zithern very beautifully. Instru- ments, bells, and other articles were handed out, and finally a small table passed over the head of the medium. Personal communications were written to nearly everyone in the circle from friends whose individuality they recognized. These communications were delivered without being read, the spirit designating by raps who the message was for, as Mrs. Rothermel passed them around the circle, and in every case was right. I had three personal messages in all in different handwritings. Handkerchiefs were then called for, which had been previously dampened, and held in the left hand of the persons owning them, on which were written messages from friends and relatives in the spirit world. One especially interesting, was that of Dr. Blodgett, of Holyoke, Mass., on which was the name of the person who had presented him with the handkerchief, but is now in the spirit world. Dr. Rothermel was controlled during the 320 THE REALITY AND seance by two or three spirits, and finally by Emma, when his hands were examined and found tied as at first. The door leading to the street was then opened, and we supposed the seance ended, but Emma said no, and in this broad day- light hands were seen. The music-box was again started. The control, Emma, then called for a knife, which was passed to her, and in an instant we heard the cutting of the cord, first on one wrist, then on the other, and the knife was passed over the top of the cabinet. Mrs. Kelly, of Boston, was then asked to kneel in front of the medium and put her hands on his, which she did, the manifestations continuing. "This ended the seance, which to all was very satisfac- tory, and to a skeptic very convincing, especially as it was in good light, and at last in broad day-light." (Facts.) "But of one beautiful manifestation — where, as there was no money consideration, no skeptic to be convinced (or defrauded), no possible motive for deception and no possibility of collusion, — even our materialistic Spiritualists, or the singularly-incapable would-be-investigators of the 'I told you so' class, might have been suprised and delighted. "The seance given by invitation to a party of nine in- vited guests, in a private parlor, where no public circle is ever held, and where any previous arrangements of fraudu- lent accessories would be utterly out of the question, occurred one evening in June last. There were present, as before stated, nine persons, all respectable and reliable witnesses, whose names are only withheld because I have not asked permission to use them, but who>, I am sure, would not hesitate to assent to and affirm the truth of my description. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 321 "The medium sat in a comfortable arm-chair, just be- yond the portiere dividing the dining and drawing rooms, the dining room doors being locked, the rooms examined, and left in total darkness, but the parlor in which the sitters grouped themselves in a circle, or, rather, horse-shoe, near the portiere, was lighted by an ordinary drop-light from the gasolier, the light being softened, but not made dim, by a tissue paper shade. "I think the first form which appeared was that of a tall, youthful figure, a blonde, beautifully dressed in a per- fectly fitting, totally unornamented white corded silk, mak- ing her simple, girlish beauty the more apparent, as well as the total want of resemblance to the medium (who is bru- nette), or to the sitters, — all elderly. She stood a moment, holding back the curtain, then advanced a step or two into the circle toward 'the light. No one spoke, or seemed to rec- ognize her, until, something seeming to prompt me, I said : 'Is it spirit Violet?' This is the name adopted by the beau- tiful spirit daughter of a very dear friend of The Voice of Angels, the spirit having been a very frequent contributor to its columns, through the mediumship of Miss Shelhamer, for some years. "The beautiful form instantly came and knelt down be- side me, and, putting her arms about me, laid her soft cheek against mine, motioned with her hands a desire to write. The gentleman beside me furnished a pencil and an old legal envelope, I handed them to her. She took them, walked around behind us to the head of the line, came into the circle, stood in full light, and wrote a message, which she put in my hand, desiring that I should send it to her father. 322 THE REALITY AND Retiring to the room in which the medium sat, she was out of sight only a moment when she reappeared, bringing a clove pink, which she also gave me 'for my papa,' as she said. She spoke to me of The Voice, of my work upon it, my anxiety about it, etc., etc., and, assuring me of her sym- pathy and appreciation, withdrew. Form after form fol- lowed in quick succession, all being recognized and welcomed by someone in the circle. "But it is of one particular phase I intended to speak, which I have never seen elsewhere. Later in the evening, when the power of the unseen chemists seemed even greater than at first, a female form, larger and more matured than the one I have described, appeared clothed in a close-fitting white silk, which was covered with a beautiful puffy drapery of finest lace, with a mesh like brussels, the front breadth, and a long lace scarf worn about the shoulders, being cov- ered with embroidered bouquets of pansies, rose-buds, and leaves, nearly a hand-breadth in size, and set at regular in- tervals. On our exclamations of surprise, the figure stepped to each one of us, allowing us to feel as well as see that it was really raised embroidery, exquisitely wrought, apparently of silk floss and chenille, each thread seeming to lie upon the surface of the lace like the most perfect hand embroidery. Walking deliberately around the circle, and passing under the drop-light, she stood beside it, where the light, falling directly upon her, showed the rich coloring and perfect shad- ing of the colors, and the luster of the silks. Then coming around behind me, stood with her hand resting lightly on my shoulders. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 323 "We were speaking, my neighbor and I, of the won- derful power of these soi-called chemical spirits to gather material evidently from the atmosphere, when this one, with a little pressure of her hand on my shoulder, said : 'Look, now !' I turned, as did the rest, to look at her, and, behold I every trace of embroidery was gone. She stepped into the center of the circle again, the drapery, scarf, and all about her as before, but perfectly white and smooth. Then, at the request of one of us to have the wonderful embroidery restored, held above her head, a yard or so at a time, till all had been passed through her hands in this way in plain sight of every one of us, and in less time than I have taken to tell it, the same beautiful colored embroidery covered her dress as before. "Again, allowing us to examine it as closely as before, she stepped again to the middle of the circle, out of which she had not been one instant, and threw off piece after piece of the lace, which fell upon the floor at our feet, and vanished like a soap-bubble, and in falling gave out sparks, and crackled as one's clothing or hair will do on a cold night, if one is electric. Finally, standing there, with a beautiful smile of acknowledgement for our expressions of delight, and wonder, clothed simply in the plain white silk princess' robe,, she bade us good night, and retired to the darkened room in which the medium sat in her usual street costume of black, deeply entranced, dripping with perspiration, and utterly exhausted, when a few minutes later, we crowded about her to thank her for allowing herself to be used for so beautiful an exhibition at such a cost of temporary nervous exhaus- tion." (Mrs. Julia A. Dawley, Facts, February, 1-885.) 324 THE REALITY AND While we have seen much of the phenomena of spirit- ualism and have attended many seances, both public and private, yet so few have been conducted with that necessary precaution that is so essential to eliminate all possibility of fraud or collusion. The most satisfactory phenomena we ever saw, occurred in a private family circle, which we were privileged to at- tend, in fact, the daughter of the house and ourselves began the investigation of the phenomena of Spiritualism to- gether. After a great deal of discussion and consultation with different members of her family, we finally decided to attend a materializing seance, which we did; but what we saw there only more deeply stimulated our curiosity and we decided to more thoroughly investigate the phenomena. Ac- cordingly the family formed a circle among themselves, so they would be absolutely sure that what they got, if any- thing, could be depended upon as coming from some disem- bodied source and there would be no attempt at fraud. We were, because of our years of friendship, privileged to at- tend these circles whenever we could; but not living in the same place, it was seldom we were fortunate enough to be with them. However, we were always kept informed as to how they were progressing in their investigations. A room on the second floor was set apart and kept solely for spirit manifestations, all the furniture was removed except a few chairs and a small table. It was while on a visit to this family that we saw the phenomena referred to. As was the custom of the family before retiring, we spent a part of the evening in the "spirit" room. First we placed our chairs in a semi-circle in front of the cabinet (the cabi- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 325 net consisted of a piece of black cambric tacked across one corner of the room), then the light was put out. But soon the room was light enough for us to distinguish each other ; then the spirits would plunge us in absolute darkness ; then large clouds would float around the room visible to all ; and we could distinctly see shadowy forms come and go from the cabinet. For two hours we watched this phenomena, then we said good night to the spirits, lit the lamp and prepared to leave the room, but before going, as was the custom, the small table was placed in the cabinet; you can imagine our surprise when out it came all by itself and walked up to the father and stopped. Then each one of us in turns put the table back in the cabinet and each time out it came without any visible assistance and walked up to the old gentleman and stopped. Finally someone asked the spir- its if they wanted "father" to put the table in the cabinet, and if he did, would it remain ? And quickly three raps replied, yes. The old gentleman then put the table in the cabinet and all was quiet. This table incident occurred in a brightly lighted room and to us was absolute proo>f that there are disembodied in- telligences that can move objects, understand and answer questions. We take pleasure in presenting the following communi- cation, addressed to us by an eminent jurist, the Honorable Christopher Reed, whose recognized intellectuality and cul- ture elevated him to the bench of Kansas, where he served, with marked ability, for a number of years, and who is now a leading member of the St. Louis bar. The motive which led him to investigate spiritualism, his personal experiences 326 THE REALITY AND and his impartial verdict are clearly set forth in the following langauge : "Miss Thomas, St. Louis, Mo. : "At the request of a friend I will detail to you, so far as I am able to recall, my experiences in relation to my investi- gation of what is now called 'Modern Spiritualism.' "Always of a deeply spiritual nature, I became, after the death of my wife in 1894, greatly concerned about the posi- tive evidence of the absorbing fact, whether we live again after death. My distaste, or rather my prejudice, against the methods of modern spiritualism was so great that it was with great reluctance, and in a most accidental way, that I was persuaded to investigate for myself the ground of spirit- ualism. "In 1896, in the city of Kansas City, Mo., an acquaint- ance of mine in a conversation related to me the fact that he had just undergone a most thrilling experience. I inquired what it was. He replied by saying that he had just returned from a meeting with a medium in spiritualism, and that at such meeting, in open day and in a room full of sunlight, he had received what he called 'a mesage from a dead friend' by means of 'independent slate writing,' and that such com- munication was in all respects correct and accurate and repre- sented facts occurring in the lifetime of such friend. He ex- plained to me at the same time what he meant by 'independ- ent slate writing.' This conversation made a deep impres- sion on my mind and 1 followed it up by calling on the me- dium, and had several sittings with her for the purpose of verifying or disproving what had been related to me. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 327 "These first efforts were futile. At the fourth call I was informed by the medium, a lady, that my mental condition was 'good for a communication/ as she expressed it, and re- quested me to take two slates, new apparently and clean, and place them face to face without any pencil in them. I did so. I was then requested to put them under a small table with left hand under slates and right hand on table. She then put her left hand under my left hand and her right hand over my right hand. The slates in a moment were forcibly moved up and down underneath the table, then forcibly pressed to the floor, while still in my hand. I then placed them and my hands in their former position, with her hands in their former position. It was midday and in a room full of sunlight and no one besides us were in the room. The slates became quiet when replaced under table, and in a moment I heard with great distinctness a writing on slates. When it ceased, I opened the slates and there found a writ- ten communication purporting to be from my wife, who died in '94. "The message was sensible and related to myself and children in connection with matter that I recognized as facts. At the very end of the writing (which covered the entire side of the slate) in a small place scarcely large enough for the word, I discovered the word 'over.' The medium explained that there was more to come. So I replaced slates in former condition and obtained what I will call another message from one purporting to be G. H. Nettleton and about facts that were uppermost in my mind and which I had never com- municated to any one at any time. I still have the slates 328 THE REALITY AND with the messages so far as they can be preserved under lapse of time. "On another occasion while at her house with some friends I noticed some large tin horns in the corner of room, and on iquiring was informed that 'communications,' as she expressed it, could also be had through such horns. I was amazed. I took up with great hesitation one of the horns, some eight feet distant from the medium, and put it to my ear. In a moment I heard some whispering, which, in an- swer to a direct inquiry, purported to be from my deceased wife and spoke of facts I recognized. "On another occasion the medium, at my request, took up the horn, said some one purporting to be my wife was talking to her, and the medium then inquired of me who were certain persons ? I said by way of answer that they were my children ; she then said : 'Your wife says they are going to-day with their grandfather to St. Louis,' which was a fact. "On another occasion I took up the horn and a whisper in a man's voice was heard. I inquired who it was, and among a great many other things, he said that his name was Charles Fowl ; that while in the body he lived in St. Louis, Mo., and kept a store called 'The St. Bernard Dollar Store.' I afterwards ascertained that a man by such a name had kept such a store in St. Louis. "The foregoing experiences are given for what they are worth, with the farther statement that I never, made farther investigations and never expect to do so again, for the reason that I regard such work as unprofitable and evil in its conse- quences, aside from giving the mind some relief and hope on EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 329 the all absorbing question of Job : 'If a man die shall he live again ?' "Dated St. Louis, Mo., June 8th, 1903." The above phenomena, however surprising to those who have no knowledge of such matters, sink into utter insignifi- cance when compared with the wonderful phenomena pro- duced by the Hindoo Fakers. CHAPTER XVII. Manifestations Continued. Occult Science in Europe and America is still young; as proof that their mediums have not arrived at that high de- gree of perfection attained by the Orientals we present the following astounding phenomena. Mr. Jacolliot, in his account of the phenomena produced in India under his observation, says : "Every European has heard of the extraordinary skill of the Hindu Fakirs, who are popularly designated under the name of Charmers or Jugglers. They claim to be invested with supernatural powers. Such is the belief of all Asiatic people. "When cur countrymen are told of their performances they usually answer : 'Go to the regular magicians, they will show you the same things.' "To enable the reader to appreciate the grounds of this opinion, it seems necessary to show how the Fakirs operate. The following are facts which no traveler has ventured to contradict : "First. — They never give public representations in places where the presence of several hundred persons makes it im- possible to exercise the proper scrutiny. 330 EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 331 "Second. — They are accompanied by no assistant or con- federate, as they are usually termed. "Third. — They present themselves in the interior of the house completely naked, except that they wear, for modesty's sake, a small piece of linen about as large as the hand. "Fourth. — They are not acquainted with goblets, or magic bags, or double-bottomed boxes, or prepared tables, or any of the thousand and one things which our European con- jurors find necessary. "Fifth. — They have absolutely nothing in their posses- sion, save a small wand of seven knots of young bamboo as big as the handle of a pen-holder, which they hold in their right hand, and a small whistle about three inches long, which they fasten to one of the locks of their long, straight hair; for, having no clothes and consequently no pockets, they would otherwise be obliged to hold it constantly in their hands. "Sixth. — They operate, as desired by the person whom they are visiting, either in a sitting or standing posture, or, as the case may require, upon the marble, granite, or stucco pavement of the veranda, or upon the bare ground in the garden. "Seventh. — When they need a subject for the exhibition of magnetic or somnambulistic phenomena they take any of your servants whom you may designate, no matter whom, and they act with the same facility upon a European, in case he is willing to serve. "Eighth — If they need any article, such as a musical in- strument, a cane, a piece of paper, a pencil, etc., they ask you to furnish it 332 THE REALITY AND "Ninth. — They will repeat any experiments in your pres- ence as many times as you require, and will submit to any test you may apply. "Tenth. — They never ask any pay, merely accepting as alms for the temple to which they are attached whatever you choose to offer them. "I have traveled through India in every direction for many years, and I can truthfully state I have never seen a single Fakir who was not willing to comply with any of these conditions. "It only remains for us to ask whether our more popular magicians would ever consent to dispense with any of their numerous accompaniments and perform under the same con- ditions. "There is no doubt what the answer would be. * * * "According to their religious belief, those who die in the Holy City are not obliged to go through any further trans- formations, but their souls immediately ascend to the abode of Brahma and are absorbed in the great soul. "Numerous pilgrims daily arrive from all parts of India, who come to perform, either on their own account, or on be- half of wealthy persons who employ and pay them for that purpose, devotional exercises, upon the banks of the sacred river, whose waters are nowhere else considered so propitious as at the feet of the Holy City. "Some bring the bones of Rajahs or other distinguished personages, whose families are able to afford the expense, which are collected after being burnt upon the funeral pyre in title bags, which they are instructed to throw into the EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 333 Ganges. The supreme hope of the Hindu is to die upon the banks of that river, or to transport his remains thither. "To his latter belief I was indebted during my stay at Benares for a meeting with the most extraordinary Fakir perhaps that I had ever encountered in India. * * * He had been there a fortnight already before I heard of his arrival. His name was Covindasamy. "After assuring myself of his consent I had him brought to my apartment one day at about noon, when the other occu- pants of the palace, on account of the extreme heat, were in- dulging in their noonday siesta. "The room in which I received him looked out upon the terrace, which in turn overlooked the Ganges, and was pro^- tected against the burning sun by a movable tent made from woven fibers of vertivert. In the middle of the terrace there was a water spout which fell in a fine shower into a marble basin and diffused a most delightful coolness. "I asked the Fakir if he wished to occupy any particular place rather than another. " 'As you please,' he answered. "I asked him to go out upon the terrace, which was much lighter than the room, and where I would have a better op- portunity to watch him. " 'Will you allow me to put to you a single question ?' said I, when he had assumed a squatting position upon the ground. " 'I am listening to you.' " 'Do you know whether any power is developed in you when you perform these phenomena? Did you ever feel any change take place in your brain or any of your muscles ?' 334 THE REALITY AND " 'It is not a natural force that acts. I am but an instru- ment. I evoke the ancestral spirits, and it is they who man- ifest their power.' "I have questioned a multitude of Fakirs in relation to this matter, and they have nearly all made the same answer. They look upon themselves only as intermediaries between this world and the invisible spirits. Observing that he en- tertained the same belief I dropped the subject in order that Covindasamy might go on with his performances. The Fakir was already in position, with both hands extended towards an immense bronze vase full of water. Within five minutes the vase commenced to rock toi and fro> upon its base, and approach the Fakir gently and with a regular motion. As the distance diminished, metallic sounds escaped from it as if some one had struck it with a steel rod. At certain times the blows were so numerous and quick that they pro- duced a sound similar to that made by a hail-storm upon a metal roof. "I asked Covindasamy if I could give directions, and he consented without hesitation. "The vase, which was still under the performer's influ- ence, advanced, receded, or stood still, according to my re- quest. "At one time, at my command, the blows changed into a continuous roll like that of a drum; at another, on the con- trary, they succeeded each other with the slowness and regu- larity of the ticking of a clock. "I asked to have the blows struck only every ten seconds, and I compared them with the progress of the second hand upon the face of my watch. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 335 "Then loud, sharp strokes were heard for a minute and two^-thirds. "Upon the table of the drawing-room attached to my apartments stood one of those music-boxes of which the Hin- dus are so fond, and which the Peishwa had no doubt pro- cured from Calcutta. I had it brought out upon the terrace by my cansama, and I asked to have the blows struck upon the vase so as to accompany any air which the instrument might perform. "I then wound up the box in the usual way and pressed the spring of the clock-work, without knowing what air it would play. A regular whirlwind of notes was the result, and the box played, in time designedly accelerated, no doubt, the tune of 'Robin of the Wood/ "I listened in the direction of the vase, and quick, sharp strokes accompanied the tune, with the regularity of the baton of an orchestra leader. The air had scarcely finished when I again pressed the spring, and the blows moderated their pace to keep time to the march from the Prophet, which they accompanied exactly. "All this was done without fuss, or parade, or mystery of any kind upon a terrace of a few yards square. The vase thus put in motion could hardly, when empty, have been moved by two men. It was hollowed out like a cup, and was so situated as to receive the falling jet of water from the fountain before spoken of. It was used for the morning ab- lutions, which, in India, are almost equal to a regular bath. "What was the force that moved this mass ? That is the question. 336 THE REALITY AND "I repeated these various experiments a second time, and they were renewed with like order and regularity. "The Fakir, who had neither changed his position, nor left his palace, then stood up and rested the tips of his fingers for a short time upon the edge of the vase. It soon began to rock to and fro in regular time, from left to right,, gradually accelerating its speed, its base, which rose and fell alternately on either side, made no sound upon the stuccoed pavement. "But what surprised me most was to see that the water remained stationary in the vase, as if there were a strong pressure that prevented its regaining its equilibrium, which the motion of the vessel containing it had disturbed. "Three times during these oscillations the vase rose a dis- tance of seven to eight inches completely from the ground, and when it fell to the pavement again it did so without any perceptible shock. "The performance had already lasted several hours, dur- ing which I had taken copious and careful notes, and had also taken the precaution to have each phenomenon repeated in a different manner, when the sun, which was sinking below the horizon, warned us that it was time for me to commence my usual excursions among the venerable monuments and ruins of ancient Kassy, which was the center of the religious power of the Brahmins when, after their contest with the Rajahs, they had lost their temporal power — as well as for the Fakir to prepare himself in the temple of Siva, by the usual prayers, for the ablutions and funeral ceremonies which he was obliged to perform every evening upon the banks of the sacred river. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 337 "Upon taking his departure the Fakir promised to return every day, at the same hour, as long as he should remain at Benares. * * * "Covindasamy was punctual in the performance of his engagement. "Gazing at the extraordinary flood of light which the sun poured upon the surface of the Ganges as it rolled by I stood absorbed in silent contemplation of the magnificent spectacle before me, when the Fakir, lifting one of the curtains which hung before the door leading into the veranda, walked in and sat upon the floor with his legs bent under him after the Hin- du manner. * * * "Suddenly he arose and walked toward the bronze vase which he had used the day before for the purpose of exhibit- ing his power. He imposed his hands upon the surface of the water which filled it to the very edge, but he did not touch it, however, and stood motionless in that position. As yet I had no idea of the phenomena that he intended to per- form. "I do not know that he experienced any unusual diffi- culty on that day, but an hour had elapsed before either the water or the vase exhibited any evidence whatever of* action on his part. "I had begun to despair of obtaining any result on that occasion, when the water began to be gently agitated. It looked as though its surface were ruffled by a slight breeze. Placing my hands upon the edge of the vase I experienced a slight feeling of coolness, which apparently arose from the same cause. A rose-leaf, thrown into the water, soon was blown or drifted against the other edge. 338 THE REALITY AND "Meanwhile the Fakir stood motionless. His mouth was closed, and, strange to say, though it effectually disposed of any idea of trickery on his part, the waves were formed on the opposite side from that of the performer and gently broke against the edge of the vase on his side. "Gradually the motion of the waves became more violent. They made their appearance in every direction, as though the water were in a state of intense ebullition under the in- fluence of a great heat. It soon rose higher than the Fakir's hands, and several waves rose to the height of one or two feet from the surface. "I asked Covindasamy to take his hands away. Upon their removal the motion of the water gradually abated, without ceasing altogether, as in the case of boiling water from which the fire has been removed. On the other hand, whenever he placed his hands in their former position the motion of the water was as great as ever. "The last portion of the seance was still more extraord- inary. "The Hindu asked me to lend him a small stick. I hand- ed him a wooden lead pencil that had never been sharpened. He placed it in the water, and in a few minutes, by the im- position of his hands, he made it move in every direction like a magnet in contact with an iron bar. "Placing his forefingers gently upon the middle of* the pencil so as not to affect its position upon the water, in a few minutes I saw the small piece of wood slowly descend beneath the surface until it had reached the bottom of the vase. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 339 "Laying aside the question of skill or deception on the performer's part, without doing which it is impossible for me to make any positive statement either one way or the other, although under the circumstances it would have been extremely difficult for any attempt at imposture to have es- caped my attention, it occurred to me that the Fakir, upon charging the small piece of wood with fluid, might perhaps have increased its weight so as to make it heavier than water. "Though deeply sceptical with regard to spirits, I often wondered, when I saw an experiment of this kind, whether or not some natural force had not been brought into play with which we were totally unacquainted. "I merely state the facts without further comment. "The Fakir's third visit was short, as he was to pass the night in prayer upon the banks of the sacred river, upon the occasion of a religious festival, and he had been invited to a funeral sraddha, which was to take place on the following day. "He came merely to inform me that he would be obliged to attend them, and was preparing to return to the small hut that the Peishwa had given him the, use of, when, at my re- quest, he consented to perform a phenomenon of elevation, which I had already seen other performers successfully ac- complish, without, however, taking any particular notice of how they did it. "Taking an ironwood cane which I had brought from Ceylon, he leaned heavily upon it, resting his right hand upon the handle, with his eyes fixed upon the ground. He then proceeded to utter the appropriate incantations, which he had forgotten to favor me with the day previous. 340 THE REALITY AND "From the elaborate preparation he made in my presence I formed the opinion that this was to be only another in- stance of what I had always regarded as an acrobatic trick. "My judgment refuses, in fact, to attach any other name to such phenomena as this. "Leaning upon the cane with one hand, the Fakir rose gradually about two feet from the ground. His legs were crossed beneath him, and he made no change in his position, which was very like that of those bronze statues of Buddha that all tourists bring from the far East, without a suspicion that most of them come originally from English foundries. "For more than twenty minutes I tried to see how Cov- indasamy could thus fly in the face and eyes of all the known laws of gravity; it was entirely beyond my comprehension; the stick gave him no visible support, and there was no ap- parent contact between that and his body, except through his right hand. "When I dismissed him he informed me, upon leaving, that when the sacred elephants should strike the hour of midnight upon the copper gong in the pagoda of Siva, he would evoke the familiar spirits that protect the Franguys (or French), who would then manifest their presence in some manner in my bedroom. "The Hindus have a perfect understanding among them- selves. In order to prevent any too obvious fraud I sent my two servants to pass the night upon the dingui with the cer- car and boatman. The idea of the supernatural was natur- ally repugnant to my mind. My leanings were all the other way, but if the fact should occur as he predicted I did not EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 341 want to be too easily duped. For that reason I prepared to throw every obstacle in the Fakir's way. * * * "As soon as it was dark I examined all the different rooms in the apartment in the most careful manner and made sure that nobody was concealed in them. I then raised the drawbridge, and thus cut off all communication from the outside. "At the hour named I thought I heard two blows dis- tinctly struck against the wall of my room. I walked toward the spot from which the sound seemed to come, when my steps were suddenly arrested by a sharp blow, which ap- peared to proceed from the glass shade that protected the hanging lamp against gnats and night butterflies. A few more sounds were heard at unequal intervals in the cedar rafters of the ceiling, and that was all. * * * "It was night, and I was waiting for the Fakir upon the terrace, when he walked quietly in. * * * "Without being asked to do so, he then went on with his performances. "Taking a small bamboo stool that stood near, he sat down upon it in the Mussulman style with his legs crossed beneath him and his arms folded across his chest. "According to my instructions to my cansama, the ter- race had been lighted a giorno, and I had made such prep- arations that nothing that occurred could possibly escape my attention. "As in my accounts of previous performances, I omit all the elaborate preparations by which they were accompanied, 342 THE REALITY AND and the impression made upon my own mind, and confine myself strictly to what is essential. "At the end of a few minutes, during which he appeared to concentrate his attention upon the bamboo stool upon which he was sitting, it began to move noiselessly along the floor by short jerks which made it advance about three or four inches every time. I watched the Hindu attentively, but he was as still and motionless as a statue. "The terrace was about seven yards long and as many wide. It took about ten minutes to traverse the whole dis- tance, and when the stool had arrived at the end it began to move backward until it returned to its starting place. The performance was repeated three times, and always success- fully, unless the conditions were changed. I ought to say, however, that the Fakir's legs, which were crossed beneath him, were distant from the ground the whole height of the stool. "During the whole day the heat had been overpowering. The night breeze which springs up so regularly in those lati- tudes to cool the heated lungs, and which flows from the Himalaya Mountains, had not yet risen. The metor was moving as fast as he could by the aid of a rope of cocoa fiber above our heads, an enormous punkah, hanging from iron rods in the middle of the terrace, which also supported hori- zontally the'vertivert curtains and surrounding matting. "The punkah is a sort of movable fan of rectangular form, which is fastened at both ends of the ceiling of the room. Set in motion by a servant specially engaged for that purpose it imparts a factitious, though very agreeable, cool- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 343 ness to the atmosphere. The Fakir made use of this instru- ment for the performance of the second phenomenon. "Taking the punkah rope from the metor's hands, he pressed it against his forehead with both hands, and sat down in a squatting position beneath the punkah, which soon be- gan to move slowly over our heads, though Covindasamy had not made the slightest motion. It gradually increased its speed until it moved at a very rapid rate, as though it were driven by some invisible hand. "When the Fakir let go of the rope it continued to move, though at a gradually diminishing rate, and finally stopped altogether. "These two phenomena were repeated several times, and it was now quite late at night, but the Fakir was in a good humor, and before leaving he determined to give me another proof of his power. "Three vases of flowers, so heavy that none but a strong man could have lifted them (and then he could not have done so without an effort), stood at one end of the terrace. Se- lecting one, he imposed his hands upon it so as to touch the edge of the vase with the tips of his fingers. Without any apparent effort on his part it began to move to and fro upon its base as regularly as the pendulum of a clock. It soon seemed to me that the vase had left the floor without chang- ing its movements in the least degree, and it appeared to me to be floating in the air, going from right to left at the will of the Fakir. * * * "Covindasamy had only three days more to stay at Be- nares. I determined to devote our last meeting to experi- ments in magnetism and somnambulism. * * * 344 THE REALITY AND n r Will you allow me to-day/ said I, 'to indicate the phenomena that I wish you to perform, instead of leaving them to you?' * * * " 'I will do as you please/ said the Hindu, simply. * * * "I had often seen the performing Fakirs attach different ebjects to the ground, either, according to the explanation given me by an English Major who had devoted much time and thought to questions of this class, by charging them with fluid in order to augment their specific gravity or in some other manner unknown to me. I determined to repeat the experiment. Taking a small stand of teak wood which I could lift without any effort with my thumb and forefinger I placed it in the middle of the terrace and asked the Fakir if he could not fix it there so that it could not be moved. "The Fakir, without the slightest hesitation, walked toward the small piece of furniture, and imposing both hands upon the top stood motionless in that position for nearly a quarter of an hour, at the end of which time he said to me, smiling : " 'The spirits have come and nobody can remove the ta- ble without their permission. ' "Feeling somewhat incredulous, I approached the table and took hold of it as though I were going to lift it. It would not stir from the ground any more than if it had been sealed. I struggled harder, with the result that the fragile leaf there fastened came off in my hands. "I then took hold of the legs, which were united by a cross brace and which remained standing, but the result was the same. A thought then crossed my mind. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 345 "Suppose, thought I, that these phenomena are pro- duced by the Fakir's charging objects with some kind of fluid, and that a natural force is thus developed, the laws of which we are as yet ignorant of, the supply of fluid with which they are charged must gradually lose its efficacy un- less renewed by the operator, and in that case I shall soon be able to remove what is left of the table without any diffi- culty. "I asked the Fakir to go to the other end of the terrace, which he did with the utmost good humor imaginable. At the end of a few minutes I was able to handle the stand with- out any trouble whatever. * * * " 'The Pitris have departed,' said the Hindu, in explana- tion, 'because their means of terrestrial communication was broken. Listen! They are coming again.' "As he uttered these words, he imposed his hands above one of those immense copper platters inlaid with silver, such as are used by wealthy natives for dice playing, and almost immediately there ensued such a rapid and violent succession of blows or knocks that it might have been taken for a hail- shower upon a metal roof, and I thought I saw (the reader will observe that I do not express myself positively in this re- spect) a succession of phosphorescent lights (plain enough to be visible in broad daylight) pass to and fro across the platter in every direction. "This phenomenon ceased or was repeated at the Fakir's pleasure. * * * "I bethought myself of a small mill which might be moved by a breath, which set several personages in motion. ■ 346 THE REALITY AND I pointed it out to Covindasamy and asked him if he could make it go without touching it. "In consequent of the imposition of his hands alone he set the mill in motion with great rapidity, at a rate which in- creased or diminished, according to the distance at which the Fakir stood. "This was a very simple fact, yet it made a great impres- sion upon my mind by reason of the improbability of any previous notice or preparation. "The following is another of the same character, but much more surprising. "Among the objects that composed the Peishwa's mu- seum was a harmoniflute. By the aid of a small cord tied around the wooden square forming a portion of the bellows (a part of the instrument which, as everybody knows, is on the side opposite to that of the keys) I hung it from one of the iron bars of the terrace in such a way that it swung in the air at about two feet from the ground, and I asked the Fakir if he could make it play without touching it. "Complying unhesitatingly with my request, he seized the cord by which the harmoniflute was suspended between the thumb and forefinger of each hand and stood perfectly mo- tionless and still. The harmoniflute soon began to be gently stirred, the bellows underwent an alternate movement of con- traction and inflation as though proceeding from some invis- ible hand, and the instrument emitted sounds which were perfectly plain and distinct, though of unusual length and not very harmonious, it is true. " 'Cannot you get a tune?' said I to Covindasamy. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 347 " 'I will evoke the spirit of one of the old pagoda mu- sicians,' he answered with the greatest gravity. "I waited patiently. "The instrument had been silent a long while, not having made a sound since my request. It now began to move anew and first played a series of notes or chords like a pre- lude; it then bravely attached one of the most popular airs on the Malabar coast. * * * "As long as the piece lasted the Fakir stood perfectly still. He merely had hold, as I have already described, of the cord by which he was in communication with the har- moniflute. "Wishing to apply every test in my power, I kneeled down in order to observe the various movements of the in- strument, and I saw, so that I am positively sure of what I say, unless I was misled by an illusion of the senses, the up- ward and downward motion oi the keys, according to the requirements of the tune. * * * "As he was about stepping across the threshold of the terrace door he noticed a vase containing various feathers taken from the most wonderful birds in India. He took up a handful, which he threw above his head high in the air. The feathers of course descended again soon, but the Fakir made passes beneath them as tney fell, and whenever one came near him it turned around quickly and ascended again with a spiral movement, until it stopped by the vertivert car- pet, which answered the purpose of a movable roof. They all went in the same direction, but after a moment, in obedi- ence to the laws of gravity, they dropped again, but before they had traveled half the distance to the ground they re- 348 THE REALITY AND sumed their ascending movements and were stopped as be- fore by the matting, where they remained. "A final tremor was followed by a slight manifestation of downward tendency, but the feathers soon remained sta- tionary. If any one had seen them standing out in sharp re- lief against the golden background of the straw matting, in brilliant and decided colors of every possible shape, he would have said that they were placed there by the pencil of some accomplished artist. "As soon as the Fakir had disappeared they fell flat to the ground. I left them a long while as they lay strewn upon the floor, as a proof of which I felt the need that I had not been misled by some mental hallucination. * * * "Covindasamy had promised me that before he left to re- turn to Trivanderm he would employ all the power at his command, or, to use an expression for which he alone is re- sponsible, he would appeal to all the Pitris who assisted him, and would show me something wonderful that I would never forget. "On the day in question we were to have two sittings, one in the broad light of day, like those which I have pre- viously described, and one at night, but I was to be free to illuminate the place in which the experiments were to be held as much as I pleased. "The gath of Siva was hardly gilded by the first rays of the rising sun when the Hindu, whose mission was now at an end, sent in his name by my cansama. He was afraid he would find me asleep. * * * "He had brought with him a small bag of the finest sand, EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 349 which he proceeded to empty upon the floor and level with his hand, in such a way as to form a surface of about half a square yard. "When he had done this he asked me to sit at a table op- posite him with a sheet of paper and a pencil. "Having asked for a small piece of wood, I threw him the handle of a penholder, which he gently placed upon the bed of sand. "'Listen!' said he. 'I am about to evoke the Pitris. When you see the article you have just given me stand up- right, one end only being in contact with the ground, you are at liberty to trace upon the paper any figures you please, and you will see an exact copy of them in the sand/ "He then extended both hands before him horizontally and proceeded to repeat the sacred formulas of evocation. "In a few minutes the wooden rod gradually rose, as he had said, and at the same moment I proceeded to move my pencil over the sheet of paper before me, tracing the strang- est figures in the world entirely at random. The piece of wood at once imitated every motion, and I saw the whimsi- cal figures that I had been tracing appear successively in the sand. "When I stopped, the improvised pencil stopped — when I went on, it followed me. "The Fakir had not changed his position, and there was no apparent contact between him and the piece of wood. "Wishing to know whether he could see, from his posi- tion, the movements of the pencil, as I drew it over the sheet of paper, which, however, would not have explained how he 350 THE REALITY AND could transfer the figures without being in contact with the sand upon which they appeared, I left the table, and placing myself in an identically similar position to that of Covindas- amy, I was able to satisfy myself that it was totally impossi- ble for him to ascertain what I was doing. "I then compared the figures with each other, and I found that they were exactly alike. "Having leveled the sand again, the Fakir said to me: 'Think of a word in the language of the gods' — the Sancrit. " 'Why, that language particularly ?' I answered. " 'Because the Pitris use that immortal medium of speech more easily than any other. The impure are not allowed to use it' * * * "The Hindu then extended his hands as before. The magic pencil began to move, and, gradually rising, wrote un- hesitatingly the following word : "Pouroucha ! (The celestial generator.) "That was actually the word that I had thought of. " 'Think of a whole phrase,' continued the Fakir. " 'I have done so,' I answered. "The pencil then wrote upon the sand the following words : "Adicete Veikountam Haris! (Vischnou sleeps upon Mount Eikonta.) " 'Can the spirit by whom you are inspired give me the 243d sloca of the fourth book of Manu?' inquired I of Cov- indasamy. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 351 "I had hardly expressed the wish when the pencil pro- ceeded to gratify it, and wrote the following words one after the other, letter by letter, before my eyes : "Darmapradanam pouroucham tapasa, hatakilvisam paralokam nayaty acou basouantam Kasaririnam. "The following is a translation of this remarkable stanza, which was correctly given as indicated : " 'The man, the end of all whose actions is virtue, and all whose sins are wiped out by acts of piety and sacrifices, reaches the celestial mansions, radiant with light and clothed with a spiritual form.' "Finally, as a last experiment, placing my hands upon a closed book containing extracts from hymns in the Rig- Veda, I asked for the first word of the fifth line of the twenty-first page. I received .the following answer : . "Devadatta. (Given by a god.) "Upon comparison, I found it to be correct. " 'Will you now put a mental question ?' said the Fakir. "I acquiesced by a simple movement of the head, and the following word was written upon the sand: "Vasundara. (The Earth.) "I had asked : 'Who is our common mother ?' * * * "The first part of this sitting was somewhat long. I asked the Fakir to discontinue his performances for a few minutes, during which I walked to the end of the terrace, whither he followed me. "It might have been ten o'clock in the forenoon. 352 THE REALITY AND "The waters of the Ganges shone like a mirror in the bright light of a hot day. Upon our left lay a large garden, in the midst of which there stood a well, from which a metor was unconcernedly drawing water, which he poured into a bamboo pipe, which in its turn supplied a bathing-room. "Covindasamy imposed his hands in the direction of the well, and the result was that, though the poor metor pulled upon the rope with all his might, it would no longer slip through the pulley. "When a Hindu meets with any impediment in his work he at once attributes any obstacle that he cannot overcome to evil spirits, and immediately proceeds to chant all the magical incantations with which he is acquainted, for the knowledge of which he has often paid a high price. "The poor metor, of course, could not let slip so 1 favorable an opportunity to use the knowledge he had obtained ; but he had hardly chanted a few words in that sharp nasal tone, which is so lacerating to the European ear, but which is in- flicted upon it everywhere in the East, and particularly in the far East, in the name of* music, when his voice died away in his throat and he found it impossible, though he made the strangest contortions, to articulate a single word. "After looking at this curious sight for a few moments the Fakir dropped his hands and the metor recovered the use of his speech, while the rope performed its office as before. "Upon returning to the scene of our late experiments I found the heat to be overpowering and so remarked to the Fakir, who did not seem to hear me, absorbed as he was, ap- parently in his own reflections. I had forgotten the remark EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 353 that I had incidentally let drop, when one of those palm-leaf fans that Hindu servants use to cool the air in rooms where there is no punkah, flew up from the table, where it had been lying, and gently fanned my face. "I observed that, although it moved very slowly, the air was unusually cool and refreshing. At the same time the atmosphere seemed to be filled with the melodious sounds of a human voice, which had nothing Hindu about it, which I thought I heard, like those faint songs that huntsmen on the mountains often hear rising from the valleys at twilight. "The palm leaf finally returned to the table and the sounds ceased. I wondered whether there had not been some illusion of my senses. As the Fakir was about to leave me * * * he stopped in the embrasure of the door lead- ing from the terrace to the outside stairs, and, crossing his arms upon his chest, lifted himself up gradually without any apparent support or assistance to the height of about ten to twelve inches. "I was able to determine the distance exactly by means of a point of comparison which I had fixed upon during the continuance of the phenomenon. Behind the Fakir's back there was a silken hanging, which was used as a portiere striped in gold and white bands of equal width. I noticed that the Fakir's feet were on a level with the sixth band. At the commencement of his ascension I had seized my chrono- meter ; the entire time from the moment when the Fakir commenced to rise until he touched the ground again was more than eight minutes. He remained perfectly still at the highest. point of elevation for nearly five minutes. 354 THE REALITY AND "As Covindasamy was making his parting salaam I asked if he could repeat the last phenomenon whenever he pleased. " 'The Fakir/ answered he, emphatically, 'can lift him- self up as high as the clouds.' " 'What is the source of his power?' I do not know why I asked him the question, as he had already told me, more than twenty times, that he did not regard himself as any- thing more than an instrument in the hands of the Pitris. "He aswered me with the following lines : * * * " 'He should be in constant communication with heaven, and a superior spirit should descend therefrom.' * * * "Among the extraordinary claims advanced by the Fakirs is one that they can directly influence the growth of plants, and that they can so hasten it as to accomplish in a few hours what usually takes several months or even years. * * * "Absurd as it seemed, as Covindasamy, who was really a man of remarkable power, proposed to repeat the various phenomena which 1 had already seen performed by others at different times, I determined to watch him so that he could do nothing which should escape my notice. "He had promised to give me two hours more of his time — from three to five — previous to the night sitting. I determined to employ them as proposed. "The Fakir suspected nothing, and I thought he would be highly surprised when, upon his arrival, I told him what I intended to do. " 'I am entirely at your service,' said he, in his usual sim- ple way. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 355 "I was somewhat disconcerted by his assurance, but I continued : " 'Will you allow me to choose the earth, the vessel, and the seed which you are to make grow before my eyes ?' " 'The vessel and the seed, yes ; but the earth must be taken from a nest of carias.' "These little white ants, who build, for shelter, small hills, often reaching a height of nine or a dozen yards, are very common in India, and there was no difficulty whatever in procuring a little of the earth, which they prepare very skilfully for their purpose. "I told my cansama to have a flower-pot of the usual size filled with the earth required, and to bring me, at the same time, some seeds of different sorts. "The Fakir asked him to break the earth between a couple of stones, as it was only to be obtained in pieces almost as, hard as old building material. * * * "In less than a quarter of an hour my servant returned with the articles required. I took them from his hands and dismissed him, not wishing to leave him in communication with Covindasamy. "To the latter I handed the flower-pot filled with a whit- ish earth, which must have been entirely saturated with that milky fluid which the caria secrete and deposit upon every particle of earth, however small, which they use for building purposes. "When the Fakir deemed that it was in proper condition he asked me to give him the seed that I had selected, as well as about a foot and a half of some white cloth. I chose at 356 THE REALITY AND random a pawpaw seed from among those which my can- sarna had brought, and before handing it to him I asked him if he would allow me to mark it. Being answered in the affirmative, I made a slight cut in its outer skin. It was very much like the kernel of a gourd, except in color, which was a deep brown. I gave it to him, with a few yards of mosquito cloth. * 'I shall soon sleep the sleep of the spirits,' said Covin- dasamy; 'you must promise me that you will neither touch me personally nor the flower-pot.' "I made the promise required. "He then planted the seed in the earth, which was now in a state of liquid mud, thrusting his seven-knotted stick — which, being a sign of his initiation, he never laid aside — into one corner of the vessel, and using it as a prop to hold up the piece of muslin which I had just given him. After hiding from sight in this manner the object upon which he was to operate, he sat down upon the floor, stretched both hands horizontally above him and gradually fell into a deep cataleptic sleep. * * * "I had been waiting for a couple of hours, and the sun was fast sinking below the horizon, when a low sigh startled me. The Fakir had recovered possession of his senses. "He made signs to me to approach. Removing the mus- lin that hid the flower-pot, he then pointed out to me a young stalk of papaw, fresh and green, and nearly eight inches high. "Anticipating my thoughts, he thrust his fingers into the ground, which, meanwhile had parted with nearly all of its EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 357 moisture, and carefully taking up the young plant he showed me, upon one -of the two cuticles still adhering to the roots, the cut that I had made two hours previously. "Was it the same seed and the same cut? I have only one answer to make. I noticed no substitution. The Fakir had not left the terrace ; I had not lost sight of him. When he came he did not know what I was going to ask. It was impossible for him to conceal a plant in his clothes, as he was almost entirely naked, and, at any rate, he could not have told in advance that I would select a papaw seed among thir- ty different kinds that my cansama had brought. * * * "After enjoying my surprise for a few moments, the Fakir said to me, with an ill-concealed movement of pride: " 'If I had continued my evocations longer the papaw tree would have borne flowers in eight days, and fruit in fif- teen.' * * * "I said in reply that there were other performers who ac- complished the same results in two hours. " 'You are mistaken/ said the Hindu ; 'in the manifesta- tions you speak of there is an apport, as it is called, of fruit trees by the spirits. What I have just shown you is really spontaneous vegetation; but the pure fluid under the direc- tion of the Pitris never was able to produce the three phases of germination, flowering and fruitage in a single day/ "It was near the hour of ablutions ; in other words, it was near sunset. The Fakir hastened to leave me, engaging to meet me for the last time at ten o'clock that evening, when the remainder of the night was to be devoted to phenomena of apparition. * * * 358 THE REALITY AND "At the appointed hour Covindasamy quietly entered my room. * * * "Before entering my apartments he had divested himself O'f the small piece of cloth called the langouty, about four inches wide, which usually composed his only garment, and had deposited it upon one of the steps. He was entirely naked when he came in, and his seven-knotted stick was fas- tened to a lock of his long hair. * 'Nothing impure,' said he, 'should come in contact with the body of the evocater if he wishes to reserve his power of communication with the spirits unimpaired. "My bedroom was on a level with the terrace. I set apart both rooms for our experiments and carefully shut and fatened all the outside doors by means of which they were accessible. "The terrace was securely closed by its movable ceiling and curtains of vetivert matting. There was no opening from the outside, and nobody could gain admission except through my bedroom. "In the center of each room there was a cocoa oil lamp protected by a glass shade of the clearest crystal, which hung from a bronze chain and diffused a soft light, sufficiently in- tense, however, to enable any one to read the smallest type in the remotest corner of the room. "All Hindu houses contain small copper furnaces which are kept constantly supplied with burning coals, on which are burned from time to time a few pinches of a perfumed pow- der, consisting of sandal wood, iris root, incense and myrrh. "The Fakir placed one of these in the center of the ter- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 359 race and deposited by its side a copper platter filled with the fragrant powder; having done so, he took his seat upon the floor in his usual posture, with his arms folded across his chest, and commenced a long incantation in an unknown tongue. "When he was through with the recitation of his men- trams he remained in the same position without making a movement, his left hand resting upon his heart, and his right hand leaning upon his seven-knotted stick. "I thought he was going to drop into a cataleptic sleep, as he had done the day before, but such was not the case. From time to time he pressed his hand against his forehead, and seemed to make passes as though to relieve his brain. "Involuntarily I experienced a sudden shock. A slightly phosphorescent cloud seemed to have formed in the middle of my chamber, from which semblances of hands appeared to go and come with great rapidity. In a few minutes sev- eral hands seemed to have lost their vaporous appearance and to resemble human hands, so much so, indeed, that they might have been readily mistaken for the latter. Singular to relate, while some became, as it were, more material, others became more luminous. Some became opaque and cast a shadow in the light, while others became so trasparent that an object behind them could be distinctly seen. "I counted as many as sixteen. "Asking the Fakir if I could touch them, I had hardly ex- pressed a wish to that effect, when one of them, breaking away from the rest, flew toward me and pressed my out- stretched hand. It was small, supple and moist, like the hand of a young woman. 360 THE REALITY AND " 'The spirit is present, though one of its hands is alone visible,' said Covindasamy. 'You can speak to it if you wish.' "I smilingly asked whether the spirit to whom that charming hand belonged would give me something in the nature of a keepsake. "Thereupon, in answer to my request, I felt the hand fade away in my own. I looked; it was flying towards a bouquet of flowers, from which it plucked a rosebud, which it threw at my feet and vanished. "For nearly two hours a scene ensued which was calcu- lated to set my head in a whirl. At one time a hand brushed against my face or fanned it with a fan. At another it would scatter a shower of flowers all over the room, or would trace in the air, in characters of fire, words which vanished as soon as the last letter was written. "Some of these words were so striking that I wrote them down hastily with a pencil. "Divy ava pour gatwa. "Meaning in Sanscrit — 'I have clothed myself with a fluidic (fluidique) body/ Immediately afterward the hand wrote: "Atmanam creyasayoxyatas. Dehasya' sya vimocanaut. " 'You will attain happiness when you lay aside this per- ishable body.' "Meanwhile, flashes of genuine lightning seemed to dart across both rooms. "Gradually, however, all the hands disappeared. The cloud from which they came seemed to vanish by degrees as the hands became more material. EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 361 "In the place where the last hand had disappeared we found a garland of those yellow flowers with penetrating fragrance which the Hindus use in all their ceremonies. "I offer no explanation — I merely relate what occurred — leaving the reader at perfect liberty to draw any conclusion that he may see fit. "I can state positively, however, that the doors of both rooms were closed, that I had the keys in my pocket, and that the Fakir had not changed his position. * * * "Shortly after the hands had disappeared, and while the Fakir was still going on with his evocations, a cloud similar to the first, but more opaque and of a brighter color, hovered near the little furnace, which, at the Hindu's request, I had kept constantly fed with burning coals. By degrees it seemed to assume a human form, and I distinguished the spectre — for I cannot call it otherwise — of an old Brahmin- ical priest kneeling by the side of the little furnace. "On his forehead he wore the signs of his consecration to Vischnou, while his body was girdled with the triple cord, which signified that he had been initiated into the priestly caste. He clasped his hands above his head as in the per- formance of sacrifices, and his lips moved as if they were reciting prayers. At a certain moment, he took a pinch of the perfumed powder and threw it upon the furnace; there must have been an unusual quantity, for the fire emitted a thick smoke which filled both rooms. "When the smoke dispersed I noticed the spectre less than a couple of yards distant ; it held out to me its fleshless 362 THE REALITY AND hands. I took them in my own, as I returned his greeting, and was surprised to find them, though hard and bony, warm and lifelike. " 'Are you really/ said I, in a distinct voice, 'a former inhabitant of the earth?' "I had hardly finished the question, when the word am (meaning yes), appeared and disappeared in letters of fire upon the bosom of the old Brahmin. * * * " 'Will you not leave me something as a token of your presence ?' "The spirit broke the triple cord, consisting of three strands of cotton, which was tied about his loins, gave it to me and then faded away before my eyes. * * * "All at once, I heard a strange tune performed upon an instrument, which seemed to be the harmoniflute that we had used a couple of days before. That, however, appeared impossible, inasmuch as the Peishwa had sent for it the day before, and it was consequently no longer in my rooms. "It sounded at a distance, at first, but soon it came so near that it appeared to come from the next room, and I seemed before long to hear it in my bedroom. I noticed the phantom of a musician from the pagodas, gliding along the wall. He had a harmoniflute in his hands, from which he drew plaintive and monotonous notes exactly like the re- ligious music of the Hindus. "When he had made the circuit of my room and of the terrace, he disappeared, and I found the instrument that he had used at the very place where he had vanished. • EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 363 "It was actually the rajah's harmoniflute. I examined all the doors, but I found them all securely locked and I had the keys in my pocket. "Covindasamy then arose * * * made his parting salaam and noiselessly disappeared behind the curtains that hung before the outside door of my rooms. * * * "I threw myself upon a hammock for a few hours' rest. When I awoke and remembered the strange scenes that had passed before my eyes, it seemed as though I had been the plaything of a dream. Yet there was the harmoniflute, and I could not find out who, if anybody, had brought it. The floor of the terrace was still strewn with flowers, the crown of flowers was upon a divan, and the words that I had writ- ten had not vanished from the memorandum book in which I had jotted them down." {Occult Science in India, pp. 208, 209, 229 to 271, inc.) In the face of the above phenomena, it is plain that spir- itualism in India has nothing to learn from so-called modern spiritualism. On the contrary, modern spiritualism might learn much from the Hindus in more ways than one. They might learn not only the fundamental principles of the phe- nomena of spiritualism as well as its so-called philosophy; but they might also learn from the example furnished by India what the ultimate result of spiritualism will be to a people. The ancestors of the present Hindus were a great intellectual and cultivated people, as shown by their splendid architectural remains as well as by their literature, historical, scientific and religious. But just as the priesthood finally degraded the man from the coveted position of Brahmatma 364 THE REALITY AND to a life of debauchery; so did spiritualism finally degrade the whole population of India from the most enlightened civilization to barbarism and savagery as we find it to-day. Thus the claim of spiritualists that spiritualism is enlight- ening, elevating and progressive is disproved by all history,, sacred and profane. CHAPTER XVIII. The Origin of Spiritualism. While our desire is to show the reality and evils of spiritualism, nevertheless we feel that our book would not be complete without some reference as to its origin. As shown in a previous chapter, the survival of the spirit or mind and its place of abode in an intermediate state, was a part of God's plan of Creation. And we agree with Mr. Carroll that God revealed to Adam all that was essential to man. And a knowledge of spiritualism was a part of that revelation. All the facts indicate that Adam transmitted his knowledge to his descendants, and in Adam's "Book of Precepts" the Antediluvians possessed a correct account of the origin, the reality and the evils of spiritualism, as revealed to Adam by God himself. This being true, it follows that India, so far from being, as is generally sup- posed, the cradle of this so-called occult science, its exist- ence was known to our first parents. But in the course of time, Adam's "Book of Precepts," like our Bible, fell into disrepute and its teachings ignored until finally the degrad- ing practices of spiritualism supplanted monotheism. Un- der the sway of spiritualism, the world became so corrupt that God in His wrath destroyed all the antediluvians, "save Noah, and they that were with him in the ark." Monothe- 366 THE REALITY AND ism was the belief of Noah, and this, with a knowledge of the reality and evils of spiritualism, he transmitted to his descendants, of whom the ancestors of the Hindus were a part. At a remote period the Hindus fell completely under the control of the priesthood, who to further their own selfish ambitions, misled the people into renouncing mono- theism and accepting spiritualism; at the same time the priests taught monotheism secretly to the initiates. The following was their injunction : "Remember, my son, that there is only one God, the sovereign master and principle of all things, and that the Brahmins should worship Him in secret ; but learn also that this is a mystery, which should never be revealed to the vulgar herd — otherwise, great harm may befall you. — (Words spoken by the Brahmins upon receiving a candidate for initiation, according to Vir- haspapi.") (Ibid.) Fetichism, Shamanism, Totemism, etc., which are re- garded by many, and especially atheists, as religion, in its early stages of development, are really spiritualism in differ- ent stages of decay. And that spiritualism was universally practiced by the nations of antiquity is shown by the fact that traces of it are found on every continent of the earth. We have the most positive proof that the Egyptians, Chal- deans, Persians, etc., possessed a knowledge of spiritualism, perhaps equal to that of the Hindus ; yet with all the elevat- ing influences claimed by spiritualists for spiritualism, it is significant that those once powerful nations have either been like the Hindus, reduced to barbarism and savagery, or ut- terly destroyed from the face of the earth by the avenging hand of an indignant God. Under the sublime and elevat- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 367 ing influences of monotheism all the great civilizations of the nations of antiquity were developed and maintained; their ruins speak to us of the pernicious degrading influences of spiritualism. While the Bible plainly teaches that God gave to the Israelites an organized system of religious worship based upon monotheism, and intrusted it to an hereditary priest- hood, He at the same time forbade the practice of spiritual- ism under penalty of death. But unfortunately, the priests betrayed their trust; and nothing is more plainly taught in the Scriptures than that the Israelites, as a nation, practically renounced monotheism and descended to spiritualism and idolatry under the corrupt teachings of the priesthood. ( See Ezek. xxxiv.) The priests of Israel, like the Brahmins of their wisdom and discretion. "When a new candidate was initiated into the mysteries of the Cabala, one of the elders murmured in his ears the following words : " 'O thou who hast gone to the fountain-head of all the graces, be careful, whenever tempted to do so, not to reveal the tenet of emanation, which is a great mystery in the judg- ment of all Cabalists. Another mystery is contained in the following words : 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord.' "The necessity of a special initiation, an essential pre- requisite of which was that the candidate should be far ad- vanced toward the close of life, and the absolute secrecy which the person initiated was expected to preserve with regard to whatever was revealed to him, were two points of external discipline, in respect to which those who held to EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 369 the doctrine of the Pitris in India, and the believers in the Jewish Cabala were very nearly agreed, though in matters of belief, we shall soon see they were united by ties that bound them still closer to each other. In all times science has anx- iously sought to discover the origin of the philosophical system of the Hebrews, which presents many points of re- semblance with some of the Greek systems of Alexandria and with the mystical beliefs of Arabia. "As the Cabala is manifestly older than the Alexandrian school, it cannot be successfully held to have sprung from the latter, though it may have been influenced by it to some extent. The most that can be claimed is that both systems have drunk from the same source. As for the close con- nection that seems to exist between it and the mystical phi- losophy of the Arabs we may well ask, with Messrs. Franck and Tholuck, who have investigated the subject in all its bearings, 'What conclusions are we to draw from these many points of resemblance? "They are not of much importance, it is true, for what is similar in both systems is to be found elsewhere in more ancient systems. In the books of the Sabeans and Persians, for instance, and also among the Neo^-Platonists. On the other hand, the extraordinary form under which these ideas are presented to us in the Cabala, is unlike that of the Arab mystics. In order to satisfy ourselves that the Cabala really sprang from intercourse with the latter, we should find among them some traces of the doctrine of the Zephiroth. But not a vestige of it is to be met with. They knew of but one form under which God reveals himself to himself. In 370 THE REALITY AND this respect the Cabala is much more like the doctrine of the Sabeans and Gnostics. "No trace, either, is to be found among the Arabs of the doctrine of metempsychosis, whuch occupies such a promi- nent position in the Hebrew system. We also search their books in vain for the allegories we are , constantly meeting with in the Zohar, for those continual appeals to tradition, for those daring and multitudinous personifications with their endless genealogies, and for those astonishing and ex- traordinary metaphors which harmonize so well with the spirit of the East. • "These multitudinous incarnations and interminable ge- nealogies, or, in other words, these men elevating themselves to the infinite by the improvement of their spiritual nature; this belief in the doctrine of metempsychosis, and the tenet relating to the ten Zephiroth, or the creative faculty of the divinity; such are the recognized bases of the Cabalistic philosophy. "We have seen that the belief in the doctrine of the Pitris is based on similar principles. The ten Zephiroth of the Hebrews are substantially the same as the ten Pradjapatis of India, to whom all creatures are indebted for their ex- istence. "The Zohar, which is the principal work of the Cabala, speaking of the philosophical system therein taught, says that it is precisely the same as the wisdom which the children of the East have known from the earliest times. " 'Evidently/ says Franck, 'this cannot refer to the Arabs, whom the Hebrew writers invariably call the chil- dren of Israel, or the children of Arabia: they would not EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 371 speak of a foreign and contemporaneous philosophy in such terms — the Zohar would not date it back from the earliest ages of the world.' "While the origin of the Cabala cannot be successfully- sought for either in the different systems of Greece or in the doctrines of the Alexandrian school, notwithstanding they have many points in common, or in the mystical phi- losophy of the Arabs ; while, on the other hand, the Zohar, tracing it back to the earliest ages, speaks of it as having the East for its cradle; have we not good reason, therefore, in view of the antiquity of India and the similarity in principle of both systems, to say that the doctrine of the Cabala sprang from the doctrine of the Pitris ? "We should not forget that India, that immense and lu- minous centre in olden times, besides spreading its ideas throughout the East, by means of emigration, from the earliest times was in constant communication with all the people of Asia, and that all the philosophies and sages of antiquity went there to study the science of life. It is not, therefore, surprising that in periods of their captivity the elders of the Hebrews should have been initiated by the Persian Magi into the old conceptions of the Brahmins." (Ibid., pp. 159, 160, 161, 162.) The pernicious course of the Jewish priesthood in imitat- ing the example of the priests of India, Persia, Chaldea,, Egypt, etc., by descending to spiritualism, brought upon them the just judgments of God; and the Cabala and its practices were completely stamped out and to-day nothing of the kind exists in Jewish theology. But, because the priests were made the custodians of the ^72 THE REALITY AND Scriptures, their descent to spiritualism leads many to be- lieve that the Cabala was the legitimate outgrowth of the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures; and at the same time strengthens the erroneous belief that the Old Testament is simply a compilation of old legends and traditions which were current among the ancients. Toi this extent, the evil influences of the Cabala have survived to our day. The statements of Mr. Jacolliot goes far to sustain our position that at certain periods in their history, spiritualism existed in all the great nations of antiquity in perhaps as systematized a form as it did in India. We must look far beyond India for the origin of this baleful practice; and when we realize that this deceptive belief has not only, in every instance, either reduced the de- scendants of highly intellectual and cultured nations to bar- barism and savagery, or has actually destroyed them, we should readily see where spiritualism will lead us. The growth of so-called modern spiritualism in Europe :and America only serves to show how rapidly this per- nicious teaching spreads, and how easily and yet apparently ^unconsciously nations enter upon their decline, while pro- claiming their advancement. This is its greatest evil, its de- ceptiveness; for, while spiritualism pretends to elevate and refine, in reality its teachings demoralize and degrade. It is not confined to the ignorant and superstitious, but is found In all grades and classes of society; from the ignoramus to the scientist ; from the laborer in the street to the queen upon the throne ; the atheist, the infidel and the church, all, all con- tribute to swell the ranks of spiritualism. But strange to say, it is from the church that spiritualism draws its greatest fol- EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 373: lowing. The reason for this is easily explained. For ex- ample : a first-class medium, either in the pursuit of business or pleasure, or perhaps actuated solely by a desire to prose- lyte, drops into a community which knows little or nothing of spiritualism. The medium immediately begins forming ac- quaintances among church people, and in exchanging views on our final destiny, takes issue with the idea that at death the "spirit or soul" enters either heaven, hell, or purgatory ; and offers to prove, if they will form a "circle," that these are places created by the imagination, and have no actual existence. Thus the first seance is opened in the home of at strictly orthodox church member, with the only spiritualist in the community present — the medium. And as in those an- cient times the spirit of Samuel responded to the evocations, of the woman of Endor, so the departed minds or spirits of the friends and relatives of this little circle respond to the- call of the medium of our day. And the spirits thus evoked hasten to assure their anxious inquirers that they are not: dead but living; that there is no orthodox hell, or orthodox heaven, or Catholic purgatory ; but that their world is some- thing like our own; and like our own subjected to certain laws ; that spirits are frequently about us anxiously waiting an opportunity to communicate; that "there is only a thin veil between" our world and the world of spirits, and while we do not see them, they can see us. As might be expected, these staid church people, to put it lightly, are surprised at this their first peep into spirit man- ifestations. And while much of their prejudice is gone, they still are cautious and throw additional safe-guards around future seances; but always with the same result — 374 THE REALITY AND spirit communications continue to pour in. From time to time the circle is enlarged and arrangements made for regular sittings at the home of one of the members of the circle. In a short time home mediums are developed and now through their friends they receive spirit communications. This re- moves the last lingering doubt; they renounce the old re- ligion and proclaim themselves spiritualists. This noxious growth spreads with greater or less rapidity to other sec- tions, and like a cancer feeds upon the body of the church. Once convinced of the authenticity, once convinced of the truth of these communications and the church has lost and spiritualism has gained in following. Some more conserva- tive or more timid still conform to the outward demands of the church, although in their hearts they are really spirit- ualists. Thus, spirit manifestations shatter our most sacred and cherished beliefs. Not because Christianity is wholly wrong and Spiritualism wholly right; but because we have fallen into the error of recognizing the identity of spirit tnind and soul. Once admit the identity of spirit mind and soul and we are powerless to combat spiritualism. Let us renounce our errors and instead accept the plain teachings of the Bible that spirit and mind are identical, but that spirit and soul are distinct ; that the soul only is capable of immortality; that the mind or spirit survives physical dissolution in an intermediate state, until the end of time, when it perishes and the soul is released to appear at the judgment; let us accept these truths and we wrench from spiritualism its most potent, its only weapon against the church. The above illustration explains the phenomenal growth EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM. 375 of spiritualism in Europe and America in the last half cen- tury until to-day it numbers its followers by the millions. At this rate of increase what will its following be in the next century? And what will be the effect of this upon the church ? It is easy to see that it is simply a question of time when this baleful belief will sweep every church out of existence; and its acceptance in Europe and America will be as uni- versal as it was in Chaldea and Egypt, or as it is in India to-day. This should arouse us to a realization of our danger and the dire calamity that threatens us and ours in the not dis- tant future. It should arouse us to a sense of our folly in attempting to combat the reality of spirit communications with a simple denial of its truth, and with ridicule of its claims. It is the height of criminality on our part to sit supinely by until spiritualism has forced the universal recognition of its claims. Not only our love for God and our reverence for His Word, but our duty to ourselves and our posterity, demand that we unite in a determined effort to stamp out this deceptive, pernicious belief. We should not only attack it in its strongholds, but we should so educate our people in every section as to enable them to successfully repel the further advance of spiritualism. The course to be pursued in the accomplishment of this great end is plain and simple. We must accept the Bible in its entirety. Christianity must stamp spiritualism out of Europe and America as God stamped it out of Israel. But in attempting this, we must not underestimate the magnitude 376 THE REALITY AND of our task, nor the strength of our foes. We should recog- nize the fact, that just as God was confronted with a power- ful organization — the Cabala, with its immense following — so are we confronted with a national organization under the leadership of some of the brightest intellects of our day. In this great conflict which must surely come, if we are to escape the fate which spiritualism brought upon tjie nations of antiquity, we must follow the example set by the inspired authors and the Savior himself, and recognize and treat spir- itualism as a Reality and an Evil. [THE End.] APPENDIX. APPENDIX Adams, John, - - - - - - - - - - 246 Adams, John Quincy, -.____-_- 246 Agassiz, Prof., ---------- 101 Ambler, 167, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 181, 182, 183, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201 202, 203, 204, 262. Automatic, or Spirit Writings, ------ 251, 252 Ball, Sir Robert, --____--_ 68 Barrande, ----------- 95 Blackstone, ___________ 246 Brehm, ----------- 112 Burkey, -----------245 Oarroll, Charles, - - 14, 59, 72, 169, 170, 177, 178, 179, 244, 245 Dana, James D., ------ 74, 78, 84, 86, 243 Darwin, - - - - 60, 90, 111, 112, 113, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121 Davis, Andrew Jackson, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42 43, 45, 48, 49, 57, 58, 60, 61, 72, 76, 83, 86, 103, 106, 107, 146, 147 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 163, 164, 165, 166, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 235, 239, 240 241, 242, 246, 263, 264, 281, 282, 283. Davis, Jefferson, - - - - - ___ - 246 Dawley, Mrs. Julia A., - - - - - - 320, 321, 322, 323 Dawson, Prof., ------- 58, 59, 99, 100, 244 Desor, - . - - - - - - - - - - 116 Dexter, Dr., - - - - - - - 204, 205, 206, 232, 233 Doerrie, Dr. Charles, _______ 114, 115 Dupart, Prof. G. M., - - - - - - - - - 119 Duvancel, ----------- 112 Edmonds, Judge, 157, 166, 167, 171, 172, 204, 205, 206, 232, 233, 234, 235 239, 247, 248, 249, 250, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 265 266, 267, 268, 288. Falkenstein, 123 Oladstone, _.._ 246 3?y 380 APPENDIX. Globe -Democrat, -_--,.__-- 131 Grandepre, Captain, - - - - - - - - - 126 Grotins, ....__ 246 Gunning, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 Guyot, 63, 64, 65, 243 Haeckel, Prof., 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 48 Hartmann, - 123, 124, 125, 126 Henslow, Prof., 56 Herschel, - 64, 149 Holcombe, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 249, 250, 251 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277. Hudson, 128,129,130,167,168,291 Hudson, Wm., - - - 313, 314, 315, 316 Hull, Moses, 230, 262, 263, 283, 284, 290 Huxley, Thomas H., 71, 107, 108 Hystop, J. H., 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313 Jacolliot, 277, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302 303, 304, 305, 306, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 366, 367, 368, 369- 370, 371. Josephus, 144, 168- Kammer, Dr., 113, 114 Kelvin, Lord, ---------- 56 Kent, 246 Kinns, Prof., - - - 126, 127 Kircher, Fr. Athanasius, ------- 131, 134 Klutz, D. L. M., 115, 116 Leibnitz, ----------- 119 Lincoln. Abraham, --------- 246 Lindecrantz, ---------- 132 Lubbock, Sir John, - - - -■ - - - 22 Mangus, Albertus, - - - - - - - - - 52, 53 Mailaurin, _-__--__-- 127 Marshall, .._ 246 Maury, Commodore M. F., - - - - - - 245 Maxwell, Prof., ------- 29, 50, 51, 52, 149 Mesmer, ----------- 130 Michelet, - 119> Mivart - - - 92, 93, 94, 95, 97 Montesquien, ---------- 246 O'Connor, Edward, - 316,317,318 Orton, ------ 253 APPENDIX. 381 Patterson, Dr., - 49, 50, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 96, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105 Pierce, Benjamin, --------- 244 Pitt, ------ 245 Post -Dispatch, -------- 114, 115, 116, 120 Proctor, Richard, - - - - 68, 69 Reed, Christopher, - - - - - - - 326, 327, 328, 329 Rengger, ----------- m Kothermel, Dr., -------- 319, 320 Schrenter, Daniel, - - - - - - - - 131 Selden, ----------- 246 Sillman, Prof., ----- 244 Sixtus, Carl, - - - - - - - - 131, 132, 133, 134 Smith, Uriah, --------- 252, 253 Somers, ----------- 246 Star (St. Louis), --------- 56 Story, .._-_-----. 246 Swedenborg, - - - - - - - - - 168 Townsend, --------- 132, 133 Tuttle, Hudson, ------ 48, 111, 156, 157, 289 Tyndall, Prof., - - - - - - - - - - 69, 70 Universal Dictionary, - - - - - - - 60,149 Washington, - - - - - - - - - 245 Webster. Daniel, -------- 246 Weekly Constitution, ------- 122 Weisse, Dr., -- 253 Whiston, Wm., -------- 168 Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, - 162 Winchell, - - - - - 46, 47, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 95, 96 Worcester Dictionary, ------- 90 BIBLE AUTHORITIES CITED. OLD TESTAMENT. Genesis, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 83, 110, 136, 137, 138 Exodus, ---------- 138, 142 Leviticus, - - - - - - -- - - 287 Deuteronomy, -------- 139, 286, 287 1 Samuel, .-------- 140, 194, 285, 287 1 King, --_---- 142, 287 Chronicles, _________ 139 Job, ----------- 137, 142 Psalms, --------- 138, 142. 225 Proverbs, --------- 138, 139, 225 Ecclesiastes, --------- 142, 145 Isaiab, __________ 225 Ezekiel, ---------- 223 Daniel, --------- 139,141,143- NEW TESTAMENT. St. Mathew, - - - - - - - 139, 159, 160, 225 St. Mark, - - - - - - - - - 144, 161, 261 St. Luke, --------- 161, 225, 243 St. John, ----- 140, 160, 161, 221, 225. 261, 286 The Acts, ------- 139, 140, 277 Romans, --------- 159, 161, 224 1 Corinthians, ------ 137, 139, 158, 193, 225 2 Corinthians, ---__-.--- 140 Philippians, - - - - - - - - - 137 1 Thessalonians, --------- 144 1 Timothy, ____---_- 159 Titus, ---------- 162 Hebrews, ---------- 144 James, _-__---_-- 244 1 Peter, - 145, 161, 221 Uohn, - - - 137,140 Revelation, - 227 NOV IS 1903