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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1638-h.zip b/1638-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f541bd --- /dev/null +++ b/1638-h.zip diff --git a/1638-h/1638-h.htm b/1638-h/1638-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d90ad32 --- /dev/null +++ b/1638-h/1638-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2600 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The New Revelation, by Arthur Conan Doyle +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%;} + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The New Revelation, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The New Revelation + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Posting Date: February 22, 2010 [EBook #1638] +Release Date: February, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW REVELATION *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW REVELATION +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Dedication +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%"> +To all the brave men and women, humble or learned, who have the moral +courage during seventy years to face ridicule or worldly disadvantage +in order to testify to an all-important truth. +<BR><BR> +March, 1918 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +Many more philosophic minds than mine have thought over the religious +side of this subject and many more scientific brains have turned their +attention to its phenomenal aspect. So far as I know, however, there +has been no former attempt to show the exact relation of the one to the +other. I feel that if I should succeed in making this a little more +clear I shall have helped in what I regard as far the most important +question with which the human race is concerned. +</P> + +<P> +A celebrated Psychic, Mrs. Piper, uttered, in the year 1899 words which +were recorded by Dr. Hodgson at the time. She was speaking in trance +upon the future of spiritual religion, and she said: "In the next +century this will be astonishingly perceptible to the minds of men. I +will also make a statement which you will surely see verified. Before +the clear revelation of spirit communication there will be a terrible +war in different parts of the world. The entire world must be purified +and cleansed before mortal can see, through his spiritual vision, his +friends on this side and it will take just this line of action to bring +about a state of perfection. Friend, kindly think of this." We have +had "the terrible war in different parts of the world." The second +half remains to be fulfilled. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A. C. D.<BR> + 1918.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE SEARCH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE REVELATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE COMING LIFE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS +</H3> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap0201">THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap0202">AUTOMATIC WRITING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap0203">THE CHERITON DUGOUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW REVELATION +</H2> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SEARCH +</H3> + +<P> +The subject of psychical research is one upon which I have thought more +and about which I have been slower to form my opinion, than upon any +other subject whatever. Every now and then as one jogs along through +life some small incident happens which very forcibly brings home the +fact that time passes and that first youth and then middle age are +slipping away. Such a one occurred the other day. There is a column +in that excellent little paper, Light, which is devoted to what was +recorded on the corresponding date a generation—that is thirty +years—ago. As I read over this column recently I had quite a start as +I saw my own name, and read the reprint of a letter which I had written +in 1887, detailing some interesting spiritual experience which had +occurred in a seance. Thus it is manifest that my interest in the +subject is of some standing, and also, since it is only within the last +year or two that I have finally declared myself to be satisfied with +the evidence, that I have not been hasty in forming my opinion. If I +set down some of my experiences and difficulties my readers will not, I +hope, think it egotistical upon my part, but will realise that it is +the most graphic way in which to sketch out the points which are likely +to occur to any other inquirer. When I have passed over this ground, +it will be possible to get on to something more general and impersonal +in its nature. +</P> + +<P> +When I had finished my medical education in 1882, I found myself, like +many young medical men, a convinced materialist as regards our personal +destiny. I had never ceased to be an earnest theist, because it seemed +to me that Napoleon's question to the atheistic professors on the +starry night as he voyaged to Egypt: "Who was it, gentlemen, who made +these stars?" has never been answered. To say that the Universe was +made by immutable laws only put the question one degree further back as +to who made the laws. I did not, of course, believe in an +anthropomorphic God, but I believed then, as I believe now, in an +intelligent Force behind all the operations of Nature—a force so +infinitely complex and great that my finite brain could get no further +than its existence. Right and wrong I saw also as great obvious facts +which needed no divine revelation. But when it came to a question of +our little personalities surviving death, it seemed to me that the +whole analogy of Nature was against it. When the candle burns out the +light disappears. When the electric cell is shattered the current +stops. When the body dissolves there is an end of the matter. Each +man in his egotism may feel that he ought to survive, but let him look, +we will say, at the average loafer—of high or low degree—would anyone +contend that there was any obvious reason why THAT personality should +carry on? It seemed to be a delusion, and I was convinced that death +did indeed end all, though I saw no reason why that should affect our +duty towards humanity during our transitory existence. +</P> + +<P> +This was my frame of mind when Spiritual phenomena first came before my +notice. I had always regarded the subject as the greatest nonsense +upon earth, and I had read of the conviction of fraudulent mediums and +wondered how any sane man could believe such things. I met some +friends, however, who were interested in the matter, and I sat with +them at some table-moving seances. We got connected messages. I am +afraid the only result that they had on my mind was that I regarded +these friends with some suspicion. They were long messages very often, +spelled out by tilts, and it was quite impossible that they came by +chance. Someone then, was moving the table. I thought it was they. +They probably thought that I did it. I was puzzled and worried over +it, for they were not people whom I could imagine as cheating—and yet +I could not see how the messages could come except by conscious +pressure. +</P> + +<P> +About this time—it would be in 1886—I came across a book called The +Reminiscences of Judge Edmunds. He was a judge of the U.S. High Courts +and a man of high standing. The book gave an account of how his wife +had died, and how he had been able for many years to keep in touch with +her. All sorts of details were given. I read the book with interest, +and absolute scepticism. It seemed to me an example of how a hard +practical man might have a weak side to his brain, a sort of reaction, +as it were, against those plain facts of life with which he had to +deal. Where was this spirit of which he talked? Suppose a man had an +accident and cracked his skull; his whole character would change, and a +high nature might become a low one. With alcohol or opium or many other +drugs one could apparently quite change a man's spirit. The spirit +then depended upon matter. These were the arguments which I used in +those days. I did not realise that it was not the spirit that was +changed in such cases, but the body through which the spirit worked, +just as it would be no argument against the existence of a musician if +you tampered with his violin so that only discordant notes could come +through. +</P> + +<P> +I was sufficiently interested to continue to read such literature as +came in my way. I was amazed to find what a number of great men—men +whose names were to the fore in science—thoroughly believed that +spirit was independent of matter and could survive it. When I regarded +Spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated, I could afford to +look down upon it; but when it was endorsed by men like Crookes, whom I +knew to be the most rising British chemist, by Wallace, who was the +rival of Darwin, and by Flammarion, the best known of astronomers, I +could not afford to dismiss it. It was all very well to throw down the +books of these men which contained their mature conclusions and careful +investigations, and to say "Well, he has one weak spot in his brain," +but a man has to be very self-satisfied if the day does not come when +he wonders if the weak spot is not in his own brain. For some time I +was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration that many famous +men, such as Darwin himself, Huxley, Tyndall and Herbert Spencer, +derided this new branch of knowledge; but when I learned that their +derision had reached such a point that they would not even examine it, +and that Spencer had declared in so many words that he had decided +against it on a priori grounds, while Huxley had said that it did not +interest him, I was bound to admit that, however great, they were in +science, their action in this respect was most unscientific and +dogmatic, while the action of those who studied the phenomena and tried +to find out the laws that governed them, was following the true path +which has given us all human advance and knowledge. So far I had got +in my reasoning, so my sceptical position was not so solid as before. +</P> + +<P> +It was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own experiences. It is to +be remembered that I was working without a medium, which is like an +astronomer working without a telescope. I have no psychical powers +myself, and those who worked with me had little more. Among us we could +just muster enough of the magnetic force, or whatever you will call it, +to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid +messages. I still have notes of those sittings and copies of some, at +least, of the messages. They were not always absolutely stupid. For +example, I find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question, +such as how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "We +are here to educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." And then: +"The religious frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to +inculcate." Now, no one could say that that was a puerile message. On +the other hand, I was always haunted by the fear of involuntary +pressure from the hands of the sitters. Then there came an incident +which puzzled and disgusted me very much. We had very good conditions +one evening, and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent +of our pressure. Long and detailed messages came through, which +purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a +commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a +theatre at Exeter. All the details were exact, and he implored us to +write to his family, who lived, he said, at a place called Slattenmere, +in Cumberland. I did so, but my letter came back, appropriately +enough, through the dead letter office. To this day I do not know +whether we were deceived, or whether there was some mistake in the name +of the place; but there are the facts, and I was so disgusted that for +some time my interest in the whole subject waned. It was one thing to +study a subject, but when the subject began to play elaborate practical +jokes it seemed time to call a halt. If there is such a place as +Slattenmere in the world I should even now be glad to know it. +</P> + +<P> +I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and dwelling there was +General Drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the +pioneers of Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my +difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. He made light of +my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of +the absolute falseness of some. "You have not got the fundamental +truth into your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit in +the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no +change whatever. This world is full of weak or foolish people. So is +the next. You need not mix with them, any more than you do in this +world. One chooses one's companions. But suppose a man in this world, +who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was +at last to put his head out of the window to see what sort of place it +was, what would happen? Some naughty boy would probably say something +rude. Anyhow, he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the +world. He would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place. +That is just what you have done. In a mixed seance, with no definite +aim, you have thrust your head into the next world and you have met +some naughty boys. Go forward and try to reach something better." +That was General Drayson's explanation, and though it did not satisfy +me at the time, I think now that it was a rough approximation to the +truth. These were my first steps in Spiritualism. I was still a +sceptic, but at least I was an inquirer, and when I heard some +old-fashioned critic saying that there was nothing to explain, and that +it was all fraud, or that a conjuror was needed to show it up, I knew +at least that that was all nonsense. It is true that my own evidence +up to then was not enough to convince me, but my reading, which was +continuous, showed me how deeply other men had gone into it, and I +recognised that the testimony was so strong that no other religious +movement in the world could put forward anything to compare with it. +That did not prove it to be true, but at least it proved that it must +be treated with respect and could not be brushed aside. Take a single +incident of what Wallace has truly called a modern miracle. I choose +it because it is the most incredible. I allude to the assertion that +D. D. Home—who, by the way, was not, as is usually supposed, a paid +adventurer, but was the nephew of the Earl of Home—the assertion, I +say, that he floated out of one window and into another at the height +of seventy feet above the ground. I could not believe it. And yet, +when I knew that the fact was attested by three eye-witnesses, who were +Lord Dunraven, Lord Lindsay, and Captain Wynne, all men of honour and +repute, who were willing afterwards to take their oath upon it, I could +not but admit that the evidence for this was more direct than for any +of those far-off events which the whole world has agreed to accept as +true. +</P> + +<P> +I still continued during these years to hold table seances, which +sometimes gave no results, sometimes trivial ones, and sometimes rather +surprising ones. I have still the notes of these sittings, and I +extract here the results of one which were definite, and which were so +unlike any conceptions which I held of life beyond the grave that they +amused rather than edified me at the time. I find now, however, that +they agree very closely, with the revelations in Raymond and in other +later accounts, so that I view them with different eyes. I am aware +that all these accounts of life beyond the grave differ in detail—I +suppose any of our accounts of the present life would differ in +detail—but in the main there is a very great resemblance, which in +this instance was very far from the conception either of myself or of +either of the two ladies who made up the circle. Two communicators +sent messages, the first of whom spelt out as a name "Dorothy +Postlethwaite," a name unknown to any of us. She said she died at +Melbourne five years before, at the age of sixteen, that she was now +happy, that she had work to do, and that she had been at the same +school as one of the ladies. On my asking that lady to raise her hands +and give a succession of names, the table tilted at the correct name of +the head mistress of the school. This seemed in the nature of a test. +She went on to say that the sphere she inhabited was all round the +earth; that she knew about the planets; that Mars was inhabited by a +race more advanced than us, and that the canals were artificial; there +was no bodily pain in her sphere, but there could be mental anxiety; +they were governed; they took nourishment; she had been a Catholic and +was still a Catholic, but had not fared better than the Protestants; +there were Buddhists and Mohammedans in her sphere, but all fared +alike; she had never seen Christ and knew no more about Him than on +earth, but believed in His influence; spirits prayed and they died in +their new sphere before entering another; they had pleasures—music was +among them. It was a place of light and of laughter. She added that +they had no rich or poor, and that the general conditions were far +happier than on earth. +</P> + +<P> +This lady bade us good-night, and immediately the table was seized by a +much more robust influence, which dashed it about very violently. In +answer to my questions it claimed to be the spirit of one whom I will +call Dodd, who was a famous cricketer, and with whom I had some serious +conversation in Cairo before he went up the Nile, where he met his +death in the Dongolese Expedition. We have now, I may remark, come to +the year 1896 in my experiences. Dodd was not known to either lady. I +began to ask him questions exactly as if he were seated before me, and +he sent his answers back with great speed and decision. The answers +were often quite opposed to what I expected, so that I could not +believe that I was influencing them. He said that he was happy, that +he did not wish to return to earth. He had been a free-thinker, but had +not suffered in the next life for that reason. Prayer, however, was a +good thing, as keeping us in touch with the spiritual world. If he had +prayed more he would have been higher in the spirit world. +</P> + +<P> +This, I may remark, seemed rather in conflict with his assertion that +he had not suffered through being a free-thinker, and yet, of course, +many men neglect prayer who are not free-thinkers. +</P> + +<P> +His death was painless. He remembered the death of Polwhele, a young +officer who died before him. When he (Dodd) died he had found people +to welcome him, but Polwhele had not been among them. +</P> + +<P> +He had work to do. He was aware of the Fall of Dongola, but had not +been present in spirit at the banquet at Cairo afterwards. He knew +more than he did in life. He remembered our conversation in Cairo. +Duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on earth. He had +not seen General Gordon, nor any other famous spirit. Spirits lived in +families and in communities. Married people did not necessarily meet +again, but those who loved each other did meet again. +</P> + +<P> +I have given this synopsis of a communication to show the kind of thing +we got—though this was a very favourable specimen, both for length and +for coherence. It shows that it is not just to say, as many critics +say, that nothing but folly comes through. There was no folly here +unless we call everything folly which does not agree with preconceived +ideas. On the other hand, what proof was there that these statements +were true? I could see no such proof, and they simply left me +bewildered. Now, with a larger experience, in which I find that the +same sort of information has come to very, many people independently in +many lands, I think that the agreement of the witnesses does, as in all +cases of evidence, constitute some argument for their truth. At the +time I could not fit such a conception of the future world into my own +scheme of philosophy, and I merely noted it and passed on. +</P> + +<P> +I continued to read many books upon the subject and to appreciate more +and more what a cloud of witnesses existed, and how careful their +observations had been. This impressed my mind very much more than the +limited phenomena which came within the reach of our circle. Then or +afterwards I read a book by Monsieur Jacolliot upon occult phenomena in +India. Jacolliot was Chief Judge of the French Colony of Crandenagur, +with a very judicial mind, but rather biassed{sic} against +spiritualism. He conducted a series of experiments with native fakirs, +who gave him their confidence because he was a sympathetic man and +spoke their language. He describes the pains he took to eliminate +fraud. To cut a long story short he found among them every phenomenon +of advanced European mediumship, everything which Home, for example, +had ever done. He got levitation of the body, the handling of fire, +movement of articles at a distance, rapid growth of plants, raising of +tables. Their explanation of these phenomena was that they were done +by the Pitris or spirits, and their only difference in procedure from +ours seemed to be that they made more use of direct evocation. They +claimed that these powers were handed down from time immemorial and +traced back to the Chaldees. All this impressed me very much, as here, +independently, we had exactly the same results, without any question of +American frauds, or modern vulgarity, which were so often raised +against similar phenomena in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +My mind was also influenced about this time by the report of the +Dialectical Society, although this Report had been presented as far +back as 1869. It is a very cogent paper, and though it was received +with a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant and materialistic papers of +those days, it was a document of great value. The Society was formed +by a number of people of good standing and open mind to enquire into +the physical phenomena of Spiritualism. A full account of their +experiences and of their elaborate precautions against fraud are given. +After reading the evidence, one fails to see how they could have come +to any other conclusion than the one attained, namely, that the +phenomena were undoubtedly genuine, and that they pointed to laws and +forces which had not been explored by Science. It is a most singular +fact that if the verdict had been against spiritualism, it would +certainly have been hailed as the death blow of the movement, whereas +being an endorsement of the phenomena it met with nothing by ridicule. +This has been the fate of a number of inquiries since those conducted +locally at Hydesville in 1848, or that which followed when Professor +Hare of Philadelphia, like Saint Paul, started forth to oppose but was +forced to yield to the truth. +</P> + +<P> +About 1891, I had joined the Psychical Research Society and had the +advantage of reading all their reports. The world owes a great deal to +the unwearied diligence of the Society, and to its sobriety of +statement, though I will admit that the latter makes one impatient at +times, and one feels that in their desire to avoid sensationalism they +discourage the world from knowing and using the splendid work which +they are doing. Their semi-scientific terminology also chokes off the +ordinary reader, and one might say sometimes after reading their +articles what an American trapper in the Rocky Mountains said to me +about some University man whom he had been escorting for the season. +"He was that clever," he said, "that you could not understand what he +said." But in spite of these little peculiarities all of us who have +wanted light in the darkness have found it by the methodical, +never-tiring work of the Society. Its influence was one of the powers +which now helped me to shape my thoughts. There was another, however, +which made a deep impression upon me. Up to now I had read all the +wonderful experiences of great experimenters, but I had never come +across any effort upon their part to build up some system which would +cover and contain them all. Now I read that monumental book, Myers' +Human Personality, a great root book from which a whole tree of +knowledge will grow. In this book Myers was unable to get any formula +which covered all the phenomena called "spiritual," but in discussing +that action of mind upon mind which he has himself called telepathy he +completely proved his point, and he worked it out so thoroughly with so +many examples, that, save for those who were wilfully blind to the +evidence, it took its place henceforth as a scientific fact. But this +was an enormous advance. If mind could act upon mind at a distance, +then there were some human powers which were quite different to matter +as we had always understood it. The ground was cut from under the feet +of the materialist, and my old position had been destroyed. I had said +that the flame could not exist when the candle was gone. But here was +the flame a long way off the candle, acting upon its own. The analogy +was clearly a false analogy. If the mind, the spirit, the intelligence +of man could operate at a distance from the body, then it was a thing +to that extent separate from the body. Why then should it not exist on +its own when the body was destroyed? Not only did impressions come +from a distance in the case of those who were just dead, but the same +evidence proved that actual appearances of the dead person came with +them, showing that the impressions were carried by something which was +exactly like the body, and yet acted independently and survived the +death of the body. The chain of evidence between the simplest cases of +thought-reading at one end, and the actual manifestation of the spirit +independently of the body at the other, was one unbroken chain, each +phase leading to the other, and this fact seemed to me to bring the +first signs of systematic science and order into what had been a mere +collection of bewildering and more or less unrelated facts. +</P> + +<P> +About this time I had an interesting experience, for I was one of three +delegates sent by the Psychical Society to sit up in a haunted house. +It was one of these poltergeist cases, where noises and foolish tricks +had gone on for some years, very much like the classical case of John +Wesley's family at Epworth in 1726, or the case of the Fox family at +Hydesville near Rochester in 1848, which was the starting-point of +modern spiritualism. Nothing sensational came of our journey, and yet +it was not entirely barren. On the first night nothing occurred. On +the second, there were tremendous noises, sounds like someone beating a +table with a stick. We had, of course, taken every precaution, and we +could not explain the noises; but at the same time we could not swear +that some ingenious practical joke had not been played upon us. There +the matter ended for the time. Some years afterwards, however, I met a +member of the family who occupied the house, and he told me that after +our visit the bones of a child, evidently long buried, had been dug up +in the garden. You must admit that this was very remarkable. Haunted +houses are rare, and houses with buried human beings in their gardens +are also, we will hope, rare. That they should have both united in one +house is surely some argument for the truth of the phenomena. It is +interesting to remember that in the case of the Fox family there was +also some word of human bones and evidence of murder being found in the +cellar, though an actual crime was never established. I have little +doubt that if the Wesley family could have got upon speaking terms with +their persecutor, they would also have come upon some motive for the +persecution. It almost seems as if a life cut suddenly and violently +short had some store of unspent vitality which could still manifest +itself in a strange, mischievous fashion. Later I had another singular +personal experience of this sort which I may describe at the end of +this argument.[1] +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] Vide Appendix III. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From this period until the time of the War I continued in the leisure +hours of a very busy life to devote attention to this subject. I had +experience of one series of seances with very amazing results, +including several materializations seen in dim light. As the medium was +detected in trickery shortly afterwards I wiped these off entirely as +evidence. At the same time I think that the presumption is very clear, +that in the case of some mediums like Eusapia Palladino they may be +guilty of trickery when their powers fail them, and yet at other times +have very genuine gifts. Mediumship in its lowest forms is a purely +physical gift with no relation to morality and in many cases it is +intermittent and cannot be controlled at will. Eusapia was at least +twice convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud, whereas she several +times sustained long examinations under every possible test condition +at the hands of scientific committees which contained some of the best +names of France, Italy, and England. However, I personally prefer to +cut my experience with a discredited medium out of my record, and I +think that all physical phenomena produced in the dark must necessarily +lose much of their value, unless they are accompanied by evidential +messages as well. It is the custom of our critics to assume that if +you cut out the mediums who got into trouble you would have to cut out +nearly all your evidence. That is not so at all. Up to the time of +this incident I had never sat with a professional medium at all, and +yet I had certainly accumulated some evidence. The greatest medium of +all, Mr. D. D. Home, showed his phenomena in broad daylight, and was +ready to submit to every test and no charge of trickery was ever +substantiated against him. So it was with many others. It is only +fair to state in addition that when a public medium is a fair mark for +notoriety hunters, for amateur detectives and for sensational +reporters, and when he is dealing with obscure elusive phenomena and +has to defend himself before juries and judges who, as a rule, know +nothing about the conditions which influence the phenomena, it would be +wonderful if a man could get through without an occasional scandal. At +the same time the whole system of paying by results, which is +practically the present system, since if a medium never gets results he +would soon get no payments, is a vicious one. It is only when the +professional medium can be guaranteed an annuity which will be +independent of results, that we can eliminate the strong temptation, to +substitute pretended phenomena when the real ones are wanting. +</P> + +<P> +I have now traced my own evolution of thought up to the time of the +War. I can claim, I hope, that it was deliberate and showed no traces +of that credulity with which our opponents charge us. It was too +deliberate, for I was culpably slow in throwing any small influence I +may possess into the scale of truth. I might have drifted on for my +whole life as a psychical Researcher, showing a sympathetic, but more +or less dilettante attitude towards the whole subject, as if we were +arguing about some impersonal thing such as the existence of Atlantis +or the Baconian controversy. But the War came, and when the War came +it brought earnestness into all our souls and made us look more closely +at our own beliefs and reassess their values. In the presence of an +agonized world, hearing every day of the deaths of the flower of our +race in the first promise of their unfulfilled youth, seeing around one +the wives and mothers who had no clear conception whither their loved +ones had gone to, I seemed suddenly to see that this subject with which +I had so long dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the +rules of science, but that it was really something tremendous, a +breaking down of the walls between two worlds, a direct undeniable +message from beyond, a call of hope and of guidance to the human race +at the time of its deepest affliction. The objective side of it ceased +to interest for having made up one's mind that it was true there was an +end of the matter. The religious side of it was clearly of infinitely +greater importance. The telephone bell is in itself a very childish +affair, but it may be the signal for a very vital message. It seemed +that all these phenomena, large and small, had been the telephone bells +which, senseless in themselves, had signalled to the human race: +"Rouse yourselves! Stand by! Be at attention! Here are signs for +you. They will lead up to the message which God wishes to send." It +was the message not the signs which really counted. A new revelation +seemed to be in the course of delivery to the human race, though how +far it was still in what may be called the John-the-Baptist stage, and +how far some greater fulness and clearness might be expected hereafter, +was more than any man can say. My point is, that the physical +phenomena which have been proved up to the hilt for all who care to +examine the evidence, are really of no account, and that their real +value consists in the fact that they support and give objective reality +to an immense body of knowledge which must deeply modify our previous +religious views, and must, when properly understood and digested, make +religion a very real thing, no longer a matter of faith, but a matter +of actual experience and fact. It is to this side of the question that +I will now turn, but I must add to my previous remarks about personal +experience that, since the War, I have had some very exceptional +opportunities of confirming all the views which I had already formed as +to the truth of the general facts upon which my views are founded. +</P> + +<P> +These opportunities came through the fact that a lady who lived with +us, a Miss L. S., developed the power of automatic writing. Of all +forms of mediumship, this seems to me to be the one which should be +tested most rigidly, as it lends itself very easily not so much to +deception as to self-deception, which is a more subtle and dangerous +thing. Is the lady herself writing, or is there, as she avers, a power +that controls her, even as the chronicler of the Jews in the Bible +averred that he was controlled? In the case of L. S. there is no +denying that some messages proved to be not true—especially in the +matter of time they were quite unreliable. But on the other hand, the +numbers which did come true were far beyond what any guessing or +coincidence could account for. Thus, when the Lusitania was sunk and +the morning papers here announced that so far as known there was no +loss of life, the medium at once wrote: "It is terrible, terrible—and +will have a great influence on the war." Since it was the first strong +impulse which turned America towards the war, the message was true in +both respects. Again, she foretold the arrival of an important +telegram upon a certain day, and even gave the name of the deliverer of +it—a most unlikely person. Altogether, no one could doubt the reality +of her inspiration, though the lapses were notable. It was like +getting a good message through a very imperfect telephone. +</P> + +<P> +One other incident of the early war days stands out in my memory. A +lady in whom I was interested had died in a provincial town. She was a +chronic invalid and morphia was found by her bedside. There was an +inquest with an open verdict. Eight days later I went to have a +sitting with Mr. Vout Peters. After giving me a good deal which was +vague and irrelevant, he suddenly said: "There is a lady here. She is +leaning upon an older woman. She keeps saying 'Morphia.' Three times +she has said it. Her mind was clouded. She did not mean it. +Morphia!" Those were almost his exact words. Telepathy was out of the +question, for I had entirely other thoughts in my mind at the time and +was expecting no such message. +</P> + +<P> +Apart from personal experiences, this movement must gain great +additional solidity from the wonderful literature which has sprung up +around it during the last few years. If no other spiritual books were +in existence than five which have appeared in the last year or so—I +allude to Professor Lodge's Raymond, Arthur Hill's Psychical +Investigations, Professor Crawford's Reality of Psychical Phenomena, +Professor Barrett's Threshold of the Unseen, and Gerald Balfour's Ear +of Dionysius—those five alone would, in my opinion, be sufficient to +establish the facts for any reasonable enquirer. +</P> + +<P> +Before going into this question of a new religious revelation, how it +is reached, and what it consists of, I would say a word upon one other +subject. There have always been two lines of attack by our opponents. +The one is that our facts are not true. This I have dealt with. The +other is that we are upon forbidden ground and should come off it and +leave it alone. As I started from a position of comparative +materialism, this objection has never had any meaning for me, but to +others I would submit one or two considerations. The chief is that God +has given us no power at all which is under no circumstances to be +used. The fact that we possess it is in itself proof that it is our +bounden duty to study and to develop it. It is true that this, like +every other power, may be abused if we lose our general sense of +proportion and of reason. But I repeat that its mere possession is a +strong reason why it is lawful and binding that it be used. +</P> + +<P> +It must also be remembered that this cry of illicit knowledge, backed +by more or less appropriate texts, has been used against every advance +of human knowledge. It was used against the new astronomy, and Galileo +had actually to recant. It was used against Galvani and electricity. +It was used against Darwin, who would certainly have been burned had he +lived a few centuries before. It was even used against Simpson's use +of chloroform in child-birth, on the ground that the Bible declared "in +pain shall ye bring them forth." Surely a plea which has been made so +often, and so often abandoned, cannot be regarded very seriously. +</P> + +<P> +To those, however, to whom the theological aspect is still a stumbling +block, I would recommend the reading of two short books, each of them +by clergymen. The one is the Rev. Fielding Ould's Is Spiritualism of +the Devil, purchasable for twopence; the other is the Rev. Arthur +Chambers' Our Self After Death. I can also recommend the Rev. Charles +Tweedale's writings upon the subject. I may add that when I first +began to make public my own views, one of the first letters of sympathy +which I received was from the late Archdeacon Wilberforce. +</P> + +<P> +There are some theologians who are not only opposed to such a cult, but +who go the length of saying that the phenomena and messages come from +fiends who personate our dead, or pretend to be heavenly teachers. It +is difficult to think that those who hold this view have ever had any +personal experience of the consoling and uplifting effect of such +communications upon the recipient. Ruskin has left it on record that +his conviction of a future life came from Spiritualism, though he +somewhat ungratefully and illogically added that having got that, he +wished to have no more to do with it. There are many, however—quorum +pars parva su—who without any reserve can declare that they were +turned from materialism to a belief in future life, with all that that +implies, by the study of this subject. If this be the devil's work one +can only say that the devil seems to be a very bungling workman and to +get results very far from what he might be expected to desire. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE REVELATION +</H3> + +<P> +I can now turn with some relief to a more impersonal view of this great +subject. Allusion has been made to a body of fresh doctrine. Whence +does this come? It comes in the main through automatic writing where +the hand of the human medium is controlled, either by an alleged dead +human being, as in the case of Miss Julia Ames, or by an alleged higher +teacher, as in that of Mr. Stainton Moses. These written +communications are supplemented by a vast number of trance utterances, +and by the verbal messages of spirits, given through the lips of +mediums. Sometimes it has even come by direct voices, as in the +numerous cases detailed by Admiral Usborne Moore in his book The +Voices. Occasionally it has come through the family circle and +table-tilting, as, for example, in the two cases I have previously +detailed within my own experience. Sometimes, as in a case recorded by +Mrs. de Morgan, it has come through the hand of a child. +</P> + +<P> +Now, of course, we are at once confronted with the obvious +objection—how do we know that these messages are really from beyond? +How do we know that the medium is not consciously writing, or if that +be improbable, that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or +her own higher self? This is a perfectly just criticism, and it is one +which we must rigorously apply in every case, since if the whole world +is to become full of minor prophets, each of them stating their own +views of the religious state with no proof save their own assertion, we +should, indeed, be back in the dark ages of implicit faith. The answer +must be that we require signs which we can test before we accept +assertions which we cannot test. In old days they demanded a sign from +a prophet, and it was a perfectly reasonable request, and still holds +good. If a person comes to me with an account of life in some further +world, and has no credentials save his own assertion, I would rather +have it in my waste-paperbasket than on my study table. Life is too +short to weigh the merits of such productions. But if, as in the case +of Stainton Moses, with his Spirit Teachings, the doctrines which are +said to come from beyond are accompanied with a great number of +abnormal gifts—and Stainton Moses was one of the greatest mediums in +all ways that England has ever produced—then I look upon the matter in +a more serious light. Again, if Miss Julia Ames can tell Mr. Stead +things in her own earth life of which he could not have cognisance, and +if those things are shown, when tested, to be true, then one is more +inclined to think that those things which cannot be tested are true +also. Or once again, if Raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of +which had reached England, and which proved to be exactly as he +described it, and if he can give us, through the lips of strangers, all +sorts of details of his home life, which his own relatives had to +verify before they found them to be true, is it unreasonable to suppose +that he is fairly accurate in his description of his own experiences +and state of life at the very moment at which he is communicating? Or +when Mr. Arthur Hill receives messages from folk of whom he never +heard, and afterwards verifies that they are true in every detail, is +it not a fair inference that they are speaking truths also when they +give any light upon their present condition? The cases are manifold, +and I mention only a few of them, but my point is that the whole of +this system, from the lowest physical phenomenon of a table-rap up to +the most inspired utterance of a prophet, is one complete whole, each +attached to the next one, and that when the humbler end of that chain +was placed in the hand of humanity, it was in order that they might, by +diligence and reason, feel their way up it until they reached the +revelation which waited in the end. Do not sneer at the humble +beginnings, the heaving table or the flying tambourine, however much +such phenomena may have been abused or simulated, but remember that a +falling apple taught us gravity, a boiling kettle brought us the steam +engine, and the twitching leg of a frog opened up the train of thought +and experiment which gave us electricity. So the lowly manifestations +of Hydesville have ripened into results which have engaged the finest +group of intellects in this country during the last twenty years, and +which are destined, in my opinion, to bring about far the greatest +development of human experience which the world has ever seen. +</P> + +<P> +It has been asserted by men for whose opinion I have a deep +regard—notably by Sir William Barratt—that psychical research is +quite distinct from religion. Certainly it is so, in the sense that a +man might be a very good psychical researcher but a very bad man. But +the results of psychical research, the deductions which we may draw, +and the lessons we may learn, teach us of the continued life of the +soul, of the nature of that life, and of how it is influenced by our +conduct here. If this is distinct from religion, I must confess that I +do not understand the distinction. To me it IS religion—the very +essence of it. But that does not mean that it will necessarily +crystallise into a new religion. Personally I trust that it will not +do so. Surely we are disunited enough already? Rather would I see it +the great unifying force, the one provable thing connected with every +religion, Christian or non-Christian, forming the common solid basis +upon which each raises, if it must needs raise, that separate system +which appeals to the varied types of mind. The Southern races will +always demand what is less austere than the North, the West will always +be more critical than the East. One cannot shape all to a level +conformity. But if the broad premises which are guaranteed by this +teaching from beyond are accepted, then the human race has made a great +stride towards religious peace and unity. The question which faces us, +then, is how will this influence bear upon the older organised +religions and philosophies which have influenced the actions of men. +</P> + +<P> +The answer is, that to only one of these religions or philosophies is +this new revelation absolutely fatal. That is to Materialism. I do +not say this in any spirit of hostility to Materialists, who, so far as +they are an organized body, are, I think, as earnest and moral as any +other class. But the fact is manifest that if spirit can live without +matter, then the foundation of Materialism is gone, and the whole +scheme of thought crashes to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +As to other creeds, it must be admitted that an acceptance of the +teaching brought to us from beyond would deeply modify conventional +Christianity. But these modifications would be rather in the direction +of explanation and development than of contradiction. It would set +right grave misunderstandings which have always offended the reason of +every thoughtful man, but it would also confirm and make absolutely +certain the fact of life after death, the base of all religion. It +would confirm the unhappy results of sin, though it would show that +those results are never absolutely permanent. It would confirm the +existence of higher beings, whom we have called angels, and of an +ever-ascending hierarchy above us, in which the Christ spirit finds its +place, culminating in heights of the infinite with which we associate +the idea of all-power or of God. It would confirm the idea of heaven +and of a temporary penal state which corresponds to purgatory rather +than to hell. Thus this new revelation, on some of the most vital +points, is NOT destructive of the beliefs, and it should be hailed by +really earnest men of all creeds as a most powerful ally rather than a +dangerous devil-begotten enemy. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, let us turn to the points in which Christianity must +be modified by this new revelation. +</P> + +<P> +First of all I would say this, which must be obvious to many, however +much they deplore it: Christianity must change or must perish. That is +the law of life—that things must adapt themselves or perish. +Christianity has deferred the change very long, she has deferred it +until her churches are half empty, until women are her chief +supporters, and until both the learned part of the community on one +side, and the poorest class on the other, both in town and country, are +largely alienated from her. Let us try and trace the reason for this. +It is apparent in all sects, and comes, therefore, from some deep +common cause. +</P> + +<P> +People are alienated because they frankly do not believe the facts as +presented to them to be true. Their reason and their sense of justice +are equally offended. One can see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, +nor in the God who could be placated by such means. Above all, many +cannot understand such expressions as the "redemption from sin," +"cleansed by the blood of the Lamb," and so forth. So long as there +was any question of the fall of man there was at least some sort of +explanation of such phrases; but when it became certain that man had +never fallen—when with ever fuller knowledge we could trace our +ancestral course down through the cave-man and the drift-man, back to +that shadowy and far-off time when the man-like ape slowly evolved into +the apelike man—looking back on all this vast succession of life, we +knew that it had always been rising from step to step. Never was there +any evidence of a fall. But if there were no fall, then what became of +the atonement, of the redemption, of original sin, of a large part of +Christian mystical philosophy? Even if it were as reasonable in itself +as it is actually unreasonable, it would still be quite divorced from +the facts. +</P> + +<P> +Again, too much seemed to be made of Christ's death. It is no uncommon +thing to die for an idea. Every religion has equally had its martyrs. +Men die continually for their convictions. Thousands of our lads are +doing it at this instant in France. Therefore the death of Christ, +beautiful as it is in the Gospel narrative, has seemed to assume an +undue importance, as though it were an isolated phenomenon for a man to +die in pursuit of a reform. In my opinion, far too much stress has +been laid upon Christ's death, and far too little upon His life. That +was where the true grandeur and the true lesson lay. It was a life +which even in those limited records shows us no trait which is not +beautiful—a life full of easy tolerance for others, of kindly charity, +of broad-minded moderation, of gentle courage, always progressive and +open to new ideas, and yet never bitter to those ideas which He was +really supplanting, though He did occasionally lose His temper with +their more bigoted and narrow supporters. Especially one loves His +readiness to get at the spirit of religion, sweeping aside the texts +and the forms. Never had anyone such a robust common sense, or such a +sympathy for weakness. It was this most wonderful and uncommon life, +and not his death, which is the true centre of the Christian religion. +</P> + +<P> +Now, let us look at the light which we get from the spirit guides upon +this question of Christianity. Opinion is not absolutely uniform +yonder, any more than it is here; but reading a number of messages upon +this subject, they amount to this: There are many higher spirits with +our departed. They vary in degree. Call them "angels," and you are in +touch with old religious thought. High above all these is the greatest +spirit of whom they have cognizance—not God, since God is so infinite +that He is not within their ken—but one who is nearer God and to that +extent represents God. This is the Christ Spirit. His special care is +the earth. He came down upon it at a time of great earthly depravity—a +time when the world was almost as wicked as it is now, in order to give +the people the lesson of an ideal life. Then he returned to his own +high station, having left an example which is still occasionally +followed. That is the story of Christ as spirits have described it. +There is nothing here of Atonement or Redemption. But there is a +perfectly feasible and reasonable scheme, which I, for one, could +readily believe. +</P> + +<P> +If such a view of Christianity were generally accepted, and if it were +enforced by assurance and demonstration from the New Revelation which +is coming to us from the other side, then we should have a creed which +might unite the churches, which might be reconciled to science, which +might defy all attacks, and which might carry the Christian Faith on +for an indefinite period. Reason and Faith would at last be +reconciled, a nightmare would be lifted from our minds, and spiritual +peace would prevail. I do not see such results coming as a sudden +conquest or a violent revolution. Rather will it come as a peaceful +penetration, as some crude ideas, such as the Eternal Hell idea, have +already gently faded away within our own lifetime. It is, however, +when the human soul is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the +seeds of truth may be planted, and so some future spiritual harvest +will surely rise from the days in which we live. +</P> + +<P> +When I read the New Testament with the knowledge which I have of +Spiritualism, I am left with a deep conviction that the teaching of +Christ was in many most important respects lost by the early Church, +and has not come down to us. All these allusions to a conquest over +death have, as it seems to me, little meaning in the present Christian +philosophy, whereas for those who have seen, however dimly, through the +veil, and touched, however slightly, the outstretched hands beyond, +death has indeed been conquered. When we read so many references to +the phenomena with which we are familiar, the levitations, the tongues +of fire, the rushing wind, the spiritual gifts, the working of wonders, +we feel that the central fact of all, the continuity of life and the +communication with the dead, was most certainly known. Our attention +is arrested by such a saying as: "Here he worked no wonders because +the people were wanting in faith." Is this not absolutely in +accordance with psychic law as we know it? Or when Christ, on being +touched by the sick woman, said: "Who has touched me? Much virtue has +passed out of me." Could He say more clearly what a healing medium +would say now, save that He would use the word "Power" instead of +"virtue"; or when we read: "Try the spirits whether they be of God," is +it not the very, advice which would now be given to a novice +approaching a seance? It is too large a question for me to do more +than indicate, but I believe that this subject, which the more rigid +Christian churches now attack so bitterly, is really the central +teaching of Christianity itself. To those who would read more upon +this line of thought, I strongly recommend Dr. Abraham Wallace's Jesus +of Nazareth, if this valuable little work is not out of print. He +demonstrates in it most convincingly that Christ's miracles were all +within the powers of psychic law as we now understand it, and were on +the exact lines of such law even in small details. Two examples have +already been given. Many are worked out in that pamphlet. One which +convinced me as a truth was the thesis that the story of the +materialization of the two prophets upon the mountain was +extraordinarily accurate when judged by psychic law. There is the fact +that Peter, James and John (who formed the psychic circle when the dead +was restored to life, and were presumably the most helpful of the +group) were taken. Then there is the choice of the high pure air of +the mountain, the drowsiness of the attendant mediums, the +transfiguring, the shining robes, the cloud, the words: "Let us make +three tabernacles," with its alternate reading: "Let us make three +booths or cabinets" (the ideal way of condensing power and producing +materializations)—all these make a very consistent theory of the +nature of the proceedings. For the rest, the list of gifts which St. +Paul gives as being necessary for the Christian Disciple, is simply the +list of gifts of a very powerful medium, including prophecy, healing, +causing miracles (or physical phenomena), clairvoyance, and other +powers (I Corinth, xii, 8, 11). The early Christian Church was +saturated with spiritualism, and they seem to have paid no attention to +those Old Testament prohibitions which were meant to keep these powers +only for the use and profit of the priesthood. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COMING LIFE +</H3> + +<P> +Now, leaving this large and possibly contentious subject of the +modifications which such new revelations must produce in Christianity, +let us try to follow what occurs to man after death. The evidence on +this point is fairly full and consistent. Messages from the dead have +been received in many lands at various times, mixed up with a good deal +about this world, which we could verify. When messages come thus, it +is only fair, I think, to suppose that if what we can test is true, +then what we cannot test is true also. When in addition we find a very +great uniformity in the messages and an agreement as to details which +are not at all in accordance with any pre-existing scheme of thought, +then I think the presumption of truth is very strong. It is difficult +to think that some fifteen or twenty messages from various sources of +which I have personal notes, all agree, and yet are all wrong, nor is +it easy to suppose that spirits can tell the truth about our world but +untruth about their own. +</P> + +<P> +I received lately, in the same week, two accounts of life in the next +world, one received through the hand of the near relative of a high +dignitary of the Church, while the other came through the wife of a +working mechanician in Scotland. Neither could have been aware of the +existence of the other, and yet the two accounts are so alike as to be +practically the same.[2] +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[2] Vide Appendix II. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The message upon these points seems to me to be infinitely reassuring, +whether we regard our own fate or that of our friends. The departed +all agree that passing is usually both easy and painless, and followed +by an enormous reaction of peace and ease. The individual finds +himself in a spirit body, which is the exact counterpart of his old +one, save that all disease, weakness, or deformity has passed from it. +This body is standing or floating beside the old body, and conscious +both of it and of the surrounding people. At this moment the dead man +is nearer to matter than he will ever be again, and hence it is that at +that moment the greater part of those cases occur where, his thoughts +having turned to someone in the distance, the spirit body went with the +thoughts and was manifest to the person. Out of some 250 cases +carefully examined by Mr. Gurney, 134 of such apparitions were actually +at this moment of dissolution, when one could imagine that the new +spirit body was possibly so far material as to be more visible to a +sympathetic human eye than it would later become. +</P> + +<P> +These cases, however, are very rare in comparison with the total number +of deaths. In most cases I imagine that the dead man is too +preoccupied with his own amazing experience to have much thought for +others. He soon finds, to his surprise, that though he endeavours to +communicate with those whom he sees, his ethereal voice and his +ethereal touch are equally unable to make any impression upon those +human organs which are only attuned to coarser stimuli. It is a fair +subject for speculation, whether a fuller knowledge of those light rays +which we know to exist on either side of the spectrum, or of those +sounds which we can prove by the vibrations of a diaphragm to exist, +although they are too high for mortal ear, may not bring us some +further psychical knowledge. Setting that aside, however, let us +follow the fortunes of the departing spirit. He is presently aware +that there are others in the room besides those who were there in life, +and among these others, who seem to him as substantial as the living, +there appear familiar faces, and he finds his hand grasped or his lips +kissed by those whom he had loved and lost. Then in their company, and +with the help and guidance of some more radiant being who has stood by +and waited for the newcomer, he drifts to his own surprise through all +solid obstacles and out upon his new life. +</P> + +<P> +This is a definite statement, and this is the story told by one after +the other with a consistency which impels belief. It is already very +different from any old theology. The Spirit is not a glorified angel +or goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself, containing all +his strength and weakness, his wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has +retained his personal appearance. We can well believe that the most +frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so tremendous an +experience, but impressions soon become blunted, the old nature may +soon reassert itself in new surroundings, and the frivolous still +survive, as our seance rooms can testify. +</P> + +<P> +And now, before entering upon his new life, the new Spirit has a period +of sleep which varies in its length, sometimes hardly existing at all, +at others extending for weeks or months. Raymond said that his lasted +for six days. That was the period also in a case of which I had some +personal evidence. Mr. Myers, on the other hand, said that he had a +very prolonged period of unconsciousness. I could imagine that the +length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental preoccupation of +this life, the longer rest giving the better means of wiping this out. +Probably the little child would need no such interval at all. This, of +course, is pure speculation, but there is a considerable consensus of +opinion as to the existence of a period of oblivion after the first +impression of the new life and before entering upon its duties. +</P> + +<P> +Having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak, as the child is +weak after earth birth. Soon, however, strength returns and the new +life begins. This leads us to the consideration of heaven and hell. +Hell, I may say, drops out altogether, as it has long dropped out of +the thoughts of every reasonable man. This odious conception, so +blasphemous in its view of the Creator, arose from the exaggerations of +Oriental phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a coarse age +where men were frightened by fires, as wild beasts are seared by the +travellers. Hell as a permanent place does not exist. But the idea of +punishment, of purifying chastisement, in fact of Purgatory, is +justified by the reports from the other side. Without such punishment +there could be no justice in the Universe, for how impossible it would +be to imagine that the fate of a Rasputin is the same as that of a +Father Damien. The punishment is very certain and very serious, though +in its less severe forms it only consists in the fact that the grosser +souls are in lower spheres with a knowledge that their own deeds have +placed them there, but also with the hope that expiation and the help +of those above them will educate them and bring them level with the +others. In this saving process the higher spirits find part of their +employment. Miss Julia Ames in her beautiful posthumous book, says in +memorable words: "The greatest joy of Heaven is emptying Hell." +</P> + +<P> +Setting aside those probationary spheres, which should perhaps rather +be looked upon as a hospital for weakly souls than as a penal +community, the reports from the other world are all agreed as to the +pleasant conditions of life in the beyond. They agree that like goes +to like, that all who love or who have interests in common are united, +that life is full of interest and of occupation, and that they would by +no means desire to return. All of this is surely tidings of great joy, +and I repeat that it is not a vague faith or hope, but that it is +supported by all the laws of evidence which agree that where many +independent witnesses give a similar account, that account has a claim +to be considered a true one. If it were an account of glorified souls +purged instantly from all human weakness and of a constant ecstasy of +adoration round the throne of the all powerful, it might well be +suspected as being the mere reflection of that popular theology which +all the mediums had equally received in their youth. It is, however, +very different to any preexisting system. It is also supported, as I +have already pointed out, not merely by the consistency of the +accounts, but by the fact that the accounts are the ultimate product of +a long series of phenomena, all of which have been attested as true by +those who have carefully examined them. +</P> + +<P> +In connection with the general subject of life after death, people may +say we have got this knowledge already through faith. But faith, +however beautiful in the individual, has always in collective bodies +been a very two-edged quality. All would be well if every faith were +alike and the intuitions of the human race were constant. We know that +it is not so. Faith means to say that you entirely believe a thing +which you cannot prove. One man says: "My faith is THIS." Another +says: "My faith is THAT." Neither can prove it, so they wrangle for +ever, either mentally or in the old days physically. If one is +stronger than the other, he is inclined to persecute him just to twist +him round to the true faith. Because Philip the Second's faith was +strong and clear he, quite logically, killed a hundred thousand +Lowlanders in the hope that their fellow countrymen would be turned to +the all-important truth. Now, if it were recognised that it is by no +means virtuous to claim what you could not prove, we should then be +driven to observe facts, to reason from them, and perhaps reach common +agreement. That is why this psychical movement appears so valuable. +Its feet are on something more solid than texts or traditions or +intuitions. It is religion from the double point of view of both +worlds up to date, instead of the ancient traditions of one world. +</P> + +<P> +We cannot look upon this coming world as a tidy Dutch garden of a place +which is so exact that it can easily be described. It is probable that +those messengers who come back to us are all, more or less, in one +state of development and represent the same wave of life as it recedes +from our shores. Communications usually come from those who have not +long passed over, and tend to grow fainter, as one would expect. It is +instructive in this respect to notice that Christ's reappearances to +his disciples or to Paul, are said to have been within a very few years +of his death, and that there is no claim among the early Christians to +have seen him later. The cases of spirits who give good proof of +authenticity and yet have passed some time are not common. There is, +in Mr. Dawson Roger's life, a very good case of a spirit who called +himself Manton, and claimed to have been born at Lawrence Lydiard and +buried at Stoke Newington in 1677. It was clearly shown afterwards that +there was such a man, and that he was Oliver Cromwell's chaplain. So +far as my own reading goes, this is the oldest spirit who is on record +as returning, and generally they are quite recent. Hence, one gets all +one's views from the one generation, as it were, and we cannot take +them as final, but only as partial. How spirits may see things in a +different light as they progress in the other world is shown by Miss +Julia Ames, who was deeply impressed at first by the necessity of +forming a bureau of communication, but admitted, after fifteen years, +that not one spirit in a million among the main body upon the further +side ever wanted to communicate with us at all since their own loved +ones had come over. She had been misled by the fact that when she first +passed over everyone she met was newly arrived like herself. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the account we give may be partial, but still such as it is it is +very consistent and of extraordinary interest, since it refers to our +own destiny and that of those we love. All agree that life beyond is +for a limited period, after which they pass on to yet other phases, but +apparently there is more communication between these phases than there +is between us and Spiritland. The lower cannot ascend, but the higher +can descend at will. The life has a close analogy to that of this +world at it its best. It is pre-eminently a life of the mind, as this +is of the body. Preoccupations of food, money, lust, pain, etc., are +of the body and are gone. Music, the Arts, intellectual and spiritual +knowledge, and progress have increased. The people are clothed, as one +would expect, since there is no reason why modesty should disappear +with our new forms. These new forms are the absolute reproduction of +the old ones at their best, the young growing up and the old reverting +until all come to the normal. People live in communities, as one would +expect if like attracts like, and the male spirit still finds his true +mate though there is no sexuality in the grosser sense and no +childbirth. Since connections still endure, and those in the same +state of development keep abreast, one would expect that nations are +still roughly divided from each other, though language is no longer a +bar, since thought has become a medium of conversation. How close is +the connection between kindred souls over there is shown by the way in +which Myers, Gurney and Roden Noel, all friends and co-workers on +earth, sent messages together through Mrs. Holland, who knew none of +them, each message being characteristic to those who knew the men in +life—or the way in which Professor Verrall and Professor Butcher, both +famous Greek scholars, collaborated to produce the Greek problem which +has been analysed by Mr. Gerald Balfour in The Ear of Dionysius, with +the result that that excellent authority testified that the effect +COULD have been attained by no other entities, save only Verrall and +Butcher. It may be remarked in passing that these and other examples +show clearly either that the spirits have the use of an excellent +reference library or else that they have memories which produce +something like omniscience. No human memory could possibly carry all +the exact quotations which occur in such communications as The Ear of +Dionysius. +</P> + +<P> +These, roughly speaking, are the lines of the life beyond in its +simplest expression, for it is not all simple, and we catch dim +glimpses of endless circles below descending into gloom and endless +circles above, ascending into glory, all improving, all purposeful, all +intensely alive. All are agreed that no religion upon earth has any +advantage over another, but that character and refinement are +everything. At the same time, all are also in agreement that all +religions which inculcate prayer, and an upward glance rather than eyes +for ever on the level, are good. In this sense, and in no other—as a +help to spiritual life—every form may have a purpose for somebody. If +to twirl a brass cylinder forces the Thibetan to admit that there is +something higher than his mountains, and more precious than his yaks, +then to that extent it is good. We must not be censorious in such +matters. +</P> + +<P> +There is one point which may be mentioned here which is at first +startling and yet must commend itself to our reason when we reflect +upon it. This is the constant assertion from the other side that the +newly passed do not know that they are dead, and that it is a long +time, sometimes a very long time, before they can be made to understand +it. All of them agree that this state of bewilderment is harmful and +retarding to the spirit, and that some knowledge of the actual truth +upon this side is the only way to make sure of not being dazed upon the +other. Finding conditions entirely different from anything for which +either scientific or religious teaching had prepared them, it is no +wonder that they look upon their new sensations as some strange dream, +and the more rigidly orthodox have been their views, the more +impossible do they find it to accept these new surroundings with all +that they imply. For this reason, as well as for many others, this new +revelation is a very needful thing for mankind. A smaller point of +practical importance is that the aged should realise that it is still +worth while to improve their minds, for though they have no time to use +their fresh knowledge in this world it will remain as part of their +mental outfit in the next. +</P> + +<P> +As to the smaller details of this life beyond, it is better perhaps not +to treat them, for the very good reason that they are small details. +We will learn them all soon for ourselves, and it is only vain +curiosity which leads us to ask for them now. One thing is clear: +there are higher intelligences over yonder to whom synthetic chemistry, +which not only makes the substance but moulds the form, is a matter of +absolute ease. We see them at work in the coarser media, perceptible +to our material senses, in the seance room. If they can build up +simulacra in the seance room, how much may we expect them to do when +they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether which is their own +medium. It may be said generally that they can make something which is +analogous to anything which exists upon earth. How they do it may well +be a matter of guess and speculation among the less advanced spirits, +as the phenomena of modern science are a matter of guess and +speculation to us. If one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen +of some sub-human world, and were asked to explain exactly what gravity +is, or what magnetism is, how helpless we should be! We may put +ourselves in the position, then, of a young engineer soldier like +Raymond Lodge, who tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond—a +theory which is very likely contradicted by some other spirit who is +also guessing at things above him. He may be right, or he may be +wrong, but he is doing his best to say what he thinks, as we should do +in similar case. He believes that his transcendental chemists can make +anything, and that even such unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco +could come within their powers and could still be craved for by +unregenerate spirits. This has tickled the critics to such an extent +that one would really think to read the comments that it was the only +statement in a book which contains 400 closely-printed pages. Raymond +may be right or wrong, but the only thing which the incident proves to +me is the unflinching courage and honesty of the man who chronicled it, +knowing well the handle that he was giving to his enemies. +</P> + +<P> +There are many who protest that this world which is described to us is +too material for their liking. It is not as they would desire it. +Well, there are many things in this world which seem different from +what we desire, but they exist none the less. But when we come to +examine this charge of materialism and try to construct some sort of +system which would satisfy the idealists, it becomes a very difficult +task. Are we to be mere wisps of gaseous happiness floating about in +the air? That seems to be the idea. But if there is no body like our +own, and if there is no character like our own, then say what you will, +WE have become extinct. What is it to a mother if some impersonal +glorified entity is shown to her? She will say, "that is not the son I +lost—I want his yellow hair, his quick smile, his little moods that I +know so well." That is what she wants; that, I believe, is what she +will have; but she will not have them by any system which cuts us away +from all that reminds us of matter and takes us to a vague region of +floating emotions. +</P> + +<P> +There is an opposite school of critics which rather finds the +difficulty in picturing a life which has keen perceptions, robust +emotions, and a solid surrounding all constructed in so diaphanous a +material. Let us remember that everything depends upon its comparison +with the things around it. +</P> + +<P> +If we could conceive of a world a thousand times denser, heavier and +duller than this world, we can clearly see that to its inmates it would +seem much the same as this, since their strength and texture would be +in proportion. If, however, these inmates came in contact with us, +they would look upon us as extraordinarily airy beings living in a +strange, light, spiritual atmosphere. They would not remember that we +also, since our beings and our surroundings are in harmony and in +proportion to each other, feel and act exactly as they do. +</P> + +<P> +We have now to consider the case of yet another stratum of life, which +is as much above us as the leaden community would be below us. To us +also it seems as if these people, these spirits, as we call them, live +the lives of vapour and of shadows. We do not recollect that there +also everything is in proportion and in harmony so that the spirit +scene or the spirit dwelling, which might seem a mere dream thing to +us, is as actual to the spirit as are our own scenes or our own +dwellings, and that the spirit body is as real and tangible to another +spirit as ours to our friends. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +Leaving for a moment the larger argument as to the lines of this +revelation and the broad proofs of its validity, there are some smaller +points which have forced themselves upon my attention during the +consideration of the subject. This home of our dead seems to be very +near to us—so near that we continually, as they tell us, visit them in +our sleep. Much of that quiet resignation which we have all observed in +people who have lost those whom they loved—people who would in our +previous opinion have been driven mad by such loss—is due to the fact +that they have seen their dead, and that although the switch-off is +complete and they can recall nothing whatever of the spirit experience +in sleep, the soothing result of it is still carried on by the +subconscious self. The switch-off is, as I say, complete, but +sometimes for some reason it is hung up for a fraction of a second, and +it is at such moments that the dreamer comes back from his dream +"trailing clouds of glory." From this also come all those prophetic +dreams many of which are well attested. I have had a recent personal +experience of one which has not yet perhaps entirely justified itself +but is even now remarkable. Upon April 4th of last year, 1917, I awoke +with a feeling that some communication had been made to me of which I +had only carried back one word which was ringing in my head. That word +was "Piave." To the best of my belief I had never heard the word +before. As it sounded like the name of a place I went into my study +the moment I had dressed and I looked up the index of my Atlas. There +was "Piave" sure enough, and I noted that it was a river in Italy some +forty miles behind the front line, which at that time was victoriously +advancing. I could imagine few more unlikely things than that the war +should roll back to the Piave, and I could not think how any military +event of consequence could arise there, but none the less I was so +impressed that I drew up a statement that some such event would occur +there, and I had it signed by my secretary and witnessed by my wife +with the date, April 4th, attached. It is a matter of history how six +months later the whole Italian line fell back, how it abandoned +successive positions upon rivers, and how it stuck upon this stream +which was said by military critics to be strategically almost +untenable. If nothing more should occur (I write upon February 20th, +1918), the reference to the name has been fully justified, presuming +that some friend in the beyond was forecasting the coming events of the +war. I have still a hope, however, that more was meant, and that some +crowning victory of the Allies at this spot may justify still further +the strange way in which the name was conveyed to my mind. +</P> + +<P> +People may well cry out against this theory of sleep on the grounds +that all the grotesque, monstrous and objectionable dreams which plague +us cannot possibly come from a high source. On this point I have a +very definite theory, which may perhaps be worthy of discussion. I +consider that there are two forms of dreams, and only two, the +experiences of the released spirit, and the confused action of the +lower faculties which remain in the body when the spirit is absent. The +former is rare and beautiful, for the memory of it fails us. The +latter are common and varied, but usually fantastic or ignoble. By +noting what is absent in the lower dreams one can tell what the missing +qualities are, and so judge what part of us goes to make up the spirit. +Thus in these dreams humour is wanting, since we see things which +strike us afterwards as ludicrous, and are not amused. The sense of +proportion and of judgment and of aspiration is all gone. In short, +the higher is palpably gone, and the lower, the sense of fear, of +sensual impression, of self-preservation, is functioning all the more +vividly because it is relieved from the higher control. +</P> + +<P> +The limitations of the powers of spirits is a subject which is brought +home to one in these studies. People say, "If they exist why don't they +do this or that!" The answer usually is that they can't. They appear +to have very fixed limitations like our own. This seemed to be very +clearly brought out in the cross-correspondence experiments where +several writing mediums were operating at a distance quite +independently of each other, and the object was to get agreement which +was beyond the reach of coincidence. The spirits seem to know exactly +what they impress upon the minds of the living, but they do not know +how far they carry their instruction out. Their touch with us is +intermittent. Thus, in the cross-correspondence experiments we +continually have them asking, "Did you get that?" or "Was it all +right?" Sometimes they have partial cognisance of what is done, as +where Myers says: "I saw the circle, but was not sure about the +triangle." It is everywhere apparent that their spirits, even the +spirits of those who, like Myers and Hodgson, were in specially close +touch with psychic subjects, and knew all that could be done, were in +difficulties when they desired to get cognisance of a material thing, +such as a written document. Only, I should imagine, by partly +materialising themselves could they do so, and they may not have had +the power of self-materialization. This consideration throws some +light upon the famous case, so often used by our opponents, where Myers +failed to give some word or phrase which had been left behind in a +sealed box. Apparently he could not see this document from his present +position, and if his memory failed him he would be very likely to go +wrong about it. +</P> + +<P> +Many mistakes may, I think, be explained in this fashion. It has been +asserted from the other side, and the assertion seems to me reasonable, +that when they speak of their own conditions they are speaking of what +they know and can readily and surely discuss; but that when we insist +(as we must sometimes insist) upon earthly tests, it drags them back to +another plane of things, and puts them in a position which is far more +difficult, and liable to error. +</P> + +<P> +Another point which is capable of being used against us is this: The +spirits have the greatest difficulty in getting names through to us, +and it is this which makes many of their communications so vague and +unsatisfactory. They will talk all round a thing, and yet never get +the name which would clinch the matter. There is an example of the +point in a recent communication in Light, which describes how a young +officer, recently dead, endeavoured to get a message through the direct +voice method of Mrs. Susannah Harris to his father. He could not get +his name through. He was able, however, to make it clear that his +father was a member of the Kildare Street Club in Dublin. Inquiry +found the father, and it was then learned that the father had already +received an independent message in Dublin to say that an inquiry was +coming through from London. I do not know if the earth name is a +merely ephemeral thing, quite disconnected from the personality, and +perhaps the very first thing to be thrown aside. That is, of course, +possible. Or it may be that some law regulates our intercourse from +the other side by which it shall not be too direct, and shall leave +something to our own intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +This idea, that there is some law which makes an indirect speech more +easy than a direct one, is greatly borne out by the +cross-correspondences, where circumlocution continually takes the place +of assertion. Thus, in the St. Paul correspondence, which is treated +in the July pamphlet of the S.P.R., the idea of St. Paul was to be +conveyed from one automatic writer to two others, both of whom were at +a distance, one of them in India. Dr. Hodgson was the spirit who +professed to preside over this experiment. You would think that the +simple words "St. Paul" occurring in the other scripts would be +all-sufficient. But no; he proceeds to make all sorts of indirect +allusions, to talk all round St. Paul in each of the scripts, and to +make five quotations from St. Paul's writings. This is beyond +coincidence, and quite convincing, but none the less it illustrates the +curious way in which they go round instead of going straight. If one +could imagine some wise angel on the other side saying, "Now, don't +make it too easy for these people. Make them use their own brains a +little. They will become mere automatons if we do everything for +them"—if we could imagine that, it would just cover the case. +Whatever the explanation, it is a noteworthy fact. +</P> + +<P> +There is another point about spirit communications which is worth +noting. This is their uncertainty wherever any time element comes in. +Their estimate of time is almost invariably wrong. Earth time is +probably a different idea to spirit time, and hence the confusion. We +had the advantage, as I have stated, of the presence of a lady in our +household who developed writing mediumship. She was in close touch +with three brothers, all of whom had been killed in the war. This +lady, conveying messages from her brothers, was hardly ever entirely +wrong upon facts, and hardly ever right about time. There was one +notable exception, however, which in itself is suggestive. Although +her prophecies as to public events were weeks or even months out, she +in one case foretold the arrival of a telegram from Africa to the day. +Now the telegram had already been sent, but was delayed, so that the +inference seems to be that she could foretell a course of events which +had actually been set in motion, and calculate how long they would take +to reach their end. On the other hand, I am bound to admit that she +confidently prophesied the escape of her fourth brother, who was a +prisoner in Germany, and that this was duly fulfilled. On the whole I +preserve an open mind upon the powers and limitations of prophecy. +</P> + +<P> +But apart from all these limitations we have, unhappily, to deal with +absolute coldblooded lying on the part of wicked or mischievous +intelligences. Everyone who has investigated the matter has, I suppose, +met with examples of wilful deception, which occasionally are mixed up +with good and true communications. It was of such messages, no doubt, +that the Apostle wrote when he said: "Beloved, believe, not every +spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." These words can +only mean that the early Christians not only practised Spiritualism as +we understand it, but also that they were faced by the same +difficulties. There is nothing more puzzling than the fact that one +may get a long connected description with every detail given, and that +it may prove to be entirely a concoction. However, we must bear in +mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it atones for many +failures, just as if you had one telegram correct you would know that +there was a line and a communicator, however much they broke down +afterwards. But it must be admitted that it is very discomposing and +makes one sceptical of messages until they are tested. Of a kin with +these false influences are all the Miltons who cannot scan, and +Shelleys who cannot rhyme, and Shakespeares who cannot think, and all +the other absurd impersonations which make our cause ridiculous. They +are, I think, deliberate frauds, either from this side or from the +other, but to say that they invalidate the whole subject is as +senseless as to invalidate our own world because we encounter some +unpleasant people. +</P> + +<P> +One thing I can truly say, and that is, that in spite of false +messages, I have never in all these years known a blasphemous, an +unkind, or an obscene message. Such incidents must be of very +exceptional nature. I think also that, so far as allegations +concerning insanity, obsession, and so forth go, they are entirely +imaginary. Asylum statistics do not bear out such assertions, and +mediums live to as good an average age as anyone else. I think, +however, that the cult of the seance may be very much overdone. When +once you have convinced yourself of the truth of the phenomena the +physical seance has done its work, and the man or woman who spends his +or her life in running from seance to seance is in danger of becoming a +mere sensation hunter. Here, as in other cults, the form is in danger +of eclipsing the real thing, and in pursuit of physical proofs one may +forget that the real object of all these things is, as I have tried to +point out, to give us assurance in the future and spiritual strength in +the present, to attain a due perception of the passing nature of matter +and the all-importance of that which is immaterial. +</P> + +<P> +The conclusion, then, of my long search after truth, is that in spite +of occasional fraud, which Spiritualists deplore, and in spite of wild +imaginings, which they discourage, there remains a great solid core in +this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive proof than any +other religious development with which I am acquainted. As I have +shown, it would appear to be a rediscovery rather than an absolutely +new thing, but the result in this material age is the same. The days +are surely passing when the mature and considered opinions of such men +as Crookes, Wallace, Flammarion, Chas. Richet, Lodge, Barrett, +Lombroso, Generals Drayson and Turner, Sergeant Ballantyne, W. T. +Stead, Judge Edmunds, Admiral Usborne Moore, the late Archdeacon +Wilberforce, and such a cloud of other witnesses, can be dismissed with +the empty "All rot" or "Nauseating drivel" formulae. As Mr. Arthur +Hill has well said, we have reached a point where further proof is +superfluous, and where the weight of disproof lies upon those who deny. +The very people who clamour for proofs have as a rule never taken the +trouble to examine the copious proofs which already exist. Each seems +to think that the whole subject should begin de novo because he has +asked for information. The method of our opponents is to fasten upon +the latest man who has stated the case—at the present instant it +happens to be Sir Oliver Lodge—and then to deal with him as if he had +come forward with some new opinions which rested entirely upon his own +assertion, with no reference to the corroboration of so many +independent workers before him. This is not an honest method of +criticism, for in every case the agreement of witnesses is the very +root of conviction. But as a matter of fact, there are many single +witnesses upon whom this case could rest. If, for example, our only +knowledge of unknown forces depended upon the researches of Dr. +Crawford of Belfast, who places his amateur medium in a weighing chair +with her feet from the ground, and has been able to register a +difference of weight of many pounds, corresponding with the physical +phenomena produced, a result which he has tested and recorded in a true +scientific spirit of caution, I do not see how it could be shaken. The +phenomena are and have long been firmly established for every open +mind. One feels that the stage of investigation is passed, and that of +religious construction is overdue. +</P> + +<P> +For are we to satisfy ourselves by observing phenomena with no +attention to what the phenomena mean, as a group of savages might stare +at a wireless installation with no appreciation of the messages coming +through it, or are we resolutely to set ourselves to define these +subtle and elusive utterances from beyond, and to construct from them a +religious scheme, which will be founded upon human reason on this side +and upon spirit inspiration upon the other? These phenomena have +passed through the stage of being a parlour game; they are now emerging +from that of a debatable scientific novelty; and they are, or should +be, taking shape as the foundations of a definite system of religious +thought, in some ways confirmatory of ancient systems, in some ways +entirely new. The evidence upon which this system rests is so enormous +that it would take a very considerable library to contain it, and the +witnesses are not shadowy people living in the dim past and +inaccessible to our cross-examination, but are our own contemporaries, +men of character and intellect whom all must respect. The situation +may, as it seems to me, be summed up in a simple alternative. The one +supposition is that there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over +two generations of mankind, and two great continents—a lunacy which +assails men or women who are otherwise eminently sane. The alternative +supposition is that in recent years there has come to us from divine +sources a new revelation which constitutes by far the greatest +religious event since the death of Christ (for the Reformation was a +re-arrangement of the old, not a revelation of the new), a revelation +which alters the whole aspect of death and the fate of man. Between +these two suppositions there is no solid position. Theories of fraud or +of delusion will not meet the evidence. It is absolute lunacy or it is +a revolution in religious thought, a revolution which gives us as +by-products an utter fearlessness of death, and an immense consolation +when those who are dear to us pass behind the veil. +</P> + +<P> +I should like to add a few practical words to those who know the truth +of what I say. We have here an enormous new development, the greatest +in the history of mankind. How are we to use it? We are bound in +honour, I think, to state our own belief, especially to those who are +in trouble. Having stated it, we should not force it, but leave the +rest to higher wisdom than our own. We wish to subvert no religion. +We wish only to bring back the material-minded—to take them out of +their cramped valley and put them on the ridge, whence they can breathe +purer air and see other valleys and other ridges beyond. Religions are +mostly petrified and decayed, overgrown with forms and choked with +mysteries. We can prove that there is no need for this. All that is +essential is both very simple and very sure. +</P> + +<P> +The clear call for our help comes from those who have had a loss and +who yearn to re-establish connection. This also can be overdone. If +your boy were in Australia, you would not expect him to continually +stop his work and write long letters at all seasons. Having got in +touch, be moderate in your demands. Do not be satisfied with any +evidence short of the best, but having got that, you can, it seems to +me, wait for that short period when we shall all be re-united. I am in +touch at present with thirteen mothers who are in correspondence with +their dead sons. In each case, the husband, where he is alive, is +agreed as to the evidence. In only one case so far as I know was the +parent acquainted with psychic matters before the war. +</P> + +<P> +Several of these cases have peculiarities of their own. In two of them +the figures of the dead lads have appeared beside the mothers in a +photograph. In one case the first message to the mother came through a +stranger to whom the correct address of the mother was given. The +communication afterwards became direct. In another case the method of +sending messages was to give references to particular pages and lines +of books in distant libraries, the whole conveying a message. The +procedure was to weed out all fear of telepathy. Verily there is no +possible way by which a truth can be proved by which this truth has not +been proved. +</P> + +<P> +How are you to act? There is the difficulty. There are true men and +there are frauds. You have to work warily. So far as professional +mediums go, you will not find it difficult to get recommendations. Even +with the best you may draw entirely blank. The conditions are very +elusive. And yet some get the result at once. We cannot lay down +laws, because the law works from the other side as well as this. +Nearly every woman is an undeveloped medium. Let her try her own +powers of automatic writing. There again, what is done must be done +with every precaution against self-deception, and in a reverent and +prayerful mood. But if you are earnest, you will win through somehow, +for someone else is probably trying on the other side. +</P> + +<P> +Some people discountenance communication upon the ground that it is +hindering the advance of the departed. There is not a tittle of +evidence for this. The assertions of the spirits are entirely to the +contrary and they declare that they are helped and strengthened by the +touch with those whom they love. I know few more moving passages in +their simple boyish eloquence than those in which Raymond describes the +feelings of the dead boys who want to get messages back to their people +and find that ignorance and prejudice are a perpetual bar. "It is hard +to think your sons are dead, but such a lot of people do think so. It +is revolting to hear the boys tell you how no one speaks of them ever. +It hurts me through and through." +</P> + +<P> +Above all read the literature of this subject. It has been far too +much neglected, not only by the material world but by believers. Soak +yourself with this grand truth. Make yourself familiar with the +overpowering evidence. Get away from the phenomenal side and learn the +lofty teaching from such beautiful books as After Death or from +Stainton Moses' Spirit Teachings. There is a whole library of such +literature, of unequal value but of a high average. Broaden and +spiritualize your thoughts. Show the results in your lives. +Unselfishness, that is the keynote to progress. Realise not as a +belief or a faith, but as a fact which is as tangible as the streets of +London, that we are moving on soon to another life, that all will be +very happy there, and that the only possible way in which that +happiness can be marred or deferred is by folly and selfishness in +these few fleeting years. +</P> + +<P> +It must be repeated that while the new revelation may seem destructive +to those who hold Christian dogmas with extreme rigidity, it has quite +the opposite effect upon the mind which, like so many modern minds, had +come to look upon the whole Christian scheme as a huge delusion. It is +shown clearly that the old revelation has so many resemblances, defaced +by time and mangled by man's mishandling and materialism, but still +denoting the same general scheme, that undoubtedly both have come from +the same source. The accepted ideas of life after death, of higher and +lower spirits, of comparative happiness depending upon our own conduct, +of chastening by pain, of guardian spirits, of high teachers, of an +infinite central power, of circles above circles approaching nearer to +His presence—all of these conceptions appear once more and are +confirmed by many witnesses. It is only the claims of infallibility +and of monopoly, the bigotry and pedantry of theologians, and the +man-made rituals which take the life out of the God-given thoughts—it +is only this which has defaced the truth. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot end this little book better than by using words more eloquent +than any which I could write, a splendid sample of English style as +well as of English thought. They are from the pen of that considerable +thinker and poet, Mr. Gerald Massey, and were written many years ago. +</P> + +<P> +"Spiritualism has been for me, in common with many others, such a +lifting of the mental horizon and letting-in of the heavens—such a +formation of faith into facts, that I can only compare life without it +to sailing on board ship with hatches battened down and being kept a +prisoner, living by the light of a candle, and then suddenly, on some +splendid starry night, allowed to go on deck for the first time to see +the stupendous mechanism of the heavens all aglow with the glory of +God." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0201"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I. THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE +</H3> + +<P> +I have spoken in the text of the striking manner in which accounts of +life in the next phase, though derived from the most varied and +independent sources, are still in essential agreement—an agreement +which occasionally descends to small details. A variety is introduced +by that fuller vision which can see and describe more than one plane, +but the accounts of that happy land to which the ordinary mortal may +hope to aspire, are very consistent. Since I wrote the statement I +have read three fresh independent descriptions which again confirm the +point. One is the account given by "A King's Counsel," in his recent +book, I Heard a Voice (Kegan Paul), which I recommended to inquirers, +though it has a strong Roman Catholic bias running through it which +shows that our main lines of thought are persistent. A second is the +little book The Light on the Future, giving the very interesting +details of the beyond, gathered by an earnest and reverent circle in +Dublin. The other came in a private letter from Mr. Hubert Wales, and +is, I think, most instructive. Mr. Wales is a cautious and rather +sceptical inquirer who had put away his results with incredulity (he +had received them through his own automatic writing). On reading my +account of the conditions described in the beyond, he hunted up his own +old script which had commended itself so little to him when he first +produced it. He says: "After reading your article, I was struck, +almost startled, by the circumstance that the statements which had +purported to be made to me regarding conditions after death +coincided—I think almost to the smallest detail—with those you set +out as the result of your collation of material obtained from a great +number of sources. I cannot think there was anything in my antecedent +reading to account for this coincidence. I had certainly read nothing +you had published on the subject. I had purposely avoided Raymond and +books like it, in order not to vitiate my own results, and the +Proceedings of the S.P.R. which I had read at that time, do not touch, +as you know, upon after-death conditions. At any rate I obtained, at +various times, statements (as my contemporary notes show) to the effect +that, in this persisting state of existence, they have bodies which, +though imperceptible by our senses, are as solid to them as ours to us, +that these bodies are based on the general characteristics of our +present bodies but beautified; that they have no age, no pain, no rich +and poor; that they wear clothes and take nourishment; that they do not +sleep (though they spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious +state which they called 'lying asleep'—a condition, it just occurs to +me, which seems to correspond roughly with the 'Hypnoidal' state); +that, after a period which is usually shorter than the average +life-time here, they pass to some further state of existence; that +people of similar thoughts, tastes and feelings, gravitate together; +that married couples do not necessarily reunite, but that the love of +man and woman continues and is freed of elements which with us often +militate against its perfect realization; that immediately after death +people pass into a semi-conscious rest-state lasting various periods, +that they are unable to experience bodily pain, but are susceptible at +times to some mental anxiety; that a painful death is 'absolutely +unknown,' that religious beliefs make no difference whatever in the +after-state, and that their life altogether is intensely happy, and no +one having ever realised it could wish to return here. I got no +reference to 'work' by that word, but much to the various interests +that were said to occupy them. That is probably only another way of +saying the same thing. 'Work' with us has come usually to mean 'work +to live,' and that, I was emphatically informed, was not the case with +them—that all the requirements of life were somehow mysteriously +'provided.' Neither did I get any reference to a definite 'temporary +penal state,' but I gathered that people begin there at the point of +intellectual and moral development where they leave off here; and since +their state of happiness was based mainly upon sympathy, those who came +over in a low moral condition, failed at first for various lengths of +time to have the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0202"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AUTOMATIC WRITING +</H3> + +<P> +This form of mediumship gives the very highest results, and yet in its +very nature is liable to self-deception. Are we using our own hand or +is an outside power directing it? It is only by the information +received that we can tell, and even then we have to make broad +allowance for the action of our own subconscious knowledge. It is +worth while perhaps to quote what appears to me to be a thoroughly +critic-proof case, so that the inquirer may see how strong the evidence +is that these messages are not self-evolved. This case is quoted in Mr. +Arthur Hill's recent book Man Is a Spirit (Cassell & Co.) and is +contributed by a gentleman who takes the name of Captain James Burton. +He is, I understand, the same medium (amateur) through whose +communications the position of the buried ruins at Glastonbury have +recently been located. "A week after my father's funeral I was writing +a business letter, when something seemed to intervene between my hand +and the motor centres of my brain, and the hand wrote at an amazing +rate a letter, signed with my father's signature and purporting to come +from him. I was upset, and my right side and arm became cold and numb. +For a year after this letters came frequently, and always at unexpected +times. I never knew what they contained until I examined them with a +magnifying-glass: they were microscopic. And they contained a vast +amount of matter with which it was impossible for me to be acquainted." +. . . "Unknown to me, my mother, who was staying some sixty miles +away, lost her pet dog, which my father had given her. The same night +I had a letter from him condoling with her, and stating that the dog +was now with him. 'All things which love us and are necessary to our +happiness in the world are with us here.' A most sacred secret, known +to no one but my father and mother, concerning a matter which occurred +years before I was born, was afterwards told me in the script, with the +comment: 'Tell your mother this, and she will know that it is I, your +father, who am writing.' My mother had been unable to accept the +possibility up to now, but when I told her this she collapsed and +fainted. From that moment the letters became her greatest comfort, for +they were lovers during the forty years of their married life, and his +death almost broke her heart. +</P> + +<P> +"As for myself, I am as convinced that my father, in his original +personality, still exists, as if he were still in his study with the +door shut. He is no more dead than he would be were he living in +America. +</P> + +<P> +"I have compared the diction and vocabulary of these letters with those +employed in my own writing—I am not unknown as a magazine +contributor—and I find no points of similarity between the two." +There is much further evidence in this case for which I refer the +reader to the book itself. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0203"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHERITON DUGOUT +</H3> + +<P> +I have mentioned in the text that I had some recent experience of a +case where a "polter-geist" or mischievous spirit had been manifesting. +These entities appear to be of an undeveloped order and nearer to earth +conditions than any others with which we are acquainted. This +comparative materialism upon their part places them low in the scale of +spirit, and undesirable perhaps as communicants, but it gives them a +special value as calling attention to crude obvious phenomena, and so +arresting the human attention and forcing upon our notice that there +are other forms of life within the universe. These borderland forces +have attracted passing attention at several times and places in the +past, such cases as the Wesley persecution at Epworth, the Drummer of +Tedworth, the Bells of Bealing, etc., startling the country for a +time—each of them being an impingement of unknown forces upon human +life. Then almost simultaneously came the Hydesville case in America +and the Cideville disturbances in France, which were so marked that +they could not be overlooked. From them sprang the whole modern +movement which, reasoning upwards from small things to great, from raw +things to developed ones, from phenomena to messages, is destined to +give religion the firmest basis upon which it has ever stood. +Therefore, humble and foolish as these manifestations may seem, they +have been the seed of large developments, and are worthy of our +respectful, though critical, attention. +</P> + +<P> +Many such manifestations have appeared of recent years in various +quarters of the world, each of which is treated by the press in a more +or less comic vein, with a conviction apparently that the use of the +word "spook" discredits the incident and brings discussion to an end. +It is remarkable that each is treated as an entirely isolated +phenomenon, and thus the ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength +of the cumulative evidence. In this particular case of the Cheriton +Dugout the facts are as follows: +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jaques, a Justice of the Peace and a man of education and +intelligence, residing at Embrook House, Cheriton, near Folkestone, +made a dugout just opposite to his residence as a protection against +air raids. The house was, it may be remarked, of great antiquity, part +of it being an old religious foundation of the 14th Century. The +dugout was constructed at the base of a small bluff, and the sinking +was through ordinary soft sandstone. The work was carried out by a +local jobbing builder called Rolfe, assisted by a lad. Soon after the +inception of his task he was annoyed by his candle being continually +blown out by jets of sand, and, by similar jets hitting up against his +own face. These phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous or +electrical cause, but they reached such a point that his work was +seriously hampered, and he complained to Mr. Jaques, who received the +story with absolute incredulity. The persecution continued, however, +and increased in intensity, taking the form now of actual blows from +moving material, considerable objects, such as stones and bits of +brick, flying past him and hitting the walls with a violent impact. +Mr. Rolfe, still searching for a physical explanation, went to Mr. +Hesketh, the Municipal Electrician of Folkestone, a man of high +education and intelligence, who went out to the scene of the affair and +saw enough to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly +genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws. A Canadian soldier who was +billeted upon Mr. Rolfe, heard an account of the happenings from his +host, and after announcing his conviction that the latter had "bats in +his belfry" proceeded to the dugout, where his experiences were so +instant and so violent that he rushed out of the place in horror. The +housekeeper at the Hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks +when no human hands touched them. Mr. Jaques, whose incredulity had +gradually thawed before all this evidence, went down to the dugout in +the absence of everyone, and was departing from it when five stones +rapped up against the door from the inside. He reopened the door and +saw them lying there upon the floor. Sir William Barrett had meanwhile +come down, but had seen nothing. His stay was a short one. I +afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to the grotto, but +got nothing direct, though I saw the new brickwork all chipped about by +the blows which it had received. The forces appeared to have not the +slightest interest in psychical research, for they never played up to +an investigator, and yet their presence and action have been +demonstrated to at least seven different observers, and, as I have +said, they left their traces behind them, even to the extent of picking +the flint stones out of the new cement which was to form the floor, and +arranging them in tidy little piles. The obvious explanation that the +boy was an adept at mischief had to be set aside in view of the fact +that the phenomena occurred in his absence. One extra man of science +wandered on to the scene for a moment, but as his explanation was that +the movements occurred through the emanation of marsh-gas, it did not +advance matters much. The disturbances are still proceeding, and I +have had a letter this very morning (February 21st, 1918) with fuller +and later details from Mr. Hesketh, the Engineer. +</P> + +<P> +What is the REAL explanation of such a matter? I can only say that I +have advised Mr. Jaques to dig into the bluff under which he is +constructing his cellar. I made some investigation myself upon the top +of it and convinced myself that the surface ground at that spot has at +some time been disturbed to the depth of at least five feet. Something +has, I should judge, been buried at some date, and it is probable that, +as in the case cited in the text, there is a connection between this +and the disturbances. It is very probable that Mr. Rolfe is, unknown +to himself, a physical medium, and that when he was in the confined +space of the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his magnetic +powers could accumulate and be available for use. It chanced that +there was on the spot some agency which chose to use them, and hence +the phenomena. When Mr. Jaques went alone to the grotto the power left +behind by Mr. Rolfe, who had been in it all morning, was not yet +exhausted and he was able to get some manifestations. So I read it, +but it is well not to be dogmatic on such matters. If there is +systematic digging I should expect an epilogue to the story. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst these proofs were in the press a second very marked case of a +Polter-geist came within my knowledge. I cannot without breach of +confidence reveal the details and the phenomena are still going on. +Curiously enough, it was because one of the sufferers from the invasion +read some remarks of mine upon the Cheriton dugout that this other case +came to my knowledge, for the lady wrote to me at once for advice and +assistance. The place is remote and I have not yet been able to visit +it, but from the full accounts which I have now received it seems to +present all the familiar features, with the phenomenon of direct +writing superadded. Some specimens of this script have reached me. +Two clergymen have endeavoured to mitigate the phenomena, which are +occasionally very violent, but so far without result. It may be some +consolation to any others who may be suffering from this strange +infliction, to know that in the many cases which have been carefully +recorded there is none in which any physical harm has been inflicted +upon man or beast. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The New Revelation, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW REVELATION *** + +***** This file should be named 1638-h.htm or 1638-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/1638/ + +Produced by Charles Keller. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The New Revelation + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Posting Date: February 22, 2010 [EBook #1638] +Release Date: February, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW REVELATION *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +THE NEW REVELATION + + +BY + +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + + +Dedication + +To all the brave men and women, humble or learned, who have the moral +courage during seventy years to face ridicule or worldly disadvantage +in order to testify to an all-important truth. + +March, 1918 + + + + +PREFACE + +Many more philosophic minds than mine have thought over the religious +side of this subject and many more scientific brains have turned their +attention to its phenomenal aspect. So far as I know, however, there +has been no former attempt to show the exact relation of the one to the +other. I feel that if I should succeed in making this a little more +clear I shall have helped in what I regard as far the most important +question with which the human race is concerned. + +A celebrated Psychic, Mrs. Piper, uttered, in the year 1899 words which +were recorded by Dr. Hodgson at the time. She was speaking in trance +upon the future of spiritual religion, and she said: "In the next +century this will be astonishingly perceptible to the minds of men. I +will also make a statement which you will surely see verified. Before +the clear revelation of spirit communication there will be a terrible +war in different parts of the world. The entire world must be purified +and cleansed before mortal can see, through his spiritual vision, his +friends on this side and it will take just this line of action to bring +about a state of perfection. Friend, kindly think of this." We have +had "the terrible war in different parts of the world." The second +half remains to be fulfilled. + +A. C. D. + 1918. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I THE SEARCH + II THE REVELATION + III THE COMING LIFE + IV PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS + + + +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS + + I THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE + II AUTOMATIC WRITING + III THE CHERITON DUGOUT + + + + +THE NEW REVELATION + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SEARCH + + +The subject of psychical research is one upon which I have thought more +and about which I have been slower to form my opinion, than upon any +other subject whatever. Every now and then as one jogs along through +life some small incident happens which very forcibly brings home the +fact that time passes and that first youth and then middle age are +slipping away. Such a one occurred the other day. There is a column +in that excellent little paper, Light, which is devoted to what was +recorded on the corresponding date a generation--that is thirty +years--ago. As I read over this column recently I had quite a start as +I saw my own name, and read the reprint of a letter which I had written +in 1887, detailing some interesting spiritual experience which had +occurred in a seance. Thus it is manifest that my interest in the +subject is of some standing, and also, since it is only within the last +year or two that I have finally declared myself to be satisfied with +the evidence, that I have not been hasty in forming my opinion. If I +set down some of my experiences and difficulties my readers will not, I +hope, think it egotistical upon my part, but will realise that it is +the most graphic way in which to sketch out the points which are likely +to occur to any other inquirer. When I have passed over this ground, +it will be possible to get on to something more general and impersonal +in its nature. + +When I had finished my medical education in 1882, I found myself, like +many young medical men, a convinced materialist as regards our personal +destiny. I had never ceased to be an earnest theist, because it seemed +to me that Napoleon's question to the atheistic professors on the +starry night as he voyaged to Egypt: "Who was it, gentlemen, who made +these stars?" has never been answered. To say that the Universe was +made by immutable laws only put the question one degree further back as +to who made the laws. I did not, of course, believe in an +anthropomorphic God, but I believed then, as I believe now, in an +intelligent Force behind all the operations of Nature--a force so +infinitely complex and great that my finite brain could get no further +than its existence. Right and wrong I saw also as great obvious facts +which needed no divine revelation. But when it came to a question of +our little personalities surviving death, it seemed to me that the +whole analogy of Nature was against it. When the candle burns out the +light disappears. When the electric cell is shattered the current +stops. When the body dissolves there is an end of the matter. Each +man in his egotism may feel that he ought to survive, but let him look, +we will say, at the average loafer--of high or low degree--would anyone +contend that there was any obvious reason why THAT personality should +carry on? It seemed to be a delusion, and I was convinced that death +did indeed end all, though I saw no reason why that should affect our +duty towards humanity during our transitory existence. + +This was my frame of mind when Spiritual phenomena first came before my +notice. I had always regarded the subject as the greatest nonsense +upon earth, and I had read of the conviction of fraudulent mediums and +wondered how any sane man could believe such things. I met some +friends, however, who were interested in the matter, and I sat with +them at some table-moving seances. We got connected messages. I am +afraid the only result that they had on my mind was that I regarded +these friends with some suspicion. They were long messages very often, +spelled out by tilts, and it was quite impossible that they came by +chance. Someone then, was moving the table. I thought it was they. +They probably thought that I did it. I was puzzled and worried over +it, for they were not people whom I could imagine as cheating--and yet +I could not see how the messages could come except by conscious +pressure. + +About this time--it would be in 1886--I came across a book called The +Reminiscences of Judge Edmunds. He was a judge of the U.S. High Courts +and a man of high standing. The book gave an account of how his wife +had died, and how he had been able for many years to keep in touch with +her. All sorts of details were given. I read the book with interest, +and absolute scepticism. It seemed to me an example of how a hard +practical man might have a weak side to his brain, a sort of reaction, +as it were, against those plain facts of life with which he had to +deal. Where was this spirit of which he talked? Suppose a man had an +accident and cracked his skull; his whole character would change, and a +high nature might become a low one. With alcohol or opium or many other +drugs one could apparently quite change a man's spirit. The spirit +then depended upon matter. These were the arguments which I used in +those days. I did not realise that it was not the spirit that was +changed in such cases, but the body through which the spirit worked, +just as it would be no argument against the existence of a musician if +you tampered with his violin so that only discordant notes could come +through. + +I was sufficiently interested to continue to read such literature as +came in my way. I was amazed to find what a number of great men--men +whose names were to the fore in science--thoroughly believed that +spirit was independent of matter and could survive it. When I regarded +Spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated, I could afford to +look down upon it; but when it was endorsed by men like Crookes, whom I +knew to be the most rising British chemist, by Wallace, who was the +rival of Darwin, and by Flammarion, the best known of astronomers, I +could not afford to dismiss it. It was all very well to throw down the +books of these men which contained their mature conclusions and careful +investigations, and to say "Well, he has one weak spot in his brain," +but a man has to be very self-satisfied if the day does not come when +he wonders if the weak spot is not in his own brain. For some time I +was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration that many famous +men, such as Darwin himself, Huxley, Tyndall and Herbert Spencer, +derided this new branch of knowledge; but when I learned that their +derision had reached such a point that they would not even examine it, +and that Spencer had declared in so many words that he had decided +against it on a priori grounds, while Huxley had said that it did not +interest him, I was bound to admit that, however great, they were in +science, their action in this respect was most unscientific and +dogmatic, while the action of those who studied the phenomena and tried +to find out the laws that governed them, was following the true path +which has given us all human advance and knowledge. So far I had got +in my reasoning, so my sceptical position was not so solid as before. + +It was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own experiences. It is to +be remembered that I was working without a medium, which is like an +astronomer working without a telescope. I have no psychical powers +myself, and those who worked with me had little more. Among us we could +just muster enough of the magnetic force, or whatever you will call it, +to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid +messages. I still have notes of those sittings and copies of some, at +least, of the messages. They were not always absolutely stupid. For +example, I find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question, +such as how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "We +are here to educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." And then: +"The religious frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to +inculcate." Now, no one could say that that was a puerile message. On +the other hand, I was always haunted by the fear of involuntary +pressure from the hands of the sitters. Then there came an incident +which puzzled and disgusted me very much. We had very good conditions +one evening, and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent +of our pressure. Long and detailed messages came through, which +purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a +commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a +theatre at Exeter. All the details were exact, and he implored us to +write to his family, who lived, he said, at a place called Slattenmere, +in Cumberland. I did so, but my letter came back, appropriately +enough, through the dead letter office. To this day I do not know +whether we were deceived, or whether there was some mistake in the name +of the place; but there are the facts, and I was so disgusted that for +some time my interest in the whole subject waned. It was one thing to +study a subject, but when the subject began to play elaborate practical +jokes it seemed time to call a halt. If there is such a place as +Slattenmere in the world I should even now be glad to know it. + +I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and dwelling there was +General Drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the +pioneers of Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my +difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. He made light of +my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of +the absolute falseness of some. "You have not got the fundamental +truth into your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit in +the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no +change whatever. This world is full of weak or foolish people. So is +the next. You need not mix with them, any more than you do in this +world. One chooses one's companions. But suppose a man in this world, +who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was +at last to put his head out of the window to see what sort of place it +was, what would happen? Some naughty boy would probably say something +rude. Anyhow, he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the +world. He would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place. +That is just what you have done. In a mixed seance, with no definite +aim, you have thrust your head into the next world and you have met +some naughty boys. Go forward and try to reach something better." +That was General Drayson's explanation, and though it did not satisfy +me at the time, I think now that it was a rough approximation to the +truth. These were my first steps in Spiritualism. I was still a +sceptic, but at least I was an inquirer, and when I heard some +old-fashioned critic saying that there was nothing to explain, and that +it was all fraud, or that a conjuror was needed to show it up, I knew +at least that that was all nonsense. It is true that my own evidence +up to then was not enough to convince me, but my reading, which was +continuous, showed me how deeply other men had gone into it, and I +recognised that the testimony was so strong that no other religious +movement in the world could put forward anything to compare with it. +That did not prove it to be true, but at least it proved that it must +be treated with respect and could not be brushed aside. Take a single +incident of what Wallace has truly called a modern miracle. I choose +it because it is the most incredible. I allude to the assertion that +D. D. Home--who, by the way, was not, as is usually supposed, a paid +adventurer, but was the nephew of the Earl of Home--the assertion, I +say, that he floated out of one window and into another at the height +of seventy feet above the ground. I could not believe it. And yet, +when I knew that the fact was attested by three eye-witnesses, who were +Lord Dunraven, Lord Lindsay, and Captain Wynne, all men of honour and +repute, who were willing afterwards to take their oath upon it, I could +not but admit that the evidence for this was more direct than for any +of those far-off events which the whole world has agreed to accept as +true. + +I still continued during these years to hold table seances, which +sometimes gave no results, sometimes trivial ones, and sometimes rather +surprising ones. I have still the notes of these sittings, and I +extract here the results of one which were definite, and which were so +unlike any conceptions which I held of life beyond the grave that they +amused rather than edified me at the time. I find now, however, that +they agree very closely, with the revelations in Raymond and in other +later accounts, so that I view them with different eyes. I am aware +that all these accounts of life beyond the grave differ in detail--I +suppose any of our accounts of the present life would differ in +detail--but in the main there is a very great resemblance, which in +this instance was very far from the conception either of myself or of +either of the two ladies who made up the circle. Two communicators +sent messages, the first of whom spelt out as a name "Dorothy +Postlethwaite," a name unknown to any of us. She said she died at +Melbourne five years before, at the age of sixteen, that she was now +happy, that she had work to do, and that she had been at the same +school as one of the ladies. On my asking that lady to raise her hands +and give a succession of names, the table tilted at the correct name of +the head mistress of the school. This seemed in the nature of a test. +She went on to say that the sphere she inhabited was all round the +earth; that she knew about the planets; that Mars was inhabited by a +race more advanced than us, and that the canals were artificial; there +was no bodily pain in her sphere, but there could be mental anxiety; +they were governed; they took nourishment; she had been a Catholic and +was still a Catholic, but had not fared better than the Protestants; +there were Buddhists and Mohammedans in her sphere, but all fared +alike; she had never seen Christ and knew no more about Him than on +earth, but believed in His influence; spirits prayed and they died in +their new sphere before entering another; they had pleasures--music was +among them. It was a place of light and of laughter. She added that +they had no rich or poor, and that the general conditions were far +happier than on earth. + +This lady bade us good-night, and immediately the table was seized by a +much more robust influence, which dashed it about very violently. In +answer to my questions it claimed to be the spirit of one whom I will +call Dodd, who was a famous cricketer, and with whom I had some serious +conversation in Cairo before he went up the Nile, where he met his +death in the Dongolese Expedition. We have now, I may remark, come to +the year 1896 in my experiences. Dodd was not known to either lady. I +began to ask him questions exactly as if he were seated before me, and +he sent his answers back with great speed and decision. The answers +were often quite opposed to what I expected, so that I could not +believe that I was influencing them. He said that he was happy, that +he did not wish to return to earth. He had been a free-thinker, but had +not suffered in the next life for that reason. Prayer, however, was a +good thing, as keeping us in touch with the spiritual world. If he had +prayed more he would have been higher in the spirit world. + +This, I may remark, seemed rather in conflict with his assertion that +he had not suffered through being a free-thinker, and yet, of course, +many men neglect prayer who are not free-thinkers. + +His death was painless. He remembered the death of Polwhele, a young +officer who died before him. When he (Dodd) died he had found people +to welcome him, but Polwhele had not been among them. + +He had work to do. He was aware of the Fall of Dongola, but had not +been present in spirit at the banquet at Cairo afterwards. He knew +more than he did in life. He remembered our conversation in Cairo. +Duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on earth. He had +not seen General Gordon, nor any other famous spirit. Spirits lived in +families and in communities. Married people did not necessarily meet +again, but those who loved each other did meet again. + +I have given this synopsis of a communication to show the kind of thing +we got--though this was a very favourable specimen, both for length and +for coherence. It shows that it is not just to say, as many critics +say, that nothing but folly comes through. There was no folly here +unless we call everything folly which does not agree with preconceived +ideas. On the other hand, what proof was there that these statements +were true? I could see no such proof, and they simply left me +bewildered. Now, with a larger experience, in which I find that the +same sort of information has come to very, many people independently in +many lands, I think that the agreement of the witnesses does, as in all +cases of evidence, constitute some argument for their truth. At the +time I could not fit such a conception of the future world into my own +scheme of philosophy, and I merely noted it and passed on. + +I continued to read many books upon the subject and to appreciate more +and more what a cloud of witnesses existed, and how careful their +observations had been. This impressed my mind very much more than the +limited phenomena which came within the reach of our circle. Then or +afterwards I read a book by Monsieur Jacolliot upon occult phenomena in +India. Jacolliot was Chief Judge of the French Colony of Crandenagur, +with a very judicial mind, but rather biassed{sic} against +spiritualism. He conducted a series of experiments with native fakirs, +who gave him their confidence because he was a sympathetic man and +spoke their language. He describes the pains he took to eliminate +fraud. To cut a long story short he found among them every phenomenon +of advanced European mediumship, everything which Home, for example, +had ever done. He got levitation of the body, the handling of fire, +movement of articles at a distance, rapid growth of plants, raising of +tables. Their explanation of these phenomena was that they were done +by the Pitris or spirits, and their only difference in procedure from +ours seemed to be that they made more use of direct evocation. They +claimed that these powers were handed down from time immemorial and +traced back to the Chaldees. All this impressed me very much, as here, +independently, we had exactly the same results, without any question of +American frauds, or modern vulgarity, which were so often raised +against similar phenomena in Europe. + +My mind was also influenced about this time by the report of the +Dialectical Society, although this Report had been presented as far +back as 1869. It is a very cogent paper, and though it was received +with a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant and materialistic papers of +those days, it was a document of great value. The Society was formed +by a number of people of good standing and open mind to enquire into +the physical phenomena of Spiritualism. A full account of their +experiences and of their elaborate precautions against fraud are given. +After reading the evidence, one fails to see how they could have come +to any other conclusion than the one attained, namely, that the +phenomena were undoubtedly genuine, and that they pointed to laws and +forces which had not been explored by Science. It is a most singular +fact that if the verdict had been against spiritualism, it would +certainly have been hailed as the death blow of the movement, whereas +being an endorsement of the phenomena it met with nothing by ridicule. +This has been the fate of a number of inquiries since those conducted +locally at Hydesville in 1848, or that which followed when Professor +Hare of Philadelphia, like Saint Paul, started forth to oppose but was +forced to yield to the truth. + +About 1891, I had joined the Psychical Research Society and had the +advantage of reading all their reports. The world owes a great deal to +the unwearied diligence of the Society, and to its sobriety of +statement, though I will admit that the latter makes one impatient at +times, and one feels that in their desire to avoid sensationalism they +discourage the world from knowing and using the splendid work which +they are doing. Their semi-scientific terminology also chokes off the +ordinary reader, and one might say sometimes after reading their +articles what an American trapper in the Rocky Mountains said to me +about some University man whom he had been escorting for the season. +"He was that clever," he said, "that you could not understand what he +said." But in spite of these little peculiarities all of us who have +wanted light in the darkness have found it by the methodical, +never-tiring work of the Society. Its influence was one of the powers +which now helped me to shape my thoughts. There was another, however, +which made a deep impression upon me. Up to now I had read all the +wonderful experiences of great experimenters, but I had never come +across any effort upon their part to build up some system which would +cover and contain them all. Now I read that monumental book, Myers' +Human Personality, a great root book from which a whole tree of +knowledge will grow. In this book Myers was unable to get any formula +which covered all the phenomena called "spiritual," but in discussing +that action of mind upon mind which he has himself called telepathy he +completely proved his point, and he worked it out so thoroughly with so +many examples, that, save for those who were wilfully blind to the +evidence, it took its place henceforth as a scientific fact. But this +was an enormous advance. If mind could act upon mind at a distance, +then there were some human powers which were quite different to matter +as we had always understood it. The ground was cut from under the feet +of the materialist, and my old position had been destroyed. I had said +that the flame could not exist when the candle was gone. But here was +the flame a long way off the candle, acting upon its own. The analogy +was clearly a false analogy. If the mind, the spirit, the intelligence +of man could operate at a distance from the body, then it was a thing +to that extent separate from the body. Why then should it not exist on +its own when the body was destroyed? Not only did impressions come +from a distance in the case of those who were just dead, but the same +evidence proved that actual appearances of the dead person came with +them, showing that the impressions were carried by something which was +exactly like the body, and yet acted independently and survived the +death of the body. The chain of evidence between the simplest cases of +thought-reading at one end, and the actual manifestation of the spirit +independently of the body at the other, was one unbroken chain, each +phase leading to the other, and this fact seemed to me to bring the +first signs of systematic science and order into what had been a mere +collection of bewildering and more or less unrelated facts. + +About this time I had an interesting experience, for I was one of three +delegates sent by the Psychical Society to sit up in a haunted house. +It was one of these poltergeist cases, where noises and foolish tricks +had gone on for some years, very much like the classical case of John +Wesley's family at Epworth in 1726, or the case of the Fox family at +Hydesville near Rochester in 1848, which was the starting-point of +modern spiritualism. Nothing sensational came of our journey, and yet +it was not entirely barren. On the first night nothing occurred. On +the second, there were tremendous noises, sounds like someone beating a +table with a stick. We had, of course, taken every precaution, and we +could not explain the noises; but at the same time we could not swear +that some ingenious practical joke had not been played upon us. There +the matter ended for the time. Some years afterwards, however, I met a +member of the family who occupied the house, and he told me that after +our visit the bones of a child, evidently long buried, had been dug up +in the garden. You must admit that this was very remarkable. Haunted +houses are rare, and houses with buried human beings in their gardens +are also, we will hope, rare. That they should have both united in one +house is surely some argument for the truth of the phenomena. It is +interesting to remember that in the case of the Fox family there was +also some word of human bones and evidence of murder being found in the +cellar, though an actual crime was never established. I have little +doubt that if the Wesley family could have got upon speaking terms with +their persecutor, they would also have come upon some motive for the +persecution. It almost seems as if a life cut suddenly and violently +short had some store of unspent vitality which could still manifest +itself in a strange, mischievous fashion. Later I had another singular +personal experience of this sort which I may describe at the end of +this argument.[1] + +[1] Vide Appendix III. + + +From this period until the time of the War I continued in the leisure +hours of a very busy life to devote attention to this subject. I had +experience of one series of seances with very amazing results, +including several materializations seen in dim light. As the medium was +detected in trickery shortly afterwards I wiped these off entirely as +evidence. At the same time I think that the presumption is very clear, +that in the case of some mediums like Eusapia Palladino they may be +guilty of trickery when their powers fail them, and yet at other times +have very genuine gifts. Mediumship in its lowest forms is a purely +physical gift with no relation to morality and in many cases it is +intermittent and cannot be controlled at will. Eusapia was at least +twice convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud, whereas she several +times sustained long examinations under every possible test condition +at the hands of scientific committees which contained some of the best +names of France, Italy, and England. However, I personally prefer to +cut my experience with a discredited medium out of my record, and I +think that all physical phenomena produced in the dark must necessarily +lose much of their value, unless they are accompanied by evidential +messages as well. It is the custom of our critics to assume that if +you cut out the mediums who got into trouble you would have to cut out +nearly all your evidence. That is not so at all. Up to the time of +this incident I had never sat with a professional medium at all, and +yet I had certainly accumulated some evidence. The greatest medium of +all, Mr. D. D. Home, showed his phenomena in broad daylight, and was +ready to submit to every test and no charge of trickery was ever +substantiated against him. So it was with many others. It is only +fair to state in addition that when a public medium is a fair mark for +notoriety hunters, for amateur detectives and for sensational +reporters, and when he is dealing with obscure elusive phenomena and +has to defend himself before juries and judges who, as a rule, know +nothing about the conditions which influence the phenomena, it would be +wonderful if a man could get through without an occasional scandal. At +the same time the whole system of paying by results, which is +practically the present system, since if a medium never gets results he +would soon get no payments, is a vicious one. It is only when the +professional medium can be guaranteed an annuity which will be +independent of results, that we can eliminate the strong temptation, to +substitute pretended phenomena when the real ones are wanting. + +I have now traced my own evolution of thought up to the time of the +War. I can claim, I hope, that it was deliberate and showed no traces +of that credulity with which our opponents charge us. It was too +deliberate, for I was culpably slow in throwing any small influence I +may possess into the scale of truth. I might have drifted on for my +whole life as a psychical Researcher, showing a sympathetic, but more +or less dilettante attitude towards the whole subject, as if we were +arguing about some impersonal thing such as the existence of Atlantis +or the Baconian controversy. But the War came, and when the War came +it brought earnestness into all our souls and made us look more closely +at our own beliefs and reassess their values. In the presence of an +agonized world, hearing every day of the deaths of the flower of our +race in the first promise of their unfulfilled youth, seeing around one +the wives and mothers who had no clear conception whither their loved +ones had gone to, I seemed suddenly to see that this subject with which +I had so long dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the +rules of science, but that it was really something tremendous, a +breaking down of the walls between two worlds, a direct undeniable +message from beyond, a call of hope and of guidance to the human race +at the time of its deepest affliction. The objective side of it ceased +to interest for having made up one's mind that it was true there was an +end of the matter. The religious side of it was clearly of infinitely +greater importance. The telephone bell is in itself a very childish +affair, but it may be the signal for a very vital message. It seemed +that all these phenomena, large and small, had been the telephone bells +which, senseless in themselves, had signalled to the human race: +"Rouse yourselves! Stand by! Be at attention! Here are signs for +you. They will lead up to the message which God wishes to send." It +was the message not the signs which really counted. A new revelation +seemed to be in the course of delivery to the human race, though how +far it was still in what may be called the John-the-Baptist stage, and +how far some greater fulness and clearness might be expected hereafter, +was more than any man can say. My point is, that the physical +phenomena which have been proved up to the hilt for all who care to +examine the evidence, are really of no account, and that their real +value consists in the fact that they support and give objective reality +to an immense body of knowledge which must deeply modify our previous +religious views, and must, when properly understood and digested, make +religion a very real thing, no longer a matter of faith, but a matter +of actual experience and fact. It is to this side of the question that +I will now turn, but I must add to my previous remarks about personal +experience that, since the War, I have had some very exceptional +opportunities of confirming all the views which I had already formed as +to the truth of the general facts upon which my views are founded. + +These opportunities came through the fact that a lady who lived with +us, a Miss L. S., developed the power of automatic writing. Of all +forms of mediumship, this seems to me to be the one which should be +tested most rigidly, as it lends itself very easily not so much to +deception as to self-deception, which is a more subtle and dangerous +thing. Is the lady herself writing, or is there, as she avers, a power +that controls her, even as the chronicler of the Jews in the Bible +averred that he was controlled? In the case of L. S. there is no +denying that some messages proved to be not true--especially in the +matter of time they were quite unreliable. But on the other hand, the +numbers which did come true were far beyond what any guessing or +coincidence could account for. Thus, when the Lusitania was sunk and +the morning papers here announced that so far as known there was no +loss of life, the medium at once wrote: "It is terrible, terrible--and +will have a great influence on the war." Since it was the first strong +impulse which turned America towards the war, the message was true in +both respects. Again, she foretold the arrival of an important +telegram upon a certain day, and even gave the name of the deliverer of +it--a most unlikely person. Altogether, no one could doubt the reality +of her inspiration, though the lapses were notable. It was like +getting a good message through a very imperfect telephone. + +One other incident of the early war days stands out in my memory. A +lady in whom I was interested had died in a provincial town. She was a +chronic invalid and morphia was found by her bedside. There was an +inquest with an open verdict. Eight days later I went to have a +sitting with Mr. Vout Peters. After giving me a good deal which was +vague and irrelevant, he suddenly said: "There is a lady here. She is +leaning upon an older woman. She keeps saying 'Morphia.' Three times +she has said it. Her mind was clouded. She did not mean it. +Morphia!" Those were almost his exact words. Telepathy was out of the +question, for I had entirely other thoughts in my mind at the time and +was expecting no such message. + +Apart from personal experiences, this movement must gain great +additional solidity from the wonderful literature which has sprung up +around it during the last few years. If no other spiritual books were +in existence than five which have appeared in the last year or so--I +allude to Professor Lodge's Raymond, Arthur Hill's Psychical +Investigations, Professor Crawford's Reality of Psychical Phenomena, +Professor Barrett's Threshold of the Unseen, and Gerald Balfour's Ear +of Dionysius--those five alone would, in my opinion, be sufficient to +establish the facts for any reasonable enquirer. + +Before going into this question of a new religious revelation, how it +is reached, and what it consists of, I would say a word upon one other +subject. There have always been two lines of attack by our opponents. +The one is that our facts are not true. This I have dealt with. The +other is that we are upon forbidden ground and should come off it and +leave it alone. As I started from a position of comparative +materialism, this objection has never had any meaning for me, but to +others I would submit one or two considerations. The chief is that God +has given us no power at all which is under no circumstances to be +used. The fact that we possess it is in itself proof that it is our +bounden duty to study and to develop it. It is true that this, like +every other power, may be abused if we lose our general sense of +proportion and of reason. But I repeat that its mere possession is a +strong reason why it is lawful and binding that it be used. + +It must also be remembered that this cry of illicit knowledge, backed +by more or less appropriate texts, has been used against every advance +of human knowledge. It was used against the new astronomy, and Galileo +had actually to recant. It was used against Galvani and electricity. +It was used against Darwin, who would certainly have been burned had he +lived a few centuries before. It was even used against Simpson's use +of chloroform in child-birth, on the ground that the Bible declared "in +pain shall ye bring them forth." Surely a plea which has been made so +often, and so often abandoned, cannot be regarded very seriously. + +To those, however, to whom the theological aspect is still a stumbling +block, I would recommend the reading of two short books, each of them +by clergymen. The one is the Rev. Fielding Ould's Is Spiritualism of +the Devil, purchasable for twopence; the other is the Rev. Arthur +Chambers' Our Self After Death. I can also recommend the Rev. Charles +Tweedale's writings upon the subject. I may add that when I first +began to make public my own views, one of the first letters of sympathy +which I received was from the late Archdeacon Wilberforce. + +There are some theologians who are not only opposed to such a cult, but +who go the length of saying that the phenomena and messages come from +fiends who personate our dead, or pretend to be heavenly teachers. It +is difficult to think that those who hold this view have ever had any +personal experience of the consoling and uplifting effect of such +communications upon the recipient. Ruskin has left it on record that +his conviction of a future life came from Spiritualism, though he +somewhat ungratefully and illogically added that having got that, he +wished to have no more to do with it. There are many, however--quorum +pars parva su--who without any reserve can declare that they were +turned from materialism to a belief in future life, with all that that +implies, by the study of this subject. If this be the devil's work one +can only say that the devil seems to be a very bungling workman and to +get results very far from what he might be expected to desire. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE REVELATION + + +I can now turn with some relief to a more impersonal view of this great +subject. Allusion has been made to a body of fresh doctrine. Whence +does this come? It comes in the main through automatic writing where +the hand of the human medium is controlled, either by an alleged dead +human being, as in the case of Miss Julia Ames, or by an alleged higher +teacher, as in that of Mr. Stainton Moses. These written +communications are supplemented by a vast number of trance utterances, +and by the verbal messages of spirits, given through the lips of +mediums. Sometimes it has even come by direct voices, as in the +numerous cases detailed by Admiral Usborne Moore in his book The +Voices. Occasionally it has come through the family circle and +table-tilting, as, for example, in the two cases I have previously +detailed within my own experience. Sometimes, as in a case recorded by +Mrs. de Morgan, it has come through the hand of a child. + +Now, of course, we are at once confronted with the obvious +objection--how do we know that these messages are really from beyond? +How do we know that the medium is not consciously writing, or if that +be improbable, that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or +her own higher self? This is a perfectly just criticism, and it is one +which we must rigorously apply in every case, since if the whole world +is to become full of minor prophets, each of them stating their own +views of the religious state with no proof save their own assertion, we +should, indeed, be back in the dark ages of implicit faith. The answer +must be that we require signs which we can test before we accept +assertions which we cannot test. In old days they demanded a sign from +a prophet, and it was a perfectly reasonable request, and still holds +good. If a person comes to me with an account of life in some further +world, and has no credentials save his own assertion, I would rather +have it in my waste-paperbasket than on my study table. Life is too +short to weigh the merits of such productions. But if, as in the case +of Stainton Moses, with his Spirit Teachings, the doctrines which are +said to come from beyond are accompanied with a great number of +abnormal gifts--and Stainton Moses was one of the greatest mediums in +all ways that England has ever produced--then I look upon the matter in +a more serious light. Again, if Miss Julia Ames can tell Mr. Stead +things in her own earth life of which he could not have cognisance, and +if those things are shown, when tested, to be true, then one is more +inclined to think that those things which cannot be tested are true +also. Or once again, if Raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of +which had reached England, and which proved to be exactly as he +described it, and if he can give us, through the lips of strangers, all +sorts of details of his home life, which his own relatives had to +verify before they found them to be true, is it unreasonable to suppose +that he is fairly accurate in his description of his own experiences +and state of life at the very moment at which he is communicating? Or +when Mr. Arthur Hill receives messages from folk of whom he never +heard, and afterwards verifies that they are true in every detail, is +it not a fair inference that they are speaking truths also when they +give any light upon their present condition? The cases are manifold, +and I mention only a few of them, but my point is that the whole of +this system, from the lowest physical phenomenon of a table-rap up to +the most inspired utterance of a prophet, is one complete whole, each +attached to the next one, and that when the humbler end of that chain +was placed in the hand of humanity, it was in order that they might, by +diligence and reason, feel their way up it until they reached the +revelation which waited in the end. Do not sneer at the humble +beginnings, the heaving table or the flying tambourine, however much +such phenomena may have been abused or simulated, but remember that a +falling apple taught us gravity, a boiling kettle brought us the steam +engine, and the twitching leg of a frog opened up the train of thought +and experiment which gave us electricity. So the lowly manifestations +of Hydesville have ripened into results which have engaged the finest +group of intellects in this country during the last twenty years, and +which are destined, in my opinion, to bring about far the greatest +development of human experience which the world has ever seen. + +It has been asserted by men for whose opinion I have a deep +regard--notably by Sir William Barratt--that psychical research is +quite distinct from religion. Certainly it is so, in the sense that a +man might be a very good psychical researcher but a very bad man. But +the results of psychical research, the deductions which we may draw, +and the lessons we may learn, teach us of the continued life of the +soul, of the nature of that life, and of how it is influenced by our +conduct here. If this is distinct from religion, I must confess that I +do not understand the distinction. To me it IS religion--the very +essence of it. But that does not mean that it will necessarily +crystallise into a new religion. Personally I trust that it will not +do so. Surely we are disunited enough already? Rather would I see it +the great unifying force, the one provable thing connected with every +religion, Christian or non-Christian, forming the common solid basis +upon which each raises, if it must needs raise, that separate system +which appeals to the varied types of mind. The Southern races will +always demand what is less austere than the North, the West will always +be more critical than the East. One cannot shape all to a level +conformity. But if the broad premises which are guaranteed by this +teaching from beyond are accepted, then the human race has made a great +stride towards religious peace and unity. The question which faces us, +then, is how will this influence bear upon the older organised +religions and philosophies which have influenced the actions of men. + +The answer is, that to only one of these religions or philosophies is +this new revelation absolutely fatal. That is to Materialism. I do +not say this in any spirit of hostility to Materialists, who, so far as +they are an organized body, are, I think, as earnest and moral as any +other class. But the fact is manifest that if spirit can live without +matter, then the foundation of Materialism is gone, and the whole +scheme of thought crashes to the ground. + +As to other creeds, it must be admitted that an acceptance of the +teaching brought to us from beyond would deeply modify conventional +Christianity. But these modifications would be rather in the direction +of explanation and development than of contradiction. It would set +right grave misunderstandings which have always offended the reason of +every thoughtful man, but it would also confirm and make absolutely +certain the fact of life after death, the base of all religion. It +would confirm the unhappy results of sin, though it would show that +those results are never absolutely permanent. It would confirm the +existence of higher beings, whom we have called angels, and of an +ever-ascending hierarchy above us, in which the Christ spirit finds its +place, culminating in heights of the infinite with which we associate +the idea of all-power or of God. It would confirm the idea of heaven +and of a temporary penal state which corresponds to purgatory rather +than to hell. Thus this new revelation, on some of the most vital +points, is NOT destructive of the beliefs, and it should be hailed by +really earnest men of all creeds as a most powerful ally rather than a +dangerous devil-begotten enemy. + +On the other hand, let us turn to the points in which Christianity must +be modified by this new revelation. + +First of all I would say this, which must be obvious to many, however +much they deplore it: Christianity must change or must perish. That is +the law of life--that things must adapt themselves or perish. +Christianity has deferred the change very long, she has deferred it +until her churches are half empty, until women are her chief +supporters, and until both the learned part of the community on one +side, and the poorest class on the other, both in town and country, are +largely alienated from her. Let us try and trace the reason for this. +It is apparent in all sects, and comes, therefore, from some deep +common cause. + +People are alienated because they frankly do not believe the facts as +presented to them to be true. Their reason and their sense of justice +are equally offended. One can see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, +nor in the God who could be placated by such means. Above all, many +cannot understand such expressions as the "redemption from sin," +"cleansed by the blood of the Lamb," and so forth. So long as there +was any question of the fall of man there was at least some sort of +explanation of such phrases; but when it became certain that man had +never fallen--when with ever fuller knowledge we could trace our +ancestral course down through the cave-man and the drift-man, back to +that shadowy and far-off time when the man-like ape slowly evolved into +the apelike man--looking back on all this vast succession of life, we +knew that it had always been rising from step to step. Never was there +any evidence of a fall. But if there were no fall, then what became of +the atonement, of the redemption, of original sin, of a large part of +Christian mystical philosophy? Even if it were as reasonable in itself +as it is actually unreasonable, it would still be quite divorced from +the facts. + +Again, too much seemed to be made of Christ's death. It is no uncommon +thing to die for an idea. Every religion has equally had its martyrs. +Men die continually for their convictions. Thousands of our lads are +doing it at this instant in France. Therefore the death of Christ, +beautiful as it is in the Gospel narrative, has seemed to assume an +undue importance, as though it were an isolated phenomenon for a man to +die in pursuit of a reform. In my opinion, far too much stress has +been laid upon Christ's death, and far too little upon His life. That +was where the true grandeur and the true lesson lay. It was a life +which even in those limited records shows us no trait which is not +beautiful--a life full of easy tolerance for others, of kindly charity, +of broad-minded moderation, of gentle courage, always progressive and +open to new ideas, and yet never bitter to those ideas which He was +really supplanting, though He did occasionally lose His temper with +their more bigoted and narrow supporters. Especially one loves His +readiness to get at the spirit of religion, sweeping aside the texts +and the forms. Never had anyone such a robust common sense, or such a +sympathy for weakness. It was this most wonderful and uncommon life, +and not his death, which is the true centre of the Christian religion. + +Now, let us look at the light which we get from the spirit guides upon +this question of Christianity. Opinion is not absolutely uniform +yonder, any more than it is here; but reading a number of messages upon +this subject, they amount to this: There are many higher spirits with +our departed. They vary in degree. Call them "angels," and you are in +touch with old religious thought. High above all these is the greatest +spirit of whom they have cognizance--not God, since God is so infinite +that He is not within their ken--but one who is nearer God and to that +extent represents God. This is the Christ Spirit. His special care is +the earth. He came down upon it at a time of great earthly depravity--a +time when the world was almost as wicked as it is now, in order to give +the people the lesson of an ideal life. Then he returned to his own +high station, having left an example which is still occasionally +followed. That is the story of Christ as spirits have described it. +There is nothing here of Atonement or Redemption. But there is a +perfectly feasible and reasonable scheme, which I, for one, could +readily believe. + +If such a view of Christianity were generally accepted, and if it were +enforced by assurance and demonstration from the New Revelation which +is coming to us from the other side, then we should have a creed which +might unite the churches, which might be reconciled to science, which +might defy all attacks, and which might carry the Christian Faith on +for an indefinite period. Reason and Faith would at last be +reconciled, a nightmare would be lifted from our minds, and spiritual +peace would prevail. I do not see such results coming as a sudden +conquest or a violent revolution. Rather will it come as a peaceful +penetration, as some crude ideas, such as the Eternal Hell idea, have +already gently faded away within our own lifetime. It is, however, +when the human soul is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the +seeds of truth may be planted, and so some future spiritual harvest +will surely rise from the days in which we live. + +When I read the New Testament with the knowledge which I have of +Spiritualism, I am left with a deep conviction that the teaching of +Christ was in many most important respects lost by the early Church, +and has not come down to us. All these allusions to a conquest over +death have, as it seems to me, little meaning in the present Christian +philosophy, whereas for those who have seen, however dimly, through the +veil, and touched, however slightly, the outstretched hands beyond, +death has indeed been conquered. When we read so many references to +the phenomena with which we are familiar, the levitations, the tongues +of fire, the rushing wind, the spiritual gifts, the working of wonders, +we feel that the central fact of all, the continuity of life and the +communication with the dead, was most certainly known. Our attention +is arrested by such a saying as: "Here he worked no wonders because +the people were wanting in faith." Is this not absolutely in +accordance with psychic law as we know it? Or when Christ, on being +touched by the sick woman, said: "Who has touched me? Much virtue has +passed out of me." Could He say more clearly what a healing medium +would say now, save that He would use the word "Power" instead of +"virtue"; or when we read: "Try the spirits whether they be of God," is +it not the very, advice which would now be given to a novice +approaching a seance? It is too large a question for me to do more +than indicate, but I believe that this subject, which the more rigid +Christian churches now attack so bitterly, is really the central +teaching of Christianity itself. To those who would read more upon +this line of thought, I strongly recommend Dr. Abraham Wallace's Jesus +of Nazareth, if this valuable little work is not out of print. He +demonstrates in it most convincingly that Christ's miracles were all +within the powers of psychic law as we now understand it, and were on +the exact lines of such law even in small details. Two examples have +already been given. Many are worked out in that pamphlet. One which +convinced me as a truth was the thesis that the story of the +materialization of the two prophets upon the mountain was +extraordinarily accurate when judged by psychic law. There is the fact +that Peter, James and John (who formed the psychic circle when the dead +was restored to life, and were presumably the most helpful of the +group) were taken. Then there is the choice of the high pure air of +the mountain, the drowsiness of the attendant mediums, the +transfiguring, the shining robes, the cloud, the words: "Let us make +three tabernacles," with its alternate reading: "Let us make three +booths or cabinets" (the ideal way of condensing power and producing +materializations)--all these make a very consistent theory of the +nature of the proceedings. For the rest, the list of gifts which St. +Paul gives as being necessary for the Christian Disciple, is simply the +list of gifts of a very powerful medium, including prophecy, healing, +causing miracles (or physical phenomena), clairvoyance, and other +powers (I Corinth, xii, 8, 11). The early Christian Church was +saturated with spiritualism, and they seem to have paid no attention to +those Old Testament prohibitions which were meant to keep these powers +only for the use and profit of the priesthood. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE COMING LIFE + + +Now, leaving this large and possibly contentious subject of the +modifications which such new revelations must produce in Christianity, +let us try to follow what occurs to man after death. The evidence on +this point is fairly full and consistent. Messages from the dead have +been received in many lands at various times, mixed up with a good deal +about this world, which we could verify. When messages come thus, it +is only fair, I think, to suppose that if what we can test is true, +then what we cannot test is true also. When in addition we find a very +great uniformity in the messages and an agreement as to details which +are not at all in accordance with any pre-existing scheme of thought, +then I think the presumption of truth is very strong. It is difficult +to think that some fifteen or twenty messages from various sources of +which I have personal notes, all agree, and yet are all wrong, nor is +it easy to suppose that spirits can tell the truth about our world but +untruth about their own. + +I received lately, in the same week, two accounts of life in the next +world, one received through the hand of the near relative of a high +dignitary of the Church, while the other came through the wife of a +working mechanician in Scotland. Neither could have been aware of the +existence of the other, and yet the two accounts are so alike as to be +practically the same.[2] + +[2] Vide Appendix II. + + +The message upon these points seems to me to be infinitely reassuring, +whether we regard our own fate or that of our friends. The departed +all agree that passing is usually both easy and painless, and followed +by an enormous reaction of peace and ease. The individual finds +himself in a spirit body, which is the exact counterpart of his old +one, save that all disease, weakness, or deformity has passed from it. +This body is standing or floating beside the old body, and conscious +both of it and of the surrounding people. At this moment the dead man +is nearer to matter than he will ever be again, and hence it is that at +that moment the greater part of those cases occur where, his thoughts +having turned to someone in the distance, the spirit body went with the +thoughts and was manifest to the person. Out of some 250 cases +carefully examined by Mr. Gurney, 134 of such apparitions were actually +at this moment of dissolution, when one could imagine that the new +spirit body was possibly so far material as to be more visible to a +sympathetic human eye than it would later become. + +These cases, however, are very rare in comparison with the total number +of deaths. In most cases I imagine that the dead man is too +preoccupied with his own amazing experience to have much thought for +others. He soon finds, to his surprise, that though he endeavours to +communicate with those whom he sees, his ethereal voice and his +ethereal touch are equally unable to make any impression upon those +human organs which are only attuned to coarser stimuli. It is a fair +subject for speculation, whether a fuller knowledge of those light rays +which we know to exist on either side of the spectrum, or of those +sounds which we can prove by the vibrations of a diaphragm to exist, +although they are too high for mortal ear, may not bring us some +further psychical knowledge. Setting that aside, however, let us +follow the fortunes of the departing spirit. He is presently aware +that there are others in the room besides those who were there in life, +and among these others, who seem to him as substantial as the living, +there appear familiar faces, and he finds his hand grasped or his lips +kissed by those whom he had loved and lost. Then in their company, and +with the help and guidance of some more radiant being who has stood by +and waited for the newcomer, he drifts to his own surprise through all +solid obstacles and out upon his new life. + +This is a definite statement, and this is the story told by one after +the other with a consistency which impels belief. It is already very +different from any old theology. The Spirit is not a glorified angel +or goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself, containing all +his strength and weakness, his wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has +retained his personal appearance. We can well believe that the most +frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so tremendous an +experience, but impressions soon become blunted, the old nature may +soon reassert itself in new surroundings, and the frivolous still +survive, as our seance rooms can testify. + +And now, before entering upon his new life, the new Spirit has a period +of sleep which varies in its length, sometimes hardly existing at all, +at others extending for weeks or months. Raymond said that his lasted +for six days. That was the period also in a case of which I had some +personal evidence. Mr. Myers, on the other hand, said that he had a +very prolonged period of unconsciousness. I could imagine that the +length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental preoccupation of +this life, the longer rest giving the better means of wiping this out. +Probably the little child would need no such interval at all. This, of +course, is pure speculation, but there is a considerable consensus of +opinion as to the existence of a period of oblivion after the first +impression of the new life and before entering upon its duties. + +Having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak, as the child is +weak after earth birth. Soon, however, strength returns and the new +life begins. This leads us to the consideration of heaven and hell. +Hell, I may say, drops out altogether, as it has long dropped out of +the thoughts of every reasonable man. This odious conception, so +blasphemous in its view of the Creator, arose from the exaggerations of +Oriental phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a coarse age +where men were frightened by fires, as wild beasts are seared by the +travellers. Hell as a permanent place does not exist. But the idea of +punishment, of purifying chastisement, in fact of Purgatory, is +justified by the reports from the other side. Without such punishment +there could be no justice in the Universe, for how impossible it would +be to imagine that the fate of a Rasputin is the same as that of a +Father Damien. The punishment is very certain and very serious, though +in its less severe forms it only consists in the fact that the grosser +souls are in lower spheres with a knowledge that their own deeds have +placed them there, but also with the hope that expiation and the help +of those above them will educate them and bring them level with the +others. In this saving process the higher spirits find part of their +employment. Miss Julia Ames in her beautiful posthumous book, says in +memorable words: "The greatest joy of Heaven is emptying Hell." + +Setting aside those probationary spheres, which should perhaps rather +be looked upon as a hospital for weakly souls than as a penal +community, the reports from the other world are all agreed as to the +pleasant conditions of life in the beyond. They agree that like goes +to like, that all who love or who have interests in common are united, +that life is full of interest and of occupation, and that they would by +no means desire to return. All of this is surely tidings of great joy, +and I repeat that it is not a vague faith or hope, but that it is +supported by all the laws of evidence which agree that where many +independent witnesses give a similar account, that account has a claim +to be considered a true one. If it were an account of glorified souls +purged instantly from all human weakness and of a constant ecstasy of +adoration round the throne of the all powerful, it might well be +suspected as being the mere reflection of that popular theology which +all the mediums had equally received in their youth. It is, however, +very different to any preexisting system. It is also supported, as I +have already pointed out, not merely by the consistency of the +accounts, but by the fact that the accounts are the ultimate product of +a long series of phenomena, all of which have been attested as true by +those who have carefully examined them. + +In connection with the general subject of life after death, people may +say we have got this knowledge already through faith. But faith, +however beautiful in the individual, has always in collective bodies +been a very two-edged quality. All would be well if every faith were +alike and the intuitions of the human race were constant. We know that +it is not so. Faith means to say that you entirely believe a thing +which you cannot prove. One man says: "My faith is THIS." Another +says: "My faith is THAT." Neither can prove it, so they wrangle for +ever, either mentally or in the old days physically. If one is +stronger than the other, he is inclined to persecute him just to twist +him round to the true faith. Because Philip the Second's faith was +strong and clear he, quite logically, killed a hundred thousand +Lowlanders in the hope that their fellow countrymen would be turned to +the all-important truth. Now, if it were recognised that it is by no +means virtuous to claim what you could not prove, we should then be +driven to observe facts, to reason from them, and perhaps reach common +agreement. That is why this psychical movement appears so valuable. +Its feet are on something more solid than texts or traditions or +intuitions. It is religion from the double point of view of both +worlds up to date, instead of the ancient traditions of one world. + +We cannot look upon this coming world as a tidy Dutch garden of a place +which is so exact that it can easily be described. It is probable that +those messengers who come back to us are all, more or less, in one +state of development and represent the same wave of life as it recedes +from our shores. Communications usually come from those who have not +long passed over, and tend to grow fainter, as one would expect. It is +instructive in this respect to notice that Christ's reappearances to +his disciples or to Paul, are said to have been within a very few years +of his death, and that there is no claim among the early Christians to +have seen him later. The cases of spirits who give good proof of +authenticity and yet have passed some time are not common. There is, +in Mr. Dawson Roger's life, a very good case of a spirit who called +himself Manton, and claimed to have been born at Lawrence Lydiard and +buried at Stoke Newington in 1677. It was clearly shown afterwards that +there was such a man, and that he was Oliver Cromwell's chaplain. So +far as my own reading goes, this is the oldest spirit who is on record +as returning, and generally they are quite recent. Hence, one gets all +one's views from the one generation, as it were, and we cannot take +them as final, but only as partial. How spirits may see things in a +different light as they progress in the other world is shown by Miss +Julia Ames, who was deeply impressed at first by the necessity of +forming a bureau of communication, but admitted, after fifteen years, +that not one spirit in a million among the main body upon the further +side ever wanted to communicate with us at all since their own loved +ones had come over. She had been misled by the fact that when she first +passed over everyone she met was newly arrived like herself. + +Thus the account we give may be partial, but still such as it is it is +very consistent and of extraordinary interest, since it refers to our +own destiny and that of those we love. All agree that life beyond is +for a limited period, after which they pass on to yet other phases, but +apparently there is more communication between these phases than there +is between us and Spiritland. The lower cannot ascend, but the higher +can descend at will. The life has a close analogy to that of this +world at it its best. It is pre-eminently a life of the mind, as this +is of the body. Preoccupations of food, money, lust, pain, etc., are +of the body and are gone. Music, the Arts, intellectual and spiritual +knowledge, and progress have increased. The people are clothed, as one +would expect, since there is no reason why modesty should disappear +with our new forms. These new forms are the absolute reproduction of +the old ones at their best, the young growing up and the old reverting +until all come to the normal. People live in communities, as one would +expect if like attracts like, and the male spirit still finds his true +mate though there is no sexuality in the grosser sense and no +childbirth. Since connections still endure, and those in the same +state of development keep abreast, one would expect that nations are +still roughly divided from each other, though language is no longer a +bar, since thought has become a medium of conversation. How close is +the connection between kindred souls over there is shown by the way in +which Myers, Gurney and Roden Noel, all friends and co-workers on +earth, sent messages together through Mrs. Holland, who knew none of +them, each message being characteristic to those who knew the men in +life--or the way in which Professor Verrall and Professor Butcher, both +famous Greek scholars, collaborated to produce the Greek problem which +has been analysed by Mr. Gerald Balfour in The Ear of Dionysius, with +the result that that excellent authority testified that the effect +COULD have been attained by no other entities, save only Verrall and +Butcher. It may be remarked in passing that these and other examples +show clearly either that the spirits have the use of an excellent +reference library or else that they have memories which produce +something like omniscience. No human memory could possibly carry all +the exact quotations which occur in such communications as The Ear of +Dionysius. + +These, roughly speaking, are the lines of the life beyond in its +simplest expression, for it is not all simple, and we catch dim +glimpses of endless circles below descending into gloom and endless +circles above, ascending into glory, all improving, all purposeful, all +intensely alive. All are agreed that no religion upon earth has any +advantage over another, but that character and refinement are +everything. At the same time, all are also in agreement that all +religions which inculcate prayer, and an upward glance rather than eyes +for ever on the level, are good. In this sense, and in no other--as a +help to spiritual life--every form may have a purpose for somebody. If +to twirl a brass cylinder forces the Thibetan to admit that there is +something higher than his mountains, and more precious than his yaks, +then to that extent it is good. We must not be censorious in such +matters. + +There is one point which may be mentioned here which is at first +startling and yet must commend itself to our reason when we reflect +upon it. This is the constant assertion from the other side that the +newly passed do not know that they are dead, and that it is a long +time, sometimes a very long time, before they can be made to understand +it. All of them agree that this state of bewilderment is harmful and +retarding to the spirit, and that some knowledge of the actual truth +upon this side is the only way to make sure of not being dazed upon the +other. Finding conditions entirely different from anything for which +either scientific or religious teaching had prepared them, it is no +wonder that they look upon their new sensations as some strange dream, +and the more rigidly orthodox have been their views, the more +impossible do they find it to accept these new surroundings with all +that they imply. For this reason, as well as for many others, this new +revelation is a very needful thing for mankind. A smaller point of +practical importance is that the aged should realise that it is still +worth while to improve their minds, for though they have no time to use +their fresh knowledge in this world it will remain as part of their +mental outfit in the next. + +As to the smaller details of this life beyond, it is better perhaps not +to treat them, for the very good reason that they are small details. +We will learn them all soon for ourselves, and it is only vain +curiosity which leads us to ask for them now. One thing is clear: +there are higher intelligences over yonder to whom synthetic chemistry, +which not only makes the substance but moulds the form, is a matter of +absolute ease. We see them at work in the coarser media, perceptible +to our material senses, in the seance room. If they can build up +simulacra in the seance room, how much may we expect them to do when +they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether which is their own +medium. It may be said generally that they can make something which is +analogous to anything which exists upon earth. How they do it may well +be a matter of guess and speculation among the less advanced spirits, +as the phenomena of modern science are a matter of guess and +speculation to us. If one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen +of some sub-human world, and were asked to explain exactly what gravity +is, or what magnetism is, how helpless we should be! We may put +ourselves in the position, then, of a young engineer soldier like +Raymond Lodge, who tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond--a +theory which is very likely contradicted by some other spirit who is +also guessing at things above him. He may be right, or he may be +wrong, but he is doing his best to say what he thinks, as we should do +in similar case. He believes that his transcendental chemists can make +anything, and that even such unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco +could come within their powers and could still be craved for by +unregenerate spirits. This has tickled the critics to such an extent +that one would really think to read the comments that it was the only +statement in a book which contains 400 closely-printed pages. Raymond +may be right or wrong, but the only thing which the incident proves to +me is the unflinching courage and honesty of the man who chronicled it, +knowing well the handle that he was giving to his enemies. + +There are many who protest that this world which is described to us is +too material for their liking. It is not as they would desire it. +Well, there are many things in this world which seem different from +what we desire, but they exist none the less. But when we come to +examine this charge of materialism and try to construct some sort of +system which would satisfy the idealists, it becomes a very difficult +task. Are we to be mere wisps of gaseous happiness floating about in +the air? That seems to be the idea. But if there is no body like our +own, and if there is no character like our own, then say what you will, +WE have become extinct. What is it to a mother if some impersonal +glorified entity is shown to her? She will say, "that is not the son I +lost--I want his yellow hair, his quick smile, his little moods that I +know so well." That is what she wants; that, I believe, is what she +will have; but she will not have them by any system which cuts us away +from all that reminds us of matter and takes us to a vague region of +floating emotions. + +There is an opposite school of critics which rather finds the +difficulty in picturing a life which has keen perceptions, robust +emotions, and a solid surrounding all constructed in so diaphanous a +material. Let us remember that everything depends upon its comparison +with the things around it. + +If we could conceive of a world a thousand times denser, heavier and +duller than this world, we can clearly see that to its inmates it would +seem much the same as this, since their strength and texture would be +in proportion. If, however, these inmates came in contact with us, +they would look upon us as extraordinarily airy beings living in a +strange, light, spiritual atmosphere. They would not remember that we +also, since our beings and our surroundings are in harmony and in +proportion to each other, feel and act exactly as they do. + +We have now to consider the case of yet another stratum of life, which +is as much above us as the leaden community would be below us. To us +also it seems as if these people, these spirits, as we call them, live +the lives of vapour and of shadows. We do not recollect that there +also everything is in proportion and in harmony so that the spirit +scene or the spirit dwelling, which might seem a mere dream thing to +us, is as actual to the spirit as are our own scenes or our own +dwellings, and that the spirit body is as real and tangible to another +spirit as ours to our friends. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS + + +Leaving for a moment the larger argument as to the lines of this +revelation and the broad proofs of its validity, there are some smaller +points which have forced themselves upon my attention during the +consideration of the subject. This home of our dead seems to be very +near to us--so near that we continually, as they tell us, visit them in +our sleep. Much of that quiet resignation which we have all observed in +people who have lost those whom they loved--people who would in our +previous opinion have been driven mad by such loss--is due to the fact +that they have seen their dead, and that although the switch-off is +complete and they can recall nothing whatever of the spirit experience +in sleep, the soothing result of it is still carried on by the +subconscious self. The switch-off is, as I say, complete, but +sometimes for some reason it is hung up for a fraction of a second, and +it is at such moments that the dreamer comes back from his dream +"trailing clouds of glory." From this also come all those prophetic +dreams many of which are well attested. I have had a recent personal +experience of one which has not yet perhaps entirely justified itself +but is even now remarkable. Upon April 4th of last year, 1917, I awoke +with a feeling that some communication had been made to me of which I +had only carried back one word which was ringing in my head. That word +was "Piave." To the best of my belief I had never heard the word +before. As it sounded like the name of a place I went into my study +the moment I had dressed and I looked up the index of my Atlas. There +was "Piave" sure enough, and I noted that it was a river in Italy some +forty miles behind the front line, which at that time was victoriously +advancing. I could imagine few more unlikely things than that the war +should roll back to the Piave, and I could not think how any military +event of consequence could arise there, but none the less I was so +impressed that I drew up a statement that some such event would occur +there, and I had it signed by my secretary and witnessed by my wife +with the date, April 4th, attached. It is a matter of history how six +months later the whole Italian line fell back, how it abandoned +successive positions upon rivers, and how it stuck upon this stream +which was said by military critics to be strategically almost +untenable. If nothing more should occur (I write upon February 20th, +1918), the reference to the name has been fully justified, presuming +that some friend in the beyond was forecasting the coming events of the +war. I have still a hope, however, that more was meant, and that some +crowning victory of the Allies at this spot may justify still further +the strange way in which the name was conveyed to my mind. + +People may well cry out against this theory of sleep on the grounds +that all the grotesque, monstrous and objectionable dreams which plague +us cannot possibly come from a high source. On this point I have a +very definite theory, which may perhaps be worthy of discussion. I +consider that there are two forms of dreams, and only two, the +experiences of the released spirit, and the confused action of the +lower faculties which remain in the body when the spirit is absent. The +former is rare and beautiful, for the memory of it fails us. The +latter are common and varied, but usually fantastic or ignoble. By +noting what is absent in the lower dreams one can tell what the missing +qualities are, and so judge what part of us goes to make up the spirit. +Thus in these dreams humour is wanting, since we see things which +strike us afterwards as ludicrous, and are not amused. The sense of +proportion and of judgment and of aspiration is all gone. In short, +the higher is palpably gone, and the lower, the sense of fear, of +sensual impression, of self-preservation, is functioning all the more +vividly because it is relieved from the higher control. + +The limitations of the powers of spirits is a subject which is brought +home to one in these studies. People say, "If they exist why don't they +do this or that!" The answer usually is that they can't. They appear +to have very fixed limitations like our own. This seemed to be very +clearly brought out in the cross-correspondence experiments where +several writing mediums were operating at a distance quite +independently of each other, and the object was to get agreement which +was beyond the reach of coincidence. The spirits seem to know exactly +what they impress upon the minds of the living, but they do not know +how far they carry their instruction out. Their touch with us is +intermittent. Thus, in the cross-correspondence experiments we +continually have them asking, "Did you get that?" or "Was it all +right?" Sometimes they have partial cognisance of what is done, as +where Myers says: "I saw the circle, but was not sure about the +triangle." It is everywhere apparent that their spirits, even the +spirits of those who, like Myers and Hodgson, were in specially close +touch with psychic subjects, and knew all that could be done, were in +difficulties when they desired to get cognisance of a material thing, +such as a written document. Only, I should imagine, by partly +materialising themselves could they do so, and they may not have had +the power of self-materialization. This consideration throws some +light upon the famous case, so often used by our opponents, where Myers +failed to give some word or phrase which had been left behind in a +sealed box. Apparently he could not see this document from his present +position, and if his memory failed him he would be very likely to go +wrong about it. + +Many mistakes may, I think, be explained in this fashion. It has been +asserted from the other side, and the assertion seems to me reasonable, +that when they speak of their own conditions they are speaking of what +they know and can readily and surely discuss; but that when we insist +(as we must sometimes insist) upon earthly tests, it drags them back to +another plane of things, and puts them in a position which is far more +difficult, and liable to error. + +Another point which is capable of being used against us is this: The +spirits have the greatest difficulty in getting names through to us, +and it is this which makes many of their communications so vague and +unsatisfactory. They will talk all round a thing, and yet never get +the name which would clinch the matter. There is an example of the +point in a recent communication in Light, which describes how a young +officer, recently dead, endeavoured to get a message through the direct +voice method of Mrs. Susannah Harris to his father. He could not get +his name through. He was able, however, to make it clear that his +father was a member of the Kildare Street Club in Dublin. Inquiry +found the father, and it was then learned that the father had already +received an independent message in Dublin to say that an inquiry was +coming through from London. I do not know if the earth name is a +merely ephemeral thing, quite disconnected from the personality, and +perhaps the very first thing to be thrown aside. That is, of course, +possible. Or it may be that some law regulates our intercourse from +the other side by which it shall not be too direct, and shall leave +something to our own intelligence. + +This idea, that there is some law which makes an indirect speech more +easy than a direct one, is greatly borne out by the +cross-correspondences, where circumlocution continually takes the place +of assertion. Thus, in the St. Paul correspondence, which is treated +in the July pamphlet of the S.P.R., the idea of St. Paul was to be +conveyed from one automatic writer to two others, both of whom were at +a distance, one of them in India. Dr. Hodgson was the spirit who +professed to preside over this experiment. You would think that the +simple words "St. Paul" occurring in the other scripts would be +all-sufficient. But no; he proceeds to make all sorts of indirect +allusions, to talk all round St. Paul in each of the scripts, and to +make five quotations from St. Paul's writings. This is beyond +coincidence, and quite convincing, but none the less it illustrates the +curious way in which they go round instead of going straight. If one +could imagine some wise angel on the other side saying, "Now, don't +make it too easy for these people. Make them use their own brains a +little. They will become mere automatons if we do everything for +them"--if we could imagine that, it would just cover the case. +Whatever the explanation, it is a noteworthy fact. + +There is another point about spirit communications which is worth +noting. This is their uncertainty wherever any time element comes in. +Their estimate of time is almost invariably wrong. Earth time is +probably a different idea to spirit time, and hence the confusion. We +had the advantage, as I have stated, of the presence of a lady in our +household who developed writing mediumship. She was in close touch +with three brothers, all of whom had been killed in the war. This +lady, conveying messages from her brothers, was hardly ever entirely +wrong upon facts, and hardly ever right about time. There was one +notable exception, however, which in itself is suggestive. Although +her prophecies as to public events were weeks or even months out, she +in one case foretold the arrival of a telegram from Africa to the day. +Now the telegram had already been sent, but was delayed, so that the +inference seems to be that she could foretell a course of events which +had actually been set in motion, and calculate how long they would take +to reach their end. On the other hand, I am bound to admit that she +confidently prophesied the escape of her fourth brother, who was a +prisoner in Germany, and that this was duly fulfilled. On the whole I +preserve an open mind upon the powers and limitations of prophecy. + +But apart from all these limitations we have, unhappily, to deal with +absolute coldblooded lying on the part of wicked or mischievous +intelligences. Everyone who has investigated the matter has, I suppose, +met with examples of wilful deception, which occasionally are mixed up +with good and true communications. It was of such messages, no doubt, +that the Apostle wrote when he said: "Beloved, believe, not every +spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." These words can +only mean that the early Christians not only practised Spiritualism as +we understand it, but also that they were faced by the same +difficulties. There is nothing more puzzling than the fact that one +may get a long connected description with every detail given, and that +it may prove to be entirely a concoction. However, we must bear in +mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it atones for many +failures, just as if you had one telegram correct you would know that +there was a line and a communicator, however much they broke down +afterwards. But it must be admitted that it is very discomposing and +makes one sceptical of messages until they are tested. Of a kin with +these false influences are all the Miltons who cannot scan, and +Shelleys who cannot rhyme, and Shakespeares who cannot think, and all +the other absurd impersonations which make our cause ridiculous. They +are, I think, deliberate frauds, either from this side or from the +other, but to say that they invalidate the whole subject is as +senseless as to invalidate our own world because we encounter some +unpleasant people. + +One thing I can truly say, and that is, that in spite of false +messages, I have never in all these years known a blasphemous, an +unkind, or an obscene message. Such incidents must be of very +exceptional nature. I think also that, so far as allegations +concerning insanity, obsession, and so forth go, they are entirely +imaginary. Asylum statistics do not bear out such assertions, and +mediums live to as good an average age as anyone else. I think, +however, that the cult of the seance may be very much overdone. When +once you have convinced yourself of the truth of the phenomena the +physical seance has done its work, and the man or woman who spends his +or her life in running from seance to seance is in danger of becoming a +mere sensation hunter. Here, as in other cults, the form is in danger +of eclipsing the real thing, and in pursuit of physical proofs one may +forget that the real object of all these things is, as I have tried to +point out, to give us assurance in the future and spiritual strength in +the present, to attain a due perception of the passing nature of matter +and the all-importance of that which is immaterial. + +The conclusion, then, of my long search after truth, is that in spite +of occasional fraud, which Spiritualists deplore, and in spite of wild +imaginings, which they discourage, there remains a great solid core in +this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive proof than any +other religious development with which I am acquainted. As I have +shown, it would appear to be a rediscovery rather than an absolutely +new thing, but the result in this material age is the same. The days +are surely passing when the mature and considered opinions of such men +as Crookes, Wallace, Flammarion, Chas. Richet, Lodge, Barrett, +Lombroso, Generals Drayson and Turner, Sergeant Ballantyne, W. T. +Stead, Judge Edmunds, Admiral Usborne Moore, the late Archdeacon +Wilberforce, and such a cloud of other witnesses, can be dismissed with +the empty "All rot" or "Nauseating drivel" formulae. As Mr. Arthur +Hill has well said, we have reached a point where further proof is +superfluous, and where the weight of disproof lies upon those who deny. +The very people who clamour for proofs have as a rule never taken the +trouble to examine the copious proofs which already exist. Each seems +to think that the whole subject should begin de novo because he has +asked for information. The method of our opponents is to fasten upon +the latest man who has stated the case--at the present instant it +happens to be Sir Oliver Lodge--and then to deal with him as if he had +come forward with some new opinions which rested entirely upon his own +assertion, with no reference to the corroboration of so many +independent workers before him. This is not an honest method of +criticism, for in every case the agreement of witnesses is the very +root of conviction. But as a matter of fact, there are many single +witnesses upon whom this case could rest. If, for example, our only +knowledge of unknown forces depended upon the researches of Dr. +Crawford of Belfast, who places his amateur medium in a weighing chair +with her feet from the ground, and has been able to register a +difference of weight of many pounds, corresponding with the physical +phenomena produced, a result which he has tested and recorded in a true +scientific spirit of caution, I do not see how it could be shaken. The +phenomena are and have long been firmly established for every open +mind. One feels that the stage of investigation is passed, and that of +religious construction is overdue. + +For are we to satisfy ourselves by observing phenomena with no +attention to what the phenomena mean, as a group of savages might stare +at a wireless installation with no appreciation of the messages coming +through it, or are we resolutely to set ourselves to define these +subtle and elusive utterances from beyond, and to construct from them a +religious scheme, which will be founded upon human reason on this side +and upon spirit inspiration upon the other? These phenomena have +passed through the stage of being a parlour game; they are now emerging +from that of a debatable scientific novelty; and they are, or should +be, taking shape as the foundations of a definite system of religious +thought, in some ways confirmatory of ancient systems, in some ways +entirely new. The evidence upon which this system rests is so enormous +that it would take a very considerable library to contain it, and the +witnesses are not shadowy people living in the dim past and +inaccessible to our cross-examination, but are our own contemporaries, +men of character and intellect whom all must respect. The situation +may, as it seems to me, be summed up in a simple alternative. The one +supposition is that there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over +two generations of mankind, and two great continents--a lunacy which +assails men or women who are otherwise eminently sane. The alternative +supposition is that in recent years there has come to us from divine +sources a new revelation which constitutes by far the greatest +religious event since the death of Christ (for the Reformation was a +re-arrangement of the old, not a revelation of the new), a revelation +which alters the whole aspect of death and the fate of man. Between +these two suppositions there is no solid position. Theories of fraud or +of delusion will not meet the evidence. It is absolute lunacy or it is +a revolution in religious thought, a revolution which gives us as +by-products an utter fearlessness of death, and an immense consolation +when those who are dear to us pass behind the veil. + +I should like to add a few practical words to those who know the truth +of what I say. We have here an enormous new development, the greatest +in the history of mankind. How are we to use it? We are bound in +honour, I think, to state our own belief, especially to those who are +in trouble. Having stated it, we should not force it, but leave the +rest to higher wisdom than our own. We wish to subvert no religion. +We wish only to bring back the material-minded--to take them out of +their cramped valley and put them on the ridge, whence they can breathe +purer air and see other valleys and other ridges beyond. Religions are +mostly petrified and decayed, overgrown with forms and choked with +mysteries. We can prove that there is no need for this. All that is +essential is both very simple and very sure. + +The clear call for our help comes from those who have had a loss and +who yearn to re-establish connection. This also can be overdone. If +your boy were in Australia, you would not expect him to continually +stop his work and write long letters at all seasons. Having got in +touch, be moderate in your demands. Do not be satisfied with any +evidence short of the best, but having got that, you can, it seems to +me, wait for that short period when we shall all be re-united. I am in +touch at present with thirteen mothers who are in correspondence with +their dead sons. In each case, the husband, where he is alive, is +agreed as to the evidence. In only one case so far as I know was the +parent acquainted with psychic matters before the war. + +Several of these cases have peculiarities of their own. In two of them +the figures of the dead lads have appeared beside the mothers in a +photograph. In one case the first message to the mother came through a +stranger to whom the correct address of the mother was given. The +communication afterwards became direct. In another case the method of +sending messages was to give references to particular pages and lines +of books in distant libraries, the whole conveying a message. The +procedure was to weed out all fear of telepathy. Verily there is no +possible way by which a truth can be proved by which this truth has not +been proved. + +How are you to act? There is the difficulty. There are true men and +there are frauds. You have to work warily. So far as professional +mediums go, you will not find it difficult to get recommendations. Even +with the best you may draw entirely blank. The conditions are very +elusive. And yet some get the result at once. We cannot lay down +laws, because the law works from the other side as well as this. +Nearly every woman is an undeveloped medium. Let her try her own +powers of automatic writing. There again, what is done must be done +with every precaution against self-deception, and in a reverent and +prayerful mood. But if you are earnest, you will win through somehow, +for someone else is probably trying on the other side. + +Some people discountenance communication upon the ground that it is +hindering the advance of the departed. There is not a tittle of +evidence for this. The assertions of the spirits are entirely to the +contrary and they declare that they are helped and strengthened by the +touch with those whom they love. I know few more moving passages in +their simple boyish eloquence than those in which Raymond describes the +feelings of the dead boys who want to get messages back to their people +and find that ignorance and prejudice are a perpetual bar. "It is hard +to think your sons are dead, but such a lot of people do think so. It +is revolting to hear the boys tell you how no one speaks of them ever. +It hurts me through and through." + +Above all read the literature of this subject. It has been far too +much neglected, not only by the material world but by believers. Soak +yourself with this grand truth. Make yourself familiar with the +overpowering evidence. Get away from the phenomenal side and learn the +lofty teaching from such beautiful books as After Death or from +Stainton Moses' Spirit Teachings. There is a whole library of such +literature, of unequal value but of a high average. Broaden and +spiritualize your thoughts. Show the results in your lives. +Unselfishness, that is the keynote to progress. Realise not as a +belief or a faith, but as a fact which is as tangible as the streets of +London, that we are moving on soon to another life, that all will be +very happy there, and that the only possible way in which that +happiness can be marred or deferred is by folly and selfishness in +these few fleeting years. + +It must be repeated that while the new revelation may seem destructive +to those who hold Christian dogmas with extreme rigidity, it has quite +the opposite effect upon the mind which, like so many modern minds, had +come to look upon the whole Christian scheme as a huge delusion. It is +shown clearly that the old revelation has so many resemblances, defaced +by time and mangled by man's mishandling and materialism, but still +denoting the same general scheme, that undoubtedly both have come from +the same source. The accepted ideas of life after death, of higher and +lower spirits, of comparative happiness depending upon our own conduct, +of chastening by pain, of guardian spirits, of high teachers, of an +infinite central power, of circles above circles approaching nearer to +His presence--all of these conceptions appear once more and are +confirmed by many witnesses. It is only the claims of infallibility +and of monopoly, the bigotry and pedantry of theologians, and the +man-made rituals which take the life out of the God-given thoughts--it +is only this which has defaced the truth. + +I cannot end this little book better than by using words more eloquent +than any which I could write, a splendid sample of English style as +well as of English thought. They are from the pen of that considerable +thinker and poet, Mr. Gerald Massey, and were written many years ago. + +"Spiritualism has been for me, in common with many others, such a +lifting of the mental horizon and letting-in of the heavens--such a +formation of faith into facts, that I can only compare life without it +to sailing on board ship with hatches battened down and being kept a +prisoner, living by the light of a candle, and then suddenly, on some +splendid starry night, allowed to go on deck for the first time to see +the stupendous mechanism of the heavens all aglow with the glory of +God." + + + + +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS + + +I. THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE + +I have spoken in the text of the striking manner in which accounts of +life in the next phase, though derived from the most varied and +independent sources, are still in essential agreement--an agreement +which occasionally descends to small details. A variety is introduced +by that fuller vision which can see and describe more than one plane, +but the accounts of that happy land to which the ordinary mortal may +hope to aspire, are very consistent. Since I wrote the statement I +have read three fresh independent descriptions which again confirm the +point. One is the account given by "A King's Counsel," in his recent +book, I Heard a Voice (Kegan Paul), which I recommended to inquirers, +though it has a strong Roman Catholic bias running through it which +shows that our main lines of thought are persistent. A second is the +little book The Light on the Future, giving the very interesting +details of the beyond, gathered by an earnest and reverent circle in +Dublin. The other came in a private letter from Mr. Hubert Wales, and +is, I think, most instructive. Mr. Wales is a cautious and rather +sceptical inquirer who had put away his results with incredulity (he +had received them through his own automatic writing). On reading my +account of the conditions described in the beyond, he hunted up his own +old script which had commended itself so little to him when he first +produced it. He says: "After reading your article, I was struck, +almost startled, by the circumstance that the statements which had +purported to be made to me regarding conditions after death +coincided--I think almost to the smallest detail--with those you set +out as the result of your collation of material obtained from a great +number of sources. I cannot think there was anything in my antecedent +reading to account for this coincidence. I had certainly read nothing +you had published on the subject. I had purposely avoided Raymond and +books like it, in order not to vitiate my own results, and the +Proceedings of the S.P.R. which I had read at that time, do not touch, +as you know, upon after-death conditions. At any rate I obtained, at +various times, statements (as my contemporary notes show) to the effect +that, in this persisting state of existence, they have bodies which, +though imperceptible by our senses, are as solid to them as ours to us, +that these bodies are based on the general characteristics of our +present bodies but beautified; that they have no age, no pain, no rich +and poor; that they wear clothes and take nourishment; that they do not +sleep (though they spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious +state which they called 'lying asleep'--a condition, it just occurs to +me, which seems to correspond roughly with the 'Hypnoidal' state); +that, after a period which is usually shorter than the average +life-time here, they pass to some further state of existence; that +people of similar thoughts, tastes and feelings, gravitate together; +that married couples do not necessarily reunite, but that the love of +man and woman continues and is freed of elements which with us often +militate against its perfect realization; that immediately after death +people pass into a semi-conscious rest-state lasting various periods, +that they are unable to experience bodily pain, but are susceptible at +times to some mental anxiety; that a painful death is 'absolutely +unknown,' that religious beliefs make no difference whatever in the +after-state, and that their life altogether is intensely happy, and no +one having ever realised it could wish to return here. I got no +reference to 'work' by that word, but much to the various interests +that were said to occupy them. That is probably only another way of +saying the same thing. 'Work' with us has come usually to mean 'work +to live,' and that, I was emphatically informed, was not the case with +them--that all the requirements of life were somehow mysteriously +'provided.' Neither did I get any reference to a definite 'temporary +penal state,' but I gathered that people begin there at the point of +intellectual and moral development where they leave off here; and since +their state of happiness was based mainly upon sympathy, those who came +over in a low moral condition, failed at first for various lengths of +time to have the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it." + + + +AUTOMATIC WRITING + +This form of mediumship gives the very highest results, and yet in its +very nature is liable to self-deception. Are we using our own hand or +is an outside power directing it? It is only by the information +received that we can tell, and even then we have to make broad +allowance for the action of our own subconscious knowledge. It is +worth while perhaps to quote what appears to me to be a thoroughly +critic-proof case, so that the inquirer may see how strong the evidence +is that these messages are not self-evolved. This case is quoted in Mr. +Arthur Hill's recent book Man Is a Spirit (Cassell & Co.) and is +contributed by a gentleman who takes the name of Captain James Burton. +He is, I understand, the same medium (amateur) through whose +communications the position of the buried ruins at Glastonbury have +recently been located. "A week after my father's funeral I was writing +a business letter, when something seemed to intervene between my hand +and the motor centres of my brain, and the hand wrote at an amazing +rate a letter, signed with my father's signature and purporting to come +from him. I was upset, and my right side and arm became cold and numb. +For a year after this letters came frequently, and always at unexpected +times. I never knew what they contained until I examined them with a +magnifying-glass: they were microscopic. And they contained a vast +amount of matter with which it was impossible for me to be acquainted." +. . . "Unknown to me, my mother, who was staying some sixty miles +away, lost her pet dog, which my father had given her. The same night +I had a letter from him condoling with her, and stating that the dog +was now with him. 'All things which love us and are necessary to our +happiness in the world are with us here.' A most sacred secret, known +to no one but my father and mother, concerning a matter which occurred +years before I was born, was afterwards told me in the script, with the +comment: 'Tell your mother this, and she will know that it is I, your +father, who am writing.' My mother had been unable to accept the +possibility up to now, but when I told her this she collapsed and +fainted. From that moment the letters became her greatest comfort, for +they were lovers during the forty years of their married life, and his +death almost broke her heart. + +"As for myself, I am as convinced that my father, in his original +personality, still exists, as if he were still in his study with the +door shut. He is no more dead than he would be were he living in +America. + +"I have compared the diction and vocabulary of these letters with those +employed in my own writing--I am not unknown as a magazine +contributor--and I find no points of similarity between the two." +There is much further evidence in this case for which I refer the +reader to the book itself. + + + +THE CHERITON DUGOUT + +I have mentioned in the text that I had some recent experience of a +case where a "polter-geist" or mischievous spirit had been manifesting. +These entities appear to be of an undeveloped order and nearer to earth +conditions than any others with which we are acquainted. This +comparative materialism upon their part places them low in the scale of +spirit, and undesirable perhaps as communicants, but it gives them a +special value as calling attention to crude obvious phenomena, and so +arresting the human attention and forcing upon our notice that there +are other forms of life within the universe. These borderland forces +have attracted passing attention at several times and places in the +past, such cases as the Wesley persecution at Epworth, the Drummer of +Tedworth, the Bells of Bealing, etc., startling the country for a +time--each of them being an impingement of unknown forces upon human +life. Then almost simultaneously came the Hydesville case in America +and the Cideville disturbances in France, which were so marked that +they could not be overlooked. From them sprang the whole modern +movement which, reasoning upwards from small things to great, from raw +things to developed ones, from phenomena to messages, is destined to +give religion the firmest basis upon which it has ever stood. +Therefore, humble and foolish as these manifestations may seem, they +have been the seed of large developments, and are worthy of our +respectful, though critical, attention. + +Many such manifestations have appeared of recent years in various +quarters of the world, each of which is treated by the press in a more +or less comic vein, with a conviction apparently that the use of the +word "spook" discredits the incident and brings discussion to an end. +It is remarkable that each is treated as an entirely isolated +phenomenon, and thus the ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength +of the cumulative evidence. In this particular case of the Cheriton +Dugout the facts are as follows: + +Mr. Jaques, a Justice of the Peace and a man of education and +intelligence, residing at Embrook House, Cheriton, near Folkestone, +made a dugout just opposite to his residence as a protection against +air raids. The house was, it may be remarked, of great antiquity, part +of it being an old religious foundation of the 14th Century. The +dugout was constructed at the base of a small bluff, and the sinking +was through ordinary soft sandstone. The work was carried out by a +local jobbing builder called Rolfe, assisted by a lad. Soon after the +inception of his task he was annoyed by his candle being continually +blown out by jets of sand, and, by similar jets hitting up against his +own face. These phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous or +electrical cause, but they reached such a point that his work was +seriously hampered, and he complained to Mr. Jaques, who received the +story with absolute incredulity. The persecution continued, however, +and increased in intensity, taking the form now of actual blows from +moving material, considerable objects, such as stones and bits of +brick, flying past him and hitting the walls with a violent impact. +Mr. Rolfe, still searching for a physical explanation, went to Mr. +Hesketh, the Municipal Electrician of Folkestone, a man of high +education and intelligence, who went out to the scene of the affair and +saw enough to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly +genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws. A Canadian soldier who was +billeted upon Mr. Rolfe, heard an account of the happenings from his +host, and after announcing his conviction that the latter had "bats in +his belfry" proceeded to the dugout, where his experiences were so +instant and so violent that he rushed out of the place in horror. The +housekeeper at the Hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks +when no human hands touched them. Mr. Jaques, whose incredulity had +gradually thawed before all this evidence, went down to the dugout in +the absence of everyone, and was departing from it when five stones +rapped up against the door from the inside. He reopened the door and +saw them lying there upon the floor. Sir William Barrett had meanwhile +come down, but had seen nothing. His stay was a short one. I +afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to the grotto, but +got nothing direct, though I saw the new brickwork all chipped about by +the blows which it had received. The forces appeared to have not the +slightest interest in psychical research, for they never played up to +an investigator, and yet their presence and action have been +demonstrated to at least seven different observers, and, as I have +said, they left their traces behind them, even to the extent of picking +the flint stones out of the new cement which was to form the floor, and +arranging them in tidy little piles. The obvious explanation that the +boy was an adept at mischief had to be set aside in view of the fact +that the phenomena occurred in his absence. One extra man of science +wandered on to the scene for a moment, but as his explanation was that +the movements occurred through the emanation of marsh-gas, it did not +advance matters much. The disturbances are still proceeding, and I +have had a letter this very morning (February 21st, 1918) with fuller +and later details from Mr. Hesketh, the Engineer. + +What is the REAL explanation of such a matter? I can only say that I +have advised Mr. Jaques to dig into the bluff under which he is +constructing his cellar. I made some investigation myself upon the top +of it and convinced myself that the surface ground at that spot has at +some time been disturbed to the depth of at least five feet. Something +has, I should judge, been buried at some date, and it is probable that, +as in the case cited in the text, there is a connection between this +and the disturbances. It is very probable that Mr. Rolfe is, unknown +to himself, a physical medium, and that when he was in the confined +space of the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his magnetic +powers could accumulate and be available for use. It chanced that +there was on the spot some agency which chose to use them, and hence +the phenomena. When Mr. Jaques went alone to the grotto the power left +behind by Mr. Rolfe, who had been in it all morning, was not yet +exhausted and he was able to get some manifestations. So I read it, +but it is well not to be dogmatic on such matters. If there is +systematic digging I should expect an epilogue to the story. + +Whilst these proofs were in the press a second very marked case of a +Polter-geist came within my knowledge. I cannot without breach of +confidence reveal the details and the phenomena are still going on. +Curiously enough, it was because one of the sufferers from the invasion +read some remarks of mine upon the Cheriton dugout that this other case +came to my knowledge, for the lady wrote to me at once for advice and +assistance. The place is remote and I have not yet been able to visit +it, but from the full accounts which I have now received it seems to +present all the familiar features, with the phenomenon of direct +writing superadded. Some specimens of this script have reached me. +Two clergymen have endeavoured to mitigate the phenomena, which are +occasionally very violent, but so far without result. It may be some +consolation to any others who may be suffering from this strange +infliction, to know that in the many cases which have been carefully +recorded there is none in which any physical harm has been inflicted +upon man or beast. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The New Revelation, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW REVELATION *** + +***** This file should be named 1638.txt or 1638.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/1638/ + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Charles Keller with the use of Calera +WordScan Plus 2.0 + + + + + +THE NEW REVELATION +BY +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + + + +To all the brave men and women, humble +or learned, who have the moral +courage during seventy years to +face ridicule or worldly disadvantage +in order to testify +to an all-important truth + +March, 1918 + + + + +PREFACE + +Many more philosophic minds than mine have thought +over the religious side of this subject and many more +scientific brains have turned their attention to its +phenomenal aspect. So far as I know, however, there +has been no former attempt to show the exact relation +of the one to the other. I feel that if I should +succeed in making this a little more clear I shall have +helped in what I regard as far the most important +question with which the human race is concerned. + +A celebrated Psychic, Mrs. Piper, uttered, in the +year 1899 words which were recorded by Dr. Hodgson at +the time. She was speaking in trance upon the future +of spiritual religion, and she said: "In the next +century this will be astonishingly perceptible to the +minds of men. I will also make a statement which you +will surely see verified. Before the clear revelation +of spirit communication there will be a +terrible war in different parts of the world. The +entire world must be purified and cleansed before +mortal can see, through his spiritual vision, his +friends on this side and it will take just this line of +action to bring about a state of perfection. Friend, +kindly think of this." We have had "the terrible war +in different parts of the world." The second half +remains to be fulfilled. + +A. C. D. +1918. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I THE SEARCH + +II THE REVELATION + +III THE COMING LIFE + +IV PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS + + + +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS + +I THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE + +II AUTOMATIC WRITING + +III THE CHERITON DUGOUT + + + + +THE NEW REVELATION + +CHAPTER I. THE SEARCH + +The subject of psychical research is one upon which +I have thought more and about which I have been slower +to form my opinion, than upon any other subject +whatever. Every now and then as one jogs along through +life some small incident happens which very forcibly +brings home the fact that time passes and that first +youth and then middle age are slipping away. Such a +one occurred the other day. There is a column in that +excellent little paper, Light, which is devoted to +what was recorded on the corresponding date a +generation--that is thirty years--ago. As I read over +this column recently I had quite a start as I saw my +own name, and read the reprint of a letter +which I had written in 1887, detailing some interesting +spiritual experience which had occurred in a seance. +Thus it is manifest that my interest in the subject is +of some standing, and also, since it is only within the +last year or two that I have finally declared myself to +be satisfied with the evidence, that I have not been +hasty in forming my opinion. If I set down some of my +experiences and difficulties my readers will not, I +hope, think it egotistical upon my part, but will +realise that it is the most graphic way in which to +sketch out the points which are likely to occur to any +other inquirer. When I have passed over this ground, +it will be possible to get on to something more general +and impersonal in its nature. + +When I had finished my medical education in 1882, I +found myself, like many young medical men, a convinced +materialist as regards our personal destiny. I had +never ceased to be an earnest theist, because it seemed +to me that Napoleon's question to the atheistic +professors on the starry night as he voyaged to Egypt: +"Who was it, gentlemen, who made these stars?" has +never been answered. To say that the Universe was made +by immutable laws only put the question one degree +further back as to who made the laws. I did not, of +course, believe in an anthropomorphic God, but I +believed then, as I believe now, in an intelligent +Force behind all the operations of Nature--a force so +infinitely complex and great that my finite brain could +get no further than its existence. Right and wrong I +saw also as great obvious facts which needed no divine +revelation. But when it came to a question of our +little personalities surviving death, it seemed to me +that the whole analogy of Nature was against it. When +the candle burns out the light disappears. When the +electric cell is shattered the current stops. When the +body dissolves there is an end of the matter. Each man +in his egotism may feel that he ought to survive, but +let him look, we will say, at the average loafer--of +high or low degree--would anyone contend that there was +any obvious reason why THAT personality should +carry on? It seemed to be a delusion, and I was +convinced that death did indeed end all, though I +saw no reason why that should affect our duty towards +humanity during our transitory existence. + +This was my frame of mind when Spiritual phenomena +first came before my notice. I had always regarded the +subject as the greatest nonsense upon earth, and I had +read of the conviction of fraudulent mediums and +wondered how any sane man could believe such things. I +met some friends, however, who were interested in the +matter, and I sat with them at some table-moving +seances. We got connected messages. I am afraid the +only result that they had on my mind was that I +regarded these friends with some suspicion. They were +long messages very often, spelled out by tilts, and it +was quite impossible that they came by chance. Someone +then, was moving the table. I thought it was they. +They probably thought that I did it. I was puzzled and +worried over it, for they were not people whom I could +imagine as cheating--and yet I could not see how the +messages could come except by conscious pressure. + +About this time--it would be in 1886--I came +across a book called The Reminiscences of Judge +Edmunds. He was a judge of the U.S. High Courts and a +man of high standing. The book gave an account of how +his wife had died, and how he had been able for many +years to keep in touch with her. All sorts of details +were given. I read the book with interest, and +absolute scepticism. It seemed to me an example of how +a hard practical man might have a weak side to his +brain, a sort of reaction, as it were, against those +plain facts of life with which he had to deal. Where +was this spirit of which he talked? Suppose a man had +an accident and cracked his skull; his whole character +would change, and a high nature might become a low one. +With alcohol or opium or many other drugs one could +apparently quite change a man's spirit. The spirit +then depended upon matter. These were the arguments +which I used in those days. I did not realise that it +was not the spirit that was changed in such cases, but +the body through which the spirit worked, just as it +would be no argument against the existence of a +musician if you tampered with his violin so that +only discordant notes could come through. + +I was sufficiently interested to continue to read +such literature as came in my way. I was amazed to +find what a number of great men--men whose names were +to the fore in science--thoroughly believed that spirit +was independent of matter and could survive it. When I +regarded Spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the +uneducated, I could afford to look down upon it; but +when it was endorsed by men like Crookes, whom I knew +to be the most rising British chemist, by Wallace, who +was the rival of Darwin, and by Flammarion, the best +known of astronomers, I could not afford to dismiss it. +It was all very well to throw down the books of these +men which contained their mature conclusions and +careful investigations, and to say "Well, he has one +weak spot in his brain," but a man has to be very self- +satisfied if the day does not come when he wonders if +the weak spot is not in his own brain. For some time I +was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration +that many famous men, such as Darwin himself, Huxley, +Tyndall and Herbert Spencer, derided this new +branch of knowledge; but when I learned that their +derision had reached such a point that they would not +even examine it, and that Spencer had declared in so +many words that he had decided against it on a +priori grounds, while Huxley had said that it did not +interest him, I was bound to admit that, however great, +they were in science, their action in this respect was +most unscientific and dogmatic, while the action of +those who studied the phenomena and tried to find out +the laws that governed them, was following the true +path which has given us all human advance and +knowledge. So far I had got in my reasoning, so my +sceptical position was not so solid as before. + +It was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own +experiences. It is to be remembered that I was working +without a medium, which is like an astronomer working +without a telescope. I have no psychical powers +myself, and those who worked with me had little more. +Among us we could just muster enough of the magnetic +force, or whatever you will call it, to get the table +movements with their suspicious and often stupid +messages. I still have notes of those sittings and +copies of some, at least, of the messages. They were +not always absolutely stupid. For example, I find that +on one occasion, on my asking some test question, such +as how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt +out: "We are here to educate and to elevate, not to +guess riddles." And then: "The religious frame of +mind, not the critical, is what we wish to inculcate." +Now, no one could say that that was a puerile message. +On the other hand, I was always haunted by the fear of +involuntary pressure from the hands of the sitters. +Then there came an incident which puzzled and disgusted +me very much. We had very good conditions one evening, +and an amount of movement which seemed quite +independent of our pressure. Long and detailed +messages came through, which purported to be from a +spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial +traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a +theatre at Exeter. All the details were exact, and he +implored us to write to his family, who lived, he said, +at a place called Slattenmere, in Cumberland. I +did so, but my letter came back, appropriately enough, +through the dead letter office. To this day I do not +know whether we were deceived, or whether there was +some mistake in the name of the place; but there are +the facts, and I was so disgusted that for some time my +interest in the whole subject waned. It was one thing +to study a subject, but when the subject began to play +elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a +halt. If there is such a place as Slattenmere in the +world I should even now be glad to know it. + +I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and +dwelling there was General Drayson, a man of very +remarkable character, and one of the pioneers of +Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my +difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. +He made light of my criticism of the foolish nature of +many of these messages, and of the absolute falseness +of some. "You have not got the fundamental truth into +your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit +in the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as +it is, with no change whatever. This world is full +of weak or foolish people. So is the next. You need +not mix with them, any more than you do in this world. +One chooses one's companions. But suppose a man in +this world, who had lived in his house alone and never +mixed with his fellows, was at last to put his head out +of the window to see what sort of place it was, what +would happen? Some naughty boy would probably say +something rude. Anyhow, he would see nothing of the +wisdom or greatness of the world. He would draw his +head in thinking it was a very poor place. That is +just what you have done. In a mixed seance, with no +definite aim, you have thrust your head into the next +world and you have met some naughty boys. Go forward +and try to reach something better." That was General +Drayson's explanation, and though it did not satisfy me +at the time, I think now that it was a rough +approximation to the truth. These were my first steps +in Spiritualism. I was still a sceptic, but at least I +was an inquirer, and when I heard some old-fashioned +critic saying that there was nothing to explain, and +that it was all fraud, or that a conjuror was +needed to show it up, I knew at least that that was all +nonsense. It is true that my own evidence up to then +was not enough to convince me, but my reading, which +was continuous, showed me how deeply other men had gone +into it, and I recognised that the testimony was so +strong that no other religious movement in the world +could put forward anything to compare with it. That +did not prove it to be true, but at least it proved +that it must be treated with respect and could not be +brushed aside. Take a single incident of what Wallace +has truly called a modern miracle. I choose it because +it is the most incredible. I allude to the assertion +that D. D. Home--who, by the way, was not, as is +usually supposed, a paid adventurer, but was the nephew +of the Earl of Home--the assertion, I say, that he +floated out of one window and into another at the +height of seventy feet above the ground. I could not +believe it. And yet, when I knew that the fact was +attested by three eye-witnesses, who were Lord +Dunraven, Lord Lindsay, and Captain Wynne, all men of +honour and repute, who were willing afterwards to +take their oath upon it, I could not but admit that the +evidence for this was more direct than for any of those +far-off events which the whole world has agreed to +accept as true. + +I still continued during these years to hold table +seances, which sometimes gave no results, sometimes +trivial ones, and sometimes rather surprising ones. I +have still the notes of these sittings, and I extract +here the results of one which were definite, and which +were so unlike any conceptions which I held of life +beyond the grave that they amused rather than edified +me at the time. I find now, however, that they agree +very closely, with the revelations in Raymond and in +other later accounts, so that I view them with +different eyes. I am aware that all these accounts of +life beyond the grave differ in detail--I suppose any +of our accounts of the present life would differ in +detail--but in the main there is a very great +resemblance, which in this instance was very far from +the conception either of myself or of either of the two +ladies who made up the circle. Two communicators sent +messages, the first of whom spelt out as a name +"Dorothy Postlethwaite," a name unknown to any of us. +She said she died at Melbourne five years before, at +the age of sixteen, that she was now happy, that she +had work to do, and that she had been at the same +school as one of the ladies. On my asking that lady to +raise her hands and give a succession of names, the +table tilted at the correct name of the head mistress +of the school. This seemed in the nature of a test. +She went on to say that the sphere she inhabited was +all round the earth; that she knew about the planets; +that Mars was inhabited by a race more advanced than +us, and that the canals were artificial; there was no +bodily pain in her sphere, but there could be mental +anxiety; they were governed; they took nourishment; she +had been a Catholic and was still a Catholic, but had +not fared better than the Protestants; there were +Buddhists and Mohammedans in her sphere, but all fared +alike; she had never seen Christ and knew no more about +Him than on earth, but believed in His influence; +spirits prayed and they died in their new sphere before +entering another; they had pleasures--music was +among them. It was a place of light and of laughter. +She added that they had no rich or poor, and that the +general conditions were far happier than on earth. + +This lady bade us good-night, and immediately the +table was seized by a much more robust influence, which +dashed it about very violently. In answer to my +questions it claimed to be the spirit of one whom I +will call Dodd, who was a famous cricketer, and with +whom I had some serious conversation in Cairo before he +went up the Nile, where he met his death in the +Dongolese Expedition. We have now, I may remark, come +to the year 1896 in my experiences. Dodd was not known +to either lady. I began to ask him questions exactly +as if he were seated before me, and he sent his answers +back with great speed and decision. The answers were +often quite opposed to what I expected, so that I could +not believe that I was influencing them. He said that +he was happy, that he did not wish to return to earth. +He had been a free-thinker, but had not suffered in the +next life for that reason. Prayer, however, was a +good thing, as keeping us in touch with the spiritual +world. If he had prayed more he would have been higher +in the spirit world. + +This, I may remark, seemed rather in conflict with +his assertion that he had not suffered through being a +free-thinker, and yet, of course, many men neglect +prayer who are not free-thinkers. + +His death was painless. He remembered the death of +Polwhele, a young officer who died before him. When he +(Dodd) died he had found people to welcome him, but +Polwhele had not been among them. + +He had work to do. He was aware of the Fall of +Dongola, but had not been present in spirit at the +banquet at Cairo afterwards. He knew more than he did +in life. He remembered our conversation in Cairo. +Duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on +earth. He had not seen General Gordon, nor any other +famous spirit. Spirits lived in families and in +communities. Married people did not necessarily meet +again, but those who loved each other did meet again. + +I have given this synopsis of a communication to +show the kind of thing we got--though this was a very +favourable specimen, both for length and for coherence. +It shows that it is not just to say, as many critics +say, that nothing but folly comes through. There was +no folly here unless we call everything folly which +does not agree with preconceived ideas. On the other +hand, what proof was there that these statements were +true? I could see no such proof, and they simply left +me bewildered. Now, with a larger experience, in which +I find that the same sort of information has come to +very, many people independently in many lands, I think +that the agreement of the witnesses does, as in all +cases of evidence, constitute some argument for their +truth. At the time I could not fit such a conception +of the future world into my own scheme of philosophy, +and I merely noted it and passed on. + +I continued to read many books upon the subject and +to appreciate more and more what a cloud of witnesses +existed, and how careful their observations had been. +This impressed my mind very much more than the +limited phenomena which came within the reach of +our circle. Then or afterwards I read a book by +Monsieur Jacolliot upon occult phenomena in India. +Jacolliot was Chief Judge of the French Colony of +Crandenagur, with a very judicial mind, but rather +biassed{sic} against spiritualism. He conducted a +series of experiments with native fakirs, who gave him +their confidence because he was a sympathetic man and +spoke their language. He describes the pains he took +to eliminate fraud. To cut a long story short he found +among them every phenomenon of advanced European +mediumship, everything which Home, for example, had +ever done. He got levitation of the body, the handling +of fire, movement of articles at a distance, rapid +growth of plants, raising of tables. Their explanation +of these phenomena was that they were done by the +Pitris or spirits, and their only difference in +procedure from ours seemed to be that they made more +use of direct evocation. They claimed that these +powers were handed down from time immemorial and traced +back to the Chaldees. All this impressed me very +much, as here, independently, we had exactly the +same results, without any question of American frauds, +or modern vulgarity, which were so often raised against +similar phenomena in Europe. + +My mind was also influenced about this time by the +report of the Dialectical Society, although this Report +had been presented as far back as 1869. It is a very +cogent paper, and though it was received with a chorus +of ridicule by the ignorant and materialistic papers of +those days, it was a document of great value. The +Society was formed by a number of people of good +standing and open mind to enquire into the physical +phenomena of Spiritualism. A full account of their +experiences and of their elaborate precautions against +fraud are given. After reading the evidence, one fails +to see how they could have come to any other conclusion +than the one attained, namely, that the phenomena were +undoubtedly genuine, and that they pointed to laws and +forces which had not been explored by Science. It is a +most singular fact that if the verdict had been against +spiritualism, it would certainly have been hailed +as the death blow of the movement, whereas being an +endorsement of the phenomena it met with nothing by +ridicule. This has been the fate of a number of +inquiries since those conducted locally at Hydesville +in 1848, or that which followed when Professor Hare of +Philadelphia, like Saint Paul, started forth to oppose +but was forced to yield to the truth. + +About 1891, I had joined the Psychical Research +Society and had the advantage of reading all their +reports. The world owes a great deal to the unwearied +diligence of the Society, and to its sobriety of +statement, though I will admit that the latter makes +one impatient at times, and one feels that in their +desire to avoid sensationalism they discourage the +world from knowing and using the splendid work which +they are doing. Their semi-scientific terminology also +chokes off the ordinary reader, and one might say +sometimes after reading their articles what an American +trapper in the Rocky Mountains said to me about some +University man whom he had been escorting for the +season. "He was that clever," he said, "that you +could not understand what he said." But in spite +of these little peculiarities all of us who have wanted +light in the darkness have found it by the methodical, +never-tiring work of the Society. Its influence was +one of the powers which now helped me to shape my +thoughts. There was another, however, which made a +deep impression upon me. Up to now I had read all the +wonderful experiences of great experimenters, but I had +never come across any effort upon their part to build +up some system which would cover and contain them all. +Now I read that monumental book, Myers' Human +Personality, a great root book from which a whole tree +of knowledge will grow. In this book Myers was unable +to get any formula which covered all the phenomena +called "spiritual," but in discussing that action of +mind upon mind which he has himself called telepathy he +completely proved his point, and he worked it out so +thoroughly with so many examples, that, save for those +who were wilfully blind to the evidence, it took its +place henceforth as a scientific fact. But this was +an enormous advance. If mind could act upon mind +at a distance, then there were some human powers which +were quite different to matter as we had always +understood it. The ground was cut from under the feet +of the materialist, and my old position had been +destroyed. I had said that the flame could not exist +when the candle was gone. But here was the flame a +long way off the candle, acting upon its own. The +analogy was clearly a false analogy. If the mind, the +spirit, the intelligence of man could operate at a +distance from the body, then it was a thing to that +extent separate from the body. Why then should it not +exist on its own when the body was destroyed? Not only +did impressions come from a distance in the case of +those who were just dead, but the same evidence proved +that actual appearances of the dead person came with +them, showing that the impressions were carried by +something which was exactly like the body, and yet +acted independently and survived the death of the body. +The chain of evidence between the simplest cases of +thought-reading at one end, and the actual +manifestation of the spirit independently of the body +at the other, was one unbroken chain, each phase +leading to the other, and this fact seemed to me to +bring the first signs of systematic science and order +into what had been a mere collection of bewildering and +more or less unrelated facts. + +About this time I had an interesting experience, +for I was one of three delegates sent by the Psychical +Society to sit up in a haunted house. It was one of +these poltergeist cases, where noises and foolish +tricks had gone on for some years, very much like the +classical case of John Wesley's family at Epworth in +1726, or the case of the Fox family at Hydesville near +Rochester in 1848, which was the starting-point of +modern spiritualism. Nothing sensational came of our +journey, and yet it was not entirely barren. On the +first night nothing occurred. On the second, there +were tremendous noises, sounds like someone beating a +table with a stick. We had, of course, taken every +precaution, and we could not explain the noises; but at +the same time we could not swear that some +ingenious practical joke had not been played upon us. +There the matter ended for the time. Some years +afterwards, however, I met a member of the family who +occupied the house, and he told me that after our visit +the bones of a child, evidently long buried, had been +dug up in the garden. You must admit that this was +very remarkable. Haunted houses are rare, and houses +with buried human beings in their gardens are also, we +will hope, rare. That they should have both united in +one house is surely some argument for the truth of the +phenomena. It is interesting to remember that in the +case of the Fox family there was also some word of +human bones and evidence of murder being found in the +cellar, though an actual crime was never established. +I have little doubt that if the Wesley family could +have got upon speaking terms with their persecutor, +they would also have come upon some motive for the +persecution. It almost seems as if a life cut suddenly +and violently short had some store of unspent vitality +which could still manifest itself in a strange, +mischievous fashion. Later I had another singular +personal experience of this sort which I may describe +at the end of this argument.[1] + +[1] Vide Appendix III. + + +From this period until the time of the War I +continued in the leisure hours of a very busy life to +devote attention to this subject. I had experience of +one series of seances with very amazing results, +including several materializations seen in dim light. +As the medium was detected in trickery shortly +afterwards I wiped these off entirely as evidence. At +the same time I think that the presumption is very +clear, that in the case of some mediums like Eusapia +Palladino they may be guilty of trickery when their +powers fail them, and yet at other times have very +genuine gifts. Mediumship in its lowest forms is a +purely physical gift with no relation to morality and +in many cases it is intermittent and cannot be +controlled at will. Eusapia was at least twice +convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud, whereas she +several times sustained long examinations under every +possible test condition at the hands of scientific +committees which contained some of the best names of +France, Italy, and England. However, I personally +prefer to cut my experience with a discredited medium +out of my record, and I think that all physical +phenomena produced in the dark must necessarily lose +much of their value, unless they are accompanied by +evidential messages as well. It is the custom of our +critics to assume that if you cut out the mediums who +got into trouble you would have to cut out nearly all +your evidence. That is not so at all. Up to the time +of this incident I had never sat with a professional +medium at all, and yet I had certainly accumulated some +evidence. The greatest medium of all, Mr. D. D. Home, +showed his phenomena in broad daylight, and was ready +to submit to every test and no charge of trickery was +ever substantiated against him. So it was with many +others. It is only fair to state in addition that when +a public medium is a fair mark for notoriety hunters, +for amateur detectives and for sensational reporters, +and when he is dealing with obscure elusive phenomena +and has to defend himself before juries and judges who, +as a rule, know nothing about the conditions which +influence the phenomena, it would be wonderful if a man +could get through without an occasional scandal. At +the same time the whole system of paying by results, +which is practically the present system, since if a +medium never gets results he would soon get no +payments, is a vicious one. It is only when the +professional medium can be guaranteed an annuity which +will be independent of results, that we can eliminate +the strong temptation, to substitute pretended +phenomena when the real ones are wanting. + +I have now traced my own evolution of thought up to +the time of the War. I can claim, I hope, that it was +deliberate and showed no traces of that credulity with +which our opponents charge us. It was too deliberate, +for I was culpably slow in throwing any small influence +I may possess into the scale of truth. I might have +drifted on for my whole life as a psychical Researcher, +showing a sympathetic, but more or less dilettante +attitude towards the whole subject, as if we were +arguing about some impersonal thing such as the +existence of Atlantis or the Baconian controversy. But +the War came, and when the War came it brought +earnestness into all our souls and made us look more +closely at our own beliefs and reassess their values. +In the presence of an agonized world, hearing every day +of the deaths of the flower of our race in the first +promise of their unfulfilled youth, seeing around one +the wives and mothers who had no clear conception +whither their loved ones had gone to, I seemed suddenly +to see that this subject with which I had so long +dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the +rules of science, but that it was really something +tremendous, a breaking down of the walls between two +worlds, a direct undeniable message from beyond, a call +of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time +of its deepest affliction. The objective side of it +ceased to interest for having made up one's mind that +it was true there was an end of the matter. The +religious side of it was clearly of infinitely greater +importance. The telephone bell is in itself a very +childish affair, but it may be the signal for a very +vital message. It seemed that all these phenomena, +large and small, had been the telephone bells +which, senseless in themselves, had signalled to the +human race: "Rouse yourselves! Stand by! Be at +attention! Here are signs for you. They will lead up +to the message which God wishes to send." It was the +message not the signs which really counted. A new +revelation seemed to be in the course of delivery to +the human race, though how far it was still in what may +be called the John-the-Baptist stage, and how far some +greater fulness and clearness might be expected +hereafter, was more than any man can say. My point is, +that the physical phenomena which have been proved up +to the hilt for all who care to examine the evidence, +are really of no account, and that their real value +consists in the fact that they support and give +objective reality to an immense body of knowledge which +must deeply modify our previous religious views, and +must, when properly understood and digested, make +religion a very real thing, no longer a matter of +faith, but a matter of actual experience and fact. It +is to this side of the question that I will now turn, +but I must add to my previous remarks about personal +experience that, since the War, I have had some +very exceptional opportunities of confirming all the +views which I had already formed as to the truth of the +general facts upon which my views are founded. + +These opportunities came through the fact that a +lady who lived with us, a Miss L. S., developed the +power of automatic writing. Of all forms of +mediumship, this seems to me to be the one which should +be tested most rigidly, as it lends itself very easily +not so much to deception as to self-deception, which is +a more subtle and dangerous thing. Is the lady herself +writing, or is there, as she avers, a power that +controls her, even as the chronicler of the Jews in the +Bible averred that he was controlled? In the case of +L. S. there is no denying that some messages proved to +be not true--especially in the matter of time they were +quite unreliable. But on the other hand, the numbers +which did come true were far beyond what any guessing +or coincidence could account for. Thus, when the +Lusitania was sunk and the morning papers here +announced that so far as known there was no loss of +life, the medium at once wrote: "It is terrible, +terrible--and will have a great influence on the war." +Since it was the first strong impulse which turned +America towards the war, the message was true in both +respects. Again, she foretold the arrival of an +important telegram upon a certain day, and even gave +the name of the deliverer of it--a most unlikely +person. Altogether, no one could doubt the reality of +her inspiration, though the lapses were notable. It +was like getting a good message through a very +imperfect telephone. + +One other incident of the early war days stands out +in my memory. A lady in whom I was interested had died +in a provincial town. She was a chronic invalid and +morphia was found by her bedside. There was an inquest +with an open verdict. Eight days later I went to have +a sitting with Mr. Vout Peters. After giving me a good +deal which was vague and irrelevant, he suddenly said: +"There is a lady here. She is leaning upon an older +woman. She keeps saying 'Morphia.' Three times she +has said it. Her mind was clouded. She did not mean +it. Morphia!" Those were almost his exact words. +Telepathy was out of the question, for I had entirely +other thoughts in my mind at the time and was expecting +no such message. + +Apart from personal experiences, this movement must +gain great additional solidity from the wonderful +literature which has sprung up around it during the +last few years. If no other spiritual books were in +existence than five which have appeared in the last +year or so--I allude to Professor Lodge's Raymond, +Arthur Hill's Psychical Investigations, Professor +Crawford's Reality of Psychical Phenomena, +Professor Barrett's Threshold of the Unseen, and +Gerald Balfour's Ear of Dionysius--those five alone +would, in my opinion, be sufficient to establish the +facts for any reasonable enquirer. + +Before going into this question of a new religious +revelation, how it is reached, and what it consists of, +I would say a word upon one other subject. There have +always been two lines of attack by our opponents. The +one is that our facts are not true. This I have dealt +with. The other is that we are upon forbidden ground +and should come off it and leave it alone. As I +started from a position of comparative materialism, +this objection has never had any meaning for me, but to +others I would submit one or two considerations. The +chief is that God has given us no power at all which is +under no circumstances to be used. The fact that we +possess it is in itself proof that it is our bounden +duty to study and to develop it. It is true that this, +like every other power, may be abused if we lose our +general sense of proportion and of reason. But I +repeat that its mere possession is a strong reason why +it is lawful and binding that it be used. + +It must also be remembered that this cry of illicit +knowledge, backed by more or less appropriate texts, +has been used against every advance of human knowledge. +It was used against the new astronomy, and Galileo had +actually to recant. It was used against Galvani and +electricity. It was used against Darwin, who would +certainly have been burned had he lived a few centuries +before. It was even used against Simpson's use of +chloroform in child-birth, on the ground that the Bible +declared "in pain shall ye bring them forth." +Surely a plea which has been made so often, and so +often abandoned, cannot be regarded very seriously. + +To those, however, to whom the theological aspect +is still a stumbling block, I would recommend the +reading of two short books, each of them by clergymen. +The one is the Rev. Fielding Ould's Is Spiritualism +of the Devil, purchasable for twopence; the other is +the Rev. Arthur Chambers' Our Self After Death. I +can also recommend the Rev. Charles Tweedale's writings +upon the subject. I may add that when I first began to +make public my own views, one of the first letters of +sympathy which I received was from the late Archdeacon +Wilberforce. + +There are some theologians who are not only opposed +to such a cult, but who go the length of saying that +the phenomena and messages come from fiends who +personate our dead, or pretend to be heavenly teachers. +It is difficult to think that those who hold this view +have ever had any personal experience of the consoling +and uplifting effect of such communications upon the +recipient. Ruskin has left it on record that his +conviction of a future life came from Spiritualism, +though he somewhat ungratefully and illogically added +that having got that, he wished to have no more to do +with it. There are many, however--quorum pars parva +su--who without any reserve can declare that they +were turned from materialism to a belief in future +life, with all that that implies, by the study of this +subject. If this be the devil's work one can only say +that the devil seems to be a very bungling workman and +to get results very far from what he might be expected +to desire. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE REVELATION + +I can now turn with some relief to a more +impersonal view of this great subject. Allusion has +been made to a body of fresh doctrine. Whence does +this come? It comes in the main through automatic +writing where the hand of the human medium is +controlled, either by an alleged dead human being, as +in the case of Miss Julia Ames, or by an alleged higher +teacher, as in that of Mr. Stainton Moses. These +written communications are supplemented by a vast +number of trance utterances, and by the verbal messages +of spirits, given through the lips of mediums. +Sometimes it has even come by direct voices, as in the +numerous cases detailed by Admiral Usborne Moore in his +book The Voices. Occasionally it has come through +the family circle and table-tilting, as, for example, +in the two cases I have previously detailed +within my own experience. Sometimes, as in a case +recorded by Mrs. de Morgan, it has come through the +hand of a child. + +Now, of course, we are at once confronted with the +obvious objection--how do we know that these messages +are really from beyond? How do we know that the medium +is not consciously writing, or if that be improbable, +that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or +her own higher self? This is a perfectly just +criticism, and it is one which we must rigorously apply +in every case, since if the whole world is to become +full of minor prophets, each of them stating their own +views of the religious state with no proof save their +own assertion, we should, indeed, be back in the dark +ages of implicit faith. The answer must be that we +require signs which we can test before we accept +assertions which we cannot test. In old days they +demanded a sign from a prophet, and it was a perfectly +reasonable request, and still holds good. If a person +comes to me with an account of life in some further +world, and has no credentials save his own assertion, I +would rather have it in my waste-paperbasket than +on my study table. Life is too short to weigh the +merits of such productions. But if, as in the case of +Stainton Moses, with his Spirit Teachings, the +doctrines which are said to come from beyond are +accompanied with a great number of abnormal gifts--and +Stainton Moses was one of the greatest mediums in all +ways that England has ever produced--then I look upon +the matter in a more serious light. Again, if Miss +Julia Ames can tell Mr. Stead things in her own earth +life of which he could not have cognisance, and if +those things are shown, when tested, to be true, then +one is more inclined to think that those things which +cannot be tested are true also. Or once again, if +Raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of which +had reached England, and which proved to be exactly as +he described it, and if he can give us, through the +lips of strangers, all sorts of details of his home +life, which his own relatives had to verify before they +found them to be true, is it unreasonable to suppose +that he is fairly accurate in his description of his +own experiences and state of life at the very +moment at which he is communicating? Or when Mr. +Arthur Hill receives messages from folk of whom he +never heard, and afterwards verifies that they are true +in every detail, is it not a fair inference that they +are speaking truths also when they give any light upon +their present condition? The cases are manifold, and I +mention only a few of them, but my point is that the +whole of this system, from the lowest physical +phenomenon of a table-rap up to the most inspired +utterance of a prophet, is one complete whole, each +attached to the next one, and that when the humbler end +of that chain was placed in the hand of humanity, it +was in order that they might, by diligence and reason, +feel their way up it until they reached the revelation +which waited in the end. Do not sneer at the humble +beginnings, the heaving table or the flying tambourine, +however much such phenomena may have been abused or +simulated, but remember that a falling apple taught us +gravity, a boiling kettle brought us the steam engine, +and the twitching leg of a frog opened up the train +of thought and experiment which gave us electricity. +So the lowly manifestations of Hydesville have ripened +into results which have engaged the finest group of +intellects in this country during the last twenty +years, and which are destined, in my opinion, to bring +about far the greatest development of human experience +which the world has ever seen. + +It has been asserted by men for whose opinion I +have a deep regard--notably by Sir William Barratt-- +that psychical research is quite distinct from +religion. Certainly it is so, in the sense that a man +might be a very good psychical researcher but a very +bad man. But the results of psychical research, the +deductions which we may draw, and the lessons we may +learn, teach us of the continued life of the soul, of +the nature of that life, and of how it is influenced by +our conduct here. If this is distinct from religion, I +must confess that I do not understand the distinction. +To me it IS religion--the very essence of it. But +that does not mean that it will necessarily crystallise +into a new religion. Personally I trust that it +will not do so. Surely we are disunited enough +already? Rather would I see it the great unifying +force, the one provable thing connected with every +religion, Christian or non-Christian, forming the +common solid basis upon which each raises, if it must +needs raise, that separate system which appeals to the +varied types of mind. The Southern races will always +demand what is less austere than the North, the West +will always be more critical than the East. One cannot +shape all to a level conformity. But if the broad +premises which are guaranteed by this teaching from +beyond are accepted, then the human race has made a +great stride towards religious peace and unity. The +question which faces us, then, is how will this +influence bear upon the older organised religions and +philosophies which have influenced the actions of men. + +The answer is, that to only one of these religions +or philosophies is this new revelation absolutely +fatal. That is to Materialism. I do not say this in +any spirit of hostility to Materialists, who, so far as +they are an organized body, are, I think, as earnest +and moral as any other class. But the fact is +manifest that if spirit can live without matter, then +the foundation of Materialism is gone, and the whole +scheme of thought crashes to the ground. + +As to other creeds, it must be admitted that an +acceptance of the teaching brought to us from beyond +would deeply modify conventional Christianity. But +these modifications would be rather in the direction of +explanation and development than of contradiction. It +would set right grave misunderstandings which have +always offended the reason of every thoughtful man, but +it would also confirm and make absolutely certain the +fact of life after death, the base of all religion. It +would confirm the unhappy results of sin, though it +would show that those results are never absolutely +permanent. It would confirm the existence of higher +beings, whom we have called angels, and of an ever- +ascending hierarchy above us, in which the Christ +spirit finds its place, culminating in heights of the +infinite with which we associate the idea of all-power +or of God. It would confirm the idea of heaven and of +a temporary penal state which corresponds to +purgatory rather than to hell. Thus this new +revelation, on some of the most vital points, is +NOT destructive of the beliefs, and it should be +hailed by really earnest men of all creeds as a most +powerful ally rather than a dangerous devil-begotten +enemy. + +On the other hand, let us turn to the points in +which Christianity must be modified by this new +revelation. + +First of all I would say this, which must be +obvious to many, however much they deplore it: +Christianity must change or must perish. That is the +law of life--that things must adapt themselves or +perish. Christianity has deferred the change very +long, she has deferred it until her churches are half +empty, until women are her chief supporters, and until +both the learned part of the community on one side, and +the poorest class on the other, both in town and +country, are largely alienated from her. Let us try +and trace the reason for this. It is apparent in all +sects, and comes, therefore, from some deep common +cause. + +People are alienated because they frankly do not +believe the facts as presented to them to be true. +Their reason and their sense of justice are equally +offended. One can see no justice in a vicarious +sacrifice, nor in the God who could be placated by such +means. Above all, many cannot understand such +expressions as the "redemption from sin," "cleansed by +the blood of the Lamb," and so forth. So long as there +was any question of the fall of man there was at least +some sort of explanation of such phrases; but when it +became certain that man had never fallen--when with +ever fuller knowledge we could trace our ancestral +course down through the cave-man and the drift-man, +back to that shadowy and far-off time when the man-like +ape slowly evolved into the apelike man--looking back +on all this vast succession of life, we knew that it +had always been rising from step to step. Never was +there any evidence of a fall. But if there were no +fall, then what became of the atonement, of the +redemption, of original sin, of a large part of +Christian mystical philosophy? Even if it were as +reasonable in itself as it is actually unreasonable, it +would still be quite divorced from the facts. + +Again, too much seemed to be made of Christ's +death. It is no uncommon thing to die for an idea. +Every religion has equally had its martyrs. Men die +continually for their convictions. Thousands of our +lads are doing it at this instant in France. Therefore +the death of Christ, beautiful as it is in the Gospel +narrative, has seemed to assume an undue importance, as +though it were an isolated phenomenon for a man to die +in pursuit of a reform. In my opinion, far too much +stress has been laid upon Christ's death, and far too +little upon His life. That was where the true grandeur +and the true lesson lay. It was a life which even in +those limited records shows us no trait which is not +beautiful--a life full of easy tolerance for others, of +kindly charity, of broad-minded moderation, of gentle +courage, always progressive and open to new ideas, and +yet never bitter to those ideas which He was really +supplanting, though He did occasionally lose His temper +with their more bigoted and narrow supporters. +Especially one loves His readiness to get at the spirit +of religion, sweeping aside the texts and the forms. +Never had anyone such a robust common sense, or such a +sympathy for weakness. It was this most wonderful and +uncommon life, and not his death, which is the true +centre of the Christian religion. + +Now, let us look at the light which we get from the +spirit guides upon this question of Christianity. +Opinion is not absolutely uniform yonder, any more than +it is here; but reading a number of messages upon this +subject, they amount to this: There are many higher +spirits with our departed. They vary in degree. Call +them "angels," and you are in touch with old religious +thought. High above all these is the greatest spirit +of whom they have cognizance--not God, since God is so +infinite that He is not within their ken--but one who +is nearer God and to that extent represents God. This +is the Christ Spirit. His special care is the earth. +He came down upon it at a time of great earthly +depravity--a time when the world was almost as wicked +as it is now, in order to give the people the +lesson of an ideal life. Then he returned to his own +high station, having left an example which is still +occasionally followed. That is the story of Christ as +spirits have described it. There is nothing here of +Atonement or Redemption. But there is a perfectly +feasible and reasonable scheme, which I, for one, could +readily believe. + +If such a view of Christianity were generally +accepted, and if it were enforced by assurance and +demonstration from the New Revelation which is coming +to us from the other side, then we should have a creed +which might unite the churches, which might be +reconciled to science, which might defy all attacks, +and which might carry the Christian Faith on for an +indefinite period. Reason and Faith would at last be +reconciled, a nightmare would be lifted from our minds, +and spiritual peace would prevail. I do not see such +results coming as a sudden conquest or a violent +revolution. Rather will it come as a peaceful +penetration, as some crude ideas, such as the Eternal +Hell idea, have already gently faded away within our +own lifetime. It is, however, when the human soul +is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the seeds of +truth may be planted, and so some future spiritual +harvest will surely rise from the days in which we +live. + +When I read the New Testament with the knowledge +which I have of Spiritualism, I am left with a deep +conviction that the teaching of Christ was in many most +important respects lost by the early Church, and has +not come down to us. All these allusions to a conquest +over death have, as it seems to me, little meaning in +the present Christian philosophy, whereas for those who +have seen, however dimly, through the veil, and +touched, however slightly, the outstretched hands +beyond, death has indeed been conquered. When we read +so many references to the phenomena with which we are +familiar, the levitations, the tongues of fire, the +rushing wind, the spiritual gifts, the working of +wonders, we feel that the central fact of all, the +continuity of life and the communication with the dead, +was most certainly known. Our attention is arrested by +such a saying as: "Here he worked no wonders +because the people were wanting in faith." Is this +not absolutely in accordance with psychic law as we +know it? Or when Christ, on being touched by the sick +woman, said: "Who has touched me? Much virtue has +passed out of me." Could He say more clearly what a +healing medium would say now, save that He would use +the word "Power" instead of "virtue"; or when we read: +"Try the spirits whether they be of God," is it not the +very, advice which would now be given to a novice +approaching a seance? It is too large a question for +me to do more than indicate, but I believe that this +subject, which the more rigid Christian churches now +attack so bitterly, is really the central teaching of +Christianity itself. To those who would read more upon +this line of thought, I strongly recommend Dr. Abraham +Wallace's Jesus of Nazareth, if this valuable +little work is not out of print. He demonstrates in it +most convincingly that Christ's miracles were all +within the powers of psychic law as we now understand +it, and were on the exact lines of such law even in +small details. Two examples have already been +given. Many are worked out in that pamphlet. One +which convinced me as a truth was the thesis that the +story of the materialization of the two prophets upon +the mountain was extraordinarily accurate when judged +by psychic law. There is the fact that Peter, James +and John (who formed the psychic circle when the dead +was restored to life, and were presumably the most +helpful of the group) were taken. Then there is the +choice of the high pure air of the mountain, the +drowsiness of the attendant mediums, the transfiguring, +the shining robes, the cloud, the words: "Let us make +three tabernacles," with its alternate reading: "Let +us make three booths or cabinets" (the ideal way of +condensing power and producing materializations)--all +these make a very consistent theory of the nature of +the proceedings. For the rest, the list of gifts which +St. Paul gives as being necessary for the Christian +Disciple, is simply the list of gifts of a very +powerful medium, including prophecy, healing, causing +miracles (or physical phenomena), clairvoyance, and +other powers (I Corinth, xii, 8, 11). The early +Christian Church was saturated with spiritualism, and +they seem to have paid no attention to those Old +Testament prohibitions which were meant to keep these +powers only for the use and profit of the priesthood. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE COMING LIFE + +Now, leaving this large and possibly contentious +subject of the modifications which such new revelations +must produce in Christianity, let us try to follow what +occurs to man after death. The evidence on this point +is fairly full and consistent. Messages from the dead +have been received in many lands at various times, +mixed up with a good deal about this world, which we +could verify. When messages come thus, it is only +fair, I think, to suppose that if what we can test is +true, then what we cannot test is true also. When in +addition we find a very great uniformity in the +messages and an agreement as to details which are not +at all in accordance with any pre-existing scheme of +thought, then I think the presumption of truth is very +strong. It is difficult to think that some fifteen or +twenty messages from various sources of which I +have personal notes, all agree, and yet are all wrong, +nor is it easy to suppose that spirits can tell the +truth about our world but untruth about their own. + +I received lately, in the same week, two accounts +of life in the next world, one received through the +hand of the near relative of a high dignitary of the +Church, while the other came through the wife of a +working mechanician in Scotland. Neither could have +been aware of the existence of the other, and yet the +two accounts are so alike as to be practically the +same.[2] + +[2] Vide Appendix II. + + +The message upon these points seems to me to be +infinitely reassuring, whether we regard our own fate +or that of our friends. The departed all agree that +passing is usually both easy and painless, and followed +by an enormous reaction of peace and ease. The +individual finds himself in a spirit body, which is the +exact counterpart of his old one, save that all +disease, weakness, or deformity has passed from it. +This body is standing or floating beside the old body, +and conscious both of it and of the surrounding +people. At this moment the dead man is nearer to +matter than he will ever be again, and hence it is that +at that moment the greater part of those cases occur +where, his thoughts having turned to someone in the +distance, the spirit body went with the thoughts and +was manifest to the person. Out of some 250 cases +carefully examined by Mr. Gurney, 134 of such +apparitions were actually at this moment of +dissolution, when one could imagine that the new spirit +body was possibly so far material as to be more visible +to a sympathetic human eye than it would later become. + +These cases, however, are very rare in comparison +with the total number of deaths. In most cases I +imagine that the dead man is too preoccupied with his +own amazing experience to have much thought for others. +He soon finds, to his surprise, that though he +endeavours to communicate with those whom he sees, his +ethereal voice and his ethereal touch are equally +unable to make any impression upon those human organs +which are only attuned to coarser stimuli. It is a +fair subject for speculation, whether a fuller +knowledge of those light rays which we know to exist on +either side of the spectrum, or of those sounds which +we can prove by the vibrations of a diaphragm to exist, +although they are too high for mortal ear, may not +bring us some further psychical knowledge. Setting +that aside, however, let us follow the fortunes of the +departing spirit. He is presently aware that there are +others in the room besides those who were there in +life, and among these others, who seem to him as +substantial as the living, there appear familiar faces, +and he finds his hand grasped or his lips kissed by +those whom he had loved and lost. Then in their +company, and with the help and guidance of some more +radiant being who has stood by and waited for the +newcomer, he drifts to his own surprise through all +solid obstacles and out upon his new life. + +This is a definite statement, and this is the story +told by one after the other with a consistency which +impels belief. It is already very different from any +old theology. The Spirit is not a glorified angel or +goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself, +containing all his strength and weakness, his +wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has retained his +personal appearance. We can well believe that the most +frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so +tremendous an experience, but impressions soon become +blunted, the old nature may soon reassert itself in new +surroundings, and the frivolous still survive, as our +seance rooms can testify. + +And now, before entering upon his new life, the new +Spirit has a period of sleep which varies in its +length, sometimes hardly existing at all, at others +extending for weeks or months. Raymond said that his +lasted for six days. That was the period also in a +case of which I had some personal evidence. Mr. Myers, +on the other hand, said that he had a very prolonged +period of unconsciousness. I could imagine that the +length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental +preoccupation of this life, the longer rest giving the +better means of wiping this out. Probably the little +child would need no such interval at all. This, of +course, is pure speculation, but there is a +considerable consensus of opinion as to the +existence of a period of oblivion after the first +impression of the new life and before entering upon its +duties. + +Having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak, +as the child is weak after earth birth. Soon, however, +strength returns and the new life begins. This leads +us to the consideration of heaven and hell. Hell, I +may say, drops out altogether, as it has long dropped +out of the thoughts of every reasonable man. This +odious conception, so blasphemous in its view of the +Creator, arose from the exaggerations of Oriental +phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a +coarse age where men were frightened by fires, as wild +beasts are seared by the travellers. Hell as a +permanent place does not exist. But the idea of +punishment, of purifying chastisement, in fact of +Purgatory, is justified by the reports from the other +side. Without such punishment there could be no +justice in the Universe, for how impossible it would be +to imagine that the fate of a Rasputin is the same as +that of a Father Damien. The punishment is very +certain and very serious, though in its less severe +forms it only consists in the fact that the grosser +souls are in lower spheres with a knowledge that their +own deeds have placed them there, but also with the +hope that expiation and the help of those above them +will educate them and bring them level with the others. +In this saving process the higher spirits find part of +their employment. Miss Julia Ames in her beautiful +posthumous book, says in memorable words: "The +greatest joy of Heaven is emptying Hell." + +Setting aside those probationary spheres, which +should perhaps rather be looked upon as a hospital for +weakly souls than as a penal community, the reports +from the other world are all agreed as to the pleasant +conditions of life in the beyond. They agree that like +goes to like, that all who love or who have interests +in common are united, that life is full of interest and +of occupation, and that they would by no means desire +to return. All of this is surely tidings of great joy, +and I repeat that it is not a vague faith or hope, but +that it is supported by all the laws of evidence which +agree that where many independent witnesses give a +similar account, that account has a claim to be +considered a true one. If it were an account of +glorified souls purged instantly from all human +weakness and of a constant ecstasy of adoration round +the throne of the all powerful, it might well be +suspected as being the mere reflection of that popular +theology which all the mediums had equally received in +their youth. It is, however, very different to any +preexisting system. It is also supported, as I have +already pointed out, not merely by the consistency of +the accounts, but by the fact that the accounts are the +ultimate product of a long series of phenomena, all of +which have been attested as true by those who have +carefully examined them. + +In connection with the general subject of life +after death, people may say we have got this knowledge +already through faith. But faith, however beautiful in +the individual, has always in collective bodies been a +very two-edged quality. All would be well if every +faith were alike and the intuitions of the human race +were constant. We know that it is not so. Faith means +to say that you entirely believe a thing which you +cannot prove. One man says: "My faith is +THIS." Another says: "My faith is THAT." +Neither can prove it, so they wrangle for ever, either +mentally or in the old days physically. If one is +stronger than the other, he is inclined to persecute +him just to twist him round to the true faith. Because +Philip the Second's faith was strong and clear he, +quite logically, killed a hundred thousand Lowlanders +in the hope that their fellow countrymen would be +turned to the all-important truth. Now, if it were +recognised that it is by no means virtuous to claim +what you could not prove, we should then be driven to +observe facts, to reason from them, and perhaps reach +common agreement. That is why this psychical movement +appears so valuable. Its feet are on something more +solid than texts or traditions or intuitions. It is +religion from the double point of view of both worlds +up to date, instead of the ancient traditions of one +world. + +We cannot look upon this coming world as a tidy +Dutch garden of a place which is so exact that it can +easily be described. It is probable that those +messengers who come back to us are all, more or +less, in one state of development and represent the +same wave of life as it recedes from our shores. +Communications usually come from those who have not +long passed over, and tend to grow fainter, as one +would expect. It is instructive in this respect to +notice that Christ's reappearances to his disciples or +to Paul, are said to have been within a very few years +of his death, and that there is no claim among the +early Christians to have seen him later. The cases of +spirits who give good proof of authenticity and yet +have passed some time are not common. There is, in Mr. +Dawson Roger's life, a very good case of a spirit who +called himself Manton, and claimed to have been born at +Lawrence Lydiard and buried at Stoke Newington in 1677. +It was clearly shown afterwards that there was such a +man, and that he was Oliver Cromwell's chaplain. So +far as my own reading goes, this is the oldest spirit +who is on record as returning, and generally they are +quite recent. Hence, one gets all one's views from the +one generation, as it were, and we cannot take them as +final, but only as partial. How spirits may see +things in a different light as they progress in the +other world is shown by Miss Julia Ames, who was deeply +impressed at first by the necessity of forming a bureau +of communication, but admitted, after fifteen years, +that not one spirit in a million among the main body +upon the further side ever wanted to communicate with +us at all since their own loved ones had come over. +She had been misled by the fact that when she first +passed over everyone she met was newly arrived like +herself. + +Thus the account we give may be partial, but still +such as it is it is very consistent and of +extraordinary interest, since it refers to our own +destiny and that of those we love. All agree that life +beyond is for a limited period, after which they pass +on to yet other phases, but apparently there is more +communication between these phases than there is +between us and Spiritland. The lower cannot ascend, +but the higher can descend at will. The life has a +close analogy to that of this world at it its best. It +is pre-eminently a life of the mind, as this is of the +body. Preoccupations of food, money, lust, pain, +etc., are of the body and are gone. Music, the Arts, +intellectual and spiritual knowledge, and progress have +increased. The people are clothed, as one would +expect, since there is no reason why modesty should +disappear with our new forms. These new forms are the +absolute reproduction of the old ones at their best, +the young growing up and the old reverting until all +come to the normal. People live in communities, as one +would expect if like attracts like, and the male spirit +still finds his true mate though there is no sexuality +in the grosser sense and no childbirth. Since +connections still endure, and those in the same state +of development keep abreast, one would expect that +nations are still roughly divided from each other, +though language is no longer a bar, since thought has +become a medium of conversation. How close is the +connection between kindred souls over there is shown by +the way in which Myers, Gurney and Roden Noel, all +friends and co-workers on earth, sent messages together +through Mrs. Holland, who knew none of them, each +message being characteristic to those who knew the +men in life--or the way in which Professor Verrall and +Professor Butcher, both famous Greek scholars, +collaborated to produce the Greek problem which has +been analysed by Mr. Gerald Balfour in The Ear of +Dionysius, with the result that that excellent +authority testified that the effect COULD have been +attained by no other entities, save only Verrall and +Butcher. It may be remarked in passing that these and +other examples show clearly either that the spirits +have the use of an excellent reference library or else +that they have memories which produce something like +omniscience. No human memory could possibly carry all +the exact quotations which occur in such communications +as The Ear of Dionysius. + +These, roughly speaking, are the lines of the life +beyond in its simplest expression, for it is not all +simple, and we catch dim glimpses of endless circles +below descending into gloom and endless circles above, +ascending into glory, all improving, all purposeful, +all intensely alive. All are agreed that no religion +upon earth has any advantage over another, but that +character and refinement are everything. At the same +time, all are also in agreement that all religions +which inculcate prayer, and an upward glance rather +than eyes for ever on the level, are good. In this +sense, and in no other--as a help to spiritual life-- +every form may have a purpose for somebody. If to +twirl a brass cylinder forces the Thibetan to admit +that there is something higher than his mountains, and +more precious than his yaks, then to that extent it is +good. We must not be censorious in such matters. + +There is one point which may be mentioned here +which is at first startling and yet must commend itself +to our reason when we reflect upon it. This is the +constant assertion from the other side that the newly +passed do not know that they are dead, and that it is a +long time, sometimes a very long time, before they can +be made to understand it. All of them agree that this +state of bewilderment is harmful and retarding to the +spirit, and that some knowledge of the actual truth +upon this side is the only way to make sure of not +being dazed upon the other. Finding conditions +entirely different from anything for which either +scientific or religious teaching had prepared them, it +is no wonder that they look upon their new sensations +as some strange dream, and the more rigidly orthodox +have been their views, the more impossible do they find +it to accept these new surroundings with all that they +imply. For this reason, as well as for many others, +this new revelation is a very needful thing for +mankind. A smaller point of practical importance is +that the aged should realise that it is still worth +while to improve their minds, for though they have no +time to use their fresh knowledge in this world it will +remain as part of their mental outfit in the next. + +As to the smaller details of this life beyond, it +is better perhaps not to treat them, for the very good +reason that they are small details. We will learn them +all soon for ourselves, and it is only vain curiosity +which leads us to ask for them now. One thing is +clear: there are higher intelligences over yonder to +whom synthetic chemistry, which not only makes the +substance but moulds the form, is a matter of +absolute ease. We see them at work in the coarser +media, perceptible to our material senses, in the +seance room. If they can build up simulacra in the +seance room, how much may we expect them to do when +they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether +which is their own medium. It may be said generally +that they can make something which is analogous to +anything which exists upon earth. How they do it may +well be a matter of guess and speculation among the +less advanced spirits, as the phenomena of modern +science are a matter of guess and speculation to us. +If one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen of +some sub-human world, and were asked to explain exactly +what gravity is, or what magnetism is, how helpless we +should be! We may put ourselves in the position, then, +of a young engineer soldier like Raymond Lodge, who +tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond--a +theory which is very likely contradicted by some other +spirit who is also guessing at things above him. He +may be right, or he may be wrong, but be is doing his +best to say what he thinks, as we should do in +similar case. He believes that his transcendental +chemists can make anything, and that even such +unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco could come +within their powers and could still be craved for by +unregenerate spirits. This has tickled the critics to +such an extent that one would really think to read the +comments that it was the only statement in a book which +contains 400 closely-printed pages. Raymond may be +right or wrong, but the only thing which the incident +proves to me is the unflinching courage and honesty of +the man who chronicled it, knowing well the handle that +he was giving to his enemies. + +There are many who protest that this world which is +described to us is too material for their liking. It +is not as they would desire it. Well, there are many +things in this world which seem different from what we +desire, but they exist none the less. But when we come +to examine this charge of materialism and try to +construct some sort of system which would satisfy the +idealists, it becomes a very difficult task. Are we to +be mere wisps of gaseous happiness floating about +in the air? That seems to be the idea. But if there +is no body like our own, and if there is no character +like our own, then say what you will, WE have +become extinct. What is it to a mother if some +impersonal glorified entity is shown to her? She will +say, "that is not the son I lost--I want his yellow +hair, his quick smile, his little moods that I know so +well." That is what she wants; that, I believe, is +what she will have; but she will not have them by any +system which cuts us away from all that reminds us of +matter and takes us to a vague region of floating +emotions. + +There is an opposite school of critics which rather +finds the difficulty in picturing a life which has keen +perceptions, robust emotions, and a solid surrounding +all constructed in so diaphanous a material. Let us +remember that everything depends upon its comparison +with the things around it. + +If we could conceive of a world a thousand times +denser, heavier and duller than this world, we can +clearly see that to its inmates it would seem much the +same as this, since their strength and texture would be +in proportion. If, however, these inmates came in +contact with us, they would look upon us as +extraordinarily airy beings living in a strange, light, +spiritual atmosphere. They would not remember that we +also, since our beings and our surroundings are in +harmony and in proportion to each other, feel and act +exactly as they do. + +We have now to consider the case of yet another +stratum of life, which is as much above us as the +leaden community would be below us. To us also it +seems as if these people, these spirits, as we call +them, live the lives of vapour and of shadows. We do +not recollect that there also everything is in +proportion and in harmony so that the spirit scene or +the spirit dwelling, which might seem a mere dream +thing to us, is as actual to the spirit as are our own +scenes or our own dwellings, and that the spirit body +is as real and tangible to another spirit as ours to +our friends. + + + + +CHAPTER IV, + + +PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS + +Leaving for a moment the larger argument as to the +lines of this revelation and the broad proofs of its +validity, there are some smaller points which have +forced themselves upon my attention during the +consideration of the subject. This home of our dead +seems to be very near to us--so near that we +continually, as they tell us, visit them in our sleep. +Much of that quiet resignation which we have all +observed in people who have lost those whom they +loved--people who would in our previous opinion have +been driven mad by such loss--is due to the fact that +they have seen their dead, and that although the +switch-off is complete and they can recall nothing +whatever of the spirit experience in sleep, the +soothing result of it is still carried on by the +subconscious self. The switch-off is, as I say, +complete, but sometimes for some reason it is hung up +for a fraction of a second, and it is at such +moments that the dreamer comes back from his dream +"trailing clouds of glory." From this also come all +those prophetic dreams many of which are well attested. +I have had a recent personal experience of one which +has not yet perhaps entirely justified itself but is +even now remarkable. Upon April 4th of last year, +1917, I awoke with a feeling that some communication +had been made to me of which I had only carried back +one word which was ringing in my head. That word was +"Piave." To the best of my belief I had never heard +the word before. As it sounded like the name of a +place I went into my study the moment I had dressed and +I looked up the index of my Atlas. There was "Piave" +sure enough, and I noted that it was a river in Italy +some forty miles behind the front line, which at that +time was victoriously advancing. I could imagine few +more unlikely things than that the war should roll back +to the Piave, and I could not think how any military +event of consequence could arise there, but none the +less I was so impressed that I drew up a statement +that some such event would occur there, and I had it +signed by my secretary and witnessed by my wife with +the date, April 4th, attached. It is a matter of +history how six months later the whole Italian line +fell back, how it abandoned successive positions upon +rivers, and how it stuck upon this stream which was +said by military critics to be strategically almost +untenable. If nothing more should occur (I write upon +February 20th, 1918), the reference to the name has +been fully justified, presuming that some friend in the +beyond was forecasting the coming events of the war. I +have still a hope, however, that more was meant, and +that some crowning victory of the Allies at this spot +may justify still further the strange way in which the +name was conveyed to my mind. + +People may well cry out against this theory of +sleep on the grounds that all the grotesque, monstrous +and objectionable dreams which plague us cannot +possibly come from a high source. On this point I have +a very definite theory, which may perhaps be worthy of +discussion. I consider that there are two forms of +dreams, and only two, the experiences of the released +spirit, and the confused action of the lower faculties +which remain in the body when the spirit is absent. +The former is rare and beautiful, for the memory of it +fails us. The latter are common and varied, but +usually fantastic or ignoble. By noting what is absent +in the lower dreams one can tell what the missing +qualities are, and so judge what part of us goes to +make up the spirit. Thus in these dreams humour is +wanting, since we see things which strike us afterwards +as ludicrous, and are not amused. The sense of +proportion and of judgment and of aspiration is all +gone. In short, the higher is palpably gone, and the +lower, the sense of fear, of sensual impression, of +self-preservation, is functioning all the more vividly +because it is relieved from the higher control. + +The limitations of the powers of spirits is a +subject which is brought home to one in these studies. +People say, "If they exist why don't they do this or +that!" The answer usually is that they can't. They +appear to have very fixed limitations like our own. +This seemed to be very clearly brought out in the +cross-correspondence experiments where several writing +mediums were operating at a distance quite +independently of each other, and the object was to get +agreement which was beyond the reach of coincidence. +The spirits seem to know exactly what they impress upon +the minds of the living, but they do not know how far +they carry their instruction out. Their touch with us +is intermittent. Thus, in the cross-correspondence +experiments we continually have them asking, "Did you +get that?" or "Was it all right?" Sometimes they have +partial cognisance of what is done, as where Myers +says: "I saw the circle, but was not sure about the +triangle." It is everywhere apparent that their +spirits, even the spirits of those who, like Myers and +Hodgson, were in specially close touch with psychic +subjects, and knew all that could be done, were in +difficulties when they desired to get cognisance of a +material thing, such as a written document. Only, I +should imagine, by partly materialising themselves +could they do so, and they may not have had the +power of self-materialization. This consideration +throws some light upon the famous case, so often used +by our opponents, where Myers failed to give some word +or phrase which had been left behind in a sealed box. +Apparently he could not see this document from his +present position, and if his memory failed him he would +be very likely to go wrong about it. + +Many mistakes may, I think, be explained in this +fashion. It has been asserted from the other side, and +the assertion seems to me reasonable, that when they +speak of their own conditions they are speaking of what +they know and can readily and surely discuss; but that +when we insist (as we must sometimes insist) upon +earthly tests, it drags them back to another plane of +things, and puts them in a position which is far more +difficult, and liable to error. + +Another point which is capable of being used +against us is this: The spirits have the greatest +difficulty in getting names through to us, and it is +this which makes many of their communications so vague +and unsatisfactory. They will talk all round a +thing, and yet never get the name which would clinch +the matter. There is an example of the point in a +recent communication in Light, which describes how +a young officer, recently dead, endeavoured to get a +message through the direct voice method of Mrs. +Susannah Harris to his father. He could not get his +name through. He was able, however, to make it clear +that his father was a member of the Kildare Street Club +in Dublin. Inquiry found the father, and it was then +learned that the father had already received an +independent message in Dublin to say that an inquiry +was coming through from London. I do not know if the +earth name is a merely ephemeral thing, quite +disconnected from the personality, and perhaps the very +first thing to be thrown aside. That is, of course, +possible. Or it may be that some law regulates our +intercourse from the other side by which it shall not +be too direct, and shall leave something to our own +intelligence. + +This idea, that there is some law which makes an +indirect speech more easy than a direct one, is +greatly borne out by the cross-correspondences, where +circumlocution continually takes the place of +assertion. Thus, in the St. Paul correspondence, which +is treated in the July pamphlet of the S.P.R., the idea +of St. Paul was to be conveyed from one automatic +writer to two others, both of whom were at a distance, +one of them in India. Dr. Hodgson was the spirit who +professed to preside over this experiment. You would +think that the simple words "St. Paul" occurring in the +other scripts would be all-sufficient. But no; he +proceeds to make all sorts of indirect allusions, to +talk all round St. Paul in each of the scripts, and to +make five quotations from St. Paul's writings. This is +beyond coincidence, and quite convincing, but none the +less it illustrates the curious way in which they go +round instead of going straight. If one could imagine +some wise angel on the other side saying, "Now, don't +make it too easy for these people. Make them use their +own brains a little. They will become mere automatons +if we do everything for them"--if we could imagine +that, it would just cover the case. Whatever the +explanation, it is a noteworthy fact. + +There is another point about spirit communications +which is worth noting. This is their uncertainty +wherever any time element comes in. Their estimate of +time is almost invariably wrong. Earth time is +probably a different idea to spirit time, and hence the +confusion. We had the advantage, as I have stated, of +the presence of a lady in our household who developed +writing mediumship. She was in close touch with three +brothers, all of whom had been killed in the war. This +lady, conveying messages from her brothers, was hardly +ever entirely wrong upon facts, and hardly ever right +about time. There was one notable exception, however, +which in itself is suggestive. Although her prophecies +as to public events were weeks or even months out, she +in one case foretold the arrival of a telegram from +Africa to the day. Now the telegram had already been +sent, but was delayed, so that the inference seems to +be that she could foretell a course of events which had +actually been set in motion, and calculate how long +they would take to reach their end. On the other +hand, I am bound to admit that she confidently +prophesied the escape of her fourth brother, who was a +prisoner in Germany, and that this was duly fulfilled. +On the whole I preserve an open mind upon the powers +and limitations of prophecy. + +But apart from all these limitations we have, +unhappily, to deal with absolute coldblooded lying on +the part of wicked or mischievous intelligences. +Everyone who has investigated the matter has, I +suppose, met with examples of wilful deception, which +occasionally are mixed up with good and true +communications. It was of such messages, no doubt, +that the Apostle wrote when he said: "Beloved, +believe, not every spirit, but try the spirits whether +they are of God." These words can only mean that the +early Christians not only practised Spiritualism as we +understand it, but also that they were faced by the +same difficulties. There is nothing more puzzling than +the fact that one may get a long connected description +with every detail given, and that it may prove to be +entirely a concoction. However, we must bear in +mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it +atones for many failures, just as if you had one +telegram correct you would know that there was a line +and a communicator, however much they broke down +afterwards. But it must be admitted that it is very +discomposing and makes one sceptical of messages until +they are tested. Of a kin with these false influences +are all the Miltons who cannot scan, and Shelleys who +cannot rhyme, and Shakespeares who cannot think, and +all the other absurd impersonations which make our +cause ridiculous. They are, I think, deliberate +frauds, either from this side or from the other, but to +say that they invalidate the whole subject is as +senseless as to invalidate our own world because we +encounter some unpleasant people. + +One thing I can truly say, and that is, that in +spite of false messages, I have never in all these +years known a blasphemous, an unkind, or an obscene +message. Such incidents must be of very exceptional +nature. I think also that, so far as allegations +concerning insanity, obsession, and so forth go, they +are entirely imaginary. Asylum statistics do not +bear out such assertions, and mediums live to as good +an average age as anyone else. I think, however, that +the cult of the seance may be very much overdone. When +once you have convinced yourself of the truth of the +phenomena the physical seance has done its work, and +the man or woman who spends his or her life in running +from seance to seance is in danger of becoming a mere +sensation hunter. Here, as in other cults, the form is +in danger of eclipsing the real thing, and in pursuit +of physical proofs one may forget that the real object +of all these things is, as I have tried to point out, +to give us assurance in the future and spiritual +strength in the present, to attain a due perception of +the passing nature of matter and the all-importance of +that which is immaterial. + +The conclusion, then, of my long search after +truth, is that in spite of occasional fraud, which +Spiritualists deplore, and in spite of wild imaginings, +which they discourage, there remains a great solid core +in this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive +proof than any other religious development with +which I am acquainted. As I have shown, it would +appear to be a rediscovery rather than an absolutely +new thing, but the result in this material age is the +same. The days are surely passing when the mature and +considered opinions of such men as Crookes, Wallace, +Flammarion, Chas. Richet, Lodge, Barrett, Lombroso, +Generals Drayson and Turner, Sergeant Ballantyne, W. T. +Stead, Judge Edmunds, Admiral Usborne Moore, the late +Archdeacon Wilberforce, and such a cloud of other +witnesses, can be dismissed with the empty "All rot" or +"Nauseating drivel" formulae. As Mr. Arthur Hill has +well said, we have reached a point where further proof +is superfluous, and where the weight of disproof lies +upon those who deny. The very people who clamour for +proofs have as a rule never taken the trouble to +examine the copious proofs which already exist. Each +seems to think that the whole subject should begin +de novo because he has asked for information. The +method of our opponents is to fasten upon the latest +man who has stated the case--at the present instant it +happens to be Sir Oliver Lodge--and then to deal +with him as if he had come forward with some new +opinions which rested entirely upon his own assertion, +with no reference to the corroboration of so many +independent workers before him. This is not an honest +method of criticism, for in every case the agreement of +witnesses is the very root of conviction. But as a +matter of fact, there are many single witnesses upon +whom this case could rest. If, for example, our only +knowledge of unknown forces depended upon the +researches of Dr. Crawford of Belfast, who places his +amateur medium in a weighing chair with her feet from +the ground, and has been able to register a difference +of weight of many pounds, corresponding with the +physical phenomena produced, a result which he has +tested and recorded in a true scientific spirit of +caution, I do not see how it could be shaken. The +phenomena are and have long been firmly established for +every open mind. One feels that the stage of +investigation is passed, and that of religious +construction is overdue. + +For are we to satisfy ourselves by observing +phenomena with no attention to what the phenomena mean, +as a group of savages might stare at a wireless +installation with no appreciation of the messages +coming through it, or are we resolutely to set +ourselves to define these subtle and elusive utterances +from beyond, and to construct from them a religious +scheme, which will be founded upon human reason on this +side and upon spirit inspiration upon the other? These +phenomena have passed through the stage of being a +parlour game; they are now emerging from that of a +debatable scientific novelty; and they are, or should +be, taking shape as the foundations of a definite +system of religious thought, in some ways confirmatory +of ancient systems, in some ways entirely new. The +evidence upon which this system rests is so enormous +that it would take a very considerable library to +contain it, and the witnesses are not shadowy people +living in the dim past and inaccessible to our cross- +examination, but are our own contemporaries, men of +character and intellect whom all must respect. The +situation may, as it seems to me, be summed up in a +simple alternative. The one supposition is that +there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over two +generations of mankind, and two great continents--a +lunacy which assails men or women who are otherwise +eminently sane. The alternative supposition is that in +recent years there has come to us from divine sources a +new revelation which constitutes by far the greatest +religious event since the death of Christ (for the +Reformation was a re-arrangement of the old, not a +revelation of the new), a revelation which alters the +whole aspect of death and the fate of man. Between +these two suppositions there is no solid position. +Theories of fraud or of delusion will not meet the +evidence. It is absolute lunacy or it is a revolution +in religious thought, a revolution which gives us as +by-products an utter fearlessness of death, and an +immense consolation when those who are dear to us pass +behind the veil. + +I should like to add a few practical words to those +who know the truth of what I say. We have here an +enormous new development, the greatest in the history +of mankind. How are we to use it? We are bound in +honour, I think, to state our own belief, +especially to those who are in trouble. Having stated +it, we should not force it, but leave the rest to +higher wisdom than our own. We wish to subvert no +religion. We wish only to bring back the material- +minded--to take them out of their cramped valley and +put them on the ridge, whence they can breathe purer +air and see other valleys and other ridges beyond. +Religions are mostly petrified and decayed, overgrown +with forms and choked with mysteries. We can prove +that there is no need for this. All that is essential +is both very simple and very sure. + +The clear call for our help comes from those who +have had a loss and who yearn to re-establish +connection. This also can be overdone. If your boy +were in Australia, you would not expect him to +continually stop his work and write long letters at all +seasons. Having got in touch, be moderate in your +demands. Do not be satisfied with any evidence short +of the best, but having got that, you can, it seems to +me, wait for that short period when we shall all be re- +united. I am in touch at present with thirteen +mothers who are in correspondence with their dead +sons. In each case, the husband, where he is alive, is +agreed as to the evidence. In only one case so far as +I know was the parent acquainted with psychic matters +before the war. + +Several of these cases have peculiarities of their +own. In two of them the figures of the dead lads have +appeared beside the mothers in a photograph. In one +case the first message to the mother came through a +stranger to whom the correct address of the mother was +given. The communication afterwards became direct. In +another case the method of sending messages was to give +references to particular pages and lines of books in +distant libraries, the whole conveying a message. The +procedure was to weed out all fear of telepathy. +Verily there is no possible way by which a truth can be +proved by which this truth has not been proved. + +How are you to act? There is the difficulty. +There are true men and there are frauds. You have to +work warily. So far as professional mediums go, you +will not find it difficult to get recommendations. +Even with the best you may draw entirely blank. The +conditions are very elusive. And yet some get the +result at once. We cannot lay down laws, because the +law works from the other side as well as this. Nearly +every woman is an undeveloped medium. Let her try her +own powers of automatic writing. There again, what is +done must be done with every precaution against self- +deception, and in a reverent and prayerful mood. But +if you are earnest, you will win through somehow, for +someone else is probably trying on the other side. + +Some people discountenance communication upon the +ground that it is hindering the advance of the +departed. There is not a tittle of evidence for this. +The assertions of the spirits are entirely to the +contrary and they declare that they are helped and +strengthened by the touch with those whom they love. I +know few more moving passages in their simple boyish +eloquence than those in which Raymond describes the +feelings of the dead boys who want to get messages back +to their people and find that ignorance and +prejudice are a perpetual bar. "It is hard to think +your sons are dead, but such a lot of people do think +so. It is revolting to hear the boys tell you how no +one speaks of them ever. It hurts me through and +through." + +Above all read the literature of this subject. It +has been far too much neglected, not only by the +material world but by believers. Soak yourself with +this grand truth. Make yourself familiar with the +overpowering evidence. Get away from the phenomenal +side and learn the lofty teaching from such beautiful +books as After Death or from Stainton Moses' +Spirit Teachings. There is a whole library of such +literature, of unequal value but of a high average. +Broaden and spiritualize your thoughts. Show the +results in your lives. Unselfishness, that is the +keynote to progress. Realise not as a belief or a +faith, but as a fact which is as tangible as the +streets of London, that we are moving on soon to +another life, that all will be very happy there, and +that the only possible way in which that happiness can +be marred or deferred is by folly and selfishness +in these few fleeting years. + +It must be repeated that while the new revelation +may seem destructive to those who hold Christian dogmas +with extreme rigidity, it has quite the opposite effect +upon the mind which, like so many modern minds, had +come to look upon the whole Christian scheme as a huge +delusion. It is shown clearly that the old revelation +has so many resemblances, defaced by time and mangled +by man's mishandling and materialism, but still +denoting the same general scheme, that undoubtedly both +have come from the same source. The accepted ideas of +life after death, of higher and lower spirits, of +comparative happiness depending upon our own conduct, +of chastening by pain, of guardian spirits, of high +teachers, of an infinite central power, of circles +above circles approaching nearer to His presence--all +of these conceptions appear once more and are confirmed +by many witnesses. It is only the claims of +infallibility and of monopoly, the bigotry and pedantry +of theologians, and the man-made rituals which take the +life out of the God-given thoughts--it is only +this which has defaced the truth. + +I cannot end this little book better than by using +words more eloquent than any which I could write, a +splendid sample of English style as well as of English +thought. They are from the pen of that considerable +thinker and poet, Mr. Gerald Massey, and were written +many years ago. + +"Spiritualism has been for me, in common +with many others, such a lifting of the mental +horizon and letting-in of the heavens--such a +formation of faith into facts, that I can only +compare life without it to sailing on board +ship with hatches battened down and being kept +a prisoner, living by the light of a candle, +and then suddenly, on some splendid starry +night, allowed to go on deck for the first time +to see the stupendous mechanism of the heavens +all aglow with the glory of God." + + + +SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS + + +I. THE NEXT PHASE OF LIFE + +I have spoken in the text of the striking manner in +which accounts of life in the next phase, though +derived from the most varied and independent sources, +are still in essential agreement--an agreement which +occasionally descends to small details. A variety is +introduced by that fuller vision which can see and +describe more than one plane, but the accounts of that +happy land to which the ordinary mortal may hope to +aspire, are very consistent. Since I wrote the +statement I have read three fresh independent +descriptions which again confirm the point. One is the +account given by "A King's Counsel," in his recent +book, I Heard a Voice (Kegan Paul), which I +recommended to inquirers, though it has a strong Roman +Catholic bias running through it which shows that our +main lines of thought are persistent. A second is the +little book The Light on the Future, +giving the very interesting details of the beyond, +gathered by an earnest and reverent circle in Dublin. +The other came in a private letter from Mr. Hubert +Wales, and is, I think, most instructive. Mr. Wales is +a cautious and rather sceptical inquirer who had put +away his results with incredulity (he had received them +through his own automatic writing). On reading my +account of the conditions described in the beyond, he +hunted up his own old script which had commended itself +so little to him when he first produced it. He says: +"After reading your article, I was struck, almost +startled, by the circumstance that the statements which +had purported to be made to me regarding conditions +after death coincided--I think almost to the smallest +detail--with those you set out as the result of your +collation of material obtained from a great number of +sources. I cannot think there was anything in my +antecedent reading to account for this coincidence. I +had certainly read nothing you had published on the +subject. I had purposely avoided Raymond and +books like it, in order not to vitiate my own results, +and the Proceedings of the S.P.R. which I had read +at that time, do not touch, as you know, upon after- +death conditions. At any rate I obtained, at various +times, statements (as my contemporary notes show) to +the effect that, in this persisting state of existence, +they have bodies which, though imperceptible by our +senses, are as solid to them as ours to us, that these +bodies are based on the general characteristies of our +present bodies but beautified; that they have no age, +no pain, no rich and poor; that they wear clothes and +take nourishment; that they do not sleep (though they +spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious +state which they called 'lying asleep'--a condition, it +just occurs to me, which seems to correspond roughly +with the 'Hypnoidal' state); that, after a period which +is usually shorter than the average life-time here, +they pass to some further state of existence; that +people of similar thoughts, tastes and feelings, +gravitate together; that married couples do not +necessarily reunite, but that the love of man and +woman continues and is freed of elements which +with us often militate against its perfect realization; +that immediately after death people pass into a semi- +conscious rest-state lasting various periods, that they +are unable to experience bodily pain, but are +susceptible at times to some mental anxiety; that a +painful death is 'absolutely unknown,' that religious +beliefs make no difference whatever in the after-state, +and that their life altogether is intensely happy, and +no one having ever realised it could wish to return +here. I got no reference to 'work' by that word, but +much to the various interests that were said to occupy +them. That is probably only another way of saying the +same thing. 'Work' with us has come usually to mean +'work to live,' and that, I was emphatically informed, +was not the case with them--that all the requirements +of life were somehow mysteriously 'provided.' Neither +did I get any reference to a definite 'temporary penal +state,' but I gathered that people begin there at the +point of intellectual and moral development where they +leave off here; and since their state of happiness was +based mainly upon sympathy, those who came over in +a low moral condition, failed at first for various +lengths of time to have the capacity to appreciate and +enjoy it." + + + +AUTOMATIC WRITING + +This form of mediumship gives the very highest +results, and yet in its very nature is liable to self- +deception. Are we using our own hand or is an outside +power directing it? It is only by the information +received that we can tell, and even then we have to +make broad allowance for the action of our own +subconscious knowledge. It is worth while perhaps to +quote what appears to me to be a thoroughly critic- +proof case, so that the inquirer may see how strong the +evidence is that these messages are not self-evolved. +This case is quoted in Mr. Arthur Hill's recent book +Man Is a Spirit (Cassell & Co.) and is contributed +by a gentleman who takes the name of Captain James +Burton. He is, I understand, the same medium (amateur) +through whose communications the position of the buried +ruins at Glastonbury have recently been located. +"A week after my father's funeral I was writing a +business letter, when something seemed to intervene +between my hand and the motor centres of my brain, and +the hand wrote at an amazing rate a letter, signed with +my father's signature and purporting to come from him. +I was upset, and my right side and arm became cold and +numb. For a year after this letters came frequently, +and always at unexpected times. I never knew what they +contained until I examined them with a magnifying- +glass: they were microscopic. And they contained a +vast amount of matter with which it was impossible for +me to be acquainted." . . . "Unknown to me, my mother, +who was staying some sixty miles away, lost her pet +dog, which my father had given her. The same night I +had a letter from him condoling with her, and stating +that the dog was now with him. 'All things which love +us and are necessary to our happiness in the world are +with us here.' A most sacred secret, known to no one +but my father and mother, concerning a matter which +occurred years before I was born, was afterwards +told me in the script, with the comment: 'Tell your +mother this, and she will know that it is I, your +father, who am writing.' My mother had been unable to +accept the possibility up to now, but when I told her +this she collapsed and fainted. From that moment the +letters became her greatest comfort, for they were +lovers during the forty years of their married life, +and his death almost broke her heart. + +"As for myself, I am as convinced that my father, +in his original personality, still exists, as if he +were still in his study with the door shut. He is no +more dead than he would be were he living in America. + +"I have compared the diction and vocabulary of +these letters with those employed in my own writing--I +am not unknown as a magazine contributor--and I find no +points of similarity between the two." There is much +further evidence in this case for which I refer the +reader to the book itself. + + + +THE CHERITON DUGOUT + +I have mentioned in the text that I had some recent +experience of a case where a "polter-geist" or +mischievous spirit had been manifesting. These +entities appear to be of an undeveloped order and +nearer to earth conditions than any others with which +we are acquainted. This comparative materialism upon +their part places them low in the scale of spirit, and +undesirable perhaps as communicants, but it gives them +a special value as calling attention to crude obvious +phenomena, and so arresting the human attention and +forcing upon our notice that there are other forms of +life within the universe. These borderland forces have +attracted passing attention at several times and places +in the past, such cases as the Wesley persecution at +Epworth, the Drummer of Tedworth, the Bells +of Bealing, etc., startling the country for a time-- +each of them being an impingement of unknown forces +upon human life. Then almost simultaneously came the +Hydesville case in America and the Cideville +disturbances in France, which were so marked that they +could not be overlooked. From them sprang the whole +modern movement which, reasoning upwards from small +things to great, from raw things to developed ones, +from phenomena to messages, is destined to give +religion the firmest basis upon which it has ever +stood. Therefore, humble and foolish as these +manifestations may seem, they have been the seed of +large developments, and are worthy of our respectful, +though critical, attention. + +Many such manifestations have appeared of recent +years in various quarters of the world, each of which +is treated by the press in a more or less comic vein, +with a conviction apparently that the use of the word +"spook" discredits the incident and brings discussion +to an end. It is remarkable that each is treated as an +entirely isolated phenomenon, and thus the +ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength of the +cumulative evidence. In this particular case of the +Cheriton Dugout the facts are as follows: + +Mr. Jaques, a Justice of the Peace and a man of +education and intelligence, residing at Embrook House, +Cheriton, near Folkestone, made a dugout just opposite +to his residence as a protection against air raids. +The house was, it may be remarked, of great antiquity, +part of it being an old religious foundation of the +14th Century. The dugout was constructed at the base +of a small bluff, and the sinking was through ordinary +soft sandstone. The work was carried out by a local +jobbing builder called Rolfe, assisted by a lad. Soon +after the inception of his task he was annoyed by his +candle being continually blown out by jets of sand, +and, by similar jets hitting up against his own face. +These phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous +or electrical cause, but they reached such a point that +his work was seriously hampered, and he complained to +Mr. Jaques, who received the story with absolute +incredulity. The persecution continued, however, +and increased in intensity, taking the form now of +actual blows from moving material, considerable +objects, such as stones and bits of brick, flying past +him and hitting the walls with a violent impact. Mr. +Rolfe, still searching for a physical explanation, went +to Mr. Hesketh, the Municipal Electrician of +Folkestone, a man of high education and intelligence, +who went out to the scene of the affair and saw enough +to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly +genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws. A Canadian +soldier who was billeted upon Mr. Rolfe, heard an +account of the happenings from his host, and after +announcing his conviction that the latter had "bats in +his belfry" proceeded to the dugout, where his +experiences were so instant and so violent that he +rushed out of the place in horror. The housekeeper at +the Hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks +when no human hands touched them. Mr. Jaques, whose +incredulity had gradually thawed before all this +evidence, went down to the dugout in the absence of +everyone, and was departing from it when five stones +rapped up against the door from the inside. He +reopened the door and saw them lying there upon the +floor. Sir William Barrett had meanwhile come down, +but had seen nothing. His stay was a short one. I +afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to +the grotto, but got nothing direct, though I saw the +new brickwork all chipped about by the blows which it +had received. The forces appeared to have not the +slightest interest in psychical research, for they +never played up to an investigator, and yet their +presence and action have been demonstrated to at least +seven different observers, and, as I have said, they +left their traces behind them, even to the extent of +picking the flint stones out of the new cement which +was to form the floor, and arranging them in tidy +little piles. The obvious explanation that the boy was +an adept at mischief had to be set aside in view of the +fact that the phenomena occurred in his absence. One +extra man of science wandered on to the scene for a +moment, but as his explanation was that the movements +occurred through the emanation of marsh-gas, it did not +advance matters much. The disturbances are still +proceeding, and I have had a letter this very morning +(February 21st, 1918) with fuller and later details +from Mr. Hesketh, the Engineer. + +What is the REAL explanation of such a matter? +I can only say that I have advised Mr. Jaques to dig +into the bluff under which he is constructing his +cellar. I made some investigation myself upon the top +of it and convinced myself that the surface ground at +that spot has at some time been disturbed to the depth +of at least five feet. Something has, I should judge, +been buried at some date, and it is probable that, as +in the case cited in the text, there is a connection +between this and the disturbances. It is very probable +that Mr. Rolfe is, unknown to himself, a physical +medium, and that when he was in the confined space of +the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his +magnetic powers could accumulate and be available for +use. It chanced that there was on the spot some agency +which chose to use them, and hence the phenomena. When +Mr. Jaques went alone to the grotto the power left +behind by Mr. Rolfe, who had been in it all +morning, was not yet exhausted and he was able to +get some manifestations. So I read it, but it is well +not to be dogmatic on such matters. If there is +systematic digging I should expect an epilogue to the +story. + +Whilst these proofs were in the press a second very +marked case of a Polter-geist came within my knowledge. +I cannot without breach of confidence reveal the +details and the phenomena are still going on. +Curiously enough, it was because one of the sufferers +from the invasion read some remarks of mine upon the +Cheriton dugout that this other case came to my +knowledge, for the lady wrote to me at once for advice +and assistance. The place is remote and I have not yet +been able to visit it, but from the full accounts which +I have now received it seems to present all the +familiar features, with the phenomenon of direct +writing superadded. Some specimens of this script have +reached me. Two clergymen have endeavoured to mitigate +the phenomena, which are occasionally very violent, but +so far without result. It may be some consolation to +any others who may be suffering from this strange +inflition, to know that in the many cases which +have been carefully recorded there is none in which any +physical harm has been inflicted upon man or beast. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The New Revelation, by A. Conan Doyle + diff --git a/old/nrvln10.zip b/old/nrvln10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..754fad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/nrvln10.zip |