diff options
Diffstat (limited to '439.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 439.txt | 3130 |
1 files changed, 3130 insertions, 0 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,3130 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vital Message, 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 Vital Message + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Posting Date: July 21, 2008 [EBook #439] +Release Date: February, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VITAL MESSAGE *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +THE VITAL MESSAGE + +BY + +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + + + +PREFACE + +In "The New Revelation" the first dawn of the coming change has been +described. In "The Vital Message" the sun has risen higher, and one +sees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseen +may be. As I look into the future of the human race I am reminded of +how once, from amid the bleak chaos of rock and snow at the head of an +Alpine pass, I looked down upon the far stretching view of Lombardy, +shimmering in the sunshine and extending in one splendid panorama of +blue lakes and green rolling hills until it melted into the golden haze +which draped the far horizon. Such a promised land is at our very feet +which, when we attain it, will make our present civilisation seem +barren and uncouth. Already our vanguard is well over the pass. +Nothing can now prevent us from reaching that wonderful land which +stretches so clearly before those eyes which are opened to see it. + +That stimulating writer, V. C. Desertis, has remarked that the Second +Coming, which has always been timed to follow Armageddon, may be +fulfilled not by a descent of the spiritual to us, but by the ascent of +our material plane to the spiritual, and the blending of the two phases +of existence. It is, at least, a fascinating speculation. But without +so complete an overthrow of the partition walls as this would imply we +know enough already to assure ourselves of such a close approximation +as will surely deeply modify all our views of science, of religion and +of life. What form these changes may take and what the evidence is +upon which they will be founded are briefly set forth in this volume. + +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. + +CROWBOROUGH, + +July, 1919. + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I THE TWO NEEDFUL READJUSTMENTS + II THE DAWNING OF THE LIGHT + III THE GREAT ARGUMENT + IV THE COMING WORLD + V IS IT THE SECOND DAWN? + + +APPENDICES + + A. DR. GELEY'S EXPERIMENTS + B. A PARTICULAR INSTANCE + C. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY + D. THE CLAIRVOYANCE OF MRS. B. + + + + + +THE VITAL MESSAGE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TWO NEEDFUL READJUSTMENTS + + +It has been our fate, among all the innumerable generations of mankind, +to face the most frightful calamity that has ever befallen the world. +There is a basic fact which cannot be denied, and should not be +overlooked. For a most important deduction must immediately follow +from it. That deduction is that we, who have borne the pains, shall +also learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. If we do not +learn it and proclaim it, then when can it ever be learned and +proclaimed, since there can never again be such a spiritual ploughing +and harrowing and preparation for the seed? If our souls, wearied and +tortured during these dreadful five years of self-sacrifice and +suspense, can show no radical changes, then what souls will ever +respond to a fresh influx of heavenly inspiration? In that case the +state of the human race would indeed be hopeless, and never in all the +coming centuries would there be any prospect of improvement. + +Why was this tremendous experience forced upon mankind? Surely it is a +superficial thinker who imagines that the great Designer of all things +has set the whole planet in a ferment, and strained every nation to +exhaustion, in order that this or that frontier be moved, or some fresh +combination be formed in the kaleidoscope of nations. No, the causes +of the convulsion, and its objects, are more profound than that. They +are essentially religious, not political. They lie far deeper than the +national squabbles of the day. A thousand years hence those national +results may matter little, but the religious result will rule the +world. That religious result is the reform of the decadent +Christianity of to-day, its simplification, its purification, and its +reinforcement by the facts of spirit communion and the clear knowledge +of what lies beyond the exit-door of death. The shock of the war was +meant to rouse us to mental and moral earnestness, to give us the +courage to tear away venerable shams, and to force the human race to +realise and use the vast new revelation which has been so clearly +stated and so abundantly proved, for all who will examine the +statements and proofs with an open mind. + +Consider the awful condition of the world before this thunder-bolt +struck it. Could anyone, tracing back down the centuries and examining +the record of the wickedness of man, find anything which could compare +with the story of the nations during the last twenty years! Think of +the condition of Russia during that time, with her brutal aristocracy +and her drunken democracy, her murders on either side, her Siberian +horrors, her Jew baitings and her corruption. Think of the figure of +Leopold of Belgium, an incarnate devil who from motives of greed +carried murder and torture through a large section of Africa, and yet +was received in every court, and was eventually buried after a +panegyric from a Cardinal of the Roman Church--a church which had never +once raised her voice against his diabolical career. Consider the +similar crimes in the Putumayo, where British capitalists, if not +guilty of outrage, can at least not be acquitted of having condoned it +by their lethargy and trust in local agents. Think of Turkey and the +recurrent massacres of her subject races. Think of the heartless grind +of the factories everywhere, where work assumed a very different and +more unnatural shape than the ancient labour of the fields. Think of +the sensuality of many rich, the brutality of many poor, the +shallowness of many fashionable, the coldness and deadness of religion, +the absence anywhere of any deep, true spiritual impulse. Think, above +all, of the organised materialism of Germany, the arrogance, the +heartlessness, the negation of everything which one could possibly +associate with the living spirit of Christ as evident in the utterances +of Catholic Bishops, like Hartmann of Cologne, as in those of Lutheran +Pastors. Put all this together and say if the human race has ever +presented a more unlovely aspect. When we try to find the brighter +spots they are chiefly where civilisation, as apart from religion, has +built up necessities for the community, such as hospitals, +universities, and organised charities, as conspicuous in Buddhist Japan +as in Christian Europe. We cannot deny that there has been much +virtue, much gentleness, much spirituality in individuals. But the +churches were empty husks, which contained no spiritual food for the +human race, and had in the main ceased to influence its actions, save +in the direction of soulless forms. + +This is not an over-coloured picture. Can we not see, then, what was +the inner reason for the war? Can we not understand that it was +needful to shake mankind loose from gossip and pink teas, and +sword-worship, and Saturday night drunks, and self-seeking politics and +theological quibbles--to wake them up and make them realise that they +stand upon a narrow knife-edge between two awful eternities, and that, +here and now, they have to finish with make-beliefs, and with real +earnestness and courage face those truths which have always been +palpable where indolence, or cowardice, or vested interests have not +obscured the vision. Let us try to appreciate what those truths are +and the direction which reform must take. It is the new spiritual +developments which predominate in my own thoughts, but there are two +other great readjustments which are necessary before they can take +their full effect. On the spiritual side I can speak with the force of +knowledge from the beyond. On the other two points of reform, I make +no such claim. + +The first is that in the Bible, which is the foundation of our present +religious thought, we have bound together the living and the dead, and +the dead has tainted the living. A mummy and an angel are in most +unnatural partnership. There can be no clear thinking, and no logical +teaching until the old dispensation has been placed on the shelf of the +scholar, and removed from the desk of the teacher. It is indeed a +wonderful book, in parts the oldest which has come down to us, a book +filled with rare knowledge, with history, with poetry, with occultism, +with folklore. But it has no connection with modern conceptions of +religion. In the main it is actually antagonistic to them. Two +contradictory codes have been circulated under one cover, and the +result is dire confusion. The one is a scheme depending upon a special +tribal God, intensely anthropomorphic and filled with rage, jealousy +and revenge. The conception pervades every book of the Old Testament. +Even in the psalms, which are perhaps the most spiritual and beautiful +section, the psalmist, amid much that is noble, sings of the fearsome +things which his God will do to his enemies. "They shall go down alive +into hell." There is the keynote of this ancient document--a document +which advocates massacre, condones polygamy, accepts slavery, and +orders the burning of so-called witches. Its Mosaic provisions have +long been laid aside. We do not consider ourselves accursed if we fail +to mutilate our bodies, if we eat forbidden dishes, fail to trim our +beards, or wear clothes of two materials. But we cannot lay aside the +provisions and yet regard the document as divine. No learned quibbles +can ever persuade an honest earnest mind that that is right. One may +say: "Everyone knows that that is the old dispensation, and is not to +be acted upon." It is not true. It is continually acted upon, and +always will be so long as it is made part of one sacred book. William +the Second acted upon it. His German God which wrought such mischief +in the world was the reflection of the dreadful being who ordered that +captives be put under the harrow. The cities of Belgium were the +reflection of the cities of Moab. Every hard-hearted brute in history, +more especially in the religious wars, has found his inspiration in the +Old Testament. "Smite and spare not!" "An eye for an eye!", how +readily the texts spring to the grim lips of the murderous fanatic. +Francis on St. Bartholomew's night, Alva in the Lowlands, Tilly at +Magdeburg, Cromwell at Drogheda, the Covenainters at Philliphaugh, the +Anabaptists of Munster, and the early Mormons of Utah, all found their +murderous impulses fortified from this unholy source. Its red trail +runs through history. Even where the New Testament prevails, its +teaching must still be dulled and clouded by its sterner neighbour. +Let us retain this honoured work of literature. Let us remove the +taint which poisons the very spring of our religious thought. + +This is, in my opinion, the first clearing which should be made for the +more beautiful building to come. The second is less important, as it +is a shifting of the point of view, rather than an actual change. It +is to be remembered that Christ's life in this world occupied, so far +as we can estimate, 33 years, whilst from His arrest to His +resurrection was less than a week. Yet the whole Christian system has +come to revolve round His death, to the partial exclusion of the +beautiful lesson of His life. Far too much weight has been placed upon +the one, and far too little upon the other, for the death, beautiful, +and indeed perfect, as it was, could be matched by that of many scores +of thousands who have died for an idea, while the life, with its +consistent record of charity, breadth of mind, unselfishness, courage, +reason, and progressiveness, is absolutely unique and superhuman. Even +in these abbreviated, translated, and second-hand records we receive an +impression such as no other life can give--an impression which fills us +with utter reverence. Napoleon, no mean judge of human nature, said of +it: "It is different with Christ. Everything about Him astonishes me. +His spirit surprises me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and +anything of this world there is no possible comparison. He is really a +being apart. The nearer I approach Him and the closer I examine Him, +the more everything seems above me." + +It is this wonderful life, its example and inspiration, which was the +real object of the descent of this high spirit on to our planet. If +the human race had earnestly centred upon that instead of losing itself +in vain dreams of vicarious sacrifices and imaginary falls, with all +the mystical and contentious philosophy which has centred round the +subject, how very different the level of human culture and happiness +would be to-day! Such theories, with their absolute want of reason or +morality, have been the main cause why the best minds have been so +often alienated from the Christian system and proclaimed themselves +materialists. In contemplating what shocked their instincts for truth +they have lost that which was both true and beautiful. Christ's death +was worthy of His life, and rounded off a perfect career, but it is the +life which He has left as the foundation for the permanent religion of +mankind. All the religious wars, the private feuds, and the countless +miseries of sectarian contention, would have been at least minimised, +if not avoided, had the bare example of Christ's life been adopted as +the standard of conduct and of religion. + +But there are certain other considerations which should have weight +when we contemplate this life and its efficacy as an example. One of +these is that the very essence of it was that He critically examined +religion as He found it, and brought His robust common sense and +courage to bear in exposing the shams and in pointing out the better +path. THAT is the hall-mark of the true follower of Christ, and not +the mute acceptance of doctrines which are, upon the face of them, +false and pernicious, because they come to us with some show of +authority. What authority have we now, save this very life, which +could compare with those Jewish books which were so binding in their +force, and so immutably sacred that even the misspellings or pen-slips +of the scribe, were most carefully preserved? It is a simple obvious +fact that if Christ had been orthodox, and had possessed what is so +often praised as a "child-like faith," there could have been no such +thing as Christianity. Let reformers who love Him take heart as they +consider that they are indeed following in the footsteps of the Master, +who has at no time said that the revelation which He brought, and which +has been so imperfectly used, is the last which will come to mankind. +In our own times an equally great one has been released from the centre +of all truth, which will make as deep an impression upon the human race +as Christianity, though no predominant figure has yet appeared to +enforce its lessons. Such a figure has appeared once when the days +were ripe, and I do not doubt that this may occur once more. + +One other consideration must be urged. Christ has not given His +message in the first person. If He had done so our position would be +stronger. It has been repeated by the hearsay and report of earnest +but ill-educated men. It speaks much for education in the Roman +province of Judea that these fishermen, publicans and others could even +read or write. Luke and Paul were, of course, of a higher class, but +their information came from their lowly predecessors. Their account is +splendidly satisfying in the unity of the general impression which it +produces, and the clear drawing of the Master's teaching and character. +At the same time it is full of inconsistencies and contradictions upon +immaterial matters. For example, the four accounts of the resurrection +differ in detail, and there is no orthodox learned lawyer who dutifully +accepts all four versions who could not shatter the evidence if he +dealt with it in the course of his profession. These details are +immaterial to the spirit of the message. It is not common sense to +suppose that every item is inspired, or that we have to make no +allowance for imperfect reporting, individual convictions, oriental +phraseology, or faults of translation. These have, indeed, been +admitted by revised versions. In His utterance about the letter and +the spirit we could almost believe that Christ had foreseen the plague +of texts from which we have suffered, even as He Himself suffered at +the hands of the theologians of His day, who then, as now, have been a +curse to the world. We were meant to use our reasons and brains in +adapting His teaching to the conditions of our altered lives and times. +Much depended upon the society and mode of expression which belonged to +His era. To suppose in these days that one has literally to give all +to the poor, or that a starved English prisoner should literally love +his enemy the Kaiser, or that because Christ protested against the lax +marriages of His day therefore two spouses who loathe each other should +be for ever chained in a life servitude and martyrdom--all these +assertions are to travesty His teaching and to take from it that robust +quality of common sense which was its main characteristic. To ask what +is impossible from human nature is to weaken your appeal when you ask +for what is reasonable. + +It has already been stated that of the three headings under which +reforms are grouped, the exclusion of the old dispensation, the greater +attention to Christ's life as compared to His death, and the new +spiritual influx which is giving us psychic religion, it is only on the +latter that one can quote the authority of the beyond. Here, however, +the case is really understated. In regard to the Old Testament I have +never seen the matter treated in a spiritual communication. The nature +of Christ, however, and His teaching, have been expounded a score of +times with some variation of detail, but in the main as reproduced +here. Spirits have their individuality of view, and some carry over +strong earthly prepossessions which they do not easily shed; but +reading many authentic spirit communications one finds that the idea of +redemption is hardly ever spoken of, while that of example and +influence is for ever insisted upon. In them Christ is the highest +spirit known, the son of God, as we all are, but nearer to God, and +therefore in a more particular sense His son. He does not, save in +most rare and special cases, meet us when we die. Since souls pass +over, night and day, at the rate of about 100 a minute, this would seem +self-evident. After a time we may be admitted to His presence, to find +a most tender, sympathetic and helpful comrade and guide, whose spirit +influences all things even when His bodily presence is not visible. +This is the general teaching of the other world communications +concerning Christ, the gentle, loving and powerful spirit which broods +ever over that world which, in all its many spheres, is His special +care. + +Before passing to the new revelation, its certain proofs and its +definite teaching, let us hark back for a moment upon the two points +which have already been treated. They are not absolutely vital points. +The fresh developments can go on and conquer the world without them. +There can be no sudden change in the ancient routine of our religious +habits, nor is it possible to conceive that a congress of theologians +could take so heroic a step as to tear the Bible in twain, laying one +half upon the shelf and one upon the table. Neither is it to be +expected that any formal pronouncements could ever be made that the +churches have all laid the wrong emphasis upon the story of Christ. +Moral courage will not rise to such a height. But with the spiritual +quickening and the greater earnestness which will have their roots in +this bloody passion of mankind, many will perceive what is reasonable +and true, so that even if the Old Testament should remain, like some +obsolete appendix in the animal frame, to mark a lower stage through +which development has passed, it will more and more be recognised as a +document which has lost all validity and which should no longer be +allowed to influence human conduct, save by way of pointing out much +which we may avoid. So also with the teaching of Christ, the mystical +portions may fade gently away, as the grosser views of eternal +punishment have faded within our own lifetime, so that while mankind is +hardly aware of the change the heresy of today will become the +commonplace of tomorrow. These things will adjust themselves in God's +own time. What is, however, both new and vital are those fresh +developments which will now be discussed. In them may be found the +signs of how the dry bones may be stirred, and how the mummy may be +quickened with the breath of life. With the actual certainty of a +definite life after death, and a sure sense of responsibility for our +own spiritual development, a responsibility which cannot be put upon +any other shoulders, however exalted, but must be borne by each +individual for himself, there will come the greatest reinforcement of +morality which the human race has ever known. We are on the verge of +it now, but our descendants will look upon the past century as the +culmination of the dark ages when man lost his trust in God, and was so +engrossed in his temporary earth life that he lost all sense of +spiritual reality. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DAWNING OF THE LIGHT + + +Some sixty years ago that acute thinker Lord Brougham remarked that in +the clear sky of scepticism he saw only one small cloud drifting up and +that was Modern Spiritualism. It was a curiously inverted simile, for +one would surely have expected him to say that in the drifting clouds +of scepticism he saw one patch of clear sky, but at least it showed how +conscious he was of the coming importance of the movement. Ruskin, +too, an equally agile mind, said that his assurance of immortality +depended upon the observed facts of Spiritualism. Scores, and indeed +hundreds, of famous names could be quoted who have subscribed the same +statement, and whose support would dignify any cause upon earth. They +are the higher peaks who have been the first to catch the light, but +the dawn will spread until none are too lowly to share it. Let us +turn, therefore, and inspect this movement which is most certainly +destined to revolutionise human thought and action as none other has +done within the Christian era. We shall look at it both in its +strength and in its weakness, for where one is dealing with what one +knows to be true one can fearlessly insist upon the whole of the truth. + +The movement which is destined to bring vitality to the dead and cold +religions has been called "Modern Spiritualism." The "modern" is good, +since the thing itself, in one form or another, is as old as history, +and has always, however obscured by forms, been the red central glow in +the depths of all religious ideas, permeating the Bible from end to +end. But the word "Spiritualism" has been so befouled by wicked +charlatans, and so cheapened by many a sad incident, that one could +almost wish that some such term as "psychic religion" would clear the +subject of old prejudices, just as mesmerism, after many years of +obloquy, was rapidly accepted when its name was changed to hypnotism. +On the other hand, one remembers the sturdy pioneers who have fought +under this banner, and who were prepared to risk their careers, their +professional success, and even their reputation for sanity, by publicly +asserting what they knew to be the truth. + +Their brave, unselfish devotion must do something to cleanse the name +for which they fought and suffered. It was they who nursed the system +which promises to be, not a new religion--it is far too big for +that--but part of the common heritage of knowledge shared by the whole +human race. Perfected Spiritualism, however, will probably bear about +the same relation to the Spiritualism of 1850 as a modern locomotive to +the bubbling little kettle which heralded the era of steam. It will +end by being rather the proof and basis of all religions than a +religion in itself. We have already too many religions--but too few +proofs. + +Those first manifestations at Hydesville varied in no way from many of +which we have record in the past, but the result arising from them +differed very much, because, for the first time, it occurred to a human +being not merely to listen to inexplicable sounds, and to fear them or +marvel at them, but to establish communication with them. John +Wesley's father might have done the same more than a century before had +the thought occurred to him when he was a witness of the manifestations +at Epworth in 1726. It was only when the young Fox girl struck her +hands together and cried "Do as I do" that there was instant +compliance, and consequent proof of the presence of an INTELLIGENT +invisible force, thus differing from all other forces of which we know. +The circumstances were humble, and even rather sordid, upon both sides +of the veil, human and spirit, yet it was, as time will more and more +clearly show, one of the turning points of the world's history, greater +far than the fall of thrones or the rout of armies. Some artist of the +future will draw the scene--the sitting-room of the wooden, shack-like +house, the circle of half-awed and half-critical neighbours, the child +clapping her hands with upturned laughing face, the dark corner shadows +where these strange new forces seem to lurk--forces often apparent, and +now come to stay and to effect the complete revolution of human +thought. We may well ask why should such great results arise from such +petty sources? So argued the highbrowed philosophers of Greece and +Rome when the outspoken Paul, with the fisherman Peter and his +half-educated disciples, traversed all their learned theories, and with +the help of women, slaves, and schismatic Jews, subverted their ancient +creeds. One can but answer that Providence has its own way of +attaining its results, and that it seldom conforms to our opinion of +what is most appropriate. + +We have a larger experience of such phenomena now, and we can define +with some accuracy what it was that happened at Hydesville in the year +1848. We know that these matters are governed by law and by conditions +as much as any other phenomena of the universe, though at the moment it +seemed to the public to be an isolated and irregular outburst. On the +one hand, you had a material, earth-bound spirit of a low order of +development which needed a physical medium in order to be able to +indicate its presence. On the other, you had that rare thing, a good +physical medium. The result followed as surely as the flash follows +when the electric battery and wire are both properly adjusted. +Corresponding experiments, where effect, and cause duly follow, are +being worked out at the present moment by Professor Crawford, of +Belfast, as detailed in his two recent books, where he shows that there +is an actual loss of weight of the medium in exact proportion to the +physical phenomenon produced.[1] The whole secret of mediumship on +this material side appears to lie in the power, quite independent of +oneself, of passively giving up some portion of one's bodily substance +for the use of outside influences. Why should some have this power and +some not? We do not know--nor do we know why one should have the ear +for music and another not. Each is born in us, and each has little +connection with our moral natures. At first it was only physical +mediumship which was known, and public attention centred upon moving +tables, automatic musical instruments, and other crude but obvious +examples of outside influence, which were unhappily very easily +imitated by rogues. Since then we have learned that there are many +forms of mediumship, so different from each other that an expert at one +may have no powers at all at the other. The automatic writer, the +clairvoyant, the crystal-seer, the trance speaker, the photographic +medium, the direct voice medium, and others, are all, when genuine, the +manifestations of one force, which runs through varied channels as it +did in the gifts ascribed to the disciples. The unhappy outburst of +roguery was helped, no doubt, by the need for darkness claimed by the +early experimenters--a claim which is by no means essential, since the +greatest of all mediums, D. D. Home, was able by the exceptional +strength of his powers to dispense with it. At the same time the fact +that darkness rather than light, and dryness rather than moisture, are +helpful to good results has been abundantly manifested, and points to +the physical laws which underlie the phenomena. The observation made +long afterwards that wireless telegraphy, another etheric force, acts +twice as well by night as by day, may, corroborate the general +conclusions of the early Spiritualists, while their assertion that the +least harmful light is red light has a suggestive analogy in the +experience of the photographer. + +There is no space here for the history of the rise and development of +the movement. It provoked warm adhesion and fierce opposition from the +start. Professor Hare and Horace Greeley were among the educated +minority who tested and endorsed its truth. It was disfigured by many +grievous incidents, which may explain but does not excuse the perverse +opposition which it encountered in so many quarters. This opposition +was really largely based upon the absolute materialism of the age, +which would not admit that there could exist at the present moment such +conditions as might be accepted in the far past. When actually brought +in contact with that life beyond the grave which they professed to +believe in, these people winced, recoiled, and declared it impossible. +The science of the day was also rooted in materialism, and discarded +all its own very excellent axioms when it was faced by an entirely new +and unexpected proposition. Faraday declared that in approaching a new +subject one should make up one's mind a priori as to what is possible +and what is not! Huxley said that the messages, EVEN IF TRUE, +"interested him no more than the gossip of curates in a cathedral +city." Darwin said: "God help us if we are to believe such things." +Herbert Spencer declared against it, but had no time to go into it. At +the same time all science did not come so badly out of the ordeal. As +already mentioned, Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, inventor, among +other things, of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, was the first man of note +who had the moral courage, after considerable personal investigation, +to declare that these new and strange developments were true. He was +followed by many medical men, both in America and in Britain, including +Dr. Elliotson, one of the leaders of free thought in this country. +Professor Crookes, the most rising chemist in Europe, Dr. Russel +Wallace the great naturalist, Varley the electrician, Flammarion the +French astronomer, and many others, risked their scientific reputations +in their brave assertions of the truth. These men were not credulous +fools. They saw and deplored the existence of frauds. Crookes' +letters upon the subject are still extant. In very many cases it was +the Spiritualists themselves who exposed the frauds. They laughed, as +the public laughed, at the sham Shakespeares and vulgar Caesars who +figured in certain seance rooms. They deprecated also the low moral +tone which would turn such powers to prophecies about the issue of a +race or the success of a speculation. But they had that broader vision +and sense of proportion which assured them that behind all these +follies and frauds there lay a mass of solid evidence which could not +be shaken, though like all evidence, it had to be examined before it +could be appreciated. They were not such simpletons as to be driven +away from a great truth because there are some dishonest camp followers +who hang upon its skirts. + +A great centre of proof and of inspiration lay during those early days +in Mr. D. D. Home, a Scottish-American, who possessed powers which make +him one of the most remarkable personalities of whom we have any +record. Home's life, written by his second wife, is a book which +deserves very careful reading. This man, who in some aspects was more +than a man, was before the public for nearly thirty years. During that +time he never received payment for his services, and was always ready, +to put himself at the disposal of any bona-fide and reasonable +enquirer. His phenomena were produced in full light, and it was +immaterial to him whether the sittings were in his own rooms or in +those of his friends. So high were his principles that upon one +occasion, though he was a man of moderate means and less than moderate +health, he refused the princely fee of two thousand pounds offered for +a single sitting by the Union Circle in Paris. + +As to his powers, they seem to have included every form of mediumship +in the highest degree--self-levitation, as witnessed by hundreds of +credible witnesses; the handling of fire, with the power of conferring +like immunity upon others; the movement without human touch of heavy +objects; the visible materialisation of spirits; miracles of healing; +and messages from the dead, such as that which converted the +hard-headed Scot, Robert Chambers, when Home repeated to him the actual +dying words of his young daughter. All this came from a man of so +sweet a nature and of so charitable a disposition, that the union of +all qualities would seem almost to justify those who, to Home's great +embarrassment, were prepared to place him upon a pedestal above +humanity. + +The genuineness of his psychic powers has never been seriously +questioned, and was as well recognised in Rome and Paris as in London. +One incident only darkened his career, and it, was one in which he was +blameless, as anyone who carefully weighs the evidence must admit. I +allude to the action taken against him by Mrs. Lyon, who, after +adopting him as her son and settling a large sum of money upon him, +endeavoured to regain, and did regain, this money by her unsupported +assertion that he had persuaded her illicitly to make him the +allowance. The facts of his life are, in my judgment, ample proof of +the truth of the Spiritualist position, if no other proof at all had +been available. It is to be remarked in the career of this entirely +honest and unvenal medium that he had periods in his life when his +powers deserted him completely, that he could foresee these lapses, and +that, being honest and unvenal, he simply abstained from all attempts +until the power returned. It is this intermittent character of the +gift which is, in my opinion, responsible for cases when a medium who +has passed the most rigid tests upon certain occasions is afterwards +detected in simulating, very clumsily, the results which he had once +successfully accomplished. The real power having failed, he has not +the moral courage to admit it, nor the self-denial to forego his fee +which he endeavours to earn by a travesty of what was once genuine. +Such an explanation would cover some facts which otherwise are hard to +reconcile. We must also admit that some mediums are extremely +irresponsible and feather-headed people. A friend of mine, who sat +with Eusapia Palladino, assured me that he saw her cheat in the most +childish and bare-faced fashion, and yet immediately afterwards +incidents occurred which were absolutely beyond any, normal powers to +produce. + +Apart from Home, another episode which marks a stage in the advance of +this movement was the investigation and report by the Dialectical +Society in the year 1869. This body was composed of men of various +learned professions who gathered together to investigate the alleged +facts, and ended by reporting that they really WERE facts. They were +unbiased, and their conclusions were founded upon results which were +very soberly set forth in their report, a most convincing document +which, even now in 1919, after the lapse of fifty years, is far more +intelligent than the greater part of current opinion upon this subject. +None the less, it was greeted by a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant +Press of that day, who, if the same men had come to the opposite +conclusion in spite of the evidence, would have been ready to hail +their verdict as the undoubted end of a pernicious movement. + +In the early days, about 1863, a book was written by Mrs. de Morgan, +the wife of the well-known mathematician Professor de Morgan, entitled +"From Matter to Spirit." There is a sympathetic preface by the +husband. The book is still well worth reading, for it is a question +whether anyone has shown greater brain power in treating the subject. +In it the prophecy is made that as the movement develops the more +material phenomena will decrease and their place be taken by the more +spiritual, such as automatic writing. This forecast has been +fulfilled, for though physical mediums still exist the other more +subtle forms greatly predominate, and call for far more discriminating +criticism in judging their value and their truth. Two very convincing +forms of mediumship, the direct voice and spirit photography, have also +become prominent. Each of these presents such proof that it is +impossible for the sceptic to face them, and he can only avoid them by +ignoring them. + +In the case of the direct voice one of the leading exponents is Mrs. +French, an amateur medium in America, whose work is described both by +Mr. Funk and Mr. Randall. She is a frail elderly lady, yet in her +presence the most masculine and robust voices make communications, even +when her own mouth is covered. I have myself investigated the direct +voice in the case of four different mediums, two of them amateurs, and +can have no doubt of the reality of the voices, and that they are not +the effect of ventriloquism. I was more struck by the failures than by +the successes, and cannot easily forget the passionate pantings with +which some entity strove hard to reveal his identity to me, but without +success. One of these mediums was tested afterwards by having the +mouth filled with coloured water, but the voice continued as before. + +As to spirit photography, the most successful results are obtained by +the Crewe circle in England, under the mediumship of Mr. Hope and Mrs. +Buxton.[2] I have seen scores of these photographs, which in several +cases reproduce exact images of the dead which do not correspond with +any pictures of them taken during life. I have seen father, mother, +and dead soldier son, all taken together with the dead son looking far +the happier and not the least substantial of the three. It is in these +varied forms of proof that the impregnable strength of the evidence +lies, for how absurd do explanations of telepathy, unconscious +cerebration or cosmic memory become when faced by such phenomena as +spirit photography, materialisation, or the direct voice. Only one +hypothesis can cover every branch of these manifestations, and that is +the system of extraneous life and action which has always, for seventy +years, held the field for any reasonable mind which had impartially +considered the facts. + +I have spoken of the need for careful and cool-headed analysis in +judging the evidence where automatic writing is concerned. One is +bound to exclude spirit explanations until all natural ones have been +exhausted, though I do not include among natural ones the extreme +claims of far-fetched telepathy such as that another person can read in +your thoughts things of which you were never yourself aware. Such +explanations are not explanations, but mystifications and absurdities, +though they seem to have a special attraction for a certain sort of +psychical researcher, who is obviously destined to go on researching to +the end of time, without ever reaching any conclusion save that of the +patience of those who try to follow his reasoning. To give a good +example of valid automatic script, chosen out of many which I could +quote, I would draw the reader's attention to the facts as to the +excavations at Glastonbury, as detailed in "The Gate of Remembrance" by +Mr. Bligh Bond. Mr. Bligh Bond, by the way, is not a Spiritualist, but +the same cannot be said of the writer of the automatic script, an +amateur medium, who was able to indicate the secrets of the buried +abbey, which were proved to be correct when the ruins were uncovered. +I can truly say that, though I have read much of the old monastic life, +it has never been brought home to me so closely as by the messages and +descriptions of dear old Brother Johannes, the earth-bound +spirit--earthbound by his great love for the old abbey in which he had +spent his human life. This book, with its practical sequel, may be +quoted as an excellent example of automatic writing at its highest, for +what telepathic explanation can cover the detailed description of +objects which lie unseen by any human eye? It must be admitted, +however, that in automatic writing you are at one end of the telephone, +if one may use such a simile, and you have, no assurance as to who is +at the other end. You may have wildly false messages suddenly +interpolated among truthful ones--messages so detailed in their +mendacity that it is impossible to think that they are not deliberately +false. When once we have accepted the central fact that spirits change +little in essentials when leaving the body, and that in consequence the +world is infested by many low and mischievous types, one can understand +that these untoward incidents are rather a confirmation of Spiritualism +than an argument against it. Personally I have received and have been +deceived by several such messages. At the same time I can say that +after an experience of thirty years of such communications I have never +known a blasphemous, an obscene or an unkind sentence come through. I +admit, however, that I have heard of such cases. Like attracts like, +and one should know one's human company before one joins in such +intimate and reverent rites. In clairvoyance the same sudden +inexplicable deceptions appear. I have closely followed the work of +one female medium, a professional, whose results are so extraordinarily +good that in a favourable case she will give the full names of the +deceased as well as the most definite and convincing test messages. +Yet among this splendid series of results I have notes of several in +which she was a complete failure and absolutely wrong upon essentials. +How can this be explained? We can only answer that conditions were +obviously not propitious, but why or how are among the many problems of +the future. It is a profound and most complicated subject, however +easily it may be settled by the "ridiculous nonsense" school of +critics. I look at the row of books upon the left of my desk as I +write--ninety-six solid volumes, many of them annotated and well +thumbed, and yet I know that I am like a child wading ankle deep in the +margin of an illimitable ocean. But this, at least, I have very +clearly realised, that the ocean is there and that the margin is part +of it, and that down that shelving shore the human race is destined to +move slowly to deeper waters. In the next chapter, I will endeavour to +show what is the purpose of the Creator in this strange revelation of +new intelligent forces impinging upon our planet. It is this view of +the question which must justify the claim that this movement, so long +the subject of sneers and ridicule, is absolutely the most important +development in the whole history of the human race, so important that, +if we could conceive one single man discovering and publishing it, he +would rank before Christopher Columbus as a discoverer of new worlds, +before Paul as a teacher of new religious truths, and before Isaac +Newton as a student of the laws of the Universe. + +Before opening up this subject there is one consideration which should +have due weight, and yet seems continually to be overlooked. The +differences between various sects are a very small thing as compared to +the great eternal duel between materialism and the spiritual view of +the Universe. That is the real fight. It is a fight in which the +Churches championed the anti-material view, but they have done it so +unintelligently, and have been continually placed in such false +positions, that they have always been losing. Since the days of Hume +and Voltaire and Gibbon the fight has slowly but steadily rolled in +favour of the attack. Then came Darwin, showing with apparent truth, +that man has never fallen but always risen. This cut deep into the +philosophy of orthodoxy, and it is folly to deny it. Then again came +the so-called "Higher Criticism," showing alleged flaws and cracks in +the very foundations. All this time the churches were yielding ground, +and every retreat gave a fresh jumping-off place for a new assault. It +has gone so far that at the present moment a very large section of the +people of this country, rich and poor, are out of all sympathy not only +with the churches but with the whole Spiritual view. Now, we intervene +with our positive knowledge and actual proof--an ally so powerful that +we are capable of turning the whole tide of battle and rolling it back +for ever against materialism. We can say: "We will meet you on your +own ground and show you by material and scientific tests that the soul +and personality survive." That is the aim of Psychic Science, and it +has been fully attained. It means an end to materialism for ever. And +yet this movement, this Spiritual movement, is hooted at and reviled by +Rome, by Canterbury and even by Little Bethel, each of them for once +acting in concert, and including in their battle line such strange +allies as the Scientific Agnostics and the militant Free-thinkers. +Father Vaughan and the Bishop of London, the Rev. F. B. Meyer and Mr. +Clodd, "The Church Times" and "The Freethinker," are united in battle, +though they fight with very different battle cries, the one declaring +that the thing is of the devil, while the other is equally clear that +it does not exist at all. The opposition of the materialists is +absolutely intelligent since it is clear that any man who has spent his +life in saying "No" to all extramundane forces is, indeed, in a +pitiable position when, after many years, he has to recognise that his +whole philosophy is built upon sand and that "Yes" was the answer from +the beginning. But as to the religious bodies, what words can express +their stupidity and want of all proportion in not running halfway and +more to meet the greatest ally who has ever intervened to change their +defeat into victory? What gifts this all-powerful ally brings with +him, and what are the terms of his alliance, will now be considered. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GREAT ARGUMENT + + +The physical basis of all psychic belief is that the soul is a complete +duplicate of the body, resembling it in the smallest particular, +although constructed in some far more tenuous material. In ordinary +conditions these two bodies are intermingled so that the identity of +the finer one is entirely obscured. At death, however, and under +certain conditions in the course of life, the two divide and can be +seen separately. Death differs from the conditions of separation +before death in that there is a complete break between the two bodies, +and life is carried on entirely by the lighter of the two, while the +heavier, like a cocoon from which the living occupant has escaped, +degenerates and disappears, the world burying the cocoon with much +solemnity by taking little pains to ascertain what has become of its +nobler contents. It is a vain thing to urge that science has not +admitted this contention, and that the statement is pure dogmatism. +The science which has not examined the facts has, it is true, not +admitted the contention, but its opinion is manifestly worthless, or at +the best of less weight than that of the humblest student of psychic +phenomena. The real science which has examined the facts is the only +valid authority, and it is practically unanimous. I have made personal +appeals to at least one great leader of science to examine the facts, +however superficially, without any success, while Sir William Crookes +appealed to Sir George Stokes, the Secretary of the Royal Society, one +of the most bitter opponents of the movement, to come down to his +laboratory and see the psychic force at work, but he took no notice. +What weight has science of that sort? It can only be compared to that +theological prejudice which caused the Ecclesiastics in the days of +Galileo to refuse to look through the telescope which he held out to +them. + +It is possible to write down the names of fifty professors in great +seats of learning who have examined and endorsed these facts, and the +list would include many of the greatest intellects which the world has +produced in our time--Flammarion and Lombroso, Charles Richet and +Russel Wallace, Willie Reichel, Myers, Zollner, James, Lodge, and +Crookes. Therefore the facts HAVE been endorsed by the only science +that has the right to express an opinion. I have never, in my thirty +years of experience, known one single scientific man who went +thoroughly into this matter and did not end by accepting the Spiritual +solution. Such may exist, but I repeat that I have never heard of him. +Let us, then, with confidence examine this matter of the "spiritual +body," to use the term made classical by Saint Paul. There are many +signs in his writings that Paul was deeply versed in psychic matters, +and one of these is his exact definition of the natural and spiritual +bodies in the service which is the final farewell to life of every +Christian. Paul picked his words, and if he had meant that man +consisted of a natural body and a spirit he would have said so. When +he said "a spiritual body" he meant a body which contained the spirit +and yet was distinct from the ordinary natural body. That is exactly +what psychic science has now shown to be true. + +When a man has taken hashish or certain other drugs, he not +infrequently has the experience that he is standing or floating beside +his own body, which he can see stretched senseless upon the couch. So +also under anaesthetics, particularly under laughing gas, many people +are conscious of a detachment from their bodies, and of experiences at +a distance. I have myself seen very clearly my wife and children +inside a cab while I was senseless in the dentist's chair. Again, when +a man is fainting or dying, and his system in an unstable condition, it +is asserted in very many definite instances that he can, and does, +manifest himself to others at a distance. These phantasms of the +living, which have been so carefully explored and docketed by Messrs. +Myers and Gurney, ran into hundreds of cases. Some people claim that +by an effort of will they can, after going to sleep, propel their own +doubles in the direction which they desire, and visit those whom they +wish to see. Thus there is a great volume of evidence--how great no +man can say who has not spent diligent years in exploring it--which +vouches for the existence of this finer body containing the precious +jewels of the mind and spirit, and leaving only gross confused animal +functions in its heavier companion. + +Mr. Funk, who is a critical student of psychic phenomena, and also the +joint compiler of the standard American dictionary, narrates a story in +point which could be matched from other sources. He tells of an +American doctor of his acquaintance, and he vouches personally for the +truth of the incident. This doctor, in the course of a cataleptic +seizure in Florida, was aware that he had left his body, which he saw +lying beside him. He had none the less preserved his figure and his +identity. The thought of some friend at a distance came into his mind, +and after an appreciable interval he found himself in that friend's +room, half way across the continent. He saw his friend, and was +conscious that his friend saw him. He afterwards returned to his own +room, stood beside his own senseless body, argued within himself +whether he should re-occupy it or not, and finally, duty overcoming +inclination, he merged his two frames together and continued his life. +A letter from him to his friend explaining matters crossed a letter +from the friend, in which he told how he also had been aware of his +presence. The incident is narrated in detail in Mr. Funk's "Psychic +Riddle." + +I do not understand how any man can examine the many instances coming +from various angles of approach without recognising that there really +is a second body of this sort, which incidentally goes far to account +for all stories, sacred or profane, of ghosts, apparitions and visions. +Now, what is this second body, and how does it fit into modern +religious revelation? + +What it is, is a difficult question, and yet when science and +imagination unite, as Tyndall said they should unite, to throw a +searchlight into the unknown, they may produce a beam sufficient to +outline vaguely what will become clearer with the future advance of our +race. Science has demonstrated that while ether pervades everything +the ether which is actually in a body is different from the ether +outside it. "Bound" ether is the name given to this, which Fresnel and +others have shown to be denser. Now, if this fact be applied to the +human body, the result would be that, if all that is visible of that +body were removed, there would still remain a complete and absolute +mould of the body, formed in bound ether which would be different from +the ether around it. This argument is more solid than mere +speculation, and it shows that even the soul may come to be defined in +terms of matter and is not altogether "such stuff as dreams are made +of." + +It has been shown that there is some good evidence for the existence of +this second body apart from psychic religion, but to those who have +examined that religion it is the centre of the whole system, +sufficiently real to be recognised by clairvoyants, to be heard by +clairaudients, and even to make an exact impression upon a photographic +plate. Of the latter phenomenon, of which I have had some very +particular opportunities of judging, I have no more doubt than I have +of the ordinary photography of commerce. It had already been shown by +the astronomers that the sensitized plate is a more delicate recording +instrument than the human retina, and that it can show stars upon a +long exposure which the eye has never seen. It would appear that the +spirit world is really so near to us that a very little extra help +under correct conditions of mediumship will make all the difference. +Thus the plate, instead of the eye, may bring the loved face within the +range of vision, while the trumpet, acting as a megaphone, may bring +back the familiar voice where the spirit whisper with no mechanical aid +was still inaudible. So loud may the latter phenomenon be that in one +case, of which I have the record, the dead man's dog was so excited at +hearing once more his master's voice that he broke his chain, and +deeply scarred the outside of the seance room door in his efforts to +force an entrance. + +Now, having said so much of the spirit body, and having indicated that +its presence is not vouched for by only one line of evidence or school +of thought, let us turn to what happens at the time of death, according +to the observation of clairvoyants on this side and the posthumous +accounts of the dead upon the other. It is exactly what we should +expect to happen, granted the double identity. In a painless and +natural process the lighter disengages itself from the heavier, and +slowly draws itself off until it stands with the same mind, the same +emotions, and an exactly similar body, beside the couch of death, aware +of those around and yet unable to make them aware of it, save where +that finer spiritual eyesight called clairvoyance exists. How, we may +well ask, can it see without the natural organs? How did the hashish +victim see his own unconscious body? How did the Florida doctor see +his friend? There is a power of perception in the spiritual body which +does give the power. We can say no more. To the clairvoyant the new +spirit seems like a filmy outline. To the ordinary man it is +invisible. To another spirit it would, no doubt, seem as normal and +substantial as we appear to each other. There is some evidence that it +refines with time, and is therefore nearer to the material at the +moment of death or closely after it, than after a lapse of months or +years. Hence, it is that apparitions of the dead are most clear and +most common about the time of death, and hence also, no doubt, the fact +that the cataleptic physician already quoted was seen and recognised by +his friend. The meshes of his ether, if the phrase be permitted, were +still heavy with the matter from which they had only just been +disentangled. + +Having disengaged itself from grosser matter, what happens to this +spirit body, the precious bark which bears our all in all upon this +voyage into unknown seas? Very many accounts have come back to us, +verbal and written, detailing the experiences of those who have passed +on. The verbal are by trance mediums, whose utterances appear to be +controlled by outside intelligences. The written from automatic +writers whose script is produced in the same way. At these words the +critic naturally and reasonably shies, with a "What nonsense! How can +you control the statement of this medium who is consciously or +unconsciously pretending to inspiration?" This is a healthy +scepticism, and should animate every experimenter who tests a new +medium. The proofs must lie in the communication itself. If they are +not present, then, as always, we must accept natural rather than +unknown explanations. But they are continually present, and in such +obvious forms that no one can deny them. There is a certain +professional medium to whom I have sent many, mothers who were in need +of consolation. I always ask the applicants to report the result to +me, and I have their letters of surprise and gratitude before me as I +write. "Thank you for this beautiful and interesting experience. She +did not make a single mistake about their names, and everything she +said was correct." In this case there was a rift between husband and +wife before death, but the medium was able, unaided, to explain and +clear up the whole matter, mentioning the correct circumstances, and +names of everyone concerned, and showing the reasons for the +non-arrival of certain letters, which had been the cause of the +misunderstanding. The next case was also one of husband and wife, but +it is the husband who is the survivor. He says: "It was a most +successful sitting. Among other things, I addressed a remark in Danish +to my wife (who is a Danish girl), and the answer came back in English +without the least hesitation." The next case was again of a man who +had lost a very dear male friend. "I have had the most wonderful +results with Mrs. ---- to-day. I cannot tell you the joy it has been +to me. Many grateful thanks for your help." The next one says: "Mrs. +---- was simply wonderful. If only more people knew, what agony they +would be spared." In this case the wife got in touch with the husband, +and the medium mentioned correctly five dead relatives who were in his +company. The next is a case of mother and son. "I saw Mrs. ---- +to-day, and obtained very wonderful results. She told me nearly +everything quite correctly--a very few mistakes." The next is similar. +"We were quite successful. My boy even reminded me of something that +only he and I knew." Says another: "My boy reminded me of the day +when he sowed turnip seed upon the lawn. Only he could have known of +this." These are fair samples of the letters, of which I hold a large +number. They are from people who present themselves from among the +millions living in London, or the provinces, and about whose affairs +the medium had no possible normal way of knowing. Of all the very +numerous cases which I have sent to this medium I have only had a few +which have been complete failures. On quoting my results to Sir Oliver +Lodge, he remarked that his own experience with another medium had been +almost identical. It is no exaggeration to say that our British +telephone systems would probably give a larger proportion of useless +calls. How is any critic to get beyond these facts save by ignoring or +misrepresenting them? Healthy, scepticism is the basis of all accurate +observation, but there comes a time when incredulity means either +culpable ignorance or else imbecility, and this time has been long past +in the matter of spirit intercourse. + +In my own case, this medium mentioned correctly the first name of a +lady who had died in our house, gave several very characteristic +messages from her, described the only two dogs which we have ever kept, +and ended by saying that a young officer was holding up a gold coin by +which I would recognise him. I had lost my brother-in-law, an army +doctor, in the war, and I had given him a spade guinea for his first +fee, which he always wore on his chain. There were not more than two +or three close relatives who knew about this incident, so that the test +was a particularly good one. She made no incorrect statements, though +some were vague. After I had revealed the identity of this medium +several pressmen attempted to have test seances with her--a test seance +being, in most cases, a seance which begins by breaking every psychic +condition and making success most improbable. One of these gentlemen, +Mr. Ulyss Rogers, had very fair results. Another sent from "Truth" had +complete failure. It must be understood that these powers do not work +from the medium, but through the medium, and that the forces in the +beyond have not the least sympathy with a smart young pressman in +search of clever copy, while they have a very different feeling to a +bereaved mother who prays with all her broken heart that some assurance +may be given her that the child of her love is not gone from her for +ever. When this fact is mastered, and it is understood that "Stand and +deliver" methods only excite gentle derision on the other side, we +shall find some more intelligent manner of putting things of the spirit +to the proof.[3] + +I have dwelt upon these results, which could be matched by other +mediums, to show that we have solid and certain reasons to say that the +verbal reports are not from the mediums themselves. Readers of Arthur +Hill's "Psychical Investigations" will find many even more convincing +cases. So in the written communications, I have in a previous paper +pointed to the "Gate of Remembrance" case, but there is a great mass of +material which proves that, in spite of mistakes and failures, there +really is a channel of communication, fitful and evasive sometimes, but +entirely beyond coincidence or fraud. These, then, are the usual means +by which we receive psychic messages, though table tilting, ouija +boards, glasses upon a smooth surface, or anything which can be moved +by the vital animal-magnetic force already discussed will equally serve +the purpose. Often information is conveyed orally or by writing which +could not have been known to anyone concerned. Mr. Wilkinson has given +details of the case where his dead son drew attention to the fact that +a curio (a coin bent by a bullet) had been overlooked among his +effects. Sir William Barrett has narrated how a young officer sent a +message leaving a pearl tie-pin to a friend. No one knew that such a +pin existed, but it was found among his things. The death of Sir Hugh +Lane was given at a private seance in Dublin before the details of the +Lusitania disaster had been published.[4] On that morning we +ourselves, in a small seance, got the message "It is terrible, +terrible, and will greatly affect the war," at a time when we were +convinced that no great loss of life could have occurred. Such +examples are very numerous, and are only quoted here to show how +impossible it is to invoke telepathy as the origin of such messages. +There is only one explanation which covers the facts. They are what +they say they are, messages from those who have passed on, from the +spiritual body which was seen to rise from the deathbed, which has been +so often photographed, which pervades all religion in every age, and +which has been able, under proper circumstances, to materialise back +into a temporary solidity so that it could walk and talk like a mortal, +whether in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, or in the laboratory of +Mr. Crookes, in Mornington Road, London. + +Let us for a moment examine the facts in this Crookes' episode. A +small book exists which describes them, though it is not as accessible +as it should be. In these wonderful experiments, which extended over +several years, Miss Florrie Cook, who was a young lady of from 16 to 18 +years of age, was repeatedly confined in Prof. Crookes' study, the door +being locked on the inside. Here she lay unconscious upon a couch. +The spectators assembled in the laboratory, which was separated by a +curtained opening from the study. After a short interval, through this +opening there emerged a lady who was in all ways different from Miss +Cook. She gave her earth name as Katie King, and she proclaimed +herself to be a materialised spirit, whose mission it was to carry the +knowledge of immortality to mortals. + +She was of great beauty of face, figure, and manner. She was four and +a half inches taller than Miss Cook, fair, whereas the latter was dark, +and as different from her as one woman could be from another. Her +pulse rate was markedly slower. She became for the time entirely one +of the company, walking about, addressing each person present, and +taking delight in the children. She made no objection to photography +or any other test. Forty-eight photographs of different degrees of +excellence were made of her. She was seen at the same time as the +medium on several occasions. Finally she departed, saying that her +mission was over and that she had other work to do. When she vanished +materialism should have vanished also, if mankind had taken adequate +notice of the facts. + +Now, what can the fair-minded inquirer say to such a story as that--one +of many, but for the moment we are concentrating upon it? Was Mr. +Crookes a blasphemous liar? But there were very many witnesses, as +many sometimes as eight at a single sitting. And there are the +photographs which include Miss Cook and show that the two women were +quite different. Was he honestly mistaken? But that is inconceivable. +Read the original narrative and see if you can find any solution save +that it is true. If a man can read that sober, cautious statement and +not be convinced, then assuredly his brain, is out of gear. Finally, +ask yourself whether any religious manifestation in the world has had +anything like the absolute proof which lies in this one. Cannot the +orthodox see that instead of combating such a story, or talking +nonsense about devils, they should hail that which is indeed the final +answer to that materialism which is their really dangerous enemy. Even +as I write, my eye falls upon a letter on my desk from an officer who +had lost all faith in immortality and become an absolute materialist. +"I came to dread my return home, for I cannot stand hypocrisy, and I +knew well my attitude would cause some members of my family deep grief. +Your book has now brought me untold comfort, and I can face the future +cheerfully." Are these fruits from the Devil's tree, you timid +orthodox critic? + +Having then got in touch with our dead, we proceed, naturally, to ask +them how it is with them, and under what conditions they exist. It is +a very vital question, since what has befallen them yesterday will +surely befall us to-morrow. But the answer is tidings of great joy. +Of the new vital message to humanity nothing is more important than +that. It rolls away all those horrible man-bred fears and fancies, +founded upon morbid imaginations and the wild phrases of the oriental. +We come upon what is sane, what is moderate, what is reasonable, what +is consistent with gradual evolution and with the benevolence of God. +Were there ever any conscious blasphemers upon earth who have insulted +the Deity so deeply as those extremists, be they Calvinist, Roman +Catholic, Anglican, or Jew, who pictured with their distorted minds an +implacable torturer as the Ruler of the Universe! + +The truth of what is told us as to the life beyond can in its very +nature never be absolutely established. It is far nearer to complete +proof, however, than any religious revelation which has ever preceded +it. We have the fact that these accounts are mixed up with others +concerning our present life which are often absolutely true. If a +spirit can tell the truth about our sphere, it is difficult to suppose +that he is entirely false about his own. Then, again, there is a very +great similarity about such accounts, though their origin may be from +people very far apart. Thus though "non-veridical," to use the modern +jargon, they do conform to all our canons of evidence. A series of +books which have attracted far less attention than they deserve have +drawn the coming life in very close detail. These books are not found +on railway bookstalls or in popular libraries, but the successive +editions through which they pass show that there is a deeper public +which gets what it wants in spite of artificial obstacles. + +Looking over the list of my reading I find, besides nearly a dozen very +interesting and detailed manuscript accounts, such published narratives +as "Claude's Book," purporting to come from a young British aviator; +"Thy Son Liveth," from an American soldier, "Private Dowding"; +"Raymond," from a British soldier; "Do Thoughts Perish?" which contains +accounts from several British soldiers and others; "I Heard a Voice," +where a well-known K.C., through the mediumship of his two young +daughters, has a very full revelation of the life beyond; "After +Death," with the alleged experiences of the famous Miss Julia Ames; +"The Seven Purposes," from an American pressman, and many others. They +differ much in literary skill and are not all equally impressive, but +the point which must strike any impartial mind is the general agreement +of these various accounts as to the conditions of spirit life. An +examination would show that some of them must have been in the press at +the same time, so that they could not have each inspired the other. +"Claude's Book" and "Thy Son Liveth" appeared at nearly the same time +on different sides of the Atlantic, but they agree very closely. +"Raymond" and "Do Thoughts Perish?" must also have been in the press +together, but the scheme of things is exactly the same. Surely the +agreement of witnesses must here, as in all cases, be accounted as a +test of truth. They differ mainly, as it seems to me, when they deal +with their own future including speculations as to reincarnation, etc., +which may well be as foggy to them as it is to us, or systems of +philosophy where again individual opinion is apparent. + +Of all these accounts the one which is most deserving of study is +"Raymond." This is so because it has been compiled from several famous +mediums working independently of each other, and has been checked and +chronicled by a man who is not only one of the foremost scientists of +the world, and probably the leading intellectual force in Europe, but +one who has also had a unique experience of the precautions necessary +for the observation of psychic phenomena. The bright and sweet nature +of the young soldier upon the other side, and his eagerness to tell of +his experience is also a factor which will appeal to those who are +already satisfied as to the truth of the communications. For all these +reasons it is a most important document--indeed it would be no +exaggeration to say that it is one of the most important in recent +literature. It is, as I believe, an authentic account of the life in +the beyond, and it is often more interesting from its sidelights and +reservations than for its actual assertions, though the latter bear the +stamp of absolute frankness and sincerity. The compilation is in some +ways faulty. Sir Oliver has not always the art of writing so as to be +understanded of the people, and his deeper and more weighty thoughts +get in the way of the clear utterances of his son. Then again, in his +anxiety to be absolutely accurate, Sir Oliver has reproduced the fact +that sometimes Raymond is speaking direct, and sometimes the control is +reporting what Raymond is saying, so that the same paragraph may turn +several times from the first person to the third in a manner which must +be utterly unintelligible to those who are not versed in the subject. +Sir Oliver will, I am sure, not be offended if I say that, having +satisfied his conscience by the present edition, he should now leave it +for reference, and put forth a new one which should contain nothing but +the words of Raymond and his spirit friends. Such a book, published at +a low price, would, I think, have an amazing effect, and get all this +new teaching to the spot that God has marked for it--the minds and +hearts of the people. + +So much has been said here about mediumship that perhaps it would be +well to consider this curious condition a little more closely. The +question of mediumship, what it is and how it acts, is one of the most +mysterious in the whole range of science. It is a common objection to +say if our dead are there why should we only hear of them through +people by no means remarkable for moral or mental gifts, who are often +paid for their ministration. It is a plausible argument, and yet when +we receive a telegram from a brother in Australia we do not say: "It is +strange that Tom should not communicate with me direct, but that the +presence of that half-educated fellow in the telegraph office should be +necessary." The medium is in truth a mere passive machine, clerk and +telegraph in one. Nothing comes FROM him. Every message is THROUGH +him. Why he or she should have the power more than anyone else is a +very interesting problem. This power may best be defined as the +capacity for allowing the bodily powers, physical or mental, to be used +by an outside influence. In its higher forms there is temporary +extinction of personality and the substitution of some other +controlling spirit. At such times the medium may entirely lose +consciousness, or he may retain it and be aware of some external +experience which has been enjoyed by his own entity while his bodily +house has been filled by the temporary tenant. Or the medium may +retain consciousness, and with eyes and ears attuned to a higher key +than the normal man can attain, he may see and hear what is beyond our +senses. Or in writing mediumship, a motor centre of the brain +regulating the nerves and muscles of the arm may be controlled while +all else seems to be normal. Or it may take the more material form of +the exudation of a strange white evanescent dough-like substance called +the ectoplasm, which has been frequently photographed by scientific +enquirers in different stages of its evolution, and which seems to +possess an inherent quality of shaping itself into parts or the whole +of a body, beginning in a putty-like mould and ending in a resemblance +to perfect human members. Or the ectoplasm, which seems to be an +emanation of the medium to the extent that whatever it may weigh is so +much subtracted from his substance, may be used as projections or rods +which can convey objects or lift weights. A friend, in whose judgment +and veracity I have absolute confidence, was present at one of Dr. +Crawford's experiments with Kathleen Goligher, who is, it may be +remarked, an unpaid medium. My friend touched the column of force, and +found it could be felt by the hand though invisible to the eye. It is +clear that we are in touch with some entirely new form both of matter +and of energy. We know little of the properties of this extraordinary +substance save that in its materialising form it seems extremely +sensitive to the action of light. A figure built up in it and detached +from the medium dissolves in light quicker than a snow image under a +tropical sun, so that two successive flash-light photographs would show +the one a perfect figure, and the next an amorphous mass. When still +attached to the medium the ectoplasm flies back with great force on +exposure to light, and, in spite of the laughter of the scoffers, there +is none the less good evidence that several mediums have been badly +injured by the recoil after a light has suddenly been struck by some +amateur detective. Professor Geley has, in his recent experiments, +described the ectoplasm as appearing outside the black dress of his +medium as if a hoar frost had descended upon her, then coalescing into +a continuous sheet of white substance, and oozing down until it formed +a sort of apron in front of her.[5] This process he has illustrated by +a very complete series of photographs. + +These are a few of the properties of mediumship. There are also the +beautiful phenomena of the production of lights, and the rarer, but for +evidential purposes even more valuable, manifestations of spirit +photography. The fact that the photograph does not correspond in many +cases with any which existed in life, must surely silence the scoffer, +though there is a class of bigoted sceptic who would still be sneering +if an Archangel alighted in Trafalgar Square. Mr. Hope and Mrs. +Buxton, of Crewe, have brought this phase of mediumship to great +perfection, though others have powers in that direction. Indeed, in +some cases it is difficult to say who the medium may have been, for in +one collective family group which was taken in the ordinary way, and +was sent me by a master in a well known public school, the young son +who died has appeared in the plate seated between his two little +brothers. + +As to the personality of mediums, they have seemed to me to be very +average specimens of the community, neither markedly better nor +markedly worse. I know many, and I have never met anything in the +least like "Sludge," a poem which Browning might be excused for writing +in some crisis of domestic disagreement, but which it was inexcusable +to republish since it is admitted to be a concoction, and the exposure +described to have been imaginary. The critic often uses the term +medium as if it necessarily meant a professional, whereas every +investigator has found some of his best results among amateurs. In the +two finest seances I ever attended, the psychic, in each case a man of +moderate means, was resolutely determined never directly or indirectly +to profit by his gift, though it entailed very exhausting physical +conditions. I have not heard of a clergyman of any denomination who +has attained such a pitch of altruism--nor is it reasonable to expect +it. As to professional mediums, Mr. Vout Peters, one of the most +famous, is a diligent collector of old books and an authority upon the +Elizabethan drama; while Mr. Dickinson, another very remarkable +discerner of spirits, who named twenty-four correctly during two +meetings held on the same day, is employed in loading canal barges. +This man is one gifted clairvoyants in England, though Tom Tyrrell the +weaver, Aaron Wilkinson, and others are very marvellous. Tyrrell, who +is a man of the Anthony of Padua type, a walking saint, beloved of +animals and children, is a figure who might have stepped out of some +legend of the church. Thomas, the powerful physical medium, is a +working coal miner. Most mediums take their responsibilities very +seriously and view their work in a religious light. There is no +denying that they are exposed to very particular temptations, for the +gift is, as I have explained elsewhere, an intermittent one, and to +admit its temporary absence, and so discourage one's clients, needs +greater moral principle than all men possess. Another temptation to +which several great mediums have succumbed is that of drink. This +comes about in a very natural way, for overworking the power leaves +them in a state of physical prostration, and the stimulus of alcohol +affords a welcome relief, and may tend at last to become a custom and +finally a curse. Alcoholism always weakens the moral sense, so that +these degenerate mediums yield themselves more readily to fraud, with +the result that several who had deservedly won honoured names and met +all hostile criticism have, in their later years, been detected in the +most contemptible tricks. It is a thousand pities that it should be +so, but if the Court of Arches were to give up its secrets, it would be +found that tippling and moral degeneration were by no means confined to +psychics. At the same time, a psychic is so peculiarly sensitive that +I think he or she would always be well advised to be a life long +abstainer--as many actually are. + +As to the method by which they attain their results they have, when in +the trance state, no recollection. In the case of normal clairvoyants +and clairaudients, the information comes in different ways. Sometimes +it is no more than a strong mental impression which gives a name or an +address. Sometimes they say that they see it written up before them. +Sometimes the spirit figures seem to call it to them. "They yell it at +me," said one. + +We need more first-hand accounts of these matters before we can +formulate laws. + +It has been stated in a previous book by the author, but it will bear +repetition, that the use of the seance should, in his opinion, be +carefully regulated as well as reverently conducted. Having once +satisfied himself of the absolute existence of the unseen world, and of +its proximity to our own, the inquirer has got the great gift which +psychical investigation can give him, and thenceforth he can regulate +his life upon the lines which the teaching from beyond has shown to be +the best. There is much force in the criticism that too constant +intercourse with the affairs of another world may distract our +attention and weaken our powers in dealing with our obvious duties in +this one. A seance, with the object of satisfying curiosity or of +rousing interest, cannot be an elevating influence, and the mere +sensation-monger can make this holy and wonderful thing as base as the +over-indulgence in a stimulant. On the other hand, where the seance is +used for the purpose of satisfying ourselves as to the condition of +those whom we have lost, or of giving comfort to others who crave for a +word from beyond, then it is, indeed, a blessed gift from God to be +used with moderation and with thankfulness. Our loved ones have their +own pleasant tasks in their new surroundings, and though they assure us +that they love to clasp the hands which we stretch out to them, we +should still have some hesitation in intruding to an unreasonable +extent upon the routine of their lives. + +A word should be said as to that fear of fiends and evil spirits which +appears to have so much weight with some of the critics of this +subject. When one looks more closely at this emotion it seems somewhat +selfish and cowardly. These creatures are in truth our own backward +brothers, bound for the same ultimate destination as ourselves, but +retarded by causes for which our earth conditions may have been partly +responsible. Our pity and sympathy should go out to them, and if they +do indeed manifest at a seance, the proper Christian attitude is, as it +seems to me, that we should reason with them and pray for them in order +to help them upon their difficult way. Those who have treated them in +this way have found a very marked difference in the subsequent +communications. In Admiral Usborne Moore's "Glimpses of the Next +State" there will be found some records of an American circle which +devoted itself entirely to missionary work of this sort. There is some +reason to believe that there are forms of imperfect development which +can be helped more by earthly than by purely spiritual influences, for +the reason, perhaps, that they are closer to the material. + +In a recent case I was called in to endeavour to check a very noisy +entity which frequented an old house in which there were strong reasons +to believe that crime had been committed, and also that the criminal +was earth-bound. Names were given by the unhappy spirit which proved +to be correct, and a cupboard was described, which was duly found, +though it had never before been suspected. On getting into touch with +the spirit I endeavoured to reason with it and to explain how selfish +it was to cause misery to others in order to satisfy any feelings of +revenge which it might have carried over from earth life. We then +prayed for its welfare, exhorted it to rise higher, and received a very +solemn assurance, tilted out at the table, that it would mend its ways. +I have very gratifying reports that it has done so, and that all is now +quiet in the old house. + +Let us now consider the life in the Beyond as it is shown to us by the +new revelation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE COMING WORLD + + +We come first to the messages which tell us of the life beyond the +grave, sent by those who are actually living it. I have already +insisted upon the fact that they have three weighty claims to our +belief. The one is, that they are accompanied by "signs," in the +Biblical sense, in the shape of "miracles" or phenomena. The second +is, that in many cases they are accompanied by assertions about this +life of ours which prove to be correct, and which are beyond the +possible knowledge of the medium after every deduction has been made +for telepathy or for unconscious memory. The third is, that they have +a remarkable, though not a complete, similarity from whatever source +they come. + +It may be noted that the differences of opinion become most marked when +they deal with their own future, which may well be a matter of +speculation to them as to us. Thus, upon the question of reincarnation +there is a distinct cleavage, and though I am myself of opinion that +the general evidence is against this oriental doctrine, it is none the +less an undeniable fact that it has been maintained by some messages +which appear in other ways to be authentic, and, therefore, it is +necessary to keep one's mind open on the subject. + +Before entering upon the substance of the messages I should wish to +emphasize the second of these two points, so as to reinforce the +reader's confidence in the authenticity of these assertions. To this +end I will give a detailed example, with names almost exact. The +medium was Mr. Phoenix, of Glasgow, with whom I have myself had some +remarkable experiences. The sitter was Mr. Ernest Oaten, the President +of the Northern Spiritual Union, a man of the utmost veracity and +precision of statement. The dialogue, which came by the direct voice, +a trumpet acting as megaphone, ran like this:-- + + + The Voice: Good evening, Mr. Oaten. + Mr. O.: Good evening. Who are you? + The Voice: My name is Mill. You know my father. + Mr. O.: No, I don't remember anyone of the name. + The Voice: Yes, you were speaking to him the other day. + Mr. O.: To be sure. I remember now. I only met him casually. + The Voice: I want you to give him a message from me. + Mr. O.: What is it? + The Voice: Tell him that he was not mistaken at midnight on + Tuesday last. + Mr. O.: Very good. I will say so. Have you passed long? + The Voice: Some time. But our time is different from yours. + Mr. O.: What were you? + The Voice: A Surgeon. + Mr. O.: How did you pass? + The Voice: Blown up in a battleship during the war. + Mr. O.: Anything more? + +The answer was the Gipsy song from "Il Trovatore," very accurately +whistled, and then a quick-step. After the latter, the voice said: +"That is a test for father." + +This reproduction of conversation is not quite verbatim, but gives the +condensed essence. Mr. Oaten at once visited Mr. Mill, who was not a +Spiritualist, and found that every detail was correct. Young Mill had +lost his life as narrated. Mr. Mill, senior, explained that while +sitting in his study at midnight on the date named he had heard the +Gipsy song from "Il Trovatore," which had been a favourite of his +boy's, and being unable to trace the origin of the music, had finally +thought that it was a freak of his imagination. The test connected +with the quick-step had reference to a tune which the young man used to +play upon the piccolo, but which was so rapid that he never could get +it right, for which he was chaffed by the family. + +I tell this story at length to make the reader realise that when young +Mill, and others like him, give such proofs of accuracy, which we can +test for ourselves, we are bound to take their assertions very +seriously when they deal with the life they are actually leading, +though in their very nature we can only check their accounts by +comparison with others. + +Now let me epitomise what these assertions are. They say that they are +exceedingly happy, and that they do not wish to return. They are among +the friends whom they had loved and lost, who meet them when they die +and continue their careers together. They are very busy on all forms +of congenial work. The world in which they find themselves is very +much like that which they have quitted, but everything keyed to a +higher octave. As in a higher octave the rhythm is the same, and the +relation of notes to each other the same, but the total effect +different, so it is here. Every earthly thing has its equivalent. +Scoffers have guffawed over alcohol and tobacco, but if all things are +reproduced it would be a flaw if these were not reproduced also. That +they should be abused, as they are here, would, indeed, be evil +tidings, but nothing of the sort has been said, and in the much +discussed passage in "Raymond," their production was alluded to as +though it were an unusual, and in a way a humorous, instance of the +resources of the beyond. I wonder how many of the preachers, who have +taken advantage of this passage in order to attack the whole new +revelation, have remembered that the only other message which ever +associated alcohol with the life beyond is that of Christ Himself, when +He said: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until +that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." + +This matter is a detail, however, and it is always dangerous to discuss +details in a subject which is so enormous, so dimly seen. As the +wisest woman I have known remarked to me: "Things may well be +surprising over there, for if we had been told the facts of this life +before we entered it, we should never have believed it." In its larger +issues this happy life to come consists in the development of those +gifts which we possess. There is action for the man of action, +intellectual work for the thinker, artistic, literary, dramatic and +religious for those whose God-given powers lie that way. What we have +both in brain and character we carry over with us. No man is too old +to learn, for what he learns he keeps. There is no physical side to +love and no child-birth, though there is close union between those +married people who really love each other, and, generally, there is +deep sympathetic friendship and comradeship between the sexes. Every +man or woman finds a soul mate sooner or later. The child grows up to +the normal, so that the mother who lost a babe of two years old, and +dies herself twenty years later finds a grown-up daughter of twenty-two +awaiting her coming. Age, which is produced chiefly by the mechanical +presence of lime in our arteries, disappears, and the individual +reverts to the full normal growth and appearance of completed man--or +womanhood. Let no woman mourn her lost beauty, and no man his lost +strength or weakening brain. It all awaits them once more upon the +other side. Nor is any deformity or bodily weakness there, for all is +normal and at its best. + +Before leaving this section of the subject, I should say a few more +words upon the evidence as it affects the etheric body. This body is a +perfect thing. This is a matter of consequence in these days when so +many of our heroes have been mutilated in the wars. One cannot +mutilate the etheric body, and it remains always intact. The first +words uttered by a returning spirit in the recent experience of Dr. +Abraham Wallace were "I have got my left arm again." The same applies +to all birth marks, deformities, blindness, and other imperfections. +None of them are permanent, and all will vanish in that happier life +that awaits us. Such is the teaching from the beyond--that a perfect +body waits for each. + +"But," says the critic, "what then of the clairvoyant descriptions, or +the visions where the aged father is seen, clad in the old-fashioned +garments of another age, or the grandmother with crinoline and chignon? +Are these the habiliments of heaven?" Such visions are not spirits, +but they are pictures which are built up before us or shot by spirits +into our brains or those of the seer for the purposes of recognition. +Hence the grey hair and hence the ancient garb. When a real spirit is +indeed seen it comes in another form to this, where the flowing robe, +such as has always been traditionally ascribed to the angels, is a +vital thing which, by its very colour and texture, proclaims the +spiritual condition of the wearer, and is probably a condensation of +that aura which surrounds us upon earth. + +It is a world of sympathy. Only those who have this tie foregather. +The sullen husband, the flighty wife, is no longer there to plague the +innocent spouse. All is sweet and peaceful. It is the long rest cure +after the nerve strain of life, and before new experiences in the +future. The circumstances are homely and familiar. Happy circles live +in pleasant homesteads with every amenity of beauty and of music. +Beautiful gardens, lovely flowers, green woods, pleasant lakes, +domestic pets--all of these things are fully described in the messages +of the pioneer travellers who have at last got news back to those who +loiter in the old dingy home. There are no poor and no rich. The +craftsman may still pursue his craft, but he does it for the joy of his +work. Each serves the community as best he can, while from above come +higher ministers of grace, the "Angels" of holy writ, to direct and +help. Above all, shedding down His atmosphere upon all, broods that +great Christ spirit, the very soul of reason, of justice, and of +sympathetic understanding, who has the earth sphere, with all its +circles, under His very special care. It is a place of joy and +laughter. There are games and sports of all sorts, though none which +cause pain to lower life. Food and drink in the grosser sense do not +exist, but there seem to be pleasures of taste, and this distinction +causes some confusion in the messages upon the point. + +But above all, brain, energy, character, driving power, if exerted for +good, makes a man a leader there as here, while unselfishness, patience +and spirituality there, as here, qualify the soul for the higher +places, which have often been won by those very tribulations down here +which seem so purposeless and so cruel, and are in truth our chances of +spiritual quickening and promotion, without which life would have been +barren and without profit. + +The revelation abolishes the idea of a grotesque hell and of a +fantastic heaven, while it substitutes the conception of a gradual rise +in the scale of existence without any monstrous change which would turn +us in an instant from man to angel or devil. The system, though +different from previous ideas, does not, as it seems to me, run counter +in any radical fashion to the old beliefs. In ancient maps it was +usual for the cartographer to mark blank spaces for the unexplored +regions, with some such legend as "here are anthropophagi," or "here +are mandrakes," scrawled across them. So in our theology there have +been ill-defined areas which have admittedly been left unfilled, for +what sane man has ever believed in such a heaven as is depicted in our +hymn books, a land of musical idleness and barren monotonous adoration! +Thus in furnishing a clearer conception this new system has nothing to +supplant. It paints upon a blank sheet. + +One may well ask, however, granting that there is evidence for such a +life and such a world as has been described, what about those who have +not merited such a destination? What do the messages from beyond say +about these? And here one cannot be too definite, for there is no use +exchanging one dogma for another. One can but give the general purport +of such information as has been vouchsafed to us. It is natural that +those with whom we come in contact are those whom we may truly call the +blessed, for if the thing be approached in a reverent and religious +spirit it is those whom we should naturally attract. That there are +many less fortunate than themselves is evident from their own constant +allusions to that regenerating and elevating missionary work which is +among their own functions. They descend apparently and help others to +gain that degree of spirituality which fits them for this upper sphere, +as a higher student might descend to a lower class in order to bring +forward a backward pupil. Such a conception gives point to Christ's +remark that there was more joy in heaven over saving one sinner than +over ninety-nine just, for if He had spoken of an earthly sinner he +would surely have had to become just in this life and so ceased to be a +sinner before he had reached Paradise. It would apply very exactly, +however, to a sinner rescued from a lower sphere and brought to a +higher one. + +When we view sin in the light of modern science, with the tenderness of +the modern conscience and with a sense of justice and proportion, it +ceases to be that monstrous cloud which darkened the whole vision of +the mediaeval theologian. Man has been more harsh with himself than an +all-merciful God will ever be. It is true that with all deductions +there remains a great residuum which means want of individual effort, +conscious weakness of will, and culpable failure of character when the +sinner, like Horace, sees and applauds the higher while he follows the +lower. But when, on the other hand, one has made allowances--and can +our human allowance be as generous as God's?--for the sins which are +the inevitable product of early environment, for the sins which are due +to hereditary and inborn taint, and to the sins which are due to clear +physical causes, then the total of active sin is greatly reduced. +Could one, for example, imagine that Providence, all-wise and +all-merciful, as every creed proclaims, could punish the unfortunate +wretch who hatches criminal thoughts behind the slanting brows of a +criminal head? A doctor has but to glance at the cranium to predicate +the crime. In its worst forms all crime, from Nero to Jack the Ripper, +is the product of absolute lunacy, and those gross national sins to +which allusion has been made seem to point to collective national +insanity. Surely, then, there is hope that no very terrible inferno is +needed to further punish those who have been so afflicted upon earth. +Some of our dead have remarked that nothing has surprised them so much +as to find who have been chosen for honour, and certainly, without in +any way condoning sin, one could well imagine that the man whose +organic makeup predisposed him with irresistible force in that +direction should, in justice, receive condolence and sympathy. +Possibly such a sinner, if he had not sinned so deeply as he might have +done, stands higher than the man who was born good, and remained so, +but was no better at the end of his life. The one has made some +progress and the other has not. But the commonest failing, the one +which fills the spiritual hospitals of the other world, and is a +temporary bar to the normal happiness of the after-life, is the sin of +Tomlinson in Kipling's poem, the commonest of all sins in respectable +British circles, the sin of conventionality, of want of conscious +effort and development, of a sluggish spirituality, fatted over by a +complacent mind and by the comforts of life. It is the man who is +satisfied, the man who refers his salvation to some church or higher +power without steady travail of his own soul, who is in deadly danger. +All churches are good, Christian or non-Christian, so long as they +promote the actual spirit life of the individual, but all are noxious +the instant that they allow him to think that by any form of ceremony, +or by any fashion of creed, he obtains the least advantage over his +neighbour, or can in any way dispense with that personal effort which +is the only road to the higher places. + +This is, of course, as applicable to believers in Spiritualism as to +any other belief. If it does not show in practice then it is vain. +One can get through this life very comfortably following without +question in some procession with a venerable leader. But one does not +die in a procession. One dies alone. And it is then that one has +alone to accept the level gained by the work of life. + +And what is the punishment of the undeveloped soul? It is that it +should be placed where it WILL develop, and sorrow would seem always to +be the forcing ground of souls. That surely is our own experience in +life where the insufferably complacent and unsympathetic person softens +and mellows into beauty of character and charity of thought, when tried +long enough and high enough in the fires of life. The Bible has talked +about the "Outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of +teeth." The influence of the Bible has sometimes been an evil one +through our own habit of reading a book of Oriental poetry and treating +it as literally as if it were Occidental prose. When an Eastern +describes a herd of a thousand camels he talks of camels which are more +numerous than the hairs of your head or the stars in the sky. In this +spirit of allowance for Eastern expression, one must approach those +lurid and terrible descriptions which have darkened the lives of so +many imaginative children and sent so many earnest adults into asylums. +From all that we learn there are indeed places of outer darkness, but +dim as these uncomfortable waiting-rooms may be, they all admit to +heaven in the end. That is the final destination of the human race, +and it would indeed be a reproach to the Almighty if it were not so. +We cannot dogmatise upon this subject of the penal spheres, and yet we +have very clear teaching that they are there and that the no-man's-land +which separates us from the normal heaven, that third heaven to which +St. Paul seems to have been wafted in one short strange experience of +his lifetime, is a place which corresponds with the Astral plane of the +mystics and with the "outer darkness" of the Bible. Here linger those +earth-bound spirits whose worldly interests have clogged them and +weighed them down, until every spiritual impulse had vanished; the man +whose life has been centred on money, on worldly ambition, or on +sensual indulgence. The one-idea'd man will surely be there, if his +one idea was not a spiritual one. Nor is it necessary that he should +be an evil man, if dear old brother John of Glastonbury, who loved the +great Abbey so that he could never detach himself from it, is to be +classed among earth-bound spirits. In the most material and pronounced +classes of these are the ghosts who impinge very closely upon matter +and have been seen so often by those who have no strong psychic sense. +It is probable, from what we know of the material laws which govern +such matters, that a ghost could never manifest itself if it were +alone, that the substance for the manifestation is drawn from the +spectator, and that the coldness, raising of hair, and other symptoms +of which he complains are caused largely by the sudden drain upon his +own vitality. This, however, is to wander into speculation, and far +from that correlation of psychic knowledge with religion, which has +been the aim of these chapters. + +By one of those strange coincidences, which seem to me sometimes to be +more than coincidences, I had reached this point in my explanation of +the difficult question of the intermediate state, and was myself +desiring further enlightenment, when an old book reached me through the +post, sent by someone whom I have never met, and in it is the following +passage, written by an automatic writer, and in existence since 1880. +It makes the matter plain, endorsing what has been said and adding new +points. + +"Some cannot advance further than the borderland--such as never thought +of spirit life and have lived entirely for the earth, its cares and +pleasures--even clever men and women, who have lived simply +intellectual lives without spirituality. There are many who have +misused their opportunities, and are now longing for the time misspent +and wishing to recall the earth-life. They will learn that on this +side the time can be redeemed, though at much cost. The borderland has +many among the restless money-getters of earth, who still haunt the +places where they had their hopes and joys. These are often the +longest to remain . . . many are not unhappy. They feel the relief to +be sufficient to be without their earth bodies. All pass through the +borderland, but some hardly perceive it. It is so immediate, and there +is no resting there for them. They pass on at once to the refreshment +place of which we tell you." The anonymous author, after recording +this spirit message, mentions the interesting fact that there is a +Christian inscription in the Catacombs which runs: NICEFORUS ANIMA +DULCIS IN REFRIGERIO, "Nicephorus, a sweet soul in the refreshment +place." One more scrap of evidence that the early Christian scheme of +things was very like that of the modern psychic. + +So much for the borderland, the intermediate condition. The present +Christian dogma has no name for it, unless it be that nebulous limbo +which is occasionally mentioned, and is usually defined as the place +where the souls of the just who died before Christ were detained. The +idea of crossing a space before reaching a permanent state on the other +side is common to many religions, and took the allegorical form of a +river with a ferry-boat among the Romans and Greeks. Continually, one +comes on points which make one realise that far back in the world's +history there has been a true revelation, which has been blurred and +twisted in time. Thus in Dr. Muir's summary of the RIG. VEDA, he +says, epitomising the beliefs of the first Aryan conquerors of India: +"Before, however, the unborn part" (that is, the etheric body) "can +complete its course to the third heaven it has to traverse a vast gulf +of darkness, leaving behind on earth all that is evil, and proceeding +by the paths the fathers trod, the spirit soars to the realms of +eternal light, recovers there his body in a glorified form, and obtains +from God a delectable abode and enters upon a more perfect life, which +is crowned with the fulfilment of all desires, is passed in the +presence of the Gods and employed in the fulfilment of their pleasure." +If we substitute "angels" for "Gods" we must admit that the new +revelation from modern spirit sources has much in common with the +belief of our Aryan fathers. + +Such, in very condensed form, is the world which is revealed to us by +these wonderful messages from the beyond. Is it an unreasonable +vision? Is it in any way opposed to just principles? Is it not rather +so reasonable that having got the clue we could now see that, given any +life at all, this is exactly the line upon which we should expect to +move? Nature and evolution are averse from sudden disconnected +developments. If a human being has technical, literary, musical, or +other tendencies, they are an essential part of his character, and to +survive without them would be to lose his identity and to become an +entirely different man. They must therefore survive death if +personality is to be maintained. But it is no use their surviving +unless they can find means of expression, and means of expression seem +to require certain material agents, and also a discriminating audience. +So also the sense of modesty among civilised races has become part of +our very selves, and implies some covering of our forms if personality +is to continue. Our desires and sympathies would prompt us to live +with those we love, which implies something in the nature of a house, +while the human need for mental rest and privacy would predicate the +existence of separate rooms. Thus, merely starting from the basis of +the continuity of personality one might, even without the revelation +from the beyond, have built up some such system by the use of pure +reason and deduction. + +So far as the existence of this land of happiness goes, it would seem +to have been more fully proved than any other religious conception +within our knowledge. + +It may very reasonably be asked, how far this precise description of +life beyond the grave is my own conception, and how far it has been +accepted by the greater minds who have studied this subject? I would +answer, that it is my own conclusion as gathered from a very large +amount of existing testimony, and that in its main lines it has for +many years been accepted by those great numbers of silent active +workers all over the world, who look upon this matter from a strictly +religious point of view. I think that the evidence amply justifies us +in this belief. On the other hand, those who have approached this +subject with cold and cautious scientific brains, endowed, in many +cases, with the strongest prejudices against dogmatic creeds and with +very natural fears about the possible re-growth of theological +quarrels, have in most cases stopped short of a complete acceptance, +declaring that there can be no positive proof upon such matters, and +that we may deceive ourselves either by a reflection of our own +thoughts or by receiving the impressions of the medium. Professor +Zollner, for example, says: + +"Science can make no use of the substance of intellectual revelations, +but must be guided by observed facts and by the conclusions logically +and mathematically uniting them"--a passage which is quoted with +approval by Professor Reichel, and would seem to be endorsed by the +silence concerning the religious side of the question which is observed +by most of our great scientific supporters. It is a point of view +which can well be understood, and yet, closely examined, it would +appear to be a species of enlarged materialism. To admit, as these +observers do, that spirits do return, that they give every proof of +being the actual friends whom we have lost, and yet to turn a deaf ear +to the messages which they send would seem to be pushing caution to the +verge of unreason. To get so far, and yet not to go further, is +impossible as a permanent position. If, for example, in Raymond's case +we find so many allusions to the small details of his home upon earth, +which prove to be surprisingly correct, is it reasonable to put a blue +pencil through all he says of the home which he actually inhabits? +Long before I had convinced my mind of the truth of things which +appeared so grotesque and incredible, I had a long account sent by +table tilting about the conditions of life beyond. The details seemed +to me impossible and I set them aside, and yet they harmonise, as I now +discover, with other revelations. So, too, with the automatic script +of Mr. Hubert Wales, which has been described in my previous book. He +had tossed it aside into a drawer as being unworthy of serious +consideration, and yet it also proved to be in harmony. In neither of +these cases was telepathy or the prepossession of the medium a possible +explanation. On the whole, I am inclined to think that these doubtful +or dissentient scientific men, having their own weighty studies to +attend to, have confined their reading and thought to the more +objective side of the question, and are not aware of the vast amount of +concurrent evidence which appears to give us an exact picture of the +life beyond. They despise documents which cannot be proved, and they +do not, in my opinion, sufficiently realise that a general agreement of +testimony, and the already established character of a witness, are +themselves arguments for truth. Some complicate the question by +predicating the existence of a fourth dimension in that world, but the +term is an absurdity, as are all terms which find no corresponding +impression in the human brain. We have mysteries enough to solve +without gratuitously introducing fresh ones. When solid passes through +solid, it is, surely, simpler to assume that it is done by a +dematerialisation, and subsequent reassembly--a process which can, at +least, be imagined by the human mind--than to invoke an explanation +which itself needs to be explained. + +In the next and final chapter I will ask the reader to accompany me in +an examination of the New Testament by the light of this psychic +knowledge, and to judge how far it makes clear and reasonable much +which was obscure and confused. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IS IT THE SECOND DAWN? + + +There are many incidents in the New Testament which might be taken as +starting points in tracing a close analogy between the phenomenal +events which are associated with the early days of Christianity, and +those which have perplexed the world in connection with modern +Spiritualism. Most of us are prepared to admit that the lasting claims +of Christianity upon the human race are due to its own intrinsic +teachings, which are quite independent of those wonders which can only +have had a use in startling the solid complacence of an unspiritual +race, and so directing their attention violently to this new system of +thought. Exactly the same may be said of the new revelation. The +exhibitions of a force which is beyond human experience and human +guidance is but a method of calling attention. To repeat a simile +which has been used elsewhere, it is the humble telephone bell which +heralds the all-important message. In the case of Christ, the Sermon +on the Mount was more than many miracles. In the case of this new +development, the messages from beyond are more than any phenomena. A +vulgar mind might make Christ's story seem vulgar, if it insisted upon +loaves of bread and the bodies of fish. So, also, a vulgar mind may +make psychic religion vulgar by insisting upon moving furniture or +tambourines in the air. In each case they are crude signs of power, +and the essence of the matter lies upon higher planes. + +It is stated in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that +they, the Christian leaders, were all "with one accord" in one place. +"With one accord" expresses admirably those sympathetic conditions +which have always been found, in psychic circles, to be conducive of +the best results, and which are so persistently ignored by a certain +class of investigators. Then there came "a mighty rushing wind," and +afterwards "there appeared cloven tongues like unto fire and it sat +upon each of them." Here is a very definite and clear account of a +remarkable sequence of phenomena. Now, let us compare with this the +results which were obtained by Professor Crookes in his investigation +in 1873, after he had taken every possible precaution against fraud +which his experience, as an accurate observer and experimenter, could +suggest. He says in his published notes: "I have seen luminous points +of light darting about, sitting on the heads of different persons" and +then again: + +"These movements, and, indeed, I may say the same of every class of +phenomena, are generally preceded by a peculiar cold air, sometimes +amounting to a decided wind. I have had sheets of paper blown about by +it. . . ." Now, is it not singular, not merely that the phenomena +should be of the same order, but that they should come in exactly the +same sequence, the wind first and the lights afterwards? In our +ignorance of etheric physics, an ignorance which is now slowly +clearing, one can only say that there is some indication here of a +general law which links those two episodes together in spite of the +nineteen centuries which divide them. A little later, it is stated +that "the place was shaken where they were assembled together." Many +modern observers of psychic phenomena have testified to vibration of +the walls of an apartment, as if a heavy lorry were passing. It is, +evidently, to such experiences that Paul alludes when he says: "Our +gospel came unto you not in word only, but also in power." The preacher +of the New Revelation can most truly say the same words. In connection +with the signs of the pentecost, I can most truly say that I have +myself experienced them all, the cold sudden wind, the lambent misty +flames, all under the mediumship of Mr. Phoenix, an amateur psychic of +Glasgow. The fifteen sitters were of one accord upon that occasion, +and, by a coincidence, it was in an upper room, at the very top of the +house. + +In a previous section of this essay, I have remarked that no +philosophical explanation of these phenomena, known as spiritual, could +be conceived which did not show that all, however different in their +working, came from the same central source. St. Paul seems to state +this in so many words when he says: "But all these worketh that one +and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." +Could our modern speculation, forced upon us by the facts, be more +tersely stated? He has just enumerated the various gifts, and we find +them very close to those of which we have experience. There is first +"the word of wisdom," "the word of knowledge" and "faith." All these +taken in connection with the Spirit would seem to mean the higher +communications from the other side. Then comes healing, which is still +practised in certain conditions by a highly virile medium, who has the +power of discharging strength, losing just as much as the weakling +gains, as instanced by Christ when He said: "Who has touched me? Much +virtue" (or power) "has gone out of me." Then we come upon the working +of miracles, which we should call the production of phenomena, and +which would cover many different types, such as apports, where objects +are brought from a distance, levitation of objects or of the human +frame into the air, the production of lights and other wonders. Then +comes prophecy, which is a real and yet a fitful and often delusive +form of mediumship--never so delusive as among the early Christians, +who seem all to have mistaken the approaching fall of Jerusalem and the +destruction of the Temple, which they could dimly see, as being the end +of the world. This mistake is repeated so often and so clearly that it +is really not honest to ignore or deny it. Then we come to the power +of "discerning the spirits," which corresponds to our clairvoyance, and +finally that curious and usually useless gift of tongues, which is also +a modern phenomenon. I can remember that some time ago I read the +book, "I Heard a Voice," by an eminent barrister, in which he describes +how his young daughter began to write Greek fluently with all the +complex accents in their correct places. Just after I read it I +received a letter from a no less famous physician, who asked my opinion +about one of his children who had written a considerable amount of +script in mediaeval French. These two recent cases are beyond all +doubt, but I have not had convincing evidence of the case where some +unintelligible signs drawn by an unlettered man were pronounced by an +expert to be in the Ogham or early Celtic character. As the Ogham +script is really a combination of straight lines, the latter case may +be taken with considerable reserve. + +Thus the phenomena associated with the rise of Christianity and those +which have appeared during the present spiritual ferment are very +analogous. In examining the gifts of the disciples, as mentioned by +Matthew and Mark, the only additional point is the raising of the dead. +If any of them besides their great leader did in truth rise to this +height of power, where life was actually extinct, then he, undoubtedly, +far transcended anything which is recorded of modern mediumship. It is +clear, however, that such a power must have been very rare, since it +would otherwise have been used to revive the bodies of their own +martyrs, which does not seem to have been attempted. For Christ the +power is clearly admitted, and there are little touches in the +description of how it was exercised by Him which are extremely +convincing to a psychic student. In the account of how He raised +Lazarus from the grave after he had been four days dead--far the most +wonderful of all Christ's miracles--it is recorded that as He went down +to the graveside He was "groaning." Why was He groaning? No Biblical +student seems to have given a satisfactory reason. But anyone who has +heard a medium groaning before any great manifestation of power will +read into this passage just that touch of practical knowledge, which +will convince him of its truth. The miracle, I may add, is none the +less wonderful or beyond our human powers, because it was wrought by an +extension of natural law, differing only in degree with that which we +can ourselves test and even do. + +Although our modern manifestations have never attained the power +mentioned in the Biblical records, they present some features which are +not related in the New Testament. Clairaudience, that is the hearing +of a spirit voice, is common to both, but the direct voice, that is the +hearing of a voice which all can discern with their material ears, is a +well-authenticated phenomenon now which is more rarely mentioned of +old. So, too, Spirit-photography, where the camera records what the +human eye cannot see, is necessarily a new testimony. Nothing is +evidence to those who do not examine evidence, but I can attest most +solemnly that I personally know of several cases where the image upon +the plate after death has not only been unmistakable, but also has +differed entirely from any pre-existing photograph. + +As to the methods by which the early Christians communicated with the +spirits, or with the "Saints" as they called their dead brethren, we +have, so far as I know, no record, though the words of John: +"Brothers, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they +are of God," show very clearly that spirit communion was a familiar +idea, and also that they were plagued, as we are, by the intrusion of +unwelcome spiritual elements in their intercourse. Some have +conjectured that the "Angel of the Church," who is alluded to in terms +which suggest that he was a human being, was really a medium sanctified +to the use of that particular congregation. As we have early +indications of bishops, deacons and other officials, it is difficult to +say what else the "angel" could have been. This, however, must remain +a pure speculation. + +Another speculation which is, perhaps, rather more fruitful is upon +what principle did Christ select his twelve chief followers. Out of +all the multitudes he chose twelve men. Why these particular ones? It +was not for their intelligence or learning, for Peter and John, who +were among the most prominent, are expressly described as "unlearned +and ignorant men." It was not for their virtue, for one of them proved +to be a great villain, and all of them deserted their Master in His +need. It was not for their belief, for there were great numbers of +believers. And yet it is clear that they were chosen on some principle +of selection since they were called in ones and in twos. In at least +two cases they were pairs of brothers, as though some family gift or +peculiarity, might underlie the choice. + +Is it not at least possible that this gift was psychic power, and that +Christ, as the greatest exponent who has ever appeared upon earth of +that power, desired to surround Himself with others who possessed it to +a lesser degree? This He would do for two reasons. The first is that +a psychic circle is a great source of strength to one who is himself +psychic, as is shown continually in our own experience, where, with a +sympathetic and helpful surrounding, an atmosphere is created where all +the powers are drawn out. How sensitive Christ was to such an +atmosphere is shown by the remark of the Evangelist, that when He +visited His own native town, where the townspeople could not take Him +seriously, He was unable to do any wonders. The second reason may have +been that He desired them to act as His deputies, either during his +lifetime or after His death, and that for this reason some natural +psychic powers were necessary. + +The close connection which appears to exist between the Apostles and +the miracles, has been worked out in an interesting fashion by Dr. +Abraham Wallace, in his little pamphlet "Jesus of Nazareth."[6] +Certainly, no miracle or wonder working, save that of exorcism, is +recorded in any of the Evangelists until after the time when Christ +began to assemble His circle. Of this circle the three who would +appear to have been the most psychic were Peter and the two +fellow-fishermen, sons of Zebedee, John and James. These were the +three who were summoned when an ideal atmosphere was needed. It will +be remembered that when the daughter of Jairus was raised from the dead +it was in the presence, and possibly, with the co-operation, of these +three assistants. Again, in the case of the Transfiguration, it is +impossible to read the account of that wonderful manifestation without +being reminded at every turn of one's own spiritual experiences. Here, +again, the points are admirably made in "Jesus of Nazareth," and it +would be well if that little book, with its scholarly tone, its breadth +of treatment and its psychic knowledge, was in the hands of every +Biblical student. Dr. Wallace points out that the place, the summit of +a hill, was the ideal one for such a manifestation, in its pure air and +freedom from interruption; that the drowsy state of the Apostles is +paralleled by the members of any circle who are contributing psychic +power; that the transfiguring of the face and the shining raiment are +known phenomena; above all, that the erection of three altars is +meaningless, but that the alternate reading, the erection of three +booths or cabinets, one for the medium and one for each materialised +form, would absolutely fulfil the most perfect conditions for getting +results. This explanation of Wallace's is a remarkable example of a +modern brain, with modern knowledge, throwing a clear searchlight +across all the centuries and illuminating an incident which has always +been obscure. + +When we translate Bible language into the terms of modern psychic +religion the correspondence becomes evident. It does not take much +alteration. Thus for "Lo, a miracle!" we say "This is a +manifestation." "The angel of the Lord" becomes "a high spirit." +Where we talked of "a voice from heaven," we say "the direct voice." +"His eyes were opened and he saw a vision" means "he became +clairvoyant." It is only the occultist who can possibly understand the +Scriptures as being a real exact record of events. + +There are many other small points which seem to bring the story of +Christ and of the Apostles into very close touch with modern psychic +research, and greatly support the close accuracy of some of the New +Testament narrative. One which appeals to me greatly is the action of +Christ when He was asked a question which called for a sudden decision, +namely the fate of the woman who had been taken in sin. What did He +do? The very last thing that one would have expected or invented. He +stooped down before answering and wrote with his finger in the sand. +This he did a second time upon a second catch-question being addressed +to Him. Can any theologian give a reason for such an action? I hazard +the opinion that among the many forms of mediumship which were +possessed in the highest form by Christ, was the power of automatic +writing, by which He summoned those great forces which were under His +control to supply Him with the answer. Granting, as I freely do, that +Christ was preternatural, in the sense that He was above and beyond +ordinary humanity in His attributes, one may still inquire how far +these powers were contained always within His human body, or how far He +referred back to spiritual reserves beyond it. When He spoke merely +from His human body He was certainly open to error, like the rest of +us, for it is recorded how He questioned the woman of Samaria about her +husband, to which she replied that she had no husband. In the case of +the woman taken in sin, one can only explain His action by the +supposition that He opened a channel instantly for the knowledge and +wisdom which was preter-human, and which at once gave a decision in +favor of large-minded charity. + +It is interesting to observe the effect which these phenomena, or the +report of them, produced upon the orthodox Jews of those days. The +greater part obviously discredited them, otherwise they could not have +failed to become followers, or at the least to have regarded such a +wonder-worker with respect and admiration. One can well imagine how +they shook their bearded heads, declared that such occurrences were +outside their own experience, and possibly pointed to the local +conjuror who earned a few not over-clean denarii by imitating the +phenomena. There were others, however, who could not possibly deny, +because they either saw or met with witnesses who had seen. These +declared roundly that the whole thing was of the devil, drawing from +Christ one of those pithy, common-sense arguments in which He excelled. +The same two classes of opponents, the scoffers and the diabolists, +face us to-day. Verily the old world goes round and so do the events +upon its surface. + +There is one line of thought which may be indicated in the hope that it +will find development from the minds and pens of those who have studied +most deeply the possibilities of psychic power. It is at least +possible, though I admit that under modern conditions it has not been +clearly proved, that a medium of great power can charge another with +his own force, just as a magnet when rubbed upon a piece of inert steel +can turn it also into a magnet. One of the best attested powers of D. +D. Home was that he could take burning coals from the fire with +impunity and carry them in his hand. He could then--and this comes +nearer to the point at issue--place them on the head of anyone who was +fearless without their being burned. Spectators have described how the +silver filigree of the hair of Mr. Carter Hall used to be gathered over +the glowing ember, and Mrs. Hall has mentioned how she combed out the +ashes afterwards. Now, in this case, Home was clearly, able to convey, +a power to another person, just as Christ, when He was levitated over +the lake, was able to convey the same power to Peter, so long as +Peter's faith held firm. The question then arises if Home concentrated +all his force upon transferring such a power how long would that power +last? The experiment was never tried, but it would have borne very, +directly upon this argument. For, granting that the power can be +transferred, then it is very clear how the Christ circle was able to +send forth seventy disciples who were endowed with miraculous +functions. It is clear also why, new disciples had to return to +Jerusalem to be "baptised of the spirit," to use their phrase, before +setting forth upon their wanderings. And when in turn they, desired to +send forth representatives would not they lay hands upon them, make +passes over them and endeavour to magnetise them in the same way--if +that word may express the process? Have we here the meaning of the +laying on of hands by the bishop at ordination, a ceremony to which +vast importance is still attached, but which may well be the survival +of something really vital, the bestowal of the thaumaturgic power? +When, at last, through lapse of time or neglect of fresh cultivation, +the power ran out, the empty formula may have been carried on, without +either the blesser or the blessed understanding what it was that the +hands of the bishop, and the force which streamed from them, were meant +to bestow. The very words "laying on of hands" would seem to suggest +something different from a mere benediction. + +Enough has been said, perhaps, to show the reader that it is possible +to put forward a view of Christ's life which would be in strict accord +with the most modern psychic knowledge, and which, far from supplanting +Christianity, would show the surprising accuracy of some of the details +handed down to us, and would support the novel conclusion that those +very miracles, which have been the stumbling block to so many truthful, +earnest minds, may finally offer some very cogent arguments for the +truth of the whole narrative. Is this then a line of thought which +merits the wholesale condemnations and anathemas hurled at it by those +who profess to speak in the name of religion? At the same time, though +we bring support to the New Testament, it would, indeed, be a +misconception if these, or any such remarks, were quoted as sustaining +its literal accuracy--an idea from which so much harm has come in the +past. It would, indeed, be a good, though an unattainable thing, that +a really honest and open-minded attempt should be made to weed out from +that record the obvious forgeries and interpolations which disfigure +it, and lessen the value of those parts which are really above +suspicion. + +Is it necessary, for example, to be told, as an inspired fact from +Christ's own lips, that Zacharias, the son of Barachias,[7] was struck +dead within the precincts of the Temple in the time of Christ, when, by +a curious chance, Josephus has independently narrated the incident as +having occurred during the siege of Jerusalem, thirty-seven years +later? This makes it very clear that this particular Gospel, in its +present form, was written after that event, and that the writer fitted +into it at least one other incident which had struck his imagination. +Unfortunately, a revision by general agreement would be the greatest of +all miracles, for two of the very first texts to go would be those +which refer to the "Church," an institution and an idea utterly +unfamiliar in the days of Christ. Since the object of the insertion of +these texts is perfectly clear, there can be no doubt that they are +forgeries, but as the whole system of the Papacy rests upon one of +them, they are likely to survive for a long time to come. The text +alluded to is made further impossible because it is based upon the +supposition that Christ and His fishermen conversed together in Latin +or Greek, even to the extent of making puns in that language. Surely +the want of moral courage and intellectual honesty among Christians +will seem as strange to our descendants as it appears marvellous to us +that the great thinkers of old could have believed, or at least have +pretended to believe, in the fighting sexual deities of Mount Olympus. + +Revision is, indeed, needed, and as I have already pleaded, a change of +emphasis is also needed, in order to get the grand Christian conception +back into the current of reason and progress. The orthodox who, +whether from humble faith or some other cause, do not look deeply into +such matters, can hardly conceive the stumbling-blocks which are +littered about before the feet of their more critical brethren. What +is easy, for faith is impossible for reflection. Such expressions as +"Saved by the blood of the Lamb" or "Baptised by His precious blood" +fill their souls with a gentle and sweet emotion, while upon a more +thoughtful mind they have a very different effect. + +Apart from the apparent injustice of vicarious atonement, the student +is well aware that the whole of this sanguinary metaphor is drawn +really from the Pagan rites of Mithra, where the neophyte was actually +placed under a bull at the ceremony of the TAUROBOLIUM, and was +drenched, through a grating, with the blood of the slaughtered animal. +Such reminiscences of the more brutal side of Paganism are not helpful +to the thoughtful and sensitive modern mind. But what is always fresh +and always useful and always beautiful, is the memory of the sweet +Spirit who wandered on the hillsides of Galilee; who gathered the +children around him; who met his friends in innocent good-fellowship; +who shrank from forms and ceremonies, craving always for the inner +meaning; who forgave the sinner; who championed the poor, and who in +every decision threw his weight upon the side of charity and breadth of +view. When to this character you add those wondrous psychic powers +already analysed, you do, indeed, find a supreme character in the +world's history who obviously stands nearer to the Highest than any +other. When one compares the general effect of His teaching with that +of the more rigid churches, one marvels how in their dogmatism, their +insistence upon forms, their exclusiveness, their pomp and their +intolerance, they could have got so far away from the example of their +Master, so that as one looks upon Him and them, one feels that there is +absolute deep antagonism and that one cannot speak of the Church and +Christ, but only of the Church or Christ. + +And yet every Church produces beautiful souls, though it may be debated +whether "produces" or "contains" is the truthful word. We have but to +fall back upon our own personal experience if we have lived long and +mixed much with our fellow-men. I have myself lived during the seven +most impressionable years of my life among Jesuits, the most maligned +of all ecclesiastical orders, and I have found them honourable and good +men, in all ways estimable outside the narrowness which limits the +world to Mother Church. They were athletes, scholars, and gentlemen, +nor can I ever remember any examples of that casuistry with which they +are reproached. Some of my best friends have been among the parochial +clergy of the Church of England, men of sweet and saintly character, +whose pecuniary straits were often a scandal and a reproach to the +half-hearted folk who accepted their spiritual guidance. I have known, +also, splendid men among the Nonconformist clergy, who have often been +the champions of liberty, though their views upon that subject have +sometimes seemed to contract when one ventured upon their own domain of +thought. Each creed has brought out men who were an honour to the +human race, and Manning or Shrewsbury, Gordon or Dolling, Booth or +Stopford Brooke, are all equally admirable, however diverse the roots +from which they grow. Among the great mass of the people, too, there +are very many thousands of beautiful souls who have been brought up on +the old-fashioned lines, and who never heard of spiritual communion or +any other of those matters which have been discussed in these essays, +and yet have reached a condition of pure spirituality such as all of us +may envy. Who does not know the maiden aunt, the widowed mother, the +mellowed elderly man, who live upon the hilltops of unselfishness, +shedding kindly thoughts and deeds around them, but with their simple +faith deeply, rooted in anything or everything which has come to them +in a hereditary fashion with the sanction of some particular authority? +I had an aunt who was such an one, and can see her now, worn with +austerity and charity, a small, humble figure, creeping to church at +all hours from a house which was to her but a waiting-room between +services, while she looked at me with sad, wondering, grey eyes. Such +people have often reached by instinct, and in spite of dogma, heights, +to which no system of philosophy can ever raise us. + +But making full allowance for the high products of every creed, which +may be only, a proof of the innate goodness of civilised humanity, it +is still beyond all doubt that Christianity has broken down, and that +this breakdown has been brought home to everyone by the terrible +catastrophe which has befallen the world. Can the most optimistic +apologist contend that this is a satisfactory, outcome from a religion +which has had the unopposed run of Europe for so many centuries? Which +has come out of it worst, the Lutheran Prussian, the Catholic Bavarian, +or the peoples who have been nurtured by the Greek Church? If we, of +the West, have done better, is it not rather an older and higher +civilisation and freer political institutions that have held us back +from all the cruelties, excesses and immoralities which have taken the +world back to the dark ages? It will not do to say that they have +occurred in spite of Christianity, and that Christianity is, therefore, +not to blame. It is true that Christ's teaching is not to blame, for +it is often spoiled in the transmission. But Christianity has taken +over control of the morals of Europe, and should have the compelling +force which would ensure that those morals would not go to pieces upon +the first strain. It is on this point that Christianity must be +judged, and the judgment can only be that it has failed. It has not +been an active controlling force upon the minds of men. And why? It +can only be because there is something essential which is wanting. Men +do not take it seriously. Men do not believe in it. Lip service is +the only service in innumerable cases, and even lip service grows +fainter. + +Men, as distinct from women, have, both in the higher and lower classes +of life, ceased, in the greater number of cases, to show a living +interest in religion. The churches lose their grip upon the +people--and lose it rapidly. Small inner circles, convocations, +committees, assemblies, meet and debate and pass resolutions of an ever +narrower character. But the people go their way and religion is dead, +save in so far as intellectual culture and good taste can take its +place. But when religion is dead, materialism becomes active, and what +active materialism may produce has been seen in Germany. + +Is it not time, then, for the religious bodies to discourage their own +bigots and sectarians, and to seriously consider, if only for +self-preservation, how they can get into line once more with that +general level of human thought which is now so far in front of them? I +say that they can do more than get level--they can lead. But to do so +they must, on the one hand, have the firm courage to cut away from +their own bodies all that dead tissue which is but a disfigurement and +an encumbrance. They must face difficulties of reason, and adapt +themselves to the demands of the human intelligence which rejects, and +is right in rejecting, much which they offer. Finally, they must +gather fresh strength by drawing in all the new truth and all the new +power which are afforded by this new wave of inspiration which has been +sent into the world by God, and which the human race, deluded and +bemused by the would-be clever, has received with such perverse and +obstinate incredulity. When they have done all this, they will find +not only that they are leading the world with an obvious right to the +leadership, but, in addition, that they have come round once more to +the very teaching of that Master whom they have so long misrepresented. + + + + +APPENDICES + + +A + +DOCTOR GELEY'S EXPERIMENTS + + +Nothing could be imagined more fantastic and grotesque than the results +of the recent experiments of Professor Geley, in France. Before such +results the brain, even of the trained psychical student, is dazed, +while that of the orthodox man of science, who has given no heed to +these developments, is absolutely helpless. In the account of the +proceedings which he read lately before the Institut General +Psychologique in Paris, on January of last year, Dr. Geley says: "I do +not merely say that there has been no fraud; I say, 'there has been no +possibility of fraud.' In nearly every case the materialisations were +done under my eyes, and I have observed their whole genesis and +development." He adds that, in the course of the experiments, more +than a hundred experts, mostly doctors, checked the results. + +These results may be briefly stated thus. A peculiar whitish matter +exuded from the subject, a girl named Eva, coming partly through her +skin, partly from her hands, partly from the orifices of her face, +especially her mouth. This was photographed repeatedly at every stage +of its production, these photographs being appended to the printed +treatise. This stuff, solid enough to enable one to touch and to +photograph, has been called the ectoplasm. It is a new order of +matter, and it is clearly derived from the subject herself, absorbing +into her system once more at the end of the experiment. It exudes in +such quantities as to entirely, cover her sometimes as with an apron. +It is soft and glutinous to the touch, but varies in form and even in +colour. Its production causes pain and groans from the subject, and +any violence towards it would appear also to affect her. A sudden +flash of light, as in a flash-photograph, may or may not cause a +retraction of the ectoplasm, but always causes a spasm of the subject. +When re-absorbed, it leaves no trace upon the garments through which it +has passed. + +This is wonderful enough, but far more fantastic is what has still to +be told. The most marked property of this ectoplasm, very fully +illustrated in the photographs, is that it sets or curdles into the +shapes of human members--of fingers, of hands, of faces, which are at +first quite sketchy and rudimentary, but rapidly coalesce and develop +until they are undistinguishable from those of living beings. Is not +this the very strangest and most inexplicable thing that has ever yet +been observed by human eyes? These faces or limbs are usually the size +of life, but they frequently are quite miniatures. Occasionally they +begin by being miniatures, and grow into full size. On their first +appearance in the ectoplasm the limb is only on one plane of matter, a +mere flat appearance, which rapidly rounds itself off, until it has +assumed all three planes and is complete. It may be a mere simulacrum, +like a wax hand, or it may be endowed with full power of grasping +another hand, with every articulation in perfect working order. + +The faces which are produced in this amazing way are worthy of study. +They do not appear to have represented anyone who has ever been known +in life by Doctor Geley.[8] My impression after examining them is that +they are much more likely to be within the knowledge of the subject, +being girls of the French lower middle class type, such as Eva was, I +should imagine, in the habit of meeting. It should be added that Eva +herself appears in the photograph as well as the simulacra of humanity. +The faces are, on the whole, both pretty and piquant, though of a +rather worldly and unrefined type. The latter adjective would not +apply to the larger and most elaborate photograph, which represents a +very beautiful young woman of a truly spiritual cast of face. Some of +the faces are but partially formed, which gives them a grotesque or +repellant appearance. What are we to make of such phenomena? There is +no use deluding ourselves by the idea that there may be some mistake or +some deception. There is neither one nor the other. Apart from the +elaborate checks upon these particular results, they correspond closely +with those got by Lombroso in Italy, by Schrenk-Notzing in Germany, and +by other careful observers. One thing we must bear in mind constantly +in considering them, and that is their abnormality. At a liberal +estimate, it is not one person in a million who possesses such +powers--if a thing which is outside our volition can be described as a +power. It is the mechanism of the materialisation medium which has +been explored by the acute brain and untiring industry of Doctor Geley, +and even presuming, as one may fairly presume, that every materialising +medium goes through the same process in order to produce results, still +such mediums are exceedingly, rare. Dr. Geley mentions, as an +analogous phenomenon on the material side, the presence of dermoid +cysts, those mysterious formations, which rise as small tumors in any +part of the body, particularly above the eyebrow, and which when opened +by the surgeon are found to contain hair, teeth or embryonic bones. +There is no doubt, as he claims, some rough analogy, but the dermoid +cyst is, at least, in the same flesh and blood plane of nature as the +foetus inside it, while in the ectoplasm we are dealing with an +entirely new and strange development. + +It is not possible to define exactly what occurs in the case of the +ectoplasm, nor, on account of its vital connection with the medium and +its evanescent nature, has it been separated and subjected to even the +roughest chemical analysis which might show whether it is composed of +those earthly elements with which we are familiar. Is it rather some +coagulation of ether which introduces an absolutely new substance into +our world? Such a supposition seems most probable, for a comparison +with the analogous substance examined at Dr. Crawford's seances at +Belfast, which is at the same time hardly visible to the eye and yet +capable of handling a weight of 150 pounds, suggests something entirely +new in the way of matter. + +But setting aside, as beyond the present speculation, what the exact +origin and nature of the ectoplasm may be, it seems to me that there is +room for a very suggestive line of thought if we make Geley's +experiments the starting point, and lead it in the direction of other +manifestations of psychomaterial activity. First of all, let us take +Crookes' classic experiments with Katie King, a result which for a long +time stood alone and isolated but now can be approached by intermittent +but definite stages. Thus we can well suppose that during those long +periods when Florrie Cook lay in the laboratory in the dark, periods +which lasted an hour or more upon some occasions, the ectoplasm was +flowing from her as from Eva. Then it was gathering itself into a +viscous cloud or pillar close to her frame; then the form of Katie King +was evolved from this cloud, in the manner already described, and +finally the nexus was broken and the completed body advanced to present +itself at the door of communication, showing a person different in +every possible attribute save that of sex from the medium, and yet +composed wholly or in part from elements extracted from her senseless +body. So far, Geley's experiments throw a strong explanatory light +upon those of Crookes. And here the Spiritualist must, as it seems to +me, be prepared to meet an objection more formidable than the absurd +ones of fraud or optical delusion. It is this. If the body of Katie +King the spirit is derived from the body of Florrie Cook the psychic, +then what assurance have we that the life therein is not really one of +the personalities out of which the complex being named Florrie Cook is +constructed? It is a thesis which requires careful handling. It is +not enough to say that the nature is manifestly superior, for supposing +that Florrie Cook represented the average of a number of conflicting +personalities, then a single one of these personalities might be far +higher than the total effect. Without going deeply into this problem, +one can but say that the spirit's own account of its own personality +must count for something, and also that an isolated phenomenon must be +taken in conjunction with all other psychic phenomena when we are +seeking for a correct explanation. + +But now let us take this idea of a human being who has the power of +emitting a visible substance in which are formed faces which appear to +represent distinct individualities, and in extreme cases develop into +complete independent human forms. Take this extraordinary fact, and +let us see whether, by an extension or modification of this +demonstrated process, we may not get some sort of clue as to the modus +operandi in other psychic phenomena. It seems to me that we may, at +least, obtain indications which amount to a probability, though not to +a certainty, as to how some results, hitherto inexplicable, are +attained. It is at any rate a provisional speculation, which may +suggest a hypothesis for future observers to destroy, modify, or +confirm. + +The argument which I would advance is this. If a strong +materialisation medium can throw out a cloud of stuff which is actually +visible, may not a medium of a less pronounced type throw out a similar +cloud with analogous properties which is not opaque enough to be seen +by the average eye, but can make an impression both on the dry plate in +the camera and on the clairvoyant faculty? If that be so--and it would +not seem to be a very far-fetched proposition--we have at once an +explanation both of psychic photographs and of the visions of the +clairvoyant seer. When I say an explanation, I mean of its superficial +method of formation, and not of the forces at work behind, which remain +no less a mystery even when we accept Dr. Geley's statement that they +are "ideoplastic." + +Here we have, I think, some attempt at a generalisation, which might, +perhaps, be useful in evolving some first signs of order out of this +chaos. It is conceivable that the thinner emanation of the clairvoyant +would extend far further than the thick material ectoplasm, but have +the same property of moulding itself into life, though the life forms +would only be visible to the clairvoyant eye. Thus, when Mr. Tom +Tyrrell, or any other competent exponent, stands upon the platform his +emanation fills the hall. Into this emanation, as into the visible +ectoplasm in Geley's experiments, break the faces and forms of those +from the other side who are attracted to the scene by their sympathy +with various members of the audience. They are seen and described by +Mr. Tyrrell, who with his finely attuned senses, carefully conserved +(he hardly eats or drinks upon a day when he demonstrates), can hear +that thinner higher voice that calls their names, their old addresses +and their messages. So, too, when Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton stand with +their hands joined over the cap of the camera, they are really throwing +out a misty ectoplasm from which the forms loom up which appear upon +the photographic plate. It may be that I mistake an analogy for an +explanation, but I put the theory on record for what it is worth. + + + + +B + +A PARTICULAR INSTANCE + + +I have been in touch with a series of events in America lately, and can +vouch for the facts as much as any man can vouch for facts which did +not occur to himself. I have not the least doubt in my own mind that +they are true, and a more remarkable double proof of the continuity of +life has, I should think, seldom been published. A book has recently +been issued by Harpers, of New York, called "The Seven Purposes." In +this book the authoress, Miss Margaret Cameron, describes how she +suddenly developed the power of automatic writing. She was not a +Spiritualist at the time. Her hand was controlled and she wrote a +quantity of matter which was entirely outside her own knowledge or +character. Upon her doubting whether her sub-conscious self might in +some way be producing the writing, which was partly done by planchette, +the script was written upside down and from right to left, as though +the writer was seated opposite. Such script could not possibly be +written by the lady herself. Upon making enquiry as to who was using +her hand, the answer came in writing that it was a certain Fred +Gaylord, and that his object was to get a message to his mother. The +youth was unknown to Miss Cameron, but she knew the family and +forwarded the message, with the result that the mother came to see her, +examined the evidence, communicated with the son, and finally, +returning home, buried all her evidences of mourning, feeling that the +boy was no more dead in the old sense than if he were alive in a +foreign country. + +There is the first proof of preternatural agency, since Miss Cameron +developed so much knowledge which she could not have normally acquired, +using many phrases and ideas which were characteristic of the deceased. +But mark the sequel. Gaylord was merely a pseudonym, as the matter was +so private that the real name, which we will put as Bridger, was not +disclosed. A few months after the book was published Miss Cameron +received a letter from a stranger living a thousand miles away. This +letter and the whole correspondence I have seen. The stranger, Mrs. +Nicol, says that as a test she would like to ask whether the real name +given as Fred Gaylord in the book is not Fred Bridger, as she had +psychic reasons for believing so. Miss Cameron replied that it was so, +and expressed her great surprise that so secret and private a matter +should have been correctly stated. Mrs. Nicol then explained that she +and her husband, both connected with journalism and both absolutely +agnostic, had discovered that she had the power of automatic writing. +That while, using this power she had received communications purporting +to come from Fred Bridger whom they had known in life, and that upon +reading Miss Cameron's book they had received from Fred Bridger the +assurance that he was the same person as the Fred Gaylord of Miss +Cameron. + +Now, arguing upon these facts, and they would appear most undoubtedly +to be facts, what possible answer can the materialist or the sceptic +give to the assertion that they are a double proof of the continuity of +personality and the possibility of communication? Can any reasonable +system of telepathy explain how Miss Cameron discovered the intimate +points characteristic of young Gaylord? And then, how are we +afterwards, by any possible telepathy, to explain the revelation to +Mrs. Nicol of the identity of her communicant, Fred Bridger, with the +Fred Gaylord who had been written of by Miss Cameron. The case for +return seems to me a very convincing one, though I contend now, as +ever, that it is not the return of the lost ones which is of such +cogent interest as the message from the beyond which they bear with +them. + + + + +C + +SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY + + +On this subject I should recommend the reader to consult Coates' +"Photographing the Invisible," which states, in a thoughtful and +moderate way, the evidence for this most remarkable phase, and +illustrates it with many examples. It is pointed out that here, as +always, fraud must be carefully guarded against, having been admitted +in the case of the French spirit photographer, Buguet. + +There are, however, a large number of cases where the photograph, under +rigid test conditions in which fraud has been absolutely barred, has +reproduced the features of the dead. Here there are limitations and +restrictions which call for careful study and observation. These faces +of the dead are in some cases as contoured and as recognisable as they +were in life, and correspond with no pre-existing picture or +photograph. One such case absolutely critic-proof is enough, one would +think, to establish survival, and these valid cases are to be counted +not in ones, but in hundreds. On the other hand, many of the +likenesses, obtained under the same test conditions, are obviously +simulacra or pictures built up by some psychic force, not necessarily +by the individual spirits themselves, to represent the dead. In some +undoubtedly genuine cases it is an exact, or almost exact, reproduction +of an existing picture, as if the conscious intelligent force, whatever +it might be, had consulted it as to the former appearance of the +deceased, and had then built it up in exact accordance with the +original. In such cases the spirit face may show as a flat surface +instead of a contour. Rigid examination has shown that the existing +model was usually outside the ken of the photographer. + +Two of the bravest champions whom Spiritualism has ever produced, the +late W. T. Stead and the late Archdeacon Colley--names which will bulk +large in days to come--attached great importance to spirit photography +as a final and incontestable proof of survival. In his recent work, +"Proofs of the Truth of Spiritualism" (Kegan Paul), the eminent +botanist, Professor Henslow, has given one case which would really +appear to be above criticism. He narrates how the inquirer subjected a +sealed packet of plates to the Crewe circle without exposure, +endeavoring to get a psychograph. Upon being asked on which plate he +desired it, he said "the fifth." Upon this plate being developed, +there was found on it a copy of a passage from the Codex Alexandrinus +of the New Testament in the British Museum. Reproductions, both of the +original and of the copy, will be found in Professor Henslow's book. + +I have myself been to Crewe and have had results which would be amazing +were it not that familiarity blunts the mind to miracles. Three marked +plates brought by myself, and handled, developed and fixed by no hand +but mine, gave psychic extras. In each case I saw the extra in the +negative when it was still wet in the dark room. I reproduce in Plate +I a specimen of the results, which is enough in itself to prove the +whole case of survival to any reasonable mind. The three sitters are +Mr. Oaten, Mr. Walker, and myself, I being obscured by the psychic +cloud. In this cloud appears a message of welcome to me from the late +Archdeacon Colley. A specimen of the Archdeacon's own handwriting is +reproduced in Plate II for the purpose of comparison. Behind, there is +an attempt at materialisation obscured by the cloud. The mark on the +side of the plate is my identification mark. I trust that I make it +clear that no hand but mine ever touched this plate, nor did I ever +lose sight of it for a second save when it was in the carrier, which +was conveyed straight back to the dark room and there opened. What has +any critic to say to that? + +By the kindness of those fearless pioneers of the movement, Mr. and +Mrs. Hewat Mackenzie, I am allowed to publish another example of spirit +photography. The circumstances were very remarkable. The visit of the +parents to Crewe was unproductive and their plate a blank save for +their own presentment. Returning disappointed, to London they managed, +through the mediumship of Mrs. Leonard, to get into touch with their +boy, and asked him why they had failed. He replied that the conditions +had been bad, but that he had actually succeeded some days later in +getting on to the plate of Lady Glenconnor, who had been to Crewe upon +a similar errand. The parents communicated with this lady, who replied +saying that she had found the image of a stranger upon her plate. On +receiving a print they at once recognised their son, and could even see +that, as a proof of identity, he had reproduced the bullet wound on his +left temple. No. 3 is their gallant son as he appeared in the flesh, +No. 4 is his reappearance after death. The opinion of a miniature +painter who had done a picture of the young soldier is worth recording +as evidence of identity. The artist says: "After painting the +miniature of your son Will, I feel I know every turn of his face, and +am quite convinced of the likeness of the psychic photograph. All the +modelling of the brow, nose and eyes is marked by illness--especially +is the mouth slightly contracted--but this does not interfere with the +real form. The way the hair grows on the brow and temple is noticeably +like the photograph taken before he was wounded." + + + + +D + +THE CLAIRVOYANCE OF MRS. B. + + +At the time of this volume going to press the results obtained by +clients of this medium have been forty-two successes out of fifty +attempts, checked and docketted by the author. This series forms a +most conclusive proof of spirit clairvoyance. An attempt has been made +by Mr. E. F. Benson, who examined some of the letters, to explain the +results upon the grounds of telepathy. He admits that "The tastes, +appearance and character of the deceased are often given, and many +names are introduced by the medium, some not traceable, but most of +them identical with relations or friends." Such an admission would +alone banish thought-reading as an explanation, for there is no +evidence in existence to show that this power ever reaches such +perfection that one who possesses it could draw the image of a dead man +from your brain, fit a correct name to him, and then associate him with +all sorts of definite and detailed actions in which he was engaged. +Such an explanation is not an explanation but a pretence. But even if +one were to allow such a theory to pass, there are numerous incidents +in these accounts which could not be explained in such a fashion, where +unknown details have been given which were afterwards verified, and +even where mistakes in thought upon the part of the sitter were +corrected by the medium under spirit guidance. Personally I believe +that the medium's own account of how she gets her remarkable results is +the absolute truth, and I can imagine no other fashion in which they +can be explained. She has, of course, her bad days, and the conditions +are always worst when there is an inquisitorial rather than a religious +atmosphere in the interview. This intermittent character of the +results is, according to my experience, characteristic of spirit +clairvoyance as compared with thought-reading, which can, in its more +perfect form, become almost automatic within certain marked limits. I +may add that the constant practice of some psychical researchers to +take no notice at all of the medium's own account of how he or she +attains results, but to substitute some complicated and unproved +explanation of their own, is as insulting as it is unreasonable. It +has been alleged as a slur upon Mrs. B's results and character that she +has been twice prosecuted by the police. This is, in fact, not a slur +upon the medium but rather upon the law, which is in so barbarous a +condition that the true seer fares no better than the impostor, and +that no definite psychic principles are recognised. A medium may under +such circumstances be a martyr rather than a criminal, and a conviction +ceases to be a stain upon the character. + + + +[1] "The Reality of Psychic Phenomena." "Experiences in Psychical +Science." (Watkins.) + +[2] See Appendix. + +[3] See Appendix D. + +[4] The details of both these latter cases are to be found in "Voices +from the Void" by Mrs. Travers Smith, a book containing some well +weighed evidence. + +[5] For Geley's Experiments, Appendix A. + +[6] Published at sixpence by the Light Publishing Co., 6, Queen +Square, London, W.C. The same firm supplies Dr. Ellis Powell's +convincing little book on the same subject. + +[7] The References are to Matthew, xxiii 35, and to Josephus, Wars of +the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 5. + +[8] Dr. Geley writes to me that they are unknown either to him or to +the medium. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vital Message, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VITAL MESSAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 439.txt or 439.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/439/ + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |