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diff --git a/old/vtmsg10.txt b/old/vtmsg10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..395c09d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vtmsg10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3240 @@ +***The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Vital Message, by Doyle*** +#9 in our series by Arthur Conan Doyle + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared with the use of Calera WordScan Plus 2.0 + + + + +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. + + +[1] "The Reality of Psychic Phenomena." + "Experiences in Psychical Science." (Watkins.) + + + +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. + + +[2] See Appendix. + + +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] + + +[3] See Appendix D. + + +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. + + +[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. + + + +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. + + +[5] For Geley's Experiments, Appendix A. + + +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. + + +[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. + + +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. + + +[7] The References are to Matthew, xxiii 35, and to Josephus, +Wars of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 5. + + +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. + + +[8] Dr. Geley writes to me that they are unknown either to him +or to the medium. + + +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. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Vital Message, by Doyle + diff --git a/old/vtmsg10.zip b/old/vtmsg10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..90af2a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vtmsg10.zip |